The Elegant Young Master of the Xue Family
“Miss, how long are we going to sit here?” Ping’an sneaked a glance at the people coming and going on the street, then looked at his own young miss who was squatting there completely unconcerned. His clean, refined face was filled with awkward embarrassment.
Shen Taohua chewed on a piece of milky nougat, replying lazily, “A little longer.”
Her gaze swept across everyone who walked past her. The more people she looked at, the system interface kept showing reminders: “+10 points,” “+10 points.”
The marriage-matching system did not provide compatibility or favorability checks for free.
As the host, viewing her own information and others’ information was free. But once she wanted to view compatibility between other people, she had to either pay money or spend points.
Each scan of compatibility between herself and another person earned her one point. Successfully matching a couple earned one hundred points.
Checking compatibility between other people cost ten points each time. Causing an ill-fated match resulted in a deduction of one hundred points.
Although she was not short of money, why spend it when she could earn free points?
So, whether it was to indirectly solve her marriage problem or simply out of curiosity, she would occasionally come out onto the street like this to farm points.
Compatibility scores: forty, thirty-five, thirty, thirty, forty-five, fifty…
Squatting there for less than the time it took to burn an incense stick, she had scanned forty to fifty people back and forth. The highest compatibility was only fifty, while the average was around forty.
Although many of those scans were simply for farming points and involved people completely outside her consideration, women, elderly ladies, old men, the scores among young men were even lower, mostly thirty or thirty-five.
Those rare “high scores” actually belonged to people in their thirties or older, even men and women in their fifties or sixties.
Perhaps it was because older people had seen more of the world and were more… inclusive?
Shen Taohua couldn’t help laughing at the thought.
Ping’an, beside her: “??” How does she just start laughing while spacing out?
In any case, Shen Taohua had been squatting there for quite a while, yet still hadn’t found anyone whose compatibility reached the passing line. Those who reached a “good match index” above sixty did exist, but they were mostly older as well.
She rested her chin in her hands and sighed.
Perhaps this was the reason she had been bound to the system. Even if she didn’t resist marriage, finding someone suitable was not easy.
As for favorability scores, she didn’t pay them much attention.
She came from a good family, was young and beautiful, anyone with eyes that worked properly wouldn’t dislike her. A favorability score of fifty or sixty was nothing at all.
Scores in the seventies and eighties were even common. In particular, the stall owners and shopkeepers she did business with generally had favorability ratings above eighty.
But none of that had anything to do with marriage compatibility, so it could naturally be ignored.
Shen Taohua casually glanced at a young man and woman walking together, and her eyes suddenly lit up.
The man’s favorability toward the woman: thirty.
The woman’s favorability toward the man: twenty-five.
A completely superficial level of “favorability” that couldn’t even be called that between strangers, yet the two people involved looked like a pair of lovers deeply in love, with tenderness practically spilling from their eyes and brows.
People passing by on either side couldn’t help but show expressions of envy and blessing.
Shen Taohua was amazed. Shouldn’t they each be given a little gold statue for that performance?
After a while, she noticed a middle-aged couple run into a familiar man, and the three of them started chatting warmly.
The man addressed them as “big brother” and “sister-in-law” over and over, clearly very close to them.
At first, there was nothing unusual about it, but when Shen Taohua scanned their data, she nearly laughed out loud.
The man’s favorability toward his “big brother” was only thirty, while his favorability toward the sister-in-law was as high as seventy. Meanwhile, the sister-in-law’s favorability toward him was also seventy.
And between the sister-in-law and the big brother? Only fifty.
Looking at how the sister-in-law kept exchanging flirtatious glances with the man whenever the big brother wasn’t paying attention, Shen Taohua didn’t even need to check their detailed relationship history to know they were definitely involved.
She clicked her tongue twice.
So this was the so-called “dumplings are good to eat, but…”, cough. Really, such poor morals. A bad influence on children.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but cast a sympathetic glance at the “big brother’s” head. It looked like it was glowing green.
But other people’s private matters weren’t something she could just interfere with, so she simply… lit a mental candle.
