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Although Tianming Continent was a world of cultivation, its wedding procedures were in no way simpler than the ancient rituals Lou Xingyao knew of.
It was also Lou Xingyao’s first time realizing that even dressing and grooming a man could be so meticulous and complicated. His facial down was carefully trimmed and fragrant mist was sprayed over his body, layer after layer.
Enduring the ministrations of the He family’s matrons for those two hours was, to him, the most unbearable four hours of his entire life.
After what felt like an eternity, the matrons finally stopped what they were doing. They stepped back and looked Lou Xingyao up and down, a trace of satisfaction appearing on their faces.
Seeing this, Lou Xingyao secretly let out a sigh of relief. At last, this inhuman torment was over.
However, the square of red brocade held in the hands of one of the attendants made his just settled heart leap back into his throat.
“What is this?” he asked.
“A bridal veil. Every bride must use one when she marries,” the matron replied. With a flick of her wrist, she unfolded the veil.
The perfectly square red silk was embroidered with auspicious patterns of the Four Directions Ruyi in gold thread. At its center was a large double happiness character, while motifs resembling twin lotus blossoms adorned the surrounding space. The embroidery was neat, the stitches fine and precise and even the material itself was of the highest quality.
Even Lou Xingyao could not find the slightest flaw in the veil. What he could not understand, however, was something else entirely.
“I’m a man. This veil…”
Though he did not finish his sentence, the matron immediately understood what he meant and laughed softly.
“Young master is marrying in place of our young lady. Naturally, the veil must be used.”
“But it’ll still be obvious at a glance, won’t it…” Lou Xingyao did not believe that a mere set of wedding robes and a piece of red silk could fool the eyes of cultivators.
“Young master need not worry. Madam has already made all the arrangements,” the matron said. As she spoke, she took a jade pendant from the side and tied it around Lou Xingyao’s waist. While fastening it, she explained, “This is a Concealment Jade. It can hide a person’s aura. Even a Golden Core cultivator would be unable to see through it.”
Lou Xingyao lowered his head to take a look. The Concealment Jade hanging at his waist now surpassed the Tenglong Pendant he had received from Steward Wei by a wide margin in terms of material alone.
Such treasures that concealed one’s aura were notoriously expensive on Tianming Continent. It was clear that, to ensure the success of this substitute marriage, Madam He had truly spared no expense.
Since that was the case, Lou Xingyao said nothing more and allowed them to place the red bridal veil over his head.
The fabric of the veil was thick and dense, almost completely blocking out the air. In an instant, his field of vision was swallowed by a sea of red and he could only judge the matrons’ movements around him by sound.
No wonder the girls of ancient times were always so well behaved when they married. With visibility like this, even if one wanted to make trouble, it would be impossible.
At this moment, Lou Xingyao felt like a puppet on strings, entirely at the mercy of the matrons’ arrangements.
Fortunately, Madam He, in her desire to ensure absolute safety, did not have him participate in the bridal procession. Instead, she arranged for him to replace He Wanqing only when the bride was to leave the residence and board the sedan chair, saving him a great deal of trouble.
Before long, guided by the matrons, Lou Xingyao sat down inside the flower sedan prepared for He Wanqing.
Judging from the commotion outside, it was not difficult to tell that the Zhou family placed great importance on this marriage. Music filled the air without missing a single beat and auspicious phrases flowed one after another into Lou Xingyao’s ears.
Beyond that, what he heard most clearly were the idle conversations of the onlookers lining the road.
“I didn’t expect the He family to really marry off their eldest young lady to Young Master Zhou.”
“Yeah but judging from Young Master Zhou’s expression, he doesn’t look very happy, does he?”
“Who knows? Young Master Zhou never smiled much to begin with. Ever since he was injured, his temper has only grown stranger. Even the Zhou family can’t figure out what he’s thinking, how could we possibly tell?”
That remark seemed to open the floodgates. Immediately, the crowd began talking over one another, listing the various absurd things Zhou Hanshan had done since his injury.
First, he had driven out all the maids who had served him since childhood. Even those newly arranged by the Zhou family afterward were expelled without exception.
On top of that, he had fully embraced the ways of a wastrel, teasing cats and dogs, beating up his cousins and destroying household property.
