The girl whom they referred to as A'Jiu bit her lips and clenched her fists as if trying to steady her emotions. Anthony's words must have made her struggle a lot. She took a deep breath and looked at Anthony.

"I will agree with whatever Chu Lan asks for. If he wants two women, it's fine. As long as his heart remains true to me, he can marry as many women as his parents and him wants. I just want to have him by my side. Other things do not matter." She said, her voice filled with conviction.

Anthony chuckled at her words.

"How selfish of you. As long as his heart remains true to you. How about the wife? What do you want her to do?" He asked, still smiling lazily.

"Young master, you have gone too far. Why are you intentionally making things difficult for A'Jiu?" One of the girls holding a shepherd's stick shouted, rushing to hold Jiu.

"Making things difficult for her? With what eyes did you see me making things difficult for her? I merely asked a question because I'm curious about something."

"Your questions were insensitive." Xinglan said, cutting in.

Anthony smiled.

"Insensitive? My question was insensitive, but hers wasn't? I only asked her what she expected the principal wife to do in such a situation. Do you expect her to spend all day watch you two acting lovey dovey while bearing an empty title in loneliness? Just check it out, a proud daughter of heaven, from a powerful family, forced into a marriage of convenience. And when she finally arrives in the house of her long awaited match, he would leave her to wallow in loneliness, not spending time with her, caring for her, loving her, protecting her or even spending his nights in her arms. She would just be there, bearing the title of wife and daughter, while watching her husband act all sweet with another woman, his concubine."

"How will that be A'Jiu's fault? The one who is not loved is the mistress. It will be the wife's fault for marrying a man who has another in his heart."

Anthony chuckled and shook his head.

"Her fault. Did she willingly do it? She's a woman too, doesn't she deserve some time with her man? You're not willing to truly share, letting him have another wife because you know you're the one he preferred. But the heart changes too. Do you know things may tilt? If you marry him with the mentality of keeping the man while she keeps the title, you will be making a terrible mistake. First of all, his parents will ensure they spend time together. At least on their wedding night. Two, she's the one who will follow him to official duties. The concubine might tag along since she's the favored one, but the person everyone wants to forge a connection with is the wife—the one with real power. With a smart head for business, you might also create your mark, becoming more popular. And since he prefers your company, you will naturally find more friends and connections. So despite being a concubine, your status would be nearly equivalent to that of the wife, and you won't lack anything. However, expecting his heart to fully belong only to you is something you shouldn't expect. Even dogs develop feelings after spending time together, talk more of humans." He said with a smile.

"What do you mean? Will he stop loving her?" Miao Miao asked.

"Of course not, but he might also fall in love with the wife, treating her as well as the concubine. Check this, they will have more things in common as fellow cultivators. When going on dangerous missions, she would be the one to escort him, experiencing various life and death situations filled with super charged emotions. As long as she's a good woman, he would see her making sacrifices for him, which might make him soften up. Unless he's a jerk. Also, they might have a higher amount of mutual friends and interest. It won't take too long before they truly become friends, then lovers. But of course, there's a possibility that he won't love her, condemning her to a life of loneliness. No good woman deserves that. If she's a vicious woman, she would make your life hell, set you up to make your parents in-law hate you more and make things difficult for you using her position as the legal wife. By then, your life would be miserable no matter the amount of love he gives you. Are you sure you want this kind of relationship?"

"You…" A'Jiu muttered, horrified.

"It's okay to love recklessly, but with marriage, one should be very careful. Love isn't the only thing to be considered before marriage."

A'Jiu began to cry, the tears fall in relentlessly. The little smile on Anthony's face immediately disappeared, startled that his words brought her to the point of tears.

"You, why are you crying?" He muttered, looking at her.

"You're rude, don't follow us anymore. Get lost. Why are you making her feel this way? Her love and relationship is none of your business. What kind of man makes a woman cry? You must be a scumbag!" One of the shepherd girls shouted and dragged A'Jiu away, while the rest followed her, shooting Anthony poisonous glares.

