I Can See Your Combat Power

“You’re saying they’re coming today?!” Tang Luo seemed somewhat stunned: “Are they are going to Yuanzhou?”

“How could they possibly go to Yuanzhou…” Xu Lao Ying replied: “Of course, they are coming here.”

While they were speaking, a clamor of gongs and drums mixed with joyous cheering resounded from outside the mansion. Xu Lao Ying grabbed Tang Luo’s arm and said, “Cousin, you have to help me out of this. I really can’t marry them.”

Tang Luo was speechless: “Where did all your assertiveness from the battling stage go? They’re just four women. Are you really that scared?”

Even though Xu Lao Ying had not killed since the issuance of the challenge order, no one would forget the battle stage during the initial month that was like a battlefield. He wasn’t afraid of warriors but was terrified of a few women. Tang Luo finally had a new understanding of this saint-like young master. “Haven’t you ever slept with aristocratic ladies in Yuanzhou? How did you handle it before?” Tang Luo asked curiously while stroking his chin, planning to reference Mister Xu’s method in Yuanzhou to deal with the marriage-seeking group outside.

“Before? No, there was never such a thing!” Xu Lao Ying answered seriously: “I had a bad reputation in Middle Ying City, and ladies always avoided me. Some of them liked me, but none of them was perfect, so I didn’t need to be responsible!”

“Um…. nevermind then!” Tang Luo helplessly shook his head.

The sound of drums and gongs had already stopped in front of the mansion’s entrance, but the four bridesmaids were blocked outside. Steward Chang Le hurried to the courtyard and saluted both of them: “Young Master, Young Master!”

“No need for formalities, what’s happening outside?” Tang Luo glanced at Xu Lao Ying and asked.

“The Pan, Bie, Wan, and Bai families are all crowded at the front door, saying that they want you to accept their betrothal gifts,” Chang Le bowed his head and whispered.

“This isn’t a marriage proposal—it’s a forced marriage.” Tang Luo snorted: “These four families are prestigious in Xiling, how could they behave like this?” After hearing Tang Luo’s dissatisfaction with such behaviors, Chang Le respectfully asked: “Young Master, do you want me to send them away?” Xu Lao Ying, who had been silent this whole time, heard the chance to send away the marriage proposal team and instantly energized, asking, “Can we really send them away?”

After all, he was going to leave Xiling soon. As long as he could drive away this wave of marriage proposals, they probably would not follow him, Xu Lao Ying thought, looking expectantly at Chang Le.

“It’s certainly possible to drive them away.” Tang Luo turned his head and said, “But these four young ladies will likely die at our door. Is that alright with you?”

“Is it that serious?” Xu Lao Ying asked, surprised and wrinkling his brow.

“They’ve prepared the dowry in a day, and they’ve come here, they’re determined.” Tang Luo stared at Xu Lao Ying thoughtfully: “When daughters commit such foolish acts, their families will try to maximize the result. Either Xu will take them, or they will be transformed into chaste and strong women, there are no other options.”

It doesn’t take much to figure out that the brothel where this occurred last night must be a business owned by these families; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to smoothly carry out these operations.

“But I can’t take them!” Xu Lao Ying was on the verge of collapse, “Should I just run away?”

“You’re not the one who made the mistake, why should you run?” Tang Luo calmly replied: “It’s their own choice to follow this path of destruction. If it doesn’t work out, they should bear the consequences of their actions.”

He really couldn’t understand how these young ladies could be so excessively self-confident. First, they disguised themselves as prostitutes and lost their innocence, then they revealed their identities to force a marriage! Fortunately, this is taking place in Xiling. If it was in Middle Ying City of Yuanzhou and Xu Lao Ying’s elders found out he had been set up this way, they would surely uproot the entire family to serve as a deterrent.

It has been a thousand years since the era of saints united, and too many people have forgotten how brutal the saint’s family can be. It’s just too stupid. In truth, Xu Lao Ying understands this principle. He just doesn’t want to let them die over such a trivial matter: “Brother, do you have any solution? After all, they did lose their innocence to me, I can’t pretend nothing happened and let them die.”

After thinking about his experiences traveling 30,000 miles and passing through over a dozen large cities and sleeping with nearly 3,000 women, he was angry: “I’ve been to brothels before, but never encountered something like this!”

“You also never revealed your identity as the son of the Yuanzhou Xu Clan!” Tang Luo stood, shaking his head: “If you had started to establish your battling stage in a city earlier, you would have a big group of young ladies with you by now. Let’s go out, don’t keep the marriage proposal teams waiting.”

“Ah!” Xu Lao Ying sighed, standing up with a determined look: “Let’s go, let’s see if we can persuade them to go back.”

“Young masters, please follow me.” Chang Le turned and walked towards the main entrance of the mansion, leading the two young masters.

The pavilion was close to the entrance, just a hundred steps away. But the scene there was too dazzling to look at.

It seemed as if the entire city of Xiling had come to Tang Mansion. The four wedding processions filled the entire street. Behind the four eight-person sedan chairs, countless dowries could be seen.

A dowry is usually a big wooden box made of fir, cedar, cypress, ginkgo, etc., requiring two people to carry it.

A full dowry set would be sixty-four boxes, known as a full load. Often, the number falls short, and a half load of thirty-two boxes is bestowed instead. Looking at the dowries in front of him, Tang Luo squinted, estimating that each family had no less than a thousand boxes, and the dowries covered with red veil were endless. The procession seemed extraordinarily long, considering the bustling city noise. The saying “ten-miles of dowry procession” is a common one, but the four families together probably had a forty-mile long procession.

As the two appeared, the noise of drums and gongs, and joy erupted again, along with the sound of clapping hands and cheers from countless people. “Wow, they are so serious about it, why don’t you just give in?” Tang Luo said, jokingly turning his head to Xu Lao Ying.

Xu Lao Ying’s face was full of bitterness, his throat felt a bit dry.

Honestly, he didn’t expect the scene to be this impressive. It seemed to have stirred up the whole city. His keen senses could even hear praises from people on streets three blocks away. These young ladies were truly staking their lives! Seeing the groom appear, four middle-aged men, who seemed to be housekeepers, respectfully held out a thick list of gifts. However, they were blocked by the guards of Tang Mansion. The men didn’t show any anger and continued to stand respectfully at the bottom of the mansion steps.

“You all, step aside.” Tang Luo instructed the guards to step back, then turned to Xu Lao Ying and said, “Look at this scene. The stewards of the dowry are all strong individuals from Fierce Realm. If you take these four ladies, you’d essentially be gaining four prestigious families as vassals!”

The four men who had been stopped together represented strength in numbers. The strongest among them had a value of over 50,000, with the weakest standing at 40,000. It was clear these influential families were determined to secure a connection with Xu Lao Ying.

That’s understandable. Though Xiling has been peaceful for hundreds of years, because Tang Mi’s two families are dominant, even venerable families like Pan, Bie, Wan, and Bai don’t see much opportunity for growth. It’s better to take a gamble. If Xu Lao Ying is willing to accept these four ladies, then he’s effectively accepting four families..