Translator: Pika
“I’m amazed, Mei Chaofeng. In order to frame me, you even went to the extent of killing your closest aide, Plum Blossom Thirteen. Aren’t you afraid that your deeds would chill the hearts of your subordinates?” asked Zu An.
“How dare you slander me when you’re the one who murdered Plum Blossom Thirteen?!” Mei Chaofeng raged. “It’s a known fact in Brightmoon City that you had Plum Blossom Thirteen’s limbs broken back then when he offended you!”
To be exact, Plum Blossom Thirteen’s limbs were broken by Discipline Master Lu De and Chu Chuyan, but these two people had extraordinary backgrounds, so Mei Chaofeng was reluctant to drag them into this matter. Thus, he neglected to elaborate on the exact details, choosing to focus on the fact that the incident happened under Zu An’s order.
Zu An could see through Mei Chaofeng’s intention, but it just so happened that he didn’t want to drag his wife into this matter, so he didn’t expose it. “Like you’ve said, I was the one who had Plum Blossom Thirteen’s limbs crippled back then. I’ve already exacted vengeance on him, so why would I bother killing him afterward?”
“That’s because Plum Blossom Thirteen is my strongest aide. You were afraid that you wouldn’t be a match for him once he recovers, so you decided to make a move in advance and eliminate him while he’s still incapacitated!” said Mei Chaofeng.
As those words were spoken, the friends and family of Plum Blossom Thirteen wailed indignantly as they charged toward Zu An, though the guards standing by the side of the court quickly stepped in to stop them,
“Silence!” Xie Yi smacked the wooden brick on the table once more to bring order back to the court.
“You must be kidding me. I’m able to defeat even a fifth rank cultivator, but you’re telling me that I’m afraid of a mere third rank cultivator?” replied Zu An.
“You only lucked out yesterday, that’s why you were able to defeat Yuan Wendong. Everyone knows that. Besides, there’s concrete evidence to prove that you were the one who killed Plum Blossom Thirteen, so there’s no way you can talk your way out of this!” Mei Chaofeng harrumphed.
“Oh? What evidence do you have?” asked Zu An curiously.
Mei Chaofeng first bowed to Xie Yi and the others before carrying on with his testimony, “Based on the autopsy, Plum Blossom Thirteen died under the academy’s Elementary Swordplay. I believe that City Lord Xie has already verified this matter personally.”
“You can say that every student in Brightmoon Academy knows the Elementary Swordplay. On what grounds are you insisting that Ah Zu is the murderer here?” questioned Chu Zhongtian.
Mei Chaofeng waved his hand, and his subordinate immediately brought a sword over. “The murderer was found by one of our patrolling disciples while he was assassinating Plum Blossom Thirteen, and he was almost surrounded. He fled in a hurry under the encirclement of my disciples and ended up leaving this sword behind.”
Chu Zhongtian’s eyes narrowed upon taking a closer examination of the sword. There was no way he wouldn’t recognize it to be the weapon Zu An used on the dueling ring yesterday.
Zu An shrugged calmly. “After the tournament yesterday, I casually tossed the sword over to a servant in the Chu clan and thought nothing of it afterward. It looks like you have managed to obtain it through bribing one of our servants.”
Chu Zhongtian’s face darkened. This, once again, affirmed the fact that there was a spy in their Chu clan. There wasn’t enough time for him and his wife to root out the spy yesterday, and their failure ended up creating an opening for their enemies to exploit.
Mei Chaofeng paid no heed to Zu An and carried on, “There were over a dozen people who witnessed your murder yesterday night. No matter how glib your tongue is, there’s no way you’re talking your way out of this!”
A group of people immediately rushed in and recounted what they saw yesterday night.
Unable to stand it anymore, Chu Zhongtian slammed the table and said, “Preposterous! It was just a moment ago we established that the testimony of kin cannot be used as evidence, but are we going to listen to their testimonies now? They’re all from the Plum Blossom Sect! There was no way they would dare to defy Mei Chaofeng openly in public!”
Mei Chaofeng smiled calmly and replied, “But we have concrete evidence aside from eyewitnesses. Zu An has a motive behind the murder too. Are you going to claim that all of this is a coincidence? Brightmoon Duke, you can’t be thinking of condoning a criminal just because he’s your son-in-law?”
