Chapter 210: Extraordinary Phenomenon

"Children and grandchildren have their own blessings." Squire Wang sighed and said with emotion, "I am not joking. If I hadn't met you today, I would have helped them divide the family property first, and then burned the lotus leaf before I died."

"I would have let them know that the house was protected by 'Immortal Treasures,' and the two daughters-in-law would have become even more bitter enemies fighting over the treasure."

"My son, who is still honest, would have become arrogant and conceited from then on, feeling that the protection was so strong that he would no longer fear the retribution of the Underworld, and instead would have become frivolous and dissolute, ruining the accumulated virtue of my Wang family and harming themselves as well."

"Therefore, I would rather leave behind family instructions to encourage kindness, punish evil, live in harmony and friendship, and pass down the tradition of farming and reading, as the inheritance of the Wang family."

Xiao Yu said, "You could just leave the water vat here without telling them."

Squire Wang shook his head and said, "I can only guarantee that before I die, there will be no great evil in the Wang family, and if there is evil, it will be punished."

"But after I die, if the Lotus Dharma Realm happens to protect a bad person and blocks the vengeful spirits from coming to the Wang family to seek revenge, wouldn't that be trapping the two Immortals who gifted me the lotus leaf in great injustice?"

"This must absolutely not happen!"

"Besides, if I want to divide the family, the house will definitely have to be handed over. To whom?"

"As a father, I must be fair and impartial to my two sons, without any bias; handing it to either one in secret would not be appropriate."

"If I want to hide the Lotus Dharma Realm from them while ensuring fairness and justice, I would inevitably have to make trade-offs regarding the family property."

"If the result is that they don't understand, causing the sons to resent the father and the brothers to be at odds, wouldn't that be contrary to my wishes?"

Xiao Yu discovered that she was actually unable to refute him.

Not only was she unable to refute him, she was also full of admiration for old Wang.

"If you give the lotus leaf to me, will the Immortals blame you?"

"That you were able to discover it at this time is a kind of fate. It shows that the opportunity has arrived, and it should belong to you. As for the Immortals blaming me..."

Squire Wang looked into her eyes and said meaningfully, "At least for now, they shouldn't blame me."

"In the future, when I enter the Underworld, if they want to blame someone, they will only blame you. You had best not give them a chance to blame you."

A moment later, in the small side room next to the main room of the former residence of the old mistress in the North Courtyard of the Wang family.

"Sister Cuier, I heard you are going to be a concubine for Squire Wang?" After a few pleasantries, Xiao Yu asked directly.

Upon hearing this, Cuier's fair face flushed red, and she turned her head away, her voice as soft as a mosquito's, "It is the Old Mistress's arrangement..."

"What do you think yourself?" Xiao Yu asked.

"I listen to the Old Mistress's arrangement," Cuier said, lowering her head and whispering.

"I am asking what you think yourself... Hmm, if there were no arrangement from the Old Mistress, what are your plans?" Xiao Yu asked.

Cuier raised her head and glanced at her, vaguely understanding something, and sighed, "If the Old Mistress had made no arrangement, I would still listen to the Master's arrangement."

"If the Master didn't care about me, I would listen to the First Mistress's arrangement."

"I am a servant of the Wang family; the masters would never let me stay in one place and eat for free. I will just wait and listen."

Xiao Yu pondered and said, "I have talked with Squire Wang. He is a true gentleman. As long as you refuse, he will definitely not force you."

Cuier was greatly shocked, "You crazy girl, at such a young age, how can you talk to an elder about such things?"

"And, aren't you making things difficult for the Master?"

"He made a vow before the Old Mistress's bed; making him break his vow voluntarily would be worse than letting me die."

"Uh, I'm not crazy, why would I talk to him about taking a concubine?" Xiao Yu touched her nose and laughed, "I talked to Squire Wang about other topics."

"Through other matters, I determined that he is a true gentleman, and also determined that he would definitely not want to make things difficult for you."

"He has never made things difficult for me; it is you who are making things difficult for me."

Cuier smiled bitterly, "Of course I know you have good intentions, and you are concerned about me."

"But there are many things in this world that are more important than an individual's marriage."

