After answering a few more questions and revealing the inner workings of the Gu Clan a bit more, Gu Jintang had drunk and eaten his fill. He then swaggered off into the distance.
Before he left, Su Chen told him to let Gu Qingluo know that he, Su Chen, was here, but not to let anyone else find out.
An hour later, Gu Qingluo appeared in the Thousand Incense Pavilion’s doorway. As soon as she saw Su Chen, she leapt into his embrace, carrying with her a wave of fragrant perfume.
Su Chen caught her out of the air and gestured at the door, causing it to close. “How’d it go? No one tailed you on your way here, right?”
Gu Qingluo blinked her large eyes she gazed at him. “No, I did as you told me. I didn’t say anything other than that I was going for a stroll. But why do I need to be this secretive?”
Su Chen sighed. “Because taking you as my wife is something that will take a long time to accomplish.”
Gu Qingluo understood. She lowered her head and rubbed her neck as she pouted, “So you found out…… is it because I am about to have another fiancé?”
Su Chen shouted in his heart, the problem isn’t that you’re about to have an extra fiancé, it’s that I already have one!
Yes, Su Chen had never really placed this Zhou Qingkuang in his heart.
Even if the Scarlet-Eyed Demon King Bloodline was powerful, was it more powerful than the Heavenly Fox Bloodline?
If even the clan of a Demonic Emperor Bloodline had approved of him, what was a measly Demonic King Bloodline?
Even without the Mountain-Beheading Blade, he was confident that he was able to smash all the teeth out of the mouth of any Yang Opening Realm cultivator with a Demonic King Bloodline.
However, the issue involving himself was going to be a problem.
He had no idea how to tell Gu Qingluo about Zhu Xianyao.
Having multiple wives was a common thing in this day and age, but that didn’t meant that all women desired such a thing and would accept their husband having three or four wives.
Just because something was legally acceptable didn’t mean it was also emotionally acceptable.
Both Gu Qingluo herself and the Gu Clan were essentially blocking him in from both sides.
The Gu Clan wouldn’t really care if Su Chen had multiple wives, but what mattered the most was the status of his bloodline and whether his status was worthy of marrying into the Gu Clan.
To Gu Qingluo, Su Chen’s social status or bloodline status weren’t important. What mattered to her was whether or not he loved her and was willing to marry only her.
This was the nature of the problem.
Because of this, Su Chen couldn’t tell her about Zhu Xianyao yet.
He needed Gu Qingluo’s help to first deal with things on the Gu Clan’s side. After settling things there, he could then resolve his personal problems with Gu Qingluo.
Creating and carrying out this kind of plan felt like boiling the hound after it had caught the rabbit. Su Chen felt that he was being despicable.
Oh, so it wasn’t until now that he realized that what he was doing was despicable?
Su Chen gulped hard and said, “Yes. I’ve already talked with Gu Jintang. There’s two main problems: first of all, we need to think of a way to stop the wedding, and the second is that we need to get the Clan Relative Society to agree to our engagement.”
Gu Qingluo anxiously said, “Neither of these two are going to be easy.”
“It all depends on our effort, and I am confident that we can do this. As long as you’re by my side, we can do anything.”
“Yes!” Gu Qingluo nodded emphatically as she grabbed Su Chen’s hand. “No matter what, I will only belong to you.”
Su Chen continued, “That’s easier said than done.”
“You don’t have faith in me?”
“Not at all. I’m just telling you that in the future, we might run into all kinds of obstacles. Your clan and your fiancé are just the ones we know about now, but who knows when new troubles might appear? These new troubles might be extremely headache-inducing. What if a sudden battle breaks out, I might be sent off to fight. Or if someone injures me, I might disappear temporarily. Or some woman might even suddenly appear out of nowhere and say that her child is an illegitimate child of mine’s to try and break us apart. Our enemies could use any and all kinds of tactics. That’s when we need to be the most resolute! We must trust one another, rely on one another, and never give up on one another!”
