Chapter 64

"Get lost!" When Zhou Chong heard the words of the young man with a shiny black complexion, he immediately glared at him fiercely and then moved far away. In his previous life, he had met countless people. Some would invite him to drink on their first meeting, others would invite him to do other things, and there were even those who would give him money on their first meeting. However, he had never encountered someone who, upon their first meeting, would introduce his own younger sister to him and even guarantee that they would enter the bridal chamber within three days. What else could this be if not a sign of mental illness?

Seeing Zhou Chong move away, the young man with the shiny black complexion showed no embarrassment and approached again, trying to persuade him, "Brother, from your appearance, you seem to be a scholar. My sister also loves scholars the most. So if you're willing, she definitely won't object. We can choose a good day to get married, and when you return home with such a beautiful wife, your parents will be overjoyed!"

Faced with such a persistent person, Zhou Chong had no choice but to glare at him again and say, "Sorry, my father and mother have both passed away!"

"Great!" To Zhou Chong's surprise, the young man was delighted and slapped his thigh, but then he realized it might not be appropriate and quickly added with a smile, "Um... hehe, brother, that's not what I meant. Actually, I was thinking... thinking..."

The young man's face turned red as he tried to think of a reasonable excuse. Finally, a light bulb seemed to go off in his head, and he slapped his thigh again, "Actually, I was thinking that since both your parents have passed away, you definitely need a woman to manage the household. My sister is a bit older than you, but she can take good care of you. She is also very smart, and if you entrust your family business to her, she will definitely run it very well!"

"I just paid off my family's debts, and now we are extremely poor. Moreover, I have a whole family to support, so I am not a match for your sister!" Zhou Chong replied listlessly, thinking he had never expected to encounter such a crazy person.

"No money?" The young man hesitated for a moment and then gritted his teeth, "No problem, I'm willing to give my sister a dowry of five thousand taels. With the dowry from my father, it will be at least ten thousand taels, enough for you to live a wealthy life with my sister!"

Zhou Chong almost spat out a mouthful of blood when he heard this. He thought, how desperate must this person be to marry off this athletic woman? He was even willing to give ten thousand taels as a dowry. Could there be something wrong with her?

Thinking this, Zhou Chong was even less likely to agree. He had to use his last resort and said, "Brother, I'm sorry, but my father arranged a marriage for me before he passed away. We were about to get married, but unfortunately, my father died, so I have to wait until the mourning period is over before I can get married."

Hearing that Zhou Chong was already engaged and had to mourn, the young man finally gave up, but his face quickly changed. The smile on his face disappeared, and he turned cold, "Brother, if you were engaged, you should have said so earlier. You've wasted so much of my breath!"

Zhou Chong was speechless, thinking it was clearly the young man who had approached him. At this moment, Xie Lingyun and the athletic young woman had finished catching up and came to Zhou Chong. Before Xie Lingyun could speak, the athletic young woman kicked her brother's thigh and shouted angrily, "Brother, are you trying to marry me off again?"

"Ouch! How could I dare to? I just hit it off with this brother, so we chatted a bit more." The young man pretended to be in pain and then laughed, putting his arm around Zhou Chong's shoulder.

Seeing her cousin and uncle-in-law bickering, Xie Lingyun did not stop them, as she was used to their behavior. After they finished, she pointed to them and introduced them to Zhou Chong, "Mr. Zhou, this is my cousin, Zheng Longhai, and this is my cousin, Zheng Youyi."

After introducing her cousins, Xie Lingyun smiled meaningfully and continued, "Cousin, Cousin, this Mr. Zhou is not an ordinary person. He is the only son of Zhou Nanyang, Mr. Zhou Chong!"

"Zhou Nanyang!" When they heard this name, the Zheng siblings were stunned and looked at Zhou Chong with a serious expression. Zhou Chong was not surprised by the name Zhou Nanyang, as Xie Lingyun had already told him that smugglers usually did not use their real names to avoid attracting the attention of the government. They gave themselves various nicknames. Zhou Hai's fleet mainly operated in the South China Sea, so he was called Zhou Nanyang.

Seeing her cousins' shock at Zhou Chong's identity, Xie Lingyun smiled and said, "Cousin, Cousin, let's go see Uncle first, and then let me and Mr. Zhou rest. This journey by boat has really exhausted us."

"Oh, right, Cousin and Mr. Zhou, please follow me!" Zheng Longhai finally came to his senses and led Zhou Chong and Xie Lingyun off the boat. Zheng Youyi, however, seemed very curious about Zhou Chong and kept looking at him.

