Before we managed to leave I heard the old man speak one more time.
"Now that all of the main prizes have been rewarded, everyone can redeem their points. As a reminder it was 10 points per Spirit Stone. All the contestants can do so behind me, where a couple of people will be handling it." When the old man concluded he simply left the place.
"Jinzi, let's go and get those Spirit Stones for you first. You earned these yourself so let's go get them." I grabbed onto her hand and began pulling her behind me.
"Big Brother! I don't need it! I-it's ok! Really it is! Let's just leave, I don't want to be here anymore!" Suddenly she started to tug back, though it wasn't too forceful.
"Huh? Why? What's wrong?"
"It, um I…"
"..."
"..."
"Okay, well you don't have to tell me. It won't take long though. Look, those people aren't even talking with each other; he's just looking at the bracelet and handing out the Spirit Stones. The people only have to interact with them for about a dozen breaths before they can leave." I pointed over at one of the interactions which just started and ended soon after.
"I…"
"Come on, Ying'er help me out here!"
"Little Sister Jinzi, look at me."
Jinzi turned her head towards Ying'er who squatted down a little to match her height.
"Y-yes, Big Sister?"
"The longer you refuse the longer you might have to stay here. You might as well get it over with so we can leave quicker. You don't want to stay here for 'reasons' right? Come on, let's go!"
Jinzi stood like she was frozen for a moment before turning towards me.
"Come on! Big Brother, let's go! Let's get this over with! Hurry, hurry!" At this point it was a complete turn around. Jinzi was the one who was dragging me through the crowd as she tried to get to the closest station as quickly as possible.
Eventually she reached it, but there were 5 people who wore bracelets in front of us. It was no big deal to me, but for some reason Jinzi seemed a little anxious. She looked all around us and the little hand which held onto me tightened. I felt slight confusion at her actions.
'Is there someone with malicious intent? Why does she keep looking around? Did someone do something to her?'
Realizing that someone here had my little "disciple" so scared and paranoid I tightened my own grip on her hand.
"Is something wrong, Jinzi? You keep looking around, is there someone who did something to you?"
"Big Brother! I-no it's nothing! Don't worry about it."
"Jinzi. Look at me." I brought her blue eyes close to my face, "who is it?" A light blush appeared before it tried to vanish, but in the end it wasn't able to.
"Big Brother, don't worry! I'll handle them, I-I swear!"
Hearing her refuse to tell me for the nth time I decided I would leave her alone. She said she would take care of it after all, maybe it's personal.
Finally we made it to the front and as soon as the attendant saw the number they brought out the appropriate number of Spirit Stones.
"Here you go: 10 Unrefined Low-grade Spirit Stones for our second place winner!"
"Thank you!" The attendant dropped the ten Spirit Stones into Jinzi's hands. As she received them she returned with a polite little bow before, in a flash of light, she stored them away in her ring.
"Alright, Jinzi, it's time to leave, are you happy?"
"Mhmm!" I extended my hand out to her before she accepted.
While we were walking away I felt her hand stiffen a second before it returned to its original state like nothing happened. I looked at her, but her face didn't betray her and I had no idea what happened.
When I took a look around I happened to spot that other young man who happened to be wearing my sect's robes. He was with a woman who looked a little bit familiar. In fact she had a bit of a resemblance to Brother Hao Wang's 10th child.
'Huh? That can't be right. Brother Hao didn't mention bringing her with him. Did she sneak out on her own? Well I guess she can do what she wants, it's not like she is dying or anything.'
After leaving the crowd and getting quite a bit of a distance from the event center Jinzi made a move. She rushed forward a few steps to get ahead before turning around to face me. She opened her mouth as if to say something before immediately closing it and glancing down at the ground. SLowly, but surely a deep red blush surfaced on her cheeks. She brought her hands together to point at her fingertips as a low whisper escaped her mouth.
"I....know….brother….want…wife…"
I could barely hear her low mumbling, only every once in a while did I catch a word or two of what she was saying.As I was trying to decipher what she wanted I could hear Ying'er giggling by my side.
"Hehe~ 'Big Brother' your 'Little Sister' seems to want to ask you something. 'Little sister' if you don't speak up your 'Big Brother' won't be able to hear you. To me it sounds like it might be really important. Are you sure you want to let this chance slip by. Who knows how many other chances would be as good a time as this?"
Hearing those words seemed to set off a spark in Jinzi as she stiffened for a moment, but immediately afterward she gazed deeply with confidence into my eyes.
"B-big Brother! I know what I want for my one request!.. You said it could be anything I want!..."
