Chapter 334: Before and After People

After Old Man Mi left, Zu An was pondering the secret relationships between several individuals and how he should respond.

Suddenly, a faint, elegant fragrance wafted over him. He turned his head and saw Chu Chuyan standing beside him, her face frosty.

"Wife, why are you here?" Zu An was both surprised and delighted; it was rare for her to visit.

Chu Chuyan was exceptionally beautiful, and just seeing her every day would brighten his mood considerably.

"I heard you didn't come home yesterday?" Chu Chuyan's gaze swept around before finally settling on his clothes, as if deep in thought.

Zu An nodded. "Yesterday, Wang Yuanlong hosted a dinner. I took the drunk Wei Suo home, and he ended up throwing up all over me. The Wei family insisted I bathe and change there, and since it was too late, I just slept over."

"Oh," Chu Chuyan responded, then turned and left.

Rage points from Chu Chuyan: 233!

Zu An found it a bit strange. Why had she suddenly gotten angry? Before this, it was rare for her to give him any rage points, and even if she did, it was usually only a two-digit number. Lately, however, her temper seemed to have flared up much more often.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he smiled, "Wife, you didn't wait up for me all night, did you?"

Chu Chuyan's body stiffened, and a faint blush spread upwards from her neck. But she immediately spat, "Bah, don't flatter yourself." With that, she left even faster than before.

Zu An's smile grew wider. However, he realized that to complete Old Man Mi's task, he had given up a night in his beautiful wife's fragrant bed – quite a sacrifice indeed.

After breakfast, Cheng Shoubing came again to urge Zu An to go to school. As a page boy, this was his duty.

Zu An looked glum, thinking that going to school every day was quite a bother. Currently, there was little he could learn at the academy. After all, the miraculous cultivation methods he practiced couldn't be improved through school, so his attendance made little difference. Yet, he also held the position of a mathematics teacher. While a student occasionally skipping class wasn't a big deal, a teacher's absence was far too noticeable. His attendance rate had been quite low for some time. If it weren't for his good relationship with Jiang Luofu, he likely would have been fired as a teacher long ago.

"I should find an opportunity to ask the beautiful headmistress if I can keep a teacher's privileges without having to fulfill a teacher's duties." Zu An pondered this question until he left the house. He didn't think such a request was excessive; after all, society progressed precisely because of lazy people.

"Stinky brother-in-law, you ran off and left me alone again yesterday!" Chu Huanzhao, who had been waiting at the door, huffed angrily when she saw him.

Rage points from Chu Huanzhao: 232323…

Zu An gave an awkward smile. "Someone invited me for drinks, and you don't even drink. If I had really brought you, your mother and sister would have skinned me alive."

"Even so, you shouldn't have just left without a word!" Chu Huanzhao still remembered eagerly waiting for Zu An after class yesterday, only to be met by that idiot Cheng Shoubing.

"Alright, alright, it won't happen again next time," Zu An quickly replied.

Chu Huanzhao looked at him suspiciously. "Could it be that you deliberately avoided me yesterday because I caught you and Ji Xiaoxi having an affair?"

Zu An quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, glancing around. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that no one else was paying attention. "Lower your voice! For a young lady, it's quite unseemly to talk about 'affairs' so casually."

Chu Huanzhao snorted, "Of course, I'm not as well-behaved and elegant as that Ji Xiaoxi, am I?"

"This girl really won't quit..." Seeing her puffed-out cheeks, Zu An found it especially amusing and couldn't resist reaching out to pinch them. Chu Huanzhao was about to speak, but with his pinch, she let out a puff of air, and all her indignant words turned into meaningless whimpers.

She quickly slapped his hand away from her face, then glared at him, her face flushed. "Stinky brother-in-law!"

Zu An felt frustrated. She had cursed him, but where were the rage points? It seemed being too familiar wasn't always good. Did he have to hang her up and spank her to get any rage points now?

Behind them, the guards Jiao Shanhe, Feng Danu, and Zhou Lujun began to discuss among themselves:

"Isn't it a bit improper for the son-in-law to be so casually arm-in-arm with the second young lady, even hugging her?"

"What do you know? The second young lady herself hasn't said anything, so why are you so anxious?"

"I'm just worried that if the Madam finds out, she'll punish us!"

At the thought of Qin Wanru's ferocity and authority, the few of them shivered.

Cheng Shoubing, who was standing nearby, interjected, "Heh heh, you don't understand. From the looks of it, the son-in-law will marry the second young lady sooner or later. Then the Madam won't blame you, will she?"

The others suddenly understood:

"What you said makes a lot of sense!"

"The son-in-law is truly a role model for men."

"I really need to find a chance to ask him for advice; I can't even manage one wife at home."

