CH 68

Chapter 68: Fiancée

Even the Chu clan’s Red Cloak Army couldn’t help but stare at one another. Their young master was indeed a little shameless.

“Where in the world do you see anyone collecting interests right after making a loan? At the very least, you should wait till a year has passed!”

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +200 Rage!

“Ah? There isn’t such a practice?” Zu An looked around in confusion, acting as if he had no idea what the rules regarding this were.

Chu Chuyan had an urge to find a hole and hide. Why in the world did she choose such a shameless fellow as her husband?

“The usual practice is indeed to collect interests in a year’s time. However, based on what I know, Sect Master Mei does have the practice of ‘90% for 130%’, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to collect 750,000 silver taels in advance.”

The so-called ‘90% for 130%’ referred to a common example of a loan shark lending an individual 10 silver taels at an interest rate of 10% per month, but, in fact, only effectively loaned out 9 silver taels but demanded 13 silver taels back by the end of three months. It was due to such shady practices that many people ended up going bankrupt by loan sharks.

Compared to how the Plum Blossom Sect charged 10% interest rate every month, they were being merciful by only charging 10% per annum. If not for the fact that 7,500,000 silver taels was indeed a huge sum, she wouldn’t have accepted such terms.

Of course, she could tell that the Plum Blossom Sect had the intention to shirk payment too. After all, 7,500,000 silver taels was indeed a huge sum. Thus, it was best to collect as much as they could before they tried to pull anything.

Mei Chaofeng gritted his teeth. He had already realized that he wouldn’t be getting out of this without at least forking out a sum. Thus, he waved his hand and ordered, “Men, bring 100,000 silver taels worth of banknotes here!”

After that, he turned to Chu Chuyan and said, “Miss Chu, please pardon me. We don’t have the ability to raise that much money in a moment’s time, so we’ll first pay you 100,000 silver taels as a show of sincerity. We’ll repay the rest at the end of the year. What do you think of it?”

Mei Chaofeng didn’t even bother to consult Zu An on this matter because he was worried that the latter would go on spouting some bullshit once more. In any case, he could tell that the real decision-maker here was Chu Chuyan.

Chu Chuyan hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. Based on her estimations, 100,000 silver taels was likely to be the maximum sum that the Plum Blossom Sect could raise in a moment’s time. It wouldn’t be good if they force the Plum Blossom Sect too tightly.

One of Mei Chaofeng’s aides quickly brought the banknotes over. Mei Chaofeng's first intention was to hand it over to Chu Chuyan, but after some thought, he decided to pass it to Zu An instead. “Young master Zu, would you like to count it?”

It would be hard for him to get those banknotes back if it were to land into Chu Chuyan’s hands. However, if it was in Zu An’s hand… Hehehe, I have my means to make him spit it out!

“Yes, of course!” Zu An took the banknotes and began counting them one by one. With each banknote worth 100 silver taels, a sum of 100,000 silver taels meant that there were 1000 banknotes in total.

Mei Chaofeng nearly choked on his saliva. I was just saying it as a figure of speech! Who in the world counts the sum of money right before others?

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +111 Rage!

Watching as Zu An counted the banknotes one by one like a scrooge, Sang Qian frowned in incomprehension as he wondered why a woman as beautiful as Chu Chuyan would end up marrying such an unseemly man. It was really like a fresh flower being stuck in a pile of cow dung. I would have been much better than him!

There were many in the crowd who shared the same thoughts, and this included the soldiers of the Red Cloak Army too. All of them contributed a good sum of Rage points over to Zu An.

“Hm? Why is there a banknote missing?” It was then that Zu An suddenly exclaimed in astonishment, which drew everyone’s attention over.

“How is that possible? There are so many eyes looking here, so how could there be money missing?” Mei Chaofeng exclaimed with a darkened face.

Sensing the intent gaze of the crowd, Zu An shrugged casually and said, “I’m just saying it to check if you are lying to me or not.”

“…” Mei Chaofeng.

So you’re just making fun of me?

