TBIP: Chapter 4

At this time, Lou Shaohui finished sending Mrs. He out and turned back for some reason. He stared at Lou Xingyao for a long time before saying an ambiguous comment. “You are lucky.”

Lou Shaohui wanted to say something, so Lou Xingyao hurriedly looked up and asked, “What do you mean, Uncle?”

“Mrs. He will take you back to Canglan City tomorrow.” Since he had spoken, Lou Shaohui didn’t think of keeping it a secret.

“What?” Lou Xingyao was even more confused.

Tianming Continent was vast and covered a large area. The size of Pingyang County alone could be compared with the province of China where Lou Xingyao lived in his previous life.

Canglan City and Pingyang County didn’t border each other. The distance between them could be described as thousands of miles and it was quite time-consuming to go back and forth. Even Lou Shaohui’s wife couldn’t often visit her parents.

Now Lou Shaohui told him that Mrs he came to the Lou family to take him to Canglan City?

Just because he had dual spiritual roots?

However, the He family had a high status in Canglan City and was backed by a golden core expert. This meant dual spiritual roots were far from rare enough for the madam of the family to come from afar to personally welcome him.

What’s more, he was just a useless person who couldn’t cultivate.

It must be because he made a big profit from Lou Xingyao, but Lou Shaohui was willing to resolve his doubts at this moment. “This Mrs. He has found a good marriage for you.”

“A good marriage?” Lou Xingyao repeated in a low voice.

Maybe it was because he was in a good mood or maybe he was afraid that Lou Xingyao would go to Canglan City without knowing anything and make some trouble that would implicate the Lou family.

In the end, Lou Shaohui asked Housekeeper Lou standing by to simply tell Lou Xingyao the whole story.

Lou Xingyao finally learned the whole story.

It turned out that Mrs. He had only one daughter called He Wanqing.

Like most young ladies from aristocratic families, He Wanqing had been engaged to Zhou Hanshan, the eldest son of the Zhou family in Canglan City, under the arrangement of the family since she was a child.

The former young master of the Zhou family was a gentleman and had a great talent. Not only was he handsome, but he was also a rare genius with a single spiritual root, who only appeared on Tianming Continent every thousands of years. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he was a proud son of heaven.

He Wanqing was able to make an engagement with him, which made countless young ladies grit their teeth. In the end, they could only say that the He family forced the marriage contract to repay a favor. The young master was just too filial and unwilling to disobey his elders.

As for why it changed…

It was because Zhou Hanshan encountered something when he went out for training five years ago, and he returned seriously injured.

At first, no one took this trivial matter to heart. For cultivators, life meant being in conflict with heaven. Injuries could be said to be commonplace, and it would be fine after recuperation.

Then as time went on, everyone in Canglan City gradually discovered that things seemed to be somewhat different from what they imagined.

It turned out that Zhou Hanshan had been silent since he was injured. His cultivation stagnated, and there were even signs of regression.

Canglan City was full of people, and it could be said that there were no secrets in the city.

Even though the Zhou family tried their best to hide the situation of their eldest son, they still couldn’t escape the eyes of the public.

It wasn’t until two years ago that the matter was completely exposed that everyone knew Zhou Hanshan was seriously injured five years ago, and it was an injury to the root. Not only were his meridians broken, but even his spiritual roots were damaged. It could be said that his path was completely ruined.

The number one genius of Tianming Continent fell from grace. Everyone was full of emotion, but they also couldn’t help feeling sorry for He Wanqing.

The ideal husband who originally had unlimited prospects had now become a waste. It was really time and fate.

Let’s not talk about what outsiders thought. After confirming that Zhou Hanshan’s spiritual root was incurable, Mrs He was absolutely unwilling to marry He Wanqing to her.

However, this marriage contract was originally obtained by the He family after Zhou Hanshan measured his single spiritual root talent. They relied on the kindness of their ancestors to the Zhou family and said it was to repay the kindness. The Zhou family reluctantly agreed since the He family did have some wealth, and He Wanqing’s dual spiritual roots of water and wood were also very talented.

Due to this, the marriage contract formulated by the Zhou family was very harsh.

Not only did they write down the conditions of the He family’s dual spiritual roots on paper, but they also stipulated that if the He family regretted the marriage, the betrothal gifts would need to be returned tenfold.

In Tianming Continent, even verbal vows would be bound by the laws of heaven. If they were violated, they would be punished by heavenly thunder, let alone when the contract was written on paper like the marriage contract.

This meant that the He family now had only two options. Return the tenfold betrothal gifts or fulfill the marriage contract.

The Zhou family and He family were both famous families in Canglan City. At that time, Zhou Hanshan was even known as the ‘number one genius on the continent. Under such circumstances, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the marriage was the focus of everyone’s attention.

In such a situation, the betrothal gifts given by the Zhou family could be imagined.

If the He family used all their strength, they could barely come up with the tenfold betrothal gifts.

However, the He family wasn’t a monolithic entity, and He Wanqing wasn’t the only daughter of the head of the He family. Except for Mrs He, the head of the He family and the elders of the family didn’t think that He Wanqing’s engagement was worth their expense.

In this way, the only option left was for He Wanqing to fulfill the engagement.