Xiao Yu shouted, "As the saying goes, marriage is a major event! What could be more important than a 'major event'?"

Cuier said, "Before the Old Mistress passed away, not only did the Master promise to take me as a concubine, but I also promised the Old Mistress that I would definitely take good care of the Master."

"Your Old Mistress is really—"

—is an old muddlehead, an old turtle!

Xiao Yu didn't finish, but Cuier guessed from her expression that what she didn't say wasn't anything good.

She said sternly, "The Old Mistress was very good to me! To say something presumptuous, she was like a mother to me."

"Letting me be a concubine for the Master was certainly because she was worried that after she passed away, there would be no one to take care of the Master."

"But she was also worried that I wouldn't have a good ending."

The Wang family is wealthier than ordinary people, but they cannot be considered a high-ranking family, and there are hardly any servants in the house.

It would be difficult for the Old Mistress to find a husband for her.

In the Wang family, one simply cannot find a male servant of suitable age who is worth entrusting one's life to.

Externally, because the Wang family's status is not high enough, while Squire Wang is very prestigious, the Wang family's maids are in a situation where they are too good for some and not good enough for others.

If it weren't for this, Cuier wouldn't have been dragged to this age without getting married.

If the Old Mistress hadn't arranged her future at that time, Cuier would only have been able to choose a new object of service from the First House, the Second House, or Squire Wang.

The wives of the First and Second Houses would certainly not trust her, and would instead be wary of her: she was the Old Mistress's head maid, her status was high enough, and she could be a concubine for the two young masters.

Serving Squire Wang... and back to the starting point; since she has to serve Squire Wang anyway, it's better to get a title so that she will have something to rely on in her old age.

The Wang family is not a high-ranking family and doesn't have very strict rules; being a concubine for Squire Wang is almost like being a successor wife!

Cuier had basically figured out these truths over these past few days.

Therefore, she only felt gratitude toward the Old Mistress, only confusion and helplessness toward her own future, and not a single complaint toward the Wang family.

However, she could not say these words to Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu also could not personally experience Cuier's situation; she could only swing her sword to cut the Gordian knot.

"Sister Cuier, since I came to talk to you about this, I have definitely considered how to settle you."

"This is what I think: I will lend you 100 taels of silver first, you leave the Wang family, and find someone you like to marry."

"You two can open a small shop outside, or do something else; you will always be able to make a living."

"If you don't have the idea of getting married, I can teach you sword techniques, and in the future, you can master your own destiny."

"Honestly, this is the best choice for you and for Squire Wang."

In a world possessing miraculous power, all helplessness stems from insufficient power.

Confining oneself to a deep courtyard, choices naturally become fewer, and being a concubine for an old man can become the "best choice for the moment."

With power, one's horizons are broader, the paths one can see are more numerous, and the choices are also more abundant.

"Why are you so good to me?" Cuier was both moved and puzzled.

Xiao Yu said, "It's not just being good to you, it's also being good to myself. My thoughts are greatly cleared, and my mood is pleasant."

Cuier is not her dearest friend, but she can be considered an ordinary friend.

An ordinary friend's lifelong event is, to some extent, a matter worth paying attention to.

She is not going to be a nanny for Cuier for the rest of her life.

It's just saying a few words, taking out one hundred taels of silver, and adding a student to the "Feather Teacher's Sword Training Class"—it's easy and doesn't cost her much effort.

"Thank you! But there's no need; I want to take care of the Master," Cuier said.

Xiao Yu looked her up and down and said, "I said, your Old Mistress was sick and muddleheaded, and made an arrangement that is disadvantageous to you and Squire Wang."

"Squire Wang is naturally indifferent by nature and doesn't need anyone to take care of him at all; the more you take care of him, the worse he will be."

Cuier asked curiously, "With me taking care of him, how could he be worse?"

"You are quite pretty," Xiao Yu laughed.

Cuier was stunned for a long while and didn't react, "What did you say?"

Xiao Yu was a bit helpless; she couldn't say any more. If she said more, she would be talking dirty—her current age wasn't suitable for driving, and there was a suspicion of slandering Squire Wang.

Cuier's looks are medium-to-high; she can be considered a beauty, but not a femme fatale.

