Engagement

Han Ganxing pursed his lips.

Sighing deeply, he scrolled through the [Missions] tab of the system.

The requirement for him was to complete 1 daily mission per day. No more, no less. Each of them had rewards with varying affection points.

-----×-----

Give a flower to the target

Reward: 1 affection point

---

Take target to a date

Reward: 5 affection points

---

Affection raise by 1%

Reward: 10 affection points

-----×-----

And so on and so forth...

The problem was that Shi Wenyang left the mansion after the day her affection entered the pink zone, a.k.a, the 'he's kinda cute, I guess' zone.

He could still recall her awkward expression when she explained to him that she planned to leave.

The image of Shi Wenyang's beautiful face blushing had been imprinted into his mind. Even though he technically just got out of the friendzone, it was evident to him that it was still significant progress.

"But... how am I supposed to woo her now?"

Han Ganxing played with the glass sphere on his wooden desk, rolling it back and forth. "...Maybe I should visit the Shi Clan mansion."

Knock, knock.

"Come in." An exasperated voice came out of his mouth.

A maid walked in and bowed. "Old master has arrived and wanted to inform you that it is time for dinner."

"Okay."

"Um... then I will take my leave now."

She closed the door behind her, leaving Han Ganxing alone again.

About half an hour later.

"Son. You've arrived." Han Liqi had a delighted expression on his face.

Han Ganxing nodded and sat on his usual seat, the seat farthest from his father.

Han Liqi's eyebrows scrunched up. Tapping on the seat next to him, he said, "Sit here."

Of course, there was no reason not to follow his directions. Han Ganxing simply stood up and sat there.

Han Liqi bit his lip, waiting for his son notice the extravagant amount of food on the table. It was his compensation for missing his most important birthday.

However, no matter how much time passed, Han Ganxing didn't seem to care. He simply ate without taking into account the food not on his plate.

Eventually, the breakfast ended, neither of them opening their mouths to speak.

Before Han Ganxing could stand up, Han Liqi let out a muffled cough.

"Son."

Han Ganxing paused his actions. "What is it, father?"

"I, I apologize for my absence last week. I had no choice, I could not delay the meeting any further."

Scrunching his eyebrows, Han Ganxing replied, "What was so important that you would miss your son's birthday for it?"

The aggressive tone surprised Han Liqi. Nonetheless, he let it slide. "Uhm, come closer. I'll whisper it to you."

Han Ganxing, although a bit angry, was curious about what his father had to say. He hesitated, but still went closer.

His father's mouth was right in front of his ears, as the quiet voice whispered, "It was about your engagement..."

"E- engagement?!"

Han Ganxing jumped from his chair. Truly, he didn't expect an engagement for him out of nowhere.

'Who am I engaged to? How am I supposed to capture Shi Wenyang's heart now?'

"Ah, rest assured. The announcement will be handled by the opposite party. They have a much bigger influence than us."

'Much bigger influence? Could it possibly be... Shi Wenyang that I'm engaged to? No, no way. A noble clan would have close to nothing to gain from a connection with a merchant, especially one as big and far-reaching as the Shi Clan.'

Han Ganxing put up a fake smile. "Father, thank you for telling me. I will take my leave now."

As he watched his son exiting the room, Han Liqi sighed deeply. 'Have I put too much pressure on the kid? Why does he seem unhappy? ...No matter, when he finds out his partner, he is sure to be pleased.'

.....

Han Ganxing walked in circles inside his room, hard at work to think of any solution to the problem he had right now.

'This sudden engagement has thrown a wrench to my plans. Not that I had any anyway... but still! Best case scenario, Shi Wenyang and my fianceé are the same person. Worse comes to worst, I'll have to pursue Shi Wenyang while having someone else as my fianceé. I'll be saying goodbye to my faithfulness and modern sensibilities by then.'

Without any clue as to what to do, Han Ganxing crashed down on his bed face first.

'I guess I'll just have to wait and see. It's the only option I have right now. In the meantime, I should try and progress Shi Wenyang's affection.'

A knock disturbed his train of thought.

"Um, young master, old master asked me to give you this manual." The maid timidly placed the manual on his desk and left.

Han Ganxing grabbed it. "I completely forgot... I can cultivate now."