Chapter 175: Chapter 175

Within Western Mountain Temple, Buddhist chants echoed continuously...

The man before her appeared to be in his early twenties, with eyebrows like bright stars. Dressed in an elegant dark blue brocade robe, he wore a white jade belt around his waist, his ink-black hair lazily tied behind his ears with a green jade crown. Currently leaning leisurely by the window, he held a white jade chess piece between his fingers, resembling a refined young nobleman of exquisite taste.

Yet the occasional sharpness inadvertently revealed between his brows, along with his innate commanding presence, seemed somewhat out of place in this serene Zen chamber at certain moments.

This was someone who had witnessed—and personally created—countless bloodshed on the battlefield.

Without further hesitation, An Ning stepped forward and bowed: "This humble commoner Chu Zi'an pays respects to His Highness Prince Jin!"

Suddenly having his identity exposed, Xiao Qi's expression remained unchanged, clearly not overly surprised. He merely raised his hand to briefly examine his own attire, confirming there were indeed no identifying symbols, then lightly tapped his folding fan and chuckled: "Now I truly believe it. Chu Zi'an, was it? Truly, heroes emerge from among the young!"

"Your Highness flatters me..." Faced with this obvious modesty, Xiao Qi paid it no mind, still smiling:

"I heard from Master Ku Jie earlier that Chu's chess skills are unparalleled in this world. Might I have the honor of witnessing them today?"

After glancing at the chessboard on the table, An Ning didn't even need to pretend—she fell completely silent.

The question was, how broad-minded was this person actually?

Fortunately, Prince Jin turned out to possess considerable self-awareness:

"In chess, the most interesting matches are between equals. Today, I shall spare you my poor skills. Regarding chess ability, Zi Gu surpasses me. Today, let him represent me in exchanging pointers with you..."

Only when she saw not a trace of displeasure on his face did An Ning take another look.

It was only then that An Ning noticed the richly-dressed man who had been silently sitting beside him this whole time. Meeting his faintly smiling fox-like eyes and noticeably pale complexion, An Ning's expression remained unchanged.

She merely cupped her hands in invitation.

The newcomer wasn't polite either, his pale, slender fingers immediately picking up a chess piece.

The match that followed was, as expected, brilliantly intense.

Not only were the two players engrossed, even Prince Jin and Master Ku Jie watching from the side couldn't look away.

By the time An Ning snapped out of her concentration, the morning sun had risen high and eventually exhausted its remaining glow. Outside the Zen chamber, the sky had unknowingly darkened completely.

The match concluded with An Ning winning by half a piece.

Yet looking at those fox-like eyes opposite her, smiling brightly as he congratulated her—was An Ning happy about this?

No wonder in her previous life, even when Great Liang reached its direst state, Prince Jin's troops managed to hold out until the very end. Truly, tigers and dragons lurked beside him.

What a pity. On the way back, watching the occasional raindrops outside her sedan chair, An Ning couldn't help sighing lightly. Why trends were called trends was precisely because reversing them single-handedly was simply too difficult...

Still, although this encounter had been somewhat discouraging, the gains weren't bad.

Thinking of that person's confident tone earlier, An Ning's brows relaxed slightly.

As she had anticipated, although the borderlands were dangerous in this situation, precisely because of the external threats, the court's restrictions there weren't particularly severe.

Only with sufficient autonomy could there be opportunities for development, and the greatest possibility of avoiding the tragedies of her previous life.

Accompanied by the drizzling rain outside her window, An Ning slept especially soundly that night.

In contrast, after today's meeting, Xiao Qi and his companion also took a long time to recover. They stayed up all night:

After making some deployments while looking at the map before them, during a break, Prince Jin suddenly spoke:

"You were right, Zi Gu. Meeting such a talented person today made our trip truly worthwhile..."

"Though speaking of which, Zi Gu, if I recall correctly, this isn't your first loss, is it?"

