Chapter 2: Breaking off the Engagement, No Longer a Simp

“Cancel the engagement?!”

Ling Qing repeated in shock, as if he no longer understood the meaning of those words.

Jiang Qingli told him to put it on speakerphone and repeated it again: “That’s right, cancel the marriage. With all five of you.”

As the voice came through, the other four beast-husbands looked at each other, seeing the shock in one another’s eyes.

A year ago, Jiang Qingli had snatched them away from Bai Yiyi.

Imperial law stipulated that the dissolution of a marriage must be initiated by the female.

The five of them had tried everything to get a divorce, from threats to bribery, but Jiang Qingli simply refused. She even clumsily imitated Bai Yiyi to curry favor with them, which was simply nauseating.

It was only out of desperation that they had secretly tricked Jiang Qingli into the Underground City the day before the wedding.

They had originally intended to collect Jiang Qingli’s corpse today, which would have been the extent of their obligation.

Who would have thought that not only was Jiang Qingli not dead, but she wanted to cancel the engagement?

How could her temperament have changed so suddenly? Had her brain been eaten by the beasts of the Underground City?

After hanging up the phone, the youngest of the five, the red fox beastman Chi Yun, felt there was a trap: “Impossible! Jiang Qingli is absolutely not this kind-hearted!”

Ling Qing frowned: “Her voice was very hoarse just now. Maybe she was tortured to the brink of death yesterday and wants to trick us into going in so she can take it out on us.”

A sense of vigilance arose among them.

They had been very discreet about what happened last night; Jiang Qingli couldn't possibly know. She should have continued fawning over them after waking up, so why the sudden change in personality?

Could it be that she found out something?

Just as they were feeling suspicious and uncertain, their terminals suddenly vibrated a few times.

Ling Qing glanced at his, and his eyes lit up: “Yiyi sent me a message.”

Chi Yun, who had been furious just a moment ago, immediately leaned in: “What did she say?”

“Asking where we are.” Ling Qing’s arrogant features softened. “She said she’s already at the Marriage and Fertility Center, just waiting for us.”

Someone suggested: “Let’s go see Jiang Qingli first. There are five of us; even if we can’t lay a hand on a female, we can at least make sure she doesn’t do anything.”

The others thought this made sense. They were all S-rank high-level beastmen; were they really afraid of a female with no abilities?

Led by an attendant, they entered the Underground City.

Meanwhile, in the City Lord’s bedroom.

The system had disappeared after speaking, and there was no response no matter what she did.

Jiang Qingli hugged the quilt and asked tactfully: “Are there any clothes here?”

Her clothes from last night had long since been shredded into rags; she had nothing to wear now.

Ye Linyuan leaned against the headboard, his knuckles picking up a strand of her hair and winding it around his fingertip. As if nonchalant, he brought up another topic: “You want to call off the engagement?”

“Is that not allowed?” Jiang Qingli countered.

Ye Linyuan’s gaze roamed over her face as if it had physical weight, heavy with inquiry: “No one in the Upper City doesn’t know that you love them to death.”

Jiang Qingli thought to herself that she had already died once.

Jiang Qingli said solemnly: “I’ve had a change of heart. I’m done being a sycophant.”

If she kept fawning over them, she’d lose her life.

“Cancel the engagement, and then?” Ye Linyuan asked coldly. “Who are you planning to snatch next?”

Jiang Qingli was stunned for a moment.

She suddenly remembered that in this era, technology was highly advanced, but outside the central city, natural disasters raged, males were prone to beastification, and the birth rate was extremely low. Therefore, the Empire mandated that every female must have at least three beast-husbands by the age of 20 to increase the birth rate.

The original owner was the same age as Jiang Qingli, and today was her birthday—as well as her wedding day.

“Speak.”

The low voice interrupted her thoughts. Ye Linyuan seemed to have lost his patience; his snake tail restlessly coiled around her lower leg, slowly tightening.

Jiang Qingli said: “I remember the marriage and fertility system matches beast-husbands based on genetics. I’ll see when the time comes.”

