"Husband, you don't really have to do this…" Lan Bei Er began, but I shook my head and looked at her sincerely.
"Wife, please answer me honestly. Do you wish to succeed your father as castellan or not?"
"That's…"
The two of us had left the hallway and were on our way back to our room. Without her father and mother in sight, I placed my hands on her shoulders.
"There's only the two of us here. Nobody is listening. So I want you to tell me the truth…your true feelings and desires. What do you really want?"
Lan Bei Er looked away for a moment. I gave her time to think, understanding that this wasn't a question she could answer right away. It would be stranger if she had an immediate response. I would have doubted her honesty.
She took a deep breath and finally nodded, her eyes hardening.
"Yes, I wish to succeed my father as the next castellan of Azure Cloud City. The position has been passed down my family for generations, and I do not want to be the first in the Lan clan to give it up to other people."
I beamed, pleased with her answer. "If that's the case, then I will do everything within my power to help you succeed."
"No, but…" Lan Bei Er was taken aback. "As my husband, you have every right to inherit the position of castellan. You even married into my family and became the Lan clan's son-in-law. You should be the one…"
"But I don't want to be the castellan. You do." I scratched my head. "Would you believe me if I tell you I have other dreams and bigger ambitions?"
"That's true." Lan Bei Er giggled. "Someone of your ability shouldn't be stuck as a mere city castellan. You probably would move on and become a general of this kingdom."
The f…? Where did she get such an idea?
"No way in hell. I want freedom. You know my true identity, right? Do you really think I'm going to loyally serve this kingdom?" I snorted. "I'm not an orthodox cultivator, remember? If they ever find out, all of us will be in trouble."
"Well, there's that. But it's the same if you help me become castellan and they find out…"
"Oh, don't worry about that. When that happens, I'll just tell everyone that I deceived you and the Lan family. It's a plausible explanation – I mean, thinking normally, why would I tell you or your parents the truth? It would benefit me more to hide my true identity. No one will suspect anything, especially since you're not involved in any demonic sect activity."
"No!" Lan Bei Er circled her hands around my neck. "If that happens, I'll stand by your side no matter what. I'm your wife. We rise together and we fall together. I will not cut you off just for my own benefit."
"Then we'll have to do our best to make sure nobody finds out." I hugged her back. "Anyway, what's this castellan trial thing? How do we go about it?"
"That's going to take a while to explain. Let's go to the room and converse over tea."
After calling a maid to pour us tea, Lan Bei Er began outlining the process of the selection for the next castellan.
"Honestly, this is a process that is held every generation. Even though I say that the position has been passed down my family for generations, the truth is that my ancestors, including Dad, have won the position each and every time the city held a trial. It's something we take pride in."
"But now they're using the excuse that women can't be allowed to participate in the trials?" I asked. Lan Bei Er nodded.
"Something like that, but that argument doesn't hold water. I think they are banking on the fact that I'm not as strong as previous generations or have the same ability as my father."
"I think you underestimate your own ability."
"No, I'm being frank." Lan Bei Er sighed and began gesturing to the scrolls she had drawn atop the table. "You see, there are three trials. The first trial is that of intelligence. The candidates will have to prove their literary mastery."
"Uh, like reciting poetry or something?"
"That's right." Lan Bei Er nodded.
I groaned inwardly. I was a literature and history student in my previous life, but I hated poetry. I was more of a prose person. I preferred reading novels and stories than poetry. However, I was sure I could come up with something if necessary.
"That shouldn't be a problem. I might be able to help you with that. I'm not sure if I can confidently say it's my specialty, but I did study literature."
"Huh? You did?" Lan Bei Er blinked, and then she shrugged. "No wonder you're always muttering all these mysterious verses and lines that I've never heard of before."
Actually, those were references to media and popular literature in my previous world, but I saw no point in correcting her.
"The next trial is popularity. Winning the hearts and minds of people. Basically they would be voting for the candidate they want to succeed as the next castellan. The candidate with the most votes wins the trial."
I pushed my glasses up my nose as I considered that. It sounded like a normal election. I recalled how they worked back in my previous world…party members going from door to door and speaking to voters, engaging in dialogue and offering assistance in order to win their votes. There were some people who dismissed our democracy and insisted that our country was authoritarian just because of censorship in our media and politicians' tendency to sue for libel, but come on…
Our country still ran on a democratic system, and people still had a huge margin for freedom of speech, judging from the vitriol they spewed on social media or online. Also, given the recent elections of other countries overseas and the political debacles, fake news and gross misinformation, I wasn't sure if they were in any position to criticize our supposed lack of freedom or tendency to censor stuff.
"Now that will be a difficult task. I'm not familiar with the people around here. What about you?"
"Hmm, I suppose I am. But I think it'll be hard for me to compete against the sons of the Yun and Cang families. As you know, the common population perceive women differently from men."
