Even the Chu family's Red Robe Army members were glancing at him sideways; their son-in-law was truly shameless.

Mei Chaofeng retorted angrily, "How can you charge interest so soon after borrowing money? You should at least wait a year!"

Mei Chaofeng's anger level increased by 200!

"Oh, no?" Zu An looked around, appearing unfamiliar with the rules here.

Chu Chuyan felt an urge to rub her forehead, wondering how she had chosen such a scoundrel: "Generally, interest is collected after one year, but the Mei Gang Leader's daily lending practices usually follow the principle of 'nine out and thirteen back,' so collecting 750,000 taels in advance is quite reasonable."

The saying "nine out, thirteen back" refers to a loan shark who lends you 10 yuan at the guise of a loan with 1 yuan interest per month, but actually only gives you 9 yuan. After three months, you are required to return 13 yuan. As a result, many people in the world are often ruined by loan sharks.

Compared to the Plum Blossom Gang's usual monthly interest rate of one cent, their annual interest rate of one cent is already quite generous. If the amount of 7.5 million taels of silver hadn't been so enormous, she wouldn't have agreed to this repayment method.

Of course, she could also see that Mei Chaofeng was planning to renege on the debt. After all, even if the entire Plum Blossom Gang sold off all their assets, they wouldn't be able to come up with 7.5 million taels. So, she was taking whatever she could get now to avoid any unforeseen complications.

Mei Chaofeng gritted his teeth. He knew that he would have to bleed a lot today, so he waved to his men: "Someone, go and get 100,000 taels of silver!"

Then he said to Chu Chuyan, "I hope Miss Chu will forgive us. We don't have that much cash on hand in such a hurry. We'll offer 100,000 taels as a token of our sincerity, and pay back the interest at the end of the year. What do you think, Miss Chu?"

He didn't ask Zu An at all this time. Who knows what kind of trouble that scoundrel will cause this time? Anyway, Chu Chuyan is the one who really makes the decisions here.

Chu Chuyan hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded. One hundred thousand taels was about the maximum amount they could come up with in a hurry, and it wouldn't be good to push them too hard.

Mei Chaofeng's trusted aide brought out the silver notes. Mei Chaofeng initially intended to give them to Chu Chuyan, but then thought better of it and immediately changed her mind and gave them to Zu An instead: "Young master, would you like to count them?"

After all, it would be difficult to get the money back from Chu Chuyan, but in Zu An's hands, well, there's always a way to make that brat spit it out.

"Yes, of course I want it." Zu An took the silver notes, moistened his fingertips with saliva, and then counted them one by one. There were a total of 1,000 silver notes, each worth 100 taels.

Mei Chaofeng's breath hitched. She thought to herself, "I was just being polite. How could I actually count money in front of people?"

Mei Chaofeng's anger level increased by 111!

Watching Zu'an count his money like a money-grubber, Sang Qian frowned and thought to himself, "How could the fairy-like Miss Chu have chosen such a lowly guy as her husband? It's truly a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung. In what ways am I not a hundred times better than him?"

Many people around shared this sentiment, and even many of the Chu family's warriors felt the same way, contributing another wave of anger.

"Hey, why is one card missing?" Just then, Zu'an suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention to him.

Mei Chaofeng's face darkened: "How is that possible? So many eyes are watching, how could there be fewer!"

Feeling the gazes of the crowd, Zuan shrugged: "I was just saying it offhand, let's see if you're lying to me."

Mei Chaofeng: "..."

So you're trying to scam me?

Mei Chaofeng's anger level increased by 211!

Sang Qian, who had been standing to the side, finally couldn't stand the farce any longer: "Alright, alright, now that the problem has been resolved satisfactorily, everyone can go their separate ways."

He didn't want to stay here any longer. Watching this good-for-nothing bully running around like a madman while he couldn't do anything about it was infuriating.

Pang Chun chuckled and said, "Not bad, not bad. It's good that the matter is resolved. Everyone, please disperse."

His heart had been in his throat. What if the Chu family's army and the river defense camp clashed here, or what if the Plum Blossom Gang fought to the death? If things went wrong, it could cause a huge disaster, and he would lose his official position as county magistrate.

After the two bigwigs in the room spoke, the gamblers who had been watching the commotion felt as if they had been granted a pardon and all ran out, not knowing if staying there would result in them being caught in the crossfire.

Xie Xiu waved to Zu An: "Brother Zu, you've really impressed me today. I'll treat you to drinks another day. There are many things I need to learn from you."

Zuan also laughed heartily: "I also have a lot of things I'd like to ask Brother Xie, such as how to be so carefree as to linger among the flowers without getting a single petal on you."

"I'll talk about it again~" Noticing Chu Chuyan's gloomy face beside him, Xie Xiu smiled awkwardly, thinking to himself, "You're really something, saying these things in front of your wife."

Fearing undeserved trouble, he gave a perfunctory reply and fled.

Watching everyone run out, Zu An was still somewhat unsatisfied; he hadn't earned enough anger points yet. So he turned back to Mei Chaofeng and asked, "Chief Mei, will your gambling den still be open in the future? Can I still gamble here?"

Mei Chaofeng: "..."

If you dare come back again, I'll skin you alive!

Mei Chaofeng's anger level increased by 267!

Chu Chuyan couldn't stand it anymore: "Let's go." Even though she was usually aloof, she couldn't stand the other person causing trouble from time to time.

Yue Shan came over and dragged Zu An out. Clearly, having served the Chu family for so many years and been accustomed to all kinds of aristocratic etiquette, he couldn't stand Zu An's rogue behavior.

Mei Chaofeng stared at their departing figures with a gloomy look in her eyes, her fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

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