Chapter 70: Red Cord of Marriage

Standing up and patting my cheap jacket, I looked at Jiang Fei. Decked out in designer clothes, she sat dumbfounded on the sofa; she still didn't seem to understand what the lobby manager meant.

"Mr. Gao, right this way, please."

"Stop right there!" Flustered and enraged, it took Jiang Fei a long moment to squeeze out a sentence. "I'm calling your head office! Why does he get served first? The Jiang family has tens of millions in your bank, and you're telling me that doesn't compare to some country bumpkin wearing street-stall knockoffs?!"

"Miss Jiang, please mind your words. This gentleman is an honored guest of our bank..."

Jiang Fei cut the manager off before he could finish. "Shut up, it's not your place to speak! Get your higher-ups out here. I want to know exactly what's more important today: Jiangjin Real Estate's projects, or this bumpkin's trivial errands!"

I didn't deny Jiang Fei's beauty; even in this situation, she maintained a breathtaking charm. That didn't mean I appreciated it, though. On the contrary, I usually had a four-word evaluation for unreasonable women like her: "Big boobs, no brains."

"What did you say?!" Jiang Fei gritted her teeth in anger. If so many people hadn't been watching, she probably would have slapped me by now.

Not wanting to tangle with her any longer, I followed the staff member into the basement. Even through the thick iron plates, I could still hear Jiang Fei roaring outside. "Whoever marries that temper is in for a world of bad luck," I muttered.

I swiped my Black Card, entered the password, and took a heavy black package out of my personal safe.

The items I had redeemed this time included a jar of Child Immortal Wine, so I handled it with extra care.

"Mr. Gao, we didn't handle things well today. Please forgive us," the staff member said, maintaining a polite attitude.

"Running into that spoiled woman was an accident. It has nothing to do with you." Holding the black package, I just wanted to return safely to Ting Tang Road without any more incidents.

When I came out of the basement, Jiang Fei was still arguing with the lobby manager. She was so loud that a crowd of onlookers had packed the entrance to the VIP lane.

"Excuse me, coming through." I hurried to leave, but as if determined to make things difficult for me, Jiang Fei stubbornly followed right behind.

"We aren't finished here!" Abandoning the lobby manager, she chased after me in her high heels. Her slender fingers clamped around my arm. "You're not allowed to leave!"

"You're completely unreasonable. Do I need your permission to leave? Does the Jiang family own this bank?" Ignoring Jiang Fei's pestering, I forcefully shook off her hand and pushed my way toward the door.

Perhaps she hadn't expected to be treated so roughly. Jiang Fei's hands grasped at empty air. Wearing stiletto heels made it hard for her to keep her balance in the first place, and caught off guard, she crashed heavily into my back.

"Thud!"

My mind barely registered two soft mounds pressing against my back before a powerful force sent me stumbling. I nearly threw the black package out of my hands.

"Fuck! Are you crazy?" Even a saint has a temper. If the package had gone flying just now, the Child Immortal Wine I had redeemed for five points definitely would have shattered.

I spun around and glared at Jiang Fei. She was sitting on the floor, looking rather disheveled. Her miniskirt could barely cover her thighs, faintly revealing a hint of mystery.

"I..." The grievance and anger brewing in her heart were just about to explode when she looked down and saw a red cord woven from Talisman Paper slipping out of my package. "This is what you took out of the bank?"

She reached out to grab it, and my eyes instantly went wide with panic. That was the Red Cord of Marriage. It absolutely couldn't be touched carelessly.

"Don't touch that!"

I held the package in my right hand and reached out to snatch the cord back with my left, but Jiang Fei beat me to it, gripping the red cord with her right hand. "What the hell is this?"

Male left, female right. We grabbed the two ends of the red cord, one after the other.

"Let go!"

"Why should I? I found it!"

As Jiang Fei and I squabbled, neither of us noticed the Talisman Paper in our hands spontaneously combusting. One end wrapped around Jiang Fei's wrist and vanished, while the other end wound around my left ring finger and turned to ash.

"W-Where did it go?" Jiang Fei's eyes widened as she felt her wrist.

I also stared blankly at the specks of ash left behind by the burning red cord. "It's ruined. The Red Cord of Marriage I redeemed for three points got wasted on this woman!"

Every single livestream point from the Underworld Live Show was earned with my life.

This red cord was originally meant to conduct a ghost marriage to bind a supernatural fate. In the end, by some freak accident, it was used on Jiang Fei.

A whole three points exchanged for a woman who was good for nothing but her looks. My mood right now was incredibly complicated.

