Chapter 1: Sister Stands in as the Bride

"I would rather die than marry Jiang Fan!"

Xu Yining held a three-foot green sword to her neck, tears of grievance streaming down her cheeks.

The numerous clan members in the great hall were in an uproar!

"Yining, don't be impulsive! It was my fault, I shouldn't have forced you."

Xu Zhengyan was so scared his heart leaped into his throat. He tried to calm her down:

"Ten years ago, Jiang Fan's father saved our patriarch's life. Out of gratitude, the patriarch promised you two would marry when you turned eighteen."

"If you break the engagement, people will call us ungrateful!"

"Now that you've finally been chosen by the Azure Cloud Sect and are slated to become a true disciple, if they learn of this and displease an elder, your true disciple qualification will be revoked!"

Xu Yining's expression changed. She stamped her foot and declared, "I don't care!"

"I won't marry Jiang Fan, and I can't lose my reputation. Father, you must find a solution for me!"

Xu Zhengyan had a splitting headache. His eyes instinctively darted to Jiang Fan, who sat quietly in the corner.

He was a handsome young man with a tall, slender build, calm and intelligent eyes, and a graceful, serene demeanor. He had an excellent appearance.

Unfortunately, he was mute.

Moreover, he was a mute who had been tested multiple times and found to have no spirit root.

His daughter, however, was an astonishing prodigy with a sixth-grade spirit root. She had caught the eye of an Azure Cloud Sect elder and was set to become a true disciple, with a limitless future ahead.

The two were like heaven and earth; they simply did not belong in the same world.

"Husband, if it comes to it, why don't we let Youran marry him instead of Yining?"

His wife, Wang Yingfeng, who was beside him, sighed helplessly.

The Xu clan members' gazes collectively shifted to Xu Youran, who was at the back of the crowd.

She was a graceful young woman in green, with a tranquil demeanor.

Her captivating beauty was enough to make anyone unable to look away.

As the older sister, she was far more beautiful than her younger sister, Xu Yining!

Unfortunately, she was born to a concubine, and her status in the Xu family was far inferior to Xu Yining's.

Wang Yingfeng's suggestion that Xu Youran marry a mute in place of her own daughter was something many in the Xu family found hard to stomach.

For a great beauty like Xu Youran to marry a mute like Jiang Fan would ruin her life.

"Father, I still wish to serve you and remain by your side. Please don't marry me off."

Hearing this, Xu Youran's face instantly went pale.

Biting her red lip, she pleaded helplessly.

Xu Zhengyan, however, ignored her gaze. He stepped forward, grasped her shoulders, and said earnestly:

"Youran, our Xu family has been in decline for a century. It's truly difficult that a genius like your sister has finally emerged, and the future of the Xu family rests on her!"

"Consider this your father begging you: please marry Jiang Fan in your sister's place!"

Seeing her still hesitate, Xu Zhengyan gritted his teeth and bent his knees, saying, "Do you want your father to kneel and beg you?"

Xu Youran was startled. She quickly helped him up and said anxiously:

"Father, don't do this."

"I'll marry, won't I?"

The moment she agreed, her eyes were filled with grievance.

Only then did Xu Zhengyan straighten up, the burden that had weighed on his chest for years finally lifted.

He let out a relieved smile and looked at Jiang Fan: "Xiao Fan, what do you think?"

Jiang Fan sat calmly in the corner, unhurriedly sipping his tea.

Hearing this, he raised his eyes.

He glanced at Xu Youran, who was looking down silently with tears in her eyes, and sighed inwardly: "How truly pitiful, to be conspired against by her own family."

The Xu family never intended to marry their favored daughter, Xu Yining, to Jiang Fan.

Instead, they had planned all along to make Xu Youran the sacrificial lamb.

From Xu Yining threatening suicide, to Wang Yingfeng proposing a substitute marriage, and then Xu Zhengyan playing the family card – it was all pre-arranged.

Xu Youran, being innocent and kind, easily fell for their ploy and agreed to the substitute marriage.

How could Jiang Fan bear to hurt such a pitiful girl?

He picked up the paper and pen he carried with him and wrote a note.

"Uncle, there's no need to trouble Youran. The Xu family has looked after me for ten years, which has already repaid my father's life-saving kindness. Let's call off the engagement today."

Even without Xu Youran, Jiang Fan had already intended to break the engagement.

Since his father saved the patriarch ten years ago, they had been living in the Xu residence.

After his father's death three years ago, the family's warmth towards him cooled, and the Xu family gradually became estranged.

