Zhao Rong woke up on his own this time.
He didn't open his eyes immediately but perked up his ears to listen first.
Good, no noise from that girl.
He breathed a sigh of relief, opened his eyes, and got up.
Streaks of morning light streamed through the window, laying across the floor in front of his bed.
It was still the quaint room he had arrived in upon his rebirth, only, since that night she left, he had been living there alone for three days.
Such a big bed for just one person to sleep in… It was actually quite nice! "Who needs a bike anyway?" he muttered.
Over these days he had gained a deeper understanding of his surroundings and also remembered much more.
The Great Chu Dynasty was vast, somewhat similar to the Han Dynasty of his own world.
Yet, it was also small, because Wangque Continent was even bigger, and it was merely a medium-sized dynasty in the southwest of Wangque Continent.
Not to mention what Gui had said about the Xuanhuang Realm.
The Duke Mansion of Jingnan was one of the top few nobilities in Great Chu, with hereditary noble titles. Each generation had members who entered the Immortal Sect for cultivation.
Especially in the last two generations, Zhao Che, Lingfei's father, was once the direct disciple of the head of the biggest Immortal Sect, Purple Energy Pavilion, within the surrounding nations.
But, for some reason, he voluntarily gave up the chance to inherit the position of head and left with Lingfei's mother, who was also a disciple of the Purple Energy Pavilion, to travel. However, when they returned from their travels, only the pregnant mother Zhao was left.
And Lingfei inherited her father's cultivation talent, even surpassing him.
She joined the Inner Sect of the Purple Energy Pavilion at fourteen, was promoted to a purple-dressed disciple at fifteen, attended a trial examination in a cultivation holy land, and afterwards went to that holy place ranked first in the southwest of Wangque.
It was said she was unmatched there.
All this information came from that girl, Zhao Qian'er.
She also mentioned that many outsiders coveted the untouched heights, but could only swallow their disappointment, because the young mistress paid them no heed. After saying that, she gave him a sideways glance.
The little girl praised her lady as if she was a rare gem in the heavens and unmatched on earth. It seemed as if he really didn't know how to cherish her, and that would truly make him the biggest blockhead....
Thinking of that girl, Zhao Rong couldn't help but have an itch in his teeth again.
Although she had declared she would ignore him after their wedding night, she came over early the next morning, either tickling him with her hair or pinching his nose, causing quite a chaos.
He was incredibly annoyed, but still succumbed under the "danger" of the little girl,
Because whenever Zhao Rong was about to lose his temper, she seemed to precisely grasp the moment, suddenly stopping all her movements. She held the corners of her dress with both little hands, her bright peach-blossom eyes welling up with tears, looking down shyly while sneakily glancing at him, sniffling, she muttered,
"Whimper, Rong'er brother is already finding me annoying, whimper…"
Zhao Rong surrendered.
He could never stand a girl's tears, so he quickly soothed her with soft words.
However, this little girl couldn't hold back either; the next second she burst into laughter, hurriedly covering her mouth, her little face serious, she said, "This time I'll forgive you, but don't be mean to Qian'er anymore~"
"..."He felt like slapping himself.
In the past few days, he had been getting up early and accompanying her for morning exercises by the Silver Mirror Lake within the mansion under the pretense of helping him train his body.
However, Zhao Rong later found out that Lingfei had been cultivating every morning at the Lake Heart Pavilion...
Those few days, apart from the first day after the wedding night when Qian'er had carefully dressed him up and dragged him to greet the family elders like the old Duchess and their aunts and uncles, and he encountered Lingfei on the veranda outside the main hall preparing to leave,
He hadn't seen her since, and she seemed to be deliberately avoiding him…
And during that encounter in the corridor, she passed by him with an expressionless face and an indifferent gaze. He paused, turned around, and softly called out a few times, wanting to explain the misunderstanding from last night. However, she acted as if she heard nothing, her steps unchanging as she gradually walked away.
The stewards and servants passing by all quietly glanced sideways, showing a hint of surprise on their faces.
