Chapter 1: l will marry

Zhong Cai carried a bamboo basket on his back and walked down from Xiaolang Mountain.

Just as he got to the foot of the mountain, a servant of the Zhong family came running over in a hurry, complaining, "Sixth Young Master, why did you choose to go up the mountain today? Come back with me quickly, the young masters and young ladies from each family have all gone back, and you are the only one missing!"

Zhong Cai frowned and said, "Why are you rushing ? Do you have any manners?"

The servant Huang San curled his lips. Knowing that this man was a scoundrel, he did not dare to say anything, but continued to urge: "Don't mind it. It's not me who is anxious, but the masters and ladies in the room."

Seeing him like this, Zhong Cai quickened his pace a little and asked again, "What happened?"

Huang San said, "Don't mention it. Someone from the Wu family came and said that the Zhong family owed the Wu family a big favor in the early years, and now they have to pay it back! The Wu family doesn't want anything else, they just want a daughter of the Zhong family to marry Master Wu Shaoqian!"

Zhong Cai was stunned and blurted out: "How could a person like Wu Shaoqian marry the daughter of our Zhong family? Or does he want to take a legitimate daughter of the Zhong family as a concubine first?"

Huang San snorted, his tone full of gloating: "Young Master Shaoqian is different now than before. It is said that he was ambushed and all his secret soul treasures were destroyed. From now on, he can only be an ordinary person. It's only because you didn't know when you went up the mountain today that the news has spread all over the city!"

Zhong Cai's pupils suddenly shrank, and he barely controlled his worried expression. He stopped talking, but his steps became faster.

"Not a small amount of money." Didn't that guy always wear a treasured robe that could defend against the Xuanzhao realm? How could he be harmed by someone? The Wu family's ancestor failed to arrive in time. Did he become insane after being in seclusion, or did someone else in the Fusion realm take action?

Which bastard did this!

Zhong Cai is a time traveler. He died of a heart attack in his previous life. When he opened his eyes, he was reborn into a weak baby who also had heart problems. With a strong will to survive, he managed to survive. Fortunately, he came to a fantasy world where a pill was enough to treat heart disease. Unfortunately, his mother died of dystocia. Soon, his stepfather married a second wife. After confirming that he would not die, he forgot about him. In addition, his soul imprint was shallow, so it was obvious that he could not open the high-quality soul secrets, so he was not taken seriously.

But as a big family, there are still the proper treatments. As the legitimate son, Zhong Cai's life is not bad. He is not a person who likes to suffer. If the servants dare to be rude to him, he will go to his stepfather and punish them according to the family rules. Over time, he and the servants get along well, but they just don't have much affection for each other. Although his stepfather is annoyed by his troublemaking, he has become familiar with him after he has been to him many times. His stepfather wants to save face, so he is still okay with him.

In this world, ordinary people without soul marks can live for a hundred years. Zhong Cai didn't care much about his poor aptitude. He thought it was worth it to live these years in a lively manner, and didn't take some gossip to heart. After he turned ten, the direct descendants of the Zhong family could choose guards, and he also had one according to convention, but he didn't have any background or wealth, so he had no choice. The guard left for him was the most dull one among all the guards to be selected.

Zhong Cai still didn't mind it much. To him, being dull was actually a good thing as it made him obedient.

So in the following days, the guards often took Zhong Cai out as he wished and never raised any objections.

When Zhong Cai went to the mountains to play for the first time, he met Wu Shaoqian.

At that time, Zhong Cai was grilling meat by the campfire when he found a boy about his age approaching. He noticed that the boy's temperament was quite similar to that of his elder brother in his previous life, so he took the initiative to invite him to come over to grill meat and eat together.

The boy came over hesitantly.

Then Zhong Cai exchanged names with him. When he heard the other party's name, he couldn't help rolling on the ground laughing - Wu Shaoqian. He has a lot of money, but it doesn't match his temperament at all. It's such a contrast, it's really interesting.

