Ms. Liang made a slip of the tongue and regretted.

She had said what she shouldn't say. s.h.i.+ Junhe was looking at her and obviously waiting for her to continue.

She sighed deeply. “It is Third Princess's decision.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe was astonished. “Why?”

It was the marriage of the Zhao Family and the s.h.i.+ Family, and Third Princess Mo Yuzhen never cared about the affairs of the imperial court. Why did she get involved in it all of a sudden?

Ms. Liang was helpless. “Now there is no outsider. I don't mind telling you, Duke s.h.i.+. It's not a secret that my husband works for Third Prince, and he has to listen to his order. Even if there is grievance, we have to bear with it.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe nodded to show that he understood it. “But His Highness is always reasonable. What's more, if the Zhao Family's fame is ruined, it won't do good to you and him, right?

Who would be so idle as to do something that would hurt others but do no good to themselves?

Ms. Liang couldn't speak out her difficulty and was resentful. “If your niece didn't offend Her Highness and make her angry to take action, how would we be embarra.s.sed today?”

s.h.i.+ Junhe was speechless. He was clear about s.h.i.+ Baojin's character. She was arrogant and bossy. She wouldn't show mercy if she got the upper hand, but she was not brainless. How could she have offended Mo Yuzhen?

“I don't know!” Ms. Liang said coldly and put the blame on s.h.i.+ Baojin. “But Her Highness personally came to ask my husband. And His Highness dotes on his sister. My husband didn't dare to refuse.”

Mo Yuzhen told them to delay the wedding and left them no room to hesitate.

s.h.i.+ Junhe showed a sad face and asked, “Is there no way to change it? If it was really Baojin's fault, I will tell her to apologize to Her Highness. Maybe…”

Ms. Liang waved her hand in a hurry. “Don't do that! Her Highness said that we can't tell anybody that it has something to do with her. I told you and I have broken the rule. If she knows it, she would skin my husband alive.”

Ms. Liang regretted telling s.h.i.+ Junhe, but he raised his eyebrows and suddenly laughed. “Madam, what are you talking about? Since you have told me the truth, I might help you. Why do you still try to hide something?”

“…” Ms. Liang laughed shyly and found that s.h.i.+ Junhe was not dull even if he was a warrior, so she tried to please him. “Duke, you are right. To be frank, only you can do it.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe frowned. “Why?”

But Ms. Liang thought he was playing dumb. “Everybody knows that your little daughter is clever and adorable. She is Her Highness's good friend. If she can say something nice to her, maybe it will work.”

And she knew that s.h.i.+ Baojin had a fight with s.h.i.+ Qingxue before the spring outing dinner and then Mo Yuzhen comforted Qingxue, so she suspected of the reason why Mo Yuzhen took action against s.h.i.+ Baojin suddenly.

Of course she was not foolish as to think that s.h.i.+ Qingxue had incited the princess to get involved in it. After all, if the news spread, both the Zhao Family and the s.h.i.+ Family would be embarra.s.sed, and s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't look like that unreasonable.

s.h.i.+ Junhe concealed his smile and then responded indifferently, “My daughter Qingxue is on good terms with Her Highness, but how can we comment on a princess's decision?”

Hearing that s.h.i.+ Junhe was unwilling to help, Ms. Liang got angry and said with sarcasm, “I thought you care about your niece, but you just look on and do nothing when she is in need.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe was completely indifferent and wasn't provoked by her words. Ms. Liang didn't want to offend him, so she didn't say more about it. She said, “Duke, since you can do nothing, I won't disturb you. Goodbye!”

Ms. Liang left, and s.h.i.+ Junhe was still sitting in the main hall. He frowned and was lost in thought. After quite a while, he suddenly said, “She has gone. Why don't you come out?”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue who was hiding behind the screen had to walk out. Seeing s.h.i.+ Junhe's grim face, she explained in a hurry, “Father, I swear that it has nothing to do with me. I didn't tell Yuzhen to do that. I learned it just from Madam Zhao.”

She was solemn, as if she told the truth.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was angry but wanted to laugh. He peered at her. “So you didn't know that Her Highness planned to help you deal with Baojin?”

“Eh…” s.h.i.+ Qingxue was aware that she was like a rabbit and couldn't fool her father, an old fox, so she had to admit, “Yuzhen saw that I had a conflict with Baojin before the spring outing dinner. She believed that Baojin had rocked the boat and said she would do something to her.”

She had expected Mo Yuzhen to take action, but it was beyond her expectation that she would do it so soon.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was helpless. “You knew that Her Highness would do something. Why didn't you advise her not to?”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue took it for granted and answered, “Why would I advise her? Yuzhen considers everything for me, but Baojin always makes things difficult for me. Should I hurt someone who cares about me for an enemy?

Sorry, I can't do something immoral like this.”

“How dare you! Listen, what are you saying?” s.h.i.+ Junhe frowned with displeasure. “That's your cousin. How does she become your enemy?”

Qingxue sneered and swallowed back her complaints.

She had wanted to tell s.h.i.+ Junhe what s.h.i.+ Baojin had done to her, but at the last minute, she chose not to.

It was not that she was afraid that s.h.i.+ Junhe didn't believe her, but she didn't want him to be sad for it and know that he had a brother who wanted to harm him and fought for the hereditary official position and a vicious niece who wanted his daughter to have a ruined reputation…

They were so disgusting. She would like her father to think that she was not sensible and sulked with Third Master's Family.

