บท 60: Chapter 60
Jingfei was surprised by Hei's serious atmosphere.
But she decided to answer anyway.
"I have a marriage that I would like to get out of."
'Exactly as I had foreseen.'
Hei had expected something like this from the moment he heard Jingfei's request. It was the typical damsel in distress scenario.
In most of the stories he had read, there would be a young lady who was being forced into some kind of marriage that she didn't want to be part of.
After the main character came, he would rescue her from the situation, but it would leave a strange atmosphere between the two.
Hei wouldn't be letting that happen this time.
"And how does my being here help you."
Hearing Hei's words, Jingfei was unable to respond for a short while.
When she finally did, her words were not what Hei was expecting.
"I was thinking of declaring you as my fiancé."
Hei raised a brow as he leaned back into his chair.
"Oh?"
Jingfei nodded her head in response.
Hei didn't quite expect this kind of situation. He had initially thought she would ask him to defeat her husband-to-be, but instead she was asking him to replace him.
"Before we agree on anything, tell me how this situation came about."
He felt that this entire situation was odd. Especially given what he knew about the sect, and the fear Jingfei seemed to have of men.
He would ask about it later, but right now, he wanted to see what he was working with.
If it was too sticky, he would just let it go. But if it was something manageable then he would come up with an appropriate fee to charge.
Jingfei paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. After having decided what she wanted to say she began.
"If you want the full story then I have to go back to around two years ago."
She checked to make sure Hei was still interested and after he nodded his head, she continued.
"Actually, it began a while before that. Ever since the incident which sparked the creation of the Radiant Jade Sect, every now and then, a disciple would go missing."
Hei nodded his head.
"At first it was seen to be just a series of unfortunate isolated events, but as the years went by it became clear that something sinister was happening."
"Mm."
"And the last straw was around two years ago. A group of elders who had gone out on a mission failed to report back to the sect."
Jingfei seemed to have trouble saying the next part.
"After waiting for a long time, the sect leader took a few elders to search for them as well as the missing disciples. However, at some point, even the sect leader and the elders failed to report back to the sect."
At this point, Hei had a question. He thought there was something Jingfei was withholding.
"Are you related to any of the missing elders?"
Jingfei looked at the ground before nodding her head.
"The sect leader?"
This was Hei's assumption.
It would be strange if she weren't related to one of the bigger elders in the sect at this point.
She was even the peak leader of the man peak.
While it may not be the most prestigious of positions, it was still a high position within the sect.
Jingfei seemed to be surprised by Hei's guess.
After a moment, she nodded her head.
"What is the relation?"
"She is my mother."
'Sounds about right.'
This was also what Hei was assuming. There was nothing strange about this situation at all, it was perfectly in line with his predictions.
"So how does this connect to the marriage?"
"A few months ago, a boy appeared with a marriage contract which was apparently signed by my mother. After the contract was confirmed to be genuine, the vice sect leader agreed to the marriage."
"Vice sect leader?"
"Mm. Since the sect leader is currently missing the vice sect leader has taken over as the acting sect leader, for the time being, she is the one in charge. That will be the case until my mother returns, or a new sect leader is chosen."
Hearing this, Hei grew suspicious. Second-in-command always had a motive to get rid of the leader.
But he also had a question.
"Why does the vice sect leader have any sway on your marriage? Can't you just reject it?"
Hei needed to know why Jingfei couldn't get out of the situation by herself.
"Well, the vice sect leader doesn't have any sway per se. But it becomes complicated because my mother's signature is on the marriage contract."
"Again, why does that matter? Why can't you just refuse the marriage?"
Jingfei raised a brow in response to Hei's question. What was he failing to understand about the situation? Obviously, if her mother's signature was on the contract, the marriage was to occur.
"If I were to refuse the marriage, it would bring great shame to my family. How could I do that to my mother has raised me lovingly for all these years? Would you do that if you were in my position?"
"So, you are bound by social constraints?"
"Yes…"
Jingfei was still confused. Wasn't this basic knowledge?
Even more than Jingfei, Hei was confused. If she was bound to this marriage, then how was she able to seek another fiancé? Wouldn't that be the same thing as rejecting the marriage?
Hei was unfamiliar with the customs of this world. Xiulan had not been a very good guide for these kinds of things, and the books did not mention much about social conventions.
He decided to just ask.
"So, you are allowed to seek another fiancé while in a marriage agreement, but you are unable to reject the original marriage? How does that make any sense?"
Hei's words only worked to further Jingfei's confusion.
She raised a brow as she responded.
"Obviously, if I choose a new fiancé, then the families of both fiancés will compete among themselves for my hand."
