The facts proved it: Xu Nan wasn't just a walking iron abacus; he was a shameless, black-hearted slumlord.

  Early the next morning, just as the sky began to lighten.

  "Senior Brother Yan! We need to uproot all the dead grass in the courtyard, or we'll attract pests! Ah, yes, yes, please do the heavy lifting and chop that half-door into firewood!"

  "Senior Sister Su, if the cobwebs on the second floor bother your eyes, just cast a quick fire spell to burn them away. Just be careful not to incinerate the main beam!"

  While efficiently setting up a pot in the corner to boil the lowest-grade Spirit Rice Congee, Xu Nan naturally delegated the manual labor to the other two.

  Yan Zheng was an honest man. Since he had signed the ledger, he didn't slack off. He repurposed his edgeless heavy sword as a machete and a hoe. In less than half an hour, the courtyard was stripped clean of weeds.

  But Su Wan had reached her limit.

  As a dignified aristocratic heiress, even when down on her luck, she couldn't tolerate the accumulated stench of mildew and the rock-hard, bug-infested wooden plank bed.

  "I can't stand this." Su Wan marched downstairs with a dark expression, pulling a solid gold Phoenix Hairpin from her hair and slamming it onto the crippled wooden table. "Xu Nan, go to the Outer Sect market and pawn this!"

  "Aiyo, Senior Sister Su, what is the meaning of this?" Xu Nan's eyes lit up as he feigned a polite decline.

  "Buy three sets of clean bedding, a decent bronze incense burner, and mildew-purging sandalwood. And buy two premium armchairs!" Su Wan ground her teeth. "Convert the rest into spirit stones and buy top-tier Poison-Warding Pills and Yellow Talisman Paper! Even if this lady is walking to her death in The Hundred Thousand Mountains, I absolutely refuse to live in a pigsty before I die!"

  "Understood! Senior Sister Su is generous!"

  Xu Nan snatched the hairpin and vanished like a wisp of smoke.

  By the time he returned loaded with bags, Nanxi Pavilion had undergone a total renovation. The roof leaks were patched, the shattered door was replaced, and mind-calming sandalwood burned indoors to drive away the rot. Yan Zheng had even skillfully built a sturdy square table from the discarded wood in the courtyard.

  Xu Nan lay comfortably in the premium armchair Su Wan had bought, sipping freshly brewed hot tea. Looking at the revitalized courtyard, the abacus in his mind clattered furiously: Zero personal capital expenditure. By leveraging a primary investor's liquidity, I've forcibly upgraded my own doghouse into prime real estate. The valuation of this ruined courtyard just tripled! This is the grandmaster method of leveraging external capital!

  By evening, their luggage was fully packed. The storage bags contained two massive sacks of the cheapest, yet highest-volume Realgar Powder and mechanical traps, along with essential talismans and pills.

  "Tomorrow we enter a life-and-death venture. Tonight, we boost our risk tolerance!"

  Masking his financial agony, Xu Nan pulled a jug of Scorching Throat Liquor from his robes. It was the harshest, cheapest rotgut in the Outer Sect, commonly used by servants to numb their aching muscles.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  He set three coarse porcelain bowls on the wooden table and filled them with the strong liquor.

  "This bowl is for our makeshift shell corporation. Here's to surviving long enough to balance the ledger! Drink!"

  Xu Nan raised his bowl and downed half of it in one gulp, grimacing at the burn. Su Wan frowned but picked up her bowl, taking a tiny sip.

  Yan Zheng sat opposite, staring at the liquor. Due to his permanent state of absolute poverty, he strictly drank plain water year-round. But given the atmosphere, he said nothing. He lifted the massive bowl and, like a whale inhaling the ocean, drained it to the bottom in consecutive gulps.

  "Massive capacity, Senior Brother Yan!" Xu Nan gave him a thumbs-up.

  Half a breath later.

  Yan Zheng’s expressionless, black-iron face visibly flushed a deep liver-red. His eyes instantly lost focus, turning glazed and... unusually misty.

