7. The Marriage Engagement

Mu Chen opened the door. There was an unexpected person in the room.

"Father." Mu Chen looked down and greeted carefully.

Mu Yuanfeng, his father treated Mu Chen very well, but Mu Chen was intimidated by Mu Yuanfeng. So he was not close to his father. He was extra careful every time he talked to his father.

 
Mu Yuanfeng turned back and looked at Mu Chen, and asked, "I heard that you fired Qi Four?"
Mu Chen nodded and said, "Yes."

"Didn't you always like him?" Mu Yuanfeng asked.

Mu Chen looked up and said cautiously, "He is such a coward. Every time I fight with others, he stays far away to watch. He does no help at all. Father, if you like Qi Four, I will hire him back."

"No need. He is a betrayer, not a keeper." Mu Yuanfeng said calmly.

Mu Chen didn't know that what Qi Four did. But Mu Yuanfeng did.

Mu Yuanfeng had put up with Qi Four for a long time. But since Mu Chen was very close to Qi Four, Mu Yuanfeng did not do anything to Qi Four because he was worried that his son might keep further away from him if he did so, and he was also worried that there would be more servants like Qi Four would fill in.

Right after Mu Chen kicked Qi Four out, Mu Yuanfeng broke Qi Four's legs.

Mu Chen nodded and said, "You are right."

Mu Yuanfeng said as he looked at Mu Chen, "I heard that you are chasing someone named Zhuang Yu recently."

Mu Chen smiled awkwardly and said, "There are too many people chasing Zhuang Yu. I have given up on him."

Mu Yuanfeng nodded and said, "I am glad that you give up. You are too young to involve yourself in complicated romance relationships. Besides, you have an engagement with someone else.”

A dim light flashed in Mu Chen's eyes. The original Mu Chen's fiancé was a man. That man was extremely ugly. Mu Chen was so shocked that he even fainted when he saw that man for the first time.

"Father, who is the person I am engaged to?" Mu Chen asked.

"He is a versatile, named Ye Shi." Mu Yuanfeng said.

Mu Chen squinted. There were three genders of people in this world: men, women, and versatile. Versatile was a type of man. Zhuang Yu was a versatile.

"Father, what is Ye Shi like? How did Ye Shi and I get engaged?" Mu Chen asked.

Mu Yuanfeng answered, "Ye Shi's grandfather and your grandfather are good friends. They arranged the engagement for you since you were young. Over the years, after Ye Shi's grandfather passed away, the Ye family fell apart and live a less glorious life than before."

Mu Chen said with his heading down, "Is that so?" In the original story, there was no much attention of Ye Shi. Since Ye Shi was his fiancée, it was necessary to investigate him.

"Father, do you know how Ye Shi is doing?" Mu Chen asked.

"Ye Shi's grandfather, Ye He, has a son, Ye Xun. Ye Xun has one main wife and a dozen concubines. Worse than that, he favors his concubines over his main wife because he is a pushover. Although Ye Shi is the first-born of Ye Xun’s main wife, given that his birth mother died young, he is living a hard life in the family. But I heard that Ye Shi is very talented. He is already a two-star warrior." Mu Yuanfeng said.

Mu Chen nodded thoughtfully and said, "I see." Ye Shi was the same age as Mu Chen. Mu Chen could get access to a lot of resources. But he was a lazy learner. Therefore, he was only a seven-star martial art pupil.

The purpose of maintaining an in-law relationship between the Mu family and the Ye family was to achieve a win-win situation. Now, as Ye He passed away, Ye Xun was barely strong enough to maintain the family's prosperity. As a result, many of the family's properties were taken away. Ye Shi, who was not favored by his father, was shunned and negelcted in the family as the family declined.

"I heard that Ye Shi will come here in the near future. If you really don't like him, we will cancel the engagement. It is totally up to you." Mu Yuanfeng said.

Mu Chen nodded and said, "Okay."

Mu Yuanfeng was indeed a father who loved his son. Mu Chen’s grandfather Mu Ke had a good hope on Ye Shi. If Mu Chen canceled the engagement, Mu Ke would have a problem with Mu Yuanfeng. Although Mu Ke had passed the family affairs down to Mu Yuanfeng, Mu Ke had a big influence in the family.

8. Ye Shi

"I heard that you sold the Aquamarine Sword. Do you need money?" Mu Yuanfeng remembered something as he was about to leave.

Mu Chen smiled awkwardly, looking down, rubbing his fingers embarrassedly, and said, "I do need money. Besides, I think I overpaid that sword."

Mu Yuanfeng smiled with gratification and said, "Now you can tell the real value of the sword. It means that you are starting to think like a grown man."

Mu Chen smiled embarrassedly and shyly.

"Here are five hundred elementary stones. Spend more time on cultivation. Don't waste your time on hanging out with your so-called friends." Mu Yuanfeng said seriously.

Mu Chen nodded and said, "Yes, father. Lesson learned."

Mu Yuanfeng glanced slightly at Mu Chen and he left.

After Mu Yuanfeng left, Mu Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

Mu Chen weighed the bag of elementary stones in his hand and smiled. Mu Yuanfeng was generous!

Mu Chen was so lucky to have such a generous father, but he did not appreciate it.

Mu Chen squinted his eyes and thought: I really need to practice hard. He was now thirteen years old. According to the novel, he died at the age of sixteen. In this life, Mu Chen did not want to die young again. If he could be more powerful, he would be safer. Now he was only a seven-star martial art pupil, but his fiancée, whom he had never met, was a two-star warrior.

...
"Master, this is City of Mo. The Mu family is one of the three major families in City of Mo. Your fiancé is Mu Chen, the young master of the Mu family. You can count your living on him." Chen Da said.

Ye Shi did not agree, "My grandfather decided on my engagement with Mu Chen. Now that my grandfather has passed away, and I have been kicked out of the family by my father, it is hard to say whether the Mu family will continue the engagement."

Chen Da said gloomy, "Ye Xun is so ungrateful. After your mother did so much for him in the past, he treats you so bad just for a few concubines.”  
Ye Shi shook his head and said, "Enough. Never talk about it again.”

"Master, the Mu family is also a famous family. I don’t think they will break the promise,” Chen Da comforted.

"Even if Mu Ke, the current helmsman of the Mu family, doesn't intend to break the promise, Mu Chen may not agree on the engagement. I don’t want to force him. I am a healthy man. I can live on my own. I don’t to beg him to marry me. If Mu Chen doesn’t like me, the engagement is off the table,” Ye Shi said.

Chen Da looked at Ye Shi and said, "Master, don't talk nonsense. You are a versatile who has no one to depend on. It is too dangerous to make a living outside.” 

Ye Shi said in disapproval, "I have nothing to worry about. Look my face. No one would have evil thoughts about me!"

Chen Da said helplessly, "Master, you shouldn’t say that about yourself." Ye Shi was not ugly. But he was a tough-looking man. Men were into cute and sweet versatile. But Ye Shi’s facial features were sharp and rigid. 

"Uncle Chen, since we're in the city, let's ask around and see what kind of person Mu Chen is. We should be prepared who we are going to deal with,” Ye Shi rolled his eyes and said.

Chen Da nodded and said, "Good idea. I believe in your grandfather’s judgement.”

Ye Shi's face blushed. Chen Da smiled faintly. Although Ye Shi was more mature than he was supposed to be, he was only a thirteen-year-old boy after all, and he still had some expectations for his fiancé.