Chapter 100

Upon hearing his exclamation, the fourth prince froze, standing there stunned, staring at him with wide eyes in disbelief.

Zhou Yushu lowered his eyes, his expression cold and distant, showing no intention of explaining, and simply said, "Your Highness, stop here."

He turned to leave, for to be honest, he was tired of the pretense and hypocrisy he had endured with the Chu family. Chu Wenwan was dead, he had secured his position in the court, and the Chu family was no longer of any use to him. He could kill them all at any time.

Of course, Zhou Yushu wasn't a bloodthirsty person. Out of consideration for their fathers' relationship and Old Master Chu's past protection of his sister, he wouldn't slaughter the entire Chu family, but that was all. This small amount of affection couldn't outweigh his sister's death. He was a cold-hearted man by nature, and the fact that he hadn't personally killed the Fourth Prince yet was already more than merciful.

However, Zhou Yushu's indifference struck the Fourth Prince, who was unaware of his true identity, like a bolt from the blue. His already precarious state of mind completely collapsed at that moment.

He instinctively reached out and grabbed Zhou Yushu's clothes in a panic and anxiety, as if he had grasped a lifeline.

"Uncle, Uncle..." he pleaded, his fingertips turning white from the effort, his voice hoarse, "Don't do this to me..."

"Are you afraid of affecting me? It's okay, I don't want anything. I am my mother's child. I can give up everything. I'm willing. I don't even need to be a prince. I just want my mother..." The fourth prince tried to find the reason why his uncle treated him like this. His mind was blank. He didn't actually know what he was saying. He just kept brainwashing himself. His uncle must not be sincere in treating him like this. There must be a reason.

The fourth prince was afraid to admit that he was disliked and abandoned by his uncle.

Zhou Yushu, however, did not want him to deceive himself. He took a deep breath, having completely lost the patience to deal with the Fourth Prince. Fortunately, this was a public place, and he remembered that the person in front of him was a prince. He lowered his voice and did not say anything too harsh.

"Fourth Prince, please don't come looking for me anymore. I've never treated Chu Wenwan as a younger sister, and naturally, I've never really treated you as my nephew. I've already done enough by not kicking you when you're down, so please don't provoke me anymore." — Well, that's not a very pleasant thing to say either.

The fourth prince couldn't accept it, and he tried to say something, "Uncle—"

"Enough." Zhou Yushu said in a low voice, his impatience evident on his face, and even a hint of murderous intent in his eyes. "Don't call me uncle anymore. Let go of me now and leave immediately. Never appear in front of me again."

The fourth prince's already broken heart could no longer bear it, and with a silent "crack," it shattered completely into pieces. He could no longer deceive himself, but he didn't understand, "Why? Why do you hate me? I can change, I can change anything you don't like. You're all I have left, don't..."

"Don't hate me, don't abandon me," the Fourth Prince cried out in his heart.

"Change? You won't change, just like your mother." Zhou Yushu let out a short, sharp laugh, as if he had heard something amusing. "Did your mother regret it in her dying moments? Did she feel any remorse? Did she ever feel even the slightest remorse for causing Zhou Yuting's death all these years?"

At the moment of her death, Chu Wenwan's expression was one of resentment. Zhou Yushu actually felt that Chu Wenwan's death was too swift and clean; he would have preferred that Chu Wenwan had died after suffering greatly, so that he could at least alleviate some of the pain of losing his sister.

But Zhou Yushu knew that wouldn't work. If Chu Wenwan were alive, she would never quietly wait to be retaliated against. She would more likely strike first, causing Xue Jin'an a lot of unnecessary trouble. So it was better for Chu Wenwan to die.

“She didn’t, not even on her deathbed, and you won’t either.” Zhou Yushu’s voice was resolute. Before the Fourth Prince could retort, he cut him off with a single sentence: “Have you ever reflected on your actions? Do I need to remind you of the kind of life the Seventh Prince lived before?”

The fourth prince trembled all over and was completely speechless.

His fingers were ruthlessly pried open one by one, and Zhou Yushu's clothes were pulled away. His voice was extremely cold, "Your Highness, Fourth Prince, don't come looking for me anymore. We are not the same kind of people."

I really will kill you. Be smart and stop bothering me. The only reason I'm able to control my temper and murderous intent is because killing a prince in public would be too difficult to explain, would affect his plans, and indirectly impact future operations... It's too much trouble.

Zhou Yushu turned and left without looking back, not even sparing a glance at the Fourth Prince.

Xue Jin'an, with his keen hearing, clearly heard the commotion outside. Not only did he hear it, but he also opened the mini-game to check the game interface and read the conversation between the two of them.

