Jiang Huai cut a watermelon into four pieces, distributing them to Chu Xianning, Luo Yueguan, and Luo Qingyu. With a quarter remaining, he brought it to Jiang Zhi, who was lounging on his bed, flipping through a script in her hand.
“What the heck, it’s A Mumu’s famous work, the most explicit one.”
Spotting the quarter watermelon in his hand, Jiang Zhi tilted her head. “Do you want to eat it?”
“I ate plenty at Wanwan’s place yesterday, I don’t want any more,” Jiang Huai shook his head.
The watermelon was from his own cultivation. He had researched it using the strange little seeds provided by the System and grown many. The surplus was given to some Sect elders. Now, with the Azure Vine Spirit Source and the Azure Water Green Vine Divine Art, his spirit melons were large and sweet. A single melon’s effect was comparable to a Heaven-tier spirit pill.
Recently, Jiang Huai’s courtyard had received a great many antiques, calligraphy, paintings, spirit treasures, and various trinkets from major cultivation families and sects. Jiang Huai’s sudden advancement to the Ninth Realm, fifth level, had not only shocked the Eastern Region but also spread throughout the Five Regions. Many cultivators in the Five Regions began to tremble and hastily tried to curry favor with him.
It wasn’t that they had any specific requests, but rather they worried that they might inadvertently offend this great Ninth Realm powerhouse in the future. Giving a small gift now was a way to maintain some face.
Jiang Zhi hugged the watermelon and nibbled at it gently, not a drop of juice falling on the bed. Her lips were delicate and rosy, shimmering with a slight watery sheen. After finishing, she set the rind aside and picked up her book again. Jiang Huai sat beside her, making tea, and asked, “Sister, you read such indecent scripts too?”
“You think I don’t know it’s you?” Jiang Zhi glanced at him. “You seem like a gentleman on the surface, but in private, you’re exactly like I imagined.”
“…”
Jiang Huai covered his face, speechless. After preparing the tea, he handed it to Jiang Zhi. Sunlight filled Jiang Zhi’s room; she wore a light purple nightgown, her slender, fair legs visible beneath the hem.
Her beauty was already world-ending, easily making one momentarily lost in her charm. Her demeanor was cold and aloof. She quietly flipped through the book, and after a while, she said faintly, “When do you plan to Dual Cultivate with me?”
“Ah?” Jiang Huai was startled for a moment before slowly replying, “This… it depends on you, Sister. I’m good anytime.”
“If you ask, I will agree,” Jiang Zhi said calmly.
“I’m really not in a hurry…” Jiang Huai slowly calculated in his heart. He planned to wait until all his marriages were settled, then spend a year or two with the other girls, and only then would he head to the Upper Realm. He only needed to reach the eighth level of the Ninth Realm to open the Heavenly Gate with his sword. Dual Cultivating with Jiang Zhi would only take dozens of times, so any time within the next three to four years would be fine.
Jiang Zhi felt as if Jiang Huai had suddenly choked her, unsure of what to say.
The moment Jiang Zhi turned a page, a flash of inspiration struck her, and she realized something.
“Actually, you don’t want to Dual Cultivate with me, do you?” Jiang Zhi asked calmly without looking up.
Jiang Huai scratched his head.
“It’s not exactly like that…”
By now, Jiang Huai had long cast aside the little moral shackles in his heart. He vaguely felt that Jiang Zhi seemed to have some unavoidable reason to Dual Cultivate with him, which was why she was behaving this way towards him, but she didn’t seem entirely willing.
As for him? If he were to covet her smooth, snow-white body, Jiang Huai wasn’t that greedy. Now, which of the beautiful fairies in his courtyard wasn’t? If not for his Overlord Art, Jiang Huai suspected he would have already withered away.
“So, do you want to or not?”
“I do want to, but it mainly depends on whether you want to, Sister.”
“Hesitating, then come back and mention Dual Cultivation to me this time next year.”
“Alright!” Jiang Huai immediately agreed, showing a look of relief. Jiang Zhi closed the book, and seeing his expression, a wisp of inexpressible resentment and shy annoyance suddenly flickered in her heart.
“How many more foot punishments do you owe me?”
“What? When did I provoke you, Sister?”
“I want to collect my debts.” Jiang Zhi glanced at him lazily. “Come here.”
Jiang Huai reluctantly sat opposite Jiang Zhi. Jiang Zhi picked up the book and, with slightly moving lips, began to read the contents of the script word by word in her clear, yet somewhat seductive voice. Jiang Huai suddenly felt a surge of shame.
Moreover, Jiang Zhi was a demon with a cruel sense of humor, a torture that played on the edge of indulgence. Jiang Huai’s current cultivation level could suppress everyone equally, except for Jiang Zhi.
…
“Why don’t you marry Luo Yueguan first?” Bai Li reached out and pinched Jiang Huai’s cheek.
“Huh?” Jiang Huai looked at her, confused.
“The end of this month is a good day. My mother won’t finish dealing with everything in the Western Region until the month after next. Since you’re idle anyway, why not get married first?”
“That works too.” Jiang Huai had no objections.
Luo Yueguan was not far away, playing mahjong with a group of girls. Though hundreds of years old, she was playing with the younger generation, seemingly having a great time. She appeared to have shed all her inhibitions in Jiang Huai’s courtyard, not showing an ounce of the dignity expected of an elder. She was often unreasonable and acted spoiled, doing everything she could, short of rolling on the ground.
But it seemed to make her particularly happy. She liked it here, no longer needing to pretend. She spent her days playing with cats and cards, and occasionally when Jiang Huai came to the courtyard to accompany Qingyu, she would share Luo Qingyu’s senses and hum contentedly.
