3: Chapter 3 A month? No, three days!

"Slap!"

A heavy slap landed squarely on her face.

Half of Zhang Waner's face burned, and her ears rang with a buzzing sound.

Zhang Dekai withdrew his hand and pointed at her nose, his expression so dark it looked like it could drip ink.

"It doesn't matter who you like; it only matters who I like." He enunciated every word through gritted teeth. "I'm giving you two choices now. Either marry old man Xiao as his primary wife, or marry Pockmark Cao as a concubine. Choose for yourself."

He paused, then added: "You've really rebelled! I gave you face, didn't I?"

Zhang Waner covered her face, tears welling in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

Looking at her biological father's face, she suddenly felt it was incredibly alien.

Old man Xiao or Pockmark Cao, what was the difference?

They were both just old geezers!

But in this era of "parents' orders and matchmakers' words," she lacked the strength to control her own fate.

She could only make a passive choice—

One was a primary wife; once the man died, she would be the one in charge.

The other was a concubine; while the primary wife was still alive, she would be nothing more than a horse to be ridden, even having to serve the other woman's foot-washing water.

Zhang Waner slowly lowered her hand.

The red mark on her face hadn't faded yet; the five finger marks were clearly visible, as if carved into her skin.

She took a deep breath, her voice terrifyingly calm:

"I choose the Xiao Family."

Zhang Dekai was stunned for a moment, and then a smile exploded across his face.

"Aha—that's the spirit! Could your father ever harm you?"

—

At noon the next day.

Butler Li personally visited and brought the father and daughter into the Xiao Family estate.

"Third Master Zhang, Young Miss Zhang, please take a seat and rest your legs. I'll go invite the Master over right away."

As the footsteps faded, only the father and daughter remained in the reception hall.

Zhang Dekai looked around, then leaned in close to his daughter with a sneaky expression, lowering his voice:

"Daughter, make sure you perform well in a moment. As long as you secure the position of the Xiao Family's primary wife, in the future, this Xiao Family—hehe, it'll all be yours!"

His voice was thick with suppressed excitement, looking so pleased he was practically bubbling over.

It was as if he could already see the Xiao Family's assets all changing their surname to Zhang!

Zhang Waner kept her eyes down and remained silent.

From last night until now, she hadn't said a single word to Zhang Dekai.

It wasn't that she didn't want to speak; she was afraid that the moment she opened her mouth, she would start cursing—wasn't her heart bitter enough?

Other people's daughters were the apples of their parents' eyes.

She, on the other hand, was like a blade of grass by the roadside.

Her father could give her to whoever he wanted to use, and she'd still have to say "good" when it was done.

"Waner?"

Zhang Dekai's voice pulled her back: "What are you thinking about? Your father is talking to you!"

Zhang Waner looked up, her expression already transformed.

With a faint, obedient smile and eyes curved like crescent moons—as one of the three great beauties of Qingshan Town, that title was certainly well-deserved.

This smile of hers could steal a person's soul.

"Father," she said softly, her voice gentle as cotton, "I understand."

—

A moment later, Xiao Ye arrived.

Before he even stepped into the reception hall, his eyes had already darted inside.

Whoa!

He saw a figure with a pure and beautiful face and a graceful, slender silhouette sitting there, looking just like his first love from his previous life.

Although he didn't actually remember which first love it was, since every shop's top girl was Number 68.

Meanwhile, when Zhang Waner saw Xiao Ye's appearance—like a withered old tree branch—she immediately felt a sense of relief.

This old man... even if I just lay there, he wouldn't be able to break my defense!

Xiao Ye paused at the doorway—

"System!" he shouted in his mind. "Quick, scan and rate her!"

As soon as he spoke, a line of text popped up out of thin air above Zhang Waner's head, visible only to Xiao Ye—

80 points

Xiao Ye was overjoyed!

She passed! Just hit the mark! Not a single point wasted!

He stepped over the threshold with a friendly smile, but in his mind, he was already calculating—one of the three great beauties of Qingshan Town only barely got an eighty?

