2 Arranged Marriage

The Ye family hall has a large space capable of accommodating 400-500 persons. It is in a rectangular shape with patriarch seat in a high position in the north center. The main doorway is in the south center. After patriarch seat, there are six seats on each side of west and east for 12 family elders including grand elder. The remaining seats at the east and west are for remaining clansman according to their position in the family. Today most important clansmen are seated in the Ye family hall. Ye Jian grandfather Ye Tian is seated on the patriarch seat.

Ye Jian stepped into the hall nervously and recalling from the memories, what to do, he bowed to his grandfather and said, "Ye Jian pays a visit to the grandfather". He after saying that stood at the center of the hall waiting for the important matter which has to be discussed.

Ye Tian saw Ye Jian and lightly smiled at him but there is a slight disappointment in his eyes. He turned towards the hall and said to all the clansmen "today I called all of you for discussing the matter of Ye Jian's marriage".

All the people in the hall are dumbstruck including Ye Jian. he thought "what the fuck? I am only around sixteen years now and even myself did not think to marry someone why did this old foggy is so eager to arrange my marriage". Not only Ye Jian the people there also thought who will marry this shithead without any talent for martial arts. And if they find someone of low status to marry to him what will happen to the prestige of the family. As all are bewildered Ye Tian coughed and said with a serious expression "if any of you have any objections, you can rise now."

One of the Ye family elders stood up and said "patriarch it is the right age for young master Ye to marry but with his talent for martial arts and no future scope, who will give him a bride? We can not marry young master Ye to someone of low status. Please think carefully".

Ye Tian listened to the words of the elder and said with a smug look on his face " elder Han you don't need to worry about that, the bride is from the family status equal to ours and is already fixed. We just need the approval of the clansmen to conduct the marriage that's all".

Everyone in the hall is flabbergasted by the statement of Ye Tian and don't know how to respond. they are seriously thinking which family comparable to ours are willing to give their daughter as a bride to Ye Jian. In the middle of everyone's confusion, Ye Jian said: "grandfather I am not willing to marry yet." With this sentence of his, many of the elders thought angrily "someone is giving a bride to you for marriage and you are rejecting it, with your talent you will not be able to get a girl from the family which is of equal status as us, even if we beg them."

With the words of Ye Jian, Ye Tian angrily yelled "you imbecile shut your mouth to me and do whatever I say you to do. Stop interrupting me and don't ask any questions, you just listen to me". With that said Ye Tian looked around the hall and said, "is there any objection to the marriage?" all the people in the hall fell silent for a while and one of the elders got off and said "we don't have any objection to the marriage. May we know the identity of the bride."

Ye Jian is angrily thinking himself "this old foggy is overdoing things. why even I don't have any choice in choosing my life partner. what mess I have gotten into, ahhhh!"

Ye Tian smiled and said, " the bride is Song Tingyu of the song family". Hearing the name of the bride all elders in the hall are shocked and after some time one of the elders said with an unbelieving tone " patriarch are you saying the genius martial talent of the Song family of the Misty Sky city Song Tingyu." After that, all the elders are facing Ye Tian with a questioning look and waiting for the answer. Ye Tian smiled and replied, " yes, that martial talent genius of the Song family."

All the elders and amazed and thinking how the patriarch convinced Song family to marry Song Tingyu to the trash. One of the elders who cannot take any more suspense asked with an amazed tone "patriarch why will Song family will give Song Tingyu in marriage to the Ye family".

Ye Tian laughed and said " Song family patriarch owe me a favor when he was young and said to me If there is girl descendant to him and I have male descendant he will marry the girl descendant to the male descendant of our family. But his second generation all are males and third generation only Song Tingyu is the female. So, five days before, I asked him, whether the promise still holds good. Two days back I received confirmation from him that he is willing to marry Song Tingyu to our Ye Jian".

One of the elders said " patriarch are you sure there is no complication in this marriage. I am not able to understand how they are willing to marry their Song family pearl to Ye Jian".

Ye Tian smiled and said " there are no complications in this marriage. Song family patriarch Song Bu himself told me that even martial talent of Ye Jian is bad, he did not commit any atrocities and have a good character. So he is willing to abide by the promise he made me and betroth Song Tingyu to Ye Jian".

With that, all the elders and clansmen fell silent for a moment and said: " if that is the case we don't have any objection to the marriage". Ye Tian smiled and said "that's good. The marriage will be on the fifth day from now. Make all the necessary preparations".

Ye Jian and all the elders are shocked and said: "patriarch why you want to hastily conclude this marriage and even there is no engagement between Song Tingyu and Ye Jian." Ye Tian smiled and said " I am very eager for a great-grandson and I cannot wait any longer. Ask no more question and prepare for the marriage. The meeting is dismissed."

Ye Tian did not give any chance to the elders to ask more questions and sent them off. But he only knows that if he postponed the marriage something may happen to Ye Jian because of the enemies of the Ye family as Ye Jian is the only descendant of the family. So, he is in a haste to complete the marriage and to get a great-grandson who is capable of leading the Ye family.

Ye Tian looked at the shocked Ye Jian who is still standing at the centre of the hall and said to him " from now on until the marriage is over you are staying in the Ye family and if you want to go out in the misty sky city do it by today evening before marriage announcement and take Xing Tia as protector, with you when you go out" and seeing unresponsive Ye Jian, Ye Tian let out a sigh and went out of the hall.

