/
“You want me to rile up Yuan Wendong once more?” Zu An blinked in surprise. He never thought that he would hear his wife making such a suggestion.
Chu Chuyan thought that Zu An might be feeling intimidated here, so she added, “Don’t worry, I’ll accompany you tomorrow. No matter how you rile him up, I’ll ensure your safety.”
Woah, what’s with this sudden declaration that almost sounds like a confession? Why does it feel like our positions have been swapped over here… Well, I guess it’s fine. Mooching off others is pretty cool after all.
Zu An nodded affirmatively. “Rest assured, honey. Since you’ve already said so, I’ll make sure to blow him up with rage!”
Zu An’s way of referring to Chu Chuyan as ‘honey’ brought frowns to Chu Chuyan and Qin Wanru’s faces, but in the end, neither of them said anything about it.
“Big sister, you’ll be heading to the academy tomorrow?” asked Chu Huanzhao.
“I am. What’s with your expression?” asked Chu Chuyan with a smile. “It can’t be that you’ve stirred trouble in the academy, and you’re worried that the teachers will complain to me?”
“Of course not! It’s just that you haven’t been to the academy for quite some time now. I’m just delighted,” Chu Huanzhao replied indignantly as she secretly winked at Zu An. “Speaking of which, I remember that the Sky class has an arithmetic class tomorrow?”
“That’s right,” replied Chu Chuyan. “Actually, most of the cultivation classes in the academy doesn’t serve much of a purpose to me anymore. Instead, it’s the arithmetic classes and such that are more useful. After all, the Chu clan has many finance-related matters that need dealing with.”
Chu Huanzhao tried her best to suppress her smile as she replied with a strained face, “It just so happens that the academy brought in a new arithmetic teacher. He might be more to your liking.”
“The arithmetic teacher has been changed? What happened to Yang Wei?” Chu Chuyan was surprised to hear that news. She had been too busy dealing with the affairs in the Chu clan that she hadn’t paid any attention to the recent happenings in the academy.
“It seems like Yang Wei has been fired for oppressing his students,” replied Chu Huanzhao vaguely.
“I can’t deny that Yang Wei’s character has a problem,” Chu Chuyan pondered about it for a moment before remarking. “However, his skills in arithmetic is the real deal. I’m not sure if the new teacher will be able to fill his gap.”
“Oh, he definitely will!” Chu Huanzhao shot a glance at Zu An as she replied. “Yang Wei had a competition with the new teacher earlier today, but he ended up suffering a complete loss.”
“Huanzhao, why do you keep looking at your brother-in-law while talking?” Qin Wanru asked in displeasure. She felt like her second daughter was getting excessively close with Zu An. But again, Huanzhao has always been a candid child. Am I thinking too much into it?
Chu Huanzhao stuck out her tongue in response. She was still planning to brag about Zu An before her parents, but upon hearing that her older sister was going to have an arithmetic class in the academy the following day, she changed her mind.
If she enters the classroom and sees that the teacher is Zu An, I wonder how she’d react.
Just thinking about the matter was enough to pump her up with excitement.
“Complete loss? Are you certain? It’s hard to imagine that someone of Yang Wei’s caliber would be thoroughly defeated.” Chu Chuyan was astonished. “How did they compete with one another?”
The excited Chu Huanzhao immediately began painting a scenario for her audience. “It started with Yang Wei setting twenty questions for the new teacher, but unexpectedly, the new teacher actually got all of them correct swiftly. Afterward, the new teacher set twenty questions for Yang Wei, but in the end, Yang Wei didn’t manage to get even a single question correctly.”
“He didn’t get a single question correctly?” Chu Chuyan widened her eyes. “How could that be possible? What kind of questions did the new teacher set?”
Chu Huanzhao shot a glance at Zu An, only to see the mirth in his eyes. He must be quite delighted right now. Heh, look at how hard I’m working to brag for him. I’ll be expecting something good from him for this.
“The questions set by the new teacher is a little peculiar…” Following that, she began to roughly explain the twenty questions. As for those that she wasn’t too sure about, she naturally turned over to ask Zu An.
No one on the scene harbored any doubts at all. It was an open competition after all, and Zu An was a student of the academy. It was nothing much for him to know the details of the competition.
After hearing the twenty questions, Chu Chuyan gasped in amazement. “That new teacher seems truly formidable. I’m starting to get a bit curious about him.”
“You should be.” A gleeful glean from having succeeded in her prank shone in Chu Huanzhao’s eyes. It had been a long time since she was this happy.
“Hmph, it’s nothing more than small tricks.” Qin Wanru harrumphed. “Ultimately, one’s cultivation is still the most important of all in this world. Don’t hold up the advancement of your cultivation over such trivialities.”
“Chuyan, it’s good that you’ve helped us manage the family business over the years, but these are all of minor importance. You mustn’t get too caught up in them,” said Chu Zhongtian.
Chu Chuyan replied with a smile, “Rest assured, I know my priorities.”
Chu Zhongtian nodded in relief. “That’s good. You have always been mature even at a young age, and your mother and I have never needed to worry about you before.”
Qin Wanru glared at her second daughter and said, “Huanzhao, take a look at your older sister. She already has things set straight whereas you’re still spending your days idly and getting into trouble.”
The smile on Chu Huanzhao’s face immediately froze in place. I know that you want to compliment my big sister, but surely you don’t have to come around and berate me too, right?