Jiang Fan understood that the Xu family's patience had worn thin.

If not for their concern about breaking the engagement harming their reputation, they would have long since driven Jiang Fan out of the Xu residence.

Now, it was time for him to leave.

After reading his words, Xu Zhengyan was secretly thrilled.

Every day Jiang Fan remained in the Xu family, he served as a reminder to Xu Zhengyan that the Xu residence owed Jiang Fan and his father an immense debt of gratitude!

Day after day, year after year, Xu Zhengyan felt a persistent thorn in his throat, yet he was helpless.

Now that he was leaving, it was truly wonderful news!

Unexpectedly, Wang Yingfeng said earnestly, "Xiao Fan, how can this be?"

"The engagement was set by the patriarch; how dare we go against his wishes? If he returns from his travels and finds that we haven't fulfilled the agreement, your uncle and I will be in deep trouble."

"If you truly appreciate the Xu family's care for the past ten years, then marry Youran. We'll all be family from then on."

Some shrewd clan members saw through Wang Yingfeng's true intentions.

She wanted to marry Xu Youran to the mute Jiang Fan, ruining her life's happiness, and thereby eliminating a potential threat to her own daughter, Xu Yining.

Xu Youran possessed an outstanding demeanor and peerless beauty; she was a renowned beauty far and wide.

Many young masters from prominent families coveted her.

If she were to marry into a powerful family or become the wife or concubine of a strong cultivator, she would undoubtedly become a rival to Xu Yining.

Marrying her now to Jiang Fan, a good-for-nothing with no spirit root, would completely eliminate this hidden danger.

"Truly malicious."

Jiang Fan saw it clearly. He looked at Xu Youran, who was silently weeping, and sighed helplessly, pondering to himself:

"Even if I help her this one time today, after I leave, she still won't escape Wang Yingfeng's cruel schemes."

"At that point, her fate might be even worse than marrying a mute."

Over the years, Xu Youran was the only one who treated him kindly.

The year his father died, he fell seriously ill from excessive grief, confined to bed for seven days and nights.

The Xu family ignored him, but Xu Youran stayed by his bedside, caring for him tirelessly for seven days until he recovered from this ordeal.

He simply couldn't bear to abandon this pure, kind-hearted girl and let her fend for herself in the Xu family's pit of despair.

After much deliberation, he reluctantly picked up the brush and wrote a single word for Wang Yingfeng.

"Fine!"

Wang Yingfeng smiled and enthusiastically said, "Youran, quickly take Jiang Fan to get some clothes measured. You two will be married in a month."

She was eager for them to marry quickly, fearing complications if they delayed.

Xu Youran wiped her tears and, with swollen eyes, approached Jiang Fan: "Come with me, I also have something to tell you."

Her private room.

Although called a private room, it was only slightly better than a maid's room and was quite simple.

Xu Youran opened a drawer in her dressing table and pulled out a small, very secretly hidden pouch from the corner.

It contained various small silver pieces.

"Little mute, you shouldn't have agreed," Xu Youran sighed. "They don't genuinely want you to marry me; they just don't want to get a reputation for being ungrateful."

"Once my sister enters the Azure Cloud Sect, they will treat you harshly and find ways to drive you away."

Jiang Fan smiled faintly. She wasn't foolish after all.

Xu Youran placed the money pouch into Jiang Fan's palm and said softly, "Take this money and leave the Xu residence, leave Solitary Boat City."

"I don't want you to live a life like mine."

Jiang Fan wrote a note: "What about you?"

A bitter smile touched Xu Youran's lips: "This is my home. No matter how badly they treat me, I can't leave."

Suddenly, she heard the maids chattering and laughing as they headed to the storeroom for silk.

She said nervously, "Hurry and go, don't hesitate."

However, the thought that this farewell might be forever lingered.

She might never see this companion she grew up with again in this life.

An inexplicable sadness welled up in her heart, and her voice became hoarse: "Out there, don't casually trust strangers. Don't eat their food, don't drink their water."

"Also, don't easily engage with people. If they discover you're mute, they'll bully you."

"Do you understand, little mute?"

As she spoke, her voice began to choke with tears.

Clear tears glistened in her eyes.

Jiang Fan stepped forward, gently patted her head, and his soft voice quietly emerged: "From now on, you should call me husband."

Huh?!

Xu Youran abruptly looked up, her snowy eyes wide with disbelief, as if she had seen a ghost. She stammered, "You... you spoke?"

"You're not mute!"