"Eh? But you told me that rejecting the marriage would mean shame for your family. How is it that finding another fiancé doesn't bring shame?"
"Rejecting the marriage brings shame because it means that I do not trust my mother's judgement."
"But doesn't finding another fiancé also mean you do not trust your mother's judgement?"
This was where Hei's confusion lay.
He had already assumed it was something like this. If the daughter decided to reject a marriage proposal that her parents had already agreed to, then it would look like her parents were unable to choose an appropriate partner for her.
He wanted to know how it was any different when the daughter went out and chose another fiancé when she already had one.
Jingfei looked at Hei as if he were someone from another planet.
"It's not that difficult to understand, Young Master Hei. Finding another fiancé does not mean I do not trust my mother's judgement, it simply means that I've seen another alternative. Not only that but the competition between the families means that I am desirable, bringing honour to my family."
"Eh? That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard."
"…"
Both Jingfei and Hei were unable to understand each other.
To Jingfei, this was normal everyday stuff. There was no need to even ask these questions. Everyone knew the answers.
But to Hei, these were very foreign concepts. In his original life, it would have been quite strange for a fiancé to find a new partner.
But then again, he had little experience with arranged marriage. Most of the marriages he had heard about were decided upon by the two in question.
Hei decided it was time to move on.
"So, your intention is to have me compete with your fiancé's family in order to obtain your hand in marriage?"
"Mm."
Hei covered his face with his hand. This was nothing like what he had expected.
"Okay, that isn't going to happen. I already have one fiancée and I don't need another one."
"Then…"
"You're not looking deep enough, Jingfei. There are much bigger things going on right now. If I'm not mistaken your mother has been captured by the same people who have been abducting the juniors and elders."
Hearing these words, Jingfei is expression dimmed. She had also been having these thoughts, but she tried to remove them from her mind.
Hei continued.
"I wonder. How much do you know about this vice sect leader?"
Jingfei's eyes opened wide.
"The vice sect leader? Are you saying she has something to do with this?"
Hei nodded his head in response.
"You shouldn't say such things, Young Master Hei. The vice sect leader's own sister was one of the elders that had gone with my mother. She is also missing."
"Oh? You think just because her sister was among the missing elders, she can't be involved in this?"
Jingfei seemed to be angered by Hei's words.
"You're only saying this because you don't know her story. She was just like the founders. She and her sister, and a few other elders joined the sect as victims of abuse. Ever since they joined, they have taken an active role in guiding the juniors. There is no way they would do something like that."
Jingfei took this personally. She had always viewed the vice sect leader as an aunt, so when Hei accused her of treachery, she had to defend.
Hei just leaned back comfortably in his chair. He wasn't particularly interested in what Jingfei had to say, because he had already decided what kind of situation this was in his mind.
After Jingfei had said her piece, Hei continued.
"You know, the ones who we think could never harm us, have the greatest potential to do just that."
"This…"
"Let me ask you, is there something in your possession that the vice sect leader covets? Any item, any symbol of authority or any treasure. Anything that she has asked for, that you have not given her."
This was a nice little indicator for treacherous allies.
Whenever there was something the ally wanted but could not obtain, treachery was a common outcome. Such was the way of the world.
At first, Jingfei wanted to deny it. But then she recalled something.
"Before my mother left, she gave me half of the sect leader's token. And after finding out that my mother had gone missing, the vice sect leader asked for it. But that makes perfects sense because, without the sect leader's token, the formations within the sect cannot be manipulated."
"Sect leader's token, is it? So, if it's a reasonable request why did you refuse it?"
"… Before she left, my mother warned me that she felt something was strange. When she gave me the token, she told me to keep it safe and to stay safe myself."
Jingfei seemed to be thinking about this seriously. She had never had the slightest doubt in the vice sect leader, but she was still unwilling to hand over the sect leaders token.
Hei decided to move on.
"If you ask me, a strong possibility, and a very strong one at that, is that the vice sect leader's sister lured your mother and the others into a trap."
"But why?"
"Well, I would assume it's because of the sect leader's token. They probably tried to acquire it from her but failed. After failing, they came to you."
"What?"
Jingfei was shocked by Hei's wild accusations. It would be one thing to be suspicious of the vice sect leader and her sister, but it was another thing entirely to weave a tale.
Hei continued.
"The only question is, why haven't they forcefully taken it from you? Is there something preventing them from doing so?"
This was the thing Hei found interesting about the situation. If his deductions were correct so far, then Jingfei shouldn't have been able to move freely in the sect like this.
