Chapter 235: Chapter 145: Profound Yin Qi
Inside the Ning’an Wang Clan.
In a lady’s chamber, both antique and elegant yet filled with opulence, Wang Zilan leaned against the windowsill. She gazed at the singing birds and fragrant flowers nearby, her brow tightly furrowed. Her usual cold pride was nowhere to be seen.
In stark contrast to Lu Maozhi’s smug satisfaction, Wang Zilan was drowning in sorrow.
Wang Zilan never imagined that the marriage alliance being negotiated between her clan and Luoyun Manor would be finalized so quickly, and completely without her consent.
She had thought that by bringing up Chen Sheng’s potential to aid the Ning’an Wang Clan on Wushan Mountain, the clan would reconsider her marriage to Lu Maozhi. She never expected that the battle on Wushan Mountain was only a small part of their considerations.
The true reason was the many years of entangled interests between the two great families.
Although Luoyun Manor was called a manor, it was, in essence, a Noble Family. Nearly all positions of power within it were controlled by members of the Lu Family.
For years, the Lu Family and the Wang Family had maintained a good relationship through marriage. With the support of the Vast Sea Upper Sect, Luoyun Manor was now more prosperous than ever.
The Ning’an Wang Clan naturally wanted to deepen this relationship.
And marriage alliances were the customary tool of the great Noble Families.
In contrast, even if Chen Sheng could help the Wang Family on Wushan Mountain, they would never fully trust him. His position was fundamentally different from theirs.
He was backed by the Government Office!
And behind him stood his patron, Nie Xuanfeng.
On the surface, the Government Office and the Noble Sects seemed to rule together, but in reality, they were constantly checking and balancing each other. The Wang Family didn’t trust the Government Office, and they trusted Chen Sheng’s backer, Nie Xuanfeng, even less.
According to information from Luoyun Manor, Nie Xuanfeng’s appointment as Governor of Ning’an Prefecture might have been orchestrated by the Nie Family. It was even possible the Nie Family was trying to extend its reach into Ning’an Prefecture.
The Ning’an Wang Clan was naturally wary of this.
No matter how Wang Zilan argued, she could not sway the Wang Clan Elders.
They had even tentatively set the engagement date.
The Eighth Year of Mingjing, the twenty-second day of the fourth month.
After learning this, Wang Zilan had even sent a letter to Lu Maozhi, explicitly stating that she had no romantic feelings for him and hoped he would choose someone else for the alliance.
But Lu Maozhi seemed completely unconcerned. Not only did he show no understanding of her feelings, but he even had someone deliver rare little trinkets to her every day.
It seemed he was trying to win her over with these gifts.
He even sent a message to Wang Zilan, telling her that once they were married, he would gradually change her mind, and that she shouldn’t concern herself with outsiders’ opinions but instead place her hope in him.
But the more Lu Maozhi acted this way, the more disgusted Wang Zilan became. It chilled her to the bone.
She felt his mindset was utterly wrong. He seemed to want to wait until the deed was done and the situation irreversible, treating her like an object to be possessed.
In her eyes, the marriage alliance between the Ning’an Wang Clan and the Lu Family of Luoyun Manor was nothing more than a transaction.
Unwilling to accept this, Wang Zilan even went to her cousin—the clan’s eldest legitimate son—and begged him to speak on her behalf. However, he had already taken Lu Maozhi’s side.
He sternly reminded her that the marriage alliance had been settled by both families and was unchangeable.
As a legitimate daughter of the Wang Family, having benefited from the clan’s resources, she was now expected to prove her value.
Before, even if she had been reluctant, Wang Zilan might have tried to persuade herself to accept it. But after the battle with the Song Family, she had seen Lu Maozhi’s true character.
She realized that marrying Lu Maozhi would mean the ruin of the rest of her life.
’Besides, if this is all a transaction, why not choose someone more valuable?’
And in her eyes, Chen Sheng was clearly far superior to Lu Maozhi.
The only shame was that he didn’t want to marry her; he only wanted to make a deal.
Wang Zilan had spent the past few days carefully weighing the matter and had finally made a decision. She could accept Chen Sheng not