Chapter 48: Bracelet (9)

Chapter 48: Bracelet (9)

Muchen woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache. When he took into account how much booze he'd put away it was relatively mild, but it still wasn't a pleasant way to start the day. He forced himself to crawl out of his bedroll and step into the open air, noting in passing that his biological clock had woken him up with the dawn despite everything he'd done the previous night.

He paced around his tent, then jogged in place for a moment. Already, the headache had largely faded away. Muchen headed down to the stream the camp used a source of water and dunked his head in. The effort of the walk and the shock of the cold water dispelled the last lingering traces of sleepiness and the bulk of his hangover.

Muchen smiled. He didn't know if it was the benefit of a pre-modern lifestyle or yet another side effect of cultivation, but he was feeling a million times better than he had after a night of partying back on Earth.

He had also moved an important step closer to obtaining the bracelet Xinyi needed. Not to mention surviving a series of life and death battles and a brush with an impossibly powerful beast. Perhaps most importantly, he'd developed loyal customers for life for his nascent distillery operation, judging by how Sunchang and his friends had taken to the stuff.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

Muchen brushed his damp hair out of his eyes and headed for the cookfires. His body needed food after all the work it had put in overnight purging the alcohol from his bloodstream. Muchen secured a bowl of rice porridge and then headed for his real target. Xiaomei, carrying a pair of buckets down to the stream he had just left.

He fell into step beside her. She glared at him, but Muchen let the irritation roll off his back without saying anything. As long as she wasn't actively trying to drive him away, he had a chance.

He waited until she set her load down by the side of the stream to speak. "I don't think Sunchang is as gung ho about his engagement as you thought."

She glared at him. "Why should I care what you think?"

"At least, if he had his whole heart set on marrying Zihan," Muchen said, "I don't think he'd be acting so protective of another woman."

Her eyes widened. "What did you do?"

Muchen grinned, waving his hands in a shushing gesture. "Relax, I can be subtle when I want to be."

She scoffed. "I've never seen it."

"Like I said," Muchen replied, "when I want to be."

She didn't reply, instead turning her attention to the buckets in her hands. She filled the first before setting it down on the ground with a little more force than needed. Some water slopped over the edge. Muchen decided it was best not to point that out.

Muchen waited until she'd filled the second bucket before he spoke again. "What if he's as interested in you as you are of him?"

"He would have said something already," she replied.

"Not if he thought you weren't interested," Muchen said.

He could have laughed if it weren't such a serious situation. Two oblivious childhood friends, circling around and hiding their crushes from each other. It would have been more amusing if the Qianzhan Continent wasn't the kind of place where people got into fatal duels over outsiders messing around with engagements.

"If you don't talk to him, he's just going to go along with his family obligations," Muchen said. "If you do, well, there's a big difference between being engaged and being married."

She grumbled in response, but her tone didn't have the same bite to it. She was at least considering what he said. That was probably the best Muchen could hope for.

"Why do you care?" she asked.

"Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic," Muchen said. "Wouldn't the world be a better place if a loveless marriage can be avoided?"

She just glared at him. Muchen shrugged.

It was only her state of inebriation that let Muchen sit calmly at the table instead of creating distance or drawing his own weapon to defend himself. In the state she was in, Zihan would be lucky to charge out the door without stumbling to the ground, let alone storm the Gao family compound in a murderous rage.

"You've done nothing but complain about your betrothal," Muchen said.

"That doesn't mean I'll tolerate my fiance's wandering eye!"

Muchen gave her an evaluating look. He'd assumed their interests were aligned. That deep down, Zihan wanted nothing more than for her betrothal to come to an end. If she was actually just engaged in some kind of theater, publicly playing hard to get, his plans would have to change.

"You do want out of this betrothal?"

His serious tone was enough to penetrate Zihan's drunken rage. She blinked at him blearily, then took a deep breath, placing her free hand down on the table to steady herself.

"Why do you care?" she asked.

"Don't worry about that," Muchen said, doing his best to put on a reassuring smile. "Just tell me: do you want out of this betrothal?"

"Of course I do," she said. A lot of the anger had drained out of her by now, but she sounded no less certain about her goal. That was a relief.

"If you don't want the marriage, and Shuchang doesn't want the marriage," Muchen said, "then what obstacles are left?"

His question was only half rhetorical. He had an idea of the remaining problems, but he wanted to hear Zihan's take on it.

"Nothing much," she said, "just my father and his family elders."

One problem at a time.

"Why is your father so set on marrying you to him?" Muchen asked.

"He thinks I can form a golden core some day," Zihan said, "but only if I cultivate a proper scripture."

"Don't you want to reach those heights?" Muchen asked.

"Yes, but I want to do it as Chun Zihan!" she said. "Not as Shuchang's wife!"

"All right," Muchen said. "What about the Gao family elders?"

"What about them?" Zihan asked, snorting. "Those stubborn old pricks won't do anything that might make the family look bad."

Muchen tapped his fingers on the table as he thought. He had wanted to stay in the background and arrange things to his liking from the shadows, but it looked like he would have to change his plans. In order to settle everything and make everybody happy, he'd need to take a more active role.

"Your father cares for your future, the Gao family elders for their face," he said. "It shouldn't be impossible."

Zihan gave him a blank look.

"Meet back here tomorrow at noon," Muchen said, "and we can solve all of your problems."