Someone Wants to Ask for Your Hand

Zhao Ruxi laughed upon hearing this, "Then thank you very much. Let me tell you, I've invented so many things and made such a great contribution to you all. When your brother takes office, you must grant me a title. Marquis, earl, anything will do."

Xiao Lingyan looked at her strangely. "What do you need these for?"

"I want to tell the world and those noble families not to treat women as commodities, their only purpose being marriage alliances. Women are very capable, no less so than men. Women can not only participate in the imperial examinations and become Jinshi, but they can also earn a lot of money and be granted titles."

"Xu Xi, you're not planning to get married but instead marry a live-in son-in-law, are you? What kind of good man in this world would be willing to be a live-in son-in-law? You'll have to have children after you get married, right? Aren't you afraid that marrying a man like this will lower your IQ and give birth to a litter of idiots? Are you still the Xu Xi I know? The Xu Xi I know wouldn't be this stupid."

"Who are you calling stupid?" Zhao Ruxi smacked him. "What kind of smart woman do you think you can marry? Don't you men all choose wives based on looks, not brains? You think you're all smug and self-satisfied if you marry a beautiful, naive girl who looks at you with adoration every day? People say, if the father is stupid, the whole family will be stupid. So your final fate will be to give birth to a litter of idiots, both legitimate and illegitimate."

"A stupid father makes a stupid mother, and a whole litter of stupid children follow." Xiao Lingyan, looking thoughtful. "What you said makes a lot of sense."

Zhao Ruxi looked at him strangely, her eyes wary.

She'd been battling this guy for years, and he'd never agreed with a word she said. Even if he did agree in his heart, he'd always find a way to refute her, twisting any logic in his mouth, all to refute her and satisfy his warped and strange psychology.

But today he actually agreed with me; there must be some conspiracy involved.

"In my opinion, why don't you marry me? With our combined intelligence, we're sure to have a litter of genius babies and dominate the world. What do you think?" Xiao Lingyan said earnestly. "I know what you care about. Don't worry, I will never take a concubine. We'll be together for life."

"You Datou!" Zhao Ruxi stood up, hands on her hips, glaring fiercely at Xiao Lingyan. "Well, Xiao Ke, you've only been here a short time and you already dare to flirt with me like that? Who gave you the courage, Fish Leong? So what if you're a prince? Without my help, you'll be dead in two years."

She pointed an aggressive finger at Xiao Lingyan: "Apologize!"

Xiao Lingyan was also a man of flexibility and was prepared for Zhao Ruxi to lose her temper.

He quickly raised his hands in surrender. "OK, I apologize, I sincerely apologize. I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

Zhao Ruxi's gaze grew increasingly strange.

This is so unlike Xiao Ke.

This guy actually apologized obediently.

Could it be that someone has traveled through time again?

She thought for a moment and asked, "What place did you get in the iF Student Concept Design Competition in 2018?"

Xiao Lingyan had been calm and composed, showing no sign of embarrassment even when forced to apologize.

Upon hearing Zhao Ruxi's words, his expression changed, and he said angrily, "Xu Xi, can you please not bring this up? You're always rubbing salt in other people's wounds. You can't be that mean!"

He and Xu Xi were usually evenly matched in competitions, but something went wrong in that particular competition, and he failed to place at all, while Xu Xi won first place. The gap between them was so large that he didn't dare to appear in front of Xu Xi for a long time, for fear of being ridiculed by this woman.

When the two met again, Xu Xi surprisingly didn't mention the incident, leading Xiao Ke to believe that Xu Xi had begun to learn how to behave. However, this turned out to be Xu Xi's trump card. Every time they argued and Xu Xi was about to lose, he would bring it up, infuriating Xiao Ke to the point of madness.

That woman is so vicious!

Zhao Ruxi laughed heartily, her eyes crinkling with laughter. "You just gave in to me, and I thought you'd been possessed again. So I asked a question to confirm."

Xiao Lingyan: "..."

He was truly defeated by this woman.

Zhao Ruxi stood up. "It's nothing, I'll be going now. If I don't go to the painting academy soon, my master will send someone to look for me." With that, she prepared to leave.

"Wait," Xiao Lingyan called out to her.

Zhao Ruxi sighed and turned around, "I said, you're not reluctant to see me leave, are you?"

"Who's going to miss you? Can you stop being so vain?" Xiao Lingyan his eyes at her. "I just have something very important to remind you. If I don't tell you, you'll definitely scold me for being disloyal and causing you to fall into this mess, so I'm reluctantly going to tell you. But if you don't want to hear it, then forget it."

Zhao Ruxi looked at her suspiciously, and after a long while asked, "What is it?"

Xiao Lingyan sat down casually. "Apologize to me first."

Zhao Ruxi glanced at him and made a move to leave.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you, I'll tell you." Xiao Lingyan had no choice but to surrender. "Do you know that Fu Yunkai wants to propose to you?"

Speaking of this, he also admired Fu Yunkai.

That day, after his brother Xiao Lingpu called Fu Yunkai over, he wasn't there, but he heard that his brother had thoroughly analyzed the situation with him, telling him that Fifth Miss Zhao was not suitable for him.

Whether Fu Yunkai was genuinely persuaded or just going through the motions for his brother, he remained silent for a long while before saying, "Let me think about it," and then took his leave.

This morning, he sent someone to deliver a Xiao Lingpu, saying that he still wanted to form a marriage alliance with the Earl of Suiping's Residence.

This left Xiao Lingyan speechless.

Therefore, he quickly informed Zhao Ruxi today. Otherwise, if this woman knew that he had known about this for a long time but hadn't mentioned it to her, he might turn on her.

As a fellow townsman, he felt it was his responsibility and obligation to warn her against falling into the trap. Although she was perfectly aware of the trap, and he knew she was shrewd enough not to jump in, what if she did? He had to do his duty as a fellow townsman, right?

Zhao Ruxi stopped in her tracks, looking at Xiao Lingyan in astonishment. "What did you just say? Say it again?"

Xiao Lingyan finally calmed down. He leaned back in his chair, a smile on his face, and slowly repeated what he had just said. He was practically crossing his legs.

"No..." Zhao Ruxi found it utterly perplexing, "Why? Why would he propose to me?"

"Because he dislikes women from aristocratic families, finding them pretentious; and he doesn't want to marry a woman from an ordinary family, thinking she lacks talent, ability, and knowledge, just like his own mother, and is prone to making a fool of herself. That day he went to the Court of Judicial Review and learned that you can paint and that you've been taken as a disciple by Mister Kumu, making Wu Huaisi, Gong Cheng, and Wu Zong your senior brothers. So after considering it, he decided to propose marriage to you."