Nourishing His Immortal Bones
Zhu Hao was regarded as an inauspicious person, a "star of calamity." Although she possessed a beautiful face, no one dared to catch her embroidered ball.
No one human dared to catch it, but a god was forced to. She threw the embroidered ball, hitting a statue of a fallen immortal in a procession of wandering deities. The statue's face cracked slightly.
From that day on, Huaicheng was ravaged by strong winds and heavy rain, nearly submerging the entire city. Zhu Hao was sold by her wicked aunt for twenty taels to an eighty-year-old man as a concubine, in reality, to be a sacrificial burial companion.
On the night of the wedding, Huaicheng was gloomy with wind and rain. A handsome young man held an umbrella, intercepting her bridal sedan chair. "Miss Zhu, I'm here to marry you."
"Nonsense. Aside from the old man who's nearly in his grave, what young master in Huaicheng would dare to marry me?"
"On the 22nd day of the third month, at the third quarter past wei shi (1-3 PM), you threw an embroidered ball at this immortal's statue. Gods cannot deceive mortals; this immortal will just count it as bad luck."
"If you're ill, seek medical attention..." Before she could finish, the floral umbrella in the young man's hand instantly turned to dust, yet the pouring rain didn't touch him. He said impatiently, "Marry or not?"
Song Xieqing's only wish was to be a carefree immortal, until a mortal girl tossed her embroidered ball onto his jade statue, utterly shattering his desire for solitude. Gods cannot deceive mortals, otherwise, divine punishment descends. He had no choice but to cohabit with that girl as husband and wife.
He and she were merely a superficial marriage, mutually beneficial. He only needed to wait until her life ended to resume being his carefree immortal. Every day, Song Xieqing saw the mortal girl pass through his manor, and if she saw him, she would laugh and greet him. This happened daily, nothing special.
Until... Song Xieqing saw her smile at another young man, and for a moment, he was flustered. "Is Shi Chunsheng truly that good? In my opinion, he's nothing special; his family only makes a living from a bookstore. If you were with him, would he be willing to give you extra money for rouge every month?"
"What about the magistrate's young master?"
"Hiss... money for rouge wouldn't be a problem, but the young master is too much of a philanderer, so he's nothing special either."
Zhu Hao meaningfully glanced at him, teasing, "What about you, husband?" Song Xieqing, afraid she would see his slight inferiority, quickly averted his gaze. He countered, "What do you think?"