Chapter 34: Infiltration

Her voice preceded her, and the person who entered was none other than Qin Wanru, the matriarch of the Chu family. As soon as she stepped inside, she glared furiously at Zu An.

Qin Wanru's rage score increased by 478.

Zu An was startled, wondering how she had so quickly learned of his truancy. Then he noticed Cheng Shoubing, who was furtively hiding behind her, and Zu An nearly exploded with rage. That scoundrel truly had a knack for snitching.

"I don't want to go to school," Zu An said, bracing himself against Qin Wanru's murderous gaze. He knew he had to fight for his own rights, though whether he would succeed was another matter.

"That's not up to you!" Qin Wanru said, her face cold. "You *will* go tomorrow. I'll send someone to follow you every step of the way. If you try any more tricks, don't blame me for being harsh!"

She let out a cold snort, turned, and took a few steps. Then, feeling unsatisfied, she turned back. "Today's incident won't be easily overlooked," she declared. "Go to the confinement room and copy the family rules 100 times, not one less!"

"Family rules?" Zu An was speechless, never imagining that a scene he'd only witnessed in TV dramas would befall him.

Cheng Shoubing hid to the side, covering his mouth and chuckling, clearly gloating. Qin Wanru saw him and snorted coldly.

"The Young Master-in-law skipped school today, and you failed in your duty of supervision. Since you're laughing so happily, you can copy them with him."

Cheng Shoubing was utterly bewildered. He suddenly felt like a bystander watching others put out a fire, only to realize his own house was ablaze.

Chu Huanzhao, who was standing nearby, stuck out her tongue. She quickly ran over and linked arms with her mother. "Mother," she said, "perhaps Brother-in-law is just unaccustomed to school for now. Maybe he'll get used to it in a few days. Don't be angry."

"What did you call him?" Qin Wanru asked, her brows furrowing instantly.

"Bro... Brother-in-law," Chu Huanzhao stammered, her face flushing. After all, losing the bet had been quite disgraceful.

"That good-for-nothing can hardly be called your brother-in-law. You are not to call him that again, understand?" Qin Wanru glared at her daughter. She was already annoyed enough, and now her daughter was siding with an outsider.

"Oh," Chu Huanzhao mumbled, quietly making a face at Zu An, signaling that she wasn't reneging on their bet, but rather that her mother's words were absolute.

Qin Wanru grabbed her daughter's hand and led her out. "Come back with me," she said. "In the future, have less contact with people like him, lest you be led astray."

Watching the Chu matriarch leave in a huff, Zu An was perplexed. If she despised him so much, why had she chosen him as a son-in-law? This Chu matriarch was indeed beautiful, but far too fierce. No wonder Chu Zhongtian hadn't taken any concubines all these years. He felt deep sympathy for his nominal father-in-law. At the same time, he wondered if Ji Dengtu had masochistic tendencies, to harbor improper thoughts about such a woman.

Just then, Old Man Mi's voice rang out: "If you skip school again tomorrow, I'll break your legs." After saying that, he hunched his back and left.

Zu An was startled; the old man's tone didn't sound like he was joking at all.

After the others had left, Cheng Shoubing immediately exclaimed, "He's gone too far! A mere gardener dares to shout at you like that, Young Master-in-law? Don't worry, I'll go report him to the matriarch and have her teach that Old Man Mi a good lesson."

He was about to run out after speaking, but Zu An grabbed his collar and pulled him back. "Looks like you're quite familiar with snitching to the matriarch," he said.

Cheng Shoubing immediately dropped to his knees and tightly hugged Zu An's leg. "Young Master-in-law, you misunderstand!" he wailed. "I didn't see you at the school gate after class and was worried you might be in danger, so I immediately informed the matriarch to come rescue you. My admiration for you flows like an endless river, and my loyalty is as clear as the sun and moon, verifiable by heaven and earth!"

Zu An was immediately amused. "So, I should thank you, then?" he said.

Cheng Shoubing immediately said with a fawning smile, "How could this humble one deserve such thanks? I'd be satisfied as long as you don't get too angry and harm yourself, Young Master-in-law."

"Logically, with your flattering skills, you shouldn't be doing so poorly," Zu An mused. "Did you offend the matriarch somehow?" He recalled that the Chu matriarch had also punished Cheng Shoubing with the family rules just before leaving, and something felt off.

"No, how could this humble one dare to offend the matriarch?" Cheng Shoubing said, shaking his head like a rattle-drum. "Back when the matriarch and the master talked about taking concubines for him, I even went around to scout for suitable girls for the matriarch to review."

Zu An suddenly understood. The Chu matriarch had probably just said it casually, yet he had actually gone and found a bunch of potential concubines. It was merciful enough that she hadn't had him beaten to death with a stick.

"Young Master-in-law, let's hurry to the quiet room and copy the family rules," Cheng Shoubing said with a pained expression. "Otherwise, if we don't finish, the matriarch will punish us again."

"What's the rush? They're just family rules. How much time could they take?" Zu An thought about how he used to copy class rules countless times in elementary school. There were only about ten of them anyway, and with his hand speed, it would be a piece of cake. If he had a computer to type on, let alone 100 times, even 1000 times wouldn't take long... Wait, there's no difference between one time and a thousand times, is there? He'd almost forgotten about copy-pasting on a computer. He wondered if his 'keyboard' would ever have features like Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V in the future.