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +211 Rage!

By the side, Sang Qian finally came to the limit of his patience. “Enough! Since this matter has been resolved, all of you should disperse now!”

He didn’t want to stay here and watch a wastrel prance around as if he owned the world. What made him feel even more frustrated was that he couldn’t do anything about that wastrel!

Pang Chun also laughed heartily and said, “Indeed. Since the matter has been resolved, you all should go back to do what you were doing. Let’s leave, everyone.”

All this while, he felt that his heart was pounding in his throat, ready to leap out of his mouth at any moment. If the Chu clan were to get into a conflict with the River Patrol Team here, or if the Plum Blossom Sect were to get desperate and attempt to break out of the casino, it could very well escalate into a major incident. In the end, he would be the one who had to take responsibility to the matter.

With two of the highest-ranking individuals present ordering so, the gamblers and spectators quickly rushed out. They had no wish of lingering around and risk getting implicated in this matter.

Xie Xiu waved his hand and Zu An, saying, “Brother Zu, you have really refreshed my opinion of you today. I shall treat you to wine another day. I would honestly love to trade insights with you.”

Zu An laughed in response to those words. “There are also many things that I would love to learn from Brother Xie too, such as your ability to tread freely amongst flowers without a single petal falling upon you.”

“Let’s talk about it another day~” Xie Xiu noticed the awful look on Chu Chuyan’s face and smiled sheepishly. You sure are an incredible man. To think that you would dare to say such words before your own wife.

Afraid of getting implicated in Chu Chuyan’s wrath, he quickly bade farewell and escaped the area.

Zu An still wasn’t too satisfied with his loot this time around. He felt that the crowd was leaving before he could even earn his fill of Rage points, and that left him feeling like something was missing. So, he turned to Mei Chaofeng and asked, “Sect Master Mei, are you still going to keep your casino open? Can I come here to gamble once more?”

“…” Mei Chaofeng.

If you dare come here once more, I shall rip off your skin!

You have successfully trolled Mei Chaofeng for +267 Rage!

Chu Chuyan couldn’t stand to watch this anymore. “Let’s go.”

No matter how nonchalant she was, she couldn’t stand all of the shocking words that Zu An was constantly spouting out of his mouth.

Meanwhile, Yue Shan walked straight toward Zu An and personally escorted him out of the casino. As someone who had served the Chu clan for many years, he was used to the nobles’ etiquette, so Zu An’s shameless actions were hard for him to endure.

Mei Chaofeng watched coldly as Zu An and the others left, and he clenched his fists tightly in anger.

“Sect master, are we really going to pay that fellow 7,500,000 silver taels?” One of the dumber subordinates approached Mei Chaofeng and asked worriedly.

“Pay your head!” Mei Chaofeng unhesitatingly slapped that subordinate to the ground.

With an awful look on his face, he headed into a room specially prepared for him in the casino to rest when he found that someone was already waiting for him inside.

“Miss Qiao, you got to write down the debt note. How do you intend to resolve this matter?” Mei Chaofeng closed the room as he asked. His tone was no longer as amiable as before anymore.

“You should have a good idea just what kind of situation you were in earlier. Would you have gotten out of the situation if you didn’t write a debt note?” Needless to say, the person waiting in the room was no other than Snow. Looking at Mei Chaofeng’s twitching cheeks, she consoled, “Don’t worry, the debt note is in the hands of the wastrel Zu An. You should be able to get it back with ease.”

Mei Chaofeng frowned. “I’m just worried that he would hand the debt note over to the Chu clan.”

Snow shook her head and replied, “There’s no need to worry about that. Chu Chuyan is a proud person, so she wouldn’t take Zu An’s money. As for Chu Zhongtian, he’s an upright person, and the Chu clan strictly forbids gambling. He wouldn’t forsake his principles to take money earned through gambling. In fact, the Chu clan will not approve of Zu An’s actions here; on the contrary, it’s likely that he would be severely punished. After all, his actions have flouted what the Chu clan stands for.”

