It was very dark, but the light was still on in Li Jia's room.
Li Jia's eyes were wide open, but his gaze was wandering in the sky. His hands were frozen in the air, trembling slightly. He was like a piece of rotten wood about to be blown down by the wind, standing alone and helpless in the wilderness.
Xiao Chen held the wine glass and looked at his expression calmly. He secretly laughed at his impatience, but said sincerely: "Alas, I don't know why the count has such a strange idea. Maybe this is the style of a feudal patriarch. But I didn't agree to him."
Li Jia was stunned for a long time before rubbing his face with his hands and muttering, "Not strange, not strange, no wonder, no wonder."
"Hey, are you okay?" Xiao Chen asked, looking at Li Jia's movements like a puppet.
"I'm not... It's okay. I was just recalling what he said to me before. I'm starting to understand a little bit now. Haha, I didn't expect that in the end, after traveling to another world, I would still be looked down upon."
"Don't look down on others all the time. Can you be more confident?" Xiao Chen couldn't stand Li Jia's bitter face. "In your previous life, you were a graduate student at a prestigious university. Now you're a magician. Can you stop looking so pitiful?"
"You understand! In the past, everyone thought I was just a timid and useless nerd. Apart from my good grades, what else did I have to show for it? The girls were too lazy to pay attention to me!" Li Jia finally recovered from her dazed look and said angrily.
"You can prove to them that you are not like that. I know you are smart sometimes and can get things done. You made a great contribution when we were doing business with those guys in Floro Town last time. Besides, you are the only one in the school who has picked up beautiful girls in this alien world!" Xiao Chen comforted.
"That was just a coincidence. Serinda herself said that she approached me just to gather information."
"But you got her. It's a typical example of eating the sugar coating and sending the bullet away."
"What's the use of this!" Li Jia's voice rose, "I want to marry her, but her father doesn't like me!"
He snatched the wine glass from Xiao Chen's hand and poured the remaining wine into his mouth. The sweet fruit wine choked his throat and made him cough uncontrollably.
"Ahem." Li Jia coughed for a long time before he recovered. He raised his face, which was red from being angry, and shouted, "I was wondering why that old guy never talked to me about practical things even though I arrived half a month earlier than you. Why is his attitude towards me always lukewarm? It turns out that he just thinks I'm not good enough! This old fox is so cunning!"
"It's just that we have different standpoints on the issue. You don't have to say that about him. After all, he is still your future father-in-law." Xiao Chen said.
"He looks down on my strength. He thinks you are much stronger than me. That's why he wants to marry you. These shameless nobles only care about the immediate benefits. I have obviously awakened the power of magic. My strength is not enough now, but will it be impossible in the future? He actually abandoned me like this!" Li Jia roared a few times and began to breathe heavily because of his excitement.
He walked back and forth in the room angrily, and tried to smash the glass in his hand to the ground several times, but in the end he put the glass heavily on the table.
"Go ahead and smash it. If you smash the Earl, you'll have to buy a new one. Anyway, we'll make a small profit." Xiao Chen chuckled.
"Why aren't you anxious? You still have the mind to make jokes." Li Jia said angrily.
"I was wondering if you died of anger at the Earl, or died of drunkenness from drinking a little wine, would that be a good thing for me. After all, Serinda is an exotic beauty, and she is a good match for me. Why should I be in a hurry?" Xiao Chen asked after taking a sip of wine leisurely.
"You bastard! You're still saying that now!"
"Okay, do you want to hear what happened next?"
"Stop talking nonsense! Tell me quickly, what did you say in the end?"
"Before I tell you, let me ask you a question." Xiao Chen sat up straight and asked seriously, "If the Earl insists on his opinion and does not want Serinda to marry you, but the school really needs the Earl's support and is unwilling to ruin the relationship for you, what will you do?"
"I, I..." Li Jia was like being poured with a bucket of cold water, and suddenly became quiet, "I can't afford to offend you, but I can avoid you. Since you all want to make things difficult for me, I will take Serinda away!"
"Where to go? Are you sure she will go with you? Are you sure you can support her? Are you sure you can escape to a new place and start a life together?"
"There is always a way out."
"And what about the school? What if the Earl breaks with us and wants his land back, even at the cost of a war?"
"This..." Li Jia wanted to say something harsh at first, but after he carefully thought about the current situation in his mind several times, his expression began to become lonely. He held his face with both hands and slowly sat down, "I... don't know."
