Chapter 619: - The Bride's Family Comes Calling

Fengxin City.

Marquis of Pingxi Residence.

Front Hall.

Xue San had returned.

The place where he trained scouts and agents was a farm outside Fengxin City, so when Marquis Zheng brought the old woman and the monk back into the city, he had sent someone to notify Xue San at the same time.

In fact, Xue San returned even earlier than Marquis Zheng’s group and was already waiting.

And Xue San was not the only Demon King who came back.

Fan Li returned.

A’Ming returned.

Fourth Lady and the Blind Man, both busy at the Fengxin City yamen, temporarily threw down their work and returned as well.

Only Liang Cheng, who was outside training troops, could not make it back.

The Demon Kings’ secondary reason for returning with such enthusiasm was that the “Granny” Hu Bamei had mentioned had appeared.

After all, Hu Bamei’s prophecy began with two things: a stone stele, and Granny.

The main reason, however, was... hehehe.

San’er was meeting the family.

This spectacle had to be watched.

Even if work had to be abandoned, they were still watching.

No job in the world could compete with the things the Demon Kings found amusing.

At this moment, Zheng Fan, the Master, sat in the seat of honor inside the hall.

Xue San, Hu Bamei, and Granny were there as well.

“Didn’t San’er say that woman of his was just a village girl?” A’Ming asked.

Fourth Lady replied, “And you believed him when he said she was a village girl? Given the way he used to behave, if he genuinely took a liking to some girl, slaughtering her entire family and then smashing her head until she became simple-minded would have been perfectly normal for him. After bringing her back, if he feared Master would blame him or become disgusted, he could easily make up some cliché story about a village girl saving his life.”

The Blind Man shook his head.

“A woman is only a woman. In the past, perhaps he might have done whatever he pleased. Now? No. If Master genuinely found out, he could forget about advancing for the rest of his life. Not worth it.”

At that moment, Fan Li, standing behind the three of them, spoke.

“Size.”

For an instant, the other three Demon Kings all frowned.

One could not deny it.

Fan Li had made an excellent point.

Size was a major problem.

Finding someone of exactly the right size might genuinely have been enough to tempt San’er into taking a risk.

“You’re not going in to watch?” A’Ming asked the Blind Man.

The Blind Man shook his head.

“Let them finish the family chatter and run through the emotional scene first. There will be plenty of time for proper business afterward. She is already inside the Marquis Residence. When she gets to leave is no longer entirely up to her.”

“That’s true.” A’Ming nodded.

Fourth Lady looked at the Blind Man.

“Blind Man, give us a livestream. Let us hear what they’re saying inside.”

As she spoke, Fourth Lady pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from her pocket and divided them between A’Ming and the Blind Man.

Fan Li stretched out a hand to take some too.

Fourth Lady slapped it away.

At that moment, the monk Granny had called A’da, who had been standing motionless beside the handcart all this time, rose.

He walked outside the pavilion, reached into his kasaya, and took out two large baked flatbreads.

He offered one to Fan Li.

Fan Li stood, walked over, and accepted it.

The two iron-tower giants looked at one another in silence.

Somehow, a strange tacit understanding formed between them.

Perhaps even... friendship.

Then

Fan Li and the monk squatted outside the pavilion together and began eating their flatbreads.

A’Ming cracked sunflower seeds and teased:

“Why does this scene feel a little strange?”

Fourth Lady replied:

“After the time I saw Liang Cheng using a watering can full of blood to keep you moist, scenes like this stopped affecting me.”

A’Ming sighed.

“Madam, why are you talking so sarcastically?”

“You started it.”

The Blind Man suddenly spoke:

“Heh. You think you’re worthy of marrying our Bamei?”

Fourth Lady and A’Ming immediately stopped bickering.

They focused on the broadcast.

...

“Heh. You think you’re worthy of marrying our Bamei?”

The moment Granny opened her mouth, she slipped directly into the standard role of the woman’s family elder.

Marquis Zheng sat in the seat of honor, serving as the representative elder for the man’s side.

He held his tea and blew across the surface slowly.

In any case, the pig had already gotten into the cabbage patch.

What happened now was up to her.

They would finish this part of the process first.

Afterward, it would be their turn to ask her about the prophecy.

Bamei stood beside Granny. She recognized her, and now she kept covering her mouth and giggling, clearly delighted to see Xue San being scolded by one of her own elders.

“You’re her actual biological granny?” Xue San asked.

“Closer than blood.”

“Then you’re not her biological granny. That means you don’t get the bride price.”

Granny slapped the tea table.

“Why the hell not? The grace of raising a child outweighs the grace of giving birth! Do you know how much she ate when she was little? If I’d fed all that food to pigs instead, do you have any idea what kind of profit I could’ve made?”

“Where are her actual parents?”

“Nonsense. If they weren’t dead, would it have been my turn to raise her?”

Xue San shrugged.

Then he swung his legs slightly and said:

“You can see it with your own eyes. The two of us are a match made in Heaven.”

For other people, “a match made in Heaven” was merely a blessing.

For these two, Heaven’s favor was visible to the naked eye.

Hu Bamei reached out and gave Granny a bashful little push.

“That’s right.”

“...” Granny.

