The call connected quickly, and Chu Chuyan appeared in the mirror. Her appearance was just as beautiful as before, but she seemed a bit impatient this time. “Ah Zu, I really don’t have enough ki stones to chat idly with you! How about this? I’ll let you punish me however you want when I come back!”

Zu An’s heart stirred when he saw her embarrassment. However, there was something far more important right now. He quickly said, “There really is something urgent this time. Something happened to the Chu clan…”

He quickly told her about everything that had happened in the Chu Estate.

Chu Chuyan’s expression changed several times. “The General of the Imperial Guards, Liu Yao… He is a part of the empress’ core force. It seems as though the empress plans to reel in the net.”

“What should we do now? The Chu Estate has been completely locked down. I got Huanzhao to hide in the academy for now, but I really don’t have any ideas.” Zu An felt a huge headache coming on. He’d only been able to get rid of Old Mi and Wei Dan because of a lucky break.

Strictly speaking, he hadn’t been the one to get rid of those two. Wei Dan had been killed by Old Mi, and he had still been defeated by a dying Old Mi. If the possession hadn’t failed, he would’ve already left this world.

He wasn’t a god, and there was nothing he could do when faced with an expert at the pinnacle of ninth rank and an army of wolves. What could he possibly do?

“Don’t worry. The Chu clan has remained standing for hundreds of years. It’s not that easy to bring us down,” said Chu Chuyan.

Zu An was not in the mood for such trite reassurances.

Chu Chuyan suddenly said, “How many men did Liu Yao bring with him?”

“I don’t know the exact number, but I suspect there’s a few hundred,” Zu An replied.

“That’s good.” Chu Chuyan exhaled with relief.

Zu An couldn’t understand her reaction.

A general at the peak of the ninth rank, as well as a few hundred imperial guards. Why wasn’t she fazed by such a force?

“By the way, where’s Yue Shan?” Chu Chuyan asked.

“I heard that Yue Shan was also captured.” Zu An replied. He cursed inwardly. Yue Shan was only at the fifth rank. There was nothing he could do even if he hadn’t been captured.

Chu Chuyan said, “I need you to pay the Chu clan a visit and secretly contact my mother. Ask her for the military seal, and recall the Red Cloak Army from outside the city.”

Chu Zhongtian had passed the military seal to Qin Wanru before his capture.

Zu An knew that a military seal was needed to move any troops, if not all hell would easily break loose. His anxiety stemmed from a different matter entirely. “What are you trying to do, my wife? Are you going to openly start a rebellion?”

As someone from the modern world, he had many historical examples to use as reference. Starting a rebellion in the early stages of a mature, unified great dynasty was practically asking for death.

Add to that the fact that this was a world where the most powerful individual was the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, and officials were also placed in their positions depending on the strength of their cultivation. The highest ranking cultivator in the Chu clan was only at the eight rank! Like hell they were going to be able to fight with such odds.

Chu Chuyan smiled. “Our Chu clan existed even before the Zhou Dynasty, and we are in control of the crucial salt and iron resources. We were able to stand tall for a thousand years! Do you think this was possible because of individual strength?”

“How else?” Zu An blinked. He really was quite curious. Ever since he’d entered the Chu clan, he’d felt as though the Chu clan was just like a lump of dough. It seemed as though any other power could come in on a whim and give them a good kneading.

“It’s obviously because of our Red Cloak Army, which has been passed down from generation to generation!” A trace of fanaticism appeared on Chu Chuyan’s face. “As long as the Red Cloak Army still exists, our Chu clan will continue to exist! It seems our Chu clan has hidden our strength for so long that everyone really thinks of us as pushovers!”

“No matter how strong the Red Cloak Army is, their numbers are still limited,” Zu An couldn’t help but say. “Not only that, we will be openly rebelling if they start a fight with the imperial guard, and the emperor himself wields great power. I still can’t see a future for the Chu clan.”

Chu Chuyan couldn’t resist teasing him. “Who knew there would come a time when even you will feel weak?”

