Candidates for Romance

And he listened quite intently.

By the time Qing He Miao finished speaking, Deng Youfu's heart was surging, and he nodded repeatedly.

He felt that was exactly what he had been thinking.

It was just that Qing He Miao's perspective was broader and clearer than the vague notions in his own mind.

Now everything had been sorted out and made perfectly clear.

Although Deng Youcai was still frowning, he no longer objected as he had before. Instead, he silently took another large swig of liquor and muttered:

"Listening to you put it that way... I feel like I ought to tag along and broaden my horizons too."

"Please don't."

Qing He Miao unceremoniously poured a bucket of cold water over him and picked up a deliciously fragrant grilled oyster:

"Didn't you two just say that fighting and killing won't get you anywhere in the future? And that's precisely what our Horse-Riding Immortal lineage is best at. We're relics of the old era, riding the advantages of an outdated version. Making any real change is far too difficult."

"I agree with Brother Youfu going because your family has money. You two can live well wherever you go."

He tilted his head back and swallowed the oyster, sucking up its juices:

"Since he's tempted, there's nothing wrong with following his heart and going out to see the wide world. It's part of cultivating his character, too. But since you don't want to go, don't force yourself to tag along and suffer. That's also following your heart.

"If you really want to do something practical, I think you'd be better off putting knowledge into practice and figuring out how to expand the funeral industry Beyond the Pass. That way, as long as the brothers of our lineage keep passing it down, they'll have a trade to put food on the table. That's far more practical than gritting your teeth and making a fool of yourself overseas."

What else?

The rich were the big shots wherever they went, but send a guy out there without money?

Was he supposed to go live on the financial kill line?

"Xiao Qing, sometimes I really envy your talent. You see things so clearly. Talking to you clears my mind."

Hearing that, Deng Youfu, emboldened by the liquor, immediately declared:

"Don't worry, Xiao Qing. When I go out there, I'll work hard to broaden my horizons and try to put what I learn to use someday. I'll draw on the foundations of our Horse-Riding Immortal lineage and explore a new path that suits us better!"

"You know why your mind feels clear? Because you don't have a damn thing weighing on it. I'm not expecting you to bring back some earth-shattering achievement."

Qing He Miao merely raised his eyelids slightly at the promise, setting a very practical expectation:

"As long as you go out, see the glittering world, and don't come back looking down on our old traditions, that's enough. There's a reason these things of ours have been passed down for hundreds and thousands of years. It's already remarkable to master them in a lifetime. Don't go seeing a few new things and decide our own are outdated."

"Of course I won't!"

Deng Youfu answered as if it went without saying, as though it were only natural:

"On this trip, I won't be thinking about myself."

"Who but us brothers can revitalize our Horse-Riding Immortal lineage? It's a great undertaking!"

Deng Youcai was also brimming with high spirits. After washing down a serving of inspirational talk with liquor, he was getting a little carried away, singing his brother's praises.

What young man hadn't dreamed of revitalizing what he had learned and making his master's lineage proud of him?

Just like Chai Ningshen, Qing He Miao's nominal master, who had never even appeared in the original story.

Hadn't he entertained such thoughts when he was young?

It was just that, for many things, only second-generation heirs like these were naturally in a position to pull them off.

Qing He Miao curled his lip, unconcerned.

Judging by how this guy behaved later in the original story, the credibility of those words... was open to question.

But that was for later. There was no use saying more now.

The three young men continued raising their cups. In any case, the matter of going abroad had been more or less settled.

The atmosphere grew even more relaxed, and the three drank for a while longer.

Their conversation gradually moved from the far corners of the world to their everyday lives, then to boundless boasting and banter, no different from a drinking session between ordinary brothers.

As the liquor took hold, a red glow spread across Deng Youcai's dark face. Suddenly, he gave a mischievous grin and asked, his face alight with curiosity:

"By the way, Xiao Qing, we've been talking about us this whole time. Tell us about yourself! Have you gotten yourself a girlfriend at school? Got your eye on any girls? Tell your brother here, and I'll help you figure things out!"

"No. I'm in no hurry."

Faced with the two of them looking ready to press him, Qing He Miao leisurely took a sip of liquor to wet his throat before speaking:

"What kind of romance is a high school romance? Once you go to university, the chances of ending up not just at the same school, but even in the same city, are tiny. You scatter to opposite ends of the country and go your separate ways, and it all ends in a breakup. Of course, if you can still end up together after that, then it really can be called love."

Chapter 62: Candidates for Romance

"But Xiao Qing, you're not so young anymore. How can you go without trying romance?"

Deng Youfu's face was also slightly flushed from the liquor.

Hearing that, he pushed up his glasses, which had slipped down a little, and joined in the teasing, looking like a genteel scoundrel:

"What kind do you like? I'll have Brother Youcai keep an eye out for you. He's well connected when it comes to that."

"Love, when you get right down to it, is just that. I'm planning to find a wife directly."

