The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#372 - Rumors

After Chen Hanqing left, Wen Xiaoqian apologized to Lu Jing.

"I'm sorry, today's trouble started because of me. I didn't expect it would bring so much trouble to you, Great Hero Lu."

"Trouble... actually, not much," Lu Jing held the challenge letter in his hand for a while, waiting for the ink to dry completely before carefully putting it away.

In any case, this challenge letter was worth 140,000 taels of silver, although Lu Jing didn't know when he would receive the money.

After that, he asked Wen Xiaoqian, "By the way, Chen Hanqing said he couldn't wait that long when he left. Why? Does he have some terminal illness?"

It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it, but as soon as he did, Wen Xiaoqian also started to have a headache.

"This... is probably related to a rumor in the Jianghu recently."

"What rumor?"

"I'm getting married."

"..."

Lu Jing looked at Wen Xiaoqian, and Wen Xiaoqian also stared unblinkingly at Lu Jing.

After a long while, Lu Jing suddenly realized, "You're not joking, congratulations."

"Congratulations for what?"

"You're getting married."

"Who said I'm getting married?" Wen Xiaoqian asked back.

"You just said it."

"I also said that it's just a rumor in the Jianghu."

"Someone is spreading rumors?" Lu Jing's expression turned serious.

"It's not really... I can probably guess where these rumors came from." Wen Xiaoqian curled her lips and said, "My mother has disliked me for a long time. This matter is probably her doing. She thinks I've spent too much of her silver and wants to find someone to take over and get rid of me, this burden."

"That shouldn't be the case, right? Isn't your mother quite rich? How could she not be able to afford to raise even one daughter?" Lu Jing remembered Zhang Sanfeng telling him that the Wen family's wine and cosmetics businesses were doing very well.

In addition, Wen Xiaoqian's sisters were married to people who were more and more powerful. Everyone in the Jianghu had to give the Wen family face, and even those Green Forest heroes would not harass the Wen family's business.

Firstly, bullying women would give them a bad reputation. Secondly, if the Wen family really got serious and called all six sons-in-law together, the effect would be no different from collecting the seven Dragon Balls. No stronghold could withstand this world-destroying Spirit Bomb.

So, even if the world is turbulent now, it will not have too much impact on the Wen family.

"That's right, my mother is just a money-grubber. Saying she can't afford to raise me is just an excuse." Wen Xiaoqian nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice, "Besides, I'm also seriously looking for a husband myself, it's just that I haven't found one yet."

"Chen Hanqing..."

"I've always regarded Big Brother Chen as a friend. When I saw that he didn't have many friends in the academy, I invited him to a few banquets and introduced him to some young heroes and heroines. He was very polite to me at first and probably didn't have any other ideas. But after he completed Foundation Establishment and tested that he had a Grade A Mystic Cauldron, his attitude towards me changed a lot."

"He started actively asking me to go on outings and occasionally sending me small gifts, but I didn't accept them." Wen Xiaoqian's expression also seemed a little troubled, "I thought my attitude was clear enough."

If it were someone else here, after hearing Wen Xiaoqian say this, they would have already started to comfort her. Those who wanted to show their masculinity would probably also scold Chen Hanqing a few times, saying that he was relentlessly pestering her.

However, Lu Jing smelled a hint of conspiracy and said suspiciously.

"Forget it, it doesn't matter. Just don't praise me in front of others again, especially before you get married," Lu Jing waved his hand.

"Whether Great Hero Lu believes it or not, that was indeed my sincere words, not any kind of flattery," Wen Xiaoqian said solemnly.

"That's not the point," Lu Jing said, "You should think carefully about who you plan to marry. Chen Hanqing, well... he is indeed a bit older."

"Age is not really the problem," Wen Xiaoqian said, "Some of my brothers-in-law are more than twenty years older than my sisters. I just simply don't think Chen Hanqing is suitable to be a husband."

"Why? He seems like an honest person, and his cultivation talent is also very strong," Lu Jing asked curiously.

"The reason he is honest is because he didn't have much before. Now that he has transformed into a dragon, his desires will also expand with him. It's just that because the time of his transformation is too short, he hasn't realized that he can get more, but he is indeed already starting to stir. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to pursue me."

Wen Xiaoqian paused, then added, "Of course, if I really married him, I actually have a way to control his desires and guide them in the direction I want. So, to put it bluntly, it's still that I myself don't like him. Another very important point is that he can't afford to support me. For my daily makeup, just one box of rouge costs four hundred taels of silver."

Lu Jing was shocked, "Are you applying rouge or gold?"

"It's not gold, but it is indeed very troublesome to make. Just the pearls used are several, and they are all the best quality. They are ground into pearl powder and mixed with some other precious materials, and it has to go through many processes. The Wen family's rouge shop can't make a few boxes a year, and they are basically all taken by me for use."

"In that case, your mother really wants to sell you off as soon as possible," Lu Jing suddenly felt like he could understand Madam Wen.

This isn't raising a daughter, it's simply raising a gold-sucking beast.

I don't know which unlucky fellow will marry Wen Xiaoqian in the future. I'm afraid their life will only be able to continue with small loans.

Thinking of this, Lu Jing inconspicuously distanced himself from the woman in front of him. It's not for any other reason, just that he was afraid that if he got too close, he would rub something off of her, and he would lose everything he had to pay for it.

However, Lu Jing still reminded her, "Although makeup is beautiful, it's best to use less lead powder, it's not good for the body."

Wen Xiaoqian gently agreed, then smiled and said, "I can't tell that Great Hero Lu also knows about rouge and powder."