To be honest, Wei Changtian was initially very surprised by Xu Qingwan’s attitude.
He had only been in this world for over a month, and his concept hadn’t completely changed. He still thought that before discussing marriage, there should be a process of getting to know each other, including understanding each other’s personalities, living habits, and nightlife.
Even if those weren’t necessary, didn’t they need to cultivate feelings over a period of time?
So earlier, he had only said “I have intentions towards Qingwan,” but didn’t expect that to Xu Qingwan and Zhou Cheng, it meant “I want to marry her.”
However, after thinking about it, Wei Changtian understood.
In this era, marriage wasn’t like in his previous life, where it basically followed the eight characters – parents’ orders, matchmaker’s words. In most cases, men and women would meet a few times and directly become husband and wife.
Even if the two people had feelings for each other, there wasn’t a concept of trying out love first; they would directly go through the process of proposing, engagement, and marriage.
Not getting married and talking about love was also possible, but that was mostly in brothels.
So for a proper lady like Xu Qingwan, what she needed to consider was whether she was willing to marry or not.
The answer was very clear – willing.
Little Xu was willing to marry, and Wei Changtian was undoubtedly willing to take her as his wife, but he was slightly worried about one thing.
Currently, there were three women in his courtyard, and outside, there was Yang Liu Shi. If he added Xu Qingwan…
He didn’t know if his body could handle it in the future.
…
…
The distance from Nanling County to the capital was similar to that of Shanyang County, only in different directions.
At dusk, the three of them arrived at the Nanling border, but they didn’t enter the city. Instead, they continued south along the official road and stopped at a large landlord’s courtyard after two quarters of an hour.
“Whoa!”
The coachman stopped the horse cart and turned back to ask, “Do the three of you need me to inform the county government?”
“Not for now. Let’s wait until we’ve killed the demon and then let them come to collect the body.”
Wei Changtian instructed and then got off the horse cart, walking straight to the courtyard gate and knocking on the door ring.
“Cre-ak!”
After a while, the side door slowly opened, and a servant peeked out, looking at Wei Changtian’s tiger-patterned uniform with some confusion.
“Who are you three? What brings you to the Zhang estate?”
Ordinary people didn’t often see people from the Xuanjing Bureau, so it was normal that they didn’t recognize them.
Zhou Cheng stepped forward and showed his waist token: “We’re from the Xuanjing Bureau, under the command of Liu Ye. Today, we’re here to exorcise a demon.”
“Hang, hang, mirror officer…”
From noble mtl dot come
The family servant stuttered, not thinking twice before hurrying to make way at the door: “I’ll go inform… ah, no! I’ll bring the three gentlemen to see the old master!”
“Please lead the way.”
The three of them weren’t the kind to put on airs, so they politely followed the stuttering servant into the inner courtyard, taking in the scenery along the way.
Unlike the grand mansions in the capital, this estate was significantly larger, but its layout and decor were far inferior to those of the capital’s wealthy families.
How to put it… it was somewhat like a well-decorated farmhouse.
After walking along the gravel path for about the time it takes to burn one incense stick, they saw a stout, beady-eyed middle-aged man ahead of them, thanks to the servant who had gone ahead to announce their arrival.
The man was waddling towards them with his large belly, while Zhou Cheng suddenly narrowed his eyes, his hand slowly reaching for the hilt of his sword.
“Brother Wei, is this the rat demon you mentioned?”
“???”
Wei Changtian was taken aback, then looked up at the man in front of him, before bursting into laughter.
“Haha, Brother Zhou, you don’t have to be so tense, he’s not a demon.”
“After all, a low-intelligence creature like a rat demon could never take on human form with only forty years of cultivation.”
“That’s… true.”
Zhou Cheng reacted, feeling a bit embarrassed as he slowly withdrew his hand from the hilt.
The fat landlord in front of them was definitely not a demon, at least not a rat demon.
Because demons taking on human form followed a rule, which was largely dependent on their intelligence level.
For example, Yang Liu Po, who had less than fifty years of cultivation, was able to take on human form early on due to her high intelligence as a fox demon.
And then there was the fifty-year-old ape demon, which still had an ape-like appearance but had already demonstrated human-like intelligence in combat, and would likely be able to take on human form within ten years if it didn’t die.
As for low-intelligence demons like rats, ants, snakes, and insects, they basically didn’t need to think about taking on human form in this lifetime, unless some extraordinary opportunity arose.
Wei Changtian patted Zhou Cheng’s shoulder, jokingly saying, “Brother Zhou, you can’t judge people by their appearance.”
“If judging by appearance and demeanor alone, wouldn’t I be a demon too?”
“Hmm?”
Zhou Cheng was confused: “What do you mean, Brother Wei? What kind of demon are you?”
“That would naturally be…”
Wei Changtian paused, turning to look at Xu Qingwan: “Qingwan, what kind of demon am I?”
Xu Qingwan thought for a moment before giving a serious answer: “Dragon demon.”
Zhou Cheng: “……”
Wei Changtian: “Hahaha!”
The two of them burst into laughter, and the three of them quickly approached the fat landlord.
The landlord didn’t dare ask what they were laughing about, only smiling obsequiously: “I’m Zhang Dajin, at your service, three silver leaf gentlemen!”
“Huh?”
Wei Changtian looked at him: “Old Master Zhang has quite the discerning eye, doesn’t he?”
“No, no, no.”
Zhang Dajin wiped the sweat from his forehead, bowing and smiling: “I just had the good fortune of seeing a silver leaf gentleman handle a case previously.”
“Ah.”
Wei Changtian didn’t dwell on the topic, directly getting to the point: “Old Master Zhang, we received a message that your estate is hiding a demon, so we’ve come to exterminate it.”
“Understood! Please, gentlemen, take a seat and rest for a while, and I’ll bring out the demon immediately.”
“Hmm? Has the rat demon already been caught?”
Wei Changtian was taken aback for a moment.
This isn’t right! According to the novel, no one in the manor should know about the existence of the mouse demon!
How did they catch it so quickly?
What kind of trickery is going on here?
Wei Changtian walked in with a puzzled expression, and then saw Zhang Dajin hurrying over with a small wooden box.
“Sir, the demon is inside.”
“Huh?”
No way, even if the mouse demon is small, it can’t fit inside this tiny box!
Wei Changtian hesitantly took the box, carefully opening it…
And when he saw the three demon pellets neatly arranged inside, his heart suddenly cleared up.
Good grief! They thought we were here to collect protection fees, didn’t they?!
He was torn between laughter and tears, while Zhang Dajin, who always misunderstood, introduced them with a nervous expression:
“Sir, we really don’t have any demons here.”
“These three demon pellets come from a deer demon, a bear demon, and a snake demon, all with over thirty years of cultivation.”
“I-I mean… wouldn’t it be better for the three of you to take out a demon-exterminating tool first?”