Pan Long spent the rest of the first lunar month in Dingfeng Town. As the second month began, Pan Lei and Ren Yue sent him back out into the Martial World.
When he had first come home, his parents had been overjoyed, their faces beaming. But over the past month or so, that joy had gradually faded. What remained was irritation at how often he interrupted their time alone together.
So Pan Lei told him to go roam the Martial World again. Better yet, he should follow his father's example and bring home a wife.
"How could it be that easy..." Pan Long found his father's suggestion wildly unrealistic. Bringing back money or treasures from his travels was easy enough, but a wife? That was easier said than done!
Pan Lei glared at him. "How do you know you won't find one if you don't look?"
Ren Yue immediately chimed in. "Wasn't there a young woman from Yang Province who even helped you buy gifts? I thought she was quite suitable. Don't tell me you look down on her because of her humble background?"
"Mother! What are you saying? Am I that sort of person?"
"If you aren't, why haven't you hurried to Guangling?" Ren Yue's arched brows drew together. "Keep dragging your feet, and in a few months she might be promised to someone else!"
"What are the chances of that..."
Pan Long offered a feeble protest, but his thoughts had indeed flown toward Guangling.
"You don't have anything to do here anyway. All you'd do next is hole up for the rest of winter. The town walls are finished, too... Unless you intend to help Town Deputy Yuan teach his classes?"
Helpless, Pan Long picked up his bundle and said goodbye. He set off alone.
This time, too,