"Actually, Your Highness, losing to that Chu Zi'an isn't entirely unjustified for me, is it?"

Lightly twirling his wine cup, Xie Heng across from him showed no shame, his narrow fox-like eyes even containing a hint of surprise...

He should have realized earlier—a mere merchant's son who, months ago with limited information, could discern the border situation before him and make preparations accordingly... Such a person could hardly be ordinary.

Today's chess match only further proved this. Moreover, he had a feeling this person might be the key to breaking the deadlock in the future...

After a brief moment of distraction, Xie Heng quickly made up his mind: "Your Highness, in any case, with this batch of provisions, our operations can proceed more steadily for now."

If worst came to worst, they wouldn't be caught unprepared.

As for the Great Liang court, neither of them placed much hope there.

Under the dim lamplight, they exchanged a glance before pulling out another map...

Meanwhile, having finally concluded this chapter of events, An Ning completely relaxed. In stark contrast, when Chu Father learned his son had given away the provisions he'd painstakingly stockpiled over several months during this outing, he nearly choked on his own breath, stumbling backward:

"Son, what did you say?"

An official position? And one personally requested from the emperor by Prince Jin himself?

In the study, Old Master Chu looked utterly incredulous.

Yet seeing the official appointment letter bearing the court's seal before him, he had no choice but to believe.

Right Chief Administrator of Prince Jin's estate, fifth-rank—while seemingly not high, in this fiefdom, it was the real center of power. The Chief Administrator's office oversaw both military and financial affairs.

Especially since Prince Jin had governed Qizhou for years, repeatedly leading troops to repel invasions from neighboring troublemakers, earning considerable prestige among the people. Now he could even personally petition the emperor to appoint his own officials.

Whether this was a compromise under pressure or not, it undeniably demonstrated this prince's influence.

Most importantly, what did the status of scholar-official mean for their Chu family!

In these times, no matter how much wealth merchants accumulated, their positions remained precarious. Under various restrictions, they couldn't even keep additional guards normally. When war broke out, whether from within or without, they would inevitably be among the first to suffer...

Looking at the brand-new official robes before him, Old Master Chu's hands trembled with excitement, showing none of his earlier near-fatal despair upon hearing the news:

"This money was so well spent! My son is truly brilliant, hahahaha..."

"My son is an official now!"

"Our Chu family has finally produced an outstanding person after generations." Looking at his refined, handsome son before him.

In the small study, Chu Wen Yuan laughed without restraint, his voice so loud even the servants tightly guarding outside could hear some of it.

Seeing him so delighted, An Ning raised an eyebrow:

Holding the court-sealed appointment document in her hand, the next moment, she spoke slowly:

"Father, concerning our entire family's lives, your daughter has another matter requiring your assistance!"

"Pah, whatever it is, An'er just say it!"

"Even if it's climbing mountains of blades or crossing seas of fire, this father will accomplish it for my child."

In his excitement, Chu Wen Yuan didn't even hear what was said next, immediately waving his hand to guarantee it on the spot.

But the next moment, seeing those smiling, sparkling eyes, Chu Wen Yuan belatedly realized:

"Wait, An... An'er, what did you just say?"

"An'er, surely this father must have misheard, right?" Chu Wen Yuan instinctively dug at his ears:

"An'er, you're the Chu family's legitimate eldest son, future family head—how can you joke ?"

"Besides, An'er, I watched you grow up with my own eyes, how could... how could..." Master Chu was practically incoherent.

Why couldn't it be? Watching his pale face and thunderstruck expression, looking ready to faint from shock, An Ning raised an eyebrow and very naturally took a seat at the study desk, leisurely sipping this year's new pre-rain Longjing tea.

Only when the man before her turned completely ashen, on the verge of collapse, did An Ning finally speak with a smile, her exquisitely handsome face full of lighthearted amusement:

"Actually, Father, deep down you already know the truth, don't you?"