Right. It was that kind of era and culture after all. Traditions weren't always a good thing. Sometimes they required adjustments to change for the better. Actually, the common perception of tradition as some stagnant, never changing entity was nonsense. Tradition was always evolving and adapting to the times. People could claim an unbroken line of tradition they wanted, but Han Dynasty customs were different from Tang Dynasty customs, which were in turn totally different from Qing Dynasty customs. So the so-called traditions in modern times that supposedly respected the past weren't as consistent as traditionalists claimed to be.
Take it from me, a student of history. I know.
But that was a problem for another day. I took note to reform the education in Azure Cloud City once my wife succeeded as castellan, and promote values of humanitarianism and equality. Not just gender but also racial, religious and social equality.
"After this, let's visit the city and the villages in the territory to see what we can do," I suggested. Lan Bei Er nodded hesitantly, but she didn't seem to hold much hope for that. I tried not to sigh. "What's the last trial?"
"Strength. That's the one I'm most worried about." Lan Bei Er pursed her lips. "The candidates will duel in an arena in the square, and the winner is…well, the one who beats everyone else after all the rounds."
"You probably don't have to worry about that. I'll represent you in the strength trial."
Lan Bei Er smiled in relief. Even if she wasn't sure about the other two trials, she was at least confident in my combat abilities, having firsthand witnessed me fight. "Oh, I'm not worried about that. In fact, I'm counting on our rivals to underestimate me because they know I'm not good at fighting, only to find their representatives going up against you."
Needless to say, it was going to be a massacre. Lan Bei Er's concerns remained unspoken, but I could tell that it was the first two trials that worried her.
"Well, there's no point stressing over this." I drank the cup of tea and rose to my feet. "Let's go around the city and address their concerns."
The first place we visited was a village on the outskirts of the territory governed by Azure Cloud City. It was a typical agricultural village, filled with people farming and stuff. They were doing backbreaking and unrewarding work, even though their services were necessary to sustain an entire empire. As they said, the farmers were the lifeblood of civilization. Upon their shoulders rested the survival of the human race. For without them, we would have nothing to eat. I still didn't understand why "peasants" was used as an insult. They were a necessary profession.
Unfortunately, not everyone felt the same as I did. They were so full of themselves that they overlooked the importance of such a role just to assuage their overly sized egos.
Before Lan Bei Er and I reached the farm, there was already someone from the Yun family there. Yun Jian Ren was swaggering toward the village, accompanied by an army of cultivators. Potent auras of q bristled about them, causing the poor farmers to stop planting crops and jolt upward in their fields. The village chief hurried over, a weary looking man of middle years, with shaggy hair and a beard.
"Lord Yun, can we help you with anything?"
"You already know." At a nod from the grizzled looking dude, the cultivators drew their weapons. Yun Jian Ren wasn't ugly, but he wasn't handsome either. A single scar cut through his nose, running from one cheek to another, giving him an intimidating appearance that he put to full use. He wasn't the strongest in his family, but he was among the most ambitious.
The position of castellan was something he had his eyes set on for a long time, ever since his Yun family learned that the current castellan only had a single daughter and no son. There was some time when he fancied himself to marry Lan Bei Er, but he had given up when he had heard that the first son of the Cang family wanted her for himself. That evidently never came to fruition, for Lan Bei Er ended up marrying a completely unknown person from nowhere, but it didn't stop Yun Jian Ren from his pursuit of the castellan position.
The village chief stared at the cultivators and their brandished weapons warily, unsure of what was happening. He raised both his hands in surrender.
"We already gave our tribute. In addition to the taxes levied by Azure Cloud City, we also pay the Yun family extra. What more do you want? If you demand more, I'm afraid my village won't have enough left to feed ourselves."
"I fail to see how that is my problem," Yun Jian Ren spat. He then snickered. "But that's not what I'm here today. I'm sure you've heard about the upcoming castellan trials? After pressure from the Yun and Cang families, the current castellan has finally given in and signed his approval for it."
The village chief looked at him, dumbfounded. "What does that have to do with us? We're just lowly farmers…"
"Oh, perhaps…but your votes matter." Yun Jian Ren placed a foot on a stump and leaned over with an insidious grin. "As long as your entire village votes for the Yun family, I'll promise you that we won't kill your villagers."
The village chief swallowed, but under the threat of so many cultivators, he had no choice but to suppress his rage. His fists trembling from both fear and fury, he lowered his head and forced his voice out.
"We understand. I'll relay the message to everyone in the village. Will that be all?"
"No. I'm also here for your daughter." Yun Jian Ren laughed and flicked a finger at the quivering village chief. "Just hand her over to me. I promise I will treat her well. In fact, she should be honored that a young master like me has set his eyes on a commoner like her. I don't understand why you refuse to allow her to be my concubine."
"Begging your pardon, Lord Yun, but you already have nine concubines." The village chief didn't add that most of them had died from his physical abuse after mere months of marriage. The survivors were broken, nervously hollowed out shells of their former selves.
"So what?" Yun Jian Ren guffawed once more and waved his cultivators forward. "If you don't comply this time, I'll massacre your village. I don't mind doing so – that will be less potential votes for my rivals anyway."