I add points to Indian martial arts.

"Father, I think you have this obsession. Having a grandson with Naguta blood sounds so noble. Perhaps you even dream of having a grandson like Hetu, who will help our Moyat family rise in caste in the future." Shaha didn't believe his father's shake of his head and continued to mutter in dissatisfaction.

Laka scoffed: "What kind of person do you think your father is? Someone who thinks he can help us rise in caste by giving birth to Hotu, and who calculates dowries while staring at the stars, will always end up in the mud. I never dream of such a thing."

Then, Laka said a parable in a very Indian style, which means that people should be down-to-earth.

"Then why?" Laka asked hastily. Apart from the reasons mentioned above, he really couldn't find any other reason why his father would marry his sister to Li Wei.

He couldn't think of any other good qualities Li Wei possessed besides his bloodline. Oh, he forgot one thing: Li Wei was quite good-looking.

"Look over there." Laka slowly stood up from the main seat and walked to the spotless shrine in the corner of the room.

The shrine houses a seated statue of Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, whose compassionate face and lotus flower symbolize wealth and good luck.

This is the core belief of almost all Vaishya merchant families. The statue of the Laka family is particularly magnificent, with its entire body gilded and shimmering with a calm and warm luster under the light. The details of the lotus pedestal and the clothing are meticulously carved, clearly indicating that it cost a great deal of money.

"Look," Laka said, pressing his palms together in prayer before the statue and bowing deeply, his voice filled with a daily devotion, "I have offered her the best gold I could obtain."

Shaha was a little confused by what he heard. He knew his father’s piety toward the goddess of wealth. There was a temple in Tuli town dedicated to this goddess, which his father had donated money to build years ago.

He didn't understand what his father meant by saying that, or what it had to do with his sister's marriage.

"Shaha, are you interested in hearing what my obsession is?" Raka suddenly turned to his son and said. Shaha was taken aback, then quickly nodded. Of course he wanted to know what kind of obsession his father had with marrying his sister to Livi.

"Decades ago, when I was a child, when your grandfather was still alive," Laka said, sitting back in the main seat, his gaze filled with a distant reminiscence. "Back then, your grandfather's business ran into some trouble, and our family was struggling. I remember sometimes we didn't even have enough to eat, but your grandfather still used the last of his gold to gild the Lakshmi statue."

"Your grandfather would always save a little money to exchange for the finest gold leaf, which he would then devoutly paste onto the Lakshmi statue in the house, piece by piece."

"I was young then and didn't understand. I asked your grandfather, 'We gave the best things in our family to the Heavenly Maiden. Will she respond to us and bless us?'"

At this point, Laka suddenly sighed, his eyes filled with an indescribable sadness: "I still remember when I asked this question, your grandfather was silent for a long time. He looked at me with a sense of helplessness, unease, and even more guilt. I couldn't understand his eyes at the time."

"Later, your grandfather patted my head and said that as long as you are devout, the gods will treat everyone fairly. Your grandfather also said that a piece of gold is not enough to prove your devotion to the goddess. One day, when the statue is covered in gold, the goddess will surely respond and favor you."

"I nodded at the time and wrote down what your grandfather said."

"Later, when I got a little older and went to school, I learned that there are differences among people in this world. I was the third class, born inferior to others, and unworthy of the gods' response and favor. At that time, I understood your grandfather's eyes a little, but I didn't fully understand."

At this point, Raka glanced at his son, Shaha, who was clearly engrossed in the story and listening attentively. Raka paused and continued, "Once, while offering sacrifices to the idols, I couldn't help but ask your grandfather, 'Are people like us destined to be unblessed by the gods?'"

"At this point, your grandfather did not remain silent. He immediately said to me excitedly, 'Raka, no, the gods love everyone. She loves us. Our piety is not enough. As long as the idols are covered in gold, the goddess will surely respond and bless us.'"

"Looking back now, perhaps your grandfather thought that with our family's circumstances, we would inevitably continue to decline and would never be able to gild the entire statue with gold, so he told his son this lie to make him feel that he was not inferior. But he didn't expect..."

At this point, Laka gave a self-deprecating smile: "But he didn't expect that his son would be a business genius. After taking over the family business, he quickly turned it around and expanded the family's shops and businesses more than ten times in ten years, making a lot of money."

"I remember what your grandfather told me when I was young, so when I had earned enough money to cover a statue of a god with gold, I ordered a pure gold statue to be built. But at that time, your grandfather was very frightened and uneasy. Perhaps he didn't expect his son to be so good at making money?"

"Seeing your grandfather's terrified expression, I understood. So I ordered the production of the pure gold statue to be stopped. Until your grandfather died, he held my hand and said with remorse, 'Laka, I'm sorry, I lied to you. Plating the statue with gold will not make the goddess respond.'"

"I smiled and said that Father hadn't lied to me. I knew what your grandfather was feeling guilty about. I knelt before your grandfather and said that I was proud of the Moyate family name. I told him that the gods loved us, the goddesses loved us, and that gilding the statues with gold wasn't enough. If we expanded our business to Chandrap and built the statues there, we would surely receive the goddesses' response and favor. At that moment, your grandfather was stunned by my words and then smiled."

"After your grandfather passed away, within a few days of his death, I arranged his funeral and immediately ordered the creation of a pure gold statue and donated money to build a temple in Tuli Town to worship the Goddess of Wealth. I already knew that this was a futile effort, and no matter what I did, I would not receive a response from the gods."

"But you know, for someone who has worshipped gods since childhood and sees them as everything, it's hard to accept that God doesn't love you, just like every child can't believe their parents don't love them." Raka said this expressionlessly, but Shaha heard a great sadness in his father's words, and he fell silent. As someone born in a land where gods are everything, he understood his father's feelings.

"A few more years passed, and I went to the temple devoutly every day and hired people to clean it daily," Laka continued. "But the gods never responded, as if they had never seen my devotion. In the seventh year of the temple's construction, things changed. One day, the temple suddenly shone with holy light. I heard celestial maidens chanting scriptures. I was overjoyed, thinking that the celestial maidens had been moved by my devotion and had begun to respond and bless me."

"But later I realized that the reason the temple shone so brightly that time was because the Saint Bar family had stopped briefly in Tuli Town for a day while passing through." When he said this, there was an indescribable bitterness on Laka's face. Saint Bar was a Brahmin family favored by Lakshmi.