Wu Shaoqian's face was full of confusion. After Zhong Cai laughed so hard that she hiccuped and explained to him intermittently, he understood, but became even more confused.

Is it funny?

In fact, Wu Shaoqian is the pride of the Wu family, the largest family in Kunyun City. He has opened the secret treasure of his soul when he was born, and summoned a sun-shooting bow with top-grade quality! With such a terrifying companion treasure, his future is bound to be bright.

This is indeed the case. Wu Shaoqian not only has great potential, but also practices very hard. He was able to practice on his own before he was ten years old. He is the pride of the entire Wu family, surpassing all the geniuses from other major families. He is even willing to give back to the family. Whenever he gains from practice, he always hands over at least 30% to the family, making the elders of various families and clans envy the Wu family for having such a talented child.

When he met Zhong Cai, Wu Shaoqian had already been training for more than a year, but it had been a long time since he opened the secret treasure. In addition, he was still young and had not deliberately sought fame, so he was not often discussed.

At least people like Zhong Cai, who had just been able to run out, was not very favored at home and had no access to information, didn't know him.

Zhong Cai thought Wu Shaoqian was quite interesting. Wu Shaoqian probably had never seen someone like Zhong Cai. After Zhong Cai chatted with him enthusiastically for a while, the two became friends. Knowing that Zhong Cai was not sure when it would be convenient for him to go out, Wu Shaoqian also left a way for them to contact each other.

After returning, Zhong Cai still couldn't forget Wu Shaoqian, and soon took the initiative to write a letter to Wu Shaoqian. His dull guards sent it to the channel location, and then Wu Shaoqian's death guards found a way to take it away.

Later, Wu Shaoqian became more and more famous, while Zhong Cai became unknown, but the relationship between the two remained very good. In addition to sending messages to each other, they would find ways to get rid of other people and meet each other a few times a year, and find a quiet place together to chat, play and have fun.

So even though it seems impossible for them to have any intersection in the eyes of outsiders, in reality it is far from the case.

Apart from each other, the only people who knew about this were Zhong Cai's dull guards and Wu Shaoqian's death guards. Wu Shaoqian, who always behaved coldly and arrogantly, had given Zhong Cai many carefully selected training resources and saved Zhong Cai's life several times during training. In front of Zhong Cai, he was a young man with flesh and blood.

Zhong Cai has long regarded Wu Shaoqian as a close friend! In fact, Wu Shaoqian is the most important person to Zhong Cai in this strange world.

Now hearing that Wu Shaoqian was in trouble, Zhong Cai was extremely worried!

He didn't know how many times he cursed the person who harmed his buddy in his heart.

As soon as he returned to the Zhong family, Zhong Cai felt a kind of impending pressure. The guards at the door and the servants coming and going in the family were all silent, and none of them dared to make a sound.

Zhong Cai followed Huang San directly to the side hall, where they saw a room full of people, each sitting in their own seats, arguing with each other. Although they did not seem to be quarreling on the surface, there was actually an undercurrent.

The elders of the Zhong family, the heads of each branch, the wives of each branch, the legitimate children of each branch... they were all present.

The moment Zhong Cai came in, he immediately became the focus of attention.

Zhong Cai walked behind his stepfather without saying a word.

The head of the Zhong family, who was sitting in the upper seat, said in a deep voice, "The Wu family has said that our Zhong family must send a legitimate daughter to marry. If no one goes, you know what the consequences will be, right? Still refusing? Do you think you can refuse?" As he spoke, he looked at the heads of the several families, "First House, Second House, Seventh House, you all have legitimate daughters of the right age, have you chosen one?"

There are a total of eight direct descendants of the Zhong family, and five of them either have no direct daughters, or the direct daughters are young or married. The candidate was actually chosen from the three direct daughters: 17-year-old Zhong Qiaoer from the first branch, 15-year-old Zhong Liner from the second branch, and 16-year-old Zhong Qianer from the seventh branch.

