Zhou Shaobai was shocked and almost sat on the ground.

The news was so sudden that he was surprised and happy, not knowing what to do.

"Girl, do this matter seriously?" Zhou Shaobai couldn't help swallowing his saliva and asked, his voice trembling a little.

"Of course, I'm honest, how can I joke about something like a marriage contract? It's just..."

Zhou Shaobai asked urgently: "Just how?"

Qin Ziling slowly said, "When I was seven years old, my mother told me that my Qin family had a marriage contract with the Zhou family. The Zhou family's son has now gone to Xiyun Mountain to practice Taoism. When he was eighteen, he went down the mountain to go home. At that time, he would get married. At that time, I was still young, so naturally I didn't understand. When I was thirteen, I understood a little more and felt ten thousand unwilling in my heart."

Zhou Shaobai's heart sank, and Qin Ziling continued, "I often think that I don't even know what that person looks like, black or white, ugly or handsome, tall or short, whether character is good or evil, or knowledge is high or low, and I don't know any of these. When he goes down the mountain, he will marry him?"

"So I often pester my parents and say I want to terminate the engagement. My father was so angry about this and beat me a few times. My mother often advised me that for thousands of years, women in the world have been like this, and that the orders of the matchmakers of their parents should not be violated. Especially if they have a engagement, if they breach the contract, they will be even more despised. My mother pity me and does not want me to be beaten and scolded by my father again. She advised me to accept my fate and learn a little. I am a person who is soft but not hard, and does not want to see my mother cry for sadness for me, so I agree to her for the time being." As he said this, Qin Ziling's pretty face was pink and she dared not look at Zhou Shaobai.

She then said: "Last year, just after the end of the year, my mother... unfortunately got into a bad disease. My father tried every means, but still had no way to go. My mother... went there. After that, only more than a month later, my father married a woman he liked in a brothel. Since this woman came to my house, she has always looked down on me and often beat and scolded me, asking me to go into the mountains to chop firewood late at night, and carry water and wash clothes in the twelfth lunar month. She is worse than a maid."

When Zhou Shaobai heard this, it turned out that Qin Ziling was also bullied, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for her and developed a lot of love that was sympathetic to each other.

"My father loves her very much, and she has a son for my father, so my father no longer cares about me and allows her to bully him. Until one day, General Zhenyuan, Xingyuanbao, was bitten by a tiger while hunting. The soldiers sent him to my house for treatment. So he lived in my house for a month before my father dragged him back from the Hall of Hell and cured his injuries. Who knew that after he recovered from the injury, he actually... sent someone to send a betrothal gift and said he wanted to take me as a concubine!"

Zhou Shaobai couldn't help but gritted his teeth and asked, "What's the matter?"

"My father refused at first, saying that the little girl had a marriage contract and could not be a concubine for the general. However, that woman kept blowing the wind beside her father, saying that if I entered the general's mansion, my family would definitely be able to enjoy the glory and wealth with the east wind of the general's mansion. In the future, my half-brother would have a good backer, which would be much more cost-effective than asking me to marry the son of the medicinal maker merchant. So my father believed her words, accepted the betrothal gift from the general's mansion, and sent someone to Uncle Zhou to terminate the engagement. Uncle Zhou did not dare to oppose the general's mansion, so he agreed."

Zhou Shaobai shouted loudly in anger: "How can this be done!"

Qin Ziling ignored him and continued, "The general had been injured in my house, so I have seen him. His hair and beard were gray, older than my father, and he had many wives and concubines in the family. I heard that his youngest child was twenty years old. I was very reluctant. However, my father had accepted the betrothal gift and had even booked the day I entered the house, just five days later."

As if he was hit by a bolt from the blue, Zhou Shaobai was as stupid as a wooden chicken, watching two lines of clear tears slide down from Qin Ziling's eyes again.

"No! The Qin family girl! Ziling! Absolutely, you can't marry that old man and ruin you for the rest of your life!" Zhou Shaobai came to his senses and couldn't help but grab Qin Ziling's shoulders tightly, shaking and shouting.

"Of course I won't marry him!" Qin Ziling nodded, with a very determined look in her eyes. "I hid a knife close to my body. If my father forced me, I would rather die than obey. My father knew that I was worried, afraid that I would commit suicide in the general's mansion and would make the general blame him. It was that woman again, and she had an idea to let me marry him voluntarily. She knew that the Crimson Pearl Grass is an extremely rare and precious herb, and she had the saying of "one or a thousand taels of gold". So she discussed with my father and came to me and agreed with me that if I could pick five or a kilogram of Crimson Pearl Grass in five days, she would return the betrothal gift to the General's mansion and exempt it from this agreement."

