Xia Yuan and Ying Sitong held a wedding banquet with two tables, attended mostly by Xia Yuan's relatives and friends.
The number of guests wasn't large, totaling around twenty people.
It seemed that no one had expected Xia Yuan to marry so early, so the attendees were all quite surprised.
But upon seeing how beautiful the bride was, they all felt it made sense.
Since it had been explained beforehand that she grew up in an orphanage and was currently unemployed and staying at home, no family members from the bride's side attended.
Thus, everyone expressed understanding.
After the wedding banquet ended, Xia Yuan and Ying Sitong returned home.
"How much money did we get from the red envelopes?" the newlywed wife Ying Sitong asked with concern.
Although there was no formal wedding ceremony, those who attended the banquet gave monetary gifts ranging from 100 to 1,000 yuan.
Zhang Shiting even gave a large red envelope containing 20,000 yuan.
"Why do you care about that?" Xia Yuan shot an annoyed glance at the Blood Clan member. "This is my money."
"Nonsense, how can the money from our wedding be considered yours alone?"
"Did you pay for the banquet?" Xia Yuan asked leisurely without even looking up.
"Well…" Ying Sitong thought for a moment and said, "At least I contributed my body. Without my cooperation, how could there have been this banquet?"
"…" Xia Yuan looked at her deeply with helplessness. "Do you even know how to use words properly? What you did was just 【showing up】."
"Isn't such high beauty worth money?" Ying Sitong touched her own face and blinked at Xia Yuan.
Xia Yuan's eyebrows lifted slightly, then quickly lowered again.
"First, give me half of the money for the banquet, then we'll talk."
"…"
Ying Sitong said nothing more and listlessly walked back to her own room.
…
Since it was a fake marriage, the two did not share a room.
Moreover, Xia Yuan was afraid that if she came into contact with him and couldn't restrain herself from doing that kind of thing to him again, he probably wouldn't survive more than three days before being drained dry.
Sleeping in separate rooms was actually a good choice.
After all, Xia Yuan's home wasn't spacious, and usually no one visited, so outsiders wouldn't discover their fake marriage.
…
【What is it like to have a Blood Clan wife?】
If someone asked this question on Zhihu, Xia Yuan felt he was the most qualified person to answer it.
Xia Yuan created a new document on his computer and recorded his observations.
First, the Blood Clan's body temperature is very low, stable at 29.5 degrees Celsius.
Xia Yuan specifically measured it while Ying Sitong was sleeping.
It couldn't be ruled out that her temperature might fluctuate while awake.
Second, they are afraid of light.
At home, Ying Sitong kept the curtains tightly closed and only used the dimmest lighting.
However, what harm or effects sunlight exposure has on the Blood Clan, Xia Yuan did not know.
At least when they went to take their wedding photos, Ying Sitong could walk under daytime sunlight, though she needed to wrap herself up as thoroughly as possible.
Since returning that day, Xia Yuan hadn't noticed anything unusual about Ying Sitong.
Then, the Blood Clan's sleep schedule is particularly irregular. Ying Sitong could sleep for two days straight or stay awake for two consecutive days.
On sunny days, she tended to feel more drowsy, while at night she became more energetic.
It could be said that Ying Sitong's schedule was basically the opposite of Xia Yuan's own.
Sleeping during the day, active at night.
From this perspective, the Blood Clan is really well-suited for night shifts.
Ying Sitong herself said she had previously worked night shifts continuously for a month, and her colleagues were very grateful to her.
In a hospital with rotating shifts, working nights is actually a tough job, but everyone has family matters that might require swapping shifts with others.
Ying Sitong didn’t want day shifts, others didn’t want night shifts—it was a perfect match.
If it weren’t for the Blood Pack incident being exposed, she would have maintained her beautiful and noble image in everyone’s minds.
What surprised Xia Yuan the most was—
When the Blood Clan enters a state of sleep, their heart rate becomes extremely slow.
It beats only about 5 to 10 times per minute. (Don’t ask how it was measured—it’s not appropriate to discuss.)
In other words, this is a way of preserving their own survival, similar to hibernation.
Maintaining life with the lowest energy consumption is likely one of the reasons for the Blood Clan’s longevity.
It also explains, to some extent, why Ying Sitong could lie in a stone coffin for over a thousand years while her body remained at the age of seven, only continuing to develop after she returned to the surface and began moving again.
However, it cannot be ruled out that other differences cause the Blood Clan to be naturally long-lived. Those would require further experimental testing to confirm.
Then, regarding food.
Blood is crucial for the Blood Clan.
If they go a day without feeding, they become listless, lethargic, and weak in their limbs.
Fortunately, Ying Sitong can feed on a wide variety of blood sources, not limited to humans.
For example, chickens, ducks, pigs, cows… these can all provide her nutritional needs.
However, according to Ying Sitong, human blood is of higher quality.
And Xia Yuan is the highest quality among the high-quality.
Apart from blood, the Blood Clan can eat like normal people and also need to supplement proteins, vitamins, water, and so on.
To explore the truth of the legends, Xia Yuan specifically experimented with different foods.
Garlic.
In legends, the Blood Clan fears garlic because it can kill bacteria.
But Ying Sitong isn’t afraid at all. Her favorite foods are big plate chicken, spicy chicken, braised chicken, garlic chicken…
In short, she not only isn’t afraid of garlic, she likes it.
Then, silver.
Xia Yuan once showed Ying Sitong a cross, but she disdainfully tossed it aside.
The Blood Clan doesn’t fear crosses; that’s just a lie fabricated by the church and legends.
But the Blood Clan fears silver.
Once, Xia Yuan crushed a small piece of silver foil and mixed it into dumplings.
After eating them, Ying Sitong vomited and had diarrhea for an entire day.
[The Blood Clan exhibits an intolerance reaction to silver. Silver is likely a weapon that can subdue the Blood Clan.] Xia Yuan carefully recorded this information on his computer.
…
At night, Xia Yuan lay in bed and had a terrifying dream—
He dreamed of a female ghost pressing down on him, making it impossible to breathe.
He was finally scared awake, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he was frightened a second time—
Ying Sitong was kneeling beside him, looking down at him from above.
Her hair fell onto him, and one hand pressed against his chest.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Xia Yuan sat up, turning over.
“I can’t sleep,” Ying Sitong said leisurely.
“…”
Xia Yuan rubbed the hair on his forehead, feeling a headache.
This was all due to the damn sleep schedule. Ying Sitong, this person, doesn’t sleep during the day but is full of energy at night.
"Big sis, no, ancestor, look at what time it is now?" He picked up his phone and glanced at it.
3:20 AM.
"I can't sleep, otherwise…"
"No, I need to sleep."
"I didn't ask you to keep me company," Ying Sitong said with a sly, mischievous smile, blinking her eyes. "I mean, otherwise, could you turn on the computer and let me play games for a while?"
"Fine, but you have to wear headphones and can't disturb me while I'm sleeping."
"Mm-hmm, I promise." Ying Sitong raised her hand, making a gesture of swearing.
Xia Yuan rubbed his drowsy eyes, then got out of bed and went to the study to turn on the computer and enter the password.
…
After doing all this, he collapsed back into bed, utterly exhausted.
A while later, a furious voice came from the next room—
"Damn it! Xia Yuan, you actually set me up?!"
Xia Yuan suddenly sat up, realizing something terrifying—
His [Blood Clan Observation Diary] had been discovered.
…