Zu An snorted. “If you really do want to rebel, then I’ll join you! Others have successfully taken down emperors with a shittier start. I refuse to believe that we can’t do the same, if we have such strength to begin with! In the future, I’ll be the emperor and you’ll be the empress!”

Chu Chuyan gave a frightened start. “You must not randomly speak about such things! There would be big trouble if any officials heard you! I'm not asking you to gather the Red Cloak Army to kill the imperial guards. We’ll just use them to scare Liu Yao enough that he won't go too far.”

“Intimidation?” Zu An was confused.

“Indeed.” Chu Chuyan explained. “The emperor must have a justifiable reason no matter what he does. He cannot do things on a whim. Otherwise, he could’ve easily taken down our Chu clan, considering how powerful he is. However, doing such a thing would shake the very foundations of his right to rule. After all, if he did such a thing to us, others might start to worry about their own safety. His seat as the emperor would become unstable.”

Zu An suddenly understood what was going on. No wonder he had to dispatch Sang Hong, who then used the Yuan clan to compete for the rights to the weapons market, and the Zheng clan to put pressure on their salt business. He used the issue of the salt permits to detain Chu Zhongtian, and then incited Hong Zhong and Chu Tiesheng into starting a rebellion. Not a single one of these schemes could be laid directly at the emperor’s feet, and yet they had all ended in failure.

He even sympathized a little with the emperor. He was clearly the strongest in the world, yet he still couldn’t do as he pleased.

“That is why recalling the Red Cloak Army serves as a warning for them to play by the rules, and to stop him from going too far, such as using torture to obtain confessions. At the same time, it will prevent him from treating my parents disrespectfully.”

Zu An was stunned when he heard all of this. “I suddenly feel as though it was a mistake to take you as my wife.”

Chu Chuyan’s face paled. “Why?”

“My wife is too smart!” Zu An replied. “It won’t be easy to play around in the future!”

Chu Chuyan glared daggers at him.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for 233 Rage points!

“I was joking!” Guiltily, Zu An changed the topic right away. “There’s still something that I don’t understand. Even if the Red Cloak Army intimidates them, Liu Yao will still be able to discover some information through his investigation as long as he remains persistent. After all, the shortfall in revenue resulting from the salt commissioners’ actions still exists.”

“That’s fine. We just need to stall for time,” replied Chu Chuyan.

“Stall for time?” Zu An was stunned.

Chu Chuyan smiled mysteriously. “You’ll understand soon enough.”

Zu An was still extremely puzzled after he hung up the call. But he knew that Chu Chuyan would never do anything without careful thought. As such, he cast aside his doubts and headed off to find Madam Chu.

When he returned to the Chu Estate, he discovered that the surrounding area had already been locked down. Of course, this didn’t hinder him at all.

He was already very familiar with the Chu Estate. Moreover, he was at the fifth rank, and even had the Mirror Mirage skill. Breaking through the cordon of these ordinary Imperial Guard troops posed no difficulty at all.

It was all fine, as long as he wasn’t unlucky enough to run into that ninth-ranked general.

He snuck into the courtyard and stopped near the gazebo in the rear garden. This was where he had been pushed into the water by Snow, and where he’d dragged her in after him.

Distracted by the sudden memory of Qiao Xueying, it took him a while to notice that there were two people talking in the gazebo.

One of them just happened to raise his head. He saw Zu An from a distance away.

Both of them were momentarily stunned. Then, one of them shouted out, “Zu An! That’s Zu An!”

“Damn you Hong Xingying!” Zu An cursed. He took off immediately.

A figure instantly rushed out of the gazebo, his speed many times faster.

The only one with such speed in the Chu Estate was that ninth-ranked general.

Zu An wanted to slap himself in the face. He’d watched so many movies in his past world—how could he possibly not know the price of planting such a bad flag?

He wished he had two more legs to aid him in running, but it was already too late. The other party was way too fast, and had closed the distance in the blink of an eye.

Liu Yao had been bemoaning the fact that he’d been unable to capture Zu An or Chu Second Miss earlier, and there was no way he would let Zu An slip through his fingers this time. He reached out his hand towards Zu An and closed his fist. The projection of a large hand appeared, and began to close in around his prey.