2: Chapter 2 Can your body handle this?

The System seemed to be a roundworm in Xiao Ye's belly; it actually knew exactly how to prescribe the right medicine for his symptoms.

Holy crap—

Xiao Ye stood up abruptly, moving so fast he almost threw out his back.

Spiritual Root?

When he was young, he dreamed of having a Spiritual Root! He would shout "I have a Spiritual Root!" in his sleep, only to wake up and find his pillow soaked—not with drool, but with tears.

Once he had a Spiritual Root, he could cultivate immortality and extend his life by a hundred years!

What he fired would no longer be blanks!

Xiao Ye paced back and forth in the hall, moving like an old wolf that had been trapped for twenty years and suddenly released; his eyes were practically glowing green.

———

When Butler Li brought in three maidservants, this was the scene he witnessed.

The Master was circling the hall like a donkey at a grindstone, muttering something under his breath.

"Master, I've brought the people."

Xiao Ye stopped and sized up the three maidservants.

They were all quite pretty; the youngest looked to be only fifteen or sixteen, with skin as white as tofu.

The System thoughtfully popped up three lines of small text before his eyes—

Comprehensive Rating: 69 points.

Comprehensive Rating: 65 points.

Comprehensive Rating: 60 points.

Xiao Ye let out a sigh, one so long it could have blown out a candle.

Useless. All three were useless; the highest score was only 69, still a notch below the passing line.

He waved his hand as if shooing away flies. "Fine, leave. Go back to whatever you were doing."

Butler Li froze, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg. "Master, you... you're incapable again?"

The disappointment in his tone was even thicker than Xiao Ye's own.

Xiao Ye glared at him. "You're the one who's incapable! Your whole family is incapable! My standards have just gotten higher, do you understand?"

Butler Li shrunk his neck and muttered softly, "Standards higher... isn't that still being incapable..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing! Master is wise and divine, vigorous despite his age, standing tall like a pillar!"

Xiao Ye: "...Get out!"

Butler Li: "Right away!"

"Wait, come back!"

Xiao Ye sat back down and took a sip from his teacup. "Old Li, let me ask you something."

"Please speak, Master."

"In this Qingshan Town, is there any... well, peerless beauty who is so stunning that seeing her once would be worth living three years less?"

Butler Li thought seriously for a moment and slapped his thigh. "There is! Butcher Wang's old mother! She's what you call mature and refined; the more you appreciate her, the more flavor she has. The Jianghu calls her 'The Ageless Xi Shi'!"

Xiao Ye rolled his eyes—even though I'm sixty, I'm devoted; I only like eighteen-year-olds.

"Not that kind. I want someone young, beautiful, and with status—a daughter of a noble family or a courtesan queen will do. A princess or a county lady would be even better; I'm not picky."

Butler Li's eyes bulged like copper coins. His mouth opened and closed before he finally squeezed out a sentence:

"Master, where do you get this confidence? What would they see in you? That you don't take baths?"

Xiao Ye's face darkened. "Old Li, that old ox at the farm hasn't been doing well with its back lately. Why don't you go plow the fields for it for a few days? Don't delay the spring plowing."

"Don't, don't, don't!" Li Fu flopped to his knees. "Master, I have an eighty-year-old son above and a three-year-old mother below to take care of, I can't afford this!"

"Cut the crap." Xiao Ye crossed his legs. "I'll give you one day. If you don't find a beauty, you can go be colleagues with that ox."

The hall was silent for a full five breaths.

Butler Li's mouth hung open as he hesitated to speak. "You... with that body of yours, it's not going to work anyway, is it?"

Xiao Ye glanced at him.

That look seemed to say: Why do you care if I can or not? When I get going, even I'm afraid of myself.

"Just do the scouting when I tell you to. Why so much nonsense?"

Butler Li silently shut his mouth.

Fine, as long as the Master is happy.

---

That afternoon, Qingshan Town was in an uproar.

That sixty-year-old man from the Xiao Family had sent his butler all over the place to play matchmaker, as if he were holding a talent search.

At a tea stall, several idlers were cracking melon seeds and chatting.

"The old man of the Xiao Family has really gone mad, hasn't he?"

"Isn't that right? Sixty years old and still wanting to marry a young virgin? What would she see in him? That he's got one foot in the grave?"

"Maybe she'd be after the Xiao Family's property?"

"What property! The Xiao Family only has one restaurant left now."

"Tsk tsk, sixty years old, why cause such a fuss? Isn't it better to just wait for death quietly? He just has to chase a sunset romance."

The group burst into laughter, the sound scaring away the sparrows at the tea stall.

In the Xiao Family's backyard, Xiao Ye sat at his desk, spreading out a sheet of paper and picking up a brush to write.

There were only four words on the paper—

Old Tree Blossoming.

He stared at those four words for a long while, then suddenly smiled.

"Mm, quite sophisticated."

Butler Li's footsteps came from outside, hurried and accompanied by the wind, as if he were being chased by a dog.

"Master! I've found out!"

Xiao Ye slowly raised his head.

Butler Li jogged in, speaking before he could even catch his breath: "The third son of the Zhang Family has a daughter named Zhang Waner. She's eighteen this year and looks like a Heavenly Immortal descended to earth. She's one of the Three Great Beauties of Qingshan Town!"

Xiao Ye was dozing while holding his teacup, but when he heard the words "Three Great Beauties," his eyelids flickered.

Three Great Beauties?

He was old and didn't pay attention to such gossip. But presumably, her looks shouldn't be bad.

She was also the daughter of the Zhang Family, one of the Four Great Families; their backgrounds were a good match.

He put down his teacup and slowly stood up. "Fine, you make the arrangements."

Butler Li's eyes lit up, and his back straightened a bit. "Right away, Master!"

But what he was thinking was: Finally, I don't have to work like an ox or a horse.

---

The Zhang Family lived at the east end of town in a large three-courtyard residence, which was considered quite grand in Qingshan Town.

After all, as one of the Four Great Families, they had to maintain appearances.

At this moment, in Zhang Dekai's courtyard, the door to the main room was tightly shut, but inside, things were boiling over.

"I won't marry him!"

Zhang Waner slammed her teacup onto the table. She shook off her mother's hand, her face red with anger like a cooked crab.

"That old man is almost bald! If you want to marry him, you do it!"

"Nonsense!"

Zhang Dekai slapped the table.

"Why don't you understand, child?" He paced the room twice, lowering his voice as if discussing a state secret. "He doesn't have many years left to live! If you marry him now, you'll be the primary wife. Once that old man Xiao kicks the bucket, won't the Xiao Family be yours to command? Do you understand?"

Zhang Waner bit her lip and remained silent.

Looking at his daughter's face, which was like that of a Heavenly Immortal, Zhang Dekai felt both anxious and resentful.

His only hope was this daughter.

The title of one of the Three Great Beauties of Qingshan Town wasn't for nothing.

He had to take advantage of the fact that this girl was currently so fresh she practically glowed and quickly trade her for solid benefits.

Zhang Dekai narrowed his eyes at his daughter, his voice suddenly slowing down, so slow it made one's skin crawl.

"Fine, since you don't want to be the mistress of the Xiao Family..."

He paused.

"...then you can be a concubine for Cao Deshuang."

Zhang Waner jerked her head up.

Cao Deshuang?

That Cao Deshuang from the Cao Family, one of the Four Great Families?

The one with the pitted face, a mouth full of yellow teeth, and who trembled when he walked?

A wave of nausea surged from her stomach straight to her throat.

"I won't marry!" Her voice turned shrill, so sharp that even a few specks of dust shook loose from the rafters. "I won't marry! I already have someone I like!"