"Ah!" he roared. Unable to hold back any longer, he suddenly overturned the stone table.
The stone pieces on the chessboard flew everywhere, and the stone table nearly crushed Fang Yuan's foot, but he fortunately rose and dodged in time.
Shang Yazhi staggered back three steps, dizzy and lightheaded. Two streams of bright red blood flowed from his nostrils.
"Shang Yazhi, you'd better calm down. The poisonous vow stipulates that neither of us can harm the other. Thank me for dodging just in time. If the stone table had crushed my foot, your injuries would have been far more severe." Fang Yuan said with a faint smile.
"Ahh! Fang Zheng! I will cut you into a thousand pieces! I will pull out your tendons, peel off your skin, and slice off every inch of your flesh!" Shang Yazhi cursed in agony.
Fang Yuan's smile grew even wider.
Bai Ning Bing frowned. "Shang Yazhi, you'd better shut up. If you keep cursing, I'll throw you out! You are the young master of the Shang clan now, but that doesn't mean you will be in the future. You're finished. The Internal Affairs Hall has already launched an investigation. You don't have many days left to be arrogant."
These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Shang Yazhi.
That's right. His position as young master was about to be lost! Preserving this position was the key!
But how could he preserve it?
He who tied the bell must untie it. He had to start from the source. Only by joining forces with Fang Zheng, making a public statement together, clearing his suspicions, and flatly denying everything could he have a hope of passing the investigation.
Wasn't the purpose of his trip to the Nanqiu Courtyard precisely to collude with Fang Zheng?
Thinking of this, Shang Yazhi felt a wave of disgust in his heart.
"These two bastards are the very culprits who set me up! I want to drink their blood and eat their flesh! And now I have to beg them to cooperate with me?"
Shang Yazhi couldn't wrap his head around it. His pride couldn't accept it.
Reading the situation and sensing Shang Yazhi's shifting expressions, Fang Yuan spoke at the opportune moment. "Shang Yazhi. Actually, I am a kind person. I have always repaid kindness with kindness and enmity with enmity. If you hadn't repeatedly made things difficult for me, sabotaged me behind my back, and even fought me over the Labor Gu at the auction, would I have come to cause you trouble?"
"I admit that the content of the poisonous vow was indeed a trap. But I have been in Shang Clan City for over two years now. When did I ever activate it? If you hadn't pushed me too far, would I have ended up in this situation with you? This is all your own doing. I let the guards allow you in to tell you this—the Shang clan is powerful. I can't afford to offend it. But a mere young master of the Shang clan, I can still topple. You can leave. I don't want to make things harder for you anymore."
"Playing hard to get... He sure can talk." Bai Ning Bing glanced at Fang Yuan, a hint of cold sarcasm in her eyes.
But Shang Yazhi did not leave.
He stood rooted to the spot, motionless like a wooden post.
His expression kept shifting, turning green and then pale, sometimes twisted and ferocious, sometimes frowning in deep thought. Soon, his forehead was covered in sweat, clearly caught in a fierce internal struggle.
Fang Yuan's conciliatory words made Shang Yazhi realize that the situation between him and Fang Zheng had not yet reached its worst point; there was still room for recovery.
They also reminded him that the Labor Gu was the focal point of their conflict.
"To preserve my position as young master, I have to make Fang Yuan cooperate with me. To cooperate..." Shang Yazhi gritted his teeth. Involuntarily, his thoughts turned to the Labor Gu.
"Do I really have to hand it over? The Labor Gu—I paid a huge sum of 810,000 for it!"
"If I give the Labor Gu to Fang Zheng, what will everyone think of me? I'll be a laughingstock!"
"But if I don't hand over the Labor Gu, how can I show my sincerity? How can I mend my relationship with Fang Zheng?"
"How infuriating! In the end, I was buying the Gu for Fang Zheng! This is the greatest humiliation of my life!"
"Because of Fang Zheng, I spent 810,000 on a Labor Gu and endured the ridicule and contempt of everyone around me. Now I have to give it to him voluntarily. Am I just asking for it?"
"No, the Labor Gu is not the key now. The key is preserving my position as the young master. Without the identity of the young master, I have nothing, nothing at all..."
In that short moment, Shang Yazhi's thoughts raced wildly, until his ears started ringing.
Seeing Shang Yazhi's pale face, wavering gaze, and swaying body, Fang Yuan knew the moment was ripe.
"Shang Yazhi, I told you to leave. Why are you still here? Fine, in your pitiable state, I don't want to bully you either. Bai Ning Bing, let's go. I heard that Ju Kaibei and Yan Tu are having a big fight at the training grounds today. If we want to dominate the training grounds, we will have to fight them sooner or later. It's a good opportunity to go and have a look." Fang Yuan shot Bai Ning Bing a meaningful glance.
Bai Ning Bing made as if to leave. She had barely taken two steps when Shang Yazhi's voice came from behind them.
"Please wait a moment, you two." His voice had become extremely hoarse.
As soon as he finished speaking, he summoned the Labor Gu from his aperture, cradling it in his trembling palm.
"Fang Zheng, I was wrong about what happened before. This Labor Gu is my humble apology gift." It was very difficult for him to speak at first, but the words flowed more smoothly as he went on. After finishing, Shang Yazhi felt as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and he inexplicably felt relieved.
"So this is the Labor Gu?" Bai Ning Bing stopped and focused her gaze on it.
The Labor Gu was a beetle. Its head was small, its body large, oval-shaped and the size of a palm. Its entire body was earth-yellow, its surface uneven, as if covered in granular lumps of soil.
"He really did hand over the Labor Gu. Fang Yuan must be laughing smugly right now, right?" Bai Ning Bing sighed inwardly. Fang Yuan's grasp of the human heart made her feel the vast gulf between them.
Fang Yuan laughed heartily. "Shang Yazhi, I know what you mean, but do you think I absolutely must have your Labor Gu? Although the Labor Gu is difficult to refine, as long as I persevere, I will succeed one day. You want to oppose me when it suits you, and make peace when it suits you? Fight when you want, make peace when you want. Do you think things in this world are so easy? I, Gu Yue Fang Zheng, also have my dignity. Are you insulting me?"
"You misunderstand." Shang Yazhi quickly explained.