Of course, not every scan produced messy relationship dramas.
For example, that little kid in split-crotch pants on the left, with a runny nose, actually had a higher favorability toward the candied figurine seller than toward his own mother who was buying vegetables.
Could you say the kid had any improper thoughts about the old man?
Of course not. The child was simply mesmerized by the candied figurines, and his “love me, love my dog” affection extended to the old man as well.
Shen Taohua: “Pfft… hahahaha.”
Let’s just say this, setting aside the fact that she couldn’t find anyone with a high compatibility score, treating the system purely as a tool for entertainment was actually extremely useful.
Ping’an, on the other hand, completely failed to understand what she was laughing at.
However, her young miss wasn’t acting strangely for the first time, so Ping’an wasn’t particularly shocked. Instead, after greeting her, she skillfully went to nearby street stalls to buy snacks that both she and her young miss liked, and also picked up a portion for her “strong Brother,” Liu Mao, the Shen family’s coachman.
Of course, the money came from Shen Taohua.
Shen Taohua ate the snacks Ping’an bought while continuing to farm points. About half an hour later, she stood up, walked through a narrow alley into another street, and strolled around while continuing to farm points, watching the excitement as she went.
At the same time, in the capital.
The successful candidates who had passed the metropolitan examination gathered together, waiting for the announcement of the palace examination results that day.
When the list was finally posted, the scholars discovered that the top three rankings were somewhat different from what many had predicted.
Someone deliberately searched the list for a while before finally finding the two characters “Xie Zhuo” in the second-tier list, and couldn’t help but discuss it with those around him.
“I’ve seen Brother Xie’s essays before. He clearly has the talent of a top-ranked scholar. How did his result end up so far off?”
Someone nearby speculated, “Maybe he was too nervous during the palace exam and didn’t perform well?”
Throughout history, it was not uncommon for candidates who excelled in the provincial and metropolitan exams to stumble at the final palace examination. It was nothing unusual.
The first speaker still felt something was off and was about to continue when someone lightly pushed him and said, “Stop talking. Xie Zhuo is here.”
The surrounding people subconsciously looked ahead and indeed saw a young man of refined appearance and calm, upright bearing standing in front of the list.
He glanced at the rankings with a faint expression that revealed neither joy nor anger. After exchanging a few brief words with the scholars who greeted him, he left in a hurry.
Someone asked in confusion, “Does he have something urgent to attend to? Why did he leave so quickly?”
A chubby scholar slapped his thigh and said, “You don’t get it. Don’t be fooled by how calm he looks, he must be feeling terrible inside. He probably needs to be alone to calm down.”
The others found this reasonable and sighed in sympathy for a while.
Little did they know, the very person they were pitying—Xie Zhuo himself, did not care about his ranking at all.
After returning to his residence, the first thing he did was open the letter from Taohua County. He quickly skimmed through it, and when he saw how Shen Taohua had either driven off her prospective suitors or casually matched them with someone else, a faint, gentle smile appeared on his face.
But that smile soon faded into seriousness.
He tapped his fingertips lightly on the desk while thoughtfully reading the letter in his hand.
Even though there was still no outcome yet, since the Shen family had already started arranging marriage meetings for Shen Taohua, he understood the principle of preparing for danger in times of safety.
If he waited until everything was settled before regretting it, it would already be too late.
His gaze drifted unintentionally to a stack of draft papers in the corner of the desk, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
Now that the palace examination results were out, it was time to make proper plans.
Shen Taohua went out at noon and didn’t return home until near evening.
In that half-day, she changed streets four times and scanned several hundred people. While farming her own compatibility scores, she also checked others’, and the more gossip she saw, the more interested she became, her scanning frequency of other people increased dramatically.
By the time she got home, her total points were actually ten less than the day before. After all that effort, she had basically gained nothing at all.
What annoyed her even more was that her parents had, overnight, arranged yet another suitor for her.
Shen Taohua: “……”
Wouldn’t it be better if they just had time to give her a younger brother instead?
When Ping’an specifically went to ask Liu Mao, who was well-informed about local matters, about the new candidate, and even brought back some insider gossip, her expression became even harder to describe.
