Chapter 5: You and Others Are Different_1

"Hmm."

Mu Huanqing nodded slightly; she didn't think that this boy younger than her could be more knowledgeable in medicine than the alchemists in the first sector, but since he was expressing concern, she did not decline.

Seeing her nod, Fang Ren bent down to look at her small legs beneath her sky-blue, knee-length skirt.

They were as white as jade, merely looking at them possessed a mysterious attraction to men.

Fang Ren's gaze didn't wander, and he asked, "May I touch them?"

Mu Huanqing nodded again, and upon her permission, Fang Ren reached out to touch her calf. It was very soft, as if there were no muscles on her leg at all.

After blushing for a moment, Fang Ren took a deep breath, pushing down the inappropriate urge inside him; his expression became serious.

He felt the bones in both calves and found nothing amiss; the tendons inside were not broken. Fang Ren asked, "Is it that you have no sensation from the waist down, or just that your calves can't move?"

"Just the calves," said Mu Huanqing.

"Then, it's just the calves' nerves that..."

As Fang Ren was speaking, he suddenly froze when he touched her anklet, his eyebrows instantly twisting together.

"This...This isn't from a car accident, is it?" Fang Ren looked up at her.

"No, it's not," said Mu Huanqing.

"Then why would Uncle Han..."

"Don't ask; I don't want to talk about it. Just treat me as a normal person, and I will live well as one," Mu Huanqing said.

These were the most words she had uttered so far, still filled with profound sadness.

"Live well as a normal person"... A cultivator thus accepted the reality of becoming mortal.

"Alright, then..."

Fang Ren frowned while looking at her calf, the veins and meridians in the foot connected to all the body's meridians, so having reached here, he could already roughly understand Mu Huanqing's physical condition.

The conclusion was that Mu Huanqing's meridians differed from those of ordinary people; they were the unique traits of cultivators; she truly wasn't an ordinary person.

Her meridians were almost entirely damaged, as if they had sustained an unbearable load, causing them to fail. There was also no True Qi left in her body, all dissipated into the world due to the damaged meridians.

The immobility of her calves was also due to the damage of the meridians, but the extent of damage on her calf meridians was too great, virtually in a state of severe fracture followed by atrophy.

The Cultivation Era had only begun 210 years ago, and there was no elixir in the world yet capable of restoring a person's meridians, let alone connecting those that had been severed. As for surgery or the like, that was nonsense and utterly infeasible, with forced reconnection being fatal.

"I am temporarily unable to help."

Fang Ren stood up, but thinking of the new alchemical pill he had been researching in the past two days, his frown gradually relaxed. If that pill was successful, perhaps it could help her regain the ability to walk.

"It's expected," said Mu Huanqing.

If alchemists from sector one couldn't heal her, what could a medical student do? She just didn't want to reject the goodwill of this man who was about to become her husband.

With her two lukewarm words, Fang Ren found that the room again fell silent.

Sitting on the sofa beside her, Fang Ren began to think of what to say to avoid making the atmosphere so awkward.

As he pondered, he unexpectedly thought of Liu Qianqian.

Since there was no possibility where he and Liu Qianqian were concerned, as she had made herself very clear, if he confessed again, they couldn't even remain friends.

He took out his phone, opened the chat app, and the special contact still displayed Liu Qianqian's name. Looking at the last message from three days ago, a slight sourness stirred in Fang Ren's heart.

This wasn't something that impulsive desire could resolve. If there's no affection, it's better not to be together.

The arranged marriage Uncle Han had set up for him seemed inalterable, as Uncle Han appeared resolute in giving him no opportunity to refuse. However, he also had not thought about refusing, considering Mu Huanqing's exceptional beauty; any man his age would feel their heart rate pick up with just one glance.

It was like that feeling of love at first sight.

He just felt things were moving too fast, and Mu Huanqing seemed indifferent about it all.

Also, to fall for someone else so quickly... it left an uncomfortable feeling in his heart.

"Do you really think it's good for us to start like this?" Fang Ren stared at his phone, his voice becoming somber too.

"Isn't it good?" Mu Huanqing asked him.

"It's not about just being together; I'm asking you, to so easily entrust your life to someone you haven't gotten to know, don't you have any thoughts about that?" Fang Ren asked.

"I..."

Mu Huanqing paused for a moment, then said: "I haven't thought about anything else. To be a normal person, to support a husband and educate children, to spend the rest of my life that way will be fine."