The only explanation he could think of was that the enemy was unable to take the sect leader's token from Jingfei by force.
Jingfei responded.
"Well, the token itself has been fused with my body using a technique, meaning that it can't be taken from me without my permission."
"Oh?"
"This was a safety measure the founders included in the sect leader's token, and also why it is able to be split in half in the first place. If the sect leader feels she is in danger, she can split the token in half so that at least part of it can remain."
Hearing this, Hei understood the situation a little better. If it was like this, then Jingfei's still being okay was understandable.
But these situations never lasted forever.
"That's where you're wrong, Jingfei. They have probably already found a way to extract it from you forcefully. That is what I would assume this whole marriage thing is."
"But…"
"Think about it. All of a sudden, somebody came with a marriage contract, which was signed by your mother, who is currently missing. If your mother was out there searching for the missing disciples and elders, where would she find the time to find you a husband?"
"I also found it strange, but…"
Jingfei couldn't really continue her sentence. This was always a strange thing to her, but things like this had happened previously as well. It wasn't the first case of such an incident.
Hei decided to tell Jingfei his interpretation of the entire situation.
"Listen, Jingfei. I believe your mother's life is hanging by a thread, and that thread is called Jingfei. That is, if these people managed to obtain the half of the sect leader's token from you, your mother will die shortly afterwards. And vice versa, if they are able to extract the sect leader's token from your mother, you will die shortly after."
"What?"
Jingfei was shocked by Hei's interpretation of the events.
Hei leaned forward again. He rested his chin on his thumbs and continued.
"You originally invited me here to help you out of your marriage, but as you can see, this thing is much bigger than you thought. Well, that's if my deductions are correct."
Hei waited for a response, but Jingfei remained silent.
"As such, the price of my assistance is quite steep. Here is my offer. Not only will I help you out of your marriage, but I will also rescue your mother from her captivity, and free the sect from the influence of the vice sect leader."
Again, Hei waited for a response, but there was none.
"The price for this is your body mind and soul. That is, you will become my maid for life until I choose to free you."
He felt that he was being a bit too direct here, but he rolled with it. He increased the suppressive aura he was releasing and spoke in a calm, emotionless voice.
"Here are your options. You can wait for the marriage, giving your enemy what they want, ending the lives of both you and your mother. You could also willingly hand over the sect leader's token, also ending the lives of you and your mother. Or, you could try to escape the entire situation, leaving your mother in captivity, forever remaining unaware of her situation."
Hei withdrew his suppressive aura before he continued.
"Or you could become my maid, and all of your problems will be solved."
Hei waited for a moment, and Jingfei seemed to be in thought.
"Let me make it a little easier for you. I'm quite fair you know? If we come to find out that what I've said is wildly inaccurate, then you're free to go and I'll come up with some other payment."
Jingfei thought for a long while before she responded.
"So, you're basically saying that you will help me to escape the marriage, as well as find out what happened to my mother. And in exchange, I am to become your maid for life?"
"Precisely."
"And if you're wrong about my mother, then I won't have to become your maid, but will have to pay another price instead?"
"That is the gist of it."
"What will the price be?"
"The price? I don't really know. Do you have anything of value?"
"Well, you would have won my hand in marriage at the very least."
Jingfei said this very seriously. It clearly wasn't a joke, or something said to lighten the atmosphere.
"Uh… No thanks."
Hei struggled to come up with another payment, but he really couldn't imagine anything material that he would want or need.
"You know what? If I'm wrong, there won't be any price. I can't think of a single thing that would be valuable to me that you own or could acquire. I'll just take it as my loss this time."
Of course, Hei was fully confident in his deductions. He couldn't see too much possibility for variance here, given his experience.
"Then I will agree. If my mother really has been captured and you are able to rescue her, then I will become your maid."
Hei smiled brightly.
"Excellent."
บท 61: Chapter 61
Now that the agreement was established, Hei decided to ask some further questions.
"So, tell me more about this fiancé of yours."
"What exactly do you want to know?"
"What's his background?"
"He seems to be from the Zhu Clan. It is a powerful and well-known clan with a good reputation."
"How powerful?"
"No weaker than the Radiant Jade Sect. I've heard that they have a minute realm cultivator."
Hearing these words, Hei entered thought. If this clan had a minute realm cultivator, then it was very possible for them to have been involved in the disappearances.
Hei couldn't care less that the clan was well-known and reputable. It was very easy for those who appeared to be upstanding to have a hand in the underworld.
This was enough information about the fiancé, next Hei wanted to know about the situation itself.
"So, if we recall the events of a few days ago, it would lead one to believe that you have an… interesting perspective."
