Chapter 405 The Possibility of Marrying Zhu Shi 1
"I'm getting married to Senior Brother Zhuang!?" Zhu Shi was speechless.
Meanwhile, Mazao, who had been quietly observing from the sidelines, also showed a slight change in expression.
Lu Chan frowned in confusion at first, then suddenly clapped his hands as if he had made a connection to something, and exclaimed in sudden realization, "So that's how it is... There's such a thing as marrying a fan!"
I didn't understand what he was saying at all, but Zhu Shi seemed to understand a little, yet he still seemed unable to accept reality, saying, "Why is the conclusion of solving the problem that I'm going to marry Senior Brother Zhuang?!"
"It's very simple. The core problem with anchoring Zhuang Cheng in the supernatural world through the believer community is the lack of interaction between Zhuang Cheng and the believer community," Mr. Zhu explained eloquently. "Although this nascent faith uses Zhuang Cheng as its totem, he himself does not participate in the specific management. The one who is truly involved in the specific management is me—or rather, our Zhu family."
"From a purely social and managerial perspective, when it comes to the relationship with the believers, our Zhu family is currently more like the heart and brain of the believers. If Zhuang Cheng is the deity, then the Zhu family is the priest, responsible for communicating with the deity and conveying his will to the believers; or collecting the believers' intentions and conveying them to the deity. We are the bridge between the believers and the deity."
"Although everything would be fine as long as Zhuang Cheng, as a deity, takes on the current position of the Zhu family, the affairs will become increasingly complicated as the believer group expands, and the management work will take up a lot of Zhuang Cheng's time and energy. There have been those types of Great Impermanence in history, but Zhuang Cheng obviously does not want to become that type, so the conclusion is simple."
"As long as Zhuang Cheng marries you, that's enough."
"Marriage is a powerful bond that binds two people together and allows them to share the same fate with each other to a large extent. The religious community is quite accepting of this kind of thing. Since ancient times, the classes that held the power to worship gods sometimes had saints, goddesses, witches and sorceresses marrying gods... Such divine marriage ceremonies even had quite mature procedures."
"For Zhuang Cheng's followers, it's normal for the high and mighty gods not to be on their social networks; but the absence of the Zhu family, who hold the power of sacrifice, is a matter of life and death for the organization. Isn't that exactly the latter's position that Zhuang Cheng needs? As long as we can strongly bind Zhuang Cheng and you, as the representative of the Zhu family, through the process of marriage, then there will be no problem."
Listening to Mr. Zhu's profound yet simple explanation, Zhu Shi's mouth dropped open, while Lu Chan showed admiration and said, "Could it be... Mr. Zhu, all your actions all along have been paving the way for this..."
Mr. Zhu said proudly, "That's right... Before Zhuang Cheng establishes a relationship with any girl, as long as we help my dim-witted granddaughter win him over, then there won't be any more trouble."
"All that fuss about teenage entanglements and the bittersweetness of love is just fluff. My daughter Zhu Jiu lost because she dragged things out for too long. When it comes to men, all you have to do is get them into bed right away!"
Lu Chan seemed to clap his hands involuntarily, and then said, "As expected of the legendary eighth-generation patriarch of the Zhu family, who eliminated all competitors overnight to become the victor of the family... Even in matters of men and women, he understands the importance of speed in warfare, and he hit the nail on the head in an instant..."
Mr. Zhu stroked his beard with a smile and replied, "Haha, you flatter me, you flatter me..."
Did you ask for my opinion when you were planning your granddaughter's marriage?
Although I really want to say this, I have to admit that Mr. Zhu's proposal was indeed comprehensive.
On the one hand, the anchoring effect of fate provided by the believer group is already very strong, and by removing the hidden dangers through the marriage with the Zhu family, it can be said to be perfect; on the other hand, I have no resistance or disgust towards Zhu Shi. In the past, I have looked at Zhu Shi with the same eyes as a member of the opposite sex, and I must admit that I have feelings of liking for her.
Mr. Zhu's proposal has only one problem: it was submitted too late, and I already had an appointment with a girl.
At the same time, Zhu Shi also stated without hesitation: "But Senior Brother Zhuang is already dating Ma Zai."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhu was struck dumb, and accidentally tore off a few strands of his beard.
"Huh? So fast!?" he exclaimed in shock. "But... this is impossible! Zhuang Cheng seems straightforward most of the time, but he tends to overthink things that matter most to him; and Ma Zao is a quiet girl with avoidant attachment tendencies, so even if she likes Zhuang Cheng, she'd never confess her feelings. Without a special opportunity, these two will never reach the stage of confessing their feelings, even if they live forever..."
"Because it was I who encouraged Senior Brother Zhuang to confess his feelings to Ma Zao," Zhu Shi said.
