Chapter 176: The White Snake is to be Married, Zijun Seeks the Senior Sister

The top floor of the pavilion.

When Luo Zijun arrived at the room, he saw Bai Daxiaojie sitting quietly alone at the table, reading a book.

That flawless, beautiful face was still concealed by a veil.

The room door closed gently.

Luo Zijun walked forward and glanced at the book in her hand; it was actually "Qiannu Youhun".

Bai Meixue raised her head, looked at him with a tranquil gaze, and said, "It is written quite well."

Luo Zijun asked directly, "I wonder for what matter Daxiaojie has summoned me?"

Bai Meixue was silent for a moment and said, "I have been dreaming again recently."

Luo Zijun said, "What kind of dream?"

Bai Meixue looked at him and said, "A snake, repaying a debt of gratitude."

Luo Zijun pondered for a moment and said, "Daxiaojie need not worry about such things; in fact, this debt does not need to be repaid. Of course, if Daxiaojie feels it must be repaid, just giving me some silver will suffice."

Bai Meixue stared at him with a tranquil gaze for a while and said, "I have never thought about repaying it. Besides, why would I give you silver?"

Luo Zijun said, "Because for Daxiaojie, silver is the cheapest and simplest thing."

Bai Meixue was silent for a while and said, "Even if the dream is true, that is a matter of a past life and has nothing to do with the me of today."

Luo Zijun thought for a moment and said, "That is true."

Bai Meixue's gaze turned to him again and said, "If I do not repay the debt, what will you do?"

Luo Zijun said, "Nothing much, perhaps I would only quietly complain in my heart that Daxiaojie is truly stingy, not even willing to part with a little silver."

A hint of a smile seemed to appear on Bai Meixue's face, but it was obscured by the veil and could not be seen clearly; she seemed to hum softly and said, "I am just stingy."

Luo Zijun cupped his hands and said, "If Daxiaojie has no other matters, I shall take my leave."

Being with her always felt somewhat uncomfortable and unsettling.

After all, there had once been a thousand threads of connection between them, and in this life, there might be a fated marriage, so it was better to have less contact.

Bai Meixue said, "You know this, I know this; you are forbidden from mentioning it to anyone else."

Luo Zijun said, "I understand."

Bai Meixue did not speak again and continued to lower her head to flip through the book in her hand.

Luo Zijun took his leave and withdrew.

Once out of the room, Bai Bai hurriedly followed behind him and asked curiously, "Brother Zijun, what did the young lady say to you?"

Luo Zijun said, "Daxiaojie said to not let me buy you sugar figurines to eat."

"Ah? Why?"

Bai Bai was puzzled.

Luo Zijun glanced at her and said, "She is afraid you will ruin your teeth."

Bai Bai immediately pouted: "That won't happen, I won't ruin my teeth. Brother Zijun, you promised me."

When Luo Zijun reached the top of the stairs, he suddenly stopped his footsteps.

Just as he was about to speak, Qingqing, who was following behind, was caught off guard by his sudden stop, bumped into his back, then bounced off and fell to the floor; she was stunned for a moment, then immediately scrambled up from the ground, covered her towering chest, and glared at him.

Luo Zijun turned his head to look at her and said, "You bumped into me, why are you glaring at me?"

Qingqing glared at him for a while longer, then crossed her arms over her chest, her sword nestled against her bosom, looking cold as ice; she turned her face away and said, "Hmph!"

Luo Zijun ignored her and looked at the young girl beside him: "Bai Bai, I heard from Xiaohuan that you went to see Big Sister? What did Big Sister say to you?"

Bai Bai said, "Big Sister said to tell me and Qingqing not to give up, that Brother Zijun will definitely marry us. She also said Qingqing's chest is so big that she could easily feed seven or eight children in the future."

Luo Zijun: "..."

Does Big Sister think that feeding children is like feeding pigs?

He turned his head and looked behind him.

Qingqing still had her arms crossed, holding her sword, her face turned away, looking coldly elsewhere; two blushes had appeared on her cheeks at some point.

That chest was truly towering and upright.

Bai Bai whispered, "Brother Zijun, in the future when Bai Bai has children, they will also eat Qingqing's... when Xiaohuan has children, they will also eat Qingqing's, Ziyuan..."

"Ahem, I am going back to read."

Luo Zijun did not listen to her nonsense anymore and waved his hand to go downstairs.

Bai Bai hurriedly said, "Brother Zijun, sugar figurine, remember to buy a sugar figurine for Bai Bai! If you forget again next time, hmph, Bai Bai will really be angry! The kind that cannot be coaxed!"

"OK!"

Luo Zijun waved his hand again and walked quickly downstairs.

When he exited the pavilion, Bai Qingtong happened to return on a small boat; seeing him come out, she smiled and said, "Is Sir going back to read again?"