Until Jiang Huai approached her and slapped a stack of invitations onto the table.
“See if there’s anyone you want to invite?”
Luo Yueguan froze for a moment, then her slender waist tensed, her cheeks flushed red, and her voice became stammering, “Your marriage plan, shouldn’t it be Bai Li first, then…”
“Ah, yes.” Jiang Huai’s gaze was now aggressive as he explained the reason to Luo Yueguan. However, Luo Yueguan subconsciously crossed her legs and whispered, “Too, too soon… Don’t you still have many Dao Companions to marry?”
“Yes, I’ll marry you first.”
“You, you, you, you aren’t just trying to bully me, are you? No, otherwise, tonight, tonight I’ll let you bully me, and we can put the marriage on hold…”
“No.” Jiang Huai shook his head. “We’ll get married at the end of the month.”
“You, you’re so aggressive…”
“That’s just your personality.” Jiang Huai spread his hands. “On one hand, you want to get married sooner, but on the other hand, you’re flustered and uneasy. If I don’t push you, you’ll brood over it for a long, long time, and then you’ll always bring it up to me with a sour tone.”
“Who, who is sour?”
“You.”
“Jiang Huai! You, don’t think just because you’re at the fifth level of the Ninth Realm now and your wings have grown strong, you can bully me… I, I am Luo Yueguan, I am Qingyu’s mother, I, I am your elder…”
“You owe me a tail.” As soon as Jiang Huai took out a tail, Luo Yueguan quickly tried to escape. Several girls at the mahjong table were watching, looking amused. Luo Yueguan was about to run when Jiang Huai grabbed her hand. He stared into her eyes. “Choose. Will you marry me at the end of the month, or will you have to wear a tail every time you’re in this courtyard from now on?”
“You, you, you, you… I’ll complain to your Master!”
“Useless. Your Master is on my side now.” Jiang Huai grinned at her. “I’ll count to five. After five, I’ll choose the second option for you.”
“Five.”
Luo Yueguan bit her lip tightly.
“Four.”
Luo Yueguan’s cheeks turned red.
“Three.”
Luo Yueguan’s eyes welled up with tears.
“Two.”
Luo Yueguan’s legs felt weak.
“One.”
“I, I’ll marry you, alright?” Luo Yueguan suddenly slumped onto the table, burying her face in her arms, as if forced into a corner by Jiang Huai and crying from distress.
However, Jiang Huai felt no guilt whatsoever. This was the method of interaction he had figured out after spending a long time with Luo Yueguan. Luo Yueguan had a particularly awkward personality. Although she seemingly refused things, she actually enjoyed the feeling of being forced into a corner with no choice but to willingly comply.
As it turned out, Jiang Huai’s deduction was not wrong.
Because by that night, Luo Yueguan could no longer resist and climbed onto him. Her body pressed tightly against him, her posture now incredibly gentle, yet she repeatedly warned Jiang Huai not to do anything bad, not to do anything bad. But now she was in a state of complete surrender, allowing him to do as he pleased. Until her body was lifted by Jiang Huai, looking at her panicked eyes, she instinctively pushed his chest a few times. Now, held like this, as long as Jiang Huai wished, she would have no room to struggle. She looked as if she was about to cry from panic.
“You, you, you, you, you’re forcing me… You, you bullied me, from now on, from now on, you’ll owe me, you, you… From now on, you, don’t, don’t leave me alone.”
Jiang Huai restrained his previous aggressive demeanor, lowered his head, and gently kissed the tears from the corners of her eyes.
“How could I bear to?”
Luo Yueguan’s legs, which had been resisting, now quietly lifted, her fair, slender calves tightly encircling his waist. Her voice seemed to still carry a hint of a sob. “Then, then, bully me…”
“Or maybe we should wait until after the wedding?”
Luo Yueguan was momentarily filled with shame and anger, and she clamped her legs tighter around Jiang Huai’s waist. “I, I’ll bite you to death…”
As soon as she finished speaking, her lips parted, her eyes widened, and her voice became somewhat indistinct. Crystal clear saliva inevitably dripped from the corner of her mouth. Her voice carried a crying tone, “You, you, you, you… I, I, I haven’t agreed yet, and you’re bullying me again…”
But she held onto his waist even tighter.
So Jiang Huai no longer listened to what Luo Yueguan said but instead tried to decipher the subtext of her words to understand what she wanted him to do.
After a night, Luo Yueguan began to become completely submissive, soft and obedient, snuggled in Jiang Huai’s arms. Her eyes sparkled as she began to say, “Everyone at the wedding banquet must have a plate of lotus leaf glutinous rice cake.”
“Mm, I’ll make it myself.”
“And also, the most precious Jade Bamboo Clear Brew from the Southern Region.”
“Tomorrow I’ll go ask the Qin Family for dozens of jars.”
“And, and Phoenix Tail Flower…”
“Then you can go to the Southern Region with me.”
“And, and Chu Xianning must officiate my wedding.”
“I’ll ask Chu Xianning.”
“And, and… I want the shoes you made for Chu Xianning a few days ago, and I want jewelry made of gems from the Dragon Palace…”
“Okay.”
“And also…”
“Okay.”
“And there’s more…”
“Okay.”
Luo Yueguan snuggled in Jiang Huai’s arms like this, asking and answering him. When she had listed all her wishes, she turned her body, propped herself up on him, and pressed against Jiang Huai again. Her voice became incredibly gentle as she took his hand and had him wrap it around her waist again. She leaned close to his ear, “You are not allowed to move around.”
