Sun Chu hadn’t expected Qi Yanzhou to be so easily embarrassed by teasing. He hurried after him and stepped in front of him.
“If you don’t mind sleeping with another man, then I don’t mind sharing a bed with you either.”
His bed was for him alone!
A sentence Sun Chu had once said suddenly surfaced in Qi Yanzhou’s mind.
“I’m allergic to women.”
He immediately stopped in his tracks, turned around, and returned to the bridal chamber.
“Have someone take away all this messy junk from the room.”
Hearing the anger in Qi Yanzhou’s voice, Sun Chu wisely agreed at once.
“All right. I’ll have someone clean it up.”
The gambling house attendants were quick and efficient. Before long, they had removed all the intimate little toys meant for a married couple and cleared away the incense as well.
After the attendants left, Sun Chu asked, “What happened at the inn next door?”
They were some distance away. He had only heard a great deal of shouting, without making out the words.
Qi Yanzhou briefly explained what had happened.
Sun Chu clicked his tongue twice. “Su Chengzong is truly insane. He’s actually using robbery to amass wealth!”
“What he wants isn’t merely money. He wants lives, too.”
If only the silver were stolen, the victims would surely report it to the authorities.
And if too many people reported such crimes, panic would spread—and it would become much easier to uncover the truth.
So making both the people and their money disappear would avoid a great many complications.
After listening to Qi Yanzhou’s explanation, Sun Chu said grimly, “Now that you’ve exposed the soldiers’ involvement in posing as bandits, Su Chengzong should lie low for a while.”
Qi Yanzhou nodded. “It also gives Song Jingning the perfect opportunity to spread word that Su Chengzong is plotting rebellion.”
“How is your brain even made? It works far too well.”
“If you’d been born into the Qi family, where every step is like walking on thin ice, you wouldn’t be any less sharp.”
Sun Chu waved both hands in refusal. “No, thank you. Scheming and political maneuvering aren’t for me.”
Qi Yanzhou gave a self-mocking smile.
“A wise ruler and worthy ministers—that is what the Qi family has always sought. Sadly, apart from the Founding Emperor, no ruler has ever managed it.”
In truth, even in his later years, the Founding Emperor had begun to guard against the Qi family.
It was only because he still needed the Qi family to stabilize the frontier and drive back the northern barbarians that he had endured the charge of “a subject whose achievements overshadow the throne.”
Sun Chu sighed. “The imperial family’s realm was seized from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Of course emperors are naturally suspicious. After all, how could one tolerate another man sleeping soundly beside one’s bed?”
Having said that, he yawned.
“Su Xuerong has been very well protected by Su Chengzong. I’m still looking into her movements, and I probably won’t have any results until noon tomorrow. Get some sleep early.”
Qi Yanzhou grabbed Sun Chu just as he was about to leave.
“I sat in Li’s Wine Shop tonight and learned something. Find someone to verify it.”
“All right. Go on.”
“Su Xuerong may very well not be Su Chengzong’s daughter. If that’s true, then her mother, Concubine Fang, can be used to my advantage.”
Sun Chu had heard that rumor while investigating the Su family.
After Su Chengzong learned that people were questioning Su Xuerong’s parentage, he immediately performed a blood test with her to put an end to the rumors.
He had arranged the testing materials himself. There was no way anything could have gone wrong.
The result was that he and Su Xuerong were confirmed to be biological father and daughter.
What utter nonsense!
When Sun Chu heard that conclusion, he wanted nothing more than to fling his middle-school biology textbook in Su Chengzong’s face.
As long as two people had the same blood type, their blood would mix, right?
Besides, if blood remained in water for too long, pressure on the cell walls would cause them to rupture. Even blood of different types would eventually mix.
Of course, this “mixing” was only visible to the naked eye. Under a microscope, it would not truly be mixed.
So the moment Sun Chu heard this absurd method of verifying kinship, he immediately turned into a pedantic old scholar and began explaining the science to everyone around him.
And then...
He got slapped in the face.
Because—
The blood-drop kinship test was real.
He had sought out countless people to test it, determined to disprove the ridiculous conclusion.
Yet the results left him questioning his entire existence.
The scientifically grounded knowledge he had learned was actually at odds with the rules of this fictional world!
It was as though he lived inside a made-up novel: if the author decreed that blood-drop kinship tests worked, then they truly worked.
Sun Chu thought of many things, though only an instant had passed.
He said to Qi Yanzhou, “Su Chengzong and Su Xuerong have undergone a blood-drop kinship test. They are father and daughter.”
Qi Yanzhou rejected Sun Chu’s conclusion.
