The most foolish in the world

Chapter 44

Upon hearing this, the scholar remembered something. He hurriedly got up, pulled an account book from the bookcase, and handed it to her.

Fan Qingbo took the ledger with a belly full of doubts, casually flipped through a couple of pages, her eyes widening in disbelief, and finally snapped it shut, shoving it back into the scholar's arms. Meeting his expectant gaze, she returned his affectionate look and said, "Well, you don't mind if I break off the engagement, do you?"

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29. Husband meets fiancé

Fan Qingbo assumed that every ledger should have a detailed breakdown of expenses and receipts. But in the scholar's ledger, starting from the middle, she flipped through ten pages and found only large expenditures, with no income whatsoever. What did this mean? Either he was a spendthrift, or he was heavily indebted.

Neither the former nor the latter was a good match, so she asked, "Um, you don't mind if I call off the engagement, do you?"

"I don't mind." Seeing her surprise, the scholar added, "Miss Fan always changes her mind, I'm used to it."

He spoke so logically and honestly, yet she felt ashamed, her lips twitching as she emphasized, "I'm serious this time!"

The scholar was delighted upon hearing this, "So Miss Fan wasn't serious about changing her mind several times before?"

Is this the legendary feigned reluctance? Oh dear, Miss Fan is so adorable.

Just as he had grown accustomed to her changing her mind, she had grown accustomed to him not following her script. Fan Qingbo continued, "Since you don't mind, let's call off the wedding. Return the invitations that haven't been written yet, and I'll pay half the cost of the ones that have."

The scholar glanced at her, took two steps back, and then slowly said, "The reason I don't mind is that I would never agree to it."

She frowned, "You have the heart to let me starve with you?"

The scholar asked in surprise, "How could this be? My father clearly said before he died that this money would ensure the Shu family's prosperity for three generations... Could it be that prices have really risen so drastically these days?" As he spoke, he flipped through several pages of the account book and pointed them out to Fan Qingbo, "How long do you think this money will last?"

Fan Qingbo glanced at it listlessly, then was shocked, and then held the ledger in his hands—Remaining balance: 467,500 taels of silver.

A thought flashed through her mind, and she flipped to the first page, where the title page clearly stated: "In the twenty-ninth year of Yongqing, five hundred thousand taels of silver were deposited in a Jiangnan money shop." The signature was a familiar-looking image resembling a magnolia.

Yongqing was the reign title of the current emperor's grandfather, meaning that roughly thirty years ago, the bookish father deposited 500,000 taels of silver in the bank. What does 500,000 taels mean? In the imperial court, a moderately well-off family of four would only spend two or three hundred taels of silver a year, while a wealthy family would only spend a little over a thousand taels. If managed properly, 500,000 taels could more than guarantee three generations of financial security!

"My God, is this scholar a rich second-generation?" Fan Qingbo blinked rapidly, muttering to himself, "Does this count as me marrying a rich man? Does it count?"

Wait a minute—"Scholar, is your father some kind of wealthy merchant? No, I've done my research, and there hasn't been a single wealthy merchant with the surname Shu in the past three hundred years or the next three hundred years. But if he's that rich, he must be either a merchant or an official...Scholar, are you a second-generation rich kid or a second-generation official?"

The scholar was confused by her strange vocabulary, and when he met her bright eyes, he felt dizzy.

"Neither."

Before the scholar could speak, a voice answered for him. Following the sound, he saw who it was and instinctively turned to look at his fiancée. Sure enough, she ran over with a look of surprise on her face, "Handsome brother, what brings you here? Huh?"

When she saw the people following behind Gongye Bai, her expression changed, and she finally remembered a very important thing that she had forgotten in the past few days.

"Manager Fan is a good friend of my wife. Hearing of your joyous occasion, how could I not come and see you?"

With his hands in his sleeves, eyes narrowed, and a sinister look on his face, Xie Dongfeng ignored Fan Qingbo's embarrassed expression and went straight into the house.

"Lord Jie and Lord Gongye, your presence is an honor. I have failed to greet you properly. My apologies."

