“Tell your marquis thank you on my behalf! Tell him that Uncle Qing truly is like me, a gentleman through and through, a model of keeping promises!” Ye Chu took the three-hundred-year lingzhi from the guard’s hand and casually tossed it to Liang Shan beside him.
Liang Shan caught it excitedly, yet his mind was still somewhat dazed. What kind of person was Qingyang Marquis? Not only was he known for his explosive temper, he was also notoriously stingy! Promises meant nothing to him. Who knew how many promises he had broken? Liang Shan’s father’s generation had cursed him behind his back countless times as a petty villain!
Yet such a person had actually honoured his word and handed the lingzhi to Ye Chu without even holding him accountable for injuring his son. It was simply too unbelievable.
Most people in the hall felt the same as Liang Shan. They felt as though they had seen a ghost today. Even Ye Chu could defeat Qing Xiangming, and Qingyang Marquis could act like a gentleman. What in the world could not happen anymore?
Only the few who had been facing Qingyang Marquis directly seemed to understand why. Among them were Su Rong and Ye Chao.
Ye Chao had clearly seen Ye Chu gripping Qingyang Marquis’s wrist and the dramatic change in Qingyang Marquis’s expression after a slight struggle. Although Ye Chao was unwilling to believe the guess in his heart, what other reason could explain Qingyang Marquis’s concession?
“Could he truly have stepped into the second layer and become an existence on the same level as Eldest Brother?” The mere thought made Ye Chao find it utterly absurd. How could something like this possibly happen to Ye Chu!
Ye Chao looked at Ye Chu with a complicated expression. As though sensing his gaze, Ye Chu turned his head and met his eyes.
Looking at the lazy Ye Chu standing there, Ye Chao suppressed the emotions in his heart, exhaled lightly, and said calmly, “You have changed quite a lot in these three years! But when it comes to conduct and dealing with the world, one must act with integrity! Only then can one become a true hero of the world. Otherwise, no matter how much you change, you will ultimately be spat upon by others! Before doing anything, one must first learn how to be a proper person!”
Ye Chao still remembered that Ye Chu carried the blood of the Ye family. He could not help but offer this advice. Even though Ye Chu had been expelled from the family, as a brother, he still hoped Ye Chu could change for the better and no longer be cursed by the world!
Ye Chu smiled, speaking very casually. “I do not have such… lofty ambitions like you! All I desire is to enjoy life to the fullest while I can! Life is short. Why should I care about other people’s opinions? Why care about their words? If they want to curse, let them curse! It does not affect me in the slightest!”
“Stubborn and beyond saving!” Ye Chao snorted. The faint hope that had risen in his heart shattered instantly! Ye Chu was still Ye Chu after all, someone who placed pleasure above everything else! His nature was fixed there. He could never change his scoundrel character. “Do as you please!”
Ye Chao flung his sleeve and left. He no longer harboured any hope of saving Ye Chu. Let such a person fend for himself!
…
Having obtained the lingzhi, Ye Chu did not linger in the Qingyang Marquis Residence. He left through the main gate together with Liang Shan. Just as they stepped out, a clear, crisp, and cold voice called out to him from behind. “Ye Chu!”
“Hm?” Ye Chu turned his head and saw Su Rong approaching with Zhang Su’er. This surprised him. He thought Su Rong should despise him greatly. Why would she come looking for him? “What is it? Can’t bear to see me leave?”
The teasing words made Su Rong furrow her delicate brows. She exhaled softly through her red lips. “You have already proven your strength by defeating Qing Xiangming. If you could change a little more and rid yourself of those bad habits, I believe many people would come to admire you.”
“Including you?” Ye Chu laughed. His gaze fixed straight on Su Rong. Su Rong had a straight and elegant nose bridge, vivid red lips, a full and prominent chest, and long trousers that clung tightly to her slender, beautiful legs. Just looking at them conveyed an astonishing sense of tempting elasticity. Ye Chu had to admit she was an exceptional beauty, truly capable of stirring a man’s heart.