On the way, Zhou Chong secretly asked Xie Lingyun about her relationship with the Zheng siblings. Xie Lingyun smiled and explained that Zheng Longhai and Zheng Youyi's father had married her father's sister, making them cousins. Zheng Youyi was already nineteen but had not yet married, so her family was desperately trying to find her a husband, which had become a source of worry for the Zheng family. Zheng Longhai would approach any suitable young man to promote his sister, which explained the earlier scene.

After hearing about the Zheng family, Zhou Chong smiled but did not ask further. He was not close to the Zheng siblings, so it was not his business. Zheng Longhai led them to a large mansion near the dock. The mansion was well-constructed, with a square courtyard surrounded by a high wall and watchtowers at each corner. Although it was far away, he could still see armed guards on the watchtowers.

Zhou Chong thought this was the Zheng family's home, but to his surprise, the guards saluted Xie Lingyun first, then the Zheng siblings. Clearly, Xie Lingyun was the true owner here, which made Zhou Chong even more confused about her relationship with the Zheng siblings.

Inside the heavily guarded mansion, Zhou Chong was surprised to see that the courtyard had no decorations. As soon as they entered, they saw a vast training ground with over a hundred men, bare-chested and wearing only short pants, seemingly oblivious to the cold winter. Under the stern gaze of a middle-aged man in his fifties, they shouted "Huh! Ha!" and steam rose from their heads as they trained hard. If Zhou Chong had not known where he was, he might have thought he had entered a military camp.

"Father, Cousin Lingyun is here, why are you still training?" Seeing the middle-aged man, Zheng Youyi immediately shouted, showing no ladylike demeanor.

The middle-aged man heard his daughter's voice, looked up, and saw Xie Lingyun. He smiled and walked over. Zhou Chong then saw that the man was tall and slender, with a ruddy complexion and a long beard, resembling Guan Yu. His steady gait and composed demeanor exuded a powerful presence, clearly that of a martial artist.

"Lingyun, pay your respects to Uncle!" Xie Lingyun hurried over and bowed.

"Ha ha, Lingyun, no need for formalities. It's been over a year since we last met, and you seem even more beautiful. How about it, has your father found you a good husband yet?" The middle-aged man laughed and asked about Xie Lingyun's marriage.

"Hehe, I'm younger than Cousin, so I'll think about my own marriage after she gets married!" Xie Lingyun smiled playfully, showing a rare girlish side in front of her elder.

Hearing Xie Lingyun use her as a shield, Zheng Youyi glared at her, but Xie Lingyun just blinked and pretended not to see. The middle-aged man sighed helplessly and then asked, seeing Zhou Chong, "Lingyun, who is this gentleman?"

"Oh, Uncle, I forgot to introduce him. This is Mr. Zhou Chong, the son of Zhou Nanyang from the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce." Xie Lingyun introduced him. Zhou Hai mainly operated in the South China Sea, so the chamber was called the Nanyang Chamber. However, after Zhou Hai's death, the Nanyang Chamber had split into three parts and lost its former glory.

"Oh, you are Zhou Hai's son?" The middle-aged man, Xie Lingyun's uncle, was also surprised by Zhou Chong's identity.

"Junior pays his respects to Uncle Zheng!" Zhou Chong bowed. The middle-aged man looked older than Zhou Hai, and since he seemed to know his father, calling him Uncle was appropriate.

"Good, I've heard that Zhou Hai has a fine son who passed the scholar examination at fourteen. Today, I see that the rumors are true!" The middle-aged man stroked his beard and smiled. "I am Zheng Ling, in charge of Shuangyu Island for the Xie family. I have met your father a few times, so you can call me Uncle Zheng. As for the 'old' part, let's drop it. I'm still young and can still wield a sword!"

Hearing the man call himself 'old' while insisting he was not, Zhou Chong was speechless. He finally understood why Zheng Longhai had so rashly tried to promote Zheng Youyi to him. It seemed both father and son had some unusual traits.

Zheng Ling then led Zhou Chong and Xie Lingyun to the main hall of the mansion and asked about their reason for coming to Shuangyu Port. Xie Lingyun had privately agreed to help Zhou Chong, without consulting anyone, but she had been following the situation in Shuangyu Port and was confident about helping him take over the Nanyang Chamber.

However, after hearing their story, Zheng Ling frowned and said after a moment of thought, "Lingyun, if it were a few days ago, Mr. Zhou would have a good chance of taking over the Nanyang Chamber. But some events have occurred in the past two days, and the situation has changed, which will likely cause Mr. Zhou a lot of trouble."