After an extremely dazzling flash, the light dissipated.
It was like a super Divine Artifact had dropped in an online game, flashing once.
But it quickly returned to normal.
Even in its normal state, however, this [Multiplication Factor: 9] shimmered with color.
Compared to the faint white light above the others, it was clearly on a different level.
And as that extremely dazzling light faded,
Lu Yuan could clearly see the figure beneath the [Multiplication Factor: 9].
A...
An extremely beautiful, one might even say bewitchingly gorgeous, woman.
It wasn't just her face; the most bewitching part about her was her vertical pupils.
They weren't human eyes.
And it was precisely this pair of bewitching vertical pupils that drew the eyes of everyone present.
"Tsk, Matchmaker, what's the meaning of this?
Are you looking down on our Shige Village?!
Why'd you bring a Snake Woman here?!"
As Lu Yuan stared at the woman in a daze, one of the villagers had grown displeased, his face immediately showing his reluctance.
The village chief, Li Guanghan, who was sitting in the middle, didn't say anything, but his expression was also grim.
'Our Shige Village has produced a County Magistrate, for crying out loud. How could she bring a Snake Woman like this here...'
The matchmaker standing beside her, however, immediately stepped in to smooth things over:
"Aiyo, sirs, you have to take a look! With looks like these, is she any ordinary Snake Woman?
It's because she thinks highly of our Shige Village that I brought her here.
Besides, brother, what you said undermines our unity.
The Court has been saying for years now that whether human or demon, all are citizens of the Divine Ling Empire.
And look at her face! How could I possibly be trying to fool you?
In all my years as a matchmaker, I've never met anyone even half as pretty as her."
In truth, the matchmaker hadn't wanted to bring a Snake Woman either.
It was bad for her reputation.
But her youngest son had been afflicted by a malicious spirit some time ago, and no one she sought out could cure him.
It was Su Liyan's mother who cured him.
Su Liyan's mother didn't want anything in return, only that the matchmaker find her daughter a husband.
The matchmaker saw that Su Liyan was indeed fresh-faced and beautiful, so she brought her out to give it a try.
The result was...
She had been to over a dozen villages, and every one of them had rejected her. She remained unmarried.
This was one of the last few villages. If she couldn't be married off here, there was nothing more the matchmaker could do.
The villagers were left speechless by the matchmaker's words.
This matchmaker had a silver tongue; she could talk a dead man back to life.
But that was how she made a living, after all.
But being glib was one thing. They couldn't win an argument against her, it was true.
But in their hearts, they didn't accept it.
Some of the older women couldn't help but curl their lips and say:
"What's the use of just being pretty? Look at those skinny arms and legs. She wouldn't be able to do any work after marrying.
Can she even serve a man? It'd be the man serving her, more like!"
The village women looked down on this Snake Woman.
But it wasn't entirely for these reasons.
The biggest reason was...
She was just too beautiful, too bewitching.
If a woman like that married into the village, would their own husbands have any mind to stay at home...?
Never mind anything else. Just look—from the moment this woman appeared until now,
their husbands' eyes hadn't left her.
In response to the village women's words, Su Liyan, who was standing at the back of the crowd, lowered her head and defended herself in a small voice:
"I... I can work, and I know how to take care of people. I'm the eldest daughter in my family. I do all the chores at home..."
It seemed she had said these words too many times.
Each time she said them, no one believed her.
Or rather, Su Liyan knew that people's aversion to her wasn't just about whether she could take care of a husband...
So she spoke without any energy.
But she still stubbornly wanted to say it, not wanting others to misunderstand her.
And just as Su Liyan expected,
her explanation was useless.
The crowd wasn't listening at all; they were all just finding fault with Su Liyan.
As for the other girls who came with Su Liyan, they puffed out their chests with a hint of smugness.
They didn't like Su Liyan either.
She was too beautiful, too bewitching.
No matter which village they went to, she was always the first to attract the men's attention.
However...
Even if she was that beautiful, so what?
Wasn't she still the one nobody chose?
'So beautiful and bewitching... she should just go to a brothel. Why is she out here trying to get matched?'
For a moment, some of the more malicious ones thought this way.
At this moment, Lu Yuan was still staring blankly at Su Liyan.
It wasn't that he was captivated by her beauty.
He was just thinking about how to trigger this Multiplication Factor.
'The System didn't say, but I know this [Multiplication Factor: 9] is definitely the best one.'
'As long as I can trigger this factor, I'll definitely get an amazing reward from the System.'