Luo Zijun said, "Indeed, if I do not read for a moment, my heart feels very uncomfortable."

Bai Qingtong smiled slightly and said, "Then I shall take Sir back."

Luo Zijun did not stand on ceremony, boarded her small boat, and then helped Xiaohuan and Ziyuan, who were following behind, onto it as well.

Bai Qingtong watched this scene and smiled: "Sir is truly good to your maids; it is Ziyuan's good fortune to follow Sir."

Luo Zijun said, "Having Ziyuan serve me is my good fortune."

Ziyuan smiled from the side: "It is this servant's good fortune."

Bai Qingtong smiled as she looked at the two of them, paused, raised her head, and looked toward the top floor of the pavilion.

At the railing, hazy and indistinct, a figure seemed to be standing there.

The small boat slowly sailed through the mist.

Luo Zijun also raised his head and looked toward the top floor of the pavilion.

Bai Qingtong suddenly sighed and said, "Next month, Big Sister is getting married."

Upon hearing these words, Luo Zijun felt a sudden shock in his heart, as if struck by lightning!

He hurriedly asked, "The Eldest Miss is getting married next month? To whom?"

Bai Qingtong withdrew her gaze and looked at him, saying, "An ordinary person whose family is in business."

Luo Zijun was stunned for a moment and said, "How... how is it so sudden? I hadn't heard anything about it before."

Bai Qingtong gave a bitter smile and said, "This kind of matter is best not known by too many people. When my sister marries, it will just be our family seeing her off; there will be no guests, no banquet, and no notification to other relatives or friends."

Then, she sighed softly: "After what happened to my sister, the more people who know, the more mockery there will likely be."

Luo Zijun knew the truth, but he did not know the reason.

Hearing this news, the heartstrings that he had finally relaxed suddenly tightened again. If Bai Daxiaojie married someone else, then his mission would be considered a success.

Mission success was even more terrifying than failure.

Because if he failed, there might be a punishment, or there might not; but if the mission succeeded, then a certain strand of soul within his body would definitely fly away to another world.

When that time came, he would very likely turn into a fool immediately.

No!

He absolutely could not let Bai Daxiaojie marry someone else!

He had worked so hard for so long, persisted for so long; how could he watch himself give up halfway?

"Third Miss, has the Eldest Miss agreed?"

He felt that based on his few encounters with Bai Daxiaojie, she should not have agreed, especially since she now knew the truth.

Who would have thought that Bai Qingtong would say, "My sister has agreed."

!

Luo Zijun could not believe it; his expression shifted for a while, and he said, "How could the Eldest Miss agree? She..."

Bai Qingtong sighed bitterly: "My sister only agreed for the sake of our Bai Family."

Luo Zijun was taken aback. Connecting this to how Bai Daxiaojie had previously deliberately pretended to be disfigured, as well as this sudden marriage, he seemed to guess some of the reasons.

Bai Qingtong did not hide it, saying, "Back then, when the Crown Prince of Yujing came to Daliang, he saw my sister once, and after returning, he begged the Emperor to issue a decree for marriage... Originally, my sister was to marry into Yujing, but then the incident happened, and the marriage was canceled. But that Crown Prince seems unwilling to give up; he actually sends people to investigate frequently, so... so my sister decided to marry someone else to make him give up completely."

After listening, Luo Zijun was silent for a while and asked, "What date next month is the Eldest Miss getting married?"

Bai Qingtong said, "The Winter Solstice."

Luo Zijun frowned slightly and thought to himself: The Winter Solstice is not an auspicious day.

He was a bit curious: "Third Miss, who chose the husband for the Eldest Miss?"

Bai Qingtong said, "We selected a few people, wrote down their appearances, personalities, family backgrounds, and so on, and sent them to my sister. It was my sister who chose for herself."

Luo Zijun fell silent.

Bai Qingtong looked at him and said, "While it is called a marriage, it is actually taking in a son-in-law; the other party must move into our home. In this situation, we dare not let my sister marry into another family, in case something happens... The safest way is to have the person come here so we can keep an eye on them at all times."

Luo Zijun was restless and felt heavy-hearted.

He had thought that since White Snake was this Bai Daxiaojie, he would have enough time to practice Soul Refining and get rid of that mission. Who knew that the change would come so quickly, so fast that it caught him off guard and left him in a panic.

In this situation, he had no way to interfere.

Was he supposed to kill that person? Even if he killed that person, there would be others.

As for trying to persuade Bai Daxiaojie not to marry, that was even more impossible. She was marrying for the safety and survival of the entire Bai Family; what right did he have to tell her not to marry?

Moreover, she had just said that the kindness from a past life had nothing to do with this life.

In her eyes, he was only slightly different from an ordinary person, so how could she possibly listen to him?