Unexpectedly, Qing He Miao looked perfectly frank, neither acting bashful nor dodging the question:

"But I do have some ideas about my future partner."

At those words, the Deng brothers both froze for a moment, not expecting him to be so blunt.

Now they both perked up and listened closely.

"First, I'd prefer someone from the circle. Because I've promised a lot of people that I'm almost certainly going to pursue the peak of cultivation in the future and seek the possibility of 'ascension.'

"Even if I ultimately can't reach that realm, long-term cultivation will inevitably affect my family. I need a partner who can at least understand that behavior."

Qing He Miao counted on his fingers as he continued listing his points one by one, clear and methodical:

"Then I want someone who can carry on the family line. In this life, as their son, I'm grateful to my parents in this world for raising me. I can't let their ancestral line end; this flesh and blood has to be passed down. That's karma I was born with, and there's no escaping it.

"Also, I hope my wife will have sufficient strength of character and skill in handling affairs. If she becomes my wife, she'll inevitably have to deal with my parents, who are ordinary people, and bear all of the above. So, if she knows how to manage the household using worldly methods, neither side has to be affected, and we can basically maintain harmony in the family."

"How boring."

After listening to Qing He Miao's requirements, Deng Youcai smacked his lips and summed them up without enthusiasm.

What the two had originally hoped to see was the youthful awkwardness, shyness, or slightly fanciful longing a young man ought to show when faced with the subject of romance.

They wanted to satisfy their curiosity and their urge to tease him.

Who would have thought Qing He Miao had considered it so clearly, and that his starting point was so... worldly?

The two who had wanted to enjoy the show found it rather dull instead.

They even felt vaguely as though they had been left choking on his words.

He might as well have revealed whether he liked long hair or short, fair skin or healthy-looking skin, someone skinny to the touch or someone with some flesh on her bones, and so on.

The shared XP topics of men.

"Anyway."

Still somewhat unwilling to give up, Deng Youfu tried to press further:

"You must have some targets in mind, right? Isn't there one or two you're a little interested in? Or, say, your ideal type?"

"Yes. For now, I have a few tentative candidates."

Qing He Miao's tone remained even:

"Feng Shayan, Lu Linglong, Tao Tao."

Two young men who hadn't even entered society yet wanted to talk to him about this?

As an adult, he had considered these things long ago.

Ever since he learned this was the world of "The Outcast."

Now he could even clearly name three candidates.

"Huh? This..."

Deng Youcai and Deng Youfu both froze, exchanging glances as some of the drunkenness left them.

They had only been joking.

But weren't his targets a little too specific?!

And those three names...

"Feng Shayan... Damn, you don't mean the young miss of the World Under Heaven Society, do you?"

Deng Youcai was the first to react, his expression somewhat peculiar:

"The World Under Heaven Society's momentum has been fierce these past few years. It's thriving in both the Outcast circle and the business world, and it's showing signs of becoming a major power. Her father, Feng Zhenghao, is said to be no slouch when it comes to methods. He's not an easy man to deal with."

"As for Lu Linglong, she's the great-granddaughter of Old Master Lu Jin, one of the Ten Elders, right?"

Deng Youfu was also surprised. He pushed up his glasses and exclaimed:

"That one needs no introduction. You really do have extraordinarily high standards, kid. But that last one, Tao Tao... who is she?

"From the sound of her name, she isn't another young miss from some wealthy, powerful family in the circle, is she? Is there a powerful force surnamed Tao in the Outcast circle? Why don't I remember one?"

"I don't think so, right?"

Deng Youcai also looked puzzled and licked his lips.

Feng Shayan and Lu Linglong were fairly well known among the younger generation of Outcasts, but who on earth was this "Tao Tao"?

Compared with the first two, the difference in fame seemed as vast as heaven and earth.

"Her father is outside the circle, and her mother is from the Tang Sect's inner sect. She should be a young teacher at the Tang Sect martial arts school, I think?"

Qing He Miao thought for a moment and spoke uncertainly.

"Holy beans, now that's just strange!"

Deng Youcai could no longer contain his curiosity. His eyes went wide, and he couldn't help complaining:

"I've noticed you hardly ever get involved in the circle's affairs, day in and day out. How come you know more about the circle's... uh, beauties than I do? I've never even been over to the Tang Sect?!

"And don't you think your list is odd? I can't see any pattern to it. What on earth are you thinking, kid? It can't simply be because they're all pretty, can it?"

Those three.

The first two were famous, and they had heard of them.

But aside from their distinguished family backgrounds and the fact that they were both young misses, they had basically nothing in common as far as the circle was concerned.

And then a completely unknown "Tao Tao" had popped up at the end. The whole style was off!

It wasn't symmetrical at all. It was enough to drive someone with OCD to death!

"Being pretty is one factor. After all, given my circumstances, I can't just deliberately marry an ugly woman for no reason to train my character and cultivation, can I? That would be asking for trouble."