'This must be the starter pack the System sent me.'
'Or maybe a newcomer's bonus period.'
'But the question is, how do I trigger it...'
Lu Yuan's mind was full of question marks right now. He still hadn't figured out how these Multiplication Factors were calculated.
'Could it be...'
'That whoever is better looking gets a higher factor?'
Lu Yuan looked at the others. That didn't seem to be it.
Among them, there was another girl who was quite pretty.
Her Multiplication Factor was 0.
Come to think of it, a 0 factor was pretty rare.
Among all the people in the village, only a few had a Multiplication Factor of 0.
And those few with a 0 factor...
Lu Yuan recalled from his memories that they were all the idlers and slackers in the village.
Thinking of this, Lu Yuan looked again at Su Liyan with her [Multiplication Factor: 9].
'Could it be...'
'To trigger this factor...'
'Hmm...'
As Lu Yuan was staring blankly at Su Liyan,
he was suddenly nudged by the person next to him.
When Lu Yuan snapped back to his senses, he saw an older woman beside him smiling as she said:
"What are you still staring for? Go on, get over there.
This time, don't say any of that vague, high-flown stuff.
This is the last group for the year. If you can't find someone now, you'll have to wait until next year."
Lu Yuan turned his head and saw that all the unmarried young men in the village had already gone up to talk with the girls.
Every one of the girls had someone in front of them.
Even Su Liyan.
However, the men in front of Su Liyan were all the unmotivated ones from the village.
Not only were their families dirt-poor, but they themselves were either idlers or compulsive gamblers.
In any case, they were the ones with a Multiplication Factor of zero above their heads.
A few from families with normal circumstances had been about to go over, but their mothers pointed at their noses and scolded them back.
At this moment, Lu Yuan's memories had also more or less fully merged.
He basically understood what was going on.
Marveling at this world, he stood up and walked toward Su Liyan.
Right now, Su Liyan was looking at the few men who had come to talk to her, feeling a little scared.
These men didn't look kind, and the questions they asked were difficult to answer.
Especially their undisguised lecherous looks; they didn't seem like decent people at all.
You could tell with a glance that they were just a bunch of riffraff.
But Su Liyan also knew that with her status, if she wanted to marry into this village, she wouldn't be able to marry a good person.
As Su Liyan looked fearfully at the men in front of her,
a hand pushed them aside from behind, and a voice said directly:
"Miss, what do you think of me?"
Lu Yuan's appearance was like a ray of dawn for Su Liyan.
Compared to the others, Lu Yuan was handsome and had the air of a scholar about him.
Especially his clean long robe.
Although it had many patches, it was far better than the other men's clothes, which were a grimy mess of colors with collars and cuffs that were black and shiny with filth.
He was a world apart from those men with grime caked on their necks.
Lu Yuan suddenly cutting in naturally made the other men very unhappy.
They immediately raised their eyebrows and shouted:
"What do you think you're doing?!
First come, first served, don't you know?!"
Lu Yuan found it amusing. 'Since when is there 'first come, first served' for something like this?'
Just then, Su Liyan, who had held no hope at all, saw Lu Yuan arrive, and a light ignited in her beautiful, enchanting eyes.
This scene, of course, was also seen by the men standing nearby.
They immediately started exposing Lu Yuan's background:
"Don't be fooled by his decent looks. He's useless.
All he does is read a few worthless books. His family is even poorer than ours!"
However, this didn't matter to Su Liyan at all.
For Su Liyan, as long as the man was decent, that was enough.
She was very satisfied with Lu Yuan.
At the very least, she really liked his kind gaze.
It wasn't like the other men, whose lecherous stares were truly unbearable.
'Being poor doesn't matter, as long as he's a decent person.'
Su Liyan had never expected to marry into a rich family and live a life of luxury.
Being watched by Lu Yuan's intense gaze, Su Liyan felt inexplicably shy and lowered her head.
"As long as... you don't mind me..."
The next second, Lu Yuan grabbed Su Liyan's small, delicate hand, turned to the village chief sitting in the middle, and announced:
"I want to marry her."
As soon as Lu Yuan finished speaking,
a clear, cold voice rang out in Lu Yuan's sea of consciousness.
[Congratulations, Host, for triggering the nine-fold active reward. You have obtained the "Holy Body" and one hundred thousand taels of silver.]
[The rewards have been sent to the Host's System Space and can be accessed at any time.]
'I knew it...'