Chapter 54: You Call Them, Do They Respond?

Ru De frowned deeply, feeling that something was off about the situation.

At this point, Zu An spoke again: "Even if, for argument's sake, I really did owe gambling debts, where is the IOU? Show it to everyone."

Plum Blossom Thirteen became anxious: "I already returned the IOU to you."

Zu An raised both hands: "Director, to clear my name, please search me and see if I have that baseless IOU on me."

"You just tore up the IOU!" Plum Blossom Thirteen finally understood why the other person had acted that way—they had been planning to trick him all along.

Zu An replied, "Even if it was torn, there should at least be some paper fragments left on the ground, right?"

"You just ground it into dust, and the wind blew it away long ago," Plum Blossom Thirteen quickly retorted.

Zu An sighed, "Can't you come up with a more plausible excuse? Everyone in Mingyue City knows I'm a notorious good-for-nothing. If I had the ability to grind an IOU into nothing in such a short time, would I still be stuck in the Yellow Class?"

"But it really was him..." A chill ran down Plum Blossom Thirteen's spine, and he quickly tried to explain to Ru De.

"Enough!" Ru De's face darkened. "Your Plum Blossom Gang has always acted recklessly, and we don't usually interfere, but coming here to bully our students is unacceptable! Today, I'll break both your legs. Go back and tell Mei Chaofeng that if any other short-sighted individuals come here next time, I won't show any mercy."

With a flick of his sleeve, the disciplinary ruler, as if possessing eyes, suddenly appeared at Plum Blossom Thirteen's knee and struck twice. Plum Blossom Thirteen's tall figure collapsed, and he cried out in agony, clutching his legs.

Zu An noticed that Plum Blossom Thirteen's legs were twisted like pretzels, indicating at least a comminuted fracture. He gasped, recalling Wei Suo's descriptions of how painful it was for students to be hit by Ru De's ruler. Compared to Plum Blossom Thirteen's fate, Ru De had clearly been lenient in the past.

What surprised him even more was how Ru De had used the ruler: he hadn't held it in his hand. Instead, it had flown automatically to Plum Blossom Thirteen's leg, struck him, and then flown back, just like Jiang Ziya's God-Beating Whip in the *Fengshen Yanyi* he'd read before.

"This thing is a magic artifact," Zu An thought, realizing he should never let himself fall into Ru De's hands, or he wouldn't even know how he died.

Rage points from Plum Blossom Thirteen: +567!

Plum Blossom Thirteen, wailing on the ground, glared at Zu An with extreme malice. Such was human nature: he dared not blame Ru De, who was far too powerful, but he could freely direct all his anger toward someone weaker than himself.

He vowed that once he recovered, he would break all four—no, all five—of that guy's limbs, then slowly dismember him piece by piece and throw him into Wolf Valley!

Ru De tossed the primeval stone in his hand to Zu An and said in a deep voice, "Keep it safe. You are too weak; you should understand the principle of not flaunting your wealth."

Zu An nodded frantically: "The director is right, the director is absolutely right. But this fellow just robbed me of my silver too. I hope the director can help... hehehe..."

Ru De frowned, thinking this guy was full of complaints. However, since he was a student of the school, Ru De snorted and made a grasping motion in the air towards Plum Blossom Thirteen's chest. The other's silver money pouch flew into his hand.

"How much money did he rob from you?" Ru De asked.

Zu An took the silver pouch: "All of this was stolen by him. Thank you, Director, thank you, Director."

Ru De frowned again. He wasn't without suspicion, but considering Plum Blossom Thirteen's usual criminal activities and the unlikeliness of his money being clean, he bothered no further and simply tossed the money pouch over.

Plum Blossom Thirteen, on the side, was so enraged he almost spat blood: "That silver is mine! You just gave me over a hundred taels, and the remaining eight hundred taels I've painstakingly saved over the years!"

He had never expected this person to be so shameless—not only falsely accusing him of stealing the primeval stone, but now also robbing him of his own money? He had never trusted anyone but himself, always carrying his entire fortune with him. Now, all his hard work over the years had gone to benefit someone else!

Rage points from Plum Blossom Thirteen: +1000!

"You say this is your silver?" Zu An, hearing his words, dangled the money pouch in front of him. "Then call out to them. See if they answer."

Plum Blossom Thirteen could no longer hold it in. Overwhelmed by anger, a sweetness rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of old blood.

*Damn it, who's the villain here?!*

Rage points from Plum Blossom Thirteen: +1000!

Ru De glanced at him indifferently, too lazy to concern himself further with the situation. He waved a hand at the onlookers: "Disperse, everyone. Go home, go home."

Zu An also waved goodbye to Plum Blossom Thirteen, then left with Chu Huanzhao and the others.

"Just you wait, you Zu bastard! Our Plum Blossom Gang will never let you off!" Plum Blossom Thirteen's mournful curses echoed from behind them.

Rage points from Plum Blossom Thirteen: +1000!

Zu An frowned. The Plum Blossom Gang had tried to deal with him repeatedly; it seemed he needed to find a way to eliminate them. After all, it's impossible to be on guard constantly forever.

