QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead
Chapter 117: Don't carry someone's children

Xi Zirui immediately panics at being taken out of the water. He's a fish, he's going to drown, uh, choke, without water.

His panic mounts when he's immediately taken out of the net and dumped in a basket full of water, as if he really is about to be someone's dinner.

"Did you bind his qi?" A familiar voice overhead asks.

"Of course," an equally familiar voice answers. "We don't want him changing into his human shape until we get there."

After that Xi Zirui feels the basket jostle as if someone picks it up by the handle and carries it as they walk.

He would like to look up and see who is literally kidnapping him, but being a fish with no neck joints that's impossible at the moment.

"Host shouldn't panic, he might even enjoy what's happening," Ni Ni says, her voice ringing pleasantly inside his head.

'How am I going to enjoy being kidnapped?', Xi Zirui tries to scream but the words only come out as a series of bubbles.

Ni Ni understands him anyway.

"Host is being taken to Han Yu," Ni Ni tells him.

Oh.

Xi Zirui immediately deflates, his frantic swimming against the walls of the bucket coming to a lulling stop.

That's sort of romantic, in a way. Is Han Yu rescuing him from a terrible situation. Imprisonment? Near death?

"Host is being taken to the Coiled Dragon clan, and will be forced into a marriage with Prince Han Yu," Ni Ni says, and without giving Xi Zirui the time to process that information, adds, "The Prince is also being forced into the marriage."

That certainly puts a damper on Xi Zirui's expectations, but he'll do his best to bring Han Yu around.

It makes him a little angry that there was a perfectly fine world where he could easily marry Han Yu right away, and the Shopkeeper forced him to be married to Han Yu's father first.

"By now Host already know things are more complicated than that," Ni Ni says, almost apologetic. "He needs to focus on recalling the original events, and thus finding out how to return everyone's souls to the heavenly realm."

Right, because he's a god on top of everything else.

That still feels surreal, and every time Xi Zirui tries to think about it his mind hurts.

He does wonder though, what was his relationship to Han Yu in their original reality, who were they to each other? What about Su Xueyi, and Bai Mi, Li Siqi, Liao Mi...everyone. How do all of them fit together and how did they all end up living out other existences in pocket dimensions, or whatever?

He directs all these questions at Ni Ni, who is silent for a long time before saying.

"Ni Ni doesn't know, I'm sorry but she didn't know Host before all this, neither did Sim--, the Shopkeeper."

That's surprising, Xi Zirui assumed she was someone who knew all of them in the heavenly realm.

Of course there's the possibility of Ni Ni lying to him, -- as she has done before -- but somehow he also finds it believable that the Shopkeeper could have been called as a last resource to clean up a mess.

Su Xueyi's mess, apparently.

That reminds him, 'what's up with all the tasks you had me doing in each world though, what's the point of those?'

"The pocket realms are unstable, if Host doesn't follow some of the events as they are supposed to happen he might not get all the necessary information out of each world."

Xi Zirui hasn't been necessarily sticking to the script, has he?

"No."

Right, well, if the script was more conductive of him and Han Yu ending up together, that would be less of an issue.

"It might be working anyway, it's not a good sign that Su Xueyi is getting his memories back, but maybe if some of the others do, that could be helpful," Ni Ni says, oddly optimistic.

Xi Zirui doesn't think it's that straightforward, especially considering that Su Xueyi seemed to have a great deal of memories in the third world, maybe even the fourth, but was completely clueless in the fifth.

There must be something that triggers them, some kind of pattern. Xi Zirui just needs to figure it out, and hopefully apply it to himself.

The swaying bucket he's in comes to a sudden stop.

Xi Zirui can feel it being lifted.

"He's stopped swimming in there," one of the voices says, the sharper of the two. If it wasn't the distortion of hearing it through the water Xi Zirui would have already been able to place it.

He feels a violent jostling as the bucket is tapped with the back of human knuckles, the vibrations leaving him woozy.

"You think he's still alive?"