"Whatever, it's already used. What else is there to say?" Helpless, I stood up, hugged my package, and prepared to leave.

"You think you can just walk away? I sprained my ankle because of you!" Jiang Fei struggled to stand up, leaning against the wall as she shouted at me.

"Then what do you want to do?" Having wasted three points, I forcefully suppressed my anger. If this woman continued to be ungrateful and pushed her luck, I might just have to teach her a lesson on her family's behalf.

Jiang Fei was backed into a corner by my advance. She noticed that when I was angry, a crimson hue surfaced in the depths of my eyes. They were a strange pair of eyes—less human and more like a cunning, ferocious fire fox!

Stared down by those eyes, she found herself completely unable to say what she had originally intended. After hesitating for a long time, she finally mumbled, "I sprained my ankle. I can't drive, so you have to take me home."

"Take you home?" Jiang Fei's sudden shift in attitude left me baffled. "You're making no sense."

The crowd of onlookers outside was growing larger and larger. Anxious to get away, I clutched the black package tightly and slipped into the crowd.

"Hey, what's your name?" Jiang Fei still hadn't given up, shouting into the crowd again.

"Go ask your brother! I'm one of the people he hates most in this life."

Noticing that the gazes of the surrounding men held a complex mix of anger, envy, and jealousy, I quickened my pace. "Bai Qi, retreat!"

I left in a hurry, but a magical seed had been planted in Jiang Fei's heart.

She leaned against the wall as if shouting that sentence had drained all her strength. Her face was flushed, and her chest heaved. 'What did I just do? Asking a strange man's name in broad daylight? Jiang Fei, oh Jiang Fei, the men chasing you could line up all the way from Jiangcheng to Xinhu. Why on earth would you do such weird things for a country bumpkin? But then again, this man really is mysterious. He actually has a higher level of clearance at the bank than Jiangjin Real Estate. No, I need to go ask my sister-in-law!'

A woman might take an interest in a man for many reasons: handsome looks, a witty personality, or a prominent family background. But there is also another kind of inexplicable attraction, as if bound by a pact from a past life or destined by fate. This feeling, akin to destiny, is often called love at first sight.

Returning to the Pinnacle of Happiness, I opened the package. The jar of Child Immortal Wine was heavy, but in reality, there were only about two jin of wine inside.

Peeling back the top-flower sealing cloth on the wine jar, the aroma of the wine instantly filled the Adult Shop. Even Bai Qi perked up his ears and stared eagerly at the jar.

"Don't rush, I'll pour you a cup to taste in a bit." The liquid was like premium amber, its aroma as pure as a rare orchid, clear and transparent.

I scooped out a spoonful and tasted it carefully. It entered the mouth mellow and sweet, with a lingering fragrance. The aftertaste was crisp and clean, carrying a tiny, subtle hint of bitterness.

After drinking it, my five internal organs felt harmonized, and a surge of warmth roamed through the meridians of my body. "Good wine!"

"Woof, woof!" Bai Qi wagged his tail and trotted in circles around me. Only at times like this did he actually act like a pet dog.

"You only get one spoonful. I need this wine to sustain my life." I fed a spoonful to Bai Qi. The dignified Changbai Mountain Guard Dog stuck out his tongue and tasted it little by little. After finishing, he lay down comfortably by my feet, and to my surprise, fell asleep moments later.

"Such a lightweight?" I dragged Bai Qi to the side, resealed the Child Immortal Wine with the top-flower, and locked it away in the cabinet.

Then, I took out another item—the Detailed Explanation of Profound Truth Dao Methods. Just like the General Outline of Heavenly Eye Cultivation, this was also an old-fashioned thread-bound book. Although it looked ancient, it was perfectly preserved.

"The myriad things are all one, the Great Dao is the sole truth. The arcane is unknowable, the wondrous is ineffable. This is called Arcane Truth; this is called Profound Truth."

Flipping to the first page, I saw the Profound Truth Arcane Edict. Although I didn't fully understand it, I figured it was just like the central thesis of an essay from back in school.

"Every time I read Daoist classics, I feel especially ignorant..."

Reading further down, I found the second page was the Precious Ode to True Person Nanhua.

I actually knew of this True Person Nanhua; he was Zhuangzi from the pre-Qin period.

"Nanhua originates from the Dao's source, so profound and distant it cannot be fathomed. In motion, he roams with creation; in stillness, he breathes with Supreme Harmony."

"Unbound and free beyond life and death, wandering unfettered in the realm of the divine. Moreover, nourished by the Nine Elixirs, he lightly ascends, returning to the Taiji."

"All disciples entering the sect must remember this."