Every so often, people would even see Zhou Hanshan throwing money around in the marketplace, spending enormous sums to buy worthless junk that no one else wanted.
The key problem was that he couldn’t even be criticized.
Whenever the head of the Zhou family so much as reprimanded him lightly, Zhou Hanshan would immediately retort with righteous indignation, swearing that those items were all purchased for the sake of healing his injuries. If the family head forbade him from buying them, then it was nothing more than being stingy with money and begrudging him any chance of recovery, unable to stand seeing him get better.
As time went on, even the Zhou family head found it difficult to scold him any further.
But a year passed, then another. Zhou Hanshan had spent no small amount of money yet his injuries showed no signs of improvement whatsoever. His cultivation, once at the ninth level of Qi Refining, had now fallen back to the eighth level.
There were even people with too much time on their hands who roughly calculated that in just these two short years, Zhou Hanshan had spent nearly one hundred thousand taels of gold in the marketplaces alone.
One hundred thousand taels of gold!
Even in Canglan City, the vast majority of cultivators, adding up every last possession they owned, would not have a thousand taels of gold to their name.
One hundred thousand taels, this sum, if given to a newly initiated minor cultivator who had just begun drawing qi into their body, would be more than enough in resources to allow them to smoothly establish their foundation.
Yet Zhou Hanshan had poured such an enormous amount of wealth into it and not only had he failed to reach Foundation Establishment, even his original Qi Refining cultivation had regressed by an entire level!
The current Zhou Hanshan was no longer the number one genius of the continent but rather the number one prodigal son!
The passersby’s hatred toward Zhou Hanshan’s extravagance could be described as intense. The resentment in their words made it sound as though the money Zhou Hanshan spent in the marketplace had come straight out of their own pockets.
Lou Xingyao’s focus, however, was different from that of the crowd.
From their conversations, it was not hard to tell that Zhou Hanshan’s temper was indeed far from good now. Even members of the Zhou family themselves did not receive a pleasant expression from him.
But despite committing so many outrageous acts, there were no stories of him wantonly killing the innocent or abusing men and women alike. Even the maids and servants he had driven away were all still alive and intact to this day.
As for eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, Zhou Hanshan only occupied the first two. He never set foot in gambling dens or brothels.
There had even once been someone with impure intentions who tried to bring Zhou Hanshan to experience the so called pleasures of pleasure houses and brothels but not only did they fail to receive a good response, they were instead beaten soundly by Zhou Hanshan. From that day on, all ties were completely severed.
This, too, was the only remaining merit Zhou Hanshan possessed in the mouths of Canglan City’s onlookers.
Although this young master Zhou certainly did not sound like an easy person to get along with, he was not entirely beyond communication either. Not going to brothels meant that this Young Master Zhou was not a lecherous man.
“It seems that my life and my chastity should both be safe…”
This thought had only just flashed through Lou Xingyao’s mind when the swaying bridal sedan finally came to a stop.
In the next moment, Lou Xingyao heard the voice of the wedding announcer who had been chanting auspicious phrases all along the way,
“Please, Groom, kick open the sedan door!”
However, after quite a long while passed, the sedan door in front of Lou Xingyao remained completely still, without the slightest movement.
It was only when the joyous voice of the wedding matron rang out for the second time that the door was finally kicked open from the outside, slow and unhurried.
Immediately after, a length of red silk was placed into Lou Xingyao’s hands.
The following procedures were more or less the same as the ancient Huaxia wedding rituals that Lou Xingyao was familiar with, stepping over the fire basin, entering the gate, bowing to Heaven and Earth…
The only thing that differed from ancient Huaxia weddings was the contract binding.
Back when He Wanqing and Zhou Hanshan became engaged, their marriage certificate itself had been a contract. Now, to complete the contract, each party needed to drip a drop of fresh blood onto the contract.
This was not only the final step in fulfilling the agreement but also served to verify whether both parties had followed the terms stipulated within the contract.
“Bind the contract!”
As the wedding matron’s voice rang out, the marriage contract that the He and Zhou families had signed back then was handed to Lou Xingyao.
Lowering his head and peering through the narrow gap left in the bridal veil, Lou Xingyao quickly scanned through the contract. He silently gave thanks that Tianming Continent and Huaxia shared the same system of traditional characters, sparing him from becoming completely illiterate.