“A blood-drop test can only prove they are related. It cannot prove that they are father and daughter.”
Surprise appeared on Sun Chu’s face.
“You mean Concubine Fang’s fiancé was a close blood relative of Su Chengzong’s?”
“Whether that’s true or not, we’ll know once we investigate.”
If they truly were father and daughter, he would lose no more than a little time.
But if they were not, he was confident he could make Concubine Fang turn against them.
Qi Yanzhou believed that a woman who had been willing to die alongside her fiancé would never cling to life for the child of her enemy.
Sun Chu yawned repeatedly. “Fine. I’ll have the answer for you tomorrow.”
With that, he returned to his room and slammed the door shut hard enough to shake the walls.
As though he feared Qi Yanzhou might ask to share a bed with him.
Qi Yanzhou shut his own door and slept soundly through the night.
When he woke the next day, the sun was already high in the sky.
After washing up, he went down to the second floor for breakfast and overheard people discussing last night’s theft at the inn.
“What’s wrong with the prefect these days? His handling of cases is getting more and more absurd.”
“Exactly. The thief may have escaped, and no one lost anything, but that doesn’t mean they can pretend nothing happened!”
“The rumors must be true. That thief was one of General Su’s men, and General Su is planning a rebellion!”
“Shh! Don’t say that so carelessly. You could be charged for it.”
Seeing that rumors unfavorable to Su Chengzong had already begun to spread, Qi Yanzhou ate with peace of mind.
After finishing his meal, he went to find Sun Chu, only to discover that he was gone.
The inn manager told him that Sun Chu had been summoned away by government soldiers early that morning.
Apparently, Su Chengzong was displeased that Sun Chu had been staying at the Thousand Gold Gambling House, and had called him in for a warning.
As the person who had reported the case, Qi Yanzhou went to the prefectural office, hoping to meet Prefect Wu Changfeng.
But he could not even get through the gates.
A constable outside said, “You didn’t lose anything, so what are you doing at the prefectural office? The prefect is already investigating the thief. Go back and wait for news.”
“I know what the thief looked like. I can draw a portrait, which may help you catch him.”
“The prefectural office’s artist has already drawn one. No need for you to meddle. Move along, move along!”
Qi Yanzhou glanced at the yamen gates, which gaped like the jaws of some enormous beast, then turned and left.
He sensed someone following behind him, but paid no attention.
Su Chengzong had suffered a loss at the hands of a mere “peddler,” and would certainly not let the matter go. He would want to kill him to vent his anger.
So he had avoided bringing trouble upon himself and returned to the Qianjin Gambling House.
***
At that moment,
Sun Chu was “visiting” the Su residence.
Su Chengzong held a teacup in one hand and used the lid in the other to stir the tea.
The lid tapped against the cup with a crisp sound, creating an invisible pressure in the room.
Sun Chu acted as though he felt nothing. He sipped his tea leisurely, offering a comment now and then.
“General Su, I have some top-grade Yunwu tea that just arrived. It has an excellent flavor. I’ll send some over to you later.”
The implication was that the tea at the Su residence was no good.
Su Chengzong was already in a foul mood. Hearing this, his expression darkened at once.
“Master Sun, the situation across the realm is about to descend into chaos. Your thirty percent share of the profits won’t be enough to keep you safe. This general wants another twenty percent!”
Sun Chu pretended to be frightened, and the cup in his hand slipped from his grasp.
The fine white-jade cup struck the floor and shattered.
Tea splashed everywhere, and its fragrance spread through the room.
“General Su, I can’t afford to give you half the gross profits. I’d be losing money!”
Su Chengzong stared at the broken shards on the floor, his heart aching.
That had been his favorite teacup!
But the thought that he could later extract ten or even a hundred times its value from Sun Chu immediately lifted his spirits.
“Master Sun must be joking. A gambling house is a business that makes money without any capital. Even if I demanded sixty percent, you still wouldn’t lose money.”
Sun Chu’s lips twitched speechlessly.
“General Su must be joking. I have more than a hundred people to support, not to mention the cost of all the materials and supplies. Altogether, I spent more than five hundred thousand taels building the gambling house. After deducting operating expenses and the shares given to all the officials, it would take ten years just to break even.
“You ask for another twenty percent of the gross profits with a single sentence. I truly can’t afford it. If you don’t believe me, you can check the account books.”
Since the gambling house had to distribute shares to the prefect, the provincial inspector, and the commander of the garrison, each of the three men had appointed someone to oversee the accounts, lest Sun Chu falsify them.
What they did not know was that money could make even ghosts turn millstones—Sun Chu had bribed all three accountants long ago.
