Fierce Consort

Chapter 152

Only one person would find time during breaks from martial arts training to play with her. That person was Shen Ran.

Shen Ran was an older brother to Shen Yi Yao. This relationship was built up from when they were children. She inevitably worried about his matters.
Their relationship wasn't ordinary so they didn't need to worry that much about maintaining proper distance between man and woman. When he was free, Shen Ran would visit Shen Yi Yao. The two of them drank tea or played go.

No one knew Shen Yi Yao used to be interested in go. When she was young, she was accomplished in the four arts of zither, go, calligraphy and painting. These things were just for a maiden to pass the time and a way for noble ladies to develop themselves. For Shen Yi Yao, it wasn't really to the extent of enjoyment. The only exception was go.

Unfortunately, prior to marriage there wasn't anyone to play with at home. Her parents, brothers and sister-in-law didn't like it. Therefore, Shen Yi Yao had given up on it after a while.

Within the Zhenguo Duke Estate, only Shen Ran knew about this. He had played go with Shen Yi Yao in the past. However, after Shen Ran left for the border, this matter was left in the dust.

After returning to the capital, Shen Ran reunited with Shen Yi Yao.

The two of them had talked about the past and mentioned this matter, stirring Shen Yi Yao's forgotten memories and her hidden interest.

Therefore, the two of them occasionally did as they did long, long ago, and would play for a couple of hours. During this time, they spoke very little but this had its own delight.

Shen Ran was a taciturn person and rarely took the initiative to speak when together with Shen Yi Yao. Shen Yi Yao was a focused person, and didn't have any thoughts to spare for words when concentrating. Therefore, the scene of them playing go was a silent painting. Only their hands raised and placed the stones, without anything else.

Today, Shen Yi Yao's mind wasn't on the board and she was clearly a little absent-minded when placing her stones.

She wasn't too skilled to begin with having not played for decades. The person she was playing against was also completely different from before. The only reason this match lasted so long was because he was going easy on her.

In the past, Shen Ran had to put some effort into secretly going easy. Today, he did so very openly but Shen Yi Yao still didn't realize it. It was clear her mind wasn't on the game.

"Big bro Shen Ran, do you have thoughts about getting married after coming back this time? You aren't young anymore. It's about time to consider extending the family line."

Shen Yi Yao hesitated for a long time before speaking up. She purposefully acted casual to prevent Shen Ran from overthinking things.

Shen Ran whose head was lowered while looking at the board didn't expect her to mention this matter. His coarse fingers gripped a black stone for a long while before placing it down.

He raised his head and gave her a glance. He smiled carelessly, "Your big bro Shen Ran is already so old. What good woman would be willing to marry me? The matter of family isn't urgent. Might as well leave it to fate."

Shen Yi Yao froze. She kind of wanted to say that it wasn't necessary to marry a good woman to pass on his genes. However, she wasn't quite able to say these words. It wasn't that she felt it would be an insult to women, but rather felt it would be an insult to Shen Ran.

Shen Ran had remained by the border for several decades, not losing out to Shen Dong. However, he had remained single, disciplined and pure, like a monk. Shen Yi Yao knew about all these things because her dad and second brother had discussed it several times. They seemed rather worried. To have such a man randomly find a woman for the sake of passing on his genes felt like a sort of insult.