"Preposterous! Remember who forced Madam Yang into this situation in the first place—it was you!"

Ignoring his breakdown, just how difficult had life been for mother and daughter back then? In what should have been their own home, they'd been treated like unwanted intruders, completely out of place.

This was why the original girl, even though she had to drink large bowls of bitter medicine every few days, even knowing those medicines did her no good...

The original had never blamed her birth mother Yang for this.

Because she clearly understood this had been their only way out at the time.

All these years, she'd never dared slacken in her efforts to improve herself, to increase her bargaining chips. Ironically, in the entire household, only Yang believed the original's importance stemmed solely from being the legitimate eldest son...

One could say the only thing the original girl hadn't anticipated was her own mother's cruelty.

Yet tracing back the cause and effect, hadn't all this misfortune originated from this man's heartlessness?

Gently stroking her teacup, An Ning ignored his earlier hysterics, continuing nonchalantly:

"When your daughter was born, although everything was handled by Mother and her personal matrons, actions always leave traces. Among those people back then, especially Mother's confidants, there must have been some who suspected."

"Then there's Old Doctor Wang, whom Mother 'spent' heavily to hire all these years to keep this secret..."

"Most importantly, Mother herself. After all these years as your wife, you should have some understanding of her personality. Forgive your daughter's incompetence—all these matters will require Father's careful attention..."

"Oh, and Father, you'd best hurry. After all, this is the crime of deceiving the emperor, punishable by extermination of nine generations..."

Watching his retreating back disappear completely, Master Chu saw black before his eyes and collapsed entirely.

Disregarding Scum Father Chu's despair, having smoothly offloaded this enormous burden and left Chu Manor in complete chaos, An Ning headed to the prince's estate feeling light as a feather.

As months passed and An Ning gradually adapted to her daily routine as a minor official in the prince's estate, establishing her footing...

Back in Chu Manor, as expected, several earthquakes occurred in succession. Just as the household servants were about to rejoice over the young master's impending rise to prominence, they saw their master's face grow more solemn than ever...

Recently, under the pretext of changing family fortunes and rectifying household discipline, all remaining relevant personnel were either sent far away or had their entire families' fates firmly grasped by the Chu family. Especially Yang's former confidants—one by one, they disappeared completely.

Even Li Da's family, her trusted aides, were no exception.

Old Doctor Wang, who had previously drugged the original, "accidentally" fell into a deep puddle one night returning from a house call. With winter's bitter cold, by the time he was finally rescued, he'd already breathed his last.

His only son, already incompetent, faced even more ostracism from colleagues after the doctor's death, soon finding the city untenable and taking his whole family back to a distant rural hometown.

Each incident was handled with such efficiency that had System not been monitoring closely—mainly to remind its host to tidy up properly at crucial moments...

Yet after months passed...

In reality, from start to finish, not only was there no cleanup needed, there weren't even any mistakes to speak of. The methods were especially covert—even after all this time, apart from the two of them who knew the truth, even Yang only realized something was amiss the night Doctor Wang died, as people around her disappeared one by one and she herself was confined...

Honestly, who knew Scum Father had such skills?

Witnessing his maneuvers firsthand, System was utterly incredulous, eyes practically popping out.

Elegantly savoring the plump crabs specially delivered by the prince's estate recently, An Ning couldn't help rolling her eyes gracefully before the screen:

"Of course, when it concerns one's own life plus nine generations of family, who wouldn't be extra careful?"

Besides, in times like these, how could someone who built the family business to this scale lack capability?

Most importantly, as current family head, his longstanding authority made everything smoother.

At the very least, handling each incident this way was far more convenient and safer than if An Ning had done it herself.

Why waste a perfectly good free laborer?

Lounging comfortably in her soft chair, watching the screen showing Yang clutching half her face in disbelief, and Chu Wen Yuan with his livid expression and newly sprouted white hairs:

Hmm... couldn't deny it—somehow these crab legs tasted even better now!