Ye Jian who is still in shock is still thinking what is happening around him " which dog shit luck I have gotten into. Previous my life is so happy with exams and tests. But now I have to marry at the age of 16 and should shoulder that responsibility and with someone in the shadows aiming for my life, I always have to be alert. And all this are happening to me without my involvement. Am I going to lead a peaceful life with this body? Definitely not, I am totally screwed up."

Ye Jian returned from his thoughts and glancing around found that he is the only one in the hall. With a bitter face, he started walking towards the exit thinking " what about my future wife? I didn't even see her. Is she good looking? Before all the elders said she has very good martial talent but none spoke about her looks. Am I going to marry an ugly girl as my wife? at least they should give me some photo for reference… I will inquire about when I go out. Wait wait…. If she with a great martial talent married me a trash is I am gonna be suppressed and need to carry out all her wishes like in movies. will she give me minimum respect after the marriage? Who is the dumbshit marriage planer? They should select some girl who gonna respect and takes care of me after she marries me. I think my life gonna be more miserable from now onwards…ahhh. I should let time decide my fate."

After calming down for a while and motivating himself that he can cross this tribulation with a bitter smile he went out of the hall to enjoy his limited freedom up to the evening. He went to Xing Tia and told him that he needs to get to the market and around the city. Ye Jian wanted to ask Xing Tia about Song Tingyu but seeing the impassionate look on his face he did not say anything further and went into the carriage.

Inside the carriage, while looking outside buildings and scenery he is constantly thinking about how to find information about Song Tingyu. He doesn't have any friends here to ask. The only one who follows him where ever he goes has a very sour and impassionate face that says, he can't bear speaking to me. Mostly he speaks with his father, uncle, and grandfather. After thinking for a while he decides to ask his uncle as he is embarrassed to ask about the qualities of his future wife with his father or grandfather. While his uncle is like a friend to him and since don't have any children he always treated Ye Jian kindly and constantly motivated him to better himself. So, he asked Xing Tia where his uncle is. "your uncle is not in the town, he went on a mission to the neighboring crimson sky kingdom, he will return by your marriage time."

Ye Jian slumped in his seat and constantly thought who he can ask about the information he wants. After giving some thought and without finding anyone that he is intimate with to speak, he just lazily sat on the cushion in the carriage seeing the changing scenery outside and thought to ask someone in the family residence after he returned from this short trip.

As he constantly thinking about all these things, he suddenly saw a group of people inside a large cage and are tied with chains around their necks restricting their movement. The transport vehicle pulled by some beast that he did not know and they are being transported somewhere.

He from his memories know that there are a wide variety of beasts in this region. So, he did not show much interest towards this beast but he is interested towards the people inside the cage and wants to know where are they being transported to. So, he asked Xing Tia "why all these people are chained and where they are being transported to?"

Xing Tia saw Ye Jian with a puzzled look and said "they are slaves transported to the slave market. They are captured during wars and at borders. Some people are willing to be sold. and some troublesome people are restricted and their martial arts is sealed. After they are sold they can be disposed at their masters wish."

Ye Jian is amazed, the place from where he comes slavery is abolished ages ago and it is a crime now. He is interested to visit the slave market and buy him a slave so that he can know information from outside and he did not need to think about finding somebody to know the information he needed. From the memories, the previous Ye Jian closed and isolated himself from others in his mansion and he did not know many things about the outside world other than which he had seen and read in the few books, which he was interested in his childhood days.

So he said to Xing Tian to go to the slave market and he is interested to buy slaves. Xing Tia gave him a puzzled look and said: "young master Ye they are many slaves and servants in the Ye family, why not choose from them and there is no need to get a new one."

Ye Jian thought for a while and as there is no one in the family who respects him including the servants and slaves who somehow are proficient in basic martial arts and are at the 3rd level of origin realm. He thought if he got a slave for himself, then he doesn't have to ask other people to help him. So, he insisted on getting a slave from the slave market and urged Xing Tia to go to the slave market. Xing Tia helplessly sighed and decided to go to the slave market.

Generally, high ranked people and masters of the family will not visit the slave market, only their attendants or servants visit the market and purchase suitable people. Slaves with high martial talent are usually auctioned off in auction houses where they are sold for a high price. People with low martial talent and girls with average looks are sold as slaves in the slave market. Generally, slaves are categorized when they arrived at the market and their prices fixed after proper inspection and based on their talents.

The martial arts of the slaves are sealed by using special pills so that they are not able to attack their masters. There are also slave trainers who train slaves such that they won't be able to defy their master commands. Such slaves have lost their all dignity, self-esteem, and individuality in the cruel slave training. The slaves are imbued with fear and respect towards their masters.

They all trained in such a way that, thought of escaping and revolting won't enter their minds. The situation of female slaves is even more critical, they are trained in all the ways such that they will do anything said by their master out of fear. Generally, there won't be a virgin slave among girls. The slave girls are usually raped by many men before sold as slaves and many of them are sold to brothel houses and will become prostitutes.

The slaves are marked with a slave sign indicating that they are slaves and slave symbol indicates which family the slave belong to. The slave symbol is usually printed on the forehead, so their status as a slave is known to all. The slaves are given some poison pills after the purchase and their masters should give them intoxication pills regularly for the slaves to continue their lives.

If the master feels to free their slave they can give them a special pill which will completely intoxicate them and they are free from then on. But due to the cruel slave training most of the slaves will lose individuality and even if they became free they don't know what to do. So all slaves will completely forget about the freedom and there is no idea of revolt in their minds.

After 10 minutes Ye Jian chariot arrived at the entrance of the slave market. By seeing the situation of the slave market Ye Jian is flabbergasted.