He did not feel embarrassed, lowered his hand that had been halfway raised, and chuckled freely before turning his back and walking away. Perhaps it was for the best, to let himself break off thoughts that should not be there.
By now, he had mostly understood his own situation.
In recent days, he had met many members of the Zhao Family, and even the old head of the family had visited once. She was currently the pillar of Zhao Mansion, still vigorous, but after all is old and needed to quickly decide on a successor.
How can such a huge family fortune and vast power as Duke Mansion be maintained?
External needs the Emperor's grace, internal needs cultivators.
Only powerful cultivators are the foundation for a wealthy and influential family! And the powerful cultivator must also bear the Zhao surname due to the unreliability of outside Tribute.
However, among the recent generations of the Zhao family, only Lingfei Zhao and her father have been outstanding in cultivation, and the latter had been missing for many years. The only remaining, Lingfei Zhao, although extremely talented, was after all a woman.
This was also why, just after the new emperor ascended the throne, though it was a good opportunity to fortify the imperial family's bonds through marriage, the Zhao family would rather the new emperor harbor some resentment than let Lingfei Zhao marry into another family.
It was clear that the old lady of the Zhao family was grooming Lingfei Zhao as her successor, hence choosing someone like him who had been brought up like a son in the house, knew their inner workings, and had grown up as childhood friends with Lingfei Zhao.
The main reason probably was that he was a weak Confucian Scholar, and Lingfei Zhao could easily suppress him.
In public, she could freely show disdain towards you, and you could only suffer in silence; otherwise, just leave and stop relying on Duke Mansion for support.
Alas, the head of the household is weak, not so easy to live off others!
Thinking this, he suddenly understood his past self a bit more. Now that he had almost figured out the situation, it was better to pack up some belongings, prepare some Silver Tael, and leave this place early.
Actually, his original self had considered leaving before, even packing his bags, but for some reason, he had delayed until after Lingfei Zhao returned to the mansion for her wedding.
He had planned to head south to Tranquility State, to the place his mother once spoke of, looking for his origins. For this, he had asked Zhao Kuo, Lingfei Zhao's second elder brother, who had always gotten along well with him, to purchase a continent-crossing ship ticket from the mountain cultivators.
The price was certainly not cheap, but he had also asked Zhao Kuo to help pawn some miscellaneous legacies left by his mother…
Thinking of that clever but slippery scoundrel of a second brother, Zhao Rong ground his teeth, wondering how much kickback he had taken.
Well, it couldn't be helped when one was dependent on someone else for everything.
He'd wait for an appropriate opportunity to disappear quickly, following the original plan, head to Tranquility State to seek his origins, treating the journey as a trip to enjoy the scenery of this realm.
Wondering whether the mountain Cultivator's continent-crossing ship could fly or if this realm had something like teleportation portals that could whisk him away instantly…
Sitting on his bed thinking about these things, suddenly the room door creaked open from the outside.
This girl, never knocks on doors. Zhao Rong sighed, getting up to greet her.
Three girls stood outside the door.
The one in the middle was a round-faced young girl with her hair tied in twin buns, pink ribbons holding her hair, a small nose and lips, and slightly pointed chin. What was most captivating were her peach blossom eyes, which looked drunkenly mesmerizing and appealing.
Following her were two pretty maids each holding a tray.
Qian'er saw Zhao Rong coming to greet her, stood with her hands behind her back, and gave a mischievous, charming smile.
Her peach blossom eyes narrowed into two crescent moons, and her lips curled, revealing a pair of tiny white fangs. Noticing Zhao Rong's gaze linger on her small fangs, she quickly raised her hand to cover her mouth, widened her eyes, giving an expression suggesting you didn't see anything just then.
Zhao Rong: "..."
The Great Chu had replaced Legalism, which had been followed for a hundred years, with Confucianism under the previous emperor's rule, with Confucian norms gradually taking deep root in people's hearts. High-status families valued the etiquette of women not showing their teeth when laughing or swaying their skirts while walking.
Thus, the former Zhao Rong always disapproved of her demeanor, feeling it was indecent. But the Zhao Rong of now…
Just found her incredibly adorable.