Just Get Married, and Bring Jingyang Back as Your Husband
Rong Ci stared at his dazzling smile without speaking. Su Jingyang kept smiling anyway, even letting out a hehhehe sound in his throat.
Rong Ci narrowed his eyes and immediately took a step back. “That sneaky smile, what are you scheming?”
Su Jingyang’s eyes shone bright, his tone impassioned. “Nothing, really nothing. Seeing you at a moment like this feels like seeing light, seeing hope, seeing a lamp guiding me forward…!”
Rong Ci hissed and cut him off. “Say it plainly.”
“Oh.” Su Jingyang said, “Someone wants to mess with us. You’ve got martial arts, so walking with you feels safer.”
Hearing this, Rong Ci’s gaze sharpened and his expression grew more serious. He turned his head and swept his eyes behind them.
“No need to look.” Su Jingyang said. “Those guys noticed I spotted them, so they scattered. Who knows which corner they’re hiding in, waiting to strike when they get a chance.”
Rong Ci’s voice eased a little as he tipped his chin at Su Jingyang, indicating, “Hurry up and pack. I’ll wait.”
Su Jingyang nodded vigorously with delight. “Okay, I’ll be done right away!”
Everything was already packed. Only the lamp needed to be put out, and the door needed to be locked. Once Su Jingyang finished, he and Ling Li led Ah Xuan out, then he said to Rong Ci, who had been waiting at the entrance, “Let’s go, let’s go.”
Rong Ci walked alongside him, glancing sideways as he asked, “If I hadn’t come today, what were you planning to do?”
Su Jingyang answered honestly. “Stay in the eatery for the night. There’s a child with us, and Ah Li and I can’t just fight them head-on.”
Rong Ci asked again, “I came today. What about tomorrow, the day after?”
“Report it to the authorities, of course.” Su Jingyang said. “I refuse to believe some mere restaurant owner can cover the sky with one hand.” He felt that boss was out of his mind, always pulling strings from the shadows. It was despicable.
Time spent on dirty tricks would be better spent improving his own business. Su Jingyang thought for a moment then added, “If it really comes to it, there’s still Young Master Liang. I can ask him to help me think of a plan… Hey, what’s with that look? Why are you rolling your eyes at me?”
Rong Ci’s tone turned cold. “Young Master Liang every day, Young Master Liang this, Young Master Liang that. Planning to marry him in the future?”
“Since when am I ‘Young Master Liang’ every day? Since when?” Su Jingyang said. “He’s my friend. I’m begging you, don’t talk nonsense.”
Rong Ci said, “Friends should keep a friend’s distance.”
Su Jingyang found it odd. “Distance between friends? By that logic, I don’t even count as your friend, yet there’s no distance between us. So what does that make this?”
Rong Ci seemed to be caught by the question. His lashes fluttered lightly, and he stayed silent for a moment.
Su Jingyang lowered his voice a little. “Besides, I won’t stay here in the future, and I won’t end up with anyone here. Stop making wild guesses.”
Rong Ci’s steps faltered for a moment. His gaze slowly fell onto Su Jingyang’s face. His red lips moved as he was about to speak, when Su Jingyang let out a puzzled “Eh?” and turned to look behind them.
Ling Li had been holding Ah Xuan in silence and had somehow fallen several steps behind. He was walking extremely slowly.
Su Jingyang called out, “Ah Li.” Ling Li only seemed to snap back to himself then, abruptly lifting his head. A trace of confusion showed on his face as he looked at Su Jingyang.
“Ah Li, you need to stay close to us!” Su Jingyang hurried back, pulled him forward, and had him and the child walk between the two of them. Su Jingyang did it instinctively, thinking the middle was safer, and didn’t notice Ling Li’s body subtly shrinking away.
Ah Xuan rubbed his eyes and asked Su Jingyang to carry him. He seemed very sleepy. Su Jingyang lifted him up and let him rest against his shoulder to sleep. While Su Jingyang was holding the child, Ling Li quietly circled from behind him and moved to walk at the side.
Ah Xuan fell asleep not long after. No one spoke after that.