Jingfei blushed, she looked to the ground.
She tried to explain herself.
"That was a special case!"
Hei raised a brow. It didn't seem to be a special case at the time. One would assume she would have reacted like that on any normal day.
"I'm just wondering how you could have a marriage when you have those kinds of reactions. Shouldn't you be strongly opposed to this?"
What Hei found even more strange was that the sect would allow this marriage to proceed, when it was clear that they were teaching the disciples things that didn't go well with marriage at all.
Jingfei seemed to be confused by Hei's question. She raised a brow as she responded.
"Why would I be opposed?"
"Because… He's a man."
"What exactly do you think this is? Do you think we're afraid of all men or something?"
"That is what one would assume, isn't it?"
Jingfei shook her head.
"Wouldn't that be irrational? We are taught the dangers of men, but we still know that there are good men out there. It's just that most of them aren't good."
Hearing this, Hei was left speechless. Truthfully speaking, that wasn't necessarily incorrect. But it depended on how one defined 'good'.
Jingfei continued.
"It's just like those men who died to protect their families back then. We all know that for family, men can be good, which is why we are not afraid of marriage. But unfortunately, most men are not family, which makes them dangerous."
Hei had a response for this.
"But even for family, there can still be dangers. Even your own husband could do something terrible to you."
"Of course, we also know that. But there's only so much suspicion you can have before it starts consuming you. In order to maintain a healthy mind, one has to accept certain possibilities."
Again, Hei was without words.
It was true. At any time, something bad could happen to someone. But to constantly think of such things would be a great hindrance in everyday life.
It seemed he had been too judgemental in his thoughts of what the sect was teaching the disciples. But he would be able to determine the truth for himself after listening to the teachings.
Jingfei continued.
"It essentially boils down to whether or not we want to have children. Those of us who don't, never need to interact with men at all, but most of us do. Which means we'll have to get married. Conveniently, the sect evaluates all prospective husbands."
Hei was curious.
"Oh? How effective has the evaluation been?"
Jingfei smiled.
"There has never been a complaint thus far. The sect is very good at what they do."
Hei added on.
"Or they weren't able to come back to tell you."
"Hmm. That is also a possibility. But most of those who get married, remain in the sect. As for those who leave, we don't really know."
These words caused Hei to think some more.
"So, you're telling me that the sect teaches you to fear all men except those chosen by the sect. Is that correct?"
"If you want to simplify it."
"Hmm."
This sounded odd to Hei, but there wasn't enough evidence to tie it to anything else.
"So, when is this marriage supposed to take place?"
"At the end of the year."
"Oh? So we have some time to work with."
The end of the year wasn't coming for quite a while. It was plenty of time for Hei to make some arrangements.
"The rescue of your mother is going to take a while. I'll handle that and the rest. However, we are going to need to make you stronger."
"Why do I need to get stronger? Will you be needing me to fight?"
"No, that won't be necessary. But I don't really want to have a weak maid, so…"
Originally, Hei had wanted to have Jingfei handle her own problems, but this was much more than he thought it was going to be.
Even her gaining strength was optional, but it would be useful in the future.
"…"
Jingfei stared at Hei with a blank expression. She had assumed he would be wanting her to improve her strength so they could go and rescue her mother together. But that seemed to not be the case.
"Are you sure you won't be needing me to…"
Jingfei's sentence trailed off when she saw Hei waving his hand. It seemed her participation was completely unnecessary. Which felt quite strange.
"So, I don't have to do anything?"
Hei smiled.
"No, just let your Young Master Hei handle it."
Hei got up and both the table and chair disappeared. He then gestured Jingfei to follow behind him as he went back to his room.
He wanted to see what's his sisters had done with it while he and Jingfei were gone.
When they got there, Hei could already see that something was wrong.
But it was only Hei.
Jingfei had sparkly eyes as she witnessed the scene in front of her.
Hei stepped past his door into his room, and what he saw left him speechless.
"What… What have you done to my room?"
Hei was almost in tears as he said this.
His hand-scraped hardwood floors were nowhere to be found, instead, there was a fluffy pink carpet.
And as if that wasn't enough, the blanket he had handstitched from countless threads was now replaced by an army of stuffed animals stitched together.
What of his barrier and extended floor? Again, nowhere to be found. Instead, there was now a wall, with several windows, and pink curtains to match the carpet.
Bai, Mei, Qiuyue, and Fang Ren all turned around to greet Hei and Jingfei who had returned.
They were still in their renovation work, but Bai and Mei came up to Hei with smiles on their faces.
"How do you like it, Brother?"
