Chapter 196: Damn, I Really Want to Hammer You All

"I'm disgusting?" Chen Yan glared, slapped the table and said, "What do you mean?"

"Double standards, huh?"

"Your Wan'er isn't disgusting, but my Tang'er is?"

"But she's your own sister."

Li Chengqian: "......"

Crown Princess: "......"

Gao Yang: (? _?)

Sensing his sister's hostile gaze, Li Chengqian hurriedly explained, "Gao Yang, you know, I didn't mean that, I was just......"

His mind raced wildly, and as Gao Yang's stare grew colder and his hand was already raised, he finally thought of a suitable excuse.

"I was only saying that Zi Anxiong's tone was disgusting, not you."

After speaking, he let out a snort and averted his gaze from Gao Yang.

It couldn't be helped; he had previously worked hard to matchmake Li Lizhi and Chen Yan, and now even brought Li Lizhi from Chang'an, so the purpose needed no further explanation.

In any case, Li Chengqian indeed had something to apologize to Gao Yang for.

Therefore, when facing Gao Yang, Li Chengqian would always subconsciously back off.

"Hmph." Gao Yang, the hummer monster, let out another cold hum, refusing to let go.

Although she knew Chen Yan's remarks about Tang'er were teasing Li Chengqian by mentioning Wan'er, she listened happily and felt relieved.

At least there's progress, right?

From the original Gao Yang to Zhao Tang, then to Tang'er, it will eventually become a wife.

Gao Yang couldn't help thinking that.

Li Chengqian, seeing she didn't press the issue, immediately changed the subject, "By the way, Zi Anxiong, when we arrived we heard you say that scholar's money is the easiest to earn; what's the saying behind that?"

Chen Yan gave him a breezy glance, unhurriedly replying, "What else? Scholars have money, that's all."

"Take the scholars of Chang'an, for example; every day they're either visiting brothels or holding poetry gatherings, often congregating to criticize this or that, and their days are either leisurely elegance or romantic fantasies."

"Not to mention the books they need to purchase."

"Those scholars are very rich; as long as you catch the point where they spend money, you can have piles and piles of cash flowing in."

"So I say scholar's money is easy to earn."

When his words fell, everyone froze, then their expressions gradually turned inscrutable, and their gazes at Chen Yan grew strange.

Gao Yang raised an eyebrow, ready to criticize Chen Yan, but thinking of the many people present, ultimately kept silent.

But her expression made it clear she was very displeased.

"What's wrong with you?" Chen Yan, seeing the situation, asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

Du Gou hesitated, choosing his words carefully, "Brother Chen, what you said is correct, but... we are, after all, people of status, and you are still..."

"... not very appropriate?"

Du Gou felt he had been very tactful and believed Chen Yan would understand his meaning.

Unexpectedly, Chen Yan was stunned, "What about my status? What about being an Imperial son-in-law?"

"Which law of the Tang Dynasty says an Imperial son-in-law can't make money?"

"Moreover, when I came to Weinan County, His Majesty said that as long as I don't cross the bottom line or stir up massive public resentment, I can do whatever I want."

"And I'm here to make money; what's wrong with earning scholars' money?"

Everyone: "......"

Li Lizhi puffed her cheek and fell silent.

Strictly speaking, she now has nothing to do with Chen Yan; Gao Yang hasn't spoken, so she has even less to say.

She could only pray silently that Li Chengqian and Du Gou would persuade Chen Yan not to do such a thing.

At this moment, after a half‑minute of silence, Li Chengqian hesitated and said, "Um... Zi Anxiong, I admit you make a good point; by your logic, scholar's money is indeed easy to earn."

"But, brothels really can't be opened."

?

A huge question mark floated in Chen Yan's mind, leaving everyone stunned.

Goddamn it, brothels really can't be opened.

Who the hell wants to open a brothel?

"Zi Anxiong, why don't you think it over again? I believe with your mind, making money won't be a problem." Li Chengqian urged earnestly, "If it really doesn't work, will you continue the Liuli Pit aristocratic house?"

"Or you could find a way to increase the number of Zui Xian Lou establishments; any problem, I'll handle, and wherever help is needed I won't hold back."

"What do you think?"

"I said you, you jerk!!!" Chen Yan shouted angrily, "When did I ever say I wanted to open a brothel?"

"Is earning scholars' money only possible by opening a brothel, and not anything else?"

"You all dress in gold and silver every day, claim to have status and rank, have been well‑read since childhood, yet your minds are full of filthy thoughts?"

"Damn, I really want to hammer you all!"

Du Gou: "......"

Li Chengqian: "......"

Su Wan'er, Li Lizhi, and Gao Yang wore expressions that said, "I heard nothing, I know nothing, none of this concerns me."

They looked up and around as if nothing had just happened.

The atmosphere instantly became extremely awkward.

Li Chengqian twitched the corner of his mouth, puzzled, "How can we earn scholars' money without opening brothels?"

"Didn't you say scholars spend every day either visiting brothels or holding poetry gatherings?"

"Yeah." Du Gou lowered his voice, "Besides opening a brothel, how else can we make money from scholars?"

Chen Yan: "......"

Well, he shouldn't have said more to these two idiots.

All day long, their minds are filled with lust.

Chen Yan, weary: "It's not necessary to rely on a brothel to make money from scholars; can you two stop obsessing over this all day?"

"Visiting brothels is just a hobby for most scholars, not a necessity."

"Since we want to make money from them, we naturally need to grasp what every scholar must possess."

"For example, paper, ink, brush, and inkstone, various study supplies, and most importantly...... books!"

Books?

Du Gou and Li Chengqian both frowned.

Books are indeed a point; given their status, they lack no precious books—for instance, Du Gou's home, part of Du Ruhui's collection, books that outsiders likely never get to read in a lifetime.

But trying to make money from books is actually very difficult, with many challenges.

First, naturally, because of the aristocratic clans.

They rely on this to secure their position in the world, and now almost all books sold are sold by the clans.

Second, paper is too expensive; if one buys paper to copy and sell books, not to mention the high cost, the labor and material required alone are enormous.

It's simply not worth it.

Precisely for this reason, when Chen Yan earlier said he wanted to make money from scholars, no one present thought of books.

Everyone assumed Chen Yan wanted to open a brothel.

"Zi......" Li Chengqian was about to speak, but Chen Yan raised his hand to signal him not to.

"Alright, I know what you want to say; let me tell you why I want to make money from books."

Saying this, he felt around on himself, seemingly not finding anything suitable, then looked around, still not finding an object that met his requirements.

Finally, he fixed his gaze on the jade pendant with a spirit-crane pattern at Du Gou's waist.

After borrowing it from Du Gou, Chen Yan picked up the teapot on the table and poured a little tea onto the table.

Then, using the borrowed jade pendant, he dipped the quarter of the crane's head on its front into the tea and stamped it onto the dry tea table nearby.

Finally, he again dipped the crane's foot area of the jade pendant into the tea and repeated the previous action.

And on the dry tea table, two side‑by‑side figures appeared; looking closely, one could faintly see one as a crane head and the other as a crane foot.

Having done all this, Chen Yan looked up and said, "Do you understand now?"

"......"