From beginning to end, the account books shown to the authorities had been fake!
It appeared that he was giving away thirty percent, but in reality, he was not even giving away ten.
Trying to play mind games with a merchant? Ridiculous!
Su Chengzong had no idea there was anything wrong with the account books.
Thus, from his perspective, demanding fifty percent of the gross profits was indeed asking for a little too much.
But what did that have to do with him?
He did not know how long he could keep his ambitions hidden, and he had to obtain more silver as quickly as possible.
So he pretended to compromise.
“This general knows that things are difficult for Master Sun. How about this? I’ll ask for only another ten percent—but you must pay me a year’s share all at once.”
Sun Chu was practically knocked in the face by the beads of General Su’s abacus. He rolled his eyes inwardly.
He picked up an overturned cup from the table and poured himself some tea.
“General Su, you know perfectly well how much my gambling house earns in a year. If I give you another ten percent of the gross profits, I won’t have a single copper left as compensation for my efforts. What would be the point?”
Seeing that Sun Chu was still refusing, Su Chengzong slammed his cup down on the table.
“Master Sun, I’m not discussing this with you!”
Sun Chu had not expected Su Chengzong’s attitude to be so forceful.
He took a leisurely sip of tea and asked, “What if I refuse?”
Su Chengzong smiled. “People die every day in this world.”
Sun Chu’s expression darkened. “Is General Su planning to take the Qianjin Gambling House for himself?”
“You misunderstand, Master Sun. This general is merely reminding you that the world is no longer peaceful. You should be careful when you leave the house from now on.”
“So the people who broke into the inn last night were your men, General?”
Su Chengzong narrowed his eyes. “Mind your words, Master Sun!”
After issuing his threat, he returned to the matter at hand.
“One-tenth of the gross profits. Are you giving it to me or not, Master Sun?”
Sun Chu set down his teacup and looked at Su Chengzong’s cold expression.
“General Su, let’s make a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“You want so much money because you’re recruiting troops and buying horses, don’t you?”
The moment those words were spoken, Su Chengzong’s expression changed dramatically. He immediately drew a dagger from his boot and pressed it against Sun Chu’s neck.
“If you want to die, don’t drag this general down with you!”
The sharp blade cut into his skin, and blood spread across his pale robe.
Ignoring the pain, Sun Chu smiled. “Don’t panic, General. Let me finish speaking before you decide whether to kill me.”
Su Chengzong eased the pressure of the blade slightly.
“If what you say fails to satisfy me, you won’t be leaving the Su residence today!”
“General Su should know very well that I own gambling houses and restaurants in the prefectures north of the capital. The money I’m offering you is only a small portion of my earnings. Even if you seize my gambling houses, you still won’t make the amount of money you want.”
Those words struck a chord with Su Chengzong.
Maintaining an army required an enormous amount of money.
That was why he had resorted to every possible means to steal and plunder.
“Go on.”
Sun Chu took the bloodstained dagger away and covered the wound on his neck with one hand.
“General Su, let’s work together.”
“How?”
“I want the Wan Neng Consortium to become an imperial merchant and earn every last coin in the realm. If you can help me achieve that, I’ll give you one-tenth of the Wan Neng Consortium’s net profits.”
He was merely painting a rosy picture, but he did it effortlessly.
Su Chengzong, however, was stirred by Sun Chu’s words.
He knew all too well how wealthy Sun Chu was.
Even one-tenth of that fortune would be more wealth than he could ever spend. Half that amount would still be an inexhaustible mountain of gold and silver.
But the immense profit did not cloud his judgment. He was afraid Sun Chu was trying to trick him.
After all, merchants were notoriously cunning!
No matter how attractive Sun Chu’s promise sounded, it would be useless.
Once Sun Chu left Ningzhou City, Su Chengzong would have no way to control him.
“Master Sun, I’m willing to work with you, but you’ll have to show me your sincerity first.”
“That goes without saying. I’m willing to…”
Sun Chu was just about to say that he would offer a sum of money as a deposit when Su Chengzong cut him off.
“Master Sun, marry my daughter. With a marriage alliance between us, our cooperation will be much more secure.”
Sun Chu: “…”
He had only mentioned using a handsome man’s charms last night, and it had already come true today?
He hurriedly blurted out a complete fabrication. “General Su, to be honest, I’m fond of men.”
Su Chengzong was stunned for a moment before saying, “This general has quite a few sons born to concubines as well. Master Sun may choose one or two as you please.”
Sun Chu: “!!!”
Su Chengzong was completely insane!
“General Su…”
Hearing the refusal in Sun Chu’s voice, Su Chengzong once again pressed the dagger against the other side of his neck.
