Chapter 52 Chapter 52 Uninvited Guest
"I am the head of the Qin Family; what business might you have with me?"
Qinchuan looked at the jade-crowned youth and asked.
"Are you the head of the Qin Family, Qinchuan?"
Upon hearing Qinchuan's words, the attention of the man and woman riding on the back of the Sky Wolf Eagle immediately fell on Qinchuan, their eyebrows raising.
"So you are Qinchuan, the one who was betrothed to my sister when you were both children."
However, the young girl spoke, her words shocking Qinchuan.
Upon hearing this, Qinchuan couldn't help but be startled, then shook his head and said, "I think you are mistaken, I do not know you, nor do I know who your sister is."
The young girl looked at Qinchuan with disdain and said, "I am the second young miss of the Zhou Family from Qingyun City. Your betrothal to my sister was arranged by your father together with mine years ago, how could you be unaware of it?"
Qinchuan still frowned, "The Zhou Family from Qingyun City?"
The Qin Family indeed had some relationships with the Zhou Family from Qingyun City in the past, with deep connections between their ancestors.
During the years when his father was the family head, the two families were in frequent contact.
But as Qin Zhan disappeared during his audacious venture into the Spirit Martial Great Tomb, the interactions between the two families dwindled, and their relationships gradually cooled off.
However, during the time Qin Zhan was present, Qinchuan had never heard of any marriage arrangement between the two families.
The Third Elder, however, seemed to recall something and said to Qinchuan, "Family Head, I remember now, there was indeed a marriage arrangement between you and the eldest miss of the Zhou Family from Qingyun City, arranged by the old family head. However, since you were young at the time, the old family head decided not to mention it to you..."
Surrounding guests from various noble families and the lord of Great Wilderness City were also surprised to hear this.
They had just been contemplating forming marriage ties with Qinchuan, only to find that he was already betrothed to another.
Unexpectedly, the party involved seemed to be quite influential, being able to use a Sky Wolf Eagle as their mount.
Hearing the words of the Third Elder, Qinchuan couldn't help but frown, not expecting such an arrangement to truly exist.
However, his heart already belonged to Luo Ling'er.
For the sake of reviving Luo Ling'er, he had been striving hard for a whole nine lifetimes!
That woman had completely occupied his heart, how could he possibly make room for another?
In his heart, he had already thought about cancelling this arranged marriage.
Yet, considering that all eyes were on him in this gathering, cancelling his engagement with the eldest miss of the Zhou Family in such a setting might tarnish her reputation.
So he planned to ask her to move to the Qin Residence to discuss the cancellation of the marriage.
With this in mind, Qinchuan spoke up, "So it is the second young miss of the Zhou Family; regarding the matter of the marriage arrangement between your sister and me, let us return to the residence and..."
However, before he could finish.
Zhou Rong suddenly interrupted, "Let's talk about it here."
Immediately after, Zhou Rong took out a letter from her bosom, on its seal were the eye-catching and striking words "Marriage Cancellation."
"Qinchuan, I am here to represent my sister in canceling the marriage to you!"
Zhou Rong's words left Qinchuan slightly bewildered.
Cancel the marriage?
Weren't those the words he was planning to say?
He, out of consideration for the other party's pride, had planned to propose it elsewhere.
Yet, she, without any hesitation, brought the matter up in front of the countless attendees of the Great Wilderness City's annual celebratory assembly.
And even had the marriage cancellation letter already prepared.
Zhou Rong's expression held a touch of arrogance as she said, "Qinchuan, your Qin Family has long been in decline."
"Moreover, I have heard that your Qin Family, recently oppressed by a first-rate Zhao Family from the Great Wilderness City, has submitted to the Zhao Family's pressure and signed a certain gambling agreement with them."
"As far as I know, today is the day your Qin Family is supposed to fulfill the agreement with the Zhao Family, right? After today, all of the Qin Family's properties should be taken over by the Zhao Family, and by then, people of the Qin Family probably won't even have a place to set foot."
