“You want to know?” Yun Shu let go of her crossed arms and nonchalantly brushed off some non-existent dust from her sleeve. Her tone was lazy. “Sure. Pay up. After all, you have to pay for tea to listen to stories in a teahouse. Coming to my door to pry into my private business without offering a little something—doesn’t that seem a bit inappropriate?”
“Host, the male lead’s Favorability has dropped again.” The system, following Yun Shu invisibly, watched Shen Jue’s Favorability like a bungee jumper, fluctuating wildly. It felt both happy and melancholic.
It was happy because if the task was completed slowly, it wouldn’t have to unbind from Yun Shu so soon.
It was melancholic because if the task was botched, Yun Shu wouldn’t be able to take the one-billion-dollar prize and be reborn.
Its previous hosts were all living people; even if the task failed, they could unbind and return to their original worlds to live out their quiet, stable lives.
Only Yun Shu had bound to it after death. Therefore, failure meant she would truly die.
Shen Jue’s brow furrowed. “How much?”
“One hundred taels,” Yun Shu said, making a modest demand.
“General Shen, this small amount of money should be a piece of cake for you. Surely you can’t be too poor to afford it?”
After a long silence.
With a dark face, Shen Jue pulled a banknote from his sleeve.
Yun Shu took it, glanced at it first, then slowly folded it and tucked it into her sleeve pocket. Her movements were smooth and practiced, exuding a calm that was quite irritating to behold.
The feeling of getting something for nothing was truly wonderful!
“It’s a long story, but I’ll keep it short.”
She stood up straight and said with a straight face, “It happened like this: back then, I was being chased by assassins and fell off a cliff. I survived the disaster and happened to meet a mysterious lady in white. She said my skeletal structure was extraordinary and that I was destined to meet her. So, she passed on a peerless divine art to me, allowing me to be reborn as a world-class expert.”
Shen Jue: “...”
A strange bitterness welled up in his heart.
He even felt a sudden urge to snatch back that hundred taels.
On what basis?
This woman before him was arrogant, domineering, and greedy. On what basis did she deserve to be rescued by the Divine Lady?
Furthermore, she had done nothing. Just because of some so-called extraordinary skeletal structure and destiny, she received the Divine Lady’s blessing.
That was a blessing he had traded his life for!
The more he thought about it, the more bitter he became.
He had never imagined it.
One day, he would actually be jealous of a woman.
“Since you received such a blessing and learned these martial arts, why didn’t you stand up yesterday when we were defending Xindu City and slaying the foul dragon with the Divine Lady? Why did you hide like a coward?” His tone was laced with a hint of undeniable hostility.
Yun Shu wasn’t about to indulge him. “None of your damn business. Don’t try to guilt-trip me. Now get lost.”
“The mysterious lady in white you mentioned is the Divine Lady. She gave you celestial techniques surely so you would uphold justice and protect the people.”
Shen Jue pursed his lips, his voice low and raspy. “But you spend your days idling about, achieving nothing.”
“Do you not feel ashamed?”
“Maybe eat less salt; you seem a bit too salty today.”
Yun Shu took a step back, intending to close the courtyard gate, when she heard a crisp female voice.
“Sister Qinghe.”
Pei Wanning walked over from the street with quick, short steps, only then noticing that the person standing next to Yun Shu was Shen Jue.
She felt a bit surprised.
“General Shen, why are you here?”
Seeing that it was Pei Wanning, and feeling somewhat guilty over the matter of the broken betrothal, Shen Jue’s expression softened slightly. “Miss Pei, I came to find Miss Li to ask her a few questions. Now that my doubts are resolved, I am heading back to the Governor’s mansion.”
Hearing this, Pei Wanning didn’t press further.
She was about to pull Yun Shu into the house when she was called back.
“Miss Pei.”
Shen Jue looked at Pei Wanning and cupped his hands in a bow. “I have been busy with various matters and haven’t had the chance. Regarding the betrothal, I haven’t had the opportunity to apologize to you properly. Furthermore, I have already made it clear to my father that you may cancel the betrothal at any time, and I will not utter a single word of complaint.”
Wang Miaomiao, the second legitimate daughter of the Minister of Rites, had lost her life due to a few rumors. This event made him realize that if Pei Wanning were cast aside by him, she might also meet a tragic end.
Fortunately, he had not yet made an irreversible mistake.
“General Shen, alliances between great clans have always been decided by the commands of parents and the words of matchmakers. It is not something we can control. You are also a victim of this blind marriage.”
Pei Wanning paused, then continued, “You don’t need to apologize to me. You haven’t done anything wrong to me.”
“Furthermore, you said I should cancel the betrothal. I can tell you very clearly that I will not cancel it.”
Great clans value reputation above all else. A woman whose betrothal is canceled by the man will be ridiculed; likewise, a man will also be mocked.
This was why great clans rarely canceled betrothals.
Because canceling a betrothal was equivalent to creating a blood feud.
Shen Jue was stunned for a moment.
Once he regained his senses, he looked worried. “But I have no intention of marrying and starting a family. You...”
Pei Wanning interrupted him. “General Shen, you misunderstand. My meaning is that we can find a better way to free ourselves from the shackles of this betrothal.”
“What way?” Shen Jue asked.
“In business, when parties agree to end a deal, they both tear up the contract. We can do the same and tear up our marriage contract together. That way, it isn't you canceling on me, nor me canceling on you.”
Pei Wanning thought for a moment and added, “If General Shen doesn’t mind, I want to spread word of this throughout the world. Let those men and women forced into betrothals know they have another choice, so they don’t have to follow a dark path to the end.”
Shen Jue was never one to care much about his reputation, so he naturally wouldn’t refuse. He only cautioned, “Miss Pei, no one has ever dissolved a betrothal like this before. If you insist on spreading this, it will surely affect your reputation.”
Pei Wanning was exceptionally firm. “Everything we are doing now is unprecedented. If I can trade my reputation for the freedom of the people to choose their own lives, I believe it is worth it!”
With that, she followed Yun Shu into the small courtyard.
“You were so eloquent just now, so why the long face as soon as you step inside?” Yun Shu looked at the girl slumped dejectedly on the stone table.
“Don’t tell me you regret sacrificing your reputation?”
“Sister Qinghe, it’s not because of that.” Pei Wanning sat up, resting her chin in her hands. “I’m thinking about how to convince the Divine Lady to stay in the mortal realm. Everyone is arguing back and forth right now and just can’t make a decision.”
Yun Shu sat down across from her. “I’m the third child in my family. I have an older brother and an older sister. The three of us had very different tastes. I loved meat, my big brother loved sweets, and my second sister loved vegetables.”
A flash of nostalgia crossed her eyes. “Sometimes, we’d even get into fights over a single bite of food.”
“Later, my parents came up with an idea.”
“Either work a bit harder and make a table with meat, vegetables, and sweets, or everyone in the family writes what they want to eat on a piece of paper, and the minority follows the majority.”
Pei Wanning’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Sister Qinghe, I suddenly have something to do. I’ll come see you next time!”
Yun Shu watched her hurried departure.
Only after Pei Wanning had disappeared did she speak to the invisible system beside her. “What are your system’s criteria for binding a host? Does the host need to possess merit?”
Her big brother died while on a peacekeeping mission, her second sister died while pursuing a criminal, and she, Li Qinghe, died while working undercover in narcotics.
If merit was required, then was it possible they had also bound to systems and were performing tasks in some other worlds?
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