s.h.i.+ Qingxue was so anxious. She didn't care about it and pushed Zhu away, walking inside. “I really have something important to tell my father. Don't stop us.”

But Zhu didn't obey and forcefully stood in front of her. “My Lady, I am guarding outside as Princess Royal ordered. Please forgive me.”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue could hardly explain to the stubborn maid and she was afraid that she would delay it, so she said arrogantly, “I don't care who ordered you. Step aside.”

Wenren Chi grabbed s.h.i.+ Qingxue's arm and comforted her softly, “Don't be like this. This is Grandma's residence. You can't act recklessly. Let's go out and wait.”

Then he showed Zhu an apologetic smile and pulled Qingxue back to wait outside the Shou'an Hall.

Zhu played with the pendant on her waist indifferently and didn't even glance at Wenren Chi.

Her disrespect made s.h.i.+ Qingxue furious, but Wenren Chi restrained her and she couldn't lose her temper.

“Chi, what are you doing? Why didn't you let me teach that sn.o.bbish b.i.t.c.h a lesson?”

Wenren Chi smiled bitterly. “When you want to kick a dog, you have to know who its owner is. If you teach Grandma's maid a lesson in her residence, no matter what the reason is, the outsiders would only say that you don't know the etiquette.”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't care. “If I have to suffer injustice for the sake of the etiquette, I would rather not know it. I am not afraid that others would say that.”

Wenren Chi was astonished and looked at Qingxue blankly. With complex emotions inside, he could hardly control himself, but at last, he turned away and pretended not to mind it. “Why did you argue with a maid? Are you going to bite a dog after it bites you?”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue was going to explode because of Wenren Chi's inattentive att.i.tude. She was worried about his marriage, but he was carefree. Fine, she wouldn't get involved in it anymore.

But…

“Father must be inside talking with Grandma about your marriage to my sister. We have to go in now. If Father said that, we can never save it.”

Wenren Chi was not anxious, but gazed at Qingxue. “Don't you want me to marry Baoning?”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue shook her head without thinking and answered briskly, “Of course yes. I hope you can marry her.”

Wenren Chi had a bitter smile in his heart but looked more carefree. “In this case, we don't need to go inside and say anything.”

“Ah? What's wrong?” s.h.i.+ Qingxue couldn't understand and frowned, staring at Wenren Chi. “Didn't you say that it's not you who wrote the letter to propose marriage?”

Wenren Chi nodded. “But it doesn't matter. I…”

He paused for a while and then continued firmly, “I am going to marry Baoning.”

“What happened about that letter? Who did it?” s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't doubt Wenren Chi's sincerity, but the marriage was significant and there must be nothing wrong.

Wenren Chi knew that he couldn't fool Qingxue, so he replied frankly, “In the past few days, I wondered if I can make Baoning live a happy life, so I hesitated to propose marriage. My friend couldn't bear to see me dispirited, so he sent a letter to Father out of kindness. Perhaps he wanted to help me bring about the marriage by this chance.”

“Oh, no wonder that happened.”

Qingxue believed Wenren Chi's explanation easily but murmured, “Someone is really addicted to making a match.”

Wenren Chi was unable either to laugh or to cry. What…

At this time, s.h.i.+ Junhe walked out of the Shou'an Hall happily. Seeing the two, he asked with a smile, “You can't even wait for such a short time? You came here to get the news, right?”

Hearing the joke, they knew that s.h.i.+ Junhe thought they came here because they were anxious to know Mo Shujun's opinion about the marriage.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't explain but looked at s.h.i.+ Junhe with expectancy. “What did Grandma say?”

s.h.i.+ Junhe showed a bigger smile. “What can she say? She always dotes on Baoning and likes Chi. Now they love each other and would get married. Of course she agrees, but she mentioned a requirement.”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue asked in a hurry, “What requirement?”

“Baoning is an Infanta with an honorable status, and her marriage can't be random. We should ask His Majesty to grant it.”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue heaved a sigh of relief and also smiled. “It should be easy. We just need His Majesty to grant their marriage, but we don't know if it would fit the wedding date Mother has chosen.”

The emperor would grant the marriage, and the date would be up to him. He wouldn't care about the wedding date they had decided.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was helpless. Dong Hui had expected this marriage for a long time and was anxious since they got the letter, but now they would ask the emperor to grant the marriage, so she might be unable to handle it.

“There is something else!” s.h.i.+ Qingxue wanted to tell her father that somebody wrote the letter to propose marriage under Wenren Chi's name, but Wenren Chi pulled her arm. It was obvious that he didn't want her to say it.

s.h.i.+ Junhe looked at the two kids in confusion. “What else?”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't know if she should say it. She thought it was strange, but she couldn't figure out what was strange.

At the moment, a servant boy ran to them in haste and interrupted their conversation. “My Lord, bad news. Some persons from the Zhao Family came here and have a fight with Third Madam and Third Lady now. Third Madam asked you to say something.”

What the h.e.l.l?

The future in-laws came to make a fuss and they needed the family master to say something?

The three had no idea what happened and had to go to the main hall first.

In the main hall, the madam of the Zhao Family, Ms. Liang and the lady Zhao Zhu'er sat in the guest seats with long faces. Zhou Ruyu was crying in the middle of the hall, putting on a one-man show. Third Lady s.h.i.+ Baojin stood in the corner in panic, with tears in her eyes.

