The following morning I had the horses saddled and ready to go when the three girls left the carriage. Meera hopped over to hug me while May and Xue watched me closely. "First, I am taking Miss. Luo, home I will explain things to her parents, and we will break off this engagement." I then turned to May, whose face had paled. "After that, I want to meet your parents as well. I don't particularly appreciate being used. When everything is settled, we will go our separate ways."

I held up a hand to stop May from speaking. "Let me finish. I thought about what you said, and it doesn't make sense. Why would someone from the Liu clan breaking an engagement cause a problem for the Xue family? If things had been the opposite, I would understand with the reach of the Liu clan. If they felt insulted, they could cause serious consequences. The same is absolutely not true for the Xue family. As for our engagement Miss. Chen that is something that we should have decided together. I like you, but you have lost the trust we had built up over the last month." My use of her surname made her flinch.

For the first time, Luo Xue-Feng Spoke. "You like calling everyone child, but you're the one acting like a child right now. It is always the parents who decide their children's marriages."

I spun toward her raising a finger. "You have no right to talk. You orchestrated that fiasco of a tournament to get out of an arranged marriage only to force one on another right after. Besides, I do not have parents to decide my future."

She stared at me in confusion for a time. "I have never been engaged to anyone before. How dare you insinuate such a thing."

I waved her away. "Conrad already told us about it. You were engaged to him from a young age."

"I was never engaged to that pompous little twat. Sure his Father tried many times to get mine to agree, but he never did. However, I did enter your name in the tournament, and I am not sorry; you are the only way for me to escape that stupid town and my controlling parents. Anyway, how can you say such awful things about your parents?"

I snorted. "Those people from the Liu clan are not my parents. Their son died two months ago in that clearing. I will make my own way, and I will make my own decisions. By the way, getting jerked around by all of your families doesn't tie into my plans for a quiet life."

This time they both looked at me like I was a raving lunatic even Meera was staring at me like I was some bad person. What's the matter with these people, don't they understand? Do they really believe I would go along with this drama? I grabbed Miss. Luo's hand dragging her toward her horse, but she jerked it back, retreating behind May.

"I won't go back. If you want to do this, do it on your own." She said, anger visible in her gaze.

I turned to May, who crossed her arms. "I won't take you to see my parents until you cool off."

"Fine," I said, holding a hand toward Meera. "Come on. We can make our own way from here, let these people do as they want." I waited several moments and then turned to Meera. She was wringing her hands while looking between May and me. "Fine, I'll go alone." I turned and headed into the woods, not bothering with the road. I prefer the company of the woods. They don't betray you every chance they get.

I don't know how long I wandered around, but I must have gotten turned around at some point because I found myself back at Apple Town as the sun began to set. Stomach grumbling, I made my way through the gate, finding a nearby inn that luckily had a room available. After I ate a meal of steamed potatoes and assorted vegetables, I sat at the counter. "Screw it. I might as well get drunk."

At first, I drank alone, but as my vision began to swim, a big man sat down, and we started drinking together. He told me stories about growing up in the town while I listened. It was the story about his first wife that I took away from our encounter. It turned out he was once in the same boat I am. He was betrothed to two young ladies. He liked them both, but he only loved one. She eventually became his first wife, but she died in childbirth. His second wife knew his true feelings, but she still did her very best to take care of the house and their two kids.

As he left me there thinking, he slapped me on the back. With these parting words, he sauntered out. "Remember, boy, in this world, there are far more young ladies than good men. so try not to hurt them if you can help it." That hit too close to home. I stared at his blurry image as he left, wondering who he was and why he was so familiar.

I have no idea when or how I got to my room, but I woke in a bed with an evil ray of morning sun shining right in my eyes. I tried to roll over only to find a soft barricade in the way. Grumbling, I tried to roll the other, again finding something blocking my path. Irritated, I grabbed my pillow, cramming it over my head, only to hear mumbled curses from both sides. I froze for several seconds before I felt around with my hands feeling the unmistakable smooth skin of a young woman on both sides of me. The first thought in my head was, Oh shit. May is going to kill me when she finds out. The second was wishing I could remember what happened last night after my drinking buddy left.

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I was trying to extricate myself from the tangle of limbs when the door burst open, and two familiar fluffy ears soared toward my chest. "Papa, guess what Lily still had my hairpins look." I got two sticks practically to the eyes before I could even figure out what was going on.

