Mysterious mirror hanging high

"Since you, third sister, insist on pairing Cheng Yan with a female cultivator, have you ever thought about marrying into her family?" Jing Yu said helplessly.

"That's absolutely impossible!" Zhao Mingyu said sternly, "The Zhao family cannot be destroyed here at Chengyan!"

"After all, Cheng Yan is a handsome boy. If he is willing to marry into the family, who knows, there might be a female cultivator willing to do so." Jing Yu sighed, "Third sister, even if he marries into the family, if he has children in the future, won't they be our own children?"

"Can this child have the surname Zhao?"

Jing Yu rolled his eyes. "Why don't you ask Wang Po from Yue Lao Pavilion to look for an unmarried female cultivator named Zhao in the market?"

Zhao Mingyu was so angry at Jing Yu that he laughed: "How can you deceive yourself like this!"

"Third sister, you can't have the best of both worlds. You don't want to marry into the family of Cheng Yan, but you also want to marry a female cultivator. How can you take all the good things in the world?"

"I understand this principle." Zhao Mingyu gritted his teeth and said, "I came to you and Mu Shan to borrow some spirit stones..."

"Mother..." Mu Shan's lips moved. He looked at Zhao Chenghuan who was at a loss, and finally just sighed: "Alas..."

"How much do you want to borrow?" Jing Yu asked back.

"I figured since it's someone else marrying off, I still had to prepare enough betrothal gifts. I'd have to gather eighty spirit stones... I don't believe there wouldn't be any female cultivators tempted!"

"Eighty Spirit Stones?!" Jing Yu raised his voice and sneered, "How much more do you need?"

"The Body Refining Guild still has some spirit stones for circulation. After all, I'm not the only one in charge. I can only take out ten..." Zhao Mingyu said solemnly, "I've saved about twenty over the years."

"Cheng Huan gave me some money, about fifteen yuan, and Cheng Yan also saved ten yuan over the years..."

"According to this calculation, there is still a gap of about 25 spirit stones."

Mu Shan looked a bit embarrassed. "Mother, it's not that I don't want to help you, but Manager Zhang from the Spiritual Plant Garden is about to retire, and I want to compete for that position... There are so many relationships to attend to, and I'm running out of spirit stones. Plus, the Free and Easy Alliance can't be moved lightly, so I'm afraid I can only scrape out fifteen spirit stones at most."

Zhao Mingyu nodded. "I understand your difficulties. The position of manager of Area A of the Spiritual Plant Garden is closely related to your foundation-building path, so naturally I must give it my all... The fact that you were able to come up with fifteen pieces has already far exceeded my expectations."

Then she turned to look at Jing Yu: "Sixth brother, your cultivation progress has been quite fast in the past few years. I think you have used spirit stones to purchase a lot of cultivation resources. I am afraid that you can't save too many spirit stones. I won't lend you too many. Maybe you can spare five? I will find a familiar Taoist friend to make up for the remaining shortfall..."

"Let alone five spirit stones." Jing Yu sneered, "I don't even have five spirit coins!"

Zhao Mingyu frowned: "Sixth brother..."

"You've truly lost your mind." Jing Yu shouted, "Third sister, I'm not trying to throw cold water on you, but you've spent all your family's savings to scrape together these eighty spirit stones, hoping to find a female cultivator for Cheng Yan to marry. Even if money really is attractive, what she's after is nothing more than the spirit stones, not Cheng Yan!"

"If something unexpected happens, this female cultivator and Cheng Yan will part ways, and she'll take the spirit stones and run away. You'll end up losing both your money and your life!"

"No matter what, ordinary people in Wushan Market are not equal to cultivators. Your family of mortal body cultivators are nothing more than a bunch of talking puppets in this market! Will the market's law enforcement guards uphold justice for you, consumables that are no more useful than lumps of iron?"

Jing Yu had gotten along well with Zhao Mingyu's family over the past three years, and normally they never got angry or argued with each other. But today, his words were extremely harsh and merciless. Not only Zhao Mingyu, but also Zhao Chenghuan and Zhao Chengyan looked unhappy.

"Let's take a step back and say you really did find a woman who could settle down and live a peaceful life with her, where would you let her live after marriage?"

"It's fine for one person to live in a shack in the outer district, but it's not a long-term solution when you have children. The market value of the private courtyard in the inner district has soared to over 300 spirit stones, and the rent is two spirit stones per year, which is another expense."

His mother was left speechless after being scolded by his uncle. Zhao Chenghuan felt distressed and, disregarding the distinction between seniority and inferiority, retorted, "Is it not possible for female cultivators to have their own place to live? Could it be that they have been training in Wushan Market for so many years, sleeping under a bridge with their blankets rolled up?"

"Cheng Huan, I really don't know how to respond to what you said."

Jing Yu said helplessly, "How could a truly well-fed and well-off female cultivator be willing to marry a mere mortal for eighty spirit stones?"

"All right!"

Zhao Mingyu slammed his iron cane hard. "Tomorrow, Wang Po from Yue Lao Pavilion will give me a list of interested female cultivators. I have to take a look first..."

"Okay! I'll see what that old woman can find tomorrow..." Jing Yu shook his head, got up and left.

----

On the second day, Jing Yu came to Mu Shan's house early. He didn't want to get involved in this matter. He had said some harsh words last night, so he made up his mind to observe more and say less today. If the candidate given by Wang Po was about the same, he would give a few symbolic words of advice and then ignore it. If the candidate was too outrageous, Zhao Mingyu was not really ignorant. He still had his own judgment and naturally knew to refuse.

"Friend Wang, is this the perfect match you've chosen for my family's Chengyan?"

Before he even stepped into the yard, he heard Zhao Mingyu's unbelievable voice coming from the yard.

Jing Yu looked towards the courtyard intently. Wang Po from Yue Lao Pavilion was standing opposite Zhao Mingyu with an embarrassed look on her face. Zhao Mingyu was still leaning on the iron crutch and holding a thin book in his hand. His chest was heaving at this moment, and he was obviously very angry.

Jing Yu walked in quickly, took the book from Zhao Mingyu's hand, opened it and took a look, and couldn't help being speechless.

"Friend Wang, this is a bit disrespectful."

Jing Yu held the book in his hand and said weakly, "Of the three female cultivators you gave me, one had a broken arm and a broken thigh; one was a prostitute in the outer quarters who had previously engaged in the flesh trade but has now turned over a new leaf; and the last one is sixty-eight years old this year..."

Wang Po couldn't help but complain at this point, "Fellow Daoist Zhao, this isn't my fault. It's simply because people strive for higher positions. How could a female cultivator of marriageable age look down upon someone less attractive? I carefully selected these three people. I thought there was a chance for a conversation. With a generous betrothal gift, maybe it could work out."

"To be honest, among these three, except for the last 68-year-old fellow, who is almost certain to succeed, the first two still have the foundation-building path to go. If other conditions cannot be negotiated, they may not be willing to enter this door!"