Yesterday, when Xue Jin'an arrived at Jiu Tian Yi, he received a notification from the backend that the game update was complete. He opened it and found that it was a single-player management simulator, a small game that wasn't very well-known.

To be honest, Long Aotian downloaded this game because he was obsessed with stealing crops from farms. However, he missed the game's peak popularity; by the time he accidentally started playing, it had already declined, and his extensive friend list barely had any friends still playing it. He wanted to find some like-minded people, so he downloaded this game from a gaming platform. Unexpectedly, although both are management games, the gameplay was completely different.

This is a casual simulation game, meaning that even if you leave it running without doing anything, the game will continue on its own. Long Aotian had only recently arrived in the new world and found it quite intriguing, so he couldn't resist trying it out. He spent all his time staring at the screen watching what the little characters were doing. Even though it was an idle game, it felt like he was staying up all night playing a video game.

After playing for a while, his interest gradually waned. Then one day he forgot to log in to the game and rarely played it anymore. He didn't even know which version the game had been updated to.

This is a pixel-style game. Even after being modified with magic, it didn't become like those previous holographic games, where the surrounding art style changed. It's still a 2D game. However, everything that happens in the store can be displayed on the page in text, including monthly profits and employee performance, which is like having an extra monitoring system.

Speaking of this, Xue Jin'an opened the game and checked the details of the bound store, only to find that Cui Zui had transferred most of Jiu Tian Yi's shares to his own name. It was precisely because he was certain that he had absolute control over Jiu Tian Yi that the game could be activated.

Hearing footsteps outside the door, Xue Jin'an knew that Zhou Yushu had arrived.

Zhou Yushu did not immediately enter the private room, but sat down on a bench outside for resting. Although his words were ruthless, he was not as cold-hearted as he appeared.

Anger, sadness, or a sense of loss surged up, causing him to involuntarily recall many things. He needed to be alone to sort them out.

Zhou Yushu grabbed a handful of candies wrapped in glutinous rice paper from the snack plate on the table next to him, repeatedly unwrapping and putting them into his mouth until his mouth was completely full. Only when the sweet taste filled his entire oral cavity did he stop this self-feeding.

After he finished eating the candy, he suppressed his sudden surge of emotions and got up to go into the private room.

Xue Jin'an heard everything clearly outside. If he had to describe it, he would probably say that Zhou Yushu was like a police officer who had been undercover in a criminal gang for many years in a novel. Even the most vicious criminals have moments of tenderness. Those moments were not enough to shake him, but they would suddenly pop out at an inopportune time. It was only natural that he would want to digest his emotions.

Xue Jin'an didn't ask anything. He simply brewed Zhou Yushu a cup of tea to cleanse his palate and waited quietly for him to speak first, without taking the little incident to heart.

After spending some time together, Zhou Yushu had come to understand his nephew's decisive and efficient nature. He knew that the nephew was not one to beat around the bush and simply took out the list and handed it over. "This list contains the names of masters who became famous for using Gu and poison twenty years ago. The Southern Frontier is far away, and it will take some time to find out the results."

Xue Jin'an opened the list and saw that it contained about ten names, but most of them had been crossed out, with the reasons for the crossing out written next to them. It was clear that Zhou Yushu had already done some screening, and in the end, only three names remained.

“These three people were all prominent figures in the martial arts world twenty years ago, and they are considered senior figures. However, there has been no news of them since then, and we still need to investigate the specifics,” Zhou Yushu said.

"Okay." Xue Jin'an nodded and closed the list again.

Zhou Yushu then took out a bamboo tube from his sleeve, along with some bottles and jars of medicinal powder, and handed it to Xue Jin'an. "This is the Deadly Gu. This kind of Gu worm releases a toxin that will kill a healthy person, but it can also keep someone alive if they are seriously injured. However, if no way to save your life is found within three months, your body will be hollowed out by the Gu worm and become its nest for laying eggs."

Zhou Yushu's description was excellent. Xue Jin'an immediately pictured his body turning into a worm nest, with countless eggs and worms piled up inside... The image was beautiful and exciting, directly activating the anti-addiction system for minors, and in the blink of an eye, the screen was filled with mosaics.

Zhou Yushu then introduced the medicinal powders, including insect repellents and insecticides. He even told Xue Jin'an about a formula for curing Gu poison, saying that it could cure most Gu poisons on the market.

Xue Jin'an stroked the bamboo tube containing the Fatal Gu. It was indeed Yunnan bamboo, a specialty of Yunnan Province. He asked, "Can the poison of the Soul-Separating Gu also be cured?"

"...It can be cured." He had only successfully cultivated one Soul-Separating Gu, since it was only effective when it was in a semi-adult state, and the cultivation was not easy. He gave this one to his friend in Qizhou.