The eldest wife had the best family background. She was the first to speak, and her tone was very unfriendly: "If it were in the past, I would have been more than happy to have her, but now Young Master Shaoqian is useless. The secret treasure that my Qiao'er opened is of the top level of Xuan-grade. How can I marry a useless person? Besides, everyone knows that Young Master Shaoqian is not marrying a girl from our Zhong family, but a Xuan-grade treasure from our Zhong family. Any daughter who marries him will have to give him her own treasure to eat, stabilize his spirit, and lose the opportunity to upgrade her own secret treasure. This is not worth the loss!"

The second wife also said, "If we just lose this opportunity, it's fine. The chance is not big anyway. But Young Master Shao Qian was so glorious before, but now he has fallen to this point. His temperament may have changed drastically. He has to marry an unsatisfactory wife. Even if he takes the treasure, he may not love his wife. If we marry our daughter to him, I'm afraid we will fall into a fire pit! Besides, our Lin'er is also a top-level secret treasure of the Xuan grade!"

The seventh wife quickly agreed: "Qian'er is also a top-level Xuan-grade master! And I asked someone to inquire about it. Young Master Shaoqian's status has plummeted. This marriage is the Zhong family's last act of kindness for Young Master Shaoqian. The betrothal gift is just a token of appreciation. It is not worth it for us to pay for a daughter with top-level Xuan-grade qualifications!"

This treasure is a fruit that every direct descendant of the Zhong family possesses. It comes from a soul-fixing tree planted in the ancestral hall, and is the secret summoning tree of the Zhong family's ancestor.

When the ancestor was alive, this Soul-Fixing Tree would produce one to three Soul-Fixing Fruits every year. Each Soul-Fixing Fruit could upgrade a Xuan-grade companion treasure to Earth-grade. In addition, it could also repair Earth-grade and lower companion treasures after they were destroyed, and heal any soul damage. The ancestor gave the Soul-Fixing Fruits produced back then to whoever he wanted, which brought countless benefits to the Zhong family and made the Zhong family once prosperous.

Before the ancestor died, this wonderful soul-enhancing tree was planted in the ancestral hall.

This ancestor had a deep relationship with his wife and never took concubines. All his children were legitimate. Perhaps the spirit of the Soul-Fixing Tree had some kind of induction, so although it no longer produced Soul-Fixing Fruit every year, a fruit would grow for every legitimate descendant. And this Soul-Fixing Fruit would be connected to the blood and heart of that legitimate descendant, and could only be consumed by oneself, unless that legitimate descendant was willing to give it to others to consume, otherwise the Soul-Fixing Fruit would decay. If the auras of both parties could blend, the usefulness of the Soul-Fixing Fruit would also be enhanced.

Without the ancestors, the Soul-Fixing Tree was of Earth Grade when it was summoned, and then its grade kept decreasing. It is now of Mysterious Grade. The first generation of descendants who took the Soul-Fixing Fruit when it was first planted had a chance of upgrading their companion treasures to 80%. The next generation had a chance of 70%, and the next generation continued to decrease... The power of the Zhong family became weaker and weaker. After the eighth generation, the chance was only 10%. At the same time, the Soul-Fixing Fruit could no longer completely repair the companion treasures, nor could it completely heal the soul damage. It could only allow cultivators who were on the verge of soul collapse due to the destruction of their companion treasures to barely save their lives, and it could also have a slight repair effect on the companion treasures of the lower and middle grades of the last and yellow grades.

But it is precisely because of this that the Soul-Securing Wood has been preserved by the Zhong family.

The Wu family wanted Wu Shaoqian to marry a member of the Zhong family's direct descendant, naturally for the sake of the fruit that belonged to the direct descendant. Moreover, the direct descendant must be willing, and the marriage must be legal and reasonable. Only in this way can it be considered as repaying a favor to the Wu family.

