Chapter 470 - 179: Toying With 3
Chapter 470: Chapter 179: Toying With 3
Zhou Zuan was mortified and furious.
’How could my divination possibly be wrong?’
’My divinations are always the most accurate.’
So, he cast the hexagrams again. He determined that in the next two days, Mr. Yin would not only face a disaster involving bloodshed but also suffer financial loss.
Zhou Zuan meant that it would be best for him to lie low at the academy for the next two days. It wouldn’t be too late to go out drinking after he had safely passed this ordeal.
But would Yin Xichen agree?
This was his thirtieth birthday, after all.
He’d booked the banquet long ago. How could he possibly miss out on the festivities?
Not only did he go out, but he also dragged Zhou Zuan along with him, just to show him how utterly absurd his divination was.
And what happened? Yesterday afternoon, just as he’d walked in the door, droves of townspeople showed up carrying cats. They claimed he’d posted a notice to hire cats to eliminate a rat infestation in his study.
’Rats in the study?’
Mr. Yin knew nothing about it, nor could he be bothered to find out.
When his guests arrived, he took them straight to the Golden Jade Restaurant to celebrate.
He ended up getting blackout drunk that night and had no idea what happened. All he knew was that when he woke up this morning, his world had come crashing down.
Not only was his courtyard swarming with cats, but a crowd of courtesans was blocking the entrance, demanding payment.
"Someone’s plotting against me! Someone set me up! Ptooey! On my thirtieth birthday, no less. What a thoughtful gift they’ve prepared for me. Agh!"
Mr. Yin howled in pain, clutching his chin.
A cat had suddenly lunged at him and scratched him. Fresh blood trickled down his chin.
Luckily, he had flinched back on instinct as the cat lunged, so the scratch wasn’t deep. If it had landed a solid blow, it would have torn a chunk of flesh from him.
MEOW~
With a defiant meow, the enormous black cat dodged the servants trying to grab it and darted off. In a flash, it scrambled up onto a tree branch. It looked down and meowed again, as if mocking Mr. Yin. ’You think a lazy, two-legged beast like you can force this cat to work for you? Dream on!’
In a couple of leaps, the black cat jumped from the treetop to the top of the courtyard wall. With one more bound, it vanished from sight.
Clutching his bleeding chin, Yin Xichen yelled for his steward. "Investigate this! Find out which son of a bitch set me up! When you find him, I’ll flay him alive and use his skin as a blanket!"
Zhou Zuan clucked his tongue. "So violent, so violent! Calm down a minute and look at this. If I’m not mistaken, this whole mess is karmic retribution. You brought it all on yourself."
"You and your mystical nonsense... Stop spouting that hocus-pocus all day! Wait, what’s that in your hand? Let me see."
Zhou Zuan smoothly handed him the "Notice to Hire Cats."
A twinkle of a smile appeared in his eyes, and then he couldn’t help but roar with laughter.
"Who’s plotting against you? Why, who else but your favorite student? Oh, Yin Xichen, Yin Xichen... what goes around, comes around! Hahahaha..."
Yin Xichen took the notice. The moment he saw the familiar calligraphy, his head felt as if it had been struck twice with a heavy hammer.
The script was vigorous yet elegant, flowing with an effortless grace that was both free-spirited and perfectly formed.
Throughout the entire academy, only one person could so perfectly merge such fluidity with such formal structure: Zhao Jing.
And only Zhao Jing—whom he had grievously offended and schemed against on several occasions—would be thinking of revenge.
"It was him! It was Zhao Jing! That little whelp... This is an affront to his master!"
"Don’t be so quick to throw labels around. Weren’t you the one who gave him a hard time first?" Zhou Zuan retorted. "You treated him like a pushover, thinking he wouldn’t dare stand up to you and would just swallow his grievances. But who knew? The kid has a hidden bite and can easily strike back when you least expect it."
The key point was, even though Zhao Jing had made a fool of him, Yin Xichen couldn’t get *too* angry.
Why was that?
After all, no matter which part of the story got out, it would all sound very... "refined."
"Hiring cats" was a refined pursuit. "Inviting courtesans to a banquet" was also a refined affair. The ending may have been a bit messy—a strong start with a weak finish—but Zhao Jing had accomplished his goal. He had issued a warning and gotten his revenge without completely burning his bridges with Mr. Yin. The only unexpected part was the black cat’s final attack; the rest had likely all gone according to Zhao Jing’s plan.
That kid had probably also calculated that Mr. Yin wouldn’t dare confront him about it.
Otherwise, if they were to actually investigate who was in the right and who was in the wrong and drag up their past history, Mr. Yin would be the one with no face left to lose.
’What a character, this Zhao Jing. To think his schemes run so deep.’
’He treated everyone like pieces on a chessboard. With a few casual moves, he shattered Mr. Yin’s ’blockade’ and brought the situation entirely back under his control.’
’This student’s ability, his intellect, his methods... they were truly the most formidable I have ever witnessed.’
’To have such ability at such a young age, with an academic talent that suggested he was the God of Literature reborn... This boy’s future is boundless.’
Zhou Zuan said, "Instead of making an enemy of Zhao Jing, I’d advise you to treat him well from now on. Fortunes change with the passing of time. Who knows? One day, you might need this student to be the one to pull you back up."