What?!
Shi Jing's heart raced back to normal, and she was so excited she almost fainted: "You mean, Ming, next year, you'll marry me?"
Ah Qiao turned her head, pouted her small red lips, and said with dissatisfaction, "I don't want to marry a stutterer."
“Ah Qiao, I don’t stutter. Look at me, I don’t stutter at all.”
Ah Qiao laughed out loud: "How could I possibly like a fool like you?"
Shi Jing exclaimed anxiously, "Oh, oh, I'm not stupid! My master was planning to pass the position of sect leader to me!"
She scoffed dismissively, "Who cares?"
"So what do you like?"
"I like... but I won't tell you." Ah Qiao glanced at him, her pretty face flushed, and suddenly lowered her head.
Shi Jing was stunned. After a long while, he came to his senses and said cautiously, "I... I'll have my uncle propose marriage."
He stared nervously at her cherry-like lips, afraid that she might suddenly change her mind. She was always quirky and unpredictable, and he was always tormented by her teasing.
“No. My father doesn’t like that. He has no sons and wants to choose his own son-in-law. He’s a very eccentric person; he likes to take the initiative and doesn’t like to be passive.”
"Would he choose me?"
Shi Jing suddenly lost confidence. He felt that if he had a daughter like A Qiao, only a celestial being could be worthy of her. A silly boy like him would definitely not be favored by her father.
Ah Qiao said, "I listen to him on everything else, but on this matter, he has to listen to me."
Shi Jing was so happy he couldn't stop smiling.
The half hour he spent with A-Qiao in the bamboo forest passed in the blink of an eye. He pinched himself several times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. If he had paper and pen with him, he would have loved to have A-Qiao write a written agreement. But he didn't dare. He felt like he had struck gold—no, he felt like he had the luck of a fairy.
Ah Qiao glanced at the sun and knew it was time to leave. He reluctantly saw Ah Qiao off and returned to the Mountain Shade Villa, feeling as if his steps were light and airy.
The moment his uncle saw him, he asked directly, "Shi Jing, do you know Murong Chou?"
"Murong Chou? Uncle is talking about Murong Chou from Jinbo Palace?"
"It's him."
Shi Jing shook his head: "I don't know him."
The Jinbo Palace's practices were despised by the martial arts world. No righteous person would stoop to associating with them; any connection to them would immediately earn them contempt and label them accomplices of a cult. Therefore, Shi Jing found his uncle's question quite strange. The Xiaoyao Sect had always remained aloof from the martial arts world, a truly free and unfettered sect, and naturally had no connection whatsoever with the Jinbo Palace.
Master Yuanzhao stroked his beard and said, “That’s strange. Today, Murong Chou suddenly sent someone to find me, wanting to arrange a marriage between us, saying he wanted to marry his daughter to you! I refused him outright at the time. But after thinking about it, I was afraid that you might actually know his daughter, so I asked you to come and ask him.”
Shi Jing was also shocked; such a thing could not have happened!
"Uncle, I don't know him."
Master Yuanzhao laughed and said, "Good and evil cannot coexist. As the leader of the martial arts alliance, if I were to marry him, wouldn't I become a laughing stock in the martial arts world? I'm afraid that you and his daughter might really have some entanglement, so I specially asked you to come and ask."
Shi Jing blushed and quickly said, "Uncle, nothing like that."
"That's good. You're not young anymore. I think it's time to arrange a marriage for you. The Emei Sect's Headmaster Qiu has arranged a match for you. It's Miss Shao from her sect. I've met her. She's pretty and comes from a respectable family."
Shi Jing blushed and stammered, "Uncle, I... I have someone I like."
Master Yuanzhao was taken aback: "Oh? Whose daughter is she?"
"This..." Shi Jing couldn't answer. A Qiao hadn't told him anything yet.
Side Story – Shi Jing in His Youth (Part 4)
Trapped in the stone cell, Yun Zhifei dejectedly patted Shi Jing's shoulder and said in a hoarse voice, "Brother, I've dragged you into this."
Shi Jing quickly comforted him, "Zhifei, don't say that. I came here willingly."
Yun Zhifei rubbed his forehead: "Luckily Ruiyang didn't come, otherwise Qi Binglong would hate me to death."
Shi Jing recalled the incident on the second day of their marriage when Qi Binglong twisted Jiang Ruiyang's ear, and said with lingering fear, "That's right, if Ruiyang were trapped here too, and something were to happen to him, she would definitely eat you alive!"
Yun Zhifei nodded: "Sigh, Shi Jing, don't marry a woman like that in the future. No matter how beautiful she is, don't marry her. Otherwise, an honest person like you will be in trouble."
Shi Jing thought of A Qiao. She wouldn't do that. Although she teased him, she respected him. That kind of teasing was cute and playful, making one's heart flutter. He originally didn't care about being trapped here, but when he thought of her, he suddenly felt it mattered a lot. He immediately stood up and began to feel around the walls, trying to find a mechanism.
He and Yun Zhifei were considered top-tier martial artists in the Xiaoyao Sect, but they knew nothing about mechanisms and had been trapped here for two days.
Suddenly, the door to the stone chamber opened a crack, and a sliver of fluorescent light shone in, instantly giving the cold stone chamber a slightly warm feel.
A figure walked in with the light; it was a veiled woman.
"Come with me, I'll take you out."
Shi Jing was taken aback. The person's voice was clear yet slightly deep, somewhat similar to A Qiao's tone of voice, but the voice itself was not quite the same.
Yun Zhifei immediately stood up and asked, "Who are you, young lady?"
"Stop arguing, come with me if you want to get out."
After saying that, she turned around and walked towards the stone gate, her body light and agile.
Yun Zhifei hurriedly pulled Shi Jing to follow. The woman remained silent and walked quickly ahead.