“Will they chase Zu An out of the Chu clan over this?” Mei Chaofeng asked.

Snow sighed deeply. “I don’t know. 7,500,000 silver taels is a huge sum of money, but if we could get Zu An chased out of the Chu clan over it, it’s still not too bad.”

“…” Mei Chaofeng.

It’s not your money, so of course you don’t feel anything about it! Do you even understand what 7,500,000 silver taels mean? With this much money, I would be able to hire assassins to get rid of the patriarch of the Chu clan! Yet, I actually spent this much money just to deal with a wastrel?

Fortunately, what Snow said right after placated him a little. “Rest assured, I’ll make a move personally tonight. Not only will I steal the debt note, but I’ll also get rid of that brat too so as to resolve any future problems.”

Mei Chaofeng was overjoyed. “Thank you, Miss Qiao.”

To be frank, with his strength, he could kill Zu An as easily as killing an ant. However, Zu An was usually either in the Chu Estate or Brightmoon Academy, leaving him with no chance to make a move. However, if an insider like Snow were to do the job instead, the chances of success were much higher.

Meanwhile, in the Zheng Estate located not too far away from the Silverhook Casino, a woman was staring at a man seated before her attentively. Her eyes were clear like refreshing spring water, and her skin was fair like snow. Gorgeous would be an apt word to describe her.

“What’s wrong, young master Zu? You look rather discomposed today.” The woman poured a cup of tea for the man before her. Her movements were incredibly graceful, such that it was easy to mistake it for a dance.

The man seated before her was no other than Sang Qian, who had just left the Silverhook Casino.

“Miss Zheng’s tea brewing skill is indeed a feast for the eyes.” The elegant and tender disposition coming from the woman before him calmed Sang Qian’s heart.

The woman smiled gently and said, “Once our engagement is fulfilled, I’d be more than happy to brew tea for you every day.”

This woman was no other than the young miss of the Zheng Clan, Zheng Dan. The Zheng clan had an engagement with the Sang clan, making her Sang Qian’s fiancée.

Even though this was not the first time they were meeting, a hint of wonderment still flashed across the depths of Sang Qian’s eyes. When Sang Qian first heard that his father had engaged her to the daughter of a businessman in Brightmoon City, he was still rather unsatisfied. He even fought with his father on several occasions over the matter.

However, as soon as he met Zheng Dan, all of his opposition vanished into thin air. The reason for that? The daughter of that businessman was simply too beautiful. He felt that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to marry such a woman.

“Thank you, Miss Zheng.” Sang Qian reached out to grab the teacup, secretly making use of this opportunity to touch Zheng Dan’s hand too. However, the latter naturally averted her hands.

“Young master Zheng, I’d be yours once we marry one another. By then, I’ll go along with whatever you wish to do with me. But now…” The meaning behind Zheng Dan’s words was very clear. She didn’t want to get intimate with him prior to their marriage.

A hint of rage flickered across Sang Qian’s eyes, but he swiftly concealed it. The more Zheng Dan acted in such a manner, the more enticed he was. It felt almost like someone was tickling his heart, stoking his desire for her. He even wondered that men were born as despicable creatures, desiring things that were only out of their reach.

“Something happened earlier at the Silverhook Casino…” In order to conceal his awkwardness, Sang Qian quickly went through what happened earlier.

A tinge of astonishment colored Zheng Dan’s face as she remarked, “Hm? The Silverhook Casino actually allowed Zu An to walk away with an earning of 7,500,000 silver taels? I’ve long heard that the young master of the Chu clan is a wastrel, but it looks like the rumors can’t be trusted.”

Her tone, which seemed to be complimenting another man, left Sang Qian feeling a little uncomfortable on the inside. “Hmph, he was just lucky. He just managed to get two bets right blindly.”

Zheng Dan chuckled softly as her crimson lips curled up into a beautiful smile. She could see through Sang Qian’s thoughts, so she intentionally avoided saying anything to trigger him.

Sang Qian continued speaking, “Speaking of which, I do have something I need your help on.”