Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 41

Soon, the fleets of the prominent families reached Jingkou Town along the river.

In addition to the Wang, Cui, Lu, Zheng, and Li families, who had led the way to Jingkou, there were also the Hongnong Yang family, the Yangdi Chu family, and other prestigious families among them.

Therefore, Cheng Jinyang did not dare to be negligent and hurriedly brought people to welcome them.

As for why the Five Great Families came to Jingkou first instead of Wuchang, where the Emperor and Secretary Yu were, Cheng Jinyang only found out after asking the young ladies that it was indeed because everyone had informed their elders about reaching the fifth grade.

Overall, the attitude of the five families was quite normal, while the Chu and Yang families were particularly overjoyed. Their daughters had reached the fifth grade before turning twenty, which meant they were likely to reach at least the third grade in the future.

More importantly, everyone was gathered around Cheng Jinyang, which inevitably led to speculation.

Currently, the view among the Five Great Families were that this group of nine people, including Cheng Jinyang, must have mastered some special method for explosive grade advancement. Whether this method belonged to Cheng Jinyang specifically was harder to determine.

If it did, then how to explain why the Shendu Cheng family only had one person at the fifth grade so far? If this method could be widely promoted, the Cheng family could produce dozens of third-grade members, making even the Emperor step down.

In other words, either this method was not Cheng Jinyang’s to control and its widespread use was not up to him, or it was objectively not feasible for large-scale promotion.

Regardless of the situation, this explosive method was far more tempting than the Steel Giant Soldier. The latter… at least the three prominent families combined could still fight, but with the explosive method, surrender was certain—brother families, let me fly with you, name your price!

After a symbolic tour in Jingkou, most of the prominent families then took the land route south, bypassing Taihu Lake to head towards Lin’an City.

However, including the Five Great Families, along with the Yangdi Chu family, Hongnong Yang family, and the Hejian Xing family, a total of eight families, remained in Jingkou at the Cheng family estate under the guise of maintaining relations and taking care of their daughters.

“Jinyang,” Chu Jiye was the first to privately approach Cheng Jinyang. After some polite small talk, he got straight to the point, “I’ve heard that you have a marriage engagement with the daughter of the Xing family?”

Cheng Jinyang was stunned, and Chu Jiye himself felt awkward. Marriage matters should typically be discussed between the families’ parents, not directly asked by a potential father-in-law. However, Cheng Jinyang’s parents were already deceased, and the clan leader was him. There were no other elders; they had all passed away.

Thus, he had to ask Cheng Jinyang directly.

“Yes,” Cheng Jinyang replied cautiously. “It was an engagement arranged by my father before his death.”

“I see,” Chu Jiye said, stroking his beard and smiling. “The Cheng and Xing families are connected by a marriage bond, which makes your father’s arrangement understandable. Though it is difficult to go against one’s parents’ wishes, as the clan leader of the Cheng family, you should look at the bigger picture.”

“Of course, I’m not saying that the Hejian Xing family is not good, but the Yangdi Chu family and the Shendu Cheng family have a very close relationship. Remember? We’ve always been the largest supplier of Tianluo military equipment.”

Cheng Jinyang quickly nodded in agreement.

Indeed, the Yangdi Chu family had been a major supplier of military equipment to the Shendu Cheng family, but that was purely a commercial relationship, not a matter of family connections.

Unlike the Hejian Xing family, which had long-term intermarriages and shared intelligence, leading to unified external statements. That was what “connected by family ties” truly meant. Of course, since Chu Jiye was trying to build a closer relationship, Cheng Jinyang wasn’t going to contradict him outright; otherwise, Miss Qingqing would come at him with a metal cutter.

He responded with modesty and diplomacy, saying, “The war is not yet settled, so I dare not marry,” and Chu Jiye understood his meaning.

This meant Cheng Jinyang was still unsure.

If it had been someone else, a reply like this would have immediately caused Chu Jiye to become annoyed and leave.

After all, if the woman had made hints directly, and the man still wanted to delay, it would be quite embarrassing for the woman.

However, Cheng Jinyang was young and accomplished, having risen to the fifth grade before turning twenty (according to Chu Qingqing), which meant a solid guarantee of reaching at least the third grade. His talent was very compatible with Qingqing’s.

With both parents gone and the Cheng family’s relatively weak background at the fifth grade, marrying into the Cheng family wouldn’t subject Qingqing to the Cheng clan’s control or bullying. He was practically the ideal son-in-law.

No wonder even the Taiyuan Wang family had shown interest in him!

Competing with the Taiyuan Wang family for a son-in-law, although the odds were slim, was certainly not shameful.

If Cheng Jinyang ultimately chose Qingqing, it would mean that the Chu family had secured an excellent son-in-law, gaining a significant advantage over the Wang family.

Even if Qingqing lost in the end, the Chu family would not suffer any loss. With a talent guaranteed to reach at least the third grade, wouldn’t they be highly sought after elsewhere?

Thus, Chu Jiye didn’t show any displeasure and, from another perspective, could understand why Cheng Jinyang wasn’t rushing to make a choice.

Not being declined was already a success!

“My daughter Qingqing has also reached the fifth grade recently,” Chu Jiye hinted heavily. “You’re both young talents, and since you live close by, you could interact more often.”

“Uncle Chu’s words are very reasonable,” Cheng Jinyang responded tactfully. “Qingqing often spends time with Wanrou and the others and occasionally cooks. When I visited them a few days ago, I had the pleasure of tasting Qingqing’s cooking and was greatly impressed.”

“Haha, my Qingqing indeed has excellent cooking skills. While I wouldn’t say she can prepare dragon liver and phoenix marrow, she is certainly not inferior to famous chefs in restaurants.”

Chu Jiye felt both happy and a bit bitter. Happy because Qingqing had indeed showcased her talents and seemed to have left a deep impression on the potential son-in-law. Bitter because, as her father, he had never tasted his daughter’s cooking!

However, it was rare for daughters from prominent families to cook, and good cooking skills were often seen as a sign of being a good wife, adding to her virtues.

Therefore, Chu Jiye continued to chat with Cheng Jinyang on this topic, ostensibly to inquire but actually to promote.

Cheng Jinyang had already received advance notice from Qingqing and was fully prepared, thus engaging in a pleasant conversation with his future father-in-law, making Chu Jiye increasingly fond of him.

As for the metal hydrogen plant issue from a year ago, which had once caused difficulties for Cheng Jinyang when he was with Tianluo, Chu Jiye had long since put it out of his mind.

Old grievances! Why bring them up? One should look forward!

Back at the temporary residence of the Yangdi Chu family in Jingkou, after dealing with some clan matters, Chu Jiye returned to his own quarters.

Chu Qingqing, who had been waiting, quickly brought tea to welcome her father and inquired how the discussion had gone.

Chu Jiye took the tea cup, sipped it, and was about to speak when he suddenly remembered something and frowned.

“Qingqing, I’m a bit hungry.”

“Daughter will have the kitchen prepare something to eat right away,” Miss Qingqing immediately said.

“Remove the word ‘have’,” Chu Jiye replied.

Miss Qingqing: ?

“Is it that, after I’ve spent a whole day negotiating on your behalf, you’re unwilling to cook?” Chu Jiye’s face turned stern.

Thinking about not having tasted his daughter’s cooking yet made him feel inexplicably displeased.

“Daughter wouldn’t dare. What does Father wish to eat?” Miss Qingqing quickly asked with a submissive tone.

“Let’s start with ‘Eight Delicacies’,” Chu Jiye said casually.