What the heck? Is that what he meant? Right? Right?

This plot is going off like a runaway horse! Who the hell wants to consummate the marriage with a big jerk like you?!

Yan Xiao was completely distraught after hearing Shen Muzhi's words.

Logically speaking, given Shen Muzhi's qualities—he has both a great figure and good looks—she wouldn't be at a disadvantage if something really happened between them.

The problem is that this guy is a complete idiot who has never experienced love. He only wants to consummate the marriage with her out of a sense of responsibility, or to put it bluntly, he's just trying to complete a task.

Damn it, she's not an animal. Doing that kind of thing doesn't necessarily have to be mutually agreeable, but at least it has to be because there's mutual attraction, right?

Simply wanting to continue the family line is for animals that haven't even developed intelligence yet, okay? Just thinking about it makes her want to slap him across the face, okay?

While speaking, Shen Muzhi was secretly observing Yan Xiao's reaction.

He originally thought that Yanxiao would be very happy to have made such a promise.

In his mind, no wife doesn't want to be in a harmonious relationship with her husband.

But the result was completely different from what he had expected. After he finished speaking, Yan Xiao didn't say a word, and his expression was very strange.

If you asked him to come up with a fitting description, it would probably be like being struck by lightning, and a really hard one at that.

Shen Muzhi was now feeling somewhat uncertain, and at the same time, he was puzzled by Yan Xiao's reaction. Seeing that Yan Xiao still didn't seem inclined to speak, he couldn't help but ask:

"Do you feel there's anything wrong with it? If you have any concerns, you can speak up."

'Uh~'

Yan Xiao was speechless. There were many problems with this, but what the hell was she supposed to say?

I'm telling you, I never intended to be with you. I only care about your money and power, and I'm not interested in you as a person.

She swore that she had really thought about many unexpected situations that might arise after finding Shen Muzhi, but she never thought that Shen Muzhi would want to consummate their marriage!

Given how Shen Muzhi avoided the original owner of the body in the original story, who the hell could have imagined that something like this would happen to her?

She really hadn't thought of any way to deal with it at all!

She felt so bad; if she didn't want her image as a good wife to crumble, she couldn't keep the marriage going.

Otherwise, how can I escape unscathed once Shen Muzhi hooks up with the female lead later?

Based on her understanding of Shen Muzhi, if they were to consummate their marriage, it would truly be a lifelong commitment.

Even if he develops feelings for the female lead or someone else later, he will suppress his emotions for the sake of responsibility and will not mistreat her.

To be honest, this could be considered a good way to curry favor with someone powerful, but Yanxiao was not happy about it.

She would never be willing to stay with a man who doesn't love her and just make do for the rest of her life.

Moreover, this man may very well develop feelings for someone else in the future.

There are so many dogs out there waiting for her to choose from. It's not worth giving up on a dog man whose heart isn't with her!

Moreover, just thinking about how Shen Muzhi and Xinrui would develop feelings for each other, but because of her, their first wife, they couldn't be together in the end, and how they would secretly suppress their feelings for each other every day, made her instinctively feel physically uncomfortable.

After asking the question, Shen Muzhi stared at Yan Xiao, waiting for her answer, while Yan Xiao frantically tried to come up with a solution.

Fortunately, she was quick-witted. When her gaze fell on the dark skin on her hands, she immediately thought of a reason to refuse.

"This matter is not urgent; we'll probably have to wait a bit longer."

Shen Muzhi asked, puzzled, "Why?"

Yan Xiao didn't answer directly. Instead, she first showed her arm to Shen Muzhi before calmly and confidently offering the excuse she had just come up with:

"I should have told you in July that my skin color is due to poison in my body. Now only a small part of the poison has been eliminated. I'm afraid it will have an effect if we consummate our marriage."

Shen Qiyue had indeed mentioned this to Shen Muzhi, but now that Yan Xiao had said it, he realized that he had indeed not thought things through.

This made him somewhat embarrassed. He wasn't a lustful person, and his original intention in proposing to consummate the marriage was to reassure Yanxiao. Now, it seemed as if he didn't know how to cherish someone.

His face betrayed his guilt, and his words were tinged with apology:

"I'm sorry, this was my oversight. And as your husband, I was completely unaware that you were poisoned. I'm truly ashamed."

Shen Muzhi's reaction made Yan Xiao feel like she was deceiving an honest person, even though the person in front of her wasn't honest.

She coughed lightly and said very understandingly:

"Don't overthink it. I'm such a skilled doctor that I can't detect anything. This isn't your fault."

Besides, I trust your character and know that even if we don't consummate our marriage, you won't mistreat me in the slightest.

Upon hearing this, Shen Muzhi felt that Yan Xiao had grown a lot in the past few years and had become exceptionally understanding. However, this understanding only increased his guilt.

"You and July are both my family, and I will definitely treat you well."

With Shen Muzhi's words, Yanxiao's purpose was achieved, and the matter of consummating the marriage was considered resolved.

No one else knew about the conversation the couple had inside the house.

Over the next few days on the ship, Yanxiao's daily routine was no different from before; aside from detoxification, she studied Gu techniques and martial arts.

Shen Qiyue had just reunited with Shen Muzhi. For the first two days, she would cling to Shen Muzhi a little. But once she was sure that Shen Muzhi wouldn't suddenly disappear, she stopped looking for him and continued to study with Yan Xiao.

Over the days, the people on the ship also learned about Shen Qiyue and Yan Xiao's identities.

They naturally treated Shen Qiyue, the general's younger sister, with utmost respect, fearing to show her the slightest disrespect.

However, his attitude towards Yan Xiao was clearly different from that towards Shen Qiyue.

Although there was nothing obviously wrong on the surface, the details of how he served her, and the disdainful look he occasionally gave her that he didn't have time to retract, all spoke volumes.

Yan Xiao knew what these people were thinking. They must think that she looked unworthy of their brave and extraordinary general.

Some young and beautiful girls might even think that if someone like her can become a general's wife, then they can too.

That's human nature; people take jokes and laughter for granted and don't pay any attention to them.

As long as they don't directly offend her, they can do whatever they want. She doesn't have time to get angry with unimportant people, and she has no interest in playing domestic power struggles over a man.

But she wasn't interested; others were.