"Lin Fan, I'll give you two choices."
"First, become your eldest brother's medicine slave!"
"Second, let me trade you for the Six-Tusked Divine Elephant and become a live-in son-in-law!"
"I choose the second."
...
"If this goes on, Lin Fan will die!"
Su Xiaoqing knelt and begged, tears of grievance streaming down her cheeks.
Inside the main hall of the Su Family, the clansmen were pacing back and forth in a panic!
"Lin Fan marrying into the Su Family as a live-in son-in-law is simply to nourish the Spiritual Roots of your older brother and older sister."
Su Yuanshan, the head of the family, trembled like chaff and struggled to explain:
"He was cast out by his previous family, and we only let him marry in out of pity."
"Lin Fan marrying into the Su Family was a transaction to begin with."
"Your eldest brother and second sister finally awakened their Spiritual Roots, and they need Lin Fan's imperial blood to nourish and enhance them."
Not a single clansman present showed even a shred of pity for the young man soaking in the medicine vat.
Su Xiaoqing suddenly stood up and made a move that dropped everyone's jaws!
"If Lin Fan dies, I won't live either!"
She drew a sharp green-edged sword and placed it against her neck without the slightest hesitation.
"The Taiyi Sect is coming down the mountain to recruit disciples for the first time; you cannot ruin the Su Family's bright future."
Su Yuanshan had a splitting headache, his gaze landing gloomily on Lin Fan in the medicine vat.
As if he were looking at something completely worthless.
With raven-black hair, well-defined facial features, and a calm demeanor, at first glance, there was nothing to fault.
Pity he was a dying man.
"My sister finally has a chance to become a disciple of the Taiyi Sect, and she urgently needs Lin Fan to nourish her bloodline."
A graceful young woman walked over to Su Yuanshan's side.
With a perfect figure, she wore a tight long dress that wrapped around her full behind like two peach petals.
This was Su Xi, Su Xiaoqing's half-sister.
Seventeen this year, she was right at the maximum age limit stipulated for the Taiyi Sect's recruitment.
Once missed, it would be missed for eternity.
"Lin Fan can live for a year at most."
"The worst that can happen is that after he dies, I'll buy him a nice burial plot."
"Once I become an immortal's disciple, I'll take my sister along to enjoy the good life as well."
Su Xi said with deep affection.
"Miss, don't do anything foolish."
The clansmen all offered kind advice.
The main hall instantly descended into chaos.
"Are you trying to make me kneel and beg you?"
"Xiaoqing, stop making a fuss! Will you?"
"Must you turn the house upside down before you're satisfied?"
Su Xi gritted her teeth, looking somewhat aggressive.
"Good or bad, Lin Fan is my husband!"
"You are driving him to his death!"
"The Su Family is ungrateful, and I cannot stand by and watch him die!"
With tears welling in her eyes, Su Xiaoqing held the sword without her hand trembling in the slightest.
The expressions of the few varied, but only for a moment before they all turned to Su Yuanshan with pleading gazes.
As the head of the family, Su Yuanshan naturally did not want anything to happen to his daughter.
With a solemn expression, he looked at Lin Fan:
"Xiaoqing is willing to throw her life away to save you; help me persuade her not to do anything foolish."
In the medicine vat, Lin Fan wore an inscrutable expression.
Witnessing the Su family arguing so bitterly, he couldn't help but think of everything he had suffered at the Lin Family three years ago.
"She and I share the same miserable fate; we are both pawns."
He sighed. During his year as a live-in son-in-law of the Su Family, he had seen through everyone's actions as clearly as a mirror.
This marriage had been a scheme from the very beginning.
Once Su Xiaoqing came of age, she would take a portion of the Su Family's property when she married out, meaning she would no longer be a member of the Su Family.
On the other hand, the Su Family needed someone to fulfill this marriage transaction.
Born to a concubine, Su Xiaoqing held a lowly status and was destined to be a sacrifice.
"It's not worth your while to draw your sword for a good-for-nothing like me."
Lin Fan slowly shook his head at Su Xiaoqing.
Hearing this, Su Xiaoqing raised her tear-filled eyes.
Yet the sharp sword in her hand did not move away by even a fraction.
"Qing'er, just listen to Lin Fan."
Joy flashed across Su Yuanshan's face as the stone hanging in his chest gradually dropped.
As parents, who would willingly watch their child march down a path of no return?
Everything Su Xiaoqing did was for Lin Fan.
As long as Lin Fan nodded, every problem could be easily solved.