Chu Zhongtian flew into a state of rage and roared at Mei Chaofeng, “Who do you think you are? How dare you speak to me in such a manner!”
He was usually a mild-tempered man, but the events over the last two days had really been challenging the limits of his patience. On top of that, he had never liked the Plum Blossom Sect due to their deeds in the city, so he finally lashed out at Mei Chaofeng’s gleeful attitude.
Mei Chaofeng immediately felt a tremendous force sweeping toward him, and he faltered fearfully. Even with his fifth rank cultivation, he found that he was on the verge of collapsing to the ground out of fright.
It was then that Sang Hong stood up and consoled Chu Zhongtian, “Brightmoon Duke, calm down! It’s beneath your standing to lash out at a civilian like this!”
Even though it looked like Sang Hong was advising Chu Zhongtian out of goodwill, in truth, he was warning the latter not to mess around here. On top of that, he also deflected the tremendous aura directed toward Mei Chaofeng too.
Xie Yi also stood up to mediate in the situation then, leaving Chu Zhongtian with no choice but to take a step back from the time being.
Even so, Mei Chaofeng’s face still remained pale. It wasn’t that easy to recover from the intimidating hostility coming from an eighth rank cultivator, such that Mei Chaofeng found himself unable to speak in a moment’s time.
Zu An took this time to think the matter through before remarking, “How intriguing. Based on what you’ve mentioned, I paid a visit to Yang Wei’s house to assassinate him before sneaking into the Plum Blossom Sect to kill Plum Blossom Thirteen. Wow, I never knew that I was such a busy man.”
“There’s nothing a vile man like you is incapable of!” Mei Chaofeng finally managed to calm his nerves to rebut Zu An. “Besides, haven’t you been cleansed of the suspicion of killing Lord Yang earlier on? That gives you more than enough time to pull off a kill on Plum Blossom Thirteen!”
“I see. So you’re acknowledging that I’m not the culprit behind Yang Wei’s death too. Got it. As for your argument that I have more than enough time, I’m afraid that you’re sorely mistaken.” Zu An’s tone suddenly changed at this point. “I was clearly working hard with my wife to bear offspring for the Chu clan last night. How could I have time to kill Plum Blossom Thirteen?
“Don’t you know how tough it is for me to marry such a beautiful wife? Every day, I wake up praying that the sun would set earlier so that my wife and I could get some private time together. What kind of a man would I be if I leave behind my beloved wife at home to handle other matters?”
“???” Chu Zhongtian.
He was utterly dumbfounded. Of course, he knew that Zu An was talking rubbish since he was aware that his daughter and son-in-law were still sleeping in separate rooms at the moment. However, how could he say it aloud at this point? Wouldn’t that be placing Zu An in danger?
But at the same time, those words had practically tarnished his daughter’s reputation...
Oh wait, they’re a married couple. It doesn’t look like a big deal for them to be sleeping together, right...?
Even so, it was incredibly weird for Chu Zhongtian to listen to his son-in-law talking about his lovey-dovey affairs with his daughter, especially in public...
A huge commotion immediately broke out amongst the crowd. Zu An might not have gone into detail, but a human’s vivid imagination was a powerful weapon that could easily fill in any gaps in information. The thought of the beautiful Chu Chuyan being ruined in the hands of a swine named Zu An made all of them turn green in envy.
You have successfully trolled Yang Shanwei for +233 Rage!
You have successfully trolled Xiao Qun for +233 Rage!
...
“Rubbish!” an infuriated howl sounded from the crowd.
Everyone turned their eyes over, only to see Shi Kun glaring at Zu An with reddened eyes.
You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +999 Rage!
Even though Shi Kun knew that Zu An was lying, he still couldn’t restrain the anger bubbling within him. The problem here wasn’t whether he knew Zu An was lying or not; it was whether the crowd knew it or not! At this rate, by the time he finally married Chu Chuyan in the future, everyone would think that he was just picking up a second-handed good from Zu An!
There was no way he could accept something like that!
“You have never consummated your marriage with Chu First Miss, so what are you bragging over there for?” roared Shi Kun.
Zu An shot a glance at Shi Kun before remarking leisurely, “What are you getting so agitated for? You can’t be coveting my wife here, are you? Tsk tsk tsk, is this how the Shi clan raises its offspring? Haaa~”
Shi Kun’s rage-o-meter immediately struck the limit. Bring me my fucking sword!
