A Marriage Contract on Paper: Marrying a Male Spirit to Extend My Life - Chapter 1

The bitter winter was approaching, and the subfloor heating systems in the Wei family’s residential compound burned continuously day and night. Even so, the main residence remained dead and gloomy, with the sounds of weeping and sobbing frequently echoing from within.

“What did the doctor say?”

“There’s nothing we can do… there’s nothing we can do…” The glamorous woman held a silk handkerchief, covering her face as she wept. “Lord husband, is there truly no one in this Yunliang City who can save my son’s life…”

Wei Zhiyin wrapped his arms around her shoulders, his expression grave. For a long time, he shook his head, looking ashen and hopeless.

Wei Yunchan’s illness was congenital, brought with him from his mother’s womb. Back when Madam Wen was eight months pregnant, she happened to encounter a natural disaster, and all six cities were struck by floods. Madam Wen had been soaked in sewage for a full day and night, and when she was rescued, she was already on the verge of death.

It was a bitter ordeal that almost resulted in two deaths in one go.

Later on, although both mother and child preserved their lives, their bodies were both damaged. Wei Yunchan, in particular, was frail and sickly from childhood, and the arrival of every winter served as a rigorous test for his life.

This year was the nineteenth bitter winter that Wei Yunchan had to endure.

It was just that after a snowfall a few days prior, Wei Yunchan had fallen bedridden and never recovered.

Over the past few days, various physicians had streamed in and out of the main residence, yet every single one of them was completely helpless.

In the current state of the world, there are six major cities and twelve minor continents. Among them: Yunliang City holds the strongest military power, the most troops, and the fullest treasury; Duheng City, Panlong City, and Shuiji City are evenly matched, each possessing their own advantages; Tuyan City and Najia City, although inferior to the aforementioned cities in all aspects, excel in rugged terrain and are easy to defend while difficult to attack. Having endured hundreds of fierce battles over the years, they still have not been swallowed up by other cities.

Logically speaking, Yunliang standing alone as a superpower should make it the most formidable faction among the six cities. Unfortunately, in reality, to the eyes of the other five cities, Yunliang was evidently nothing more than a spent crossbow at the end of its flight, nearing its twilight and facing its doom.

—All of this was solely because the son of the Yunliang City Lord, Wei Yunchan, was born sickly and weak. Rumor had it that this child could only walk on his own feet at the age of three, and only entered the schoolhouse to learn characters at the age of ten. He grew up soaking in medicine jars, and practicing martial arts was completely out of the question.

There were even rumors spreading across the six cities that Wei Yunchan would not live to pass his twenty-year capping ceremony.

Meanwhile, Yunliang City Lord Wei Zhiyin had two other sons and a daughter, who had shown their faces during the Six Cities Martial Arts Tournament, but their aptitudes were mediocre, nothing special.

With Yunliang City lacking any successors to carry the torch, it could only maintain its glorious facade for a few more years.

Wei Yunchan lay on the bed, his complexion drained of all color and as pale as paper. The sides of his cheeks featured only protruding bones, as if merely a layer of skin barely held him together—indistinguishable from a dying man.

The couple could only resign themselves to fate.

The coffin had already been carried into the Wei family courtyard, and the white lanterns and funeral banners were already prepared, waiting only for Wei Yunchan to draw his final breath and his soul to return to the western heavens.

Early that morning, Madam Wen bought Wei Yunchan’s favorite small peach pastries from the morning market. Today was likely a brief flash of clarity before death, as Wei Yunchan had actually regained consciousness for a moment and even mentioned wanting to eat Liu’s small peach pastries. Disregarding the sorrow in her heart, Madam Wen personally went outside the estate and bought a box back.

Just as she reached the entrance, she ran into a wandering Daoist priest wearing a tattered Daoist robe. Unkempt and disheveled, he looked less like a Daoist priest and more like a crazy beggar. Yet the horsetail whisk in his hand and the bamboo hat on his head unexpectedly carried a hint of otherworldly grace, causing Madam Wen to cast repeated glances at him. As they brushed past each other, Madam Wen called out to stop him.

“Daoist Master, the weather is freezing and the snowy roads are difficult to travel. Why not come into the estate for a cup of hot tea and rest for a few days before moving on?”

The Daoist priest looked somewhat surprised. He stopped in his tracks, cupped his hands in a greeting toward Madam Wen, and said, “Many thanks for the Madam’s kind intentions. This poor Daoist would be content just to beg for that box of food in your hands. I wonder if the Madam is willing?”

Madam Wen’s grip on the food box tightened slightly, her expression turning bitter: “It’s just a box of pastries, originally an insignificant item, but my son said today that he wanted to eat these peach pastries…” Mentioning Wei Yunchan, her eyes reddened again. “I’m afraid he won’t ever have the chance to eat them again…”

The Daoist priest flicked his horsetail whisk, his voice sounding as though it came from the edge of the heavens, solemn and majestic: “Not so, not so. The young master is a dragon and phoenix among men, not someone fated to die young.”

Madam Wen merely took it as him speaking auspicious words. After pondering for a moment, she still opened the food box, took out the peach pastries wrapped in oiled paper, and separated just a single piece, signaling her maid to take it and keep it safe.

“Thank you, Daoist Master. I suppose my son won’t be able to eat much anyway, so these peach pastries will be given to you as a gift.”

