Zeng Yi's Rotten Idea

Late at night on the 24th, in the Imperial Capital.

Inside a luxurious private room on the top floor of the Unnamed Club, the air was filled with a faint, expensive aroma, isolating it from the city's clamor outside the window.

Gu Jinzhi, dressed in understated casual wear, sat opposite a young man wearing an earring and a floral shirt.

"Got the stuff?" the floral-shirted young man leaned forward, rubbing his hands together excitedly, his eyes full of impatience.

Gu Jinzhi concealed the fatigue on his face and picked up a hard-shell folder from the sofa beside him, tossing it over casually.

"Hey, hey, hey, be careful!"

The floral-shirted young man caught the folder with both hands, opened it, and carefully pulled out a slightly creased A4 paper.

Looking at the printed table and the numerous signatures on it, he trembled with excitement.

"Ah~ Goddess! My Goddess!" He hugged the A4 paper as if it were his beloved.

"..."

Gu Jinzhi raised a hand to cover his brow bone, his thumbs and middle fingers massaging his temples. He couldn't bear to look.

"Cough, cough!"

After "embracing" the paper for a while, the floral-shirted young man cleared his throat twice, put away the folder, and said with a serious expression, cupping his fists, "Brother, no words are needed for your great kindness!!!"

Gu Jinzhi's thin lips were pressed tightly together, his face cold. "Zeng Yi, act normal."

Zeng Yi, the floral-shirted young man, grinned wickedly. "Don't be so serious. If you're like this, you'll scare Sister-in-law after you get married."

Then, he shifted his body, walked around the coffee table, and sat next to Gu Jinzhi, putting an arm around his shoulder. "Sister-in-law is incredibly beautiful, I'm telling you! If I didn't already have Goddess Shen, I'd definitely compete with you fairly!"

After speaking, he put on a look of deep affection, "Alas, how does that poem go? 'Once I have seen the vast ocean, no other water can truly satisfy; except the clouds of Wu Shan, no other clouds are worth my gaze.' Ah~ My Goddess Shen!"

Gu Jinzhi's chiseled jawline stiffened. He frowned, peeled Zeng Yi's "dog paw" off his shoulder, and moved away another spot, frowning. "Stop messing around, I want to ask you something."

"Tch!" Zeng Yi sat back on his side, looking hurt. "I thought you genuinely invited me for a drink..."

Gu Jinzhi ignored his complaint and got straight to the point. "You call yourself the Casanova of Qingyun, so tell me, is there any way to make a woman completely detest you?"

Zeng Yi's eyes widened. "Detest? Are you sick? Why would you want a woman to detest you? You admit I'm the Casanova of Qingyun, don't you know I only make women fall in love with me?"

Gu Jinzhi struck a nerve. "Doesn't Shen Yaochi detest you quite a bit?"

Zeng Yi clutched his chest, unable to breathe. "Brother, the conversation is getting too heavy..."

The atmosphere in the private room remained tense for a while. Finally, Zeng Yi succumbed to Gu Jinzhi's calm yet oppressive gaze.

He said weakly, "What is this all about? Is Yun Xi bothering you again?"

"It's not Yun Xi..." Gu Jinzhi shook his head. "It's Jiang Xue."

"Ah? Sister-in-law?!" Zeng Yi was stunned. "Aren't you guys almost getting married? Brother Da Zhi, what game are you playing now?"

Gu Jinzhi fell silent, his knuckles slightly curled, unconsciously tapping the coffee table. "You know my situation... I can't reciprocate her feelings... Moreover, if I don't make it back..."

"Pah, pah, pah!" Zeng Yi interrupted Gu Jinzhi's unfinished words with exaggerated gestures. "For the past two years, you've been taking us brothers on missions, braving Rifts, what kind of storms haven't you seen? Now you're getting married, why say such disheartening things?"

Upon hearing "marriage," Gu Jinzhi frowned, his eyes seeming to suppress something.

"This time, it's different..."

Zeng Yi slammed his palm onto the coffee table, hard enough to crack the thick marble surface into a spiderweb of fissures.

"What's different? Isn't it just that the Zhang family wants to harm you? What about Martial Immortals? Are Martial Immortals so great? My Zeng family isn't without Martial Immortals!!!"

