Chapter 950: Rigorous Schemes

“What… the hell?” Chi Tu was someone who roamed the underworld scene too, so he quickly realized that the one in front of him wasn’t Zhao Zhi. He was shocked and furious, exclaiming, “You dare to impersonate King Qi’s heir? King Qi would never let you go if he found out!”

You have successfully trolled Chi Tu for +666 +666 +666…

Zu An chuckled. “I’ve already offended King Qi in more ways that you can imagine anyway, so this wonn’t make much of a difference.”

Chi Tu was stunned when he heard that Zu An didn’t even fear King Qi. He quickly added, “But you made a vow! Heavenly dao isn’t something you can disrespect. You’ll suffer retribution for going back on your word!”

You have successfully trolled Chu Tu for +888 +888 +888…

Zu An sighed and said, “I’m seriously amazed. How can someone like you who lives in this kind of world not know that there are loopholes to vows?” After collecting a good amount of Rage points, Zu An knocked him out.

Fuck you! Which one of us is really the evil one here?! Chi Tu thought before he fainted.

Sang Qien was about to drag Chi Tu back, but she hesitated and stopped midway. Zu An couldn't help but chuckle when he noticed that, asking, “Little Qien, is there something you want to say?”

Sang Qien then said, “What Chi Tu said was actually true. You can’t mess with heavenly dao. Making a vow to the heavens is something extremely serious. Deliberately making loopholes in your vows like that might incur the rejection of heavenly dao. It’ll be really bad if you end up suffering from retribution as a result.”

Zu An laughed and said, “Little Qien, I didn’t expect you to worry so much about me.”

“Hmph, do whatever you want. I don’t care.” Sang Qien harrumphed and left, blushing.

Zu An then replied, “Perhaps you might see this heavenly dao as a selfless and omniscient existence, but I don’t share that notion. The heavens aren’t kind; they merely view all things as the same. In the eyes of the world, good and evil don't exist; the heavens are only interested in maintaining the proper operation of the world. They won’t favor someone a bit more just because they followed the rules well, and they likewise won’t punish someone just because they tricked someone evil.”

“The heavens aren’t kind…” Sang Qien and Zheng Dan were shocked. They both began to think those words over. They felt as if they seemed to have gained something, but that feeling quickly vanished.

“What you just said seems to be quite profound, but there is one point where I beg to differ on.” Sang Qien was a smart girl. She soon thought of something and said, “The virtuous who do good works will often be repaid well in return, while on the contrary, the evil almost always suffer bad endings.”

Zu An explained with a smile, “That’s nothing more than a result of some of society’s customary conventions and rules. It doesn’t say anything about the will of the world itself.”

Sang Qien was stunned. She was just about to say something in return, but she suddenly realized that Zu An’s answer did make some sense.

Zu An said, “Even though the natural law of the world is sacred, it will only punish those who clearly violate their vows. I believe that you’ve all had a misunderstanding because you worship and fear the heavenly dao too much, so you haven’t thought about how there’s actually a lot of room for manipulation in between. For example, I’ve already encountered many bad people, and this kind of thing has happened all the time. Over time, I’ve picked it up as well.”

When he first picked up on that fact, he even felt as if making a vow in this world was pretty much useless. But when he really thought about it, he figured that if someone who was proficient in law transmigrated, these vows might really become extremely important.

His previous world was also a society that operated on contracts, but many people would already be thinking about how to break the contract as soon as it was made. Those lawyers’ jobs were precisely to think of ways to plug up all kinds of holes.

Zu An thought to himself that if he encountered a true professional, he would never dare to falsify a vow.

Zheng Dan spoke up and said, “Ah Zu, even though what you said makes a bit of sense, no one knows what’s really going on with heavenly dao. If you always walk along the river bank, your shoes will probably get wet. It would be way too late if you slipped up one day and incurred heavenly punishment! After all, there are many people in this world who care about your safety.”

Zu An was stunned. Only now did he realize that his attitude might have become a bit extreme. After all, nothing in the world was a hundred percent guaranteed. He broke out into cold sweat when he thought of that. He quickly thanked Zheng Dan. “Thank you for reminding me… Or else I might really screw myself over one day.”

Zheng Dan had thought that Zu An would persist with his previous attitude at first, but when she heard his agreement, she immediately had a big smile on her face.

Sang Qien rolled her eyes. These adulterers really are too much! Wasn’t I saying the same thing not too long ago? And yet that idiot didn’t treat it as a big deal at all. But my sister-in-law repeats those words and he immediately agrees? Do you really have to go that far to annoy me…

…

After they returned to the Sang manor, Sang Hong rushed over after hearing the news. When he saw the unconscious black robed man, he was shocked and asked, “What’s going on?”

Sang Qien gave him a rough summary of what happened. Sang Hong’s expression became ashen and he said, “The Hu clan has gone too far. Do they think our Sang clan is so easily bullied?!”

Zu An knew that half of Sang Hong’s feelings at the moment were true anger, while the other half was for Zheng Dan and her Zheng clan to see. Of course, he wouldn’t expose Sang Hong at this point. He said, “Respected uncle, I fear I’ll have to trouble you with the Hu clan’s matters after this.”

