Chapter 9 – How About I Arrange a Match for You?

“Little sister Fang…”

Just as she was about to pass, a head suddenly popped out from behind a roadside rock, smiling brightly at her.

Fang Yu’s body instantly tensed before relaxing again. She coldly regarded the woman before her, silently slipping her hatchet back into place.

Unaware that she had just brushed past the gates of hell, Madam Zhang—like the rest of the villagers—was already used to Fang Yu’s aloofness and cold manner.

Seeing Fang Yu ignore her didn’t anger her in the least. She climbed up from behind the rock and fell into step beside her, saying, “Sister Fang, I have something to discuss with you, could you…”

Fang Yu didn’t even turn her head, continuing on without acknowledgment. Anxious, Madam Zhang suddenly blurted out:

“Sister Fang, do you know who told Master Ma Fu about you? That Lord Ma looks respectable on the surface, but in truth…”

She lowered her voice, leaning in close to whisper, “In truth… that man… he beats women. His previous wives—several of them—were beaten to death by him…”

Fang Yu’s eyes narrowed. Surely it wasn’t just domestic violence? From how evasively Madam Zhang spoke, there was likely more darkness behind the story.

“I just can’t bear to see a decent girl like you pushed into a pit of fire,” Madam Zhang continued, a touch of self-satisfaction in her tone, folding her arms as if waiting for Fang Yu to beg her for help.

Most girls, when faced with marriage matters that directly shaped their fate, would have shown impatience or desperation.

But Fang Yu wasn’t like most girls. As for marriage? The thought of marrying had never once crossed her mind.

Seeing Fang Yu still pressing forward, head bowed and ignoring her, Madam Zhang finally grew restless and tried again, her words coming more hurriedly:

“Right now, if you just get engaged or married first, then even if Old Master Ma wants to snatch you, he won’t be able to. How about this—I can arrange a match for you. I have a nephew from my maiden family, an honest, dependable man, and their household is fairly well-off. If you don’t object, I can help bring you two together. What do you say?”

Fang Yu almost laughed at the absurdity of her logic. Can’t marry Ma Fu, so I should marry your nephew instead?

If she wasn’t mistaken, wasn’t Ma Fu the very person Madam Zhang’s father-in-law, Chen Dashan, was trying to cozy up to?

So this woman wanted to use the original Fang Yu to secure benefits for her own family’s son?

Heh.

What a scheme.

But interestingly—why was Madam Zhang undermining her own father-in-law’s plans?

It seemed the Chen family wasn’t as harmonious as it looked on the surface.

“How long do you plan to keep following me?” Fang Yu’s voice was cold.

“You… you haven’t answered me yet!”

“No need.”

Madam Zhang opened her mouth to argue further, but when her gaze met those clear, chilling eyes, the words caught in her throat and rolled back down unspoken.

At that moment, when Fang Yu had said “no need”, Madam Zhang truly felt a cold shiver crawl up her spine from tailbone to neck. It was as if one more word from her would see that hand clamp around her throat.

The sensation made her suddenly recall the day Fang Yu had beaten her mother-in-law—effortless, calm as a drifting cloud, leaving behind only howls of misery and wreckage.

For reasons she couldn’t explain, Madam Zhang felt a faint chill of fear and wisely shut her mouth.

In truth, whether or not her nephew married Fang Yu didn’t really matter. What mattered was this: as long as Fang Yu realized Ma Fu was no suitable match, she would surely find a way to ruin the engagement. And once the marriage failed—hmph!

Then that second son could forget about becoming some county official’s lackey!

Why should it be that just because both were sons, the old couple exhausted themselves trying to squeeze the second one into Lord Magistrate’s circle, while her husband had to slave away as a shop-hand?

And once the second son’s wife became an “official’s lady,” what would that make her? Nothing at all!

How could she swallow such unfairness?

This family was biased and selfish—so they shouldn’t blame her for spoiling things!

Did they think she didn’t know? Just a couple of days earlier, after the family’s secret discussions, her mother-in-law had been watching her and her husband like a hawk. If she hadn’t schemed to send the old woman away, she never would have gotten the chance to intercept the Fang family girl at all.

How could she accept that? How could she?

Watching the Fang girl turn over the mountain ridge, Madam Zhang consoled herself: at least today’s preliminary goal was achieved. From here on, she could just sit back and watch the tigers tear at each other.

