Wang Yuanlong and Chu Yucheng exchanged stony glances. They clearly shared the same thought.

Why do I always want to smack this guy in the face?

The two of them simultaneously turned to look at Qiu Honglei, who was playing the zither. They immediately despaired, having no idea how they were even supposed to respond.

You have successfully trolled Wang Yuanlong for 666 Rage points!

You have successfully trolled Chu Yucheng for 666 Rage points!

Zu An let out an appreciative sigh as he saw the Rage points come in. 

As expected, we really are good friends! You really didn’t have to be this generous, guys…

Behind the beaded curtains, Qiu Honglei paid close attention to everything that was happening. A smile spread across her face. This Ah Zu really was one-of-a-kind.

Wang Yuanlong hurriedly changed the topic to prevent his self-confidence from potentially suffering an irrecoverable blow. “Brother Zu, what made you suddenly free up some time to invite me for a drink today? Do those back home know?”

Hmph, everyone in Brightmoon City knows that Chu Chuyan is proud and arrogant! If you keep visiting brothels like this, your wife might just make you sleep outside tonight.

There was no malicious intent behind his words. They were driven by the natural pride that men felt over such matters, which compelled them to secretly compare themselves to others.

“Are you talking about Chuyan? Yup, she knows. She even gave me some extra silver to play around with when I told her I was coming here. She took pains to warn me that a man absolutely cannot be stingy when playing around outside, and that I cannot offend Lady Qiu!” Zu An said nonchalantly.

“You’re joking!” Wang Yuanlong was dumbfounded. Young miss Chu didn’t seem like the kind of person who would ever agree to share a man!

Chu Yucheng smiled bitterly. “I fear that he speaks the truth today. Young miss Chu even specially straightened out his clothes for him before we left. She really did tell him these things.”

Wang Yuanlong stared at them, mouth agape.

What the hell, man? How is my character or my background any worse than this guy’s?

You have successfully trolled Wang Yuanlong for 233 Rage points!

Zu An smiled at this generous donation of Rage points. 

Guys with too many chicks really can’t avoid offending other guys.

Forget it, I won’t mess with him anymore. I really don’t wanna mess things up today.

Zu An moved the conversation on to other random topics. With a veteran party-goer like Chu Yucheng around and a group of girls to keep them company, a great atmosphere built up naturally.

Feeling that the timing was right, Zu An had the other girls withdraw. “I have a gift here to give Brother Wang,” he said, addressing the main purpose of their meeting.

“Brother An is too generous!” Wang Yuanlong was stunned. He immediately declined.

Zu An didn’t argue with him. Instead, he dragged out several large chests from the rear hall.

Even though silver was heavy, it wasn’t much trouble for a cultivator like himself.

He threw open the chests, and the entire room was lit up with flickering silver light, which was reflecting off the contents of the chests.

“This…” Wang Yuanlong was a relatively competent individual. Seeing the silver, he immediately had a rough idea of what was going on.

“There’s two hundred thousand taels of silver here,” Zu An said. “Brother Wang should use it to pay the individual salt merchants back their deposits. I must also trouble Brother Wang to speak to your father in my place. Please tell him that the Sang clan is deliberately sowing discord between our two clans. We really do not want the great relationship that we have built up to crumble just because of this.”

Wang Yuanlong stared at the silver for a long time, seemingly in a daze. Finally, he said, “Brother Zu, you’ve truly earned a whole new level of respect from me!”

He naturally understood that the two hundred thousand taels of silver wasn’t from Zu An, but from the Chu clan.

His shock stemmed from the fact that it was widely assumed Zu An’s title as young master was an empty one. However, he had somehow been entrusted with such an important task! The Chu clan clearly placed great trust in him.

Wang Yuanlong wholeheartedly accepted his request. “Brother Zu, please tell Brightmoon Duke and First Miss Chu that our Wang clan will not forget this kindness!” he said solemnly.

The Wang clan truly was in dire financial straits. This silver would go a long way in bailing them out.

Now that they were discussing important matters, the revelry in Wang Yuanlong’s eyes disappeared. He had no desire to continue partying in such a place anymore. He itched to bring the silver back as soon as possible and talk to his father.

Zu An didn’t stop him. “In that case, I won’t keep Brother Wang. Let’s share another drink when all of this blows over.”

“But of course!” With his clan’s crisis averted, Wang Yuanlong’s mood had become much lighter.

“Take care on the way back,” said Zu An.

