Chapter 15: Marriage Arrangement

“Young Master Li, the books and silver are placed on the table,” a maid said, putting about twenty books on the table, next to which were five hundred taels of silver.

“Mm,” Li Si responded, then as if suddenly remembering something, asked, “Are these all the books in the mansion?”

“Yes, Young Master Li,” the maid replied.

“Oh,” Li Si nodded upon hearing this, and waved his hand, “You may go then, I want to read the books carefully.”

After the maid left, Li Si fell into deep thought, and the room momentarily sank into silence.

Li Si was wondering how his home could have forty to fifty books when this wealthy Zhang mansion only had about twenty. In the original owner’s memories, his parents were just ordinary people, so why did they have a large house in the city?

Suddenly, Li Si’s head began to throb violently. The pain made him involuntarily clutch his head with both hands, his fingers digging into his scalp.

“Ah!” A suppressed cry of pain echoed in the room.

Suddenly, the voices of a man and a woman resonated in his mind.

“Sier, Father has arranged a marriage for you, are you happy?”

“Mother has brought you books, now you can study.”

“Please don’t blame your parents, we’re doing this for your own good.”

“By marrying into the Nie family, our family won’t have to live so hard anymore. We’re sorry, son.”

“When you pass the provincial examination, you’ll marry her. Oh, my poor child.”

“Run, run quickly!!!”

The suppressed screams in the room gradually weakened. Li Si lowered his hands from his head, only then realizing his entire body was drenched in sweat.

He remembered now. The original owner’s family was very poor in his childhood. His father was a reckless gambler, and his mother was just an ordinary village woman. To say their home was bare would not be an exaggeration. But all this changed when he was five years old. After his father told him he had found a marriage prospect for him, their family could afford to buy a house, and he began to have books to read.

He also suddenly recalled the cause of the original owner’s parents’ deaths. His parents had gone to the Nie family to dissolve the engagement, and were gone for a full seven days. When they returned, they were already dead. And the original owner had suddenly forgotten about this matter.

“So it was because of this engagement that I could study so well and our family could have a large house,” Li Si’s lips curled into a smile, but this smile was somewhat forced and bitter. The original owner had clearly been sold by his parents, and certainly not to a good place. It might even have been a ghost marriage or something similar.

But now it had nothing to do with the original owner, it was his own matter now. This engagement was now his.

“However, it’s not without solution,” A flash of inspiration struck Li Si’s mind. He suddenly remembered a line from the conversation he had just recalled, mentioning that he could marry after passing the provincial examination.

So as long as he didn’t take the imperial examination, or if he failed it, it would be fine. Moreover, the provincial examination was in August. It was only May now, still three months away. There was no need to be so anxious or panic now, after all, in three months he might easily be able to break free from this situation.

Li Si exhaled, feeling more comfortable now that his thoughts were clear. Now he was thinking about how to get out of the Zhang mansion alive.

“Knock… knock…” Suddenly, a knocking sound startled Li Si.

“Young Master Li, are you alright?” The maid’s voice came from outside the door.

“I’m fine now, I just fell,” Li Si called out to the maid outside.

“Alright, Young Master Li can call me anytime if you need anything. My name is Xiao Lan,” After saying this, the footsteps outside grew fainter.

When he could no longer hear any sound, Li Si began to flip through the books on the table. He found that most of these books were classics like the Four Books and Five Classics.

Li Si felt he had nothing else to do now, so he picked up a book and started reading. Strangely enough, he became engrossed in it, feeling that the principles in the book were indeed profound. The more he pondered, the more marvelous he found it. He unexpectedly settled down to study it carefully.

All this was because he had the original owner’s memories, otherwise he would have found it obscure and difficult to understand.

“Knock… knock!”

“Knock… knock!”

“Knock… knock!”

“The weather is dry, be careful with fire and candles!” Suddenly, the sound of the night watchman came from outside, startling Li Si out of his reading trance.

“It’s the hour of Dog (7-9 pm),” Li Si was surprised. He had been reading for five or six hours without feeling the passage of time.

“Knock knock…” A knocking sound came from outside the door, along with a woman’s voice: “Young Master Li, I’m Xiao Lan. The master and mistress have gone out on business, I’ve brought your meal.”

“Mm, good, bring it in then,” Li Si responded, and a pretty young woman carrying a tray walked in from outside. This woman was the one who had shaken Li Si awake earlier.

“Put the food on the table,” Li Si moved the books on the table to one side, leaving a large empty space, just enough to put down the tray.

As Xiao Lan put down the tray, Li Si’s brows furrowed slightly. On the tray were two dishes and a soup, along with a bowl of rice, but the two dishes and soup were vegetarian, without a trace of meat. This was completely different from lunch, where over a dozen dishes were all meat dishes, but now they were all vegetarian.

“Something’s off,” Li Si’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly took out the Eight Trigrams mirror while Xiao Lan was setting the table and took a look. In the mirror, Xiao Lan still appeared as a normal person.

“Not a ghost,” Li Si exhaled inwardly, then asked Xiao Lan, “Do you know about the Zhang mansion being haunted?”

Hearing Li Si suddenly mention the Zhang family’s haunting, Xiao Lan’s hand shook as she was setting the table, spilling some soup.

“Of course I know about that,” Xiao Lan’s face turned pale, her eyes revealing a hint of fear.

“Then why do you dare to stay in the Zhang mansion?” This question had just occurred to Li Si. If the Zhang mansion was haunted, why were the people in the Zhang mansion still daring to stay? Weren’t they afraid of being killed by ghosts?

“Young Master Li, you’re overthinking,” Xiao Lan smiled somewhat forcedly, then said, “The haunting in the Zhang mansion is mainly in the Blue Flower Courtyard. As long as you don’t go to the Blue Flower Courtyard, it’s fine.”

Li Si’s eyes immediately showed understanding. He smiled and said, “That’s fine then, you can go now.”

“Alright, Young Master Li. I’ll come back later to collect the bowls and chopsticks,” Xiao Lan responded and withdrew.

Li Si picked up his chopsticks and began to eat. At first, he hadn’t felt hungry when engrossed in reading, but now he felt ravenous.

Just as Li Si was eating heartily, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine, as if something was staring at him from behind.

Li Si secretly glanced towards the window with his peripheral vision, and saw that a hole had appeared in the paper covering the window at some point. Through the hole, an eye filled with bloodshot met his gaze directly.