Page 7

Jing Yi, utterly frustrated, told Jing Lan to get lost.

Jing Lan rolled away, off to share the joke with Jing Sa.

His stepmother reproached her fondly. "Lanlan, you child... Good thing your eldest brother doesn't hold it against you..."

Jing Bo snorted. "If you like rolling around, then keep rolling! Either way, marrying into the Qin Family is inevitable! Either you marry over there in grand style, or I'll simply pretend I never had a son like you! Do you think you can still live this comfortably after leaving the Jing Family? You ungrateful fool! Hongfen, stop wasting your breath on him. He has no brain!"

Hongfen was his stepmother's name.

Lying on the floor, Jing Yi thought that if it had been the original owner of this body, he really would not have survived after leaving the Jing Family. But things were different for him. Even without the Jing Family, he could still live well with his own two hands!

Since the tantrum-and-rolling strategy had proven useless, and since his idiotic behavior had ensured that no one in this family suspected he had become someone else, Jing Yi silently got to his feet, dusted off his backside, and returned to his room. He had already made up his mind. After making a few preparations, he would simply sever ties with his bargain-bin father! He could sneak away from home. Even if his face was now known to everyone, he could still hide behind the scenes and keep running his Taobao shop. That was far better than being married off to the scheming Qin Family.

That was right. Jing Yi was not an idiot. No normal person would marry such a home-wrecking troublemaker to their own son! Since the main purpose was to leave an heir for the late Qin major, the proper choice should have been someone honest, well-behaved, and easy to control. With the original owner's temperament, and that mess of a scene... Not only had Madam Qin not been scared away, she had even rushed to set a date. If there was no trick behind this, he would read his name backward!

Dealing with all these schemes was far too troublesome. He would rather give up wealth and glory and earn his own living with his own hands. How free would that be? Better than accidentally ending up as cannon fodder.

Yet reality proved that he had underestimated Jing Bo's shamelessness.

Earlier, Jing Bo had still put on a righteous act and given him a second option—cutting ties with the Jing Family... But after that day, he was placed under tight guard. Two burly men stood outside his door at all times watching him, while two women said to be "senior bridal training instructors" came every day to nag at him. They went on and on about what he should do at the wedding, what he should do in the bridal chamber, what he should do when returning to visit his family afterward. Jing Yi was driven to the point of wishing he were dead. Never mind that he absolutely did not want to "marry"; the groom was already dead, so what bridal chamber was there to enter?!

Every now and then, Jing Yi would press himself against the door and howl outside that he chose to sever the father-son relationship with Jing Bo, that they could go their separate ways, and that if Jing Bo liked the Qin Family so much, he should marry into it himself... But the man acted as if he could not hear a thing. For three days, Jing Yi could only spend every waking moment with the bodyguards watching him and the instructors who seemed to have menopausal syndrome. He was as pitiful as Ziwei Gege in Rong Momo's clutches. Jing Bo had even cruelly cut off his internet access, leaving him unable to receive any information from the outside world. Jing Yi tried countless escape plans, all of which failed. As the wedding date entered its final few hours of countdown, he wilted completely.

Now, the two "Rong Momos" were directing a styling team as they dressed him up.

Jing Yi had sparse body hair and was the sort who barely needed to shave. But in the pursuit of perfection, the two Rong Momos had already "helped" him with skincare over the previous three days. Now they used an ancient traditional method to thread away every excess hair on his face, then applied toner to tighten his pores. Jing Yi let them fuss over him with a numb expression. There was nothing he could do; he could not fight back! His constitution was only C-grade, while most of these people were B-grade, and one had even reached A-grade. That person could suppress him with one hand. After suffering for trying to resist a few times, he had learned his lesson.

If he could not escape before the "marriage," perhaps he could wait for an opportunity afterward?

Now, he was actually glad that the "groom" was dead. Other than the psychological discomfort, he would not suffer any physical loss... Once he escaped later, he would be a free man again!

After giving himself all sorts of mental encouragement, Jing Yi accepted his fate, and his whole person calmed down.

He looked into the mirror.

The "bridal outfit" was a set of traditional bright-red clothing, somewhat like the ceremonial wedding robes of ancient China on Earth. Come to think of it, in the few days since arriving here, Jing Yi had increasingly felt that these aliens resembled Earthlings far too closely. Their histories of civilization had developed along almost identical lines. The people of Mi Star also believed they had evolved from apes. Archaeological discoveries here included things resembling pyramids and Sanxingdui. Combined with their similar appearances, Jing Yi often let his imagination run wild, wondering whether the people of Mi Star and Earth might share the same origin. Were they both seeds scattered by some higher civilization?

Of course, he had no mood to think about such pointless things that only bored people would study. Escaping his current predicament was what mattered most.

In the mirror, Jing Yi in his bright-red ceremonial robes looked... even more improper.

His peach-blossom eyes were watery, making him seem as though he were gazing at everyone with tender affection. His lips were soft and full, and the tiny black mole stood out vividly against his fair, delicate skin. His lips were a brilliant peach-red; without any lipstick or similar cosmetics, they were already striking enough. Several makeup artists had even argued over it. Two of them felt that perhaps toning down his lip color would make him look more dignified... Jing Yi figured they must also have thought he looked too improper, but the results of the experiment seemed unsatisfactory. So Jing Yi remained bare-faced, yet still looked as if he were wearing heavy makeup.