Chapter Eighty-Five: Blinded by Rage

From that moment on, he would trample over that brat’s corpse until Miss Green Verse looked at him with new eyes, until she understood that he, Zhou Leopard, was her destined husband, the man Heaven had ordained for her.

Zhou Leopard suppressed the rage surging in his chest and forced himself to speak with restraint.

“So you mean to issue a challenge?”

“Yes. Right now, send that brat a formal challenge. I want to beat him fair and square, and while I am at it, break his limbs and ruin him as a man. Then Miss Green Verse will never marry him again!”

“But, Young Master, you are at the seventh tier, while that live-in son-in-law is at the eighth. He may not accept. And even if he does, wouldn’t victory be unfair to us?”

The steward’s words made Zhou Leopard pause slightly. He frowned, then said, “Then find an eighth-tier expert from the family to take up the challenge. It is only a pity that I cannot personally break that son-in-law’s limbs.”

“Young Master, that son-in-law is unlikely to accept easily. After all, there is not a single advantage for him in this matter. If he loses, Miss Green Verse will look down on him; if he wins, he gains nothing.”

“As the saying goes, wealth moves the heart. We should use a tempting eighth-tier medicinal treasure to lure that son-in-law into accepting.”

“Good. Do as you say.”

“Oh, and when the time comes, invite Miss Green Verse as well. I want her to see with her own eyes how that son-in-law is reduced to a helpless weakling.”

The next morning.

Su Yang was washing up in Green Zither’s quarters when Wang Han entered with a challenge letter.

“Master, this is the challenge letter from Zhou Leopard, the illegitimate son of the Zhou family.”

“Who?” Su Yang said in surprise. “Zhou Leopard of the Zhou family? Do I know him?”

“I... I do not know that, Master. I was only told to deliver this challenge letter to you.”

Wang Han scratched his head as he spoke.

“Is the messenger still here?”

“Yes.”

“Bring him to the reception hall. I have something to ask him.”

“Yes, sir.”

Wang Han withdrew. Su Yang’s thoughts grew heavy; he truly could not understand how he had become entangled with the Zhou family, and with one of their second-generation heirs at that.

The sons of great clans never considered the consequences of their actions. They cared little even for small gains and losses, and were notoriously troublesome. Su Yang generally preferred to avoid any dealings with such people.

After washing up, Su Yang went to the reception hall and met Zhou Leopard’s steward: a man in his forties, dressed in black. Perhaps because he had spent so long bowing and scraping in the Zhou household, even when standing upright his back remained unconsciously bent.

“I wonder what sort of person from the Zhou family I am addressing?” Su Yang asked as soon as he entered.

“I am the old servant and steward of Young Master Zhou Leopard. I have come specifically to deliver a challenge letter. Three days from now, one of my Zhou family’s seventh-tier warriors will fight Master Su. If Master Su wins, my Zhou family is willing to present an eighth-tier medicinal treasure.”

Zhou Leopard’s steward said.

“Do I have some enmity with your young master?” Su Yang asked, frowning.

“No.”

“If there is no enmity between your young master and me, then why issue a challenge?”

“Master Su, are you preparing to take Miss Green Verse as your wife?”

“Yes.”

“My young master has also taken a liking to Miss Green Verse, yet who would have thought she had set her heart on you? Thus, he wishes to see just what sort of man could win Miss Green Verse’s regard.”

“But you are merely at the eighth tier, while my young master is at the seventh. If he defeats you, it would inevitably seem like a victory gained unfairly. Therefore, our Zhou family will send an eighth-tier fighter to battle you.”

Su Yang could not help sighing inwardly. Beautiful women truly were calamities. Yet Miss Green Verse had an A-grade bone aptitude, and even if he had to risk his life, he would have to contend seriously with this colossal Zhou family.

Still, victory would bring only one eighth-tier medicinal treasure?

Were they trying to send a beggar away with scraps?

The young heirs of great families never thought about the consequences, and that made them difficult to deal with; yet precisely because of that, they were also easy to exploit. Used properly, they could be pried open for enormous profit.

“One eighth-tier medicinal treasure. Aren’t you looking down on me a little too much?”

“Take this eighth-tier medicinal treasure back to your young master and tell him that I, Su Yang, may lack many things, but medicinal treasures are not among them.”

With that, he instructed a servant to fetch an eighth-tier medicinal treasure from the storeroom and handed it to Zhou Leopard’s steward.

“I have no leisure for sparring. I still need to go home and attend to my wives and concubines. See yourself out.”

“Master Su...!”

Zhou Leopard’s steward was furious. Thinking of the young master’s instructions, however, he could only force down the blaze in his heart and leave with the eighth-tier medicinal treasure in hand.

“Master, what if that Zhou young master does not take the bait?” Wang Han asked from Su Yang’s side, watching the steward storm away.

“If he does not take the bait, then let him keep my eighth-tier medicinal treasure and settle down. Consider it paying to avert a disaster. After all, we are not yet a match for the three great families of Maple Creek County.”

“If they do make a move, then what I gain will be more than just one eighth-tier medicinal treasure.”

Su Yang said.

“But in that case, we will have offended the Zhou family.”

“No matter. I still have another trump card.”

The steward returned home and recounted everything that had happened there to Zhou Leopard in full detail.

Looking at the eighth-tier medicinal treasure placed before him, Zhou Leopard felt deeply insulted. Such trashy medicinal treasures were piled high in the family storeroom, and they dared use this sort of thing to humiliate the Zhou family’s young master?

That petty live-in son-in-law deserved death.

Returning an eighth-tier medicinal treasure was simply calling him stingy, and even more, it was an attempt to sever his feelings for Green Verse with a single treasure.

His feelings for Miss Green Verse were sincere enough that he would bare his heart and soul for her; how could he be bought off by one eighth-tier medicinal treasure?

“Go to the Su estate again and tell that Su Yang: win or lose, my Zhou family will first gift him ten eighth-tier medicinal treasures.”

“If he wins, we will add one seventh-tier medicinal treasure.”

Zhou Leopard gritted his teeth, the fire in his heart nearly impossible to restrain. Several times he nearly rose from his chair, only to be forcibly held down by reason. His eyes were bloodshot.

And that final line about attending to his wives and concubines—he was simply defiling the fairy in his heart.

“Young Master, you are too impulsive.”

Zhou Leopard’s steward reminded him from the side. “If he agrees, takes the ten eighth-tier medicinal treasures, and then immediately concedes on the day of the match, would we not be made into monkeys for others to laugh at?”

“But if that happens, he will be utterly disgraced before Green Verse.”

Zhou Leopard could no longer suppress his anger. He sprang up from the chair and seized the steward by the collar.

“This young master tells you to do something, and you do it. Where do you get all this nonsense?”

“But... Young Master, perhaps we should wait a day before going. If we go so quickly, they may think that we...”

“Enough with the nonsense. I told you to go now, so go now. Where is all this chatter coming from?”

“Hurry!”

Zhou Leopard roared at the servant-steward like a frenzied leopard, staring at the eighth-tier medicinal treasure on the table.

“Take this medicinal treasure back to him as well...”