Promise!

Chapter 49, Feelings

Soon, ten days passed quickly, and the life of Wusheng teaching Wushi was back on track. Every morning, Zhuang Jin came early to watch over him, and gradually his relationship with Ni Ying became much closer. Now Ni Ying has changed her way of addressing him, from calling him "Master Zhuang Wu" at the beginning to calling him "Brother Jin" all the time.

Even though Zhuang Jin corrected her every time, Ni Ying still kept calling her Brother Jin "big brother" and "small brother Jin", but gradually she gave in.

After all, it is difficult for a man to dislike a woman who is close to him, especially a beautiful woman, before she does something offensive.

In the morning, after the usual teaching time of one stick of incense, he went to the Xuanzihao martial arts training ground to practice hard. Occasionally, he met Ping Yongfeng, Chang Hetong, Tang Wentao, or Xiong Lei and Lin Hong who stayed at the Shen family headquarters. His hard work made these people secretly sigh. There is no need to go into details.

This morning.

Zhuang Jin watched Ni Ying finish preparing the Kailuo Soup for Wusheng, took the remaining bowl of Kailuo Soup and drank it, and was about to use straw paper to wipe the residue from the corner of his mouth.

——In fact, he was already quite particular. If it were most other martial artists, they would just wave their sleeves and it would be fine.

"Brother Jin!" Today, Ni Ying suddenly called Zhuang Jin, took out a clean pink handkerchief from her arms, took a step closer, and wanted to help him wipe it.

As a second-level martial artist, Zhuang Jin had a very fast reaction speed. He was the first to move after being attacked, and dodged before realizing what Ni Ying was going to do.

"No, I'll do it myself!" he said.

"Brother Jin, it's not wiped clean yet!" Ni Ying said, taking two steps forward. This time, she directly grabbed Zhuang Jin's sleeve and wiped him again without giving him a chance to refuse.

Zhuang Jin was slightly startled, feeling the cloud-like figure approaching. The delicate fair skin on the beautiful face seemed to be glowing slightly, and then it suddenly went away, leaving only a faint fragrance like orchid and musk in the air.

"Okay, Brother Jin, I'm leaving first!" Without waiting for Zhuang Jin's follow-up response, Ni Ying's bright eyes like autumn water dodged and said this, then left happily with light steps like a deer in the forest.

Many martial artists nearby saw this scene and were so envious and jealous that they wanted to replace Zhuang Jin. Then they were heartbroken!
Ni Ying was pretty and charming, and she distributed Kailuo Soup in their Huangzi No. 9 martial arts training ground. She was also not arrogant in her dealings with others, so they naturally had a good impression of her and talked about her a lot in the dormitory, fantasizing that one day they would become official martial artists and win the beauty.

But just now… what did they see? Their dream goddess had been taken first, and even their dream goddess took the initiative. The previous scene clearly meant that their dream goddess had fallen in love with someone else!

——This era was relatively conservative. Although women did not have the bad habit of foot binding, and it was common for women from ordinary families to go out to buy groceries, some more respectable families or ladies from wealthy families rarely showed their faces in public, considering it indecent. For a 28-year-old girl to do such a thing in public was almost the same as saying "I like you".

Of course, even though these martial artists were deeply disappointed, and even felt a faint discomfort looking at Zhuang Jin, or whatever, they could only keep it to themselves. Zhuang Jin was teaching martial artists, the Second Sutra Realm, and Second Mark Servant, while what about them? More than 90% would be eliminated. They were simply not from the same world!
To put it bluntly, Zhuang Jin may be the highest-level person that more than 90% of them will ever meet in their lifetime!
"All right!"

Zhuang Jinqing shouted, suppressed the complicated emotions brought about by the previous episode, and started today's lecture.

……

That day, Zhuang Jin remained as diligent and focused on his martial arts training as usual. Having lived two lives, he wouldn't be like a virgin who'd never seen a woman before, letting his imagination run wild at the slightest hint. It wasn't until after his extra training that evening, while lying in bed, that he finally had a moment to ponder this matter. "Right now, I have two enemies out there, Zhuang Yutang and Zhuang Yuyong. While they're out in the open, I'm still relatively unknown to them, and I'm currently forced to shelter within the Shen family headquarters. This isn't the time to dwell on these things."

"But then again, according to my plan, I might have reached the fourth level by the end of the April optional quest. Even if I'm a little behind, I'll probably reach this level the month after the optional quest ends."

"At that time, Zhuang Yutang and Zhuang Yuyong will not be a problem and can settle everything calmly."

Zhuang Jin frowned again when he thought of this: "According to the Shen family's custom, when one reaches the fourth level of the realm of the household servant, the master will arrange a marriage and choose one from the maids in the outer courtyard. If they are attracted to each other and are interested in each other, then the marriage will be arranged accordingly. If they are not attracted to each other, then one of the willing maids in the outer courtyard will be chosen."

This kind of thing is not something we discuss with you. The master's family has arranged the marriage for you to be respectful, so it is impossible for you to refuse.

"Those warriors born into the Shen family have to go through this process, further bound by matchmaking, not to mention those of us who are recruited from outside. At that point, if you really refuse, you'll be like refusing a toast and then drinking a penalty. The Shen family might not say anything outwardly, but they'll probably think you're not on the same page. No matter how talented you are, you'll most likely be exiled to the south of the city, adjacent to the Medicine King Gang, and thrown into the most intense battlefield..."

There was no need to force such a thing, as it didn't violate the bottom line. Besides, there was no loss. Zhuang Jin didn't intend to refuse: "So, at that time, I must choose someone. It's better to be familiar with someone. Ni Ying might be a good choice."

He thought to himself and made a decision: "I don't need to reject it explicitly yet. I'll wait and see, observe for a while, and then make a decision when the time comes."

Zhuang Jin thought about all this, calmed down, reviewed and summarized today, and prepared to go to bed.

But he didn't expect that his thoughts would wander uncontrollably. Thinking about the possibility of getting together with Ni Ying in the future and her good looks, he felt inexplicably hot and couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned, thinking about all sorts of things for a while. But he was mature after all. He knew that it was useless to worry about love affairs, so he empty his mind and meditated, forcing himself to clear his mind and fall asleep.

……

The next morning, Zhuang Jin arrived early. For some reason, he felt a little bit of anticipation and was secretly considering what to say to Ni Ying when he saw her.

However, today Ni Ying did not come, but Chen Yun came instead.

"Didn't the Inner Court send some older maids out two months ago? Seeing that the Outer Court has selected quite a few new maids this month, we're planning to promote some to the Inner Court. This opportunity is rare. Yesterday, after discussing it with my family, Sister Ying went in for a tryout and was selected. She's now a third-rank maid in the Inner Court... For the rest of this month, I'll be distributing the Kailuo Soup here for her..."

Discuss! Go! Select!

Zhuang Jin grasped the key point, feeling as if these words struck him in the heart. It was obvious that Ni Ying had taken the initiative to go: "Yes, it is natural for a maid in the inner courtyard to serve a nobleman willingly. There will be no coercion."

In the Shen family, the maids in the outer courtyard are more like hired servants. They can use the money they earn to supplement the family income. Even if they don't want to do it anymore, they can apply for it on their own initiative and their contracts can be terminated and released. The maids in the inner courtyard are different. The standards are higher. They are required to have complete control over their lives and property, which is equivalent to selling themselves completely. Naturally, they will be given more trust.

……

(End of this chapter)