However, Su Jingyang kept catching Rong Ci looking at him from time to time. Each time Su Jingyang turned his head, ready to ask what he was looking at, Rong Ci’s eyes were already fixed elsewhere.
Su Jingyang returned home completely bewildered. The gang might have changed their plan or perhaps Rong Ci’s sharp presence at their side intimidated them. Trouble never came on the road.
Su Jingyang remembered what he needed to do that night, so he didn’t sleep with Ling Li. After he cleaned up and lay down, the moment he closed his eyes, he entered the dream.
It was strange. That man didn’t pester him like he usually did. He only lay there, breathing softly, not moving at all.
Su Jingyang sat cross-legged beside him and thought. System #1 had said before that this person had no independent consciousness, yet a strong will could still produce instinctive reactions. The current situation made Su Jingyang wonder if this person had also sensed something was wrong and wanted to resist.
Su Jingyang wanted nothing more than to join forces with him and kill that damned dog system!
However, that thought was naive. Reality was cruel.
If they didn’t do it today, the two of them probably wouldn’t even be able to leave this dream.
Su Jingyang propped his cheek in his hand and sighed soundlessly into the darkness. He didn’t know how long it took. Sleepiness was starting to drown him when he suddenly sensed the person beside him beginning to stir in unbearable agitation, beginning to toss and turn restlessly. The system’s control still won out in the end.
During one turn, the man accidentally brushed Su Jingyang’s leg. His breathing sank sharply. He finally stopped restraining himself. He yanked Su Jingyang, who still hadn’t fully reacted, and pinned him beneath him.
Su Jingyang squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth, enduring the fierce pounding of the body on top of him. His mind kept thinking that it would be so much better if, for that man, all of this were only a brief, blurry dream too, instead of being this real and this long.
When Su Jingyang woke up the next day, he stared at the mole in his palm that stubbornly refused to fade, and he was fully awake.
Days like this would be long ahead.
It might be better, better to just get pregnant already. Grit his teeth, steel his resolve, and give birth to a child. At least he wouldn’t have to feel suffocated in his heart every time because of this unfamiliar man.
Su Jingyang realized what he was thinking and instantly widened his eyes in horror. He jolted upright. What was he thinking? He was thinking that it might be better to have a child?!
He was collapsing. He felt devastated, realizing that having such thoughts subconsciously meant the system had tormented him for so long that he had already gone insane!
His emotions spiraled out of control. With the quilt wrapped over his head, he slammed his head into the wall, making a loud bang, then heavily toppled back onto the bed. Ah Xuan, who had just gotten dressed and come to play with him, was so startled that he fell onto his bottom on the floor.
“……”
When Rong Hua arrived, she found Rong Ci feeding the chicken in the courtyard again. She couldn’t help showing a face full of admiration. “I never imagined before that you would treasure a chicken this much!!”
Rong Ci’s dark eyes flicked toward her. “Letting it die would be unlucky. Someone would curse me out.”
“What do you mean unlucky? Who would curse you out?”
“Come in.” Rong Ci didn’t answer her question.
Ronghua followed him inside and sat at the table, promptly forgetting about this matter as she brought up serious business. “Your mother is crying to the elders every day now, saying you’ve disappointed her careful efforts and refuse to follow her arrangements.”
Her voice was cold with mockery. “Ridiculous. You’re the City Lord of Rongcheng and the clan head of the Rong family. Since when have you needed to follow her arrangements? Marriage, no less. The nerve is unbelievable.”
Rong Ci lay in a reclining chair with an arm behind his head, looking as if his spirit had wandered far away. He seemed to be thinking about something, not caring about what she was saying at all.
Seeing his indifference, Rong Hua’s anger flared. She said furiously, “Since she wants you to marry so badly, then get married. Take Jingyang back and make him your husband! Didn’t the Great Wizard say you’re fated to have no heirs unless you marry a ‘foreign star descending to the world’? Jingyang might be that foreign star. Marry him and you’ll have children. Wouldn’t that good?”
Su Jingyang’s name finally made Rong Ci’s expression finally showed some variation. The corner of his mouth moved. “Foreign star? He’s purely a foreign creature.”