Even if she really were a femme fatale, Xiao Yu felt that with Squire Wang's concentration and bearing, he should be able to hold his own.

"Nothing... You think about it carefully again. We are friends; don't be afraid to trouble me."

She raised her hand to interrupt the refusal Cuier was about to say and said, "Although I am not in the Little Quiet Pavilion, I have left a spirit dog at the back door of the Red Sleeve Workshop."

"If you decide to stay in the Wang family, you don't need to pay attention to it."

"If you have other thoughts, no matter what you have to say, you can tell it."

"It is very spiritual; even if it doesn't understand, it can go to the Heavenly Treasure Residence to call me back."

Leaving these words behind, she leaped up, drilled directly out of the small window of the side room, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

After Xiao Yu entered the Wang family residence, Xiao Qiang had been squatting at the Wang family's back door waiting for her.

Seeing her jump down from the wall, it immediately wagged its tail and leaned over, calling out, "Master, what did Squire Wang say? What was the golden light that blocked you?"

It not only easily saw Xiao Yu being bounced away in the state of Ghost Sword Escape, but had also been used by Xiao Yu as a white mouse to do an experiment: testing whether a monster could activate the golden light.

It might be because the "domesticated aura" on its body was too heavy and there was no evil monster aura.

It might also be because its realm was too low; it could absorb the essence of the sun and moon, but hadn't yet given birth to too powerful monster power.

In short, the Lotus Dharma Realm had no reaction to the dog.

It had only witnessed the golden light when it was carried by Xiao Yu into the Ghost Path.

"The Wang family does good deeds and accumulates virtue, and has the protection of gods and Buddhas. The golden light is the Dharma Realm left behind by the gods and Buddhas. You must not break in randomly, and even more so, you must not talk about it everywhere," Xiao Yu warned sternly.

Squire Wang had hidden the matter of the "magical lotus leaf" for a lifetime, not even revealing it to his sons.

She had no need to tell Xiao Qiang.

"I have one thing to instruct you..." Xiao Yu carefully gave instructions about the matter of Cuier possibly coming to find it.

As soon as Xiao Qiang heard it, it actually shouted excitedly, "Master, you are doing a bad thing with good intentions; not only did you not help Xue Cuier, you almost ruined the greatest blessing of her life!"

Xiao Yu's footsteps paused, and she lowered her head to look at it suspiciously, saying, "What do you mean? Cuier being a concubine for Squire Wang is the greatest blessing of her life?"

"She doesn't know how much hidden merit she accumulated in her previous life to have this marriage in this life. If you make it so she can't be Squire Wang's concubine, she will lose out big time... and there's an eighty percent chance you might be implicated and lose hidden merit," Xiao Qiang said.

"How do you know she accumulated hidden merit in her previous life... Has your 'Buddha Head Guan Shentong' been triggered again?" Xiao Yu asked.

Xiao Qiang had eaten a "Buddha Head" and had also heard a "headless old monk" chanting scriptures and passing on Dharma in a dream.

It hadn't learned a single Buddhist supernatural power, but it had enlightened its wisdom and possessed the extraordinary ability to observe people's good fortune and misfortune.

It was just that it worked sometimes and didn't work other times.

"Two days ago, Xue Cuier passed by the back door. I was lying on the ground pretending to sleep, and in a daze, I seemed to see a red sun rolling out of the alley."

"I immediately understood that this woman is no ordinary person."

"Afterwards, I stared at her and observed her carefully for a long time, and I discovered that this woman is completely an ordinary person—"

Xiao Yu kicked out, kicking it in the waist.

"Awoo~~" Xiao Qiang wasn't paying attention and rolled twice on the ground.

"Master, why did you kick me?" It flipped over and jumped up, calling out aggrievedly.

"You are talking nonsense, you deserve a beating!" Xiao Yu shouted.

Xiao Qiang barked, "How am I talking nonsense? Cuier is an ordinary person, and the fact that there is an extraordinary phenomenon on her body are not contradictory at all!"

"She is a woman; because she is going to get married, the phenomenon appears. Isn't this obvious enough?"

"She is about to give birth to a son of great wealth and nobility!"

"It's even possible she will directly give birth to an Immortal." ===== CHAPTER 211 =====