Unexpectedly he feels a pair of warm hands dip into the bucket to fish him out and lift him at eye-level.

The particular eyes he's looking into belong to a confused Liao Min, with an equally worried Li Siqi looking over her shoulder.

Liao Min has two fluffy white stripped ears coming out the top of her sleek hair, while Li Siqi has a red half moon marking on her forehead coming out of her hairline almost down to her eyebrows.

If he'd have to place a bet, Xi Zirui would say Liao Min is a white tiger and Li Siqi is a crane.

"He looks alive to me," Liao Min says, and balances Xi Zirui up and down in her fist.

Her movements squeeze his sides, and an unexpected gush of water comes out of his mouth arching beautifully through the air and landing squarely in Liao Min's face.

Li Siqi giggles. "Yeah, I think he's alive."

---

Xi Zirui doesn't have any memory of the rest of the journey, but some time passes and then his bucket is emptied onto a lavish rug over a wooden floor.

He flops around in a panic, afraid he'll die out of the water, when Ni Ni reminds him, "Host, please remember the cultivation world, how you moved qi through your body! Do the same thing here and focus on your human appearance."

That's easier said than done, but through a combination of terror, and oxygen deprivation Xi Zirui eventually manages to change into his human form, ending up naked over the wet rug and gasping thirstily for breath.

A large piece of red fabric flies towards him, covering his face like an opaque veil.

"Get dressed, quickly," Liao Min says.

Xi Zirui resents been given orders, but since he's going to be seeing Han Yu soon it improves his mood, somewhat.

The robes he is given are obviously meant for a wedding. Deep vivid red with golden accents.

It's only when he's fully dressed that Xi Zirui realizes the golden accents are a pair of carps swimming together leisurely across the skirt of the robes, shaded by the petals of a plum tree.

Xi Zirui's hair is wet and dripping water across the front and back of the wedding robes, but no one seems to be paying much attention to that.

He hopes he's not going to marry Han Yu looking like this. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ n0vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Li Siqi gives him an accessing look, eyeing him from head to toe, and then says to Liao Min. "He'll do."

"I'm right here," Xi Zirui says, pulling the robes' collar tighter around his neck.

He feels suspiciously like a prime cut of meat.

He's in a well appointed room, neat but devoid of personality. The two double doors leading outside open suddenly and Bai Mi walks in, her blue robes billowing behind her.

She looks regal and striking, her head held high, emphasizing the jut of her collarbones above her robe's straight neckline.

Xi Zirui's eyes are drawn to the two green jade horns growing out of her hairline like dainty tree branches -- making her look even more commanding than usual.

She spares Xi Zirui only a brief look before redirecting her attention to Liao Min. "Is this him?"

Liao Min nods, lowering her eyes demurely. "Yes, your Grace."

"If the marriage happens you'll be payed the agreed upon amount," Bai Mi says, her keen eyes flashing. "However, if this is a failure, like the previous ones, you'll get nothing."

"We understand, your Grace," Li Siqi says.

Bai Mi returns her attention to Xi Zirui, giving him a thorough appraisal.

She even lifts his upper lip to inspect the state of his teeth.

"He seems to be in good condition," she says, wiping the hand that touched Xi Zirui in the handkerchief one of her maids gives her. "You've attested that he's a virgin?"

Xi Zirui sputters and glares at Bai Mi.

This is starting to get really uncomfortable, especially since this conversation is happening around him as if he isn't even there.

No one pays his outrage any mind.

"Yes your Grace, he was betrothed to the heir of his own clan. Like the Coiling Dragon clan, the Brocade Carp clan wouldn't let their heir marry someone who wasn't a virgin," Liao Min says. "We went to great pains to capture him."

What is she saying? They literally fished him out of a lake.

Bai Mi nods solemnly. "That's good, we can't have someone of questionable morals marrying my cousin, let alone carrying his children."

What questionable morals? This world-

Wait? Did Bai Mi say 'carrying his children'?

Ni Ni chimes. "Ah, I knew there was something about this world I forgot to tell Host."

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