Volume 1, Chapter 21 – Causes and Consequences

Hearing Xu Yuanbai’s name, Shi Lan nodded in slight surprise. “We’ve had some dealings. You know him?”

“The day before yesterday, did you get into a conflict with him at Yunsheng Tower? You even had people beat him half to death. Can you tell me what happened?”

Since when did Xu Yuanbai have that kind of pull, to make Lu Yueqing this invested in him? While Shi Lan was still puzzled, she suddenly noticed that Yueqing was now less than three feet away from her, and she could faintly catch a very light fragrance.

At such close distance, Shi Lan felt a bit uneasy. She didn’t know why, but she had the vague sense that Yueqing had changed—she no longer seemed as easy to get along with as she’d appeared earlier.

“Xu Yuanbai spoke out of turn and showed disrespect to the Eldest Young Master, so I taught him a small lesson. If Miss Lu is interested in this matter, you can ask me.” A clear voice sounded from behind Yueqing.

The smile on Yueqing’s face vanished instantly. She turned and looked at the black-clothed youth who had spoken, a flicker of barely concealed astonishment in her eyes.

This person had actually entered within ten steps of her without a sound. If he hadn’t chosen to speak up first, she still wouldn’t have noticed the slightest thing.

For someone at the Innate Realm, ten steps was no different from being within arm’s reach. If he had launched a sneak attack just now, he could have seriously injured her—or even killed her outright.

With strength like that, and looking only a few years older than she was, it was enough to show just how exceptional this person’s talent was.

“And you are?” A hint of caution flashed in Yueqing’s eyes.

“I am Shi Feng, currently serving as the Eldest Young Master’s guard.” Shi Feng cupped his hands and stepped over to stand at Shi Lan’s side.

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“A guard?” Yueqing felt the whole thing was absurd. Had the Shi Residence’s talent pool already reached this level? Someone like this was merely a guard? And the one he was protecting was a born cripple like Shi Lan?

With Shi Feng standing nearby, Shi Lan’s unease eased a little. After thinking for a moment, she slowly said, “Miss Lu, a heaven-blessed genius like you and an ordinary nobody like me are not a match. How about we just call this engagement off—what do you think?”

This was a helpless move on her part. As the Shi family’s legitimate eldest son, she was a complete fake to begin with. How could she possibly really marry and have children—let alone marry someone like Lu Yueqing, who was top-tier in both family background and personal excellence?

Rather than letting things grow messy in the future, it was better to cut the knot cleanly now and settle it once and for all.

Yueqing shifted her gaze back to Shi Lan. “Let me ask one last question first, all right?”

“Of course. Go ahead.”

“There’s a rumor going around that you have a fondness for men. Is that true?” Yueqing glanced at Shi Feng in a pointed way as she spoke.

“???”

Shi Lan froze, and once she processed it, her head shook like a rattle drum. “Rumors! Absolutely just rumors!”

Even if she was in a woman’s body now, her orientation was not going to change because of that—unless someone completely shattered her values and rebuilt them from scratch.

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“Then there’s no problem.” A smile returned to Yueqing’s face. “I don’t wish to cancel this engagement for the time being.”

“Why?” Shi Lan really couldn’t wrap her head around it. From any angle, she couldn’t find a single reason for Yueqing to be satisfied with this marriage.

“The engagement between us may not have been arranged through a matchmaker, but it was decided by our parents. A parent’s will is not to be lightly defied. It’s not something I can just cancel because I say so. Besides, I don’t know enough about you yet. To decide so hastily whether to uphold the engagement would be unfair to both you and me.”

“But…”

Before Shi Lan could finish, Yueqing spoke again:

“Today is only our first meeting. If I cancel the engagement now, the world will surely say I’m chasing profit and looking down on you because of your innate crippled body, that it was the Lu clan unilaterally tearing up the engagement. That would harm my reputation.”

Shi Lan felt a bit helpless. “Then what does Miss Lu intend?”

“As for the engagement, we can discuss it later. I’d like to get to know you better first, and then make a decision. That request isn’t excessive, is it?”

“Of course it isn’t. But for someone like Miss Lu to be paired with someone like me, born with a crippled body—don’t you feel wronged?”

In the Lingyang Realm, strength was what mattered most. With Yueqing’s talent, how could she possibly be willing to marry a cripple?

“I don’t need my husband to be particularly powerful or extraordinarily gifted. Compared to those, I value character far more.” Yueqing’s tone was no longer soft and gentle; it was crisp and firm.

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These words came straight from Yueqing’s heart. She didn’t care about talent or strength, because her own talent was already exceptional, and she would become strong enough in the future.

She didn’t want to be like ordinary women, seeking the protection of some powerhouse and becoming a canary in a gilded cage. She wanted to walk the martial path side by side with her husband.

As for Shi Lan’s innate crippled body, Yueqing had never worried about that. The Lingyang Realm was vast. Miracle spiritual herbs that could raise the dead and reverse yin and yang were not unheard of—there were surely medicines that could change one’s aptitude.

Even if they couldn’t be found now, there would always be opportunities in the future.

Aside from miracle medicines, she had also heard of heaven-defying methods like blood-changing and marrow-remolding that could flip fate on its head.

Setting those external factors aside, character became Yueqing’s only standard for judging her future husband.

Since yesterday, Yueqing had been inquiring about Shi Lan’s past deeds, and what she got was, naturally, an overwhelming wave of negative stories.

In the mouths of the city folk, Shi Lan sounded like a wicked young master guilty of every imaginable crime—utterly depraved and outrageous.

But when she pressed them for specific misdeeds, they all fell silent, only saying, “I heard it from so-and-so.”

Because of that, Yueqing had made a special trip to seek out Xu Yuanbai. After all, that incident was probably the only “crime” with solid evidence and many witnesses.

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However, when she arrived at the Xu household, it was already deserted—they had left Tenglong City.

All these unusual details made Yueqing genuinely curious about what kind of person Shi Lan really was.

From the moment they met today, Yueqing was completely sure that Shi Lan was definitely not a bad person—at the very least, not the repulsive figure the rumors painted.

The Lu clan was large and its members complicated; it was inevitable that a few wastrel scions would appear. Yueqing had seen her share of such people.

Even though those wastrels always lowered their brows and acted humble around her, obsequious on the surface, Yueqing could still see the hint of viciousness and restlessness in their eyes and brows.

But Shi Lan didn’t give her that feeling at all. To Yueqing, Shi Lan felt gentle, even harmless, without the slightest aura that made her uncomfortable.

On first impression alone, Shi Lan had already passed.

Then, throughout the barrage of questions that followed, Yueqing had been exerting a kind of invisible pressure on her, trying to force out Shi Lan’s most genuine reactions.

And the results, naturally, left Yueqing quite satisfied.