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Xia Ying had lost her father at a young age. Before City Lord Xia brought her back to the City Lord's Office, she had lived with her eldest uncle's family in the main household. Her eldest uncle and aunt had not made things difficult for her, but her eldest cousin brother had found her utterly displeasing. At every turn, he loved picking at her faults. With no one to rely on back then, she only knew to endure and yield. Who could have known that her eldest cousin brother would grow increasingly excessive, eventually throwing her straight out of the residence? Had she not met Aqing, there might not have been the Xia Ying of today.

As for her older cousin Xia Rui, she had clearly been in excellent health before. No one knew what illness she had contracted after she grew up, but she had become ever more unfathomable. Of course, Xia Ying did not like going to the main household either. Only when the ancestral hall was opened for incense offerings would she make a trip back.

"Why was she getting married from the City Lord's Office?" Xia Ying vaguely knew that Xia Rui had been betrothed to someone, seemingly a renowned genius from Xishan City. For a time, the whole city had buzzed with the news, saying they were a match made in heaven, a talented man and beautiful woman, a union ordained by the heavens.

But upon closer consideration, that genius was already at Golden Core cultivation and had not made it onto the Prodigies Ranking. He was probably somewhat old, certainly much older than Xia Rui. Of course, being born into an Aristocratic Clan, Xia Ying knew that most clan marriages paired cultivators with mortals. That gave them a greater chance of bearing gifted children.