“Don’t worry, this amount of silver won’t trouble us. I still have at least this much faith in my guards.” Two hundred thousand taels of silver really was an astronomical sum for an ordinary family, but it wasn’t nearly as staggering for a big clan. If it wasn’t for the series of misfortunes that had plagued them, the Wang clan would have easily been able to fork out such a sum.

They were still in the city, where public security was decent, and any other large clan that could afford to offend the Wang clan would surely not do so over a paltry two hundred thousand taels of silver.

Zu An’s remark had been made in passing, without much thought. He had Chu Yucheng see Wang Yuanlong off.

After the two had left, Qiu Honglei slowly emerged from the inner hall. “I’m surprised that the Chu clan entrusted Ah Zu with such a serious mission. It seems like Ah Zu’s standing in the Chu clan is rising steadily.”

Zu An laughed and said, “This is all thanks to you! I could never have gained the Chu clan’s trust so quickly if it wasn’t for the intelligence you gave me the last time.”

As he spoke, his hand moved discreetly to encircle her waist. This woman was clearly scheming against him, so he had to at least get something out of her.

Qiu Honglei evaded him just as discreetly, her smile still intact. “I didn’t expect my intelligence to prove so useful. I’ve just received a new piece of information regarding the illicit salt trade. I wonder if Ah Zu is interested?” she asked.

“Oh?” Zu An’s eyes lit up. “Of course I am! Please enlighten me.”

Qiu Honglei walked over to the entrance of the Abode. She pointed towards the surface of the distant lake, which gleamed in the afternoon sun. “I received information from a trustworthy source, indicating that the Whale Gang will be transporting a batch of illicit salt via the pier tonight. I will leave young master to decide whether or not to seize this opportunity.”

Zu An laughed heartily. “Honglei, you really are my lucky charm! You managed to pick up such an important piece of news so quickly! Come, give me a kiss.”

Qiu Honglei stepped backwards gracefully, evading his clutches. She said with a lovable laugh, “Ah Zu, you should hurry and make your preparations. Time is of the essence. We don’t know when another opportunity would arise if you miss this chance!”

“You’re right!” Even though Zu An wore a smile, he was cursing inside. This woman was always throwing herself at him, yet he couldn’t even lay a hand on her. He was growing tired of this game of chastity.

In the end, all this is just playing around. I have to get back to dealing with this matter properly.

He too left the Immortal Abode in a hurry. However, he didn’t fully trust Qiu Honglei’s information, and secretly took a detour to check out the pier.

From his discreet observations, the pier did indeed seem busier than usual. Several burly men were constantly looking around while they were transporting goods, their behavior extremely suspicious.

He rushed back to inform Chu Chuyan at once, who then quickly contacted her mother.

When Chu Zhongtian learned of the news, he was elated. He immediately prepared to dispatch men to the pier.

Qin Wanru spoke a word of caution. “Even though Whale Gang doesn’t have many experts, they have the numbers. The Chu clan might not have enough men to deal with this situation. Should we call over Sang Qian’s River Patrol Army too? This is supposed to be their job, anyway, and this was part of the deal offered by Sang Hong. We can’t just have them sit idly, especially since we’re contributing so much!”

Even though the Chu clan had a private army, dispatching troops into the city without a court order still went against the law.

Chu Chuyan’s condition was still poor, so some of the guards had to remain in the estate to protect her. This meant less men would be available to catch these crooks.

Chu Zhongtian agreed with his wife’s reasoning. “Ah Zu, bring some men to enlist the aid of Commander Sang. Have him get involved in this operation.”

He decided to leave the Chu clan’s guards in the estate and entrust this entire affair to Sang Qian’s men. If they screwed this matter up, he’d still have something to use against Sang Hong in the future.

“Okay!” Zu An caught the look Chu Chuyan had given him. He knew that this was the chance she fought to obtain for him, so he immediately agreed.

Worried that Chen Xuan might try to assassinate him along the way, the Chu clan sent out a dozen guards to accompany him.

As they made their way to Sang Qian’s residence, a sudden thought popped into Zu An’s mind. 

I wonder if that Sang Qian would immediately pick a fight with me if he knew I copped a feel of his fiance’s legs.

In my defense, Zheng Dan was the one who approached me first, so it could be that Sang Qian is somehow secretly involved in it.

Hm… Don’t tell me Sang Qian actually has some weird fetish?

I really don’t mind having a friend like this!