When Xue Jin'an singled out this question, Zhou Yushu couldn't help but think more. He looked up and met Xue Jin'an's gaze for a moment. Then he suddenly realized and said, "How do you know that the Gu in Chang Xia's hand was given to me? My relationship with him has never been made public. Very few people know about it."

At least almost no one in the capital knows, and I'm afraid that now even Chang Xia is hardly remembered.

Xue Jin'an gestured to the bamboo tube in his hand: "Yunnan bamboo."

Zhou Yushu suddenly realized, and said with some helplessness, "The Gu worms on my body were raised back in Dianzhou. No wonder people noticed the flaw."

Since entering the capital, he has never been in a good mood. Over the years, he has been scheming and plotting, and has had no mood or time to cultivate Gu worms.

Zhou Yushu then pulled the old bamboo flute from his waist and handed it to Xue Jin'an. "This insect-controlling flute has been soaked in various medicinal herbs and has also absorbed the aura of many Gu insects. It can control insects to a certain extent. I'll write two scores for you later. Who knows, it might even be able to control ordinary animals a little."

"Thank you, Uncle." Xue Jin'an curiously played with the palm-sized bamboo flute in his hand, and then sniffed the mixed scent on it, trying to analyze the scientific basis of how a flute could ward off insects.

Looking at his naive and easily deceived appearance, Zhou Yushu couldn't help but pat himself down again. Unfortunately, in order not to let anyone see that his identity was different, he didn't have much on him. He had basically given away everything he could. In the end, he could only take out his money bag and hand it over. When he opened it, there were ten large silver notes inside.

“If possible, I think you should leave here. The capital is too dangerous. With your current identity, you will inevitably become a target, and they will all go after you.” Zhou Yushu looked at Xue Jin’an, his words a test.

Xue Jin'an refused outright: "I want the throne."

Zhou Yushu was not surprised by this result, or rather, he had already guessed something when they met, and seeing Xue Jin'an here today confirmed his guess.

Zhou Yushu met his gaze precisely, lowered his voice, and said directly, "I want to destroy the Xue family's empire."

After learning about his sister's suffering, Zhou Yushu saw through the palace intrigue to its essence, realizing the emperor's deliberate leniency.

Zhou Yushu was a cunning and calculating adult, more calculating than anyone else. He couldn't help but indulge in conspiracy theories. He wondered: Was the Emperor's favor towards his sister a complete deception from beginning to end? Was the rumor that his sister was about to be made Empress orchestrated by the Emperor? Did his sister really die of depression? ...

Zhou Yushu couldn't find the answer, nor did he want to find it, because he knew very well that when he had these doubts, it meant that he harbored resentment towards the emperor, and that he wanted the emperor dead, or even to overthrow the entire Great Qi dynasty.

He knew his thoughts were utterly rebellious and threatened his nephew's interests, but he couldn't stop himself. Looking at Xue Jin'an's face, he couldn't help but wonder: What would he think? Would he be angry? Would he turn against me? And what should I do then?

Beneath Zhou Yushu's calm and composed exterior, madness was quietly brewing.

Xue Jin'an looked up at him in surprise. This was different from the original text, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized what caused this situation.

In the original text, Zhou Yushu was unaware of Xue Zhang's death or the Gu worm in the Fifth Prince's body. His understanding of Zhou Yuting's death was limited to the scope of palace intrigue. Therefore, the murderers he discovered were Chu Wenwan and Xiao Shu, and the targets of his revenge were naturally them.

But now that Zhou Yushu knows all this, he is not stupid. He unravels the mystery and discovers that the emperor behind it all is quite simple. Since he has no way to vent his anger as a subject of another, it is understandable that he would develop a rebellious heart.

Xue Jin'an asked thoughtfully, "If the dynasty changes and I become the emperor, is that alright?"

Zhou Yushu paused for a moment, then nodded: "Okay." He didn't care who was emperor; he just wanted to overthrow the Xue family's rule.

"That's no problem." Anyway, all he wants is the throne. What's wrong with being the emperor of any dynasty?

Xue Jin'an immediately pulled out a writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from a hidden box on the table, and began calculating in his mind. He then started talking about the ins and outs of changing dynasties: "The emperor is so incompetent, it's not too difficult to overthrow him, but changing the dynasty makes it much more difficult. For the sake of social stability and a peaceful transition, we can rule out uprisings and rebellions. We need to start from the top and work our way down to the bottom. First—"

Zhou Yushu, who was staring blankly and couldn't keep up, was speechless.

Wait, isn't something wrong with you accepting this so quickly?!