2 Chapter 2: No.

"Looks like I came just at the right time; is brother Xiao Che going to retrieve his bride now? Felicitations."

I turned my head in the person's direction, seeing two young men slowly walking toward me; the one who spoke seemed slightly older than I was, and a slightly thinner man swiftly walked behind the speaker.

"Oh, hello, it is my honor to have you congratulate me." I hadn't the slightest idea who these people were, but I had learned during my long, selectively amnesiac mind how to talk to someone whose name you should know but still don't.

But still, I didn't like how this guy was talking about the girl I was about to break up with as if she were some item to be retrieved; she wasn't and will never be my possession.

I already didn't like this place's culture, if that was something acceptable to say.

"Haha, of course," he approached with a laugh, unaware of my real thoughts about him, "the person you are marrying is our Floating Cloud City's number one brightest jewel; this is not only our Xiao Clan's big event, but it is our Floating Cloud City's big event!

Since you have the chance to marry this treasure, your brother here is very happy for you; of course, I am also envious and ashamed as well, ahahahah!"

This guy made no sense; this whole place was weird, and what kind of name was that for a city? That was its own sentence!

But I just laughed and said, "Indeed, but I'm sure you'll manage to find a girl just as good."

I naturally lied. I had no idea who this guy was, but I already didn't like him.

"Young master, we must get going." I warned a girl that I had already seen, but I didn't know where.

"It seems like I must go, if you two don't mind." I said, nodding politely to the two annoying people, one of whom hadn't even spoken but annoyed me by proxy because of who he was with.

The journey took nearly one and a half hours; the scenery didn't even seem to go by fast; it was probably a few kilometers at most. Just how slow were we going?

I wanted a car.

"Brother-in-law!" I heard a wild cry as soon as I reached this other rich family's main entrance.

This person didn't seem that old, but he was at least two meters tall, his body seemed strong as a bull, and the ground almost trembled at his passage.

"Oh, hello, it's been so long; how have you been?" I asked amiably. I had met taller people, but none looked this young; he had a face younger than my own new body's!

"Yes, brother-in-law, it has been a month, and today you can finally become my brother-in-law for real. I heard you want to talk to my sister privately before the wedding; come, she is ready; I'll open the door."

He turned around and ran to the door like a walking mountain of steel.

Poor boy; he must have some problem in the head, or he was far younger than I imagined to be that seemingly naive and happy.

Or maybe I was just a bitter old man—who knows?

I sighed and followed behind the young giant.

When I reached the door, I saw the young lad who had just left standing near an older gentleman. The boy seemed somewhat chastised by the older man, so I assumed he was someone from the family.

"Greetings, sir. Always a pleasure to meet you." I said, hoping that this man had actually met me before.

"Ahah, you shouldn't be this polite son; we're going to be family today, but come fast; my dear daughter is waiting for you; treat her well; and don't worry about those who talk nonsense and can only flap their mouths in malice; screw them all!"

I liked this man's style, but I had no clue about what he was talking about. Why would anyone be talking about this?

Maybe because the girl was a local celebrity or something, some people might not like her getting married, just like it happened to those idols my girlfriend likes talking about, but all in all, he seemed like a cool dad.

I just chuckled and responded with a non-descriptive, "For sure, I'll be counting on you going forward!"

I hoped to never meet these people again; it would be a very awkward conversation explaining why I escaped from this marriage.

Unfortunately, now that I saw this place, which looked more like a fortress than a house, a church, or wherever I was expecting a marriage to take place, escaping from here was going to be difficult.

At least I hoped I could count on the girl to help me escape, or at least we could peacefully come to a conclusion and stop this arranged marriage from happening.

"Good!" "I knew that Xiao Ying's son would not be an ordinary child. I will wait for the day this dragon surfaces. Alright now, Qingyue is waiting for you. Go on, we have a private room for you two to have a premarital talk just nearby."

This guy's way of speaking was weird; I hoped it was just him and not a common thing, but just the fact that I was called Young Master by the people at this family's manor made me assume the worst.

The worst was that I was in an extremely backward place with an ancient culture that treated women like objects and men as conquering, unfeeling monsters.

I was a gentleman, and my partner's feelings came before anyone else's, and fortunately, this girl wasn't my partner, so I didn't have to care about hers.

I was led to the room, the girl's father personally opened the door for me and shooed me inside, and I finally met the girl I was supposed to marry.

She wore a coronet on top of her head, with a fine curtain of beads hanging down to hide her face and expression. A heavily patterned robe covered her body, scarlet red in color, just like her coronet and my own dress.

This was a marriage color, I guessed.

It was way too tacky for my tastes, but it was probably cultural.