Upon arriving at the academy, Chu Huanzhao suddenly exclaimed in surprise and ran to the school gate, looking curiously at Director Lu. "Oh, Director, what happened to your eye?"

Director Lu, who was usually so meticulous about his appearance, had a black eye today, as if he'd been punched. However, his cultivation was profound, and he was usually quite fierce. Who would dare hit him?

Director Lu awkwardly covered his left eye. "Last night, I accidentally bumped into a wall when I got up."

"Oh my, how hard must a wall be to leave our Director Lu looking like that?" At that moment, a playful voice chimed in. Bai Susu appeared, looking gloating.

"None of your business! Can't an old man be careless for once?" Director Lu and he had always been at odds, so he retorted immediately.

Bai Susu smiled "seductively." "Aren't I just concerned about your health as a colleague? But Director, you really need to take some tonics lately. Not only did a wall injure your eye, but getting up in the middle of the night also suggests a bit of kidney deficiency."

After he finished speaking, he swayed away with a charming gait, chuckling.

"He's so effeminate himself, yet he has the nerve to talk about others having kidney deficiency! Cough... leg!" Director Lu spat in disgust at his retreating back. "What are you looking at? Get inside!" Seeing a crowd of students watching, he felt incredibly annoyed. Last night, some lunatic had suddenly attacked him out of nowhere. Although the attacker's cultivation was much higher than his, they never delivered a killing blow. Instead, they toyed with him like a cat playing with a mouse from start to finish, as if testing his martial arts techniques. If he hadn't known Bai Susu through and through, he would have thought Bai Susu had hired that person to annoy him.

Chu Huanzhao stuck out her tongue at him and quickly pulled Zu An into the school.

Once inside the school, they each returned to their classrooms for lessons. Seeing Zu An, Wei Suo thanked him for the trouble of taking him home when he was completely drunk yesterday. Zu An naturally said it was no trouble and subtly inquired about the mysterious expert in Wei Suo's home. Unfortunately, while Wei Suo was extremely well-informed about all sorts of gossip, he knew absolutely nothing about his own family's affairs. Fearing he might appear too obvious, Zu An didn't dare to press further.

The next class was his mathematics lesson. Originally, the proud students of the Heavenly Class weren't very interested in such subjects. However, with the two beauties Xie Daoyun and Zheng Dan actively attending his class, a swarm of male students also flocked to it.

After class, Zu An found the two young women and said with a wry smile, "My dear young ladies, please don't come to my class anymore in the future."

"Why?" Xie Daoyun was puzzled, and Zheng Dan also looked at him in confusion.

Zu An sighed. "I could have slacked off during class, but you brought a whole crowd of admirers, forcing me to teach seriously. It's really tiring."

Xie Daoyun: "..."Zheng Dan: "..."

Xie Daoyun couldn't help but smile. "You truly are different from most people."

"Of course. Do most people have my dashing good looks?" Zu An replied.

Xie Daoyun was momentarily stunned, realizing she couldn't quite keep up with his line of thought.

Zheng Dan took her hand and led her away, whispering, "This guy's got something wrong in his head. Don't let him lead you astray."

"Is that so? I actually find him a bit special," Xie Daoyun said with a small smile. Thinking of his remarkable tune earlier and the literary talent he displayed last night, she couldn't resist glancing back at him. However, she saw him waving at her, which startled her into quickly turning her head away, her heart pounding furiously.

Zheng Dan's eyes darted around, then she leaned in and whispered something into her ear.

Xie Daoyun nodded. "Then you go ahead. I'll head back to the classroom."

Zheng Dan pretended to walk towards the restroom. Once Xie Daoyun's figure disappeared down the corridor, she immediately changed direction and approached Zu An.

Zu An said with a straight face, "Student, do you need something from me?"

Zheng Dan also maintained a demure expression. "Teacher, there was a question in class just now that I didn't quite understand. I'd like to ask you about it."

The students nearby listened, secretly impressed, thinking how diligent Miss Zheng was. No wonder she had been so outstanding since childhood. The Zheng family was involved in many businesses, so her curiosity about mathematics was not surprising.

The two walked along, with him explaining things. To outsiders, they looked like a dedicated teacher and a diligent, well-behaved student. When they reached a fork in the path, they tacitly turned into a secluded corner. Then Zheng Dan directly threw herself into his arms, and they began to passionately kiss.

In the shade of a distant tree, unnoticed by the two, an old man watched with a strange expression. "This son-in-law of the Chu family is truly something else..." He couldn't quite find the right adjective. He wasn't interested in such matters; in fact, he found them somewhat distasteful. Shaking his head, he looked in another direction within the academy, muttering to himself, "Who should I try next?"