“What exactly is my father’s taste? Is he specifically picking people for me out of a trash bin?”
Ping’an also fell silent. She didn’t really understand either.
However, since the appointment had already been made, whether out of respect for Master Shen or for her monthly allowance, Shen Taohua had no choice but to keep the meeting and still went on time the next day.
This time, the person her family found had a much better appearance and background compared to Liu Mou, but as for other aspects…
After exchanging simple greetings, before the other party could even introduce himself, Shen Taohua directly opened the system interface.
【Name: Xue Yutang.】
【Age: 20.】
【Residence: South district of Taohua County city…】
【Direct relatives: Father Xue XX, Mother Zhang XX, Grandfather, Grandmother.】
【Assets: One two-entry courtyard residence in the south of the city, one silver shop in the north of the city, unspecified amount of cash silver, unspecified amount of gold, silver, and jewelry…】
There wasn’t much to say about this information. It simply showed that Xue Yutang, like her, was a second-generation who lived off his family, he was a second-generation merchant, while she was a second-generation landowner.
The most important information was still his personal relationship history.
Good grief, he had five, six, seven, or eight so-called “confidantes” who had never actually had a physical relationship with him. As for his lovers who had slept with him, the number was so large that a single page of the system interface couldn’t even fit it all; it had to be turned over!
A rough count already came to at least twenty or thirty people!
These lovers included courtesans from the pleasure quarters, young widows whose husbands had died, charming married women who had divorced and brought children with them, and even wives—
Well, that last category didn’t seem to exist after all. At least he still had a bit of basic moral restraint.
But even so, it couldn’t hide the fact that, just as Liu Mao had said, he was a seasoned playboy!
Looking at the interface where more than half the entries showed the status “in a relationship,” Shen Taohua really wanted to ask: is your kidney still okay?
To be honest, she had heard of Xue Yutang’s romantic reputation before.
But she never imagined that one day he would become her marriage prospect.
Master Shen, how many more surprises are you hiding from your daughter?
While internally complaining, she didn’t stop checking the system data.
What she was especially curious about was: with so many romantic entanglements, how did Xue Yutang manage his time without those women tearing each other apart or tearing him apart?
While she was looking through the data, Xue Yutang kept speaking. Shen Taohua only gave absent-minded “mm-hm” responses from time to time, not listening carefully at all.
Until he said something again. She instinctively responded, then casually picked up the tea on the table and took a sip.
The next moment, she suddenly realized what was happening, jolted, and spurted the tea straight onto his face.
“Cough, what did you just say?”
The suave and elegant Xue Yutang wiped his face, took out a handkerchief, and cleaned himself off before saying speechlessly, “I know my suggestion is excellent, but your reaction doesn’t need to be this extreme.”
The corner of Shen Taohua’s mouth twitched hard. “I zoned out just now and didn’t hear you clearly. Could you say it again?”
Xue Yutang didn’t know whether to believe her, but in the end, he still patiently repeated his idea.
“I know Miss Shen is unwilling to marry. But truth be told, do you think I’m any more willing to be bound by marriage and a wife? It’s just that my family is pressing me too hard. You can delay things for a while, but not for a lifetime. So it’s better to come up with a solution that works for both sides.
The Shen family’s lineage still needs someone to inherit it, right? If you marry me, aside from the eldest son who will inherit the Xue family’s estate, as long as you bear another son, I can persuade my parents to let that child take the Shen surname and ensure the Shen family does not end its line.
Once we’ve fulfilled the duty of continuing the family line, if you have no feelings for me, you’re free to keep someone you like outside and set up a separate residence. I guarantee I will not interfere or criticize you. Likewise, I also hope you will not interfere in my relationships with my other confidantes. In this way, both of us can continue living exactly the lives we want. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”
By the end, perhaps feeling quite pleased with his own cleverness, he couldn’t help but clap his hands once.
Shen Taohua: “!!”
Ping’an, who was standing nearby, nearly had her jaw drop off her face. She stared at Xue Yutang with a look of sheer shock and horror.