"Greetings, I am sure we can come to an agreement." I said, with my usual relaxed smile on my face.

"You do know that we shouldn't meet before the marriage, right?" She questioned me, ignoring my words, but I couldn't blame her if she felt even half the repulsion I felt at this whole thing.

She had a great voice, one that I would have loved to hear singing at a concert; unfortunately, I didn't think that rock concerts were a thing in ancient China.

I struggled to throw away the despair that I couldn't hear my music anymore, but I had more important things to do, like escape from a marriage.

"Apparently so, but I'm sure you'd like what I have to say." I replied nonchalantly, taking a seat on a nearby chair and crossing my legs with a foot beneath the other, as I usually did.

"Oh, what is it then, that it couldn't wait until after the wedding?" She replied, and I could already feel that she was just as annoyed by me as I was at this whole situation, and I instantly knew that my guess was correct.

"You see, I have come to a very important conclusion for the both of us; you don't want to marry me, correct?" I asked.

"Wha-!" I heard her exclaim, apparently taken aback by my question, "Why would I ever want to marry a cripple like you, just because my parents were saved by yours?"

She seemed outraged by the mere suggestion of wanting to marry me. Good, we were on the same page.

But a cripple? Really?

I thought that this body moved plenty well, except for the chronic pain. It was pretty alright; I even had good muscle definition.

But that's beside the point.

"We're on the same page then; I don't want to marry you either. Do you have any suggestions on how to escape from this situation? "I begin to think that I should have ran away before getting here." I explained, but instead of the sigh of relief I expected to hear, what greeted me from the girl was outrage.

"What do you mean you don't want to marry me? Who do you think you are to say no to me?" And there I understood.

She was going to be an enormous pain to deal with; she was this body's own age after all, meaning she was a teenager. Teenagers had to be the worst kind of people.

"Concentrate on the point, girl, not the pointless stuff; you don't want to marry me, and I don't want to marry you; it's mutual; I'm sure we can come to an understanding."

She grumbled for a bit, but thankfully she saw reason soon enough. That didn't stop me from fidgeting uncomfortably, though. "So? What do you suggest?"

"I was thinking about leaving this city and never coming back; would that be alright with you?"

"Who would want to run away with you, you bastard?" She snapped back.

What was this girl even talking about?

"I was talking about me running away alone; focus, girl; you'll stay here and go on with your life." I replied, shutting down whatever the teenager's hormonal mind was thinking.

"Oh," she quieted down, "but that would bring dishonor to my family; how can I marry then if I make my husband run away?"

This time it seemed like she had finally started seeing this situation for what it actually was: we weren't enemies, we were allies in the same situation.

"Why would you care? You're the daughter of a great and powerful family, runaway husband or not, and you should be pretty beautiful too; you won't have any lack of suitors to choose from." I said it dismissively, completely uncaring for her worries.

"Obviously, I would care!" She snapped back, "You don't know what it's like; I didn't want this marriage, but my family doesn't care; they don't want to see reason or care about my feelings!"

I stopped pondering and finally looked at the girl as if it were the first time.

Gone was the cold facade she had put on as a front; what remained was just a girl in pain, not in control of her own life.

It seemed like this society needed a first-generation feminist movement; girls like this one needed more power over their own lives.

I lowered my voice tone and assumed a sweeter voice, trying to put her at ease. "I know, I know, we are in the same situation, remember?"

"No, we are not!" She replied, this time with more power, "You were just like everybody else until the last time we met; how could you have changed in such a short time? This must be a scheme to trick me into lowering my guard!"

I quieted down. How could I have forgotten that detail?

This body's previous owner was a member of this society; how could he be any different from the man I had met before mounting the carriage? He didn't care for the girl's feelings either; he probably was just happy to have the best trophy on his wall.

Especially since he was a rich daddy's son, the only thing he probably cared about was money, his reputation, and power over other people's lives; marrying this girl brought all three.

I closed my eyes and pondered my next words carefully, still feeling the girl's gaze fixed on my every movement, waiting for any sign of my real intentions.

I came to a decision right there and then: I needed this girl's help to run away, or at least stop this marriage from happening in the first place, and for that, I had to be sincere.

What was this body's name again? Oh, right.

"The Xiao Che you knew is dead. I have seen the truths behind my previous life's actions and have come to truly understand how my actions might affect other people. I didn't care about your feelings on the matter, and for that, I sincerely apologize."

I had to really channel every ounce of truthfulness I had in my soul, which apparently existed, to bring out as much of a genuine apology as I could possibly muster.

The girl had probably never heard such words from anyone, if her reaction meant what I thought it meant, as she collapsed to the ground and started crying.

I couldn't blame her.