Therefore, the Zhong family must not be careless in deciding the candidate now, otherwise if something goes wrong after the marriage, Wu Shaoqian will be devastated and die. When Wu Shaoqian is alive, he is already a useless person, and the Wu family can not care too much, but once he dies, the Wu family will definitely put all the blame on the Zhong family and avenge him.

Everyone in the Zhong family is well aware of this. Naturally, none of the wives are willing to marry off their daughters. Moreover, as long as the Wu family exists, their daughters will not only have to accompany a disabled person, but they will also have to protect his safety. They don't even know how to obtain resources for future cultivation... It can be said that their daughters are equivalent to being disabled. How can they bear to give them up?

So now no one is willing to give in.

The head of the Zhong family listened to the argument and said in a deep voice, "Okay, shut up! Do you want our entire Zhong family to be buried with Young Master Shaoqian? Tomorrow is the wedding day, and the bride price will be delivered and the bride will be taken away. How much time do you have left to quarrel? If you really can't choose, just draw lots!" His voice gradually turned cold, "So what if the Xuan-grade one is top? If the three girls have different qualifications, there is no need to choose. The best one should be sent directly."

Perhaps the pressure was too great, and the seventh wife blurted out: "The Wu family only wants the fruit, why do they have to send a daughter of Xuan rank? We have more sons of the right age, maybe there will be someone willing to do it?"

——If you count, there are indeed more legitimate sons of the right age.

The eyes of the first and second wives lit up, and they also said:

"We can just pick out the ones who are willing and give them some benefits. Anyway, they won't achieve much through their own cultivation, so they might as well follow Master Shaoqian!"

"Yes! Compared to his qualifications, Young Master Shaoqian needs to be willing! At that time, let him say that he has admired Young Master Shaoqian for a long time, but he never dared to dream about it. Now that he knows that Young Master Shaoqian is in trouble, he took the initiative to offer to send the treasure to show his love. The Wu family will be very moved by his deep love, and after asking his willingness, they will marry him... In this way, there will be no coercion or helplessness, and both families will save face, right? The Wu family will definitely like this statement."

As soon as the ladies said these words, everyone in the room fell silent.

Patriarch Zhong paused for a moment and suddenly said, "That's a good idea." Then, he looked at the many legitimate sons who were of lower qualifications and of the right age, and asked, "Is there any cousin who is willing to do it?"

At this moment, although the heads and wives of several families showed displeasure, there were also several families who looked at one or several of their sons behind them.

It was just a coincidence that each family had at least one legitimate son of the right age, and the best among them was only at the top of the yellow rank, so there was no need to feel bad about giving them away. Even if they didn't get any real money in return, they would have saved the Zhong family from a big trouble, so they would have made contributions, and would definitely receive some of the family's resources...

·

Zhong Cai met his stepfather's expectant eyes, and without hesitation, he stepped forward and said firmly: "I am willing to marry Master Shaoqian with the fruit!"

Nonsense, of course he is willing to marry. Doesn't he know what kind of character Zhong Qiao'er and the other two have? Just like their parents, they demand that benefits must be in place, and they admire strength. They have expressed that they are willing to give Tianpin and Xianpin Tianjiao maids and concubines. When his best friend was good, they had thought of putting the three of them in his backyard as concubines. But now is different. His best friend has flaws, and the benefits can't be in place... Just look at their disgusted eyes, how dare he bet on their thoughts? Whether they are really willing or not can't be deceived. As long as there is a thought of unwillingness, his best friend will be gone!

If the seventh wife hadn't mentioned letting the legitimate son take over, Zhong Cai would have been prepared to privately suggest it to his stepfather, but now he's saved the trouble. He has to step up quickly, otherwise what if the other cousins ​​with less qualifications are tempted? His best friend is so fragile now, and he doesn't trust anyone except himself!

Zhong Cai's heart broke when he thought about what might happen to Wu Shaoqian now.

As for the possibility of giving him some sleep...

Can chastity be more important than the life of a best friend? !