"If the Earl, the school, and everyone else said that if I married Serinda, these things wouldn't happen, would you really stand up and object?"
Li Jia was reluctant to speak, but slowly lowered her head, "I... I really don't know."
Xiao Chen looked at him for a long time, and when he saw that he was silent, he suddenly said, "Coward! Where is your temper from before?"
Li Jia looked up at Xiao Chen and said, "You've already said that the school needs his support. I can't possibly ruin everyone's business. What if it affects everyone's survival?"
"That's a lame excuse. It sounds more like the Earl trying to persuade me to do that." Xiao Chen shook his head. "If you want it, work hard to get it. Don't be afraid of pressure. What can you achieve if you are afraid of everything? If you don't have the determination, how can I help you?"
Li Jia was a little embarrassed. He wiped his face with his hands a few times and looked up and said, "You are right. I was confused."
Xiao Chen continued, "I rejected the Earl at that time. I told him clearly, 'If one of us would marry Serinda, that person would only be Li Jia. If Li Jia marries Serinda, it is not because we regard them as bargaining chips for marriage, but because they are in love.' Of course, the Earl laughed at my naivety, but I have done my best to convince the Earl that you are qualified to marry her.
"I..., well, maybe I'm really useless. But, but you said it very well." Li Jia whispered.
Xiao Chen stood up, patted Li Jia on the shoulder and said, "In the face of huge interests, marriage is unreliable after all. What we have to do now is to stabilize the earl and give us enough time to settle down. If a marriage that you have always longed for can make him trust us more, then it will naturally kill two birds with one stone. But this marriage may not be a good thing, and it may give you a huge test. I am a little worried now. Will you regret this choice when you face huge pressure in the future
"Great pressure?"
"The society we grew up in is completely different from here. Our concepts and ideas are incompatible with the people here. If we survive, we will inevitably be challengers to the order, and all the beneficiaries of the old order will become our enemies. Unless we are willing to give up the concepts we cherish and be content to be a screw in feudal society, paying homage to those in high positions and wielding the whip against the lowly." Xiao Chen spoke slowly, with a heavy sense of history in his words, "I know that some of us can do this and are not ashamed of it at all. But I can't do it, Principal Guo can't do it, and Luo Ling can't do it, what about you?"
"I, I won't be a feudal lord either. Instead, I will liberate them like you did. I can't stand the way those nobles completely ignore the common people. After I came here, I have always treated the residents here kindly, but... sometimes they are really too afraid of me." Li Jia replied.
Xiao Chen immediately asked back: "Didn't you notice? You have only been here for more than half a month, and you have already gotten used to facing the common people bowing and kneeling to you. What's more, you will grow into a powerful magician, and your status and power beyond others will always allow you to stand high. Even if I don't tell you, you can imagine how difficult it is to be in a high position without looking down at others. Are you really that confident?"
Li Jia was startled, and cold sweat started to flow down his back. He knew that he was not a man of strong will, but the feeling of being the best was just too wonderful. These days, everyone was respectful to him, and he had gotten used to this feeling. "Power is more tempting than beauties and strong liquor," he recalled what the Earl said one day.
"Besides, by then, you will be a member of the feudal lord's family. If Serinda asks you to 'be like a lord and take care of those untouchables', what will you do?"
"I..." Li Jia couldn't help but hesitate.
"I don't want you to degenerate and fall into depravity because of her, and become a condescending and annoying person."
"I will try my best to change her. After all, we both represent something more advanced. I don't know what you think of Serinda. But I can feel that she is a kind person in her heart." Li Jia said solemnly.
"But if we inevitably break up with the Earl, you will have to bear the pressure from both sides. This is not just a matter of tension, but perhaps a real life-and-death decision. Have you figured it out?"
Li Jia fell silent. Xiao Chen was not impatient, but waited for him to figure it out. From Xiao Chen's heart, he was conflicted. He never thought that Serinda was a good match, but Li Jia's feelings for her were as clear as a torch in the dark night...
"I can't guarantee anything. I just know that if I don't fight for it now, I will regret it for the rest of my life. Even if I degenerate into someone I despise, I can't give up on this." Li Jia raised his head and said.
Xiao Chen looked at Li Jia for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking. After a long while, he said, "I understand. In this case, let's find a way to get you enough power as soon as possible."
Xiao Chen stood up, opened his luggage bag, and took out a thick book.