Then to my side, a familiar voice spoke from beneath the pillow. "Sweety, I asked you to stay at Lily's until we came to pick you up in a little while." On my other side, the person stretched beneath the thin blanket languidly then wrapped a slender arm around my waist before going still again. A very familiar arm, I picked the pillow up, finding May watching me with a coy smile and Xue-Feng blinking sleepily while trying to grab the pillow lazily. Memories of the previous night began to pour back into my groggy head.

I flopped back, finally feeling the slight breeze blowing between my legs. "Hey, Sweety, is Aunti Rachel downstairs?"

Meera nodded happily. "Yep, I wanted to see you, so she brought me over."

I nodded then looked at the two girls to either side of me. "Can you head back downstairs and spend today with Lily? While you're at it, ask Aunt Rachel to have the innkeeper add a day to my room's expense." Two giggles distracted me a moment as a certain part of me reacted to the sound. Meera scrunched up her nose in confusion but dejectedly agreed.

"Is wrestling in bed really that fun?" I heard her mutter as she left the room, leaving the door wide open.

We decided to spend the day working through our problems using extensive amounts of exercise—shockingly, Xue-Feng didn't lack stamina despite her abysmal cultivation level. Later that evening, we sat by the window watching the setting sun May in my lap and Xue-Feng leaning against my side. "No more." That was all I said. They both nodded afterward. We watched night take over the small town then went to sleep.

This time I heard the thump of a small body hit the door, and I grinned. We were all three ready for the day and were waiting for the inevitable arrival of a certain wolfkin girl to barge in. Unfortunately for her, I forgot to unlock the door, so she ended up spread out on the hall floor, staring in shock at the door as I opened it for her.

Arriving downstairs, we were all whisked away by an irate Rachel who brought us to a building in the center of town. As soon as we went inside, I knew it was some government building and started to turn around. May grabbed my arm while Xue took my waist, dragging me along behind Rachel. Three of the most boring hours later, we emerged with three copies of our marriage agreement, which I insisted on stipulating that there would be no more wives.

We walked through the streets, heading for the stables where the girls left the horses. I noticed Meera being unnaturally quiet. "Hey, what's got your head all up in the clouds?"

She continued while tilting her head back and forth, catching May and Xue-Feng's attention. We all stopped to watch. "I can call May mommy now, but what do I call big sister Fengfeng?"

I slapped my forehead. "You are absolutely right, sweety. She needs a nickname too. How about we call her Snow? Well, May and I can, you still have to call her Aunt Snow. Meera pondered for a short moment, then clapped. I caught Xue eyeing May, who shrugged before calling her Sister Snow.

A mile from the town, I slid off the horse with Meera, then turned to our newest companion. "I hope you like training because May loves to make people run. Meera, get your pack from mommy."

Meera skipped to May, who was already pulling packs from her ring. Mine was massive and, for some reason, always grew heavier no matter how much stronger I grew. Meera had a smaller pack that she started putting small stones inside while being closely monitored by May, who stopped her after a few. Then she handed one to Snow with a grin on her face. "We will start you out light just a couple of cloaks and a bedroll for now."

I grabbed Meera's hand as she began circulating her qi inside her body, and I did the same, being careful not to let any flow into Meera. As we began to pick up speed, I could hear May guiding Snow on circulating her qi while on the move. I spent several minutes monitoring Meera's qi before letting her hand go, and we began to speed up, leveling out at a steady run.

Several miles later, I fell back to Snow's side noticing how labored her breathing was. I waved May to keep an eye on Meera, and I took Snow's hand, guiding my qi into her body and using it to show Snow how best to circulate her meager qi into the places with the most exertion. By the time we had gone another half mile, her breathing had evened out, and the redness in her cheeks receded. Then I felt a small tendril of her qi enter my body. It felt different than May's Snow was timid while May's was warm. Meera's was playful while mine was, as May put it, cold and aloof like a force of nature. Curious, I let Snow explore my slowly forming qi channels, deliberately guiding her toward my dantian. I was ready to cut the contact immediately if my earth or air qi decided this was an attack.

Upon touching the roiling pool of green, blue, and white qi, she froze, stopping in the center of the road. I could feel a minuscule amount of my qi flash into her dantian as the qi made a connection. I was frozen too, but unlike the amazed Snow, I was scared that my qi would damage her body. I felt Snow's dantian beginning to roil as it continued to grow. Her face began to flush, and I led her off the road into the woods out of sight of any passerby calling May as we went.

May took one look and shoved her storage ring into my hands, telling me to make camp. Not wanting to argue, Meera and I began setting up camp. I could hear May mumbling about stupid people making shortcuts instead of cultivating like normal people.