“Ye Chu! Take your filthy eyes away!” Zhang Su’er saw Ye Chu staring at Su Rong without any restraint. Her eyes narrowed sharply, anger surging within them. This fellow was growing more and more brazen. If not for the fact that he had helped them once, she would not bother with him at all!
Ye Chu completely ignored the mad little girl Zhang Su’er. He smiled at Su Rong. “I am the sort of person who lacks self-control the most. If you were to stay by my side and be willing to discipline me, perhaps I really would change! But Su Xiaorong, would you be willing?”
Many young masters and misses had come out through the main gate. Seeing Ye Chu teasing Su Rong in such a dissolute tone, they all halted in their steps. Some of the young men glared at him furiously! Yet none dared to step forward!
Su Rong’s expression grew even colder. She said to Ye Chu, “I have no obligation to do anything for you!”
“Those words really hurt my feelings!” Ye Chu sighed. “We have known each other for so many years. I always thought we were friends. I even thought that if you asked me to sleep with you, I could try my best to satisfy you. Yet you are so heartless. It seems you and I are ultimately not the same kind of people after all! My heart is thoroughly wounded. I feel I will never love again!”
Hearing Ye Chu’s words, the crowd felt this fellow was simply too good at pretending! You will never love again? Damn it, the way he spoke made it sound as though he had ever loved anyone in the first place!
Such shameless words finally made Zhang Su’er explode. “Will you die if you stop being shameless, lewd, and wicked for one moment? Would it not be better to live as someone admired by others than as a rat scurrying across the street?”
Ye Chu shook his head. His expression turned somewhat dejected, and his whole demeanour grew deep and sombre. In an extremely low and heavy tone, he sighed. “You do not understand my excellence! The talents heaven has bestowed upon me are beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals like you! My flamboyance is the will of heaven. My lewdness is my true nature. Since it is heaven’s will, do you still want me to go against the heavens?”
The crowd stood dumbfounded. They felt as though their entire worldview had been overturned! This fellow actually took pride in such things. Truly… truly… there were no words!
Su Rong and Zhang Su’er were equally rendered speechless by Ye Chu’s single sentence. They were so angry they could only laugh bitterly! When someone could shamelessly declare such words and treat them as the pursuit of his life, how were they supposed to persuade him any further?
“I think you should all learn from me! Life is about following the will of heaven! When the time comes, I will appoint you as my left and right protectors, acting on behalf of heaven! You are bound to achieve great things! The world will bow down to you as well!” Ye Chu said while staring at Su Rong and Zhang Su’er.
The two women felt they were going mad. They had come to persuade Ye Chu. Yet Ye Chu had turned it around and was persuading them to embrace wickedness and shamelessness!
“Beyond redemption!” Su Rong bit her pearly teeth. A faint, alluring blush appeared on her delicate, jade-like face. Disappointment flickered in her eyes. She finally stopped trying to persuade Ye Chu.
Seeing that the two women had fallen silent, Ye Chu smiled. He patted Liang Shan, who was still standing there in a daze, and had him pick up the lingzhi that had fallen to the ground.
“Su Xiaorong! Although you have wounded my heart, I am a magnanimous person! In the future, if you ever feel lonely, empty, or cold, you can still call on me to warm your bed and keep you company.” Ye Chu smiled, then laughed heartily as he left together with Liang Shan.
Ye Chu knew that this time he had thoroughly offended Su Rong. This woman’s disgust towards him had probably reached an irreparable extreme.
But Ye Chu did not care. His reputation was already so foul. A little more stench would make no difference. Most importantly, Ye Chu did not want to hear every single person coming up to him saying “you should behave properly”!
Hearing such words too many times made Ye Chu want to punch someone. He had always been behaving like a human being, hadn’t he? Yet they kept telling him to behave properly. Were they not essentially cursing him as not being human at all!
Now that word of Su Rong being teased today would spread, surely no one would come bothering him anymore with lectures about behaving properly!