A Man of Great Merit

Cai Yan's rescue and safe return was soon heard throughout all of Langye and soon developments toward a massive celebration were to commence while me and Cai Yan were brought specifically to the Cai Family Manor.

"Father!" Cai Yan cried out when she saw her father as tears of joy streamed down her face as she descended from her Black Mare as she rushed to her father and entered her embrace.

"Yan'er! Oh I can't tell you how happy I am to see you safe and sound!" He said while holding his daughter close while stroking her hair as her silent tears of joy fell from her face and onto her fathers robes.

Seeing this I couldn't help but smile, but I felt a wave of melancholy come over me as I had hoped I would have been able to do the same for my father, but instead all that they were to bring back was his body but with no life left within him….

"And you my boy! I can't thank you enough that you went out of your way to save my daughter from imminent peril, you have both my thanks and my gratitude." He said after letting his daughter go as he approached me and grabbed my hand after I got of of Red's back.

"Think nothing of it, what kind of man would I have been if I just escaped those bandits on my own without saving her, if I was a coward then I'd have left on my own if I was able to escape, but I am no coward." I said shaking my head at the thought of leaving Cai Yan to her fate, to which her father just laughs.

"Then I am happy a brave young man like you saved my daughter, now come in! Come in! Let me show you my hospitality." He said before he began to lead the way into his manor, Chinese hospitality at its finest.

We soon entered the manor and I must say it was a beautiful home, the old archeologist in me marveled at this style of architecture that this manor has, most of the oldest Chinese architecture back in modern times only dated back to the 9th-10th centuries so seeing masterly crafted manors such as this one with 1st-2nd century architecture is a treat to be hold.

Soon enough we were brought to a smaller but well furnished dining room meant to host smaller groups of people compared to the main dining hall that Cai Wang would use to host larger parties for many people at once.

"Please, take a seat, I would like to hear about how you came to save my daughters life against those evil bandits of Pengcheng, wait! Before that I haven't even asked you for your name my young friend, so I think that would be best to start off with." He said as he rubbed his forehead as he just realized he didn't even ask me for my name.

I was about to say it, but I saw Cai Yan looking at me, seemingly saying that she wanted to introduce me, so I just nodded towards her to go ahead and do so.

"Father, this is Gongsun Xuanyuan, the young Prodigy of the Gongsun Family from Youbeiping." Cai Yan said introducing me which made her father open his eyes wide at realizing who I am.

"The young Prodigy of the Gongsun Family was there to save my daughter in her time of need, ahh it must have been fate that put you there to save my daughter from those bandits." He says giving me praise to which I couldn't help but scratch my cheek in embarrassment.

"Actually, about that…."

..

.

"Hahaha! Oh that is funny to hear happen! But even if you were also caught by those bandits you still went out of your way to break free and rescue my daughter, not only that you also retrieved my daughters precious silver Lyre that my late wife had given her as her last birthday present before she passed away years ago." He said with a laugh at first but he looked at me with a great sense of gratitude for what I had done for him.

"As I said, I may still be a kid in the eyes everyone and the rest of China, but as a man how could I just let a girl be left to her fate like that." I said to which Cai Yan turned her head away as a blush came over her face, something her father clearly noticed making him smile at the sight.

"You know, whoever saved my daughter I had a reward prepared for them in doing so, making it so those the realms over would go out of there way to save her." He said as he motioned to a servant nearby who bowed before leaving as another came in with a freshly brewed set of tea along with several sweet confectionery's of the Era.

"Sir, you don't have to-" But he raised his hand to stop me from continuing.

"No, I am a man of principles and if I say I was going to pay the one who saved my daughter 2000 gold coins, I am going to pay that price, my daughter means the world to me and I wish to pay you for your service in saving her life." He said as the servant returned carrying a small chest before placing in on the table as Cai Wang took it and opened it up to reveal that it was filled with gold coins with ten neatly stacked coins with twenty gold coins per stack with each coin being roughly the same size as an American quarter.

I was surprised seeing this much money in one place, 1 gold coin could keep a family of four fed for a year and only five gold coins needed for a small clan to stay fed for a year, saying that with this amount of money I was set for life would be an understatement.

"Sir, this is too much for me to take that it's almost excessive in the amount of gold you are offering me, I am happy that you wish to pay this much for your daughters safe return but I can't take this without feeling good about it, and besides I don't feel safe having this much gold on hand while going from one place to another, if I could ask, can you hold this gold for me instead? I don't have an exactly safe way to bring this home to Youbeiping with how things are." I say after looking at the chest filled with gold before shutting the lid and looking up towards him.

Hearing me say this he was momentarily surprised with what I suggested but smiled, "I see, then I shall safely hold onto this money for you until you desire to use it some day, but I do believe that you truly are a Man of Great Merit young Xuan'er." He said giving me some rather high praise as he nodded his head.

"You flattery me sir." I say scratching the back of my head but he just shook his head before he opened his eyes with a glint in his eyes.

"No im not, because you truly deserve this praise, and seeing your character and how you acted today I can safely say this right now, Gongsun Xuanyuan, will you please marry my daughter?" He said before he bowed his head to me to which I choked on the tea I just decided to drink while Cai Yan's face became redder than a tomato as steam came out of her head.

It was one thing to hear Kong Rong suggest it, but to hear it straight from her father was a whole other matter, "Sir, with all due respect we have only known each other for a few days since leaving the bandit camp, going to Kong Rong and heading here to deliver his missive to Liu Bei, even if we have been getting along so far it's still to early for marriage." I try to explain to which he rubs his chin and ponders it.

"Well you have a point, the earliest age one can marry under Han Dynasty law is 16 years old, and Cai Yan is only 15 with you being 14 years old from what I have heard about you, so how about this instead, why don't I have you both engaged to one another and in two years time when you are 16 and my daughter is 17 that you both will be wed between the both of you." He suggested instead of marriage right now we would both be engaged to one another and when we came of age then we could officially be married instead.

Internally I wanted to argue about that still being too early of an age to get married between us both, but even back in modern times countries out in the Middle East had kids getting married at the age of 14, around the time a girl would be starting to get their periods and thus could have kids, so it was best I held my modern sensibility's back as it would seem weird to refuse on those grounds.

So I turn to look at Cai Yan as she had a blush on her face as she only took glances at me from time to time, and since I'm not some dense protagonist who needs to be told that a girl is interested in me I could tell she really did have feelings for me, so I turned back towards her father who had a gentle smile on his face as he looked at him.

Seeing this I nodded and resolved myself to make this major decision in my life here, "Then if you approve, and Cai Yan also wishes for it, I would be more than happy to be engaged to your daughter." I said as I cupped my hands and bowed low towards Cai Wang.

He smiled at hearing that before looking at his daughter who slightly nodded while she nervously played with her fingers, "If you will have me, then I would be more than happy to become engaged to you." She said which made her father laugh.

"That settles it then! I shall send a letter to your family about this joyous occasion, and I hope you find our home to be your home as well Xuan'er." He said with a bright smile on his place.

"Then thank you for your hospitality Father-in-Law, Yan'er." I said to the both of them which got them both to smile.

And so this marked the day I officially got engaged to Cai Yan, one of the many beauty's of the Three Kingdoms Era.

Kind of wished I knew how many women I would have end up falling for me in all of my lives combined and how it would all effect me in the long run, but one things for sure.

I never regretted the time I would come to spend with every single one of them.