Mother Zhou was gentle by nature and generally didn't care about ordinary matters. Zhou Yan was the one who made most of the decisions at home.
But when it came to Zhou Yan's marriage, she became firm.
Not only Zhou Chuan, but even Zhou Yan could only keep his head down and try to please her. Several times he opened his mouth, only to stop himself.
As Mother Zhou grew more and more excited, Zhou Yan felt his scalp go numb.
But looking at her, he didn't know how to interrupt. Deep down, he was also a little reluctant to cut her off.
Fortunately, just then, Ma Yan and Zhou Li arrived.
"Big sister, brother-in-law, you're here..."
Zhou Yan immediately went over to greet them, secretly wiping away a bead of cold sweat.
As soon as Ma Yan approached, he heard Zhou Yan's cry for help.
"Brother-in-law, save me."
Before he had time to make sense of it, he heard Mother Zhou and Zhou Li start discussing Zhou Yan's marriage, and immediately understood.
When Ma Yan heard that Mother Zhou was interested in Tailor Wang's daughter, he nearly spat out a mouthful of tea.
At last, he understood what Zhou Yan had meant.
He immediately looked over at Zhou Yan with pity.
On top of that, Ma Yan couldn't suppress the grin on his face.
As Zhou Yan's cultivation deepened, the air of authority around him grew heavier. Even Ma Yan, who spent a lot of time with him, could feel it.
Sometimes, when faced with Zhou Yan's impassive expression, Ma Yan felt a little intimidated.
Ma Yan found it rather strange. He had noticed that even some of the Police Bureau's senior officers, such as captains and inspectors, didn't have such a powerful presence. Zhou Yan seemed like a natural-born man of authority.
That made Ma Yan feel increasingly constrained around Zhou Yan, and increasingly cautious.
Now that he saw Zhou Yan in such an awkward predicament with Mother Zhou, Ma Yan felt a little more at ease.
He was still cautious, but no longer felt quite so constrained.
After all, they were relatives, and his wife was Zhou Yan's big sister.
That always gave Ma Yan a little confidence when he was around Zhou Yan.
You could say he was trading on his wife's influence, but so what!
Just like those people at the Police Bureau who were jealous of him and secretly said he lived off his wife's family, owed his success to his brother-in-law, and threw his weight around because of it.
In the end, if they had the same opportunity, they'd be on their knees even faster than he was, and eat even more free meals...
Still, no matter how amusing it was to watch, he had to try to talk her out of it.
After all, if she really were suitable, that would be one thing.
But the girl weighed over two hundred pounds. Ma Yan worried that if Mother Zhou kept pushing, Zhou Yan would lose his temper.
"Mom, A-Yan is still young, and this is the best time for him to advance. Don't rush things. You can take your time choosing. In a few years, when A-Yan's prospects are even better, he might bring home a well-bred young lady as his wife," Ma Yan said, trying to persuade her.
He wasn't making it up. If things continued this way, Zhou Yan's future would be limitless.
Because of Zhou Yan, Ma Yan had carefully looked into the fortune-tellers and sorcerers in Shen City and discovered that very few could compare to Zhou Yan.
Not only was Zhou Yan's strength improving quickly, but his network was also continually expanding.
When it came to sorcerers, connections and influential backers were secondary. The most important thing was one's own strength.
And that seemed to be Zhou Yan's greatest strength.
Ma Yan had high hopes for his brother-in-law. He was also his greatest source of support!
Mother Zhou did place some importance on Ma Yan's words as her son-in-law, and was willing to listen to him to some extent.
Back when the Zhou Family was in its most difficult straits, it was the Ma Family's help that had kept them afloat.
Even though Zhou Yan had long since surpassed Ma Yan by a great deal, perhaps because of her ingrained assumptions, Mother Zhou still thought Ma Yan's words carried more weight.
"I'm not counting on a well-bred young lady. As long as Second Son marries and has children, I'll be happy. But you're right, he's still a little young. We can wait another couple of years," Mother Zhou said.
Seeing that Mother Zhou had dropped the matter, Zhou Yan finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
While Mother Zhou chatted with Zhou Li, Ma Yan came over to Zhou Yan and said softly, "A new job has come in. It's the Old Hu's Distillery on Qimen Street. Things have been a little strange there lately."
Hearing that it was business, Zhou Yan's expression turned serious.
"Are ghosts causing trouble? Has anyone died?"
He wasn't being heartless. When trouble involving ghosts escalated, it usually meant someone had died.
"No one's died, but it's caused quite a stir. A lot of the workers at the distillery claim they've seen a ghost with their own eyes, and they're terrified. The distillery has closed temporarily, and no one dares go near it. But at night, sounds come from inside," Ma Yan explained.
Zhou Yan nodded slowly.
"It sounds very likely that there's a ghost. By the way, what's the Old Hu Family's reputation like, and how much are they offering?"
He charged a high price for exorcisms and warding off evil, but he was also quite flexible.
He charged wealthy families more and middle-income families less.
He asked a high price of those with a bad reputation, and gave a modest discount to those with a good one.
Ma Yan knew Zhou Yan's rules. He nodded and said, "The Old Hu Family used to run a distillery, and they've been in business for decades. Their reputation is pretty good. I wouldn't call them good people, but they know how to behave. They haven't pulled any scams or done anything else harmful, and they treat their workers reasonably well.
"They've built up quite a fortune over the decades, and their business is substantial. They offered three hundred silver dollars, so they're obviously in a real hurry..."
Zhou Yan nodded.
Three hundred silver dollars was already a considerable sum, especially for a middle-class merchant family like the Hu Family.
Their total assets might be substantial, but they didn't have much cash on hand.
"Take the job," Zhou Yan said.
Ma Yan nodded. "All right. When will you deal with it?"
"Tomorrow night."
The next day, Zhou Yan arrived at the Old Hu's Distillery.
It was silent all around. Though dusk had barely fallen, not a single light could be seen nearby. Compared to the bustle elsewhere, the place seemed strangely out of place.
But it wasn't surprising. There weren't many homes near the distillery, and after word got around that it was haunted, no one would dare come here at night.
Zhou Yan reached the distillery gate, took out the key, and let himself in.
Although people called it a distillery, it had originally been no more than a small brewing workshop that had later expanded a little.
It was still a far cry from a proper distillery.
But people always thought the foreign monk could chant better. So the Hu Family had renamed their brewing workshop a distillery, though little had changed inside.
Zhou Yan swept his eyes over the place, then focused on a wine vat not far away...
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