Chapter 65

Gu Ming knelt on the ground, clutching Chu Xin’s sleeve, pleading with deep emotion.

However, Chu Xin only frowned, showing no intention of relenting.

“Gu Ming, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but the Chu Corporation’s performance has taken a sharp downturn lately. There’s a massive backlog of inventory, and our cash flow is in trouble. Twenty billion… twenty billion is no small sum.”

“Why don’t you… try asking the Cao family?”

The Chu family’s business was indeed facing difficulties, but even a dying camel was bigger than a horse. She could still come up with twenty billion if she really wanted to.

But this son of hers was already married. If she gave him twenty billion to gamble on an uncertain future, even if he won in the end, it would be the Cao family who benefited, not the Chu family.

And if he lost, losing another twenty billion would be adding fuel to the fire for the struggling Chu Corporation.

Gu Ming’s face stiffened.

Then, he let out a bitter laugh.

“The Cao family? You know very well that Cao Ya looks down on me. Let alone the fact that the Cao family has been on a decline these past few years and can’t possibly come up with that much money—even if they could, do you think Cao Ya would give it to me?”

Back then, he had no particular feelings toward Cao Ya, but his mother had forced him to marry her in order to secure a piece of land from the Cao family at a low price.

For the first two years of marriage, his relationship with Cao Ya had been decent. But after just two years, she changed.

Adding to that, the marriage between the Chu and Cao families had brought no benefits to the Cao family, and he himself was just a B-rank beastman. Once he fell out of favor with Cao Ya, the Cao family stopped treating him with any respect.

He had once thought his entire life would be like this—mediocre, trapped in the Cao family, enduring in silence forever.

But then, news of Dan Sect’s recruitment reached his ears.

An old classmate of his, with qualifications similar to his, had paid twenty billion to enroll—and he had already been admitted to Dan Sect.

When his classmate told him about it, his voice was filled with excitement, saying that his fate had changed.

He had even told Gu Ming, “Your fate can change too.”

With high hopes, Gu Ming rushed back to his marital home and shamelessly begged his own mother for days. But no matter how hard he pleaded, she refused to give in even a little.

So, it turned out that even among the wealthy, the treatment of sons could be vastly different.

“Well… how would you know if you don’t at least try?”

“Talk to Cao Ya. If you really have the potential to become a high-level alchemist after joining Dan Sect, wouldn’t the Cao family also benefit?” Chu Xin avoided looking into Gu Ming’s eyes.

A married son was like spilled water. If the Chu family was still as prosperous as before, she wouldn’t have minded helping her son out. But now, the Chu family’s situation was far from ideal. And that Dan Sect…

She suspected that Dan Sect had something to do with her daughter.

The founder of Dan Sect was also the owner of the Jade Dew Pill formula and happened to have the same name as her daughter—Chu Ning.

Dan Sect was also closely tied to the military. All of these details… they seemed to line up too well.

Could her useless daughter really be the master of Dan Sect?

Gu Ming’s face turned pale upon hearing her words.

Then, as if making a firm decision, he looked straight at Chu Xin.

“Then… what if I divorce Cao Ya? Mom, would you be willing to give me a chance?” He fixed his gaze on her.

Before Chu Xin could answer, Gu Ming quickly continued, “After the divorce, I will stay in the Chu family forever and never marry again.”

Chu Xin’s expression froze. For once, she didn’t immediately reject him.

“Gu Ming, get up first,” she said, bending down to help him.

But Gu Ming didn’t move.

Chu Xin sighed.

“Alright… since you’re this determined…”

Gu Ming immediately looked at her with anticipation.

“Stand up,” Chu Xin repeated.

This time, she finally managed to help him up.

Pulling her son to sit beside her, Chu Xin’s expression grew complicated.

“Back then, I married you to Cao Ya because I thought she had good character. The Cao family, though not an aristocratic clan, was at least financially stable. But now, since Cao Ya treats you poorly and the Cao family is unreliable, you might as well come back.”

“But as for never marrying again, don’t say such things. I’ll continue looking for a suitable match for you, and when I find someone decent, you’ll marry again,” she reassured him.

Gu Ming obediently put on a touched expression.

“No need, Mom. From now on, I’ll stay in the Chu family and keep you company for the rest of my life.”

Chu Xin chuckled. “How would that work?”

“But there’s no rush. We’ll take our time picking someone.”

“Mom, I really don’t want to get married again. Once I divorce Cao Ya, I’ll focus on my studies at Dan Sect and strive to become an alchemist as soon as possible so I can help the family.”

“Or, if you insist on me getting married, then you can arrange for someone to marry into the Chu family instead,” Gu Ming said, his eyes flickering.

Chu Xin’s expression froze.

Marry in?

Something clicked in her mind, and she looked at Gu Ming with a newfound sense of closeness.

“We’ll talk about that later. For now, I want to discuss Dan Sect with you.”

If Gu Ming could truly become an alchemist, then marrying someone into the family wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

After all, Chu Yan wasn’t her biological daughter, and Chu Ning had abandoned her.

If Gu Ming could actually support the Chu family, it wouldn’t be impossible to give him a chance to compete with Chu Yan.

“Mom, go ahead.”

“I suspect that the founder of Dan Sect is your sister, Chu Ning. Or, if not her, then she must be involved in some way,” Chu Xin said.

Gu Ming was taken aback.

“That… doesn’t seem possible.”

Chu Ning—his real sister. He had only seen her twice.

The first time was when she was first brought back to the Chu family—timid, avoiding eye contact, utterly spineless.

The second time was at her and Chu Yan’s 20th birthday banquet, where she seemed like a completely different person, making a huge scene.

Back then, he had been under Cao Ya’s control and hadn’t joined in the commotion.

In the end, he only watched as Chu Ning cut ties with the Chu family and left.

Wasn’t she just an E-rank mental waste? How could she possibly be connected to Dan Sect?

“Even I find it hard to believe, but… some things just seem too coincidental.”

With that, Chu Xin shared some of the information she had gathered with Gu Ming.

“Since you’re going to Dan Sect, keep an eye out for me. See if your sister is there.”

“If she really is at Dan Sect—”

“Then I’ll make sure to bring her back to the Chu family,” Gu Ming interrupted confidently.

Even after hearing everything his mother said, he still didn’t believe that Chu Ning could be Dan Sect’s master.

His mother was probably just desperate for the Chu family to produce a talented alchemist, which was why she was jumping to conclusions.

“Alright.” Chu Xin nodded in satisfaction.

After chatting for a while longer, she finally let Gu Ming leave.

Two days later.

Xia Ye received an interview request from Gu Ming.

Upon seeing Gu Ming’s information, Xia Ye was a bit surprised.

He initially wanted to reject it outright, but after hesitating for a moment, he decided to inform Chu Ning instead.

“Wasn’t Gu Ming married? Why is he applying as a member of the Chu family?” Chu Ning asked.

She didn’t have a strong impression of this so-called brother. She only knew that his status in the Chu family wasn’t high—and that he wasn’t valued in his marital home either.

“I looked into it. He got divorced yesterday. After that, he returned to the Chu family.”

“Huh?”

“Well, that makes sense. Otherwise, with Chu Xin’s personality, if he weren’t officially part of the Chu family, she wouldn’t have been willing to pay his application fee.”