“But of course. This humble one has bided my time for so long that many people seem to have already forgotten what I’m capable of,” Sang Hong said coldly.

Zu An had personally seen how easily Sang Hong had manipulated and suppressed the Chu clan’s strength. He obviously didn’t have to worry about a trifling Hu clan. He added, “But there is something else that’s troublesome right now, which is that there’s someone claiming that Cloudcenter Duke’s younger brother plotted against his older brother. How should we report this to the emperor to get the most out of it?”

Sang Hong remained quiet for some time and said, “In my opinion, it might be better to not report it.”

“Why is that?” That was actually what Zu An had been thinking as well, but he hadn’t made his decision yet.

Sang Hong said seriously, “Do you think that by sending us to investigate Cloudcenter Duke’s case, his majesty is actually interested in knowing the truth?”

Zu An shook his head and replied, “He only wants to borrow this as a pretense to fully bring down the Yu clan.”

Sang Qien’s expression changed slightly, but she wasn’t too surprised when she heard Zu An’s analysis. After all, her father and Zu An had mentioned the emperor several times, and yet neither of them were particularly respectful. However, if these words were to be heard by a third party, they would immediately be accused of being utterly disgraceful. Looks like father has already decided for the Sang clan to fully side with Zu An.

Sang Hong spoke up and said, “Indeed. So in that case, his majesty will instead be unhappy if we deliver this man’s testimony, and he’ll even get annoyed that we’re being busybodies. Regardless of how he reacts, we’ll be putting ourselves in a bad situation.”

“Then respected uncle’s intention is…?” Zu An asked.

“Cripple any abilities he has and break his limbs. Lock him up in the manor, and both Qien’er and Dan’er will watch over him. Once we return from Cloudcenter Commandery, we’ll make our decision whether to use him or not depending on how the situation plays out,” Sang Hong said coldly.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Zu An inwardly clicked his tongue. Sang Hong was a ruthless man after all! If it were me, I would probably have just decided to give Chi Tu an easy death.

“Little sister Qien is going to remain in the capital? I was hoping that she’d come with us and help us with our work.” Zu An was actually a bit disappointed.

Sang Hong had an ambiguous smile on his face. Does this fella want Little Qien too? But he didn’t expose Zu An and said, “Worthy junior might not know about the court’s rules, but to prevent important subjects from having disloyal hearts, family members must remain in the capital.”

“So that’s why.” Zu An looked disappointed.

Off to the side, Zheng Dan’s face heated up a bit. Even she could tell that Zu An was up to no good.

Sang Qien rolled her eyes.

…

After locking up Chi Tu, Zu An saw that the sky was already getting dark, so he got up to say his goodbyes. However, Sang Hong held him back instead and said that he wanted to share a few drinks.

A while later, everyone in the group was starting to become a little buzzed. They somehow ended up talking about Sang Qian, and Sang Hong couldn't help but weep. After a long time had passed, he said, “I don’t know how long it’ll be before we’ll return from this trip… If Zheng Dan gives birth to Qian’er’s posthumous child, our Sang clan will have hope.”

Zu An scoffed inwardly. Did you go crazy? The two of them didn’t even properly complete their wedding ceremony, so how could they have a child? But he suddenly realized something. This old man was implying something else!

He was about to ask Sang Hong what he meant, but the other party had already collapsed from drinking too much. Sang Hong lay on the table, mumbling nonsense.

“Big brother Zu, pardon my father. He drank too much.” Sang Qien’s complexion wasn’t so good either, but she still got up to help her father. “I’ll bring him back to his room. Sister-in-law, I’ll have to trouble you to accompany him for a while,” she said, and left with her father afterward.

Because of the alcohol, Zheng Dan’s cheeks were red. She harrumphed under her breath, “Who makes their sister-in-law accompany another man? What the heck am I even doing…”

The maids had already been chased off by Sang Hong a while before, so it was only the two of them left in the room. Zu An no longer had so many misgivings and moved over, wrapping his arm around her waist. He remarked, “When did I become an outsider?”

Zheng Dan harrumphed and quickly pushed him away. “We’re still in the Sang clan! Behave yourself.”

…

Meanwhile, in another room, Sang Qien tossed her father onto a chair in annoyance, asking, “Are you really that impatient, father?”

Sang Hong opened his eyes, but there wasn’t even a trace of drunkenness in his expression. He said, “I have no choice. This trip to Cloudcenter Commandery will take at least half a year. If she got pregnant after that, not even a fool would believe that it was Qian’er’s posthumous child.”

“I just can’t help but feel as if we’re letting my brother down, though.” Sang Qien bit her red lips, her expression extremely conflicted.

Sang Hong harrumphed. “Having no sons is the worst situation. Continuing the Sang clan’s legacy is what’s most important.”

Sang Qien began to panic as well. She finally voiced her misgivings. “But even if sister-in-law got pregnant, the child would have no blood relation to the Sang clan! In that case, why don’t we adopt a child? It’s better than doing something humiliating like this.”

Sang Hong gave her a calm look. After a momentary pause, he said, “There is a way to make the child have something to do with the Sang clan…”