The glory of the family could not be maintained if there weren’t enough outstanding offspring.

The Han family was in a much better situation.

They could create excellent offspring even though they did not have enough of them either!

The Hearths were their trump card.

Moreover, they could marry people from other families to empower themselves. Who wouldn’t want to marry a Hearth who could help enhance their strength?

At the moment, some families had started collaborating with them.

The Han family nurtured good Hearths and married them to other families.

They would get a win-win situation just by sacrificing a handful of girls. How convenient!

Lu Xiaohang abhorred such practices, and he despised the Han family terribly.

In fact, he knew since he was a child that his family had made a marriage contract with the Han family. When they grew up, an excellent candidate would be chosen from among the boys for marriage.

He was now the most outstanding candidate in the family.

If he married a Hearth from the Han family, he would become stronger indeed.

However, he loathed such traditions.

He never felt that he had to sacrifice someone else for the sake of his own success.

Moreover, those who were raised as Hearths never had a sense of self. They were brainwashed and turned into slaves whose sole job was to dedicate their lives and sacrifice themselves for others.

It was outrageous that things of that sort still existed in modern society today!

Lu Xiaohang grew up having a distaste for timid, dependent women who only ever followed commands.

However, being extreme would always backfire- He then went on to develop fondness for older, mature women.

As far as he was concerned, mature women had their own opinions and wisdom. He felt comfortable getting along with such women.

His family were indignant after he began dating older women, and they threatened to abolish his right to inheritance.

Sure enough, that was a good thing for him.

He just hadn’t expected the Han family to be involved when he was all the way out here.

Nope, not the Hans. It was the girl stranded from the Han family.

What was more unexpected was the fact that the girl was close with Xia Xibei.

With Xia Xibei’s protection, however, she should be in much better circumstances.

“You seem to know a lot about the Han family, huh?” Xia Xibei asked, her eyes narrowed, having noticed the undertone.

“Sort of,” Lu Xiaohang nodded. “If nothing goes wrong, I’ll be marrying a girl from the family.”

Xia Xibei raised her brows.

So there was such a thing in place! No wonder!

Seeing the look on her face, Lu Xiaohang explained hurriedly, “But something went wrong early on. I’m no longer related to them. Besides, I hate the idea of using human beings as Hearths.”

Xia Xibei shot him a stare and snorted coldly, “Is that so?”

“Of course!” Lu Xiaohang put his hands up. “If it wasn’t for my distaste for Hearths, I wouldn’t have ended up here.”

Xia Xibei didn’t seem convinced until he gave a brief explanation of his background.

She had no ill feelings for people who could tell right from wrong.

“The Hans…” Xia Xibei mulled it over for a moment. “Alright then, I’ve got to go. I’ll be back if any issues arise.”

“Sure,” Lu Xiaohang nodded firmly.

After getting the information that she wanted, Xia Xibei returned home.

Qiao Yanjue was done preparing food, and he was waiting for her.

He couldn’t help but worry when he saw the look that she was wearing.

“What’s wrong? What made you upset?”

Not bothering to hide it, Xia Xibei told him the whole story.

“The Han family?” Qiao Yanjue froze for a second. “Someone from my squad is a Han.”

Xia Xibei felt her heart skip a beat, and she turned to him instantly.

“There are some guys from my squad whom you know, right?” Qiao Yanjue explained, “Apart from Huo and Jiang, there’s Han Rui. I’m just not sure if he’s related to the Hans that you were just talking about.”