"Wha-" She stopped speaking for a moment so I thought she wanted me to respond, but before I could even finish a single word she interrupted me.
"I, I… Big Brother, I um.. Want you! Please be my husband! I-I want to be your wife!..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
I stared blankly at her after hearing that request of hers. A silence reigned for a short while; a sense of nervousness and unease seemed to appear in her eyes. Eyes which didn't shy away instead peering at me like I was the only thing left in the world.
A soft laughter by my side broke the silence between Jinzi and I.
"Fufu~ So my dear husband!~ Do you accept? Don't you want a change of pace?"
"Jinzi, how can you decide on being my wife? We've known each other for a month at most! Don't you want to give yourself to a man more similar in age to you?"
"Of course I can decide on my own! In fact my grandma gave me a mission before she passed. That was to actually become your lover! As far as I'm concerned about our time together, it's irrelevant! If you had never done what you had for my grandmother before there's a good chance that I wouldn't even be here today! And those young men have nothing in comparison to you! You should know how handsome you are! Besides, you must have more… experience as well…" As she finished rebutting me her cheeks were dyed an even deeper shade of crimson when she spoke about her final reason. Her head hung down in shame of what she just said out loud.
For the first time I've seen Jinzi was staying strong and kept her ground on an issue, albeit I haven't seen her talk about many issues.
"Jinzi." My calming voice entered her ears, but as she heard her name she gave out a shiver and trembled.
"..."
"Jinzi." I called out her name again, but she responded by shaking her head.
"Jinzi, look at me."
Slowly she raised her head to look at me, but a completely unexpected sight appeared before me. The gemstone-like eyes she had were watery. She was on the verge of tears and I hadn't even done anything! She looked like such a strong person moments ago, but she seemed to collapse at this point.
"It's too much… isn't it? I guess I should have known when you said 'anything I want' wasn't really true…" A melancholy voice came from her usual cheery voice. Her current condition was terrible too. Tears had already started to flow from the corners of her eyes, added onto the fact was her robes that had been torn in several places and her current messy hairstyle.
She looked miserable.
'How did she change so quickly?'
I had that thought for a moment before I took a few steps forward and enveloped her with my arms. I could only hope that this hug could alleviate her enough so she could hear my next words. She returned my hug with one of her own, yet with a more erratic vibe. Her arms wrapped around my waist and she turned my chest into a pillow for her head. Tears flowed from her eyes as she rubbed her face against me. All I could do was pat and rub her back since from the looks of things she probably wouldn't be able to hear for a while.
After a short half minute she had finally let up and tried to retreat.
"I'm sorry for what I've done… Big Brother, but I won't be troubling you anymore so- ah!"
As she tried to push herself away from me I didn't release my hug, instead I pulled her back up against my chest
"Jinzi."
With my right hand I gently held her cheek. As she felt the sensation of my hand she looked up with a pitiful expression.
"Y-yes?"
"When did I ever say I would reject you?"
"Huh? But, but! I, I.. um. Then why did you take so long to respond?"
"I was simply surprised that you would do so."
As we looked into each other's eyes I could see the part of her who seemed to be dying of embarrassment. Her assumption was wrong and was simply based on her own imagination of every detail. Perhaps those moments which seemed so short to me, felt like an eternity to her.
"W-wait, t-then does that mean that you accept my proposal!?" Suddenly as if a lightbulb appeared above her head she latched onto my robes like she was trying to pull herself up.
Her eyes glistened with hope and for only a split second I wanted to say no, but that would be such an asshole thing to do.
"Did I say no?" As I spoke a gentle smile formed.
"Hah hah, y-you accepted? You accepted! Hehe, Big Brother accepted!" She pushed herself up and down with her tippy toes several times in a row before out of nowhere she decided to try and jump.
At her peak she came close to a normal man's height. The next time she jumped I was a little more prepared, except for her surprise kiss. As she reached the peak of her second jump she pulled my head down a bit and she snagged a kiss on her way back.
"Oh my! I can't believe it! My greatest fears are realized! My dear husband has been snatched away from me, an old woman, for a young lady less than a quarter of my age! And to think they would even do it right in front of me! Of my poor heart!~" Jinzi's face gained a new tint of blush as she heard those words
"Ying'er, how come you're still teasing me at this moment? Couldn't you just celebrate it? This was your idea!"
"Fufu~ Little Sister, I think you deserve this title a little more now, don't you think? Oh, and are you still going to continue calling your husband, 'Big Brother?'"
"I-I.." Jinzi blushed at first before she had to start thinking about my new title. I suppose it would be fine for me to simply continue calling her Jinzi, but calling me Big Brother while as a wife could cause some misunderstandings.