11: Chapter 11 Zhuge Yue

Li Guidai and the lecherous fatty next door, Ji Taida, walked with their arms around each other's shoulders until they found their respective immortal caves.

The interior of Li Guidai's "Number 250" immortal cave was actually much better than he had imagined. It was about two hundred square meters and had been simply divided into four areas.

One kitchen equipped with a simple stove and a small water vat; one bedroom containing a stone bed, stone table, and stone stools; one area that could be considered a living room, which was empty save for a few pieces of crude wooden furniture; and most strangely, there was a patch of dirt about ten-something square meters in size, which looked like it was for people to plant flowers or... practice digging holes?

"Tsk tsk, small as a sparrow, but it has all the vital organs, and there's even a private plot of land. Not bad, not bad!" Li Guidai nodded, quite satisfied. "It's much better than that drafty old shack in Jicai Village!"

After the long journey and the roller coaster of emotions, he was truly exhausted. Lying on the rock-hard stone bed, thinking about how he would be "assigned a wife" tomorrow, his heart felt like it was being scratched by a kitten. He was both expectant and nervous, and in his daze, he actually fell asleep, even having a sweet dream where he was surrounded by beautiful women from the Zhuge Family, all calling him "Husband."

Early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Li Guidai was still in his dream discussing life's ideals with "Zhuge Mingyue" and "Zhuge Xingyue" when he heard someone outside his cave shouting at the top of their lungs: "Li Guidai! Junior Brother Li! Is Li Guidai there?"

The voice was a bit unfamiliar, not like Ji Taida's lecherous tone. Li Guidai was woken up and rubbed his eyes groggily, muttering to himself: "Who is it so early in the morning... Could the notification for the wife distribution have been moved up?!"

At the thought of this possibility, his sleepiness vanished instantly. He tried to do a carp leap... but he didn't make it up; the stone bed was too hard and hurt his waist.

He climbed up while grimacing in pain, threw on his gray cloth garment, and without even bothering to fix his hair, which was a mess from sleeping, he rushed toward the entrance of the cave.

"Coming, coming! Is it the wife distri... uh, is there something you need me for?" He asked impatiently while pulling open the simple stone door of the cave.

The morning light outside the cave was a bit blinding. He squinted to look and saw that the person standing at the entrance was not the Ji Taida he had imagined, but the administrator from yesterday—Senior Brother Zhuge Ming.

And half a step behind Senior Brother Zhuge Ming stood a little girl, looking timid.

Li Guidai's gaze was instantly drawn to the little girl.

She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. She was petite, and her figure hadn't fully developed yet, but she already had the initial grace of a young girl.

Most eye-catching were the double buns she wore; two round buns like little steamed buns sat on both sides of her head, tied with red hair ribbons, making her look exceptionally cute and naive.

She was wearing a pale pink ru skirt, with tiny white flowers embroidered on the hem. The fabric looked ordinary, but it suited her perfectly.

Her face was a standard oval shape, with fair and delicate skin and a hint of baby fat. At this moment, perhaps due to nervousness or the morning chill, her cheeks were flushed with a faint redness, looking just like a ripe peach.

Her large eyes were like a startled fawn, watery and clear, with long, thick eyelashes that were blinking uneasily; she didn't dare to look directly at Li Guidai. Beneath her small, exquisite nose were two tightly pressed, petal-like lips.

The whole person was like a small pink flower, trembling slightly in the morning dew and about to bloom, so pure that one couldn't bear to profane it.

Seeing Li Guidai's disheveled, unkempt appearance, just woken up with messy hair, Senior Brother Zhuge Ming not only didn't show disdain, but instead revealed a meaningful smile on his face. He stepped forward, lowered his voice, and said to Li Guidai:

"Junior Brother Li, yesterday at Jicai Village, when the flying boat landed, I happened to see you..." He paused, seemingly weighing his words, his eyes filled with a hint of inquiry and affirmation, "...there seemed to be a flash of golden light on your body. Although I don't know the specific reason, nor if it was an illusion, my intuition tells me that you... perhaps are not as simple as you appear on the surface."

Li Guidai's heart skipped a beat! Golden light? Could it be the phenomenon caused by activating the system and the awakening of the Ancient Kidney Physique yesterday? This Senior Brother Zhuge Ming had sharp eyes!

Seeing this, Senior Brother Zhuge Ming didn't probe further and continued: "Therefore, yesterday I specifically sought instructions and communicated with Elder Cong. The Elder finally agreed to betroth my third younger sister, Zhuge Yue, to you."

He turned to the side, letting the petite and cute girl behind him step forward.

"Although my sister Yueer only has a ninth-grade spirit root and her cultivation is still shallow," Senior Brother Zhuge Ming looked at Li Guidai, his tone carrying a hint of a reminder, as well as an imperceptible expectation, "but among the 'wives' assigned to your batch, she is the only one who possesses a spirit root. Junior Brother Li, I hope you... will treat her well."

After speaking, Senior Brother Zhuge Ming patted Li Guidai on the shoulder again, as if he had completed an important task. Saying, "You two get to know each other," he turned and hurried away, presumably to go "distribute wives" to the others.

At the entrance of the cave, only Li Guidai and the young girl named Zhuge Yue were left.

The air seemed to quiet down all at once.

Only then did Li Guidai have the chance to carefully look at the girl in front of him.

As for Zhuge Yue, after her brother left, she seemed even more nervous. Her two small hands tightly clutched the hem of her ru skirt, her head buried extremely low, almost into her budding chest. The tips of her ears and her neck were dyed a crimson red, the whole person like a cooked shrimp, as if the top of her head was steaming with shyness.

Li Guidai looked at the girl in front of him, who was so pitiful and pure, like a white lotus flower unstained by dust, and for a moment, he was at a loss for what to do.

He, Li Guidai, didn't consider himself a righteous gentleman. In his past life, he watched adult films, and in this life, he attempted to peek at his childhood sweetheart bathing, often having dirty thoughts in his head; he was a typical "king of empty talk" and a "giant of theory."

But those were mostly accompanied by a sense of banter and the self-deprecation of a lowly character finding joy in suffering.

But facing this girl, that kind of pure, unadulterated shyness and innocence made all the messy thoughts in his mind vanish instantly. He even felt that his disheveled appearance when he ran out earlier was a profanation of the beautiful scene before him.

He opened his mouth, but found his throat a bit dry. The lewd banter he usually used to boast and chat with Ji Taida wouldn't come out at all.

...

He frantically searched his brain for a suitable opening line, but it was completely blank.

After a long while, the embarrassment permeating the air was almost tangible, and Li Guidai finally found his voice. He coughed twice, trying to ease the atmosphere:

"Ahem... t-that... you... you please come in first?" He turned to the side, clearing the entrance to the cave.