“Father, don't think about it anymore. Yuzhen is stubborn and wouldn't change her mind because of my words, and I would never ask her to show mercy to Baojin. I am willing to take her as a cousin and give her wedding gifts just for your sake.”

She vented out her grievance in one breath and then closed her eyes and shrank her neck. She was afraid that her father would beat her in a fit of anger.

After all, her words were cruel in the ears of those who didn't know the truth.

“You!” s.h.i.+ Junhe didn't beat her but sighed helplessly. Then he pulled the frightened girl into his arms and patted her back to comfort her. He reproached softly, “You are frightened after you said everything? What did you do? Weren't you fearless?”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue heard that and knew she was pardoned. She spoke out what she wanted to more recklessly. “You are my father. I don't want you to be sad, and I can't bear to hide anything from you. Even if it was harsh, I want to tell you the truth. If you get mad at me because of that, I have to admit that it is my destiny.”

“Gee! It sounds like you are so wronged. Somebody who doesn't know it might think I have bullied you.”

Qingxue grinned. “That's right. You are my father. Even if I am wrong, you should be partial to me. How can you blame your innocent beloved daughter for an outsider?”

s.h.i.+ Junhe was speechless.

The duke felt depressed. How could he have raised such a thick-skinned daughter? More magically, he even thought Qingxue was so cute as to say that.

Right, he could only dote on his daughter.

“Fine. I have never wanted you to ask Her Highness to show mercy. Otherwise, I wouldn't have refused Madam Zhao to embarra.s.s her.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe knew what he should do to meet the s.h.i.+ Family's interest, but when he tried to do that, he found it so difficult. He couldn't make his beloved daughter suffer any injustice, even if he was the family master and shouldered the entire family's glory.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue showed a bright smile and said more than once, “Dad, you are the best.” Then s.h.i.+ Junhe told her to leave.

s.h.i.+ Junhe did have something to do. He calmed down and then entered the imperial palace to ask the emperor to grant the marriage.

Theoretically, the officials who were favored by the emperor should have some privileges so it would show that they were special.

And asking the emperor to grant the marriage was one of the privileges.

s.h.i.+ Junhe didn't take it seriously in the beginning. He had military exploits and it was just a formality to ask the emperor to grant it in order to make the marriage of s.h.i.+ Baoning and Wenren Chi more glorious.

But when he told Mo Xiangbin about Mo Shujun's intention, the emperor didn't answer immediately but was lost in thought. After quite a while, he said in a low voice, “I remember that you have accepted General Chi as your foster son and made him your eldest child. Why do you let him marry Baoning now? Do you want him to come to your mansion after marriage?”

“Come to your mansion…”

The four words looked like a joke but they were heartbreaking.

Everyone knew that Duke s.h.i.+ accepted his friend's son as his foster son because his friend had saved his life and it could be seen that he was grateful, but according to Mo Xiangbin's words, it seemed that s.h.i.+ Junhe had no son and wanted Wenren Chi to marry his daughter and come to his mansion in the first place.

That was to cut the Wenren Family's bloodline. As the ancient tradition, if Wenren Chi came to Duke s.h.i.+'s mansion after marriage, his children would have the family name of s.h.i.+ and wouldn't be members of the Wenren Family.

s.h.i.+ Junhe frowned. He was clear about Mo Xiangbin's character and knew that he was dissatisfied with the marriage but had no excuse to refuse.

“Your Majesty, Wenren Chi is my friend General Wenren's only son. I would never cut his bloodline. If Wenren Chi marries my daughter Baoning, she will be a member of the Wenren Family. I will never ask him to come to my mansion.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe's words explained Mo Xiangbin's last excuse. Mo Xiangbin had no reason to refuse the marriage of Wenren Chi and s.h.i.+ Baoning.

After a short pause, Mo Xiangbin laughed again and pretended to be casual. “It is such a coincidence. The other day, my mother told me that she likes Baoning who is dignified and virtuous. Few women have such a good moral quality and beautiful face in the world. And she said that we can't let her marry into another family.”

His suggestion was obvious. They wanted s.h.i.+ Baoning to marry into the royal family.

And whose intention was it? The emperor said that, so it was the empress dowager's intention.

s.h.i.+ Junhe had sweat on his head. He hadn't expected that Mo Xiangbin had that intention. But on second thoughts, he was more scared. “It's not that His Majesty wants Baoning to marry into the royal family, but it means that he doubts my loyalty to him.”

At this thought, Duke s.h.i.+ was frightened with a s.h.i.+ver down his spine even if he had much experience on the battlefield. He couldn't respond to Mo Xiangbin.

Fortunately, Mo Xiangbin sighed. “But it happened that you have engaged her to General Chi, who is a loyal official's son. No matter how much I like Baoning, I can't take his lover away.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe had to say bitterly, “Thanks for your and Empress Dowager's love for my daughter. I have let you down.”

Mo Xiangbin smiled more gently and was easy-going, replying, “Don't worry. I am not a matchmaker, but I know that it's better to ruin ten temples than to ruin a marriage. I will keep the marriage of General Chi and Infanta Baoning in mind.”

s.h.i.+ Junhe finally heaved a sigh of relief. Although the emperor didn't grant the marriage immediately, his promise had set it in stone.

Mo Xiangbin suddenly asked casually, “I remember that you have a little daughter and she is sixteen years old this year, right?”