Chapter 104: Declaration of Intent

As Kian and Jia walked back home, Kian turned to look sideways at his system.

[Hua Jia]

[Favorability +30]

[Favorability: 230]

He smiled, then looked at the favorability of the others.

He was not that surprised that the girls hadn’t improved much in terms of favorability, after all, they had all been busy these days and even their nights of intimacy was often rushed.

Be it farm work, other surprises, or what not, all of it was mentally taxing. And Kian knew that for someone to fall deeper in love, they needed peace of mind and calm.

And time of clear intimacy.

Now that things were calming down, and with the farm and everything in his hand, he could focus on this matter and spend alone time with his girls.

"What are you thinking?" Jia asked.

"Something interesting."

She smiled, her pearly white teeth showing their fangs. "I was thinking something interesting, too. If I can earn money from this land, I can expand. So, that’s my plan. What do you think?"

"Sounds good."

She blinked.

Jia was not an experienced person in terms of land acquisition or maintaining a business. But she knew Kian was pretty good at these things give or take.

Kian’s focus turned back to the favorability charts.

Almost all the girls were now inches away from a level up in favorability, and most probably only needed a little trigger.

...

By the time the moon climbed over the clay rooftops, the city house had settled into its own soft rhythm.

Kian stripped off his road clothes and sank into the bath until only his head and knees broke the surface. Steam coiled around the edges of the wooden tub.

Outside, through the sliding screen, he could hear the girls’ voices rise and dip in the main room.

The bathwater held the heat of warmed stones, and for a while he just listened with his eyes closed.

Jia’s voice came first, quick and proud. "I’m telling you, I can feel every corner of that field. It’s like the land is breathing under my feet."

She was probably sitting on the table, not on a cushion. Kian knew that she liked to do that by now.

"Then don’t waste it," Feimei said. Her voice was calm, poured like tea. "So, did you give it to the widow and family?"

"Not yet."

Mia’s softer murmur followed. "We should visit the family tomorrow. Bring me as well, Jia."

"Sure."

Jiao Yin said something too low for Kian to catch, and Xiao Cui laughed, a bright, unguarded sound that made the bathwater feel warmer.

Kian opened his eyes and watched the lantern light shiver across the ceiling.

Outside, the voices moved closer, and he heard someone set a tray down on the low table.

He smiled and began to wash the road dust from his arms.

Whatever they were planning, they would give him the version they wanted him to know soon enough.

But he had a little plan for tonight himself.

...

He stepped out of the bath with a towel slung over one shoulder, and another around his waist. The steam still curled off his skin, and the hallway was dark, but the main room glowed from a single low lantern.

Voices carried through the screen.

Kian pushed it open with one hand.

Feimei sat near the low table, back straight, a cup of tea balanced on her knee as if the noise around her belonged to a different room.

Mia lay half across a pile of cushions, legs kicked out, chin propped on one fist.

Jia sat on the table itself, not beside it, her feet dangling and one hand waving mid-story about something.

Jiao Yin knelt on a flat cushion with her hands folded in her lap, perfectly still as she listened.

Xiao Cui sat cross-legged at the edge of the group, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and her whole body aimed toward the talk. She was visibly waving around as she listened.

Every voice stopped the moment Kian entered.

All eyes turned to him.

"Hey."

Even for Kian, the gaze of all of his girls at once was quite effective in making him nervous.

He walked to the center of the room and stood there, barefoot on the cool wood. "I want to say something to you all. Something very important."

They were surprised.

Jia’s hand stopped mid-swing. Mia pushed herself upright on the cushions. Jiao Yin’s fingers tightened over her own wrist. Xiao Cui sat back a fraction. Even Feimei set the tea down without a sound.

Kian wasn’t the type to look so solemn. For him to look so serious, whatever he wanted to say must not be anything simple.

The room pulled tight.

They all waited, watching him.

Kian let his gaze move from face to face.

Feimei first, calm but focused.

Then Mia, black hair spilling over one shoulder, lips parted. She had also just taken a bath.

Jia, still on the table but no longer swinging her feet, seemed to know what was about to happen.

Jiao Yin, eyes wide and unblinking, was clearly curious. And Xiao Cui, who was an airhead as usual, had her eyes focused on the wrong part of Kian’s body.

His eyes softened.

He exhaled slow through his nose.

The lantern shimmered along the damp ends of his hair.

For a long moment, the only sound was the distant chirp of night insects beyond the walls.

Kian dipped into a low bow, one hand flat across his chest. The towel slipped where it hung over his shoulder, but he didn’t reach to fix it.

The girls were shocked.

And Jia, especially, seemed pissed immediately. Even she didn’t know why his bowing to them, even so slightly, made her so pissed.

"Why are you bowing?" she asked.

"To be honest," he said, sighing, "a few days ago, I didn’t know what to do with my life or where to go from there. I was a lost idiot who behaved otherwise."

He straightened slowly. Only then did Jia feel it okay to continue listening.

The lantern light slid over the damp ends of his hair.

"I was a cultivator barely worth noticing."

A pause.

"No, fuck you were not," Jia said, annoyed. "You were talented from the moment I met you."

He smiled. "At that point, I didn’t really think I could even get beautiful girls like you calling me husband. I was not born that confident. That seemed wild to me."

Xiao Cui was surprised: "I thought confidense and you were synonimous."

"But life changes faster than I can make sense of it. All because I pretended to be more confident and tried to have you all for myself, despite not being sure of myself at the time."

Jia blinked.

He took a slow breath and let his gaze pass over each of them. "But even now, I feel like I’m only starting to know all of you, despite now being able to call you mine without worry. There is still a part of me that feels a bit inferior, as if I don’t deserve you all."

The girls listened, not interrupting.

Kian nodded to himself, and to them. "Honestly, I’m really glad you’re all mine. I joke about it once in a while, yeah but I’m genuinely excited deepdown—despite me acting nonchalant—that you idiots are all mine."

He rubbed his nose. "In fact, I am probably very good at acting nonchalant. Maybe it’s due to all the sigma boy reels I watched as a kid."

"What’s that?" Xiao Cui asked.

"Something unique. But anyway, Jia’s tantrums. Mia’s studiousness. Feimei’s stern ideas. Xiao Cui, your cuteness. Jiao Yin’s simplicity."

His voice tightened at the edges. "All of it has started to matter to me. So at the end of the day, if you don’t mind... I’d like to call you all my wives from now on. So, tell me. Can I say that to anyone with confidence?"

Mia nodded again and again.

Feimei raised her cup and took a slow sip, her smile hidden behind porcelain.

Xiao Cui turned bright pink and stared at the floor, lost somewhere far behind her own eyes.

Just from their reaction’s, Kian knew the answer.

He turned to Jia.

"What about you?"

Jia rolled her eyes from her spot on the table. "You already call me that at night. Why be so pedantic now?"

She clicked her tongue, but her voice was warmer than the words.

Kian turned to the final person.

Jiao Yin was the most emotional. Her eyes had gone glassy, and her lips pressed together like she was trying to keep a sound from spilling out.

She didn’t wipe her face. She just looked at him, not blinking at all. Then she whispered, so low the others didn’t hear it, "Wives. Me too? Do I deserve to be called that along with them?"

Jia said, annoyed: "Maybe he should just make you a concubine. You met him when you were trying to steal from his potential corpse, yeah? Very bad, very bad."

Kian shook his head, smiling. "There is no need for that, my women are my wives. Simple as that. But yeah, Jiao Yin, you better show me your value."

Jiao Yin blushed. "You..."