At the beginning, Su Qingluan did not actually have such naive ideas as "being able to find a soulmate to spend the rest of her life with in an era far away from where she grew up."

Her idea was simple, which was to find a helper to live with.

This person doesn't need to be particularly capable, as long as he is easy to take care of and can live a peaceful life - although she later thought that her idea was just a gender-reversed version of "virtuous, family-oriented, filial to parents, and with a stable job"?

However, thinking that her ability to make money was definitely higher than that of most ordinary people, Su Qingluan felt that it was not a big problem for the woman to work outside and the man to work inside.

But before the blind date, she was still too optimistic. To be precise, although Su Qingluan understood rationally that marriage in this era was definitely not the same concept as in modern times, before she actually came into contact with a "man of the right age", it was still difficult for her to break away from the inertia of modern thinking.

For example, she subconsciously believes that marriage is first and foremost a matter between two people, but this idea and concept is not applicable in this era.

In Su Qingluan's previous life, once a couple got married, it was normal for them to move out of their respective homes, buy a new house in a third place, renovate it, and form a new family.

Not to mention not living in the same community as their parents, there are many people who live in different cities or even different countries with both sets of parents. It is not uncommon.

However, in this era, "marriage" is not primarily a "connection between two people," but rather a "cooperation" between two families, as exemplified by the so-called "goodwill between two families." In this context, the most important element is not the "two people" but the "surnames" of both parties, meaning the families they represent.

Small families naturally do not have the complex network of relationships that the wealthy and powerful families have, but clans are also prevalent in small villages. Sometimes, if two clans or villages have a feud, intermarriage between the two families is prohibited.

In this social context, the two newlyweds are more like "part of the connector" issued by each family, responsible for connecting the two families. Compared with the attribute of "people", the attribute of "tools" is actually greater.

Mu Xingzhi smiled slightly when he heard Su Qingluan say this: "In that case, I have a suggestion. Qingluan, why don't you consider it?"

When Su Qingluan heard the man say this, her attention was drawn away from the storm in her head. "What suggestions?"

"How about marrying me?" Mu Xingzhi looked at Su Qingluan and restrained his casual smile, which made his expression seem a little serious.

After two years of getting along, Su Qingluan understood that when Mu Xingzhi withdrew his smile, it not only indicated the seriousness of the situation, but also meant that he was not joking, but was seriously discussing something with her. Therefore, the proposal of "marry me" was not a joke.

Su Qingluan was stunned at first. She wasn't so narcissistic as to think that Mu Xingzhi had suddenly developed some affection for a girl like her—at least, from the outside, a fifteen-year-old girl was a girl—but it was clear that the other party wasn't joking, and judging by his tone, this was most likely a suggestion he had thought about for a long time.

To confirm this guess, Su Qingluan asked, "How long have you been considering this 'proposal'?"

"It's been a while." Maybe he felt it was almost time to leave for the capital.

Su Qingluan nodded to show that she understood: Mu Xingzhi's "for a while" can basically be roughly equivalent to "having thought about it carefully for a long time."

Knowing that the other party was not acting on a whim, Su Qingluan eliminated all unreliable guesses from her mind one by one. She thought more carefully for a moment and came up with a possibility: "Are you suggesting that I marry 'Mu Xingzhi'?"

The man opposite smiled a little: "Qingluan is a smart person."

She guessed right.

Although Su Qingluan always called the person opposite her "Mu Xingzhi", both Su Qingluan and the person opposite her knew that this name and his current identity as "a poor scholar who cultivated himself in a remote mountain village" were fake.

Mu Xingzhi’s suggestion was not to let Su Qingluan really marry him, but to marry the identity of “Mu Xingzhi”.

Of course, Su Qingluan was confident that although the identity of "Mu Xingzhi" was fake, he must have complete proof of identity as "Mu Xingzhi". Otherwise, he would definitely not be able to stay safely in this small village where almost all villagers are related to each other for more than ten years.

Compared to the surprising and even terrifying "proposal scene" just now, when Su Qingluan knew that the man opposite her was just conducting another "cooperative transaction" with her, for some reason, she suddenly felt relieved - both physically and mentally.

"According to past practice, a price must be agreed upon before cooperation." Since it is cooperation, it is business. Perhaps it is because Su Qingluan has been walking in this world as a "businessman" since she traveled through time, and now her speech has become more and more "business-like".

However, she actually liked this face-to-face conversation style. Even brothers had to settle accounts clearly. Even though Su Qingluan admitted that Mu Xingzhi was a very good friend and she admired his abilities, since this was a business deal, she still couldn't do anything that would lose money.

Mu Xingzhi was obviously used to Su Qingluan's "business-like" way of speaking, so he nodded and said, "Considering that this 'cooperation' will span a long period of time, and I cannot determine a specific deadline, I cannot give a 'contract termination' date for the time being."

They always talk about things in a way that says it bluntly - any potential risks must be announced in advance, otherwise there will be no cooperation next time.

Su Qingluan thought for a moment and nodded. "Although the deadline doesn't have to be known, there should still be a clear sign, right? For example, after you achieve a certain goal, 'Mu Xingzhi' will be killed."

"Get a box lunch?" Mu Xingzhi raised his eyebrows: another word he had never heard before.

Su Qingluan pursed her lips: Was she a little too proud? Knowing that the other party already understood that there were some issues with her origins, but obviously would not pursue the matter, and instead adopted a "laissez-faire" attitude, Su Qingluan would become more and more free with Mu Xingzhi, especially when the two of them were alone together like now, and she would not be too strict with her words, and the habitual expressions from her previous life would burst out one after another.

Silently comforting herself, Su Qingluan explained, "It means...it means disappearing from this world." Su Qingluan originally wanted to explain, but when she thought about the origin of the word "boxed lunch" and its connection with the film and television crew in her previous life, which would trigger a lot of explanations, she had to give up.

"Mu Xingzhi disappeared from the world?" Mu Xingzhi raised an eyebrow. "Why?"