"Fine, I will get lost." Anthony shouted after them.

"Damn it. Women are such trouble. Why did I even bother myself with talking about her? It's none of my business, I should have just watched from the background and enjoyed the fun." Anthony muttered under his breath.

He sighed and kicked a nearby pebble, biting his lips. He sighed again, and led his horse to the side, under a tree standing in the middle of the flower patch. The tree was surrounded with clean white sand like that of the beach, and beautiful white stones were used to encircle the circumference of the area where the sand was poured on, demarcating it from the flowers growing all around.

Anthony looked around to make sure that there was nothing harmful in the environment and flopped down on the sand, sighing heavily.

"Anthony, you have gone and done it this time. Why in heaven did you act so terribly towards a near stranger? A woman at that. Hmm." He exhaled heavily, and looked up at the blue sky.

"Even if she's not a good person, how was that any of your business? Why did you get angry and retort? Even if she is a calculative and manipulative gold digger, is that any of your business. You just got here, yet you have already made an enemy. One whom you hurt without a good reason."

It wasn't so hard for Anthony to realize what he was thinking. Ever since Priscilla's betrayal, he lost his instinctive trust towards women, not viewing them in a good light. Although he knew that not everyone was the same, he still won't take a chance with women. He would rather pick up a tiger from the wilderness and turn it into a pet than to believe a woman. He had become incredibly suspicious towards women, even Ava couldn't gain his trust despite all her efforts to win him over and treat him well.

Anthony sighed heavily.

"This incident with Priscilla seems to have truly left a heart demon in me, making me instinctively suspicious towards women, guarding against them. This won't do, if I keep up with this, people are only going to hate me. And a bad reputation is the last thing I need at this point. I still need allies to achieve something here. There are lots of good and talented women, I shouldn't let them down or make them feel hurt anymore." Anthony whispered to himself, taking deep breaths to control his emotions.

He closed his eyes contemplating his next move once he left there. After a while, just when he was on the verge of falling asleep, he felt the presence of another person. He sat up to see Miao Miao approaching him, making him frown. She stopped before Anthony and stared at him for a while, as if considering lots of things in her mind. She sighed and looked at his face.

"What's your name?"

"Anthony." He replied without much thought.

"An Tuo…" She frowned as she carefully tried to repeat his words. After some time she shook her head, and waved her hand dismissively.

"I will just call you young master An. Your name is too hard to pronounce. You have a beautiful name by the way. Peace, harmony, secure, tranquil. All translations of your name 'An' are beautiful."

Anthony almost laughed. His name wasn't Chinese yet she just gave it a Chinese translation, or rather its equivalent in their world.

"Come with me. The carnival has started, it's already afternoon. It will be a waste to remain here all alone while there's a huge party in the village."

Anthony looked at her hesitantly.

"Your friends don't seem to like me a lot at the moment. Is it really alright to go with you?"

Miao Miao smiled at him.

"Don't worry they're not that petty that they would hold it against you." Her words felt like a slap to him. Teenage girls were not petty enough to hold a grudge, yet he was so petty that he's punishing every woman for the mistake of one person.

Miao Miao noticed his internal struggles and squatted before him.

"Don't worry. They understand you. It's obvious it's the first time you're leaving your place. You don't look like the type that has friends. You must have grown up surrounded by servants, and people who look up to you, letting you do whatever you please. You also never had to hide your real thoughts, a really straightforward man. However, you're outside now. You need to be polite and consider carefully before you share your thoughts, even if you have good intentions. It's obvious you lack tact and do not know how to arrange a speech, because you have never had to consider anyone's feelings, look at their faces or take a step back. But you should really change. Although you may have enough strength to say whatever you want, there are people that have fragile feelings that would get hurt by a carelessly spoken word, people that would get angry at being given an attitude. I'm sure you're not a bad person, she knows it too."

Her words rendered him speechless. She couldn't be any more further from the truth. When had Anthony ever lived a privileged life?

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