Zhou Shaobai was stunned: "No wonder you have to go to the mountains to collect herbs at night, but it turns out that you were forced. The Qin girl, this is impossible. Not to mention that you have to pick five liang of crimson pearl grass, it is difficult to climb to the sky. Even if you pick five liang, ten liang, even twenty liang, according to the woman's nature, she will definitely break the contract and will still force you to marry into the general's mansion! You must not believe her!"

Qin Ziling nodded: "I naturally know this. Nothing is credible when she said anything."

Zhou Shaobai Daqi: "Since you know, why are you going to pick the crimson pearl grass?"

Qin Ziling sighed and said, "Brother Zhou, I won't hide it from you. Actually, I went to pick the Crimson Pearl Grass not for her, but for my father and myself. After my father married her, although he treated me meant me, he was still very good to me and my mother before that. In fact, I planned to escape early in the morning, but it was easy for me to leave, and the general would definitely not let him go easily. I planned to pick these five liang of Crimson Pearl Grass. After I escaped, when the general blamed him, he could use these Crimson Pearl Grass to exchange for huge sums of money to find the general to redeem his life. Also, I also have to rely on the Crimson Pearl Grass for my escape."

Zhou Shaobai then realized it, and he couldn't help but admire Qin Ziling a little more: "Miss Qin, you think so thoughtful. But once the general blames him, no matter how much money he has, it may not be useful."

"There is only this one I can do. The rest depends on my father's own luck. Also, it is actually very good to go into the mountains to pick the crimson pearl grass, otherwise I wouldn't know you, Brother Zhou." Qin Ziling said behind her, her pretty face flushed and her eyebrows were shy.

Zhou Shaobai looked at Qin Ziling shyly and drooped his eyes. He felt agitation, but he didn't know what to say. He was stunned for a while and asked, "Mistress of Qin, where are you going?"

Qin Ziling said: "I have a distant aunt who lives in Shuichuan, 600 miles south of Lianzhou City. She has always loved me very much. I have secretly communicated with her. So, I plan to go to her for the time being. And-"

She glanced at Zhou Shaobai: "I'll leave tomorrow."

Zhou Shaobai was shocked: "So fast?"

"Well, the faster the better. If you wait until the fifth day, you will definitely be very careful. It will be difficult for me to find an opportunity to escape." Qin Ziling nodded, and the two of them were speechless.

A gust of wind blew, blowing thousands of willow threads.

Zhou Shaobai said slowly: "Six hundred miles...Shuichuan..."

Qin Ziling nodded: "Yes, it's a very far place."

The two of them were speechless, but their hands were tightly held together and they were unwilling to let go.

Qin Ziling waited for a while, and saw that Zhou Shaobai didn't say anything, hesitated and said, "Brother Zhou, I..."

"Wait, Ziling. I'll call you Ziling from now on, can you?" Zhou Shaobai suddenly rushed to say.

Qin Ziling was half shocked and half ashamed, nodded.

"Zi Ling, I can't go down the mountain when I was eighteen years old. At that time, I will definitely go to find you." He said firmly.

Qin Ziling opened her eyes wide: "Brother Zhou, do you take what you said seriously?"

"Take it seriously. In the past two years, I will practice hard and learn all my skills so that I can go down the mountain to protect you, so that no one in this world dares to bully you."

The breeze blew on Qin Ziling's hair. Although the cicadas were still singing, the two young men really heard each other's heartbeat.

"Brother Zhou, you didn't say you're going to sacrifice your life this time, it's great." Qin Ziling smiled shyly.

Zhou Shaobai smiled and said, "If you don't like me, I won't say it."

Qin Ziling lowered her head and covered her mouth and smiled, saying, "I will set out at midnight tomorrow."

"I will definitely come to see you off at that time." Zhou Shaobai said solemnly.

"Then I will wait for you in the mountain temple outside the south of Lianzhou City." Qin Ziling raised her eyes and looked directly at Zhou Shaobai and said.

"One word is certain." Zhou Shaobai nodded.

"It's hard to chase after the horse." Qin Ziling finished word by word.
Chapter completed!