  "Hehe..."

  A foolish, almost bashful giggle escaped from the mouth of the eight-foot-tall, iron-tower sword cultivator.

  The half-peanut Xu Nan was holding dropped onto the table with a smack. A catastrophic forecast flooded his mind.

  "Senior Brother... Master... my sword..." Yan Zheng stood up unsteadily. Usually a man of few words, he was now spitting them out like a rapid-fire crossbow. "My sword... is too heavy... I want a hug..."

  With that, Yan Zheng opened those thick arms—arms capable of tearing a Wind Ape apart—and, reeking of cheap alcohol, lunged enthusiastically toward the nearest person: Su Wan.

  "What are you doing?!"

  Su Wan's face drained of color. It was too late to dodge. The microsecond before Yan Zheng could lock her in a bear hug, the Jade Pendant at her waist erupted with a blinding red light.

  Boom! A powerful kinetic shockwave blasted outward. This was a defensive artifact issued by The Su Family to its core heirs. Yan Zheng was thrown directly backward by the blast, rolling twice on the dirt.

  "So hot... no more hugs... no more hugs..." Yan Zheng scrambled up, looking deeply wronged. His glazed eyes swept the courtyard before locking dead onto Xu Nan, who was shivering behind the stove.

  "Fatty..." Yan Zheng giggled, exposing two rows of large white teeth. "You... aside from being a cheapskate, a bit sneaky, and a bit fat... you're actually a pretty good guy... Come here, let your brother give you a kiss!"

  Acting like a frolicking grizzly bear, Yan Zheng spread his arms wide, puckered his stubble-covered lips, and launched himself directly at Xu Nan.

  "Back off! Don't come over here!"

  Xu Nan unleashed a bloodcurdling shriek like a slaughtered pig. He had audited the heavens and the earth his entire life, yet his risk models had utterly failed to predict that this iron-tower heavy shield—who normally wouldn't speak even if beaten with a stick—was a psychotic drunk who aggressively forced kisses on people!

  The courtyard instantly descended into chaos.

  "Yan Zheng! Wake up! I haven't even found a wife yet; my purity is worth more than those three thousand spirit stones!"

  Xu Nan deployed his two fat legs, frantically sprinting around the dry well in the courtyard. Yan Zheng pursued him relentlessly, calling out affectionately, "Fatty, don't run, just one kiss."

  Standing on the second-floor corridor, Su Wan watched the absurd and unexpected chase below. She clutched her stomach, laughing so hard she couldn't stand straight. The shadow of death that had been weighing on her heart for days was largely washed away by this ridiculous spectacle.

  "You forced my hand!"

  Seeing Yan Zheng's bear hug about to lock onto him, Xu Nan was on the verge of tears. While sprinting, he agonizingly fished a small paper packet from his robes.

  "Heavy-duty Knockout Powder from the market! Three fragments of Low-grade Spirit Stones a packet! This is going straight on your ledger!"

  Xu Nan abruptly spun around, throwing the entire contents of the paper packet directly into Yan Zheng's face.

  Yan Zheng inhaled a massive lungful of the powder. His forward lunge froze instantly. He blinked, let out a massive, alcohol-fueled hiccup, and then his colossal frame crashed into the courtyard mud like a collapsing iron tower with a heavy boom. He immediately began snoring like thunder.

  Still reeling from the shock, Xu Nan collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air. His robes were soaked in cold sweat. Staring at Yan Zheng, who was now dead to the world, he gritted his teeth and pulled the Jade Slip Ledger from his chest.

  He swore a vicious oath in his heart: Starting tomorrow, there is an absolute, permanent, zero-tolerance policy for alcohol in this squad! If this bastard ever drinks a single drop again, I'll forfeit the three thousand spirit stones and sell this bear to an illegal coal mine!

  The moon reached its peak in the sky. In this eerie yet absurdly lively ruined courtyard, the three of them passed their final peaceful night before heading to The Hundred Thousand Mountains.

  Xu Nan’s ledger has many more debts to collect...

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