Ol’ Third Du immediately panicked. “You can’t do this to me! I’m just following the young miss’…”
Kacha!
However, the guards were already prepared for this. With a single punch, they dislocated Ol’ Third Du’s lower jaw, causing his words to immediately turn into mumble jumble. There was no way to hear him clearly anymore.
“There’s no need for you to put up a pretense before me. Give me a straight answer, are you planning to pay up or not?” Zu An harrumphed.
“It goes without saying that we’ll pay you whatever you have earned!” There was still a smile on Zheng Guanxi’s face, but his hands were trembling. This was a million silver taels they were talking about here! The Four Seas Casino hadn’t even earned that much money ever since its establishment. “It’s just that the sum is too big for us to raise right away. Could we write down a debt note for you first?”
“Sure, but I’ll be expecting an annual interest rate of 40%,” replied Zu An with a nod.
Zheng Guanxi was shocked. “But you only demanded 10% from the Silverhook Casino back then!”
“That’s a different story. They owe me 7,500,000 silver taels and are unable to raise the money within a short period of time. However, the sum you owe me is much lower. Are you trying to tell me that your casino doesn’t have that much money despite having accepted my bet?” Zu An harrumphed.
It was fortunate that he had only betted 10,000 silver taels back then. Otherwise, he might not be able to get his money back.
“That’s right! Why the heck are you operating a casino when you can’t even pay your own customers?”
“I think that Ol’ Third Du’s action was simply a sign of the Four Seas Casino shirking payment!”
“Wow, it looks like the drafted son-in-law of the Chu clan is the nemesis of all casinos.”
“We should follow his lead next time around. He’s our lighthouse toward prosperity!”
…
The crowd pointed their fingers at Zheng Guanxi and criticized him, leaving him feeling incredibly flustered. All of a sudden, his body jerked a little, as if someone had suddenly whispered in his ears. Then, he turned to Zu An and said, “How about this? We’ll first pay you half of your winnings first, and as for the rest, we’ll write it down as a debt at a 20% interest rate. How does that sound?”
Zu An finally nodded in satisfaction. “You should have done that right from the start! Bring the money out!”
He hadn’t expected to be able to collect the full sum of money right away, so receiving 500,000 silver taels on the sum was already pretty good for him. One must know that he had only managed to squeeze 150,000 silver taels out of the Silverhook Casino the previous time.
In the casino’s secret room, Sang Qian gritted his teeth as he muttered furiously, “I really want to smash my fist into that man’s face.”
Zheng Dan shook her head helplessly and said, “He has Chu First Miss by his side. You won’t be able to touch him.”
Sang Qian eyed Zheng Dan suspiciously as he asked, “Why don’t you seem angry at all?”
“What’s there to get angry about? Our plan is to get close to him to steal the debt note anyway,” replied Zheng Dan as she looked at Zu An intently through the cracks of the door. “We’re just tucking our money with him for the time being. It won’t be long before we reclaim what we have lost and even more.”
Sang Qian nodded in agreement, “We’re counting on you then. You must make sure to protect yourself well. Remember, you mustn’t allow him to take advantage of you.”
“I know,” replied Zheng Dan.
“Also, we should make some adjustments to the rules of the casino. We shouldn’t offer such a high payout rate, and we should also put a cap on high payout bets. Otherwise, we might just be bankrupted by such freak accidents,” said Sang Qian.
He couldn’t let his wife clean up after him every single time. In the last few days, for some reason, he had been feeling jittery inside, as if he was going to get cuckolded.
…
After collecting their money and debt note, Zu An and the others prepared to return back to the estate. Zu An casually entrusted his banknotes over to Cheng Shouping, and it made the latter so excited that his hands wouldn’t stop trembling.
Zu An distributed some of the notes over to the guards too. The guards were hesitant to accept it at first, but seeing that Chu Chuyan wasn’t saying anything, they finally accepted it joyously. All of them had families to raise too, so additional money was naturally welcomed.
“Young master Zu, you look dashing today!”
“For some reason, he’s looking more and more compatible with our first miss.”
“In consideration of this banknote, I’ll reluctantly agree with that statement just this once.”
…
Zu An stuffed a stack of banknotes into Chu Chuyan’s hands too. “Here, your share.”
However, Chu Chuyan didn’t accept it. “I don’t need it.”
“What are you getting so courteous for? You played a huge part in collecting the debt too.” Zu An laughed heartily. “Now that I’m rich, it’s my turn to provide for you!”
“…” Chu Chuyan.
If he continues acting so haughtily, I think I really might give this fellow a good beating.
Even after returning back to the Chu Estate, Zu An remained so overjoyed that he didn’t sleep for the entire night. When he woke up the following day, he felt completely refreshed. The blue sky filled with white clouds looked more beautiful than ever, and even the air felt more refreshing than usual.
He was just about to set off to the academy to embark on another fruitful day when a bunch of constables suddenly charged into his residence and bellowed, “Zu An! You’re to follow us back to the yamen to be trialed for your crimes!” [1]
1. Yamen is the law enforcement department in ancient China, where trials are held under the supervision of an official, often the vice magistrate or magistrate himself.