Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 3

Martial Contest

Her quick agreement stunned everyone present.

When Ye Shui heard this, her eyes reddened and she shook her head vigorously at her.

            

The fate of a young lord who marries to counteract misfortune, others might not know, but she knew all too well.

Because her father had been such a counteract misfortune husband for her mother, but shortly after giving birth to her, her mother died. Her father was considered to be a wife-killer [克妻 | kè qī | someone believed to bring misfortune to their spouse], suffering endless torment. After her grandmother’s death, the father and daughter were driven out. Her father was taken to work on river repairs and soon died of illness. When she begged her aunt to let her father be buried with her mother, she was told her father was a wife-killer and unworthy of their family graveyard. She could only sell the keepsake her mother had given her father and buy a separate plot of land to bury him.

Ji Qingchi smiled comfortingly, “Don’t worry, I’ve heard the Su family head is benevolent and charitable, surely her young miss is also reasonable. Nothing will happen.”

            

Besides, even if that young miss was unreasonable and willful, she could make her submit with the sword in her hand.

Ji Qingchi smiled very gently.

Wang Erfeng saw this and happily said, “That’s good then. Why wait for another day when today will do? Come with us to the city to apply right now!”

            

Fearing she might change her mind, Ji Qingchi didn’t care either way – the sooner she met the Su family, the sooner she might be able to return to the palace.

She immediately agreed, “Alright.”

Seeing her savior anxiously pacing about, she smiled and said, “Benefactor, come with me.”

            

Li Tiezhu said, “Who’s ever heard of bringing another woman along when going to be someone’s counteract misfortune husband?”

Ji Qingchi gave her a sidelong glance, “She’s like my sister. The officials haven’t made any rules saying a young lord can’t have his sisters see him off, have they?”

Li Tiezhu shrank back from that glance, feeling as though this young lord had wanted to kill her just now.

            

But thinking that he was just a weak young lord without any weapons, what could he do to her? She immediately muttered, “Who knows if she’s really a sister or a ‘romantic sister’.”

Ji Qingchi gave her a cold look without responding. Wang Erfeng was very pleased and asked his cousin sister to drive their ox cart to take them to the city to apply.

Wang Erfeng’s cousin sister was almost thirty, still unmarried, built sturdily, and looked somewhat fierce. Hearing her cousin brother’s request, she frowned, “Why are you so enthusiastic about this?”

            

Wang Erfeng mumbled and told her what Li Tiezhu had said.

“Can you really get thirty taels of silver just for recommending a suitable candidate?”

“Of course!”

            

Thirty taels was enough to feed and clothe small households like theirs for a year and a half, and for Wang Erfeng’s drunkard cousin sister, it was enough drinking money for half a year. Upon hearing this, she said without delay, “Then let’s hurry!”

Though it was Ji Qingchi who was going to be the husband, the Wang siblings seemed more eager than her, pulling the cart and rushing to the city without rest.

When they arrived, the Su family head had coincidentally posted seven or eight people to guard beneath the notice, and there were already quite a few people standing there, waiting to apply.

            

Just as Su Yi had predicted, most of the applicants were muscular men who particularly appealed to Fengcheng’s women.

Ji Qingchi went to stand with those people, her frail figure looking like a chick mixed in among wild boars, completely out of place.

The housekeeper noticed her and asked in surprise, “Young lord, are you here to apply too?”

            

“Yes.”

The housekeeper shook her head, “Our young miss is delicate. The head of household wants someone strong to take care of our young miss. Young lord, with your build, I’m afraid you won’t even be able to push our young miss’s wheelchair.”

“Whether I have strength or not can only be known through testing, right?” Ji Qingchi smiled, and seeing four tall, imposing women pushing a stone roller [石磙 | shígǔn | traditional grain grinding stone] on a cart, she pointed at it and said, “If I can move that, would that count as being strong enough?”

            

Everyone followed her finger and saw it was a millstone for grinding grain. They were all shocked – that thing weighed at least two hundred jin [100 kg | 1 jin = approximately 0.5kg;], normally requiring two people to lift it.

“This… young lord, please don’t force yourself. It wouldn’t be good if you got hurt somewhere.”

“It’s no matter.” Ji Qingchi smiled, walking up to the stone roller. Ye Shui worriedly tried to step forward but was grabbed by Wang Erfeng, who said hatefully, “Don’t cause trouble.”

            

Ye Shui, being weak, couldn’t break free from him and could only glare at him angrily, watching Ji Qingchi with tear-filled eyes.

One of the male applicants mockingly said, “You little fellow, making such big claims. If you can move it, we’ll willingly give up.”

“Wait.” Another man with a scar on his face blocked her way. He was a notorious fallen noble in Fengcheng, a man who shamelessly engaged in unspeakable dealings. Hearing that the Su family’s young miss was weak, he had specially brought several sworn brothers, waiting to be chosen so he could enjoy a few good days before the young miss died. Now Ji Qingchi’s sudden appearance angered him as it threatened to ruin his plans. “Young lord, are you here to cut off my brothers’ livelihood?”

            

Ji Qingchi said coolly, “This aunt doesn’t believe I have strength. I’m just proving it to her. How is that cutting off your livelihood? If this brother wishes, he can try too.”