How could such a result be accepted by Mrs He, who had regarded He Wanqing as the apple of her eye since she was a child?

Mrs. He saw from the attitude of the He family that they would never return the betrothal gifts. Mrs. He could only choose to find another way out.

Perhaps her hard work paid off. In the end, Mrs. He found a solution.

It turned out that the Zhou family had made a mistake when they drafted the marriage contract. They only agreed that the He family needed to marry the dual spiritual roots genius of the family to Zhou Hanshan as his wife. They didn’t directly state that this person must be He Wanqing.

This also gave Mrs He room to operate. She only needed to select a dual spiritual root from the family to marry in place of He Wanqing, and she could solve her current dilemma.

There was no need for Housekeeper Lou to explain what was going to happen next. Lou Xingyao already had the answer in his heart. He must be the one chosen by Mrs. He to replace He Wanqing in the marriage.

At this time, Lou Shaohui finally let out a sigh.

“It is also your blessing to be able to marry the eldest son of the Zhou family.”

Do you want this blessing?

Lou Xingyao almost subconsciously wanted to throw out this sentence that was once popular all over China in Lou Shaohui’s face. Fortunately, she still had a sense of reason and finally swallowed the words that were already on the tip of his tongue.

It was unknown whether Lou Shaohui wanted this blessing or not. Lou Shaohui obviously didn’t care about Lou Xingyao’s wishes. He had already made a decision for Lou Xingyao before summoning Lou Xingyao.

If Mrs. He hadn’t insisted on seeing Lou Xingyao in person before she could feel at ease, Lou Shaohui wouldn’t have asked someone to bring Lou Xingyao here.

Since Mrs He had already left, Lou Shaohui naturally lost interest in playing the ‘deep love between uncle and nephew’ drama with Lou Xingyao. He dismissed Lou Xingyao with a few words, saying it was getting late and he would have to leave early with Mrs. He tomorrow.

So Lou Xingyao was immediately invited by Housekeeper Lou with great respect, just like when he came.

No, it should be said that it wasn’t as good as when he came here. At the very least, Housekeeper Lou sent a maid to lead him when he came here. Now he was left to go back alone.

Fortunately, Lou Xingyao had always had a good memory. Combined with Lou Xiaowu’s memories, he finally returned to the house where he came from smoothly.

“Hoo…”

Lou Xingyao sighed deeply after walking into the wooden house and closing the door.

Lou Xingyao hadn’t expected that in just half a day, he actually had a sense of belonging to this shabby house.

Lou Xingyao inexplicably felt a sense of security of ‘finally going home’ when he just entered the door.

Then thinking about it carefully, it wasn’t difficult to understand that his experience over half a day had more ups and downs than the 30 years of his previous life combined.

Encountering so many bad things in just half a day would inevitably make Lou Xingyao feel physically and mentally exhausted.

As for this inexplicable marriage, Lou Xingyao was a hundred times unwilling in his heart.

He wasn’t like Mrs He, who disliked Zhou Hanshan for being a useless person who couldn’t cultivate. In this respect, he and Zhou Hanshan were just the same.

It was just that in Lou Xingyao’s heart, whether it was dating or getting married, it should be built on the basis of love. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have remained single in his previous life until the accident happened.

Lou Xingyao’s only understanding of this Young Master Zhou was through the few words just revealed by the housekeeper. How could there be any feelings for a stranger he had never met before?

But in this situation, he could only obey the arrangement unless he had the ability to escape from the marriage.

As for escaping from the marriage…

Lou Xingyao wanted to say not to joke around. Just look at Lou Shaohui’s appearance today and it was obvious that he had gained a lot of benefits from Mrs He. It was all the ‘money from selling him.’

In other words, he was now Lou Shaohui’s cash cow. According to Lou Shaohui’s greedy nature, tonight might be the day when his shabby house was guarded the most strictly.

Even if he managed to escape or luckily left Pingyang County controlled by the Lou family, how could Mrs He, who wanted to help her daughter get rid of the engagement, let him go?

The He family might not be willing to pay ten times the betrothal gifts for He Wanqing, but this didn’t mean they were unwilling to implement Mrs. He plan to marry him off. If he escaped, he would become an enemy of the He family.

Behind the He family was a golden core expert!

The aura of Lou Xingyao, a foundation building cultivator, could take his life. Lou Xingyao didn’t want to imagine the consequences of provoking a golden core cultivator.

“It seems that I can only accept my fate…”

Lou Xingyao sighed slowly. It was the same marriage contract, but He Wanqing was unwilling to marry, and Mrs. He worked hard for her. Meanwhile, he had no one to rely on. It was really the same person but different fates.

Was this the legendary saying, ‘A child with a mother is a treasure?’

Thinking on the bright side, at least the worst-case scenario he had anticipated in the beginning was much more optimistic. Now that the He family needed him, his safety would be guaranteed before the marriage happened…

Just as Lou Xingyao’s thoughts started to become increasingly wild, he suddenly realized something and sat up abruptly from the bed.

Tianming Continent, Canglan City, He Wanqing…

Weren’t they the contents of a novel about cultivation that he used to read when he was young, ‘The Dao and Heaven are Equal.’