“What? Do you think this general’s sons are beneath you, Master Sun?”
He had taken nearly twenty concubines and had a whole brood of illegitimate sons and daughters. Using a few of them for his own purposes was hardly a burden.
Seeing that Su Chengzong had lost his temper, Sun Chu hurriedly said, “General Su, you misunderstand. I’m only worried that your son might be wronged.”
“Wronged? This general happens to have a son who also prefers men.”
Sun Chu: “...?”
There was simply no way to continue this conversation.
“Thank you for General Su’s kindness. I’ll come visit another day when the time is right and meet your son.”
“No need to wait for another day. Today will do.”
Su Chengzong really did have a son who liked men—delicate as a willow in the breeze, with an almost feminine face.
When he first discovered it, he had nearly beaten the boy to death.
Later, remembering that quite a few officials shared the same proclivities, he swallowed his disgust and kept the boy alive.
Now, that son had finally come in handy.
Before long, Su Chengzong’s illegitimate son, Su Rui, arrived.
He had an unmistakably sissy air about him.
Sun Chu found the sight extremely uncomfortable.
He wanted nothing more than to slap himself twice.
Why had he run his mouth?!
Under Su Chengzong’s coercion, Sun Chu could only agree to marry Su Rui. They agreed that he would return with the betrothal gifts in five days.
Su Rui was very pleased with the tall and handsome Sun Chu and kept pressing himself against him.
Sun Chu was covered in goosebumps.
To prevent people from gossiping, Su Rui would marry Sun Chu in the role of the bride.
Su Chengzong was even throwing in one of his illegitimate daughters, whose sole purpose would be to bear Sun Chu a son to inherit his estate.
Sun Chu’s entire worldview had been shattered.
While dodging the clingy Su Rui, he cursed the Su family’s ancestors to the eighteenth generation in his heart.
“General Su, it’s getting late. I’ll take my leave.”
“You still call me General Su?”
Sun Chu clenched his back teeth and forced out two words.
“Father-in-law.”
Su Chengzong nodded in satisfaction. “Go home. Don’t even think about running away. I’ll have people keep an eye on you.”
“Rest assured, Father-in-law. Merchants value their word. I will never go back on mine.”
Sun Chu finished speaking and was about to leave when Su Chengzong called him back.
“A-Chu, there’s a Liangzhou merchant staying at your gambling house who’s been selling barley liquor on the side. Get rid of him for me.”
“Father-in-law, you mustn’t. If this man dies at the gambling house and I marry your son right afterward, everyone will assume you were behind it. The rumors we worked so hard to suppress will only spread more viciously.”
Su Chengzong slammed his palm down on the table.
“Am I supposed to swallow this insult?”
“Of course not. He’s merely a merchant who doesn’t know his place, so naturally he can be killed. We simply need to choose the right time.”
“This matter is in your hands. Take care of it before you bring the betrothal gifts.”
Sun Chu bowed. “Yes, Father-in-law. I’ll be going now.”
With that, he fled the Su residence as though escaping for his life.
Feeling thoroughly cursed, he decided to pay a visit to Wanfu Temple to burn incense and pray to Buddha.
While he was there, he could also investigate Su Xuerong’s background.
Wanfu Temple stood in the southeastern corner of Ningzhou City. It occupied an enormous area and had been built to resemble an imperial garden.
It had everything one could ask for: winding corridors, pavilions and towers, meandering streams crossed by little bridges, gardens, and a lake for boating.
Su Chengzong had spent several years having it built so that his daughter, Su Xuerong, could recuperate there.
Sun Chu had just reached the alley leading to Wanfu Temple when he saw a carriage that had lost control hurtling toward him.
The alley was quite broad, wide enough for two carriages to pass.
But the terrified horse charged wildly, knocking down several civilians who failed to get out of the way.
A woman’s panicked cries rang out from inside the carriage.
“Help! Quickly, save my lady!”
Seeing the carriage barreling toward him, Sun Chu immediately leaped into action.
He caught a child who was nearly thrown into the carriage’s path and placed him in the arms of a terrified woman nearby.
Then he reached for the reins, trying to bring the carriage to a stop.
But a horse at full gallop was not so easy to control.
After several unsuccessful attempts, he decided to kill the horse.
A human life was more important than a horse’s.
Sun Chu pulled a soft, slender wire from his waist and looped it around the horse’s neck.
The wire was as sharp as a blade. Under the force of the charging horse, it sliced through its neck with ease.
The horse’s head fell to the ground, while its body continued running several steps under the momentum.