Meanwhile, Zu An was finally coming to a realization why Chu Huanzhao was so rebellious the first time they met. She had been compared with her outstanding big sister ever since a young age, and no matter what she tried, she was unable to catch up with her footsteps at all. Anyone in her position would inevitably feel horrible about it.
On top of that, Chu Huanzhao had quite a cold personality too. All in all, this family really didn’t have any ordinary human. In a sense, it would appear that Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru weren’t really good at raising kids.
Oh well. Since she has an unhappy childhood, I guess I should try to take care of her a little more.
“You too, Zu An!” Qin Wanru was still in the midst of berating her daughter when she noticed how Zu An was watching all of these with a leisurely look on his face. She thought about all of the trouble that had occurred ever since Zu An joined the family, and her rage suddenly flurried. What are you acting so leisurely for? You’re worse than Huanzhao!
Zu An was astonished. He never thought that he would suddenly be implicated in this.
Meanwhile, Chu Huanzhao was glad to see that Zu An was there to tank the firepower. It looks like I’ll have a better life ahead of me now that my brother-in-law has joined the family.
“Yes, I’ll heed your teachings, mother-in-law,” replied Zu An obediently. He had already gotten a good grasp as to who was the one truly in charge here. In any case, there was no reason for him to provoke Qin Wanru if he could avoid doing so.
“Forget it!” Qin Wanru was going to tell Zu An to work harder, and that even if he couldn’t cultivate, he could at least help with the family business and alleviate Chu Chuyan’s stress. At the very least, Chu Chuyan’s talents wouldn’t go to waste.
However, she suddenly remembered Chu Chuyan’s intention for bringing him in and fell at a loss for words.
Given Zu An’s nature, it was a better use of time to tutor Huanzhao instead. She was more likely to be of help in the future. With such thoughts in mind, she directed her sharp eyes back to her second daughter and began nagging her.
Chu Huanzhao was stunned. Why do you nagging me?! Let me have my meal in peace, alright?
After dinner was over, Zu An returned back to his room to look at the Rage points he had earned. Be it for the upcoming Clans Tournament or the soon-to-open Ursae Dungeon which contains the Evanescent Lotus, he would need great power to back him up.
God knows what Yuan Wendong is planning for the Clans Tournament two days later.
Even though Yuan Wendong had been crushed by Pei Mianman, there was still no doubt that he was a fifth rank cultivator. If he were to pull some kind of despicable move to kill him on the dueling ring…
That doesn’t seem quite possible. I do have the Chu clan behind me after all.
However, it was still possible for him to feign carelessness to take one of his limbs or something. He had read plenty of novels in his previous life, and it was usually the offspring of noble clans that were the most despicable of all.
While Chu Chuyan did promise to ensure his safety, it wasn’t like Zu An to put all of his eggs in one basket. Becoming strong himself was the real way to go.
Including the points he had saved up from the last draw, he had 88,018 Rage points at the moment. Most of them came from the crowd when Jiang Luofu announced that he was going to take over Yang Wei as Brightmoon Academy’s arithmetic teacher.
Hehe, I sure was sharp-witted to immediately capitalize on the situation to trigger them.
Zu An was quite gleeful about it. At the same time, he affirmed his previous thoughts that it was inefficient for him to squeeze Rage points out of an individual. It was much better juicing a crowd simultaneously. To be honest, the academy still wasn’t a large enough stage for him to truly shine. A day would eventually come where he would stand before thousands and squeeze out the Rage points from them.
Just thinking about it makes me a little excited.
Old rules, he started off by washing his hands and face before beginning to draw the lottery.
As expected, he received a series of ‘Thanks for playing!’.
However, Zu An had already gotten used to it. He simply continued drawing the lottery, watching as the light marker flew across the various keys on the keyboard.
Thanks for participating… Ki Fruit… Thanks for participating… Thanks for participating… Ki Fruit… Whatcha Staring At… Thanks for participating… Ki Fruit…
Zu An was starting to feel that drawing the lottery was really quite troublesome. If a day came where he managed to amass several million Rage points, he would probably draw it till his hands broke.
Hm? Wait a moment, I think I just got something weird?
Zu An took a look at his own logs and realized that he had managed to draw a new skill.
He was initially still feeling a little lethargic, but his body immediately shot upright when he realized that he had gotten something. The last few skills he obtained were all pretty useful, so he couldn’t help but wonder what the new skill would be.
He saw that the keyboard’s letter ‘N’ was lit up. He tapped down on it, and he saw three words: Whatcha Staring At.
Zu An was stunned. Is the keyboard mocking me here?
He pressed the letter ‘N’ once more, but the same three words continued to linger on the screen, as if mocking his foolishness.
“What the hell? I’m staring at you, shithead! What about it?” Zu An roared angrily.
Ding~
As if some sort of condition had been fulfilled, several more lines appeared on the screen.
“Congratulations on obtaining the skill: Whatcha Staring At!”
Skill Effect: It’s said that this is a taboo phrase in a certain region. Once used, it’ll result in a calamity of bloodshed. Whenever you use this skill, the target will reply you with “I’m staring at you shithead! What about it?”
Zu An blinked his eyes in confusion. Is that all? Nothing else?
Unwilling to give up, he squinted to see if there were any hidden words in small print or something, but there was nothing else.
What’s with this shitty skill?! What’s the use of making the other party say a couple of words?!