Gamers Are Fierce

So, what exactly is the situation now?

Special Affairs Bureau field agent Xing Hechou, his face a wooden mask, clenched his long halberd. He and the equally stupefied Wanli Fengdao watched Li Ang chatting merrily with the female ghost, with no sign of them coming to blows.

The ghost’s name was Chai Cuiqiao. She was born into a scholarly and esteemed noble family. Her grandfather had once served as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, her father was currently a Secondary Minister in the Ministry of War, and various uncles also held official positions. The Chai family was considered a powerful and influential elite in Nanjing City, the secondary capital.

Regrettably, Chai Cuiqiao’s birth mother had once been a famous courtesan on the Qinhuai River. After becoming pregnant, she was bought out of her contract and brought into the Chai household, only to be forced into a life of subservience. Subjected to the tyranny of the principal wife and the scorn of servants loyal to her, Chai Cuiqiao and her mother never saw a kind face, enduring every manner of purposeful difficulty and adversity. For over a decade, they tasted the fickleness of human relationships and grew accustomed to the dirt and filth within the walls of grand households. Despite Chai Cuiqiao’s desire to escape this gilded cage, she was powerless to do so.

When she came of age for marriage, following a matchmaker’s recommendation and the Chai family’s principle of making the most of available resources, Chai Cuiqiao, the daughter of a concubine, was betrothed to the second son of a wealthy salt merchant surnamed Jia in Nanjing City, in exchange for a hefty dowry. Chai Cuiqiao had hoped to adapt to her husband’s ways, reconciling herself to a life devoid of the poetic and divine romance often depicted in fairy tales. She intended to be a dutiful wife, look after her husband and children, and live honestly as a rich man’s spouse.

However, to her shock, the Jia family’s second son harbored a preference for male liaisons and was known for his homosexual pursuits. He had indulged too fiercely before marriage, resulting in certain incapacities. Even on their wedding night, the groom spent the evening with a handsome page in his study, accessed through a secret passage from the marital chamber.

Three months passed. Chai Cuiqiao witnessed, with wide-open eyes, her nominal husband either frolicking with "refined scholars" or romping with delicate catamites within their home. He hardly exchanged a word with her, let alone met her face to face. Although the salt merchant Jia’s family had married Chai Cuiqiao into their clan with the intention of connecting to her influential family, and the Chai family needed a puppet to generate profits, the arrangement was merely one of convenience for both parties. However, the birth of a son or daughter was still needed to solidify their mutual interests.

Faced with mounting pressure at home, and her mother having mentioned her unspoken sufferings several times, Chai Cuiqiao eventually recalled hearing from friends about the Lonely Cold Temple’s reputation for granting children to those who prayed. Keeping it in mind, one day, in a state of desperation, she went to the temple to pray, accompanied by her maids and attendants.