The contract was indeed exactly as Madam He had said. It only stipulated that the He family must marry off a dual spirit root genius from their clan to Zhou Hanshan as his wife and did not explicitly state that this person had to be He Wanqing.
And because Lou Shaohui’s wife came from the He family, the Lou family could, to a certain extent, also be considered of the same lineage as the He family. Lou Xingyao, who originated from the Wei family yet bore the Lou surname, could naturally be regarded as a member of the He clan as well.
This sort of thing, digging for loopholes in written text, had long since become a compulsory skill for every staff member in the bureau. Almost instantly, Lou Xingyao came to a conclusion:
The contract could be signed.
Yet for some reason, Lou Xingyao vaguely felt that when Zhou Hanshan handed the marriage contract over to him, his movements seemed to pause slightly, carrying a hint of hesitation.
Before Lou Xingyao could confirm whether this feeling was real or imagined, the person beside him had already dripped his blood onto the contract.
Lou Xingyao no longer hesitated. With a swift motion, he slid his finger across the small blade the He family’s nanny had prepared for him earlier and hidden inside his sleeve. The fresh blood seeping from his fingertip slowly fell onto the marriage contract.
The moment Lou Xingyao’s blood landed on the contract, the blood that Zhou Hanshan had dripped earlier, previously round and distinct like rolling beads, began to melt as if ice meeting snow. It gradually fused with Lou Xingyao’s blood, then slowly seeped into the contract itself.
After absorbing the blood of both parties, the marriage contract instantly burst into brilliant golden light. The characters on it, along with the paper itself, began to dissolve and within moments transformed into two streams of golden radiance that shot forward and backward, entering the tops of Zhou Hanshan’s and Lou Xingyao’s heads respectively.
In the next instant, Lou Xingyao sensed that something indescribable had appeared within his body. With just a slight touch, he could clearly perceive the origin of that force,
It was the power of the contract binding him and Zhou Hanshan together.
The wedding officiant’s chanting voice rang out once more:
“The contract is complete!”
“Send the bride to the bridal chamber!”
Immediately afterward, Lou Xingyao was led toward the Zhou family’s inner courtyard.
He did not know how long they walked before he was finally brought into a room. Having just been guided by the matrons to sit down at the edge of the bed, he heard their apologetic voices by his ear:
“This is the eldest young master’s room. The eldest young master dislikes being attended by outsiders, so it would be inappropriate for us servants to remain. We ask for Madam’s understanding.”
At this point, how could Lou Xingyao dare to speak? He could only nod slightly, indicating that he understood.
Before long, the sound of the door closing echoed through the room, followed by utter silence.
Lou Xingyao sat there for quite a while first, then cautiously called out twice. Only after confirming that there was truly no one left in the room did he slowly lift the red bridal veil from his head.
He carefully swept his gaze around the room once more. After confirming yet again that no one else was present, he finally let out a full breath of relief and began to observe his surroundings.
Lou Xingyao had originally thought that the room prepared for him by the He family was already arranged with great care but upon seeing Zhou Hanshan’s quarters, he finally understood what it meant for one thing to pale in comparison to another, what it truly meant to be resplendent and extravagant.
From the exquisitely carved tables and chairs, to the ornaments on the table whose materials were difficult to discern; from the finely crafted vases in the corners, to the crystal clear jade footstool by the bed, every single item radiated the aura of wealth.
Every blade of grass, every piece of furniture, every object in the room seemed to proclaim the same three words:
I am expensive.
At this moment, Lou Xingyao finally gained a concrete understanding of the “prodigal” reputation spoken of by the onlookers along the road. For a time, he did not even dare to touch anything in the room, fearing that if he broke something, even selling himself would not be enough to compensate for it.
Just as he was about to find a spot and sit obediently without moving, a furious shout suddenly exploded by his ear like a thunderclap from clear skies,
“He Zhengyan! Xu Xiangya! Your He family has gone too far!”
What followed was a violent commotion, as if the heavens and earth were shaking. Lou Xingyao immediately stumbled underfoot, lurching toward a nearby vase.
Fortunately, just before he collided with it, Lou Xingyao relied on sheer willpower to force his body to tilt slightly to the side, narrowly avoiding shattering the obviously priceless vase.
