Chapter 148: An Engagement He Knew Nothing About

Who else would be the first to come to his family’s aid in their hour of need? Wasn’t it obviously the old man, the young woman, and the four plainclothes bodyguards opposite him?

Thinking of this, Zhang Pu took another careful look at the distinguished guests seated across from him.

Yet they had still not introduced themselves, and Director Zhang had not given Zhang Pu and Uncle Fu any proper introduction either.

Drawing on his rich experience of life, Zhang Pu felt that even if these people were merely some high-ranking lackeys sent by someone else, they still looked down on a poor wretch like him.

With the unsurpassed slickness of a government official, Director Zhang had dressed the matter up as some noble act of “bringing charcoal in the snow.” In reality, they were merely offering alms.

Zhang Pu did not know whether Uncle Fu had sensed something similar, but he immediately thought that even if Uncle Fu had noticed it, he would still choose to accept it in the presence of a tycoon—to accept the rich man’s charity. Otherwise, he would be ruthlessly driven away by his new master like a stray dog. There was no helping it. In the face of survival, people always bowed to the reality that one had to lower one’s head beneath another’s roof.

And if Uncle Fu truly did so, Zhang Pu would not look down on him in the slightest. He had been through too much and understood people all too well. Understanding naturally led to sympathy.

Facing the large group on the other side, Zhang Pu actually wanted to see exactly what form this charity would take.

Back in the cultivation world, he had visited countless remote places and witnessed all manner of bizarre ceremonies among various races. He had seen far too many of them, yet somehow he never grew tired of watching.

Zhang Pu believed that his grandfather’s esteemed friend had deliberately arranged such a strange spectacle while offering help for a reason. There had to be more to it. Wanting to satisfy his curiosity, Zhang Pu chose for the moment to remain calm and watch their improvised performance—

After a while, the old man opposite him produced a document. He had now introduced himself as Cheng Yuan and said that Zhang Pu could call him Uncle Cheng.

Cheng Yuan handed the document to Zhang Pu and said, “All you need to do is sign this. You can read it carefully first. There’s absolutely nothing here meant to trick you.”

A contract?

Before seeing what was written inside, both Zhang Pu and Uncle Fu wondered the same thing.

Zhang Pu quickly accepted the document from Cheng Yuan.

Although it was called a document, it was in fact only a single sheet of paper.

At first, Zhang Pu thought it might contain some sort of agreement concerning the contracting of the mountain forests, but it did not.

There was not much writing on it either. Zhang Pu was no longer the Zhang Pu of his previous life. He was now capable of coming first in the entire school on his exams, so he could read ten lines at a glance and soon finished.

After reading it, Zhang Pu was somewhat surprised.

“How come I’ve never heard of this before? It seems my parents never told me about it…” Zhang Pu murmured, almost to himself.

Uncle Fu had been staring at Zhang Pu the entire time, clearly desperate to know what the document contained.

After finishing the page, Zhang Pu did not sign it. Instead, he handed it to Uncle Fu. The people opposite him seemed slightly surprised, but none of them said anything. They simply waited patiently, convinced that Zhang Pu would sign.

Uncle Fu hurriedly took the sheet Zhang Pu handed him and began reading it carefully.

He read with such concentration that he seemed unwilling to overlook even a single punctuation mark. As he continued, excitement visibly spread across his face. His emotions were far more turbulent than Zhang Pu’s had been.

When Zhang Pu had read the contents, he had been somewhat surprised, but with the thousand years of experience behind him, his heart was like a tranquil lake. No matter how fiercely the wind blew, it could not stir up much of a wave.

“This…”

After carefully reading the entire document, Uncle Fu opened his mouth, but immediately closed it again, as though something felt improper. The person concerned was standing right in front of him; he could not presume to make the decision first.

“These terms are very good. Signing my name would be easy enough, but I suddenly don’t feel like signing.”

“What?”

No one knew who had shouted first, but in an instant, everyone present was visibly shaken.

For a moment, even Cheng Yuan and the others did not know what to say.

Director Zhang, however, stepped in to smooth things over. “Zhang Pu… You’ve never met the other party before, so it’s not as if you have any real feelings for her. Besides, considering the matter of your parents’ disappearance and your current circumstances, you’re simply not in a position to marry into their family. And they’ve made it perfectly clear…”

Director Zhang deliberately left the rest unsaid. To put it bluntly would have wounded Zhang Pu’s pride too deeply. He was still a child, but a child on the verge of graduating from high school was hardly ignorant of everything.

“That’s right, Zhang Pu,” the village chief said. “What they mean is that if you agree, they’ll take care of the enormous trouble your family is facing. Otherwise, what are you going to do about the huge debts your family incurred before?”

The village Party secretary joined in. “Besides, this was something arranged in your grandparents’ generation. It may have been nothing more than a joke. The people of their generation don’t take it seriously anymore. And besides, what era are we living in? Nobody arranges childhood engagements anymore. These days, people have to fall in love before they marry. Otherwise, with the divorce rate so high…”

Before the village secretary could finish, the young woman beside Cheng Yuan cut in.

“You’ve never even met each other. What kind of love could you possibly have? Besides, Siyi said that even if her grandfather held a knife to her throat, she would rather die than marry a poor boy in this backwater, then live with him while he’s buried in debt. Even if her family supported them, wouldn’t that be humiliating for him?”

The young woman had remained silent until then, but once she began speaking, her words proved astonishingly venomous. With a single phrase—“this backwater”—she had insulted Director Zhang and the other two officials from the township, as well as the village secretary and village chief. And Zhang Pu, the person most directly involved, bore the full brunt of her merciless attack.

“Who do you think you are?” Zhang Pu snapped, anger flaring.

At first, he had not known who the young woman was. After reading the document, he had assumed she was Wang Siyi, the woman to whom he had been betrothed by their elders. But now, judging from her words, he knew that she was not. She had come in Wang Siyi’s place to break off the engagement.

The Wang family had come to handle the matter without even allowing the principal party to show her face. They had merely sent a lackey—and not only was this lackey sharp-tongued, she was also unbearably arrogant. It seemed the Wang family now regarded his own family as nothing more than beggars to whom they were tossing alms.

What utter absurdity!

So Zhang Pu immediately answered with equal insolence.

The moment he spoke, Director Zhang, the village secretary, and the village chief all darkened in the face.

Cheng Yuan’s expression sank even further, as though he were saying: So this boy really has no upbringing.

The young woman opposite him erupted like a thunderclap. She practically roared at Zhang Pu, “My name is Hu Xiangling, not ‘who do you think you are.’ Watch your mouth.”

“Did any of you tell me your name just now?” Zhang Pu shot back without yielding an inch. “And who was it that started speaking rudely? Think back and remember what you just said.”