The scholar, oblivious to the awkward atmosphere, bowed respectfully. Gongye Bai returned the bow gracefully, but Xie Dongfeng snorted and ignored him.

Seeing the scholar's confused expression, and fearing he might talk to Xie Dongfeng—not everyone could tolerate his nonsensical antics, especially since Xie Dongfeng was notoriously petty—Fan Qingbo quickly averted her gaze. She grabbed Gongye Bai, "Beautiful brother, you just said none of those things, do you perhaps know something?"

Gongye Bai looked at the innocent-looking scholar and smiled meaningfully, "Young Master Shu, don't you have anything to say?"

The scholar was taken aback, then suddenly realized what he meant. He turned around, picked up a wedding invitation from the stack on his desk, handed it to him, and said with a shy smile, "Lord Gongye is Miss Fan's sworn brother. I originally intended to pay him a visit on a chosen day, but now that I have met him... I would be grateful if Lord Gongye could officiate our wedding."

Upon hearing this, Gongye Bai's flawless smile cracked for a fleeting moment.

Xie Dongfeng snorted again, thinking to himself that this man really knew how to play dumb.

Fan Qingbo burst out laughing. She was quite pleased that the scholar's foolishness had been directed at someone else.

However, Gongye Bai was Gongye Bai after all, and he quickly recovered. He accepted the wedding invitation and said, "As your elder brother, I will naturally attend my younger sister's wedding." He glanced at Xie Dongfeng, who was sitting to the side, belching out a sinister aura, and smiled without any hindrance. "I mean, if the wedding can be held as scheduled."

Feeling the dagger-like gaze behind her again, Fan Qingbo felt tears welling up in her eyes. She quickly brought the topic back on track, "Beautiful brother, just tell me what you know. Don't expect a scholar to understand your hints."

"Shu Qingkuang, a native of Jiangnan, was born in Lingzhou and grew up in Guanzhong. In the twentieth year of Yongqing, he took over as the leader of the Demonic Sect. In the twenty-first year of Yongqing, he led the Demonic Sect down from Tianshan Mountain, turning the Central Plains martial arts world upside down for ten years. Finally, he was wiped out in one fell swoop by Qin Shenglan of the Mandarin Duck Blades and the righteous martial arts world."

Gongye Bai spoke slowly and calmly, but his eyes remained fixed on the scholar, watching his reaction.

"Shu Qingkuang, if your surname is Shu..." Fan Qingbo gasped, covering his mouth in shock, "Scholar, are you a descendant of the Demonic Sect leader?"

He's neither a son of an official nor a son of a wealthy family; is he actually a son of a gangster?

The scholar frowned slightly and shook his head. "No." Seeing Gongye Bai raise an eyebrow, he continued, "My father is the leader of the Udumbara Sect, not some demonic sect leader. The scholar you mentioned, Shu Qingkuang, may be someone with the same name."

This time it was Gongye Bai's turn to be stunned. He looked at the scholar's sincere face and couldn't tell whether he was pretending to be stupid or really didn't know.

Fan Qingbo tugged at the scholar's sleeve. "Ahem, the Udumbara Sect, also known as the Demonic Sect." Even she, who doesn't read much about martial arts gossip, knew this common knowledge. How could this scholar, who was involved in it, be completely unaware? Wasn't that a bit too absurd? She sighed.

The scholar paused, still puzzled, "But our Udumbara Sect wasn't wiped out by any righteous martial arts world."

"Oh?" Gongye Bai's eyes lit up, and he immediately became interested. Back then, in the battle between good and evil, the Demonic Sect disappeared without a trace. The official story of the righteous martial arts world was that the Demonic Sect was wiped out in a three-day, three-night battle at Lu. Could there be another hidden story behind this?

The scholar gazed into the distance, lost in memories, "It all started when I was three years old, with the four elders and two protectors of the Udumbara Sect..."

Having experienced his prolific talking ability firsthand, Fan Qingbo quickly reminded him, "Keep it short."