With that thought, she turned and headed down the mountain. When she later encountered her mother-in-law, she pretended to have discovered a patch of good wild greens and dragged the old woman away from the mountain’s base.

Meanwhile, higher up the slope, Fang Yu had already pieced together the threads of the situation.

She had never liked Chen Dashan’s family, and now—after this—it was clear she wouldn’t let them off easily.

Her mind was already forming a plan on how to deal with them. Setting the matter aside, she pressed deeper into the back mountain once more.

At first glance, the forest looked no different than on her last visit. Yet Fang Yu felt something was off.

It was as if the entire woodland was dying.

Her chest grew heavy with unease.

If the vitality of the land itself was fading, then no wonder she was already planning to flee.

No one wished to leave their homeland, the very soil they depended upon to live. But if the land itself perished—how could people hope to survive?

Her mood sinking, she walked deeper in. That nameless sorrow in her heart grew sharper, clearer.

And whether illusion or not, she could swear there were far fewer animals about than before.

Then she remembered—on her last trip, she had urged the little creatures to leave quickly. No doubt the obedient ones had already fled.

She found a towering tree and sat down at its base, preparing once again to let her mind sink into the surroundings.

A faint, rustling shhh-shhh reached her ears, gradually growing distinct. She opened her eyes toward the sound, just in time to see two small figures dart rapidly closer.

In the next heartbeat, two little squirrels landed before her.

“You two again!” she said warmly, playfully tapping their tiny foreheads. Then, struck by a sudden thought, she asked: “Has everyone else left? Why are you still here?”

The two little creatures hopped and gestured for quite a while before Fang Yu finally understood.

“You stayed behind to wait for me? But this place isn’t safe!”

Despite her words of reproach, her heart swelled with joy.

Who could possibly resist such fluffy little creatures?

In fact, she had already secretly decided: when the time came for her to leave, if these two little ones were still around, she would definitely take them with her.

After playing around with the pair for a while, she settled down to cultivate.

As her mind method started, the surrounding energies surged wildly toward her—but sadly, very little of it was actually usable.

Even so, after exhausting herself, she finally managed to refine a single thread of spiritual energy from the chaotic mix.

That tiny wisp sank into her body like a stone into the sea, disappearing without a trace.

Had this been in her previous life, back in the cultivation world, she would already have been panicking, searching for solutions.

But after the bitter lesson of cultivating arduously for centuries only to be reduced to ashes in the end, she no longer clung so desperately to results.

In this life, cultivation was merely a way to temporarily protect herself. Counting this one, she had already lived through three lifetimes. Any grand ambitions had long since been eroded away by the endless passage of years.

Now, what mattered more to her was living a life that was steady and meaningful.

Her wish to leave this place wasn’t just because of famine—it was because this land itself made her profoundly uneasy. More than “fleeing disaster,” she was searching for a place where her heart could truly be at peace.

Clearly, this was not that place.

There was also another problem: she had been here for days and had yet to eat a single satisfying meal.

The rice and grains she had purchased carried an indescribable strange taste, leaving her unable to stomach them.

So these days, she had eaten little as possible, barely scraping by.

Honestly—how many cultivator lords throughout history had ever been as miserable as she was now?

Still, even the smallest harvest counted as progress.

In good spirits, she followed the two little ones through the forest, where they helped her discover some tree-grown black fungus and a cluster of unknown wild fruits that looked delicious. The pair wanted to continue the hunt, but she called them back.

Before leaving, she chose a hidden spot, stashed away her belongings in a mountain cave, and asked the two little companions to guard them for her. Then she carried her foraged “spoils” back home.

By now, Father Fang had complete trust in his daughter’s ability to find food. Whatever she brought back, that was what they ate.

And so, they survived yet another day.

That evening, Father Fang told her that some villagers had already started cutting down unripe rice stalks to chew on the green leaves.

Fang Yu didn’t tell him she had noticed this days earlier—she had simply chosen not to mention it.

What puzzled her was what exactly these people were waiting for.

If not for the fact that she was biding her time until the Xu family was ready, she herself would likely have left already. But these villagers? No money, no food—and yet they still stayed in the village, waiting for death.

She truly couldn’t understand it.

She wasn’t some savior.

If she spoke up too soon about leaving, Chen Dashan would surely stir up trouble for her. So she kept her mouth shut.

For now, the Xu family seemed trustworthy enough—their secret was tightly kept.