Rong Hua was irritated. “The Great Wizard is the same. He only knows how to say things like that. He can’t even calculate when this person will appear or where? Rong Ci, you should think of a solution. The situation in the city is really not optimistic.”
The population in Rongcheng was declining year after year. The number of newborns was also dropping each year. It was all because the orthodox bloodline of the Rong clan was far too thin, unable to fill the energy of Wuqun Mountain and bestow blessings upon the Wu people.
Rong Ci had already set down laws allowing marriage with outsiders, yet in the short term, results were still nowhere to be seen. If this continued, Rongcheng’s decline was already a foregone conclusion.
Rong Hua asked, “Do you truly want to hand the position over to your younger brother later?”
Rong Ci shook his head and said mockingly, “Even if I offered the seat to him on a silver platter, he couldn’t hold it.”
Rong Hua frowned, confused. “What do you mean, he couldn’t hold it? How couldn’t he? Isn’t he your father’s son—”
Rong Hua’s words cut off abruptly. Understanding struck. She stared at Rong Ci, her face full of disbelief. “No way. How could it be?! How could your father allow something like that to happen?!”
Rong Ci’s gaze turned deep and shadowed. He didn’t speak.
Rong Hua stared at him for a moment longer, then asked, “Rong Xia really isn’t your father’s child??”
Something else occurred to her. She shot to her feet and demanded, “What about you? Are you and that woman actually mother and son?”
Rong Ci looked at Rong Hua. After weighing his words, he said, “No. She didn’t give birth to me.”
Rong Hua sprang up, gripping her whip tight, her face full of killing intent as she paced back and forth. “No wonder, no wonder that woman has always treated you badly and even cursed you to die when you were at your weakest. So you really aren’t her biological son!”
Rong Hua stopped, then looked at him again. “Why, though?! Why did your father do this?! That woman too, is her brain full of water? If her son doesn’t carry the legitimate Rong bloodline, she still wants him to be City Lord? That’s sending him to his death! You should just grant her wish!”
“My father had his reasons.” Rong Ci said slowly. “That woman is simple-minded. She doesn’t understand the responsibility a clan head and a City Lord bears. Let her make a fuss. I told you, she can’t stir up any real storm.”
Rong Ci didn’t continue the topic. He lifted a brow at Rong Hua. “Your hands itch all day, don’t they? Come with me and deal with a few people.”
Rong Hua’s irritation and fury had nowhere to go. She also knew there were things Rong Ci wouldn’t easily tell her anymore. She agreed without thinking.
The two were about to set out when they stepped into the courtyard and suddenly heard someone next door chopping something hard, accompanied by Su Jingyang’s repeated “Ei-hei, ei-hei” grunts. The noise was attention-grabbing.
Rong Ci’s lips curved. Without a second thought, he abandoned Rong Hua, leapt over the wall, and landed lightly on the ground. His posture was leisurely as he approached Su Jingyang.
“Making such a racket so early in the morning. What are you up to now?”
Rong Ci’s smile faded, bit by bit. He lowered his eyes and saw clearly what Su Jingyang was exerting himself so hard to chop, his face red from effort.
It was that ladder.
It was that ladder Su Jingyang climbed every day to get over the wall.
The ladder used to shout at him, deliver food to him, quarrel with him, and even spy on him.
Now, this ladder was being chopped up.
Su Jingyang had time to lift his head and saw Rong Ci appear. He wasn’t very surprised. Someone with qinggong was always impressive. Su Jingyang kept swinging the axe at the ladder while panting as he answered, “The ladder’s broken. We also happen to be out of firewood at home, so I’m chopping it up to use as fuel! It can also be used to make a fire and roast sweet potatoes. Am I not clever… Eh???”
Su Jingyang straightened up and watched Rong Ci turn and fly back over the wall. His expression was puzzled as he wiped sweat away. He then took a deep breath and continued chopping wood with great effort.
Author’s Note:
I suddenly realized… nutrient solution is so cruel!!!
It’s the end of the month. If everyone has extra, please water it for me! Thank you, everyone!!!
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