Mr. Zhu shouted in a frenzy, "What kind of mess have you made?!"
For some reason, I suddenly felt that Mr. Zhu was indeed Zhu Shi's grandfather.
"Is this true? Zhuang Cheng, you really are with this young girl..." Old Mr. Zhu looked at me and Ma Zao.
Mazao looked hesitant, as if unsure whether to give a positive answer. She seemed very concerned about whether other people would see me as a pervert if our relationship were exposed.
Strictly speaking, Asahi and I hadn't officially started dating yet; we'd just made an agreement beforehand. But at this point, I couldn't give an ambiguous response. Being seen as a pervert was one thing; Asahi was the most important person to me in this situation. So I nodded without hesitation and said, "It's true."
Mr. Zhu didn't criticize the matter, but instead said with regret, "I see... But you haven't officially discussed marriage yet, have you?"
"Grandpa, why are you still talking?" Zhu Shi said. "Besides, you didn't even ask for my and Zhuang Cheng's opinions when you were planning this. Putting aside that, isn't it wrong to do this to Zhuang Cheng?"
“I did not ignore Zhuang Cheng’s opinion. If he was not happy, I certainly would not have continued to push it forward,” Mr. Zhu said. “Moreover, the formation of the believer force was not actually a ‘conspiracy’ designed specifically to marry you off to Zhuang Cheng, and there was no intention to blackmail Zhuang Cheng with benefits.”
"For Zhuang Cheng, who lacks connections in this world, developing the power of believers and strengthening the anchoring effect was the first thing to do. The option of letting you get married just happened to appear at this stage, and it was just a way to remedy the loopholes."
"It would be best if you could get together, then you would have no more worries about the anchoring issue in the future; but if you can't, there's nothing we can do. Zhuang Cheng can just take his time to build relationships slowly in the future. It's just that he's lost the shortest shortcut."
Mr. Zhu seemed to be subtly hinting at something to me, and Zhu Shi seemed to have figured it out. He then showed a helpless expression and turned to me, saying, "I'm sorry... Senior Brother Zhuang, and Ma Zao... My grandfather isn't usually that eccentric."
Just as I was about to respond, Ma Zao tugged at my sleeve, then looked at Zhu Shi and the others, and asked, "Why can't Zhuang Cheng marry Zhu Shi?"
Upon hearing this question, I almost doubted whether I had misheard. Zhu Shi was also speechless, and even Lu Chan, who had been observing from the sidelines, uttered a bewildered sound: "—Huh?"
Old Mr. Zhu was taken aback for a moment, then his eyes flashed with a sharp light: "Yes... the Great Impermanence is not bound by worldly morality and law, even bigamy..."
"Wait! Grandpa, don't stir the water any further!"
Zhu Shixian interrupted Mr. Zhu in shock, then looked at Ma Zao and asked urgently, "Um, Ma Zao... why did you have that question?"
"Could it be... that the concept of 'marriage' doesn't exist in the post-apocalyptic era?" I asked Asaha. "You don't know what 'marriage' means?"
Ma first reminisced, then said, "Although I rarely heard the word 'marriage' during the apocalyptic era, and had only a vague understanding of its specific meaning at the time, I have now been in this era for quite some time and am often learning about common sense in modern society. Of course, I have also come into contact with knowledge related to marriage."
"Since you know that, that's for the best." Zhu Shi breathed a sigh of relief. "Then you must also know very well that marriage is simply a matter of two people in love..."
"So-called marriage is simply the act of adult men and women integrating their economic resources together to better resist risks by merging into a family," Asaho said seriously. "Although it seems to have a romantic symbolic meaning of lovers promising to spend their lives together, marriage and love have never been strongly associated concepts since ancient times, and there are countless examples of marriages based on self-interest without love."
"It is said that many married people meet their spouses through blind dates, treating marriage merely as a stepping stone in life, and getting married with the mindset of completing a task. This shows that marriage does not necessarily possess the sacredness of a lifelong commitment."
"In other words, Zhuang Cheng being with me does not conflict with Zhuang Cheng marrying Zhu Shi."
"I've even heard of cases where malicious people use marriage as a means to profit from the other party's property, but I believe Zhu Shi would never do that..."
Mazao rarely spoke so much in one breath, but before she could finish, Zhu Shi couldn't help but interrupt her: "Wait, wait... Mazao, where did you learn all this knowledge?"
Asaho answered honestly, "The Internet."
"What kind of frivolous knowledge have those random netizens been feeding Ma Zao?!" Zhu Shi shouted, looking up.
As she spoke, she grabbed my wrist and then looked at the others.
“I have something to say to Senior Brother Zhuang in private!” she said.
(End of this chapter)
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