Ye Linyuan sneered.

Jiang Qingli didn’t dwell on his attitude.

After all, she had forcibly taken the innocence of this twenty-five-year-old virgin beast last night and even marked him; it was understandable that he was emotional.

Thinking of his mention of taking responsibility, Jiang Qingli whispered a suggestion: “How about you take me instead?”

Ye Linyuan looked at her coldly, his thin lips pressed tight, the heavy hostility carrying a chill that felt like being swallowed whole.

Jiang Qingli lost her nerve: “It’s fine if you don’t want to… but what about the mark?”

Ye Linyuan glanced at her: “I will find a way.”

He withdrew his snake tail and had someone bring in a set of clothes.

Throughout the process, his expression returned to cold indifference, as if the murderous intent from just a moment ago had been a hallucination.

Jiang Qingli understood: “Understood. Let’s just pretend it never happened.”

She looked visibly relieved.

The gloom in those golden vertical pupils deepened.

The five beast-husbands had been prepared to see Jiang Qingli severely injured and in despair.

However, they didn’t expect that not long after entering, they would see Jiang Qingli waiting under the eaves.

She was wearing a white dress, her black hair falling over her shoulders. As the wind blew, the hem of her dress rippled in beautiful waves, completely out of place with the thick, perpetual gloom of the Underground City.

More importantly, she looked completely unscathed.

Seeming to sense someone approaching, Jiang Qingli turned around, her beautiful face wearing an unfamiliar sense of detachment and indifference.

All five were stunned.

Whenever Jiang Qingli saw them in the past, she was always overly attentive; this was the first time she had looked at them with such cold eyes.

It was like she had become a different person.

“Copycat. Just wearing a white dress doesn’t mean you can compare to Yiyi.” Chi Yun muttered unhappily, “Why didn’t she just die last night?”

They weren’t far away, and Jiang Qingli easily heard Chi Yun’s low insult.

The girl brushed back her long hair and said with a smile: “The reason I didn’t die is because there is someone else who deserves to die.”

Chi Yun’s eyes widened: “What do you mean!”

“Shut up.” Jiang Qingli frowned slightly. “I am still your female master. Is it your place to interrupt when the female master is speaking?”

Her voice was beautiful, as crisp as jade beads, but the disdain in her words was quite unfamiliar.

Chi Yun was immediately unaccustomed to it; Jiang Qingli had always pampered him in the past—where had she ever had this attitude?

Just as he wanted to say something, Ling Qing frowned and interrupted: “Let’s talk business. Is it true that you’re canceling the engagement with us?”

Jiang Qingli curled her lips: “Before I cancel it, I have conditions.”

Hearing this, expressions of “I knew it,” “What a vicious, bad woman,” and “Have you no shame?” flashed across the faces of the five beast-husbands.

Jiang Qingli acted as if she hadn’t seen them.

The five beast-husbands were ruthless and followed Bai Yiyi’s lead; they were already disloyal and not worth keeping.

Besides, who knew what kind of trouble they would cause in the future? For the sake of her life and her mental health, Jiang Qingli decided to stay away from them to avoid a tragic ending.

They had done a flawless job of sending the original owner into the Underground City, so there was nothing she could reclaim for that right now.

But she could at least make them uncomfortable.

Jiang Qingli began to count on her fingers—

To Ling Qing, the white dragon beastman who was a movie star: “I cast millions of votes for you when you debuted. Your acting, the fireworks I booked for you, the haute couture, and other expenses—you must pay me back with interest.”

To Chi Yun, who was training at the warrior camp: “The sparring partners you fought were hired by me, billed by the hour. The nutritional fruit juice I made by hand, the cost of materials and labor…”

Before she could finish, Ling Qing impatiently interrupted.

“Enough, isn’t it just money? How vulgar.” Ling Qing lifted his chin arrogantly. “After the engagement is canceled, I’ll pay you back double.”

Jiang Qingli thought of the system’s words and said slowly: “Also, you must sign a contract with me, guaranteeing that you will never harm me, or else you will suffer the backlash.”