Chapter 40: Surely He Doesn’t Want to Get Married?

The two of them had gone empty-handed, but in exchange for three hundred and sixty-five days of Lian Li’s cross-dressing, they returned with a full harvest.

Yun Huizhou carried the medicine chest as the two of them returned to the pavilion.

Lian Li hurriedly opened the chest and began taking inventory of the medicines inside.

Aside from the life-saving and healing medicines, he had also requested various items to prevent underhanded tricks, protect the meridians, guard the dantian, and detoxify poisons. He picked them all out and said, “Take all of these with you. Especially the ones for the meridians and dantian; they have no side effects. Every time you finish a fight with someone, eat a little as a health supplement.”

“I’ll keep some of the poisons on me. You shouldn’t need them, but since my martial arts are poor, I’ll use them.”

Yun Huizhou truly hadn’t expected Lian Li to be able to get so much medicine from the West Island Lord.

It made the other Island Lords—who had to fight the West Island Lord just to get a single type of medicine—look quite foolish.

This wasn’t enough for Lian Li. He then dragged Yun Huizhou to the South Island Lord’s mechanism room and grabbed several mechanical hidden weapons to hang on his person.

From the moment the martial arts competition began, the plot of this novel should have officially kicked off. Since he had latched onto the “golden thigh” that was Yun Huizhou, there was no way to avoid the plot.

He couldn’t become a peerless master of martial arts in a short time, so he could only arm himself in every other way possible.

By the time they finished sorting through everything, it was already noon.

After the two had eaten, Yun Huizhou spent some time practicing martial arts with him and sparred several rounds to “feed” him moves. Before they knew it, the sky had darkened.

……

Fengyi City.

The two traveled swiftly on horseback for ten days and finally arrived at Fengyi City.

There were no major Jianghu sects near Fengyi City, only a few small martial arts families and many wealthy merchants who resided there.

The ancestors of the Su Family had once studied under a master and knew a style of martial arts.

However, the Su Family’s focus was primarily on business. Therefore, the only person in the Su Family who truly practiced martial arts seriously was the Eldest Young Master.

He was currently the strongest martial artist in the Su Family, though he barely managed to squeeze into the second-rate level.

But the Su Family had a solid foundation and was known for being benevolent, so they commanded quite a bit of respect within Fengyi City.

Since they were invited by the Su Family, Yun Huizhou and Lian Li naturally wouldn’t stay at an inn.

However, the two didn’t go directly to the Su Family. Instead, they found the best restaurant in town and requested a private room, intending to have a grand meal first.

Yun Huizhou still had four hundred taels from his previous victory in a martial arts competition, and the hundred taels in Lian Li’s hand remained untouched.

Previously, their expenses had been covered by the ten taels of compensation they got back from the Five Seas Sect and Yun Huizhou’s original remaining funds.

After the waiter led them to the private room on the second floor, he asked smartly, “Guests, what would you like to eat?”

Lian Li and Yun Huizhou exchanged a glance. Lian Li said, “Just bring us your signature dish, along with one meat and two vegetable dishes.”

“Right away,” the waiter said. “Would the guests like some wine?”

“No need.” Lian Li declined the offer of wine and asked, “Just serve the food quickly.”

“Understood.” The waiter acknowledged and headed downstairs.

Lian Li stood up and opened the window to look outside. “Have you been to Fengyi City before?”

Yun Huizhou replied, “No, this is my first time.”

“Oh.” Lian Li nodded, thinking to himself that if it was his first time here, it meant he had never met this Miss Su before, so there was no possibility of a pre-existing secret crush.

That made things much easier to handle. As long as he didn’t fall in love at first sight after meeting Miss Su and decide to join the martial arts marriage competition, the situation could likely be avoided.

However, if it was love at first sight, there was no stopping that.

What if Miss Su just happened to be exactly his type? They were bound to stay at the Su Family home, and they would surely run into each other at some point.

He couldn’t keep an eye on Yun Huizhou twenty-four hours a day.

He couldn’t exactly follow him when he went to the latrine or took a bath.

Back on Drunken Dream Island, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t walked in while Yun Huizhou was bathing, but following him to the latrine would be a bit perverted.

Moreover, this was the Su Family; it would be inconvenient regardless.

Thinking of this, he suddenly realized: why was he always focused on making sure Yun Huizhou didn’t fall for Miss Su or participate in the competition?

Shouldn’t he be guarding against the villain who would use underhanded tricks?

Wouldn’t the best outcome be for Yun Huizhou to marry the person he liked, avoid being sabotaged, and take out that insidious villain in the process?

Why was he constantly overthinking and trying to stop him from joining the competition?

Lian Li had a sudden epiphany and hurriedly walked back to sit at the table.

However, his expression was a bit strange. Even though he had figured something out, his face didn’t show the usual excitement he felt when he understood something.

Overall, his mood was good, but not by much.

His strange behavior during this period had completely bewildered Yun Huizhou.

At this moment, Yun Huizhou finally couldn’t hold back and asked Lian Li, “What’s been wrong with you lately? You’re acting very strange.”

Lian Li replied, “What’s strange? I’m not.”

Yun Huizhou said, “I feel like you have something on your mind.”

Lian Li naturally couldn’t admit it, so he smiled and said, “You’re overthinking it.”

His reaction only made Yun Huizhou more certain that he had something on his mind.

He began to recall when Lian Li had started acting strange.

The two fell silent for a moment, and the atmosphere became a bit heavy.

Yun Huizhou thought for a long while before concluding that Lian Li had started acting strange the day he found out they were coming to Fengyi City. This person had invested far too much attention in this Miss Su, whom he had never even met.

At first, he even asked if Miss Su was beautiful.

After confirming they were coming, he went to their Junior Uncle for all sorts of medicine and then to the mechanism room for various hidden weapons to increase his combat power.

…Surely he doesn’t want to participate in the martial arts marriage competition and marry Miss Su himself, does he?

Clearly, at the very beginning, this person didn’t even want to come, and he even tried to drag Yun Huizhou into staying behind as well.

He simply couldn’t understand Lian Li’s thoughts; they changed every other second, making them impossible to guess.

Rarely, Yun Huizhou felt a sense of irritability.

The waiter returned, breaking the silence in the private room.

Seeing the waiter finish serving the dishes and prepare to leave, Lian Li called out to him, “Has Fengyi City been very lively lately?”

As soon as the waiter heard this, he knew these two young heroes wanted to fish for information. He was delighted, knowing a tip was coming.

Thus, the waiter very enthusiastically began telling Lian Li and Yun Huizhou about the situation in Fengyi City.

After listening for a while, Lian Li asked again, “Then, are there any ‘seeded’ contestants that everyone is favoring for this martial arts marriage competition?”