“Hmph, I’ll try then.” The man sneered. He had been throwing his weight around in Fengcheng for a long time. Though he was male, even women couldn’t beat him in a fight. It was just a stone roller – how could he not lift it?

He charged aggressively to the stone roller. The women, having heard Ji Qingchi’s words, were interested in watching the show. Seeing this, they put down the cart and let the man have access to the stone roller.

            

The man took a deep breath and suddenly squatted down.

He lifted——

The stone roller didn’t budge at all.

            

“Come on, big brother!” The brothers he brought cheered him on.

Thinking he couldn’t lose face like this, he strained again to lift, but the stone roller still didn’t move.

Once, twice, and again.

            

After three attempts, the man used all his strength until his face turned red, but the stone roller hadn’t moved an inch.

But to save face, he still stubbornly said, “The stone roller moved a few cun [寸 | cùn | traditional Chinese inch].”

The implication was that for such a heavy object, he, as a man, had already done remarkably well.

            

The onlookers snickered, and Ji Qingchi nodded, “Brother’s arm strength is amazing.”

The man’s already red face flushed even deeper at her words, “Your turn!”

Ji Qingchi calmly walked to the stone roller, avoiding her injured left shoulder, and using clever force, embraced it with both hands. What had been like a thousand-jin weight in the man’s hands was like a goose feather in hers.

            

If she hadn’t been injured, it would have been nothing for Ji Qingchi to lift the stone roller and walk some distance with it. But now with her left arm injured, she couldn’t lift and move it as usual. Still, moving it was effortless for someone skilled in martial arts like her.

Taking a breath, she moved the stone roller in front of the housekeeper and smiled, “Now, would you say I have strength?”

Everyone’s jaws nearly dropped, and those boasting men felt so embarrassed they quietly slipped away.

            

The housekeeper, though worldly and experienced, was surprised but didn’t show it. She kept nodding to herself, thinking this young lord who looked like he could be blown over by the wind actually had great strength, and his appearance wasn’t rough either – truly a match for their young miss. She immediately clapped and smiled, “Good! I’ll report to the head of household right away.”

Meanwhile, Su Ming was still worrying about what to do if no suitable young lord was willing to marry her daughter.

In Fengcheng, such counteract misfortune marriages were usually arranged by matchmakers who would choose a young lord from a poor family, buying the marriage with silver given to his parents. But most of those young lords were forced into the wedding sedan, and the Su family head, being kindhearted, firstly didn’t want to buy someone’s son like a slave trade, and secondly worried that after death, a bought young lord wouldn’t serve her daughter wholeheartedly, so she wanted someone to marry in voluntarily.

            

But in these times of peace and prosperity, who knew if anyone would be willing.

As she worried more and more, her housekeeper happily walked in, “Family head, we’ve found a candidate!”

Su Ming’s eyes lit up, “Oh? How is he? Is he strong?”

            

“Strong! Extremely strong! Can lift and carry a two-hundred-jin stone roller without even breathing hard!”

“Really!” Su Ming was overjoyed, but after a moment’s hesitation, asked, “What about his appearance?”

“Though not like young—” The housekeeper had meant to say not like the young miss’s matchless beauty, but remembering how the family head hated others discussing the young miss’s appearance, she changed her words, “He’s a refined-looking young lord].”

            

“Quick, quick, take me to see him.”

As the housekeeper happily led the family head away, behind the main hall, Gancao [甘草 | Gāncǎo | meaning: licorice], the little maid sent by Su Yi to gather information, ran pale-faced toward the back courtyard.

“Young miss, young miss, terrible news!”

            

Here it comes! Her prediction came true! She was going to marry a muscle man!

Su Yi’s hand holding the teacup trembled, spilling all the tea on her white dress.

“Oh my! Young miss! Are you alright?” Yanshen frantically wiped for her, checking if she was scalded while turning to scold Gancao, “The young miss is fine! What are you shouting about in broad daylight!”

            

“Huff huff—” Gancao ran up, panting while saying, “No… it’s Housekeeper Ge… Housekeeper Ge says they’ve found a counteract misfortune husband for the young miss!”

“Ah?” Yanshen also caught her breath, turning to look at Su Yi’s deathly pale face, carefully asking, “Then… what’s the young lord like?”

“They say he can lift a five-hundred-jin stone roller!”

            

“Crash—” The teacup in Su Yi’s hand shattered.

“He can kill two tigers! And a wild bull!”

“Thud—” Even her fan fell from her unsteady hands.

            

Su Yi’s face was like golden paper [面如金纸 | miàn rú jīn zhǐ | extremely pale] as she weakly asked, “Then… what about his appearance?”

Gancao scratched her head. Afraid of being discovered, she had hidden far away and hadn’t heard clearly, only catching the family head and Housekeeper Ge talking about strength and stone rollers. But she figured someone so strong must look fierce.

So she made up, “They say he’s built like Vajrapani [金刚 | jīngāng | Buddhist guardian deity], with a face full of thick flesh, scars, and buck teeth!”

            

“Ugh—” Su Yi couldn’t catch her breath and fainted again.

“Young miss!” Yanshen’s crying echoed to the heavens, “Young miss! Someone come quickly! Call the doctor! The young miss has fainted again!”

---

---