"So the person you marry doesn't need to be considered carefully?"

"They all say that you are the most suitable person for me."

Fang Ren paused for a long while, then said, "Can you share your innermost thoughts with me?"

"No need, I may get better in a few days like this, and from now on… I will try to be a good wife." Mu Huanqing raised her head, looking directly at Fang Ren as she spoke.

After hearing her words, Fang Ren was surprised by her seriousness. It seemed that in her eyes, she had already begun to treat him as her husband.

"I…"

Fang Ren glanced at his phone, then lifted his head to look at Mu Huanqing beside him, appearing so fragile and pitiable.

With his finger on the button for 'Special Attention' on his phone screen, Fang Ren made a silent commitment to himself. He decided to cherish the person in front of him, and to stop thinking about those wishful, elusive things.

He cancelled the 'Special Attention' setting for Liu Qianqian and cleared all their past chat records, then he put down his phone.

After a brief silence, Fang Ren spoke, "If our time together from now on makes us both feel that the other is quite good, I too will try to be a good husband."

Mu Huanqing raised her head to look at him, her eyes shimmering with a slight peculiarity as she said, "You're different from other guys."

"How so?" Fang Ren was puzzled.

"When they see me for the first time, without knowing anything about me, they would propose to me directly."

"…"

Fang Ren chuckled dryly to himself, thinking it was natural. A woman as beautiful as her could easily make many men fall in love at first sight.

"Even now I'm unclear whether it's better to marry first then cultivate a relationship, or to have feelings for each other before marriage," Mu Huanqing said.

"Didn't you... ever like someone before?" Fang Ren asked.

"The liking between a man and a woman?"

"Of course."

"I'm not quite clear about that feeling."

"…"

Fang Ren chuckled dryly again. He couldn't understand the kind of environment she had lived in before, that she would ask whether it was to marry first and then to have feelings, or the other way around.

Although the answer was simple, Fang Ren was very willing to explain it to her because in her beautiful eyes, only innocence was portrayed concerning this matter.

"Actually, the most appropriate way is to have feelings first and then get married because it's a matter involving the rest of one's life. Being married to someone you don't like for a lifetime is definitely not right; it surely would not be happy as the purpose of marriage is for the two people to live happily together," Fang Ren said.

"Then why did they just suggest that we should marry first and develop feelings afterward?" Mu Huanqing asked.

"That's what they think, after all. The final decision rests with the two of us. Imagine if we got married without any feelings for each other and only after marriage we find that we despise each other's character. With such a long life ahead, it would be torturous to share a bed with someone you detest every day, wouldn't it?"

"Mother said that as long as there are feelings, you can tolerate each other a lot, and you can also change a lot for the other person."

"Er... Auntie's not wrong... but the safest method is still to have feelings and then get married. Most people agree with this viewpoint," Fang Ren said.

"What about the minority who disagree?"

"It must be that everyone's experiences are different, I guess. Some think that the more ignorant you are about love, the happier you'll be, so getting married before having feelings suits them fine. Others want to live wisely; they're cautious about feelings, afraid that genuine emotions won't be reciprocated. In the end, everyone has their own pursuits."

"Which category does Ah Ran belong to?" Mu Huanqing looked at him and asked.

Fang Ren was caught off-guard by her suddenly affectionate form of address and lost his composure for a moment. Then, he smiled and said, "I belong to… the kind that obeys fate, letting destiny decide."

"Just like your name."

"Yes, 'Ren Ran' means to let things take their natural course, and I think that's pretty good."

After hearing his words, Mu Huanqing's gaze sank slightly, and she muttered softly, "For a mortal… that is quite good."

Fang Ren saw her like this and assumed she was pondering something personal again. He didn't ask further after all, because she didn't want to say.

"Right, Sister Hui Qing, do you watch TV?" Fang Ren asked with a slight smile on his face.

"I don't want to," Mu Huanqing said.

"Then I'll wash an apple for you to eat."

"I don't want to eat."

"Then…"

"Go to your room."

"Huh?"

"Shang Han said to take me there," Mu Huanqing said.

Fang Ren was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected her to refer to her biological father by his full name. But shortly after, he considered it reasonable since Uncle Han had left her for over twenty years, failing to fulfill any fatherly duties.

At this thought, Fang Ren became even more puzzled about why Uncle Han would leave his biological daughter and spend over twenty years with him, an unrelated child.

It was as if he was really the son of Uncle Han.