At this point, the disturbance from earlier seemed to have subsided. Inside and outside the room, everything fell back into silence once more.
After waiting a short while and confirming that the earthquake like sensation would not return, Lou Xingyao slowly stood up from the ground.
He Zhengyan and Xu Xiangya were the names of the He family head and Madam He.
So that furious shout just now, was it because the matter of the substitute marriage had already been exposed?
But if the matter of the substitute marriage had truly been exposed, then why had no one come to check on him here?
Just as doubt arose in Lou Xingyao’s heart, the next moment, the door to the room was slowly pushed open.
The first thing that entered his sight was a set of bright red wedding robes. This alone was enough for him to confirm the identity of the person who had arrived, it could only be the Zhou family’s eldest young master, Zhou Hanshan.
As his gaze unconsciously lifted upward, the next instant, a breathtakingly handsome face struck straight into Lou Xingyao’s line of sight.
Brows sharp as drawn swords, eyes like a vast, glittering galaxy, a nose high and straight like a finely carved peak, this face was so astonishingly perfect that it felt almost unreal.
It was a face that flawlessly struck every single point of Lou Xingyao’s aesthetic preferences. Even in his dreams, he would never have dared to imagine such a countenance yet now it had appeared before him so abruptly and so vividly.
For a moment, he was rendered completely speechless.
Zhou Hanshan, however, was the first to break the silence. He raised his brows slightly, a smile curling at the corners of his lips as he spoke:
“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself, my wife?”
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[Translator]
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← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · Crossing OverChapter 2 · Lu XioaWuChapter 3 · UncleChapter 4 · Substitute MarriageChapter 5 · Travelling Through BookChapter 6 · SpaceChapter 7 · InheritanceChapter 8 · ExplanationChapter 9 · He familyChapter 10 · CompensateChapter 11 · WeddingChapter 12 · LeavingChapter 13 · SuspicionChapter 14 · Change SurnameChapter 14 · Change SurnameChapter 15 · SummaryChapter 16 · Family BusinessChapter 17 · ResettlementChapter 18 · DeterminationChapter 19 · TreatChapter 20 · Enter the TaoChapter 21 · Private TrainingChapter 22 · BreakthroughChapter 23 · ExperienceChapter 24 Part 1 · Questions and AnswersChapter 24 Part 2 · Questions and answersChapter 25 · GiftChapter 25 Part 1 · GiftChapter 26 Part 1 · Sword IntentChapter 26 Part 2 · Sword IntentChapter 27 Part 1 · SelectChapter 27 Part 2 · SelectChapter 28 Part 1 · PastChapter 28 Part 2 · PastChapter 29 Part 1 · ConfessionChapter 29 Part 2 · ConfessionChapter 30 Part 1 · TradeChapter 30 Part 2 · TradeChapter 31 Part 1 · Male LeadChapter 31 Part 2 · Male LeadChapter 32 Part 1 · LuckChapter 32 Part 2 · LuckChapter 33 Part 1 · GuessingChapter 33 Part 2 · GuessingChapter 34 Part 1 · SystemChapter 34 Part 2 · SystemChapter 35 · OpportunityChapter 36 Part 1 · LingquanChapter 36 Part 2 · LingquanChapter 37 Part 1 · Hundred Flowers PartChapter 37 Part 2 · Hundred Flowers PartChapter 38 · Worth itChapter 39 · SaintessChapter 40 · ExperimentChapter 41 · Vampire SystemChapter 42 · NotesChapter 43 · WarningChapter 44 · PlanChapter 45 · Fellow VillagersChapter 46 · AssimilationChapter 47 · IlliterateChapter 48 · Pak WahChapter 49 · Sudden EnlightenmentChapter 50 · Wen ZhiChapter 51 · CarrierChapter 52 · LeavingChapter 53 · Follow UpChapter 54 · OutrageousChapter 55 · OnceChapter 56 · TeasingChapter 57 · Playing aroundChapter 58 · Beast fireChapter 59 · Watching a PlayChapter 60 · Extermination of the entire clanChapter 61 · ChoiceChapter 62 · PossessionChapter 63 · CalculationChapter 64 · GuaranteedChapter 65 · Grand OpeningChapter 66 · Grand OpeningChapter 67 · Protecting one’s ownChapter 68 · Secret RealmChapter 69 · BetrayalChapter 70 · DetailsChapter 71 · FramedChapter 72 · MeetingChapter 73 · KillChapter 74 · MapChapter 75 · FoundationChapter 76 · Strange Phenomenon!Chapter 77 · ExchangeChapter 78 · LetterChapter 79 · ShortcutChapter 80 · God of Slaughter!Chapter 81 · Poison PillChapter 82 · Lou ShuChapter 83 · ProgressChapter 84 · An attemptChapter 85 · Movement and StillnessChapter 86 · Good intentionsChapter 87 · ChangeChapter 88 · Childhood friendChapter 89 · ThoughtsChapter 90 · Old storiesChapter 91 · HeritageChapter 92 · TestChapter 93 · LoverChapter 94 · Heartfelt wishesChapter 95 · MasterChapter 96 · TeachingChapter 97 · IllusionChapter 98 · Mutual RestraintChapter 99 · ObstructionChapter 100 · PalaceChapter 101 · Core TechniqueChapter 102 · OathChapter 103 · Dual cultivationChapter 104 · AccessChapter 105 · VulnerabilityChapter 106 · DensityChapter 107 · WantedChapter 108 · EntrustChapter 109 · RevisitChapter 110 · MonitoringChapter 111 · Secret RealmChapter 112 · NourishChapter 113 · InventoryChapter 114 · Get Rich QuicklyChapter 115 · ElderChapter 116 · Grand FormationChapter 117 · Heaven’s WillChapter 118 · BountyChapter 119 · GainChapter 120 · BlameChapter 121 · ChattingChapter 122 · GuessChapter 123 · Zheng TianChapter 124 · SparringChapter 125 · Sword intentChapter 126 · KenshinChapter 127 · Auditing a classChapter 128 · CoincidenceChapter 129 · ContradictionChapter 130 · RouteChapter 131 · CostChapter 132 · ConfiscatedChapter 133 · Holding a grudgeChapter 134 · SupportChapter 135 · DeteriorationChapter 136 · Unable toChapter 137 · PriceChapter 138 · VariantChapter 139 · Start AnewChapter 140 · ShamelessChapter 141 · Black PotChapter 142 · Benefiting fromChapter 143 · PieChapter 144 · DifferencesChapter 145 · DetoxificationChapter 146 · Current situationChapter 147 · TeasingChapter 148 · IntelligenceChapter 149 · Returned GiftChapter 150 · Old debtChapter 151 · FleshChapter 152 · OpeningChapter 153 · GrudgesChapter 154 · RegretChapter 155 · Gang fightChapter 156 · GentleChapter 157 · ComplaintChapter 158 · ScreamsChapter 159 · GeniusChapter 160 · ConcernChapter 161 · Hidden StoryChapter 162 · StingyChapter 163 · Guilty conscienceChapter 164 Part 1 · StruggleChapter 164 Part 2 · StruggleChapter 165 · Win or LoseChapter 166 · TasteChapter 167 · Shifting The BlameChapter 168 · MoonlightChapter 169 · Past EventChapter 170 · RegretChapter 171 · RetributionChapter 172 · Cause and EffectChapter 173 · BackgroundChapter 174 · FlatteryChapter 175 · HonestChapter 176 · BookkeepingChapter 177 · FarewellChapter 178 · GuidelineChapter 179 · BottleneckChapter 180 · HabitChapter 181 · Casual ChatChapter 182 · Flowing WaterChapter 183 · RumoursChapter 184 · Seeking AdviceChapter 185 · PityChapter 186 · FormationChapter 187 · BasicChapter 188 · Fake TombChapter 189 · BewareChapter 190 · TraceChapter 191 · DiscussChapter 192 · Ancestral preceptsChapter 193 · Loose CultivatorChapter 194 · AllocationChapter 195 · Thank you for your kindnessChapter 196 · ExplanationChapter 197 · ErrorChapter 198 · Culinary skillsChapter 199 · Starry SeaChapter 200 · ComparisonChapter 201 · FrustratedChapter 202 · Don’t watchChapter 203 · LonelinessChapter 204 · NoChapter 205 · Exposing ShortcutsChapter 206 · CraftsmanshipChapter 207 · Bottom LineChapter 208 · StrikeChapter 209 · Ten GoldChapter 210 · Pretentious