chapter 2

When she heard that, Murong Yun Shu gaped. “Someone coming to propose marriage is a good thing, what are you crying for?”

“But the opposite party is Mojiao sect’s leader!”

“Isn’t Mojiao’s leader a man?”

“He’s a man.”

“It’s good if he’s a man.” Putting down those words, Murong Yun Shu steadily walked over to the drawing room.

Pondering over it for a while, the housekeeper still couldn’t grasp the logic behind this. “Is our Murong House lacking men so much?”

“No.” Lu’er threw a greatly sympathetic glance at the housekeeper. “But our young lady is lacking a man.”

“Really?” The housekeeper held his old face in his hands to think for a moment, then said, “The son of the younger paternal male cousin of the father of the small wife of the eldest son of the father of the husband of the daughter of the son of the son of my grandfather’s sister is an official in the capital and he’s still unmarried. How about introducing him to the young lady?”

“Keep him.” Lu’er rolled her eyes, then energetically chased after Murong Yun Shu. “Miss, we should change our housekeeper.”

“Did he finally make up his mind to deduct your salary?”

“…No.”

“Then we really need to change him.”

“……” Lu’er wiped her tears; letting her know that the housekeeper would be dismissed because he hadn’t deducted her salary, how could she get along with him later!

Four black-clad men were lined up in the middle of the drawing room. A dozen men carrying ten big trunks of gold stood behind them. When she entered the room, Murong Yun Shu was greeted by such a scene.

“Gentlemen, please sit down.” Murong Yun Shu took the seat of honor. “Someone come pour tea.”

“No need.” East Guardian waved his hand, hinting the subordinates to bring the trunks over. He got right to the point, “We’ve come to propose marriage to Miss Murong on behalf of our sect leader.”

“I see.” Murong Yun Shu wasn’t looking at him, but was staring at those ten big boxes of gold, an epic battle starting in her heart.

Murong House was currently very short on money, extremely deficient. Her father had passed away, Mingjian Manor had broken the engagement, and after the so-called ‘blocking the sedan to steal the groom’ incident, the influential families’ trust in Huifeng bank had dropped lower and lower. The cash-in requests were getting more and more and the jewelry stores continuously suffered losses. How long would they be able to go on like that?

Those ten big trunks of gold had come just in time to solve their urgent needs.

However, as Murong House’s sole heir, she couldn’t marry out.

Pondering over it for a good while, Murong Yun Shu said, “I’m sorry, Murong House’s daughter can’t marry out.”

South Guardian: “Then is it alright if he marries in?”

“…Where does your noble sect leader have an issue? Disabled hands, or maybe disabled legs?” If such a thing had happened before, she wouldn’t have found it strange. Whether in the Jianghu, or in the Imperial court, Murong House had enjoyed the highest prestige. It had been very common for people to throw their money at them without asking for anything in return; Fang Hongfei had also been like that. But having someone wishing to do that in the present circumstances, moreover that someone being the leader of the most influential sect in Jianghu, it was too unbelievable.

West Guardian: “I think it’s probably his head that’s disabled.”

“It’s obviously his heart.” North Guardian continued speaking, “Although our leader looks decent on the surface, he’s completely black-hearted on the inside, his personality is twisted, and his mood is fickle. He’s a prime example of an evil devil. Such a person willing to be married in as the wife family’s son-in-law is not that strange.”

“Right, it’s normal.” East Guardian had a dubious smile on his face.

Murong Yun Shu smelled something fishy, but it didn’t concern her, thus…she chose to ignore it.

“Are you sure he’s willing to enter the wife’s household?”

“We’re sure!” The four of them answered in unison, their expressions full of gloating.

Murong Yun Shu smiled. “It seems that your noble sect leader’s conduct is quite good.”

“Madam is wise!” They spoke in unison again, all of their faces looking like they’d reunited with an intimate friend from the other side of the world.

Murong Yun Shu truly suspected they were quadruplets. “I haven’t married yet, just call me Miss Murong.”

“It’s all the same if we change the address early or late. Our Mojiao sect doesn’t have that many rules,” North Guardian spoke as he shook his hands.

“Fine then. However, I can only marry after three years, as I have to follow my filial piety1.” In fact, while her dad was still alive, he had told her she didn’t need to observe the mourning custom for him. The reason she said that was only because she didn’t want to marry immediately. After all, she hadn’t even seen the opposite party’s face.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s fine to get engaged first. We have to go back and report the results, so we’ll be bidding goodbye early.”

“Alright, take care.”

The four direction black-clad Guardians prepared to leave, with the rest of the people following closely behind as they walked out of the drawing room in a single file, carrying the gold away.

Murong Yun Shu knit her eyebrows baffled. “Wasn’t the gold a betrothal gift?”

Everyone paused while East Guardian turned his head to say, “It was, initially. But since the leader is marrying into Madam’s family, it has turned into a dowry2. Oh, that’s right! Madam, please remember to bring a matchmaker and a betrothal gift to Mount Heifeng3 to discuss the marriage.”

Matchmaker… Betrothal gift… Murong Yun Shu suddenly experienced the taste of going for wool and coming back shorn.

With the bank in a state of emergency, where would she get the betrothal gift from? No, that wasn’t the key point. It was that she had accepted the proposal for those ten trunks of gold. Without them now, the marriage was also useless.

But going back on one’s word was not the Murong House’s style!

So awkward.

Misunderstanding Murong Yun Shu’s expression, East Guardian said with a smile, “We won’t put Madam in a difficult position. Our sect leader is very cheaply priced. As long as you prepare enough money to buy his weight in pork meat, the matter can be considered done.”

“…I don’t know how much he weighs.” Actually, she wanted to say that she didn’t mind taking those ten trunks of gold acting as ‘dowry’.

“To guess roughly, 78 kg (172 lbs)4.”

“I’ve heard that pork is quite expensive lately.” Leave the gold behind, leave it behind.

“Then I’ll go back and urge the leader to lose some weight.”

“…Take care, I won’t be seeing you out.” The wedding day definitely had to be pushed back for three years!

Sending off Mojiao’s representatives, Murong Yun Shu sat back down on her chair with a defeated face. It was aptly said that ‘the evil we bring on ourselves are the hardest to bear’.