[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world":3,"chapter-cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-chapter-70":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Cultivation: I Studied Abroad in the Modern World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2263796,4418,"Chapter 70","cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-chapter-70",70,"\u003Cp>It was nearly evening, the red sun hanging on the horizon, staining the clouds with a carmine hue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beneath the twilight, more people had gathered around the Zheng family’s small courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady was accompanied only by Manager Wu, but farther behind her, the Zhao family’s servants were numerous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were clever enough—having noticed the lady not only tolerated their presence but seemed to encourage it; though they dared not approach, they clustered in small groups at a distance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some swept the ground, others pruned branches, each keeping their eyes straight ahead but ears perked up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Zheng family’s original dwelling lay in a remote corner of the Zhao estate; this surrounding land and its flora had never before been tended by so many, and now three men clustered around a single tree, still not enough to go around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuan slowly turned his head, glancing at the lady no more than three zhang away, and when he looked back at Zheng Fa, he nearly stammered in shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lady… did you not hear what I said?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You didn’t know?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Know what?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The lady is a cultivator.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…“\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t cry—you just praised her youthfulness.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuan’s face was pale, utterly unmoved by the reassurance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could he possibly praise the lady’s appearance?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet as the lady passed Gao Yuan, she acted as if she hadn’t seen him, her gaze fixed entirely on Zheng Fa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa still bowed first in greeting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To his surprise, the lady returned with a slight curtsy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside them, Gao Yuan’s mouth hung open, his earlier despair replaced by disbelief—he no longer seemed worried the lady was angry, but rather that she might have lost her mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The group of servants behind her stirred in commotion, all unable to resist glancing over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lady, please come inside to speak,” Zheng Fa said, turning his body slightly to avoid drawing attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady paused, studying Zheng Fa for two long moments, then said nothing—only followed him into the courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Mu and his younger sister stood within the courtyard, bowing to the lady, their expressions tense and restrained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady halted as well, returning their bows with solemn sincerity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This sudden, grave display of respect left Zheng Mu frozen in place, hands unsure where to rest, whispering softly: “How can this be? How can this be…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa nodded reassuringly to his mother, then invited the lady into the main hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I underestimated you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why does the lady say this?” Zheng Fa was puzzled—why had she opened with such a remark?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boys your age crave glory. I meant to cater to that, deliberately giving you this display of honor before so many servants—but you showed no reaction, and even invited me inside.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether it was the lady’s candor or her genuine intent to please Zheng Fa, her admission of these small, calculated maneuvers felt neither annoying nor insincere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm… I was a little pleased,” Zheng Fa said after a pause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But you are the Seventh Young Master’s mother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just for him? So you didn’t want me to lose face?” At these words, the lady’s eyes finally lit with genuine amusement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Also, when my father passed, you gave ten taels of silver.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Mu had never stopped mentioning this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter the lady’s reason for giving the silver, at that time the Zheng family was at its lowest: Zheng Fa’s funeral required funds, Zheng Fa was still young, and their fortunes had collapsed overnight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those ten taels, exaggerated or not, saved the lives of all three of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady’s expression softened, and her gaze toward Zheng Fa finally carried weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She understood what Zheng Fa meant—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You thought me easy to control, believed a little intimidation would make me bow to your will—you underestimated me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now you think I’ve risen to power and forgotten my gratitude, even turned ungrateful—you still underestimate me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After studying Zheng Fa for a long while, she sighed: “Should I say you’re unshaken by praise or blame, or that you’re even more prideful than I thought? If foolish luck truly favors fools, then Zhao Jingfan is doomed to be a fool for eight lifetimes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…“\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She seemed to have shed her earlier pretense of caution, and clapped her hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Manager Wu stepped forward with a lacquered box.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside, a stack of property deeds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady pulled out the top three.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These are your slave contracts—I’ve already ordered Manager Wu to go to the magistrate tomorrow and erase your slave status.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was only proper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though it was merely a single Immortal Rank Token, not a single servant in the Zhao family’s thousand-year history had ever received one—even Zhao family heirs fought bitterly over it every decade, and even the lady herself sometimes couldn’t decide its rightful owner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, in the lady’s eyes, with Zhang True Person’s favor, Zheng Fa was certain to pass the Immortal Rank Gathering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holding a slave contract to control an Immortal Sect disciple? That was absurd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady didn’t seem to regard this as the main point, instead gesturing to the deeds beneath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These properties—I originally planned them as compensation. Now that you’re no longer Zhao family servants, you should have assets of your own.” She paused. “To speak of compensation now would seem petty. Let it stand as tuition for my foolish son.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Properties?” Zheng Mu, still dazed from suddenly gaining freedom, now grew even more alarmed at the word: “White Manager already gave us a clothing shop.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady politely fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa read a silent sentence on her face: That’s called a property?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Zheng Mu, that clothing shop had indeed been an extraordinary asset.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa intended to eventually hand the shop’s accounts to his younger sister Zheng Shan, to train her abilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for now, he still managed it himself—he knew the shop’s profits hadn’t dropped since White Manager transferred it to Zheng Mu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It still yielded over ten taels in pure profit each month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Zheng Mu, who had been a peasant household just months ago, this was a fortune beyond imagining.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa flipped through the deeds in the box.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His face showed clear surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady had been extraordinarily generous—he saw several shops along the main avenues of Jingzhou City, each bustling with customers whenever he passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t realized they were all Zhao family assets, now placed in this box for him to choose from.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were also eight or nine residential deeds within Jingzhou City, over half of them grand mansions in Xicheng—the wealthiest district, as the old coachman had once said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder the lady had worn that expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa thought for a long while, then pushed the box gently toward the lady.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What? Dissatisfied?” The lady frowned slightly, then added bluntly: “These properties aren’t the most valuable—I still have better shops in my dowry.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, Lady, you’ve shown great sincerity—but they’re too valuable,” Zheng Fa shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Too valuable?” The lady suddenly laughed: “You probably don’t know how much Zhang True Person’s words—‘he learns better than I do’—are worth?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know how much it cost Lan’er to bring Zhang True Person here?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know,” Zheng Fa shook his head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No money was paid.” At these three words, the lady’s expression turned wistful: “The founding Yuan Ying ancestor of the Zhao family once saved Zhang True Person’s master—this debt of gratitude… it’s priceless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are these properties in comparison?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zheng Fa shook his head to the lady: “I say they’re too valuable because… when the poor suddenly become rich, disaster follows.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lady stared at him sharply, her voice now edged with bitter disbelief:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What kind of character do you have? That fool managed to befriend you? If he were my own son, I’d still ask—how on earth did he deserve this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…You know how to lift up and crush.\u003C\u002Fp>",1306,"2026-06-19T19:16:02.864Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","7847ccde6d1752535a265dfe92ad6d29206648ada49f0f90eb4ee6afca38f387","cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-chapter-71","cultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-chapter-69",487,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fcultivation-i-studied-abroad-in-the-modern-world-cover.jpg"]