Ku Lo didn't know how Dai Meifen would react, but he'd resolved to face it like a man. Anyway, how long could he hide two other women from his girlfriend?
'What am I thinking? This is not a matter of losing or gaining power.' He cut all thoughts and knocked on the door to Dai Meifen's house.
"Remember, don't panic," he said to Huang Gingge, who was going to meet her teacher in a fashion she shouldn't have imagined.
His heart had pounded like a drum from the moment he'd seen the outlines of Dai Meifen's row-house. 'I really hope this goes well,' he thought before his ears caught noise coming from the other side of the door. 'Man up!'
Soon the door opened. Dai Meifen's face of a milf surrounded by straight blonde hair appeared before him. "Darl— Ku Lu? What are you doing here?"
"Can we come inside?"
There was a slight frown as she glanced next to him. "Sure… Come inside." Dai Meifen turned around.
So did Ku Lo, whose hand beckoned Huang Gingge to enter first. 'At least, this won't be a public scene.'
Once the door shut, Dai Meifen asked. "What brings you two here? A problem in class? Cultivation guidance? Want to join the group I advertised about in the Task Hall?"
"No-" he said and walked beside Dai Meifen. "I want to tell you something." There was a pause. "Darling, me and Huang Gingge here are dating."
"Oh, good. You made me worried I needed to do my job or something."
"You aren't mad?"
Dai Meifen took the news better than any woman on Earth would have. There was no major reaction on her face. Not to make life too easy, however, the other woman sure seemed bewildered. "You two weren't the only ones to strike a dual cultivation deal with me," he explained to Huang Gingge, stunned in place by the door.
"No, I'm not mad," Dai Meifen said. "Is there something wrong?"
"No-no-no." If monogamy wasn't a concept here, he wouldn't speak of it— Maybe if a friend would need such enlightenment, or if this went down in flames. "My intention here was to be as transparent as possible."
"I appreciate that." Dai Meifen smiled and planted a peck on his cheek. "So her sister…"
"Huang Qingling," he helped her to remember.
"Is she too? How did this happen? Why didn't you speak to me about this before, Mr. Transparent?"
"Trust me. I would've if I had the chance." Ku Lo walked to Huang Gingge, who'd been drifting between puzzled, shocked, and lost facial expressions. "Huang Gingge, care to explain your little ploy?"
"I-it wasn't my ploy!" Huang Gingge was quick to note. "Sh-should we continue this somewhere else?" Her eyes glancing at the few remaining piles of clutter.
"We aren't going anywhere, not before you explain, Sister Gingge."
"Well…" Huang Gingge opened but left it there.
"Long story short," Ku Lo cut in. "They had me sign a contract. A contract I know nothing of."
There was a whirlwind in the room. It emerged around Dai Meifen, who took a battle stance of some sorts. "What is your intention?" she snapped at Huang Gingge.
"Nothing bad!" Huang Gingge's eyes flashed with fear. "I'd never hurt, Ku Lo. I like him, Deacon Dai!"
"You pass-" Dai Meifen calmed. "Now show me the contract."
It took Huang Gingge time to collect herself. Still, she presented the contract. "This is it right, Ku Lo?"
"Yes," he confirmed.
"Now show it to—"
Before Dai Meifen gets out another word, Huang Gingge destroys the contract with Yin Qi. The piece of paper becomes dust amongst a layer of dust in the lobby.
"She's not bad, Darling." Dai Meifen turned to him, approving of Huang Gingge's decision.
Ku Lo didn't respond. His eyes stared at Huang Gingge. "Why did you do that?"
"Did something change because I did so?" Huang Gingge answered with a question. "Will you treat me differently now that I don't have godly power over you?"
"Of course, not."
Dai Meifen grabbed his hand. "Let's go to the living room. Sister Gingge can live here with us, if she cleans and cooks her part."
"No thanks," Huang Gingge said as she follows them. "With the three of us as partners, the sect will give us a nice courtyard in a few days."
Now walking like a couple with him, Dai Meifen counters, "The three-person courtyard? If I lived in one of those, I wouldn't mention it to a beggar on the street, for the beggar might just give me his alms. Darling will live with me."
"Girls," he said.
"If this was Tihandu, I wouldn't call this 'house' my garden shed, for then the flower girls might gift me a flower."
"Girls!"
'What the fuck?! Those were some of the most horrible insults I've had the displeasure of hearing.' Ku Lo couldn't imagine what kind of generational feud was between these girls for them to utter such insults. 'I guess the words before were just words to make me relaxed.'
"I'll have you know he chose me first."
"The one who struck a deal with him first."
"Girls!" he shouted, stopping there and turning around to deal with the two girls snarling at each other. "I will not say stop for the fourth time. I will not!"
He gave the sternest glare he could, and it seemed to work. The two women calmed. Huang Gingge appeared even a hint ashamed by looking away.
"There will be no fighting between you." His intention was obvious; he would not have his girlfriends fight each other for any trivial or hierarchical reason. "If you have a problem, please tell me and I'll see to it."
"Darling," he said, staring into Dai Meifen. "Is there a problem?"
"no."
"Huang Gingge." He switched his target. "Even if your sister still has her contract, I will not allow this."
Huang Gingge hummed a response.
"And while on these matters. Feng Huling asked me to be her fake boyfriend." Ku Lo had the momentum, so he used it to reveal this.
"Elder Feng's daughter?" Dai Meifen was the first to ask. "Did you take it?"
"I promised to have an answer today..." he began describing what had passed in the utility room and what the terms of the contract were.
He finished his explanation by adding. "... Before the Huang sisters got me, I had planned to ask you for advice on what those items she promised as payment were and how you felt."
"What she's proposing isn't anything unheard of. However, the fake partner will suffer a lot." Dai Meifen didn't appear too excited.
"It is different this time, teacher," Huang Gingge voiced her opinion. "Ku Lo isn't some bum picked to be used and discarded when suitable. Also, the rewards... Molten Flowers... Hundreds of Dark Seeds... As a cherry on top, there's even a Vile Dome that will gather Yin Qi for free. The final product of the Vile Dome will match one whole cultivation session."
Ku Lo and Dai Meifen looked as Huang Gingge's eyes gleamed when speaking of the Vile Dome.
"So one against one."
"Two against one as I cast my sister's vote."
The mood inside the room lowered.
"Meifen, is there anything you want to add?" If it weren't for the contract, he'd taken Dai Meifen's more conservative guidance. There was only one reason for him to take in more heat, Ku Xie. This would increase his cultivation-speed and power.
"When are you meeting her?" Dai Meifen had no further questions concerning the issue, or at least she would not present them. "Is it okay if I tag along?"
"I want to come too!"
"Neither of you is coming with me there, she's… I'll go alone." Ku Lo forbade them. Feng Huling wouldn't take it well, he imagined. "Moreover, I still have time to spend with you two."
"And now that those matters are dealt with," Dai Meifen said and sat onto the bed. Her focus turned to Huang Gingge. "Sister Gingge, can you wait outside for a bit? We will cultivate."
Huang Gingge's cheeks gained a tinge of red. "o-okay," she muttered and took her leave with steps that barely touched the floor.
Ku Lo was already undressing before she was out of the room. 'What a wonderful life~' he sang in his mind. 'What a wonderful world~'