Chapter 1086 — Xie Yufeng Sweeps Away the Gloom

Who would have thought that before Xie Yufeng could report anything, his father's call would come first?

Xie Yufeng hesitated a moment, then picked up.

"Hello? Father!" Xie Yufeng said.

"Yufeng, how are things? You've been in Songshan so many days now — have you settled in?" Yu Shuixing asked with a smile. His son was his pride, the pride of the Yu family; from now on the future of the Yu family would rest on Yufeng's shoulders.

"Not bad..." The words came out with a noticeable hitch. He had rather lost the face to speak with his own father — the whole affair was too shameful by half. The young master of the illustrious Yu family had come to Songshan City brimming with confidence, ready to make his mark, and who would have thought that misfortune would hound him at every turn? Before he had so much as crossed hands with Wei Zhao, he had been thrashed by a pack of strangers who had nothing to do with any of it!

Had it been Wei Zhao who pounded him, Xie Yufeng would not have uttered a word of complaint. To probe the man's background, a beating was a price worth paying. But the crucial point was that Wei Zhao had never lifted a finger!

"So? Have you mapped out the background on Wei Zhao's side?" Yu Shuixing failed to catch the dejection in his son's voice and still asked with a smile.

"Not yet... There's no opening to exploit, and I can't very well make a move just to test him..." Xie Yufeng said gloomily. "I feel as though I don't even know where to begin!"

"Mm... No matter. Just make yourself at home in Songshan City for the time being — as it happens, there is other business." Yu Shuixing, for his part, was in no hurry.

"Other business?" Xie Yufeng started. "What other business?"

"Heh, why of course there is! Yufeng, you are not getting any younger — I have arranged a marriage for you!" Yu Shuixing said with a laugh.

"A marriage?" Xie Yufeng blinked. He had no objection to a match arranged by the clan. Raised in a great house all his life, he knew that his marriage was nothing more than a bargaining chip of interest, and that when the time came his father would decide.

Of course, Xie Yufeng could not have cared less. He was a man: even if he wed a wife he neither liked nor found pretty, he could always keep a mistress on the side. Among the young lords of the great houses this was no secret at all — which was why, in a marriage of alliance, the truly wretched one was always the woman.

Married off to a man she did not love, she might then be left to keep an empty bed night after night, and she could never dream of taking a lover herself. Such was the unfairness of it all: when a straying man is called a dashing libertine, a straying woman is called a breach of wifely virtue.

So Xie Yufeng did not care in the least about the matter of an arranged marriage. He only paused for an instant before asking, "What does that have to do with my being in Songshan City?"

"It does. The girl I have betrothed you to is Qiu Lingshan, a granddaughter of the Song family, and she already commands the strength of late Yellow Stage peak Great Perfection!" Yu Shuixing said with a smile. "She is a fine girl, quite gifted — to have reached late Yellow Stage peak Great Perfection at such an age! I have high hopes for her."

"Qiu Lingshan?" The name jolted Xie Yufeng into recognition. "Qiu Lingshan of the Song family — I believe I have seen her once... She seemed all right, if I recall?"

All right? No sooner did Xie Yufeng learn that Qiu Lingshan was the one betrothed to him than his heart brimmed over with delight!

Not only was Qiu Lingshan beautiful, she had a superb figure and a generous bosom — Xie Yufeng was already snickering away to himself. With a top beauty like that for a wife, his days ahead were going to be bliss!

In truth, Xie Yufeng had never had much interest in whichever woman was wedded to him. The Yu family cared only for the collective good; if the bride turned out to be plain-looking, Xie Yufeng could only accept it. So long as the marriage was kept intact, he could grant the woman an occasional visit when the mood took him and spend all his other hours out enjoying himself.

But his father's words had kindled a flame of desire in Xie Yufeng's breast. He was the luckiest man alive!

"Mm, I think she is a fine match. She currently works at the Songshan City police station, so my suggestion is this: stay in Songshan City, get to know her, let affection grow between you. Once Wei Zhao's matter has been settled, you will come with me to pay a visit to the Song family and formally propose!" Yu Shuixing said.

"Done — no problem at all!" Xie Yufeng agreed without a moment's hesitation. For him this was nothing short of a windfall. He had just been complaining that life in Songshan City was growing dull; now he had something to do. Chasing girls had always been Xie Yufeng's great passion.

"It would be best if you slept with her sooner rather than later and made the bond irrevocable. The Song family's granddaughter is a rare prize — I am afraid others may have their eye on her!" Yu Shuixing admonished his son. "I have heard that Chen Yutian of the Chen family has been courting Qiu Lingshan for years! The Song family's art is a top-grade dual-cultivation inner skill — it would do you nothing but good!"

"I understand. Don't worry, Father — I will get this done!" Xie Yufeng had feared his father would insist that he and Qiu Lingshan observe perfect propriety before the wedding. Instead, his father was actually telling him to find a chance to bed her!

"Mm. By the way, how is your cultivation coming along? Any progress? You have been stuck at early Mystic Stage peak for some time now, haven't you? Any signs of a breakthrough?" Yu Shuixing asked.

"Not at the moment..." Xie Yufeng had been so utterly miserable these past two days that he had no heart for training at all.

"I have already boasted on your behalf — telling people you are a mid Mystic Stage expert. Don't go letting it slip in front of Qiu Lingshan!" Yu Shuixing warned.

"Oh? Why claim that I am at mid Mystic Stage?" Xie Yufeng was caught off guard.

"The old lady of the Song family — Qiu Lingshan's grandmother — is a mid Mystic Stage expert. That is precisely why I had you billed as mid Mystic Stage: it will win you a far greater voice in the Song family!" Yu Shuixing said.

Xie Yufeng was taken aback for an instant, then saw through his father's reasoning at once, and could not help but marvel that with age comes cunning — his father was a sly old fox indeed!

In the great houses, standing had always been decided by strength: the greater one's power, the greater one's say. Had Xie Yufeng possessed strength equal to that of the Song family's old lady, he would have sat as her very equal in the Song household, and his status there would have soared overnight.

"But... won't that give the game away?" Xie Yufeng asked, a shade doubtful.

"It won't. It is not as though they will be testing your strength. Unless you circulate your true qi yourself, how would they ever know?" Yu Shuixing replied carelessly. "Besides, the wedding is still some way off — by then, who knows, you may well have broken through."

"That is true!" Xie Yufeng nodded.

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