At this moment, the small boat reached the shore.

After Luo Zijun absent-mindedly bid farewell to Bai Qingtong, he took Xiaohuan and Hua'er back to Junzi Residence.

He entered his room, closed the door, and sat at the table for a long time.

He racked his brains and pondered deeply.

However, no matter how hard he thought, he could not come up with any safe way to break the deadlock.

Finally, he had to shift his gaze to the "mission failure" option.

But he could not...

And mission failure might also carry risks.

He sat in the room for an entire day.

At dusk.

Hua'er came to knock on the door and said, "Miss Tanchun from the Jia Mansion is here to visit."

Luo Zijun went out to greet her with a heavy heart.

Jia Tanchun brought two maids into the small courtyard. After seeing him, she said somewhat embarrassedly, "Young Master Luo, the fifteen thousand taels of silver have been gathered, but we cannot give Young Master Luo the silver for the three of us's poems all at once for now; we don't have that much silver."

Luo Zijun said absent-mindedly, "It's fine, just give me whatever you have."

In the current situation, silver did not seem that important anymore.

Jia Tanchun took out a money bag and first counted out several newly exchanged silver notes, saying, "This is Yingchun's fifteen thousand taels of silver, which we all gathered together. However, it was Daiyu who provided the Datou; she alone contributed thirteen thousand six hundred taels, and the rest was gathered by us sisters."

Then she took out a few more silver notes and some broken silver, saying, "This is the fifteen thousand taels for Daiyu's two poems; hers is paid in full. As for mine and Shi Xiangyun's, there are only six hundred taels, and that was borrowed from Daiyu and others... We still owe Young Master Luo five thousand four hundred taels in total."

Luo Zijun did not count it; he put it away and returned all the IOUs to her.

Jia Tanchun took the IOUs, checked them one by one, and then returned her own and Shi Xiangyun's IOUs to him, saying, "Young Master Luo, please keep these two for now."

Then she said somewhat embarrassedly, "Five thousand four hundred taels is not a small amount. Shi Xiangyun and I don't know when we can gather it; we might need to pay Young Master Luo back later."

Luo Zijun said, "It's fine, it doesn't matter if it's later."

Jia Tanchun sighed softly and said, "Tomorrow, we are going to Daguanyuan to see if we can find something to do to earn some silver."

Luo Zijun put away the two IOUs, looked at her, and reminded her, "The project at Daguanyuan is too large, and money is spent like water every day. From top to bottom, there must be those who are lining their own pockets. If Miss Tanchun has nothing to do, you can go and look at each part of the project, such as the pavilions, rockeries, and artificial trees. First, ask the people in charge of these projects how much silver it costs to make them, and then secretly go out to inquire about the real prices..."

"If the difference is small, you can turn a blind eye, but if the difference is large..."

"When the time comes, if Miss Tanchun discovers many problems, you can go to Master Zheng and the Old Matriarch, and then find a way to take the management of the Daguanyuan's account books and silver into your own hands..."

He remembered very clearly that in the Daguanyuan, they only planted some trees and flowers, yet Jia Yun went to the accounting office to withdraw two hundred taels of silver, while the money spent on buying the trees and flowers was only fifty taels, a mere one-quarter.

From this point, one could see that in other places, it is estimated that those responsible for construction embezzled even more and even more terrifying amounts.

The family fortune brought by Lin Meimei was embezzled and wasted in such a way, and in the end, she was heartlessly deceived and abandoned by the people of the Jia Mansion, dying in a desolate and cold manner; it was truly pitiful, and those people were truly detestable.

Upon hearing this, Jia Tanchun's expression turned stern, and she said, "Thank you for the reminder, Young Master Luo. I will set about preparing to investigate this matter as soon as I return. The Jia Family's silver must absolutely not be allowed to be embezzled by those petty people."

Luo Zijun thought to himself: I fear that from top to bottom, not a single person is innocent.

Jia Tanchun took her maid and hurriedly took her leave.

Looking at the silver notes in his hand, Luo Zijun hesitated for a long time, then spoke to Xiaohuan and Zhiyuan before heading out the door.

He first took fourteen thousand taels, went over to find Bai Qingtong, and returned it to her.

As for the other one thousand taels, that Third Miss had said it was a personal gift to him; if he were to return it, it would be impolite.

After Bai Qingtong received the money, she did not ask any more questions, only smiling as she said, "Young Master Luo is not only overflowing with talent, but also very good at earning money; in just one day, you have earned so much silver."

Luo Zijun chatted with her for a few sentences, then took the remaining silver and left the mansion.

He had to give all the silver to his senior sister, and then...

After thinking for an entire day, he decided to confess to his senior sister about the White Snake repaying a debt, as well as the fact that he might become foolish again.

He hoped his senior sister could understand his decision.

(End of this chapter)