“What's wrong?” s.h.i.+ Junhe was the family master. Even if he didn't want to mind the business of Third Master's Family, he wouldn't leave everything behind as s.h.i.+ Juncai did. He had to bite the bullet and stop Zhou Ruyu from crying.

As soon as Zhou Ruyu saw s.h.i.+ Junhe, she shouted, as if she had suffered much injustice, “Big brother, you have to seek justice for my daughter Baojin.”

Ms. Liang had been attacked by Zhou Ruyu's loud voice after she came in and told what the matter was. Now she couldn't stand it anymore and rebuked coldly, “Ms. Zhou, our children will get married soon. We can talk about anything peacefully. Why did you make such a scene to embarra.s.s yourself?”

With s.h.i.+ Junhe's “backup”, Zhou Ruyu said in a sharp voice, “Who on earth made a scene? It is your son who proposed marriage and wanted to get married in a hurry. Now we have exchanged gifts and sent the invitations. But you came to tell us that you will change the wedding date. Is it fair? Do you think my daughter Baojin can be bullied easily?”

s.h.i.+ Junhe had thought Zhou Ruyu was the unreasonable one but was petrified to hear that. However, he calmed down soon and asked Ms. Liang, “What on earth happened? Why did you want to change the wedding date? The Zhao Family and the s.h.i.+ Family would be related by marriage, and we have sent the invitations. If you change the wedding date for no reason, it would probably ruin the fame of our two families.”

What he said was reasonable and sincere. Even if they expressed almost the same meaning, his words were much more pleasant to hear than Zhou Ruyu's.

Ms. Liang's face softened, and she also showed some sincerity, saying helplessly, “I have considered what you said, Duke s.h.i.+. It's about the fame of two families. If there is other choice, I am unwilling to change the wedding date.”

Zhou Ruyu snorted. “There is no other choice? Who believes that? Second Young Master Zhao happens to be seriously ill at this time and can't even get married? People who don't know the truth might think he is dying!”

Ms. Liang's face darkened instantly, and she glared at Zhou Ruyu, with her sharp eyes. “Zhou, don't talk nonsense! If you dare to curse my son again, I won't let you get away with it.”

“I just say it. You…”

“Ruyu!” s.h.i.+ Junhe shouted and stopped Zhou Ruyu from saying whatever she wanted. He apologized to Ms. Liang hurriedly, “Madam Zhao, please forgive her. She said something unreasonable because she loves her daughter so much, but she didn't mean it. I believe that you can understand it as a parent.”

Ms. Liang sneered and didn't pester her.

s.h.i.+ Junhe asked, “Can you tell me what disease your son has suffered? You even need to delay the wedding date?

There is no outsider here, and I will be frank to you. We know why we decided the early wedding date urgently in the first place. Now that you want to delay the wedding all of a sudden, I am afraid that it would be more difficult for us to wind this matter up then.”

Ms. Liang glanced at s.h.i.+ Baojin's belly, which was flat and couldn't show the pregnancy. But it would be different in a few months.

She sighed again. Obviously she was affected by s.h.i.+ Junhe's statement. She kept silent for a while but still insisted, “Duke s.h.i.+, I know what you are concerned about. I don't hope that my son Liang's first child would have some stain, but…”

She gritted her teeth and still said firmly, “But the wedding can't be done now. Please understand.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe noticed that Ms. Liang had something difficult to voice and was about to ask when Zhou Ruyu said harshly, “It sounds nice. I just ask one question. You want to postpone the wedding until half a year later. How would Baojin get married at that time?”

Ms. Liang hesitated for a while and gave a solution. “We can get them married after the baby is born.”

“Huh! It's easy to say that. My daughter Baojin was defiled by your son and felt a grievance to marry him. Now do you even want her to give birth to a baby before marriage?” Zhou Ruyu pulled s.h.i.+ Baojin to Ms. Liang rudely and said every harsh word.

s.h.i.+ Baojin kept silent and looked at Zhou Ruyu, with tears in her eyes. She was moved by her mother's act.

She had thought after s.h.i.+ Baoyou came back home, she had lost her position in this family, but her mother still cared for her.

However, before she grabbed Zhou Ruyu's hand, she heard her mother saying, “If the news spreads, how would our family face the public? Will the other ladies in the s.h.i.+ Family get married? It…”

s.h.i.+ Baojin got stiffened and remained still like a stone. The touching voice went farther and farther. She couldn't hear or see anything.

It turned out that what Zhou Ruyu truly cared about was not her reputation but the marriage of the other ladies.

n.o.body found s.h.i.+ Baojin's unusual expression. Ms. Liang was irritated by Zhou Ruyu's repeated cutting remarks and cursed regardless of anything, “Stop it! If your daughter didn't make trouble, how would our family be embarra.s.sed with you?”

Her words were shocking. It was horribly quiet in the main hall for quite a while. n.o.body spoke a word.

s.h.i.+ Junhe reacted first and decisively told somebody to take the members of Third Master's Family away. Then he told s.h.i.+ Qingxue and Wenren Chi to leave with Zhao Zhu'er before asking, “Madam Zhao, what did you mean?”