Xinyi arrived at the sitting room to see her parents and the main wife waiting for her. She greeted all of them properly with a curtsy.

"Xinyi, are you all better now?" Her mother asked her.

"Yes, thank you for your concern."

Ptooy! How fake. She did not even say anything in your defense when you were being accused! BaoBao raged.

"Now that Mei Ruo's funeral is completed, we can move on with our plan. As a sincere apology to you, we have decided to marry you into an affluent family where you can live comfortably and not be neglected or schemed against any longer." The main wife was the one speaking. Xinyi wondered if Zi Yao was the person who put this idea into their heads.

Xinyi! Be careful! This is another crucial event in the original soul's life! BaoBao warned her.

"Thank you for your kind thought but your daughter is happy living in this household, you don't have to do this." Xinyi rejected respectfully.

"Don't be rude! It's rude to reject others' kind intentions." Her mother lightly chided. When she heard who they intended to marry Xinyi to, her eyes glowed with greed picturing the dowry that she would receive for marrying Xinyi off.

"Xinyi, you're already 17 years old. It's about time for you to get married anyway. Fulfill your duty as a daughter of this family." Her father spoke up.

As if any of you fulfilled the role of her parent! How can some people be so thick skinned?! Giving nothing but asking for everything in return. BaoBao retorted indignantly.

Knowing there was no way out of this marriage, she gracefully accepted the offer with thanks then returned to her courtyard. BaoBao, it's time to explore the town.

For the next two days before Zhang Yong came again, she studied geography and maps intensely. She also made plans to read about the history of the wars and conflicts so that she could identify which was the safest area besides the capital that was heavily guarded.

 

When Zhang Yong arrived in the late afternoon, he felt her presence in her room. He knocked and entered her room with her approval. He saw that she was reading at the table. Doesn't she normally read at the cherry blossom tree? Then he remembered how the previous ploy was made possible because of that. He went sullen again. If he had been more careful, she would not have to suffer. 

Xinyi closed her book. "You're early. I thought that you'd come after the sun sets." 

"It's out of habit..."

Xinyi thought for awhile. "Commander Zhang, can you tell me all about the conflicts this country has?"

What got her interested in war and politics? It was surprising that a woman would show an interest in such things. "Sure, but why?"

"You won't have to teach me if you need to know the reason to do so."

"No, no. Forget that I asked."

"Then, is it also okay to increase the intensity of our training?"

"But you just recovered..."

"I'm fine."

"...If you say so." Zhang Yong did not have the heart to deny her whatever she wanted. He felt like he owed her.

 

Days passed and 2 months flew by.

Their routine was largely back to when he first agreed to help her with the experiment. He would come in the afternoon to teach her about whatever she wanted to know about, then practice martial arts with her when the sun began to set. 

There were stark differences in the way they interacted though. Besides the fact that they now trained with a sword that he brought for her, she no longer accepted his cooking nor his goodwill to boil water for her. When he told her to bathe, she cooked. Their mealtime will be entirely silent unless it was a topic about war, politics, and current events. Although he left the water to boil while they were eating so that it would be hot for her to use during her bath, she would take water from the well. 

Each time Xinyi drew a cold bath, BaoBao would pout. Whenever Zhang Yong was not around, she would let BaoBao help her prepare a warm bath. BaoBao has not yet realised that the extent he was caring for his host was already beyond what systems would normally do. At the most, systems would nurse their host back to health since it is a mutually beneficial thing. 

Zhang Yong's heart could not help but ache at how professional their relationship has become. It was almost similarly silent but she felt far more distant from him. He would not blame her because he knew that it was his fault.

One night, Xinyi finally said something different. "Ah. You don't have to come tomorrow, come the next day instead. If that's inconvenient for you, then forget it. Just cancel one day of training."

Zhang Yong was about to ask her why then he remembered that she would likely just tell him not to come at all, so he swallowed his words back. "Mm." 

The next day, he came in the late afternoon to cook for her. Since she would not be in her courtyard today and she would not let him cook when she is around, he used this chance to cook a meal for her. He brought over richer ingredients to be cooked with her herbs. 

It was long after the sun had set when she finally returned back to her courtyard. 

Zhang Yong stood with his back straight as he took in her beautiful get up. She was dressed up today. Makeup properly done, hair in an elaborate and elegant style with silver ornaments in her hair, and she wore a light grey garment with gold embroidery. He only caught himself staring when she reached the table where he was at. "You... look wonderful tonight. Did you attend some event?"

Xinyi looked at him from head to toe then back up again to look at him in the eye. He was wearing a midnight blue garment with silver embroidery. "You look pretty dressed up too. What are you doing here?"

"I came to have a meal with you. I've already cooked everything, you'll have it, right?" Anyone would have been able to hear the hope in his voice. 

"It'll be a waste of food otherwise." Xinyi obligingly sat down while he got busy setting the food on the table. She could still see steam rising from the food, he had been diligently keeping the food warm. Xinyi sighed inwardly. She decided to make things a little easier for him just for today.