The System's standards are high enough; so a full score is a hundred? What would that look like? Chang'e?

"Master Xiao!"

Zhang Dekai had already stood up with a face full of smiles, bowing in greeting.

Zhang Waner also stood up, lowering her eyes and curtsying.

Xiao Ye pulled back his thoughts and waved his hand with a smile: "Sit, sit, everyone sit."

He took the seat of honor and took a sip from his teacup, while his peripheral vision glanced at Zhang Dekai's lower half.

You ask what he was looking at?

He was curious!

Just how "wide" did this fellow "open" to get a name like that? With that face full of stubble, if he were in Chuandu in his previous life, he'd be a hundred-man slayer at the very least!

Xiao Ye looked at Zhang Waner sitting to the side again and felt suspicious: Could he really father such a beautiful daughter?

Tsk tsk tsk.

He wondered if there was a neighbor named Wang living next door to them.

—

Zhang Dekai approached, speaking with a fawning smile:

"Master Xiao, we agree to the marriage, but there's one thing... I must make clear to you first."

"Speak."

"Waner is my biological daughter and hasn't suffered any grievances since she was little. If she marries over, the position of primary wife..."

He stopped halfway, his eyes staring straight at Xiao Ye.

Xiao Ye raised an eyebrow.

Whoa! This little fellow's abacus is clicking quite loudly! It's so loud I can hear it from a mile away!

Primary wife?

He had taken thirteen concubines, but he truly had never established a primary wife.

It wasn't that he didn't want to, but rather that he couldn't produce an heir—there was no point in establishing one; who would he be setting up the title for?

"Fine." Xiao Ye nodded, responding quite decisively.

Zhang Dekai was stunned, not expecting him to be so agreeable; the smile lines on his face deepened.

However, Xiao Ye slowly added a condition:

He took a sip of tea without even looking up:

"Once she gives birth to a child, she will be the primary wife. Before then, she is a concubine."

The smile on Zhang Dekai's face froze for a moment.

It was like someone had pressed the pause button on a photograph.

Xiao Ye put down the teacup and looked at him with a grin: "What, is there a problem?"

That smile was like a smiling tiger—it looked friendly, but there were knives hidden underneath.

"No, no problem." Zhang Dekai gave a dry laugh. "That's only right, only right."

He thought to himself: The old thing is already sixty; whether he can still father a child is debatable. Once you kick the bucket—won't the Xiao Family be under Waner's control anyway?

Xiao Ye was also calculating in his mind: No matter what you're planning, once she enters this door, won't she be at my mercy? Can you, a tender green onion, really be spicier than me, an old ginger?

The two looked at each other, both smiling cordially.

One was thinking about consummating the marriage tonight.

The other was thinking about stealing the family estate later.

These two, with their hundreds of schemes, were clashing in a mess, like abacus beads scattered all over the floor.

As for Zhang Waner's opinion?

No one cared.

She was like a dish of pickles on the dinner table—whether it's there or not, the meal goes on.

—

"Excellent!" Zhang Dekai slapped his thigh. "Then the wedding will be scheduled for one month from now. What does Master Xiao think?"

Xiao Ye glanced at him.

One month?

In one month, the System would have already finished him off! What kind of wedding would that be? A ghost marriage?

"Three days." He put down his teacup, his tone flat. "It's just taking a concubine, a matter of setting a couple of tables for a feast."

Zhang Dekai was taken aback: "Three days? This... so soon?"

Xiao Ye blew on the tea leaves: "It's just taking a concubine, not marrying a primary wife. All that fanfare is unnecessary; I even think three days is too long!"

Old pervert.

He cursed in his heart, but his face broke into an even brighter smile:

"Fine! Three days it is! Everything will be as Master Xiao says!"

PS: Brothers, please help out with chapter reviews, paragraph reviews, and five-star ratings. The more active the review section is, the more recommendations I'll get. A new book cannot survive without your support~~