Jiang Cheng deserves a break

Epilogue 2: Ah-Ling's Approval

Jin Ling's pov:

Jiujiu's¹ dating standards were extreme, nearly unattainable by most people:

Must come from a noble family, must be a natural beauty, be full of grace and is obedient. Have a mild personality, must not be too chatty or loud...Etc, etc.²

Almost everyone who's had an interest in jiujiu knows this, and usually only meet two or three of those requirements. What's worse is that a large factor of whether jiujiu will choose a partner is whether they get along with Jin Ling.

It wouldn't matter how much jiujiu loved or desired to be with that person, if his darling nephew says the words 'I don't like him/her.', jiujiu would turn them away without batting an eye.

Jin Ling, of course, knows this.

His younger self had exploited this droplet of knowledge to the extreme, expressing his dislike for every woman (not that there were many to begin with) that jiujiu had introduced to him. He was selfish but he didn't care. No one was allowed to have jiujiu, no one can be loved more by jiujiu than Jin Ling.

Obviously, Jin Ling would feel bad about it when he got older, realising that he was too harsh to jiujiu's potential partners. Though to be fair, a majority of those potential partners had underlying and bad intentions with his jiujiu anyways.

All's well that ends well, I guess.

A part of Jin Ling knows why his jiujiu seeks his approval before choosing a spouse.

Growing up in Golden Carp Tower, Jin Ling was constantly told by everyone that he was the splitting image of his father. Even his mannerisms and his attitude was like a young Jin Zixuan. But when one stares at his eyes long enough—yellow like citrine crystals—all they can see is his mother's eyes.

That was what jiujiu saw: Jiang Yanli, jiujiu's sweet, caring, loving, big sister. A pure, innocent, selfless person.

Jiang Yanli might be long gone, but Jin Ling knows his jiujiu still wants to include his sister in his life whatever way he can. And if that was through her son, then so be it.

Jin Ling is 18 this year and has officially been appointed as Sect Leader Jin. He isn't quite used to the title yet, nor the heavy robes and the fact that people closest to the Jin throne were twice his age. Hell, Jin Ling is younger than the senior disciple of his clan.

He was also put under constant pressure by clan members who used to serve under Jin Guangyao.

The first thing Jin Ling did when he became sect leader was to remove all those who were still loyal to Jin Guangyao and those that opposed him. It was dictorial of him to do but what could he do when those old bastards belittled his rule and a few even tried to kill him and jiujiu.

It's been nearly three years since jiujiu last searched for a potential partner. It had been a mess after the incident at Guanyin Temple, the reveal of Jin Guangyao's schemes, and jiujiu's seclusion......Jin Ling had expected that it would have taken at least another few years for jiujiu to start looking again.

So it had been a surprise to him when he'd heard the news that his jiujiu had started searching again.

Less than a few months later, today, jiujiu is to arrive at Carp Tower with his future spouse; the Third Master of Hua Clan, Hua Yongrui.

Jiujiu had personally requested that they have a simple meal, just tea and biscuits (specifically rice crackers, which didn't make sense since jiujiu rarely ate snacks) instead of a fancy banquet.