"My great-grandfather is ranked thirteenth on the Martial Immortal list, much stronger than that old scoundrel Zhang Luye! How about this, Brother Da Zhi, I'll go with you to the Western Frontier!"

"Hmph! Let's see if the Zhang family has the guts to try and kill both of us brothers!"

Crack! Hiss—!

Gu Jinzhi shook his head with a wry smile, opened a can of beer, took a gulp, and looked at the young man opposite him again. "Thank you, I appreciate the thought. But, matters between the Gu and Zhang families are not easy for outsiders to meddle in. If you don't want your grandfather to break your legs, don't do anything foolish..."

Zeng Yi's momentum deflated, followed by a surge of inexplicable frustration.

He also opened a can of beer and downed it in one go, not caring about the alcohol spilling down his chin. His eyes were red as he glared and said angrily, "Brother Da Zhi, don't always think about sacrificing your own life to make the Zhang family back down! My great-grandfather said that the Zhang family are all wolves, and wolves have no humanity!"

"...You're getting married soon, and to such a wonderful girl! You're not alone anymore, don't give up on yourself, okay? Even if you don't think for yourself, you should think for Sister-in-law!"

Gu Jinzhi's fingers tightened around the aluminum can, a shadow crossing his handsome face. "You're worrying too much, I won't joke with my own life... If the Zhang family wants to kill me, they'll have to see if they have the teeth for it."

"Then what about you?" Zeng Yi stared into Gu Jinzhi's eyes, unsure if he was telling the truth.

Among the brothers they had grown up with, Gu Jinzhi was the most mature and rarely showed his emotions.

It was too difficult to see through him.

Gu Jinzhi shook the slightly deformed aluminum can, raised it, and drank it down in one go. "Don't overthink it, I just don't like Jiang Xue..."

He paused, then continued, "Feelings, to me, are a burden."

Zeng Yi opened his mouth, and after a long moment, gave a thumbs-up. "You're amazing! I hope you can still be this tough when you meet Sister-in-law..."

"My question," Gu Jinzhi's voice returned to calm, sounding stern, "If you can't answer, I'll find someone else."

"No!" Zeng Yi put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "It's just about making women dislike you, hehe, I have plenty of ways!"

"Speak," Gu Jinzhi gestured, inviting him to perform.

Zeng Yi: "You could disguise yourself as a domestic abuser?"

Gu Jinzhi: "No, try another one. That's too damaging to one's character."

Zeng Yi: "Be unhygienic and slovenly?"

Gu Jinzhi: "Jiang Xue is already too far gone. This method would be too slow to take effect."

Zeng Yi scratched his head. "Leak some dirt about you being intimate with other women, make her think you cheated?"

Gu Jinzhi frowned. "Given Jiang Xue's personality… it wouldn't end well…"

Zeng Yi clenched his fist. "Don't clean, don't take care of the kids, just lie on the sofa all day scrolling through your phone?"

Gu Jinzhi's mouth twitched. "I have staff for cleaning, and the child isn't born yet. I have training to do, so I don't have time to scroll through my phone…"

Zeng Yi racked his brain. "I've got it! I read a female-oriented novel a couple of days ago…"

Gu Jinzhi: "Get to the point."

Zeng Yi: "There was this incredibly disgusting guy in it, made me want to rush into the book and kill him. He was like, an extreme control freak, dark rooms, chains, intense love… making the woman feel suffocated and terrified, so she'd actively stay away…"

Gu Jinzhi: "……"

Zeng Yi: "……"

Gu Jinzhi: "Elaborate…"

Zeng Yi: "You're a bit twisted!"

Gu Jinzhi: "Less nonsense!"

Zeng Yi: "After you meet her, you do this… then that… then… and after that…"

Gu Jinzhi listened intently, his expression twitching occasionally.

Finally, Zeng Yi concluded, "There's a prerequisite, though. You have to be able to beat them… The novel I read was set in a world without martial arts."

He used himself as an example. "In reality, you also have to consider the strength of both parties… For instance, if I were to do this to Shen Yaochi…"

Thinking of a possible outcome, he shivered and fell silent.

Silence fell in the private room for a while, with only the slightly suppressed breathing of the two men.

After a long time, Gu Jinzhi slowly spoke, his voice carrying a hint of imperceptible hoarseness, "Let's try… what you said?"