Gu Qingluo stared suspiciously at Su Chen. “You’re not trying to tell me that you have an illegitimate son, are you?”
Su Chen replied straightforwardly, “I swear on my own Origin Energy that I absolutely do not have one.”
Gu Qingluo’s expression softened. “Yes, don’t worry. I understand what you’re saying. Our enemies are deceitful and will resort to any tactics they can. The most important thing is that you and I cannot give up. No matter what, we must face any adversity together!”
She gripped Su Chen’s hand tightly as she spoke.
“That’s the right attitude!” Su Chen sighed in relief.
On some level, Gu Qingluo was like Night Demon. She had a bit of a childlike naivety and innocent nature to her. However, she was not silly to the point of almost being mentally challenged. Gu Qingluo might be a bit naive, but she was also quite smart; she was cute, but also somewhat crafty. The only reason she hadn’t displayed this side to Su Chen at the Hidden Dragon Institute was because she was still suffering due to him. Her quick-witted side had been suppressed by quite a bit.
After she and Su Chen had gotten back together, her disposition was beginning to reemerge and return to the way that it was before. She seemed carefree and absent-minded sometimes, but she wasn’t single-mindedly silly. She definitely had her own thoughts and feelings.
Because of this, Su Chen wanted to use this opportunity to try and catch Gu Qingluo.
Once they had steeled themselves, the next step was to figure how to deal with the problem.
The first step was to stop the wedding.
“I have a way of doing that.” Gu Qingluo waved her small hand. “Find Zhou Qingkuang a woman, get her to bait him onto a bed, and then catch him in the act. I’ll naturally be able to openly annul the engagement.”
Hiss!
Su Chen sucked in a breath of cold air. “That wouldn’t be too good, would it? A man having three or four wives is pretty common. Also, he still isn’t married yet, so even if he is caught in the act, you could just write it off as an act of passion. You might not be able to annul a marriage agreement for that reason.”
Gu Qingluo rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “Why not? I’m the Gu Clan’s Young Miss. How could I belong to someone who acts hot and cold like that? Anyone who sows wild oats all over the place should be castrated. If you want to be my man, you need to be with solely me until the end.”
“Hey……” Su Chen nodded. “That’s true, but it seems a bit overbearing. I’m worried that if news of this spreads, the Zhou Clan might back out first before you can annul the agreement. That kind of reputation……”
Reputation was still important even in this society. If word spread that a woman was violent, that was still not a good thing.
Because of this, even if women didn’t like it when their men took a concubine, they had to appear generous on the surface unless the situation was too excessive. Those who were more traditional wouldn’t even worry about their husband taking concubines; instead, they would instead worry about whether or not they appeared overly jealous. Rather than stopping their husbands from taking concubines, they encouraged it.
As such, people fought a lot over whether or not concubines were allowed. Some refused to accept it, some tolerated it, and others even encouraged it.
Gu Qingluo didn’t have too many thoughts regarding this matter. She just like this feeling of posturing, but when Su Chen’s words seemed pretty reasonable to her, so she dropped the whole controlling attitude. She blinked flirtatiously at Su Chen and asked, “Then what do you think I should do?”
“This is a pretty big deal, so we should approach things carefully……” Su Chen pondered for a moment, then asked, “Right, when is Zhou Qingkuang going to arrive in Swallow River City?”
“He said that he would come as soon as he finished taking care of business with his family. It’ll probably be at least seven or eight days.”
Su Chen lowered his head in thought for a few moments. “That’s too little time. We need more time. Taking care of family business…… taking care of family business…… Iron Cliff!”
“Right here, sir.”
Su Chen tossed the Shadow Flame Glove over to Iron Cliff. “Go to Hecheng and create some ‘family business’ for him to take care of to his heart’s content. The longer you delay, the better.”
“Yes sir!”