When the horse crashed to the ground, the carriage shaft slammed into the bluestone pavement, bringing the carriage to an abrupt stop.
Anyone inside would be thrown out by such a sudden halt.
If they landed on the ground, they would surely suffer life-threatening injuries.
With that thought, Sun Chu immediately leaped forward to save them.
But just as he reached the carriage door, a woman shot out from inside and collided with him, knocking him to the ground.
The next instant, she landed on top of him, nearly making him spit blood.
The wound on his neck, which had only just healed, split open again.
Then another woman tumbled out of the carriage.
Sun Chu suffered a second blow.
Dazed from being crushed beneath them, Sun Chu rolled his eyes and said irritably to the woman lying on top of him, “What are you waiting for? Get up!”
But the woman on top of him remained completely motionless.
“Don’t tell me she’s trying to scam me?”
The onlookers had no idea what “scam me” meant.
Seeing Sun Chu looking unwell, with blood running from his neck, they hurriedly sent the woman who had caught the child over to help and lift the two women up.
“Oh dear, this young lady doesn’t seem to be breathing!”
“Her face is so pale. She clearly isn’t alive!”
“Her body is still warm. She must have died only moments ago.”
“Could she have been crushed to death?”
The words frightened Sun Chu into sitting up at once. He reached out to feel for the woman’s pulse.
But the moment his hand touched her warm, delicate skin, it was forcefully slapped away.
“You lecher! Don’t touch my lady!”
Sun Chu: “…”
There was only so much a man could endure!
“You were the one shrieking for help from inside the carriage, telling me to save her! I saved her, and nearly suffered internal injuries from being crushed by her, yet you turn around and accuse me? Have you no shame?”
The maid ignored Sun Chu’s furious outburst. She immediately poured the medicine from the bottle in her arms—now shattered from the collision—onto the gauze of her skirt.
She picked up a black pill, wiped away the fragments of glass clinging to it, and quickly placed it in her mistress’s mouth.
But her mistress had already lost consciousness and was unable to swallow on her own.
Seeing this, the maid grew frantic, tears welling in her eyes.
She shouted at the crowd, “Go find a physician! Save my lady!”
The bystanders had already concluded that the pale-faced woman was dead.
But the maid refused to accept it.
“Miss, please accept our condolences!”
The maid flew into a rage and shouted, “Hurry and fetch a physician! If my general finds out that you stood by and watched his lady die, he’ll wipe out your entire clan!”
She knew that her lady was kindhearted and hated people who used their power to oppress others.
But desperate times called for desperate measures. Saving her life was what mattered most.
When the common folk heard that the person in trouble was General Su’s daughter, they hurried off to find a doctor.
Unfortunately, there was no clinic nearby, and it would take quite some time to make the trip there and back.
Sun Chu looked at the delicate young woman being held protectively by her maid and guessed her identity.
Su Xuerong!
He never would have imagined that the person he had gone to such lengths to find would appear before him so quickly—and on the verge of death, no less.
Talk about a pillow arriving just when he was feeling sleepy.
Rubbing the chest that had been struck painfully, he said to the maid, “I know medicine. I can get your young lady to swallow the drug.”
The maid eyed Sun Chu warily, suspecting that he was in league with the people who had harmed her mistress.
Otherwise, how could this be such a coincidence?
Sun Chu reminded her, “A doctor won’t be able to get here anytime soon. The sooner your young lady takes her medicine, the safer she’ll be. I’m acquainted with your general. I won’t harm her.”
The maid, of course, knew that her mistress had to take her medicine immediately whenever an attack struck. Otherwise, her life would be in danger.
She glared fiercely at Sun Chu and threatened, “If you’re lying, my general will tear you limb from limb!”
Sun Chu was utterly speechless at the clueless maid.
“When you’re asking someone for help, you should at least have the proper attitude. I’m not helping anymore. If your young lady dies, it’ll be your fault.”
After saying that, Sun Chu stood up, brushed the dust from his clothes, and headed toward Wanfu Temple.
The maid had assumed Sun Chu was merely putting on an act. She never expected him to keep walking farther and farther away.
She panicked at once.
“Young sir, please don’t go! This servant knows she was wrong. Please don’t hold it against me!”
“My young lady has been in poor health since childhood, but she has a kind heart. She’s a good person.”
“Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. Please, save my young lady!”
Sun Chu stopped and turned to look at the maid, amusement glinting in his eyes.
“That’s it?”
He wasn’t some selfless saint. After being insulted and threatened, he certainly wasn’t going to rush off to save her anyway.
If they wanted him to help, they would have to show enough sincerity.
He wasn’t some bargain-basement commodity!