“Look. You can see it yourself. What’s done is done. The wood is already a boat, and the raw rice has already been cooked. We can move this along faster. She’s already mine. Taking her away is impossible. Besides, here, she’ll only enjoy good fortune.”

This was a Marquis Residence of Great Yan!

“Good fortune?”

Granny might have remained calmer if he had not said that.

The moment she heard those words, her temper erupted.

“Damn it, I almost forgot! You say Bamei is your wife, but is this how you treat your wife? Do you know why my Golden Toad sensed Bamei’s direction some time ago? Do you know why I was able to find my way here? Because you people nearly got her killed! You were forcibly driving that gift of hers, forcing her to divine and predict things for you!”

...

Outside the pavilion, the Blind Man shook his head.

The matter had been exposed.

Fourth Lady and A’Ming continued cracking sunflower seeds leisurely.

Clearly, neither of them regarded it as some enormous disaster.

They also understood that if it had been only Xue San and the Blind Man, Xue San would absolutely have gone to challenge the Blind Man afterward and demand an accounting.

But the Master was inside.

Everyone else was outside.

And this involved the prophecy.

Xue San would not act recklessly out of emotion.

Otherwise, he might lose even the last scrap of dignity.

Inside the hall, Marquis Zheng slowly set down his teacup.

Xue San nodded.

“This was my fault. My oversight. I guarantee there will not be a next time.”

“Why should I trust your guarantee?” Granny asked coldly.

“I’ll guarantee it,” Zheng Fan said. “There will not be a next time.”

Only a guarantee spoken by Zheng Fan, the Master, actually carried enough weight.

“Why should I...”

Granny looked into Zheng Fan’s eyes.

Her voice immediately grew softer.

By now, he genuinely possessed the kind of presence that inspired awe even without anger.

Zheng Fan continued in an unhurried tone:

“That settles the matter. You don’t object, do you?”

“I...”

Some people threatened others and looked as though they were only putting on a show.

Other people, even when speaking in nothing more than an ordinary declarative tone, could still make the listener’s heart tremble.

Granny forced an extremely stiff smile onto her face.

“I do not object.”

“Good. Then whatever process should be followed, whatever proprieties should be observed, whatever you need, as long as we can provide it, we will. The marriage can be arranged. We’ll make it legitimate, proper, and respectable.”

“Yes. Marquis, what you say is right.”

“Anything else you want to say?”

“I... I want to read his face. I want to see whether his fortune is too thin. If his fate really is miserable beyond saving, I cannot simply stand by and watch my girl jump into a fire pit.”

As she spoke, Granny pointed at Xue San.

“Oh? You can read faces too?” Zheng Fan asked with interest.

“A little. A little.”

“Then why not read this Marquis’s face while you’re at it?”

“Marquis, you’re joking. Before those two Princes appeared in Great Yan, Marquis was the highest rank available to a noble outside the imperial clan. And now you are already a Marquis raised through military merit. If I read your face and start saying even more auspicious things, wouldn’t that mean the four-clawed azure python on your robe has to grow a fifth claw?”

Zheng Fan neither confirmed nor denied it.

Xue San stepped forward.

There was a smile at the corner of his mouth.

He made an inviting gesture.

If she had no real skill at reading faces, that was fine.

If she genuinely did have skill... then Third Master here would scare her to death.

Still, she probably had at least some ability.

Otherwise, she would not have a Fifth Grade Martial Artist serving as her cart-puller.

Granny reached out and placed her hand on Xue San’s face.

Then she closed her eyes.

A dozen or so breaths passed.

Granny opened her eyes again.

She withdrew her hand from Xue San’s face, shook her head, and said:

“It’ll do.”

Sitting in the seat of honor, Marquis Zheng rubbed his chin with one hand.

A trace of doubt appeared in Xue San’s eyes.

At that moment, the Blind Man, Fourth Lady, and A’Ming entered from outside.

Seeing them come in, Zheng Fan gave a faint shake of his head, expressing his attitude.

The Demon Kings understood.

The Blind Man smiled.

“The banquet is ready. How about the family sit down and eat together first?”

Granny nodded.

“That is only proper. This old woman is rather curious about the food served in a Marquis Residence. I imagine it must be exquisitely prepared and terribly expensive. This old country woman has hardly enjoyed refined blessings in her entire life. Still, forgive me first. Let this old woman go clear out the Five-Viscera Temple and make some room for all that fine food.”

The Blind Man nodded.

“As you please.”

Granny shouted toward the doorway:

“A’da! Where the hell did you die off to?”

The monk hesitated.

He looked at the naan in his hand.

Then he looked at Fan Li.

In the end, he tucked the naan into his robe, stood, entered the hall, and lifted the old woman onto his back.

“I can have a servant lead you,” the Blind Man said.

“No need. A’da can smell the way.”

The Blind Man smiled.

“The latrines in the residence are perfumed.”

“Then A’da can follow the fragrance.”

“All right. As you please.”

In any case, once the two of them were inside the Marquis Residence, they were not getting out without permission.

A’da carried the old woman out.

After turning through one corridor, A’da spoke:

“Granny, my back is cold.”

Granny irritably slapped the back of his neck.

Then spat:

“That’s because I just pissed myself from fright.”

[End of Chapter 619]