"Mm. Isn't it much better than before?"
"This…"
Hei didn't know what to say. He wondered where Bai and Mei even got this kind of sense of style from. He had never seen them interact with anything pink like this, or any stuffed animals for that matter.
Sure, Bai had a doll which Shao Chen had created for her, but that was only one. How had it become this?
After a moment of speechlessness, Hei was able to respond.
"What do you mean better? You changed the whole atmosphere! What happened to my hand-scraped hardwood floors? My barrier? The extended flooring? All of that took me a lot of effort to create. How could you do this?"
After giving them his heartfelt opinion, Hei noticed all of the young ladies looking at him with confused faces. It was as if he had said the most nonsensical thing in the world.
Jingfei spoke first.
"What are you talking about, Young Master Hei? From what I can see, the room is now three times better than it was before."
Hei turned to Jingfei with a raised brow, but before he could say anything, Qiuyue added on.
"You see, Jingfei? This is why people say you have poor comprehension ability."
Hei's eyes sparkled as he turned to Qiuyue, but his expression quickly dimmed after hearing her following words.
"It is clearly 3.7 times better."
Bai added on.
"Actually, Senior Sister Qiuyue, I found it to be 3.71 times better. I think you missed that particular section over there when you did your calculations."
Bai pointed over to the place where the simple wooden table used to be. Now, there was a stylish glass table, occupied by three teddy bears.
It just so happened that one of them was white, one of them was white with red ears, and the other was brown.
After seeing this, Qiuyue realised her mistake.
"Ah, you're right. I didn't include the new table. It really is 3.71 times better."
Hei was wondering what planet he had stumbled onto. Since when had style been something quantifiable? Especially since they completely changed the entire atmosphere.
Seeing the drastic changes and all the new additions to his room, Hei had a question.
"Where did you get all of this stuff?"
This was what he wanted to know. When they got here, they were empty-handed. Where had all these things appeared from?
In response to his question, Bai and Mei both tugged at strings around their necks, revealing the rings that were strung to them.
Hei was surprised to see this.
"Spatial rings?"
Bai and Mei both smiled and giggled.
"Where did you get them from?"
Bai answered.
"We used our winnings from the challenges to exchange for these spatial rings and a few of the things you see here."
Hey again looked around the room. He was now seeing a tremendous waste of merit points.
"You spent merit points on these things? And instead of getting useful things, you filled your spatial rings with stuffed animals and various other ornaments?"
This seemed to be a gross misuse of spatial rings. He had never heard of anyone in any story, be that a boy or girl, using a spatial ring to carry around stuffed animals.
Bai raised a brow.
"Oh? What should we have gotten instead, Brother?"
It wasn't just Bai, everyone looked at Hei waiting for his answer.
Hei felt that this was an extremely strange situation. Why did it seem like he was the only one who didn't make sense in a world full of crazy people?
But after some thought, he really couldn't come up with anything better to purchase. As envoys of the heavens, who were practising the Way of Essence, they had no need for cultivation resources or the like.
Which meant that they could do whatever they wanted with their wealth. Even if they flushed it down the toilet, they wouldn't really lose anything.
Of course, they could give it to subordinates to strengthen them, but right now, the only subordinates were Liling and Jingfei. And they had already given Liling many resources.
Jingfei, of course, had her own merit points, with which she could buy her own resources.
So, there really wasn't anything strange about his sisters squandering their merit points on frivolous things.
"I guess… You did well?"
That was all Hei could say.
But he did have one more question.
"Why aren't you wearing your rings and instead, hanging them around your necks? Are they too big for your fingers?"
Hearing this, Bai looked to the floor and Mei fidgeted a little.
After a short moment, Mei responded.
"I refuse to wear a ring unless you place on my finger."
"Wow…"
Hei rolled his eyes in response to Mei's words. They were just too ridiculous.
But when he looked around the room, he noticed that Jingfei, Qiuyue and Fang Ren seemed to be caught up in some strange atmosphere.
Hei turned to Bai with a raised brow.
"And you? Is it the same thing?"
Bai didn't say anything. She was still looking at the floor as she slightly nodded her head.
"…"
Hei had no idea what to do in this kind of situation.
He placed his hands on both of their heads and spoke with a smile.
"Then, I guess you're just going to keep wearing your spatial rings around your necks from now on."
Both Bai and Mei puffed their cheeks out as they looked at Hei.
They turned around and walked grumpily back to the others, where they continued their renovation work. Jingfei joined them.
Hei just watched with a blank expression as they turned his room unrecognisable.
'It's a good thing I created a model of it this time.'
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