Love at First Sight? No, Debt at First Sight!

Scene: Teahouse in Wangqi Town, the third day after their reunion

Orm (fighting down a racing heart): “Shopkeeper Kuang, the Contract Records Office shows you’ve had no contracts for thirty years, violating the first article of the Contract Code: ‘All living beings have contracts.’ Explain.”

Lingling (leisurely wiping a cup): “My lord, I do have a contract.”

Orm (with his Contract Eyes fully open, yet seeing nothing): “Where?”

Lingling (looking up with a faint smile): “In my heart.”

She suddenly reached out and lightly touched Orm’s chest. “Sixty years ago, someone here owed me a debt that could never be repaid.”

The seal on Orm’s heart shattered completely, and a flood of memories surged forth:

A rainy lane in Jiangnan, an oil-paper umbrella, a young girl looking up, and that dazzling contract of unrequited love…

Orm (pale, stumbling back three steps): “You… you’re…”

Lingling (pulling her hand back and continuing to wipe the cup): “What will you do now, my lord? Arrest me for this ‘violation,’ or… repay your debt?”

It took the young fox clan heir sixty years to forget her, and just three seconds to remember everything.

And he discovered, to his despair, that the debt on that contract had compounded so much that even selling himself wouldn’t cover it.