You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for +468 Rage!
Behind him, Snow quietly tugged his sleeves and reminded softly, “Young master, you need to hold it in, or else our plans will be compromised.”
Shi Kun took in a deep breath before slowly calming down. That’s right, Zu An is already done for over here. I should wait for the verdict to be passed before slowly settling the scores with him.
Zu An looked at Snow in surprise. Oh? It looks like she didn’t reveal my secret, or else Shit Kun wouldn’t have been so angry. Why is she concealing it for me?
Ah. Did she fall for me unknowingly?
Noticing Zu An’s stare, Snow returned a sharp glare back. It’s no wonder why the young master is so infuriated. Even I can’t help but want to pummel him every time I see his face!
You have successfully trolled Qiao Xueying for +520 Rage!
Zu An was amused by the number. Oh hoh! Despite her refusal, it looks like her feelings are much more honest! [1]
Seeing that Shi Kun was getting riled up, Mei Chaofeng quickly leaped in and said, “The testimony of kin cannot be taken as evidence. Besides, Zu An’s words carry falsehoods. Just ask anyone in the Chu clan; all of them know that he has been sleeping in separate rooms with Chu First Miss, so how could the latter testify for him? Look! Despite the important occasion, Chu First Miss is nowhere to be seen at all. This should be more than enough to prove how their relationship as a couple is like!”
“Who says that I’m not here?” a crisp and euphonious voice suddenly sounded from behind the crowd.
The crowd quickly turned around, only to see a beautiful woman dressed in blue slowly walking over like a fairy from heaven.
“So this is Chu First Miss~”
“She’s as ravishing as the rumors put her out to be!”
“If I had a wife like her, I would never get up from my bed anymore!”
“Yeah! Who would waste a precious night with such a beauty on killing a person instead? Only a fool would do that!”
...
The remarks coming from the crowd amazed Zu An. Despite all of the arguments he had made, it turned out that nothing was more convincing than Chu Chuyan’s appearance.
Chu Chuyan walked into the court and said, “There’s no need to investigate it anymore. He was sleeping with me last night.”
Those words stirred huge waves right away. Chu Zhongtian widened his eyes. Sang Hong choked on the cup of tea he was sipping on. Even Xie Yi was too shocked to slam the wooden brick to demand order in the court.
“What?!” Shi Kun turned to Snow with a face distorted in rage. “Didn’t you tell me that there’s no way they will get together with one another?”
Snow was equally confused too. Could there be a huge advancement in the relationship between Chu Chuyan and Zu An in the last few days? But that was impossible!
Even Zu An was in no mood to stare at the massive influx of Rage points falling into his piggy bank. He, too, was staring at Chu Chuyan with his mouth agape. He didn’t expect her to stand up for him in this manner before such a huge crowd.
One must know that even though the two of them were married, there were rumors abound that they were sleeping in separate rooms. Due to that, she still remained as the lofty, pure fairy in everyone’s eyes.
However, her admittance to having slept with Zu An would break even the persistence of the most tenacious of fanboys in deluding themselves that she was still chaste.
She was actually willing to sacrifice her own reputation for me.
Zu An was moved by this gesture. It turned out that Chu Chuyan had a warm heart under her cold exterior.
Yup, I should do my best in the future to help her warm up her body too.
“Cough cough!” Xie Yi finally snapped out of his shock. He slammed the wooden brick on the table and demanded order. “Chu First Miss, the court is not a place for lies. Are you certain about what you have just said?”
“Naturally.” Chu Chuyan stood calmly at the center of the room as a light breeze tugged on her dress gently. The crowd found themselves falling intoxicated under her ethereal beauty. “Also, I’ve brought in a new eyewitness.”
“A new eyewitness?”
Putting aside Chu Zhongtian, even Shi Kun and the others were confused. They couldn’t imagine they could turn the tables with the evidence they had thoroughly prepared to incriminate Zu An.
“Bring in the eyewitness!” ordered Xie Yi.
Chu Chuyan nodded in response, and the guards of the Chu clan quickly escorted a person in. Mei Chaofeng was still standing confidently a moment ago, but when he saw the eyewitness Chu Chyan had brought over, his composure shattered right away.
1. The Rage points Snow provided, 520, means ‘I love you’ in Chinese.
😉