The Daoist priest accepted the peach pastries and stowed them into his sleeve pocket. Then, he calculated on his fingers and spoke unhurriedly: “Go fifteen miles west, find someone with a mole between their eyebrows, and marry them to ward off bad luck and bring auspiciousness. This will surely guarantee the young master turns misfortune into blessing and lives a long life of a hundred years.”

As his words fell, his horsetail whisk gave a sway, and vast, heavy snow subsequently drifted down. Blinking again, the Daoist priest had already walked several miles away. His tattered Daoist robe, immaculate horsetail whisk, and wide bamboo hat—which didn’t catch a single flake of white snow prompted Madam Wen to weep with joy. Facing the departing figure, she knelt piously on the ground and kowtowed: “Thank you, Immortal, for your guidance! Thank you, Immortal, for your guidance!”

Though it was said to be fifteen miles west, along the entire journey, they had not once seen a single household. Surrounded by glistening snow, the carriage could no longer proceed halfway through, so Madam Wen and Wei Zhiyin dismounted and continued on foot.

Several attendants remained behind at the spot, chatting casually.

“In this barren mountain wilderness, where on earth would there be any households?”

“If you ask me, milord and milady are just worried to the point of losing their judgment. Tricks like finding someone to get married for auspiciousness—people back in my hometown wouldn’t even believe that kind of nonsense.”

“Exactly, exactly…”

Madam Wen kept track of the rough mileage along the way. After walking for another half-shixicheng, she unexpectedly saw two large red lanterns glowing ahead, with a small courtyard standing aloof and independent, striking and eye-catching.

Yet Wei Zhiyin felt it was rather peculiar in his heart—logically speaking, a house like this should have been visible from several miles away, but just now, they had only been able to see this residence clearly right as they drew close.

It was as though it had appeared out of thin air.

Wei Zhiyin tightly grasped Madam Wen’s hand and cautiously knocked on the wooden door.

Before long, an old man opened the door from the inside.

“Who are you looking for?”

Madam Wen hurriedly explained their purpose, her words earnest and sincere. When she mentioned the Daoist priest who had pointed them in the right direction, the old man’s expression finally shifted.

He stroked his beard and glared, looking far from pleased.

“That old man was spouting nonsense and hoodwinking you,” the old man flicked his sleeve. “This old fellow only has three boys with male anatomy at home; what on earth could they use to marry your young master and ward off bad luck? Go on, go on, don’t come back.”

Yet his words clearly revealed that he was well-acquainted with that Daoist priest. Madam Wen abruptly dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face: “Old sir, my son’s life is hanging by a thread. The pain of white-haired parents burying black-haired children is truly unbearable—that immortal did not specify male or female, only mentioning a mole between the eyebrows. Please, I beg of you, even if it’s a young man, as long as it can save my son’s life, our Wei family will definitely treasure him like a precious treasure and take care of him properly.”

Seeing his wife kneel, Wei Zhiyin who had never bowed his head to anyone in his entire life—also hitched up the hem of his robe and knelt side by side with her, cupping his hands in a bow toward the old man: “I earnestly implore the old sir to save my son.”

The old man had a heart of stone and refused to relent, turning his face away in indifference. Just as he was about to close the door and dismiss the guests, a youthful voice carrying a hint of mischief drifted from inside: “Old man, you are truly lacking in human warmth. The City Lord himself has performed a kneeling bow for you, and you still refuse to give them any face.”

“You brat,” the old man made a motion to twist the youth’s ear. “This is no place for you to speak.”

The youth, dressed in a tiger-skin padded jacket, looked rugged with a square face, thick eyebrows, and eyes containing golden pupils, making him look rather extraordinary.

Wei Zhiyin knew this household was brimming with unusual and extraordinary vibes everywhere, but precisely because of this, his heart became even more convinced of what Madam Wen had said that person with a mole between their eyebrows could truly save his son’s life.

The couple clearly thought of the same thing and performed another simultaneous bow toward the youth and the old man. The youth waved his hand: “I can’t accept this, I can’t accept this, City Lord, don’t pay attention to this old man of mine. The two of you, follow me—mole between the eyebrows, right? What a coincidence, my third younger brother has one.”

The old man stamped his feet in exasperation, his speech tripping over itself: “Hujiang, you, you, you…”

Hujiang bared his teeth in a smile, using secret sound-transmission arts to converse with him: “The will of heaven is hard to defy, old patriarch. Look, even with all those Daoist arrays you set up, weren’t they still carelessly broken by them?”

The old man sighed repeatedly, but no longer tried to stop them.

Inside the inner courtyard, two other youths were kicking a shuttlecock. The taller one was wearing a white plush-lined jacket, looking like a bear, exceptionally sturdy. The shorter one wore standard winter thick robes with a circle of white fox fur wrapped around his neck. Looking at that face, it was astonishingly jade-like and adorable.

An oval face, full and plump. His eyebrows were like distant mountains touched with dark pigment, his lips resembled freshly bloomed cherries, and his eyes were like radiant stars. What was even more peerless was that single red mole right between his eyebrows, possessing immense charm and adding even more allure.

Plump and round, extremely pleasing.

“Jinshu, your fated person has come to pick you up.”

Fu Jinshu used the tip of his shoe to kick the shuttlecock spinning in the air upward. After the shuttlecock spun a few times in the air, seemingly random, it ultimately landed steadily on a side stone table.