Chapter 36: Arranged Marriage

"Xiaoxi, take off your clothes and get into the water tank," Granny Wan said solemnly.

I obediently removed every piece of clothing and climbed into the tank. I had no idea what kind of medicinal solution was in there, but as soon as I entered, a bone-chilling cold enveloped me, and before long, an unbearable itch spread all over my body.

"Don't scratch!" Granny Wan stopped me immediately when she saw I was about to reach out and relieve the itch.

I soaked in the tank for over ten minutes before Granny Wan finally allowed me to get out. Her gaze was grave as she stared at my body, then suddenly burst out cursing, "Which wretched soul dared to tie a doomed bond to my apprentice? If I ever find out, I swear I'll twist their head clean off!"

Startled by her reaction, I quickly lowered my head to check my body and saw my chest was covered in dense marks—nail imprints and even some traces of lipstick. This was far beyond anything I understood, so I asked, "Granny, how did this happen?"

She was still cursing, but paused to answer, "Someone has bound you with a fated misfortune. Luckily, I discovered it early. Otherwise, if you married that girl from the Bai family while carrying this cursed bond, the spirit bound to you would turn your wedding into a funeral."

So that was it!

I recalled what the black-clad figure had said earlier that day; it must have been him who tied this accursed bond to me. Yet something still puzzled me—how could he do this without my knowledge? Could it really be so easy to harm someone like this?

Granny Wan explained, "It's not as simple as you think. To tie such a bond, you must know both parties' birth dates and times, and each must exchange a token of affection. The tokens must be the most precious things to each person."

My birth date and time—my grandfather must have told Bai Ranhe, so naturally Chen Yetian would know as well. But the most precious token—how could Chen Yetian have gotten that?

The pocket watch!

I remembered the pocket watch I'd given Bai Xiaoli. It was a keepsake from my grandfather, who'd been with me for over a decade, something I cherished deeply.

But I had only given it to Bai Xiaoli. Could it be she intended to harm me?

Impossible!

I trusted her character. If she wanted to harm me, she wouldn't have risked her life for me earlier today. I called her to ask if she'd given the watch to anyone else. Just as I suspected, the same night I gave her the watch, Chen Yetian had borrowed it to examine for a while.

On the phone, Bai Xiaoli sounded worried, asking if Chen Yetian had used the watch to set up some sort of geomantic trap against me. She said Chen Yetian liked her quite a bit and offered to talk to him for me.

I didn't want her to worry, so I said nothing was wrong and told her to keep her distance from Chen Yetian. He was not to be trusted, and I didn't want her to fall into his schemes.

After I hung up, Granny Wan gave me a mysterious smile and said, "Miss Bai is no ordinary person. In this whole city, no one dares touch her. You'd best worry more about your own misfortune."

"Does Bai Xiaoli have some hidden backing?" I recalled what Chen Yetian had said when he taught Chen Zhiqiang a lesson—that if anything happened to Bai Xiaoli because of them, their whole family would be doomed. I asked Granny Wan about it.

She just smiled at me, "Just a guess, but the granddaughter-in-law chosen by the Dragon King of the Yellow River is hardly ordinary."

Clearly, Granny Wan knew some secret about Bai Xiaoli, but she wasn't willing to tell me, so I didn't press. My priority now was to break this cursed bond. Granny Wan told me to find Xu Yingying's corpse and bring it to her. She had a way to resolve it.

Now that I had a lead, I spent some more time learning about spirit-guiding rites from Granny Wan, then returned to my room to rest. Before I left, I asked her what kind of medicinal solution she had used in the tank and why it felt so chilling.

At my question, Granny Wan gave me a strange look...