"What do you think you could offer my sister if she really married you?"
As she said this, Zhou Rong couldn't help but look at Qinchuan with scorn and disgust in her eyes, clearly contemptuous of the fact that Qinchuan had made a wager with the Zhao Family. In her opinion, making a betrothal wager with the Zhao Family amounted to nothing less than handing over the Qin Family's estate on a silver platter to them.
Such feebleness and cowardice, those who feared death and coveted life, if her own sister really married him, wouldn't that be entrusting her to an unworthy man?
However, upon hearing Zhou Rong's words, the expressions of everyone else at the venue turned rather peculiar.
The Qin Family had handed over their estate to the Zhao Family by signing a wager?
Do you not see the corpse of the Patriarch of the Zhao Family, Zhao Tianheng, still lying on the ground, not yet removed in time!
The Qin Family, in the wager against the Zhao Family, had clearly emerged in a crushing victory!
Yet Zhou Rong was still unaware of this fact and continued to speak to Qinchuan:
"Moreover, I might as well tell you, my sister has already joined a top Sect in Shanhe County two years ago. You and she..."
However, before she could finish, Qinchuan waved his hand and interrupted bluntly, "If we're going to annul the engagement, then let's annul it. What's the use of all this nonsense? Bring me the annulment letter and I'll sign it."
"Uh..."
"You agree to the annulment just like that?"
Upon hearing Qinchuan's words, Zhou Rong suddenly froze, then looked at Qinchuan with a hint of disbelief, not expecting him to agree to the annulment so readily.
"Did I ever say I wanted to marry your sister?"
Qinchuan glanced at Zhou Rong and said faintly.
"What did you say?"
But hearing Qinchuan's response, Zhou Rong's face turned ugly instantly, "What do you mean by that?!"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
Qinchuan smiled and said lightly, "In fact, before this, I had no idea there was such a marriage contract with Miss Zhou of your Zhou Family. If I had known, perhaps the marriage contract between me and your sister would have ended before today."
Hearing Qinchuan's words, Zhou Rong grew very angry, "What are you saying? You mean that you were also thinking of calling off the engagement just now?"
"Qinchuan, do you realize what you're saying?"
"Your Qin Family is but a dynasty in decline, and my Zhou Family has developed rapidly over the years, rising to become one of the prominent noble families in Shanhe County."
"Moreover, my sister joined the top Sect force of Congyun Sect in Shanhe County two years ago..."
However, upon Zhou Rong's mention of Congyun Sect, Qinchuan was slightly startled: "Congyun Sect?"
He found the name vaguely familiar, and then suddenly recalled it.
"That's right."
"If Great Wilderness City was indeed Panlong City of the past, and the Great Wilderness was once the Panlong Cave, then this Congyun Sect... must be the Sect that kid Wu Yong founded back then."
"In the past, I had left some precautions there and entrusted some things to that kid, telling him to keep them safe for me. Now a hundred thousand years have flown by so quickly, I wonder how that kid is now?"
Lost in thought, Qinchuan found himself reminiscing about past events.
However, Zhou Rong misinterpreted this whole scene, believing that Qinchuan was intimidated by the name of Congyun Sect, and she said proudly, "Exactly! The Sect my sister joined two years ago is indeed Congyun Sect, one of the largest Sect Forces in Shanhe County!"
"Not only that, in some time, I will also join Congyun Sect!"
"This person next to me is a senior brother from Congyun Sect who, entrusted by my sister, accompanied me on this trip to act on her behalf in this annulment."
"So, Qinchuan, do you now understand the disparity between you and my sister?"
"With my sister's noble status and boundless prospects, what right do you have to even entertain the thought of annulling your engagement with her?"
Her eyes were full of disdain.
In her view, only the Zhou Family had the right to call off the engagement, and Qinchuan wasn't even qualified to entertain the thought of annuling it with her Zhou Family!