During their meal, Zhang Yong tried to ask her again, "Today... Was there an event that you had to attend?"

"I was meeting my fiance for the first time." Xinyi replied. Zhang Yong dropped the food between his chopsticks onto the table. He was shocked for 2 reasons. Xinyi finally replied him but it was to reveal such big news. She has gotten engaged. 

"What a waste." Xinyi commented as she looked at the piece of herb on the table. She had meant it when she said that it would be a waste of food if she did not eat what he cooked. If it was not for this reason, she would not have bothered about him.

"Ah. Sorry." Zhang Yong hesitated for a bit before continuing. "...Where did you go to meet him?"

"I followed my father and mother Chen to meet my fiance and his parents at a restaurant in town. He seemed to be quite pleased with me since he took me around town for the rest of the day without our parents."

"Oh... So who is the man fortunate enough to get someone like you?" Zhang Yong asked in a soft voice.

"Ou SiLiang. Besides, I highly doubt that he's fortunate." Xinyi said that in all honesty because only she knew that he would end up a ditched groom. 

"What do you mean? I've said it before and I'll say it again, the tenacity, drive, and discipline you have in striving to break through your boundaries shines so bright that no one else would be able to match it." He said it so seriously that it caught Xinyi's full attention.

 Xinyi then cast her eyes down and lightly rubbed the tip of her nose while saying, "I got it already, please never repeat such things again." She returned to eating. 

Zhang Yong stared at her for awhile before returning to eat in silence.

He says and does such ambiguous things to you. I'm only not falling for it now thanks to what happened with Mei Ruo. BaoBao puffed his cheeks in frustration. 

After Zhang Yong went to the camp between the border and the city, he could not rest well when it was time for him to sleep. His mind kept drifting back to Xinyi's engagement. I must be worried if the man is good for her. She has suffered enough being placed in such disadvantageous positions all the time. He took immediate action and found a spy to follow Ou SiLiang and report his every movements and business to him. I shall ascertain for myself if he's worthy of a treasure like Xinyi.

Meanwhile on Xinyi's end, she was discussing her plans with BaoBao on her bed. "SiLiang said that the dowry will be ready and sent over by the end of the next month. I have to be gone by then."

"We've only managed to sneak out of the house a few times in the past two months... We're not familiar enough with the outskirts of the city yet." BaoBao felt a bit worried.

Xinyi looked at her hands. "And I'm still at mid level Sky realm. I can feel that it's bordering onto high level though." She clenched her hands into fist and looked at BaoBao sitting beside her. "We'll begin exploring the outskirts and beyond from now on. We'll sneak out more often too. Get ready for more action."

BaoBao's eyes were on fire. "Yes!"

 

Another month passed by. It was finally the end of the experiment that she got Zhang Yong's help in. After their training today, Xinyi felt her power on the limit of mid level Sky realm. I just need a little push. Just a little more. 

"Can we train for awhile more today? Fight me like you're really out to kill me!" Xinyi was feeling a little impatient. She was running out of time. She wanted to be at least of the average cultivation level to increase the chances of her survival when she lives alone.

Xinyi was planning to run away before the marriage. She did not want to run away after getting married because once a character goes further and exits the main plot, things become less predictable. She also increases in visibility just because she's among other unrelated side characters. So they are like "side stories" of their own. This would mean that if she ran away then, there would be more effort made to track her down and more obstacles to cross. She needed to avoid that.

"Are you sure?" Zhang Yong was concerned about her.

"Yes! I feel like I'm about to enter high level Sky realm!" Xinyi replied with determination. 

Zhang Yong nodded then closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was filled with deadly killing intent. Power was coursing throughout and out of his body. This made it hard for Xinyi to breathe or even move. It was as if a prey was being eyed by its predator and became frozen stiff. She bit hard on her lower lip and fought against the instinctive fear wrapping around body. 

She moved one step by one step towards Zhang Yong. She slowly sped up and managed to break into a run towards him. Her body was full of sweat by the time she was within striking distance. She yelled out as she swung her sword at him. She put all her killing intent into that swing and slashed with all her might. 

The force that flew out of her sword was a little stronger and faster than what Zhang Yong anticipated and that caused him to stumble a few steps back. He even suffered a surface wound from the swing of her sword. 

Zhang Yong knew she had broken through in the last moment. He grinned and his eyes shone with pride. He already found her superb for having such a strong will that could break the frozen state that his killing intent would put people in, but to be able to break through to another level in such moments... These were the exact moments he loved seeing on battlefields!

Xinyi collapsed onto one knee and used the sword to support herself. The last attack really drained everything she had. She was panting heavily. But she was relieved. She broke through!

BaoBao was cheering and praising her to the high heavens. She could not help but laugh happily. All I did was to reach the average level that people would reach, but look at how much you're celebrating. It's really quite funny.