He cast an approving look at Lin Fan:
"You would have been dead long ago if not for Xiaoqing; it's a good thing you still remember her kindness."
Looking at the young girl who had drawn her sword for him, Lin Fan felt a myriad of emotions.
To leave early was to leave; to part early was to part.
He truly did not want to wait until his imperial blood was exhausted, his patience worn thin by the Su Family, and he was driven out of the Su Family like a beggar.
"I've been a live-in son-in-law for three years; I might as well make a decisive break right now."
Lin Fan's expression grew dim.
A year ago, he had been kicked out of his previous marital home in the middle of the night.
When he first arrived at the Su Family, he fell gravely ill several times.
During the worst instance, he remained unconscious for seven days and seven nights.
The Su Family only cared about using his imperial body to nourish their Spiritual Roots.
They wanted to squeeze out every drop of value before he died so the Su Family could produce a few more promising sprouts.
Only Su Xiaoqing had taken care of him day after day, never leaving his side.
At first, Lin Fan thought she was just putting on a show.
At best, she still had a shred of conscience.
Furthermore, they had only the name of husband and wife, without the reality of it.
In the days that followed, Lin Fan lost consciousness several times, and every single time it was Su Xiaoqing who washed his body.
She even cleaned up his feces and urine.
She was only sixteen years old, hard as it was to imagine!
If not foolish, what else could she be?
An unmarried young girl, innocent of the world, could actually go to such lengths for a complete stranger.
Time truly was the only truth that tested human nature.
"Father-in-law."
Seeing everything with crystal clarity, Lin Fan sighed helplessly:
"I have decided to divorce Xiaoqing, and afterward, I will continue to nourish the Su Family for another half year."
"But I have one condition: you must give Xiaoqing one drop of the imperial blood I nourish."
Su Yuanshan clapped his fists together and readily agreed.
This cost the Su Family nothing at all.
Su Xiaoqing would become a free woman in the prime of her youth and could remarry.
And the Su Family would still receive imperial blood within the next six months.
Moreover, since Lin Fan himself initiated the divorce, no one would point fingers at the Su Family for ingratitude.
Most importantly, it would not give the distant imperial Lin Family any handle against them.
The imperial blood was secured.
Their reputation was preserved as well.
Su Yuanshan fetched paper and brush, wrote out the divorce agreement alongside Lin Fan, and they exchanged it with each other.
"Fool."
Su Xiaoqing's fingers trembled slightly, and the precious sword in her hand unconsciously slipped away.
"Serve my son-in-law some ginseng and bird's nest and take good care of him."
Su Yuanshan felt a sense of immense relief.
Seeing this, Su Xi beamed with joy.
"For my sake, can you buy some miraculous medicine to prolong his life?"
Su Xiaoqing suddenly grabbed Su Yuanshan's sleeve.
Su Yuanshan's smile gradually faded:
"Miraculous medicine is too expensive; this upcoming Taiyi Sect assessment requires an astonishing amount of funds."
"Rest assured, Father will leave you a generous dowry."
With that, he turned and left resolutely.
In an instant, Su Xiaoqing felt as though the sky had collapsed.
At that moment, Su Xi walked over.
"My mother has a century-old Tai sui, which can preserve youth and beauty, and prolong life and rejuvenate." She whispered close to her ear.
"First Mother will give it to me?"
The surprise came so suddenly that Su Xiaoqing suspected she had misheard.
Su Xi nodded.
"A year ago when Lin Fan married in, it was originally supposed to be me, the eldest daughter, who married him."
"It was only because I am going to cultivate in the Taiyi Sect that the family had you take my place in the marriage."
"I owe you for this matter, except..."
Her tone was sincere, yet she suddenly hesitated.
"For the century-old Tai sui, I am willing to do anything!"
Xiaoqing's heart pounded frantically, as if she had grasped a straw to save her life.
"Not long ago, eldest brother accidentally injured the young master of the Yang Family, straining the harmony between the two families."
"The Fifth Master of the Yang Family wants to take a concubine recently. If younger sister, you can marry over there, then that century-old Tai sui will belong to Lin Fan, and prolonging his life by another year will be no problem."
Su Xi pulled a bitter face, her words choked with sobs.
Rubbing the corner of her eyes, she said with apparent unbearable pity: "It's just that Fifth Master Yang is a paralyzed old codger..."
Su Xiaoqing grabbed her wrist, a flash of determination cutting through her tearful eyes:
"I'll marry."