After they had walked a considerable distance, Cheng Shoubing could no longer restrain himself. He ran over with a fawning expression: "Young Master Zu, Young Master Zu, my admiration for you is like a surging river, endless and continuous..."

"Surging your head," Zu An said, pushing him away by his face. At the same time, he pulled out a silver ingot from Plum Blossom Thirteen's money pouch and gave it to him. "This is for you. You were quite perceptive just now."

"Thank you, Young Master Zu~" Cheng Shoubing fondled the silver ingot, unable to put it down, his face beaming with a wide, almost comical, grin.

"Where's mine?" Chu Huanzhao, standing nearby, stretched out a hand in front of him, her small hands as delicate as white jade.

Zu An tossed a silver ingot to her as well, but Chu Huanzhao's eyebrows immediately shot up: "This little bit? Are you trying to fob off a beggar?"

Cheng Shoubing's smile froze. He felt offended.

Zu An got a headache: "Then how much do you want?"

"At least half!" Chu Huanzhao exclaimed excitedly. She used to cause trouble in the manor, but no one dared to argue with her because she was the Second Miss. She had never felt the same sense of accomplishment as she did today.

"Half? Are you robbing me?!" Zu An immediately jumped up.

"Hmph, if I hadn't covered for you with that lie, do you think that 'Bright Summit' would have believed you so easily?" Chu Huanzhao puffed out her small chest. "I used the Chu family's reputation to help you with that act. What's wrong with taking half?"

"A third at most," Zu An said, his head throbbing. He stuffed a few more silver notes into her hand.

Only then did Chu Huanzhao relent. She meticulously counted the silver notes in her hand repeatedly, her eyes seemingly sparkling with light.

"I mean, come on, you're the Second Miss of a Duke's manor. Do you really need to be like this over a few hundred taels of silver?" Zu An said, looking disgusted.

"That's different," Chu Huanzhao replied, smiling sweetly. "The money I had before was given to me by my parents. This time, I earned it myself. Of course, my first time earning money is worth celebrating."

Did this girl misunderstand the meaning of earning money? If her parents found out he had led their precious daughter astray like this, would they flay him alive?

Just imagining that scenario sent a shiver down Zu An's spine. He quickly pulled her aside and said, "Don't tell your parents about this when we get home."

"Why?" Chu Huanzhao blinked, her eyes full of innocent confusion. "I earned money for the first time; they should be happy, right?"

"Uh..." Zu An thought for a moment, then tried a different approach to explain: "Based on what you know about them, do you think they'd agree to you continuing to earn money this way if they found out?"

"That's true. Alright, then I won't tell them," Chu Huanzhao said. She carefully tucked the silver notes into her clothes, then patted his shoulder. "Remember to call me for good opportunities like this in the future."

Zu An didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This girl was truly a little devil.

Back at the Chu manor, the two parted ways, as their residences were in different directions.

Once Zu An returned to his small room, he pulled Cheng Shoubing over. "Little Bing, do you know how much it costs to buy a small courtyard in the city?"

Living as a dependent in the Chu family was quite unpleasant, especially with the unknown person secretly trying to kill him within the manor. It would be much more comfortable to live in his own house.

It was understandable before when he had no other options, but now he had several hundred taels of silver and seven primeval stones he could convert to cash, putting his total worth at over a thousand taels.

In his previous life, which man wouldn't dream of going back in time to be a wealthy dissolute young master, with beautiful wives and maids at home, and going around bullying others on the streets... *cough, cough*, or just strolling around aimlessly? Now that he was in this world, he had the chance to realize his former dream.

Beautiful wives could wait for now, but lovely bed-warming maids? Absolutely!

Cheng Shoubing immediately looked wronged: "Young Master Zu, are you going to abandon me?"

"Speak properly, don't make it sound like I'm going to start something and then abandon you," Zu An said, his face darkening. "I just want to buy a residence so I have a place to stay if things don't work out here. If you want, you can follow me then. Oh, and how much does a pretty young maid cost?"

At the mention of young maids, Cheng Shoubing's eyes lit up, and he began to analyze for him: "A small courtyard in the city would probably cost a few hundred taels, and a more dilapidated one might go for as little as a hundred. However, pretty young maids are a bit expensive; at the slave market, they range from dozens to even thousands of taels."

Zu An secretly rejoiced. This era was unlike his previous world, where housing prices were skyrocketing. Otherwise, a thousand taels of silver, which was only equivalent to 180,000 in his time, would probably only be enough to buy a toilet.

"The prices for maids vary so much?" Zu An was surprised. "Why are those costing thousands of taels so expensive?"

"I heard they're proficient in all four arts—zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting—and each one is as beautiful as a celestial fairy..."

Cheng Shoubing was interrupted before he could finish. Zu An waved a hand: "Alright, alright, I'm not starting a girl group. Why do I need them to be so talented? Just find some good-looking ones with gentle personalities. Those skills aren't important."

Cheng Shoubing simply uttered an "Oh," but inwardly he muttered: *If you can't afford it, just say so. Don't pretend you don't need them.*