Although he was dismissive of copying the family rules, he couldn't resist Cheng Shoubing's incessant pleas. So he reluctantly followed him. After all, the Chu matriarch had punished him, so he still had to put on a show.

Following Cheng Shoubing, he arrived at the quiet room. The quiet room was used by the Chu family to punish clan members, similar to the solitary confinement cells in prisons of his previous life, though its environment was, of course, much better.

"This name sounds terrible, like a eunuch's chamber," Zu An grumbled, not without malice.

"Young Master-in-law, stop talking nonsense and start copying," Cheng Shoubing said with a mournful face. "Otherwise, we won't be able to sleep tonight."

"It's just copying the family rules 100 times, what's the big deal?" Zu An rolled his eyes. This guy clearly hadn't seen much writing. In his previous life, which novelist's input method didn't accumulate tens of millions of characters?

"Where are the family rules?" Zu An asked, looking around and searching the bookshelves.

"Over there," Cheng Shoubing said, pointing a finger at the wall. He thought, *Seeing the Young Master-in-law's naive expression, he probably doesn't realize how serious this problem is.*

Zu An turned to look. "Oh my goodness!" he exclaimed. He saw a massive stone tablet hanging on the opposite wall, extending from the ceiling all the way to the floor. The entire tablet was covered with densely packed small characters, a rough estimate putting the total at several thousand. *What on earth is the Chu family doing? Do family rules really need this many characters? They must be intentionally setting up their descendants to fail.*

Cheng Shoubing looked like he was about to cry. He handed over the paper and brush. "Young Master-in-law, let's start copying," he said.

Zu An's eyes darted around. "Little Bottle, didn't you just declare your unwavering loyalty to me?" he said.

Cheng Shoubing immediately puffed out his chest. "Of course! My loyalty to Young Master-in-law is such that even heaven and earth can..."

Zu An cut him off directly. "Forget heaven and earth," he said. "Now's a good chance for you to prove your loyalty." As he spoke, he tucked the paper and brush back into Cheng Shoubing's arms, then patted his shoulder. "You've worked hard," he said.

Cheng Shoubing was utterly bewildered once more. Looking at the densely packed family rules on the wall, Cheng Shoubing was on the verge of tears. "Young Master-in-law, I really can't," he wailed. "There's so much, I can't possibly copy it all by myself."

"A man can't say he can't," Zu An encouraged. "Trust me, you can do it." Seeing his disbelief, Zu An knew such encouragement was too hollow. After a moment's thought, he added, "If you copy this for me now, I'll create opportunities for you to be alone with Xue'er in the future."

"Really?" Cheng Shoubing's eyes lit up.

Zu An nodded. "Of course it's real. Think about it, I'm the husband of the Chu family's eldest daughter. We'll naturally need private time together to talk. Won't that give you and Xue'er opportunities to be alone?"

Cheng Shoubing was instantly moved to tears of gratitude, seizing Zu An's hand. "Young Master-in-law, you're so good to me!" he exclaimed.

Zu An felt a chill and quickly pulled his hand away. "Don't be so cringeworthy," he said. "Get to copying. I'm going out for a walk."

Having just mentioned Xue'er, he suddenly realized that Chu Chuyan had been out on business these past two days, and as her personal maid, Xue'er must have gone with her. This was the perfect opportunity to search their room for clues about who wanted to kill him. As the Chu family's Young Master-in-law, although many in the mansion secretly looked down on him, openly, no one would stop or question him if he moved around the estate.

He made his way to the small courtyard where Chu Chuyan's boudoir was located. Fortunately, she always preferred quiet, and usually only Xue'er attended to her. Otherwise, it would be hard for him to sneak in without being noticed by the other maids in the courtyard.

He pushed the door. It didn't budge. It was indeed locked.

"Who is this meant to keep out?" Zu An muttered. But this wouldn't stump him; he had come prepared. He looked around to make sure no one was nearby. Then he pulled out a black cloth and tied it over his face. Otherwise, if he were caught sneaking into his wife's room like this, it would be too embarrassing. He then circled around to a secluded window. He pulled out a dagger from his pocket, inserted it into the crack between the window frames, and pried open the inner bolt.

"I may not have eaten pork, but I've seen pigs run," Zu An thought, recalling scenes from historical dramas he used to watch on TV, a smug look on his face.

He pushed open the window and jumped inside. Zu An caught a subtle fragrance, neither quite orchid nor musk, and couldn't help but secretly marvel that his nominal wife smelled quite good. The only pity was that he could only look but not touch. He had been here once before, so now, coming again, he was quite familiar with the way. He looked around the study but found nothing of value. Then he made his way to her bedroom.

His first instinct was to search the bed. That's how it was always shown in TV dramas; beds often had secret compartments. He didn't find any secret compartments in the end. Instead, he found a book under the pillow, titled *Sweet Pet Little Wife: The Tyrannical Sword Immortal's Ninety-Nine Days of Demanding Love*.

Zu An was left speechless. He remembered this was the book Chu Chuyan had secretly been reading in the carriage earlier. He couldn't help but pick it up and flip through it curiously. The content was quite similar to the sweet romance novels for female readers from his previous life. He suddenly noticed a delicate note written in elegant handwriting next to the content on one page: "Love, which arose I know not why, went so deep..."

Zu An's jaw nearly dropped. He never imagined his outwardly cold wife had such... a repressed yet passionate side.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Zu An mumbled as he quickly put the book back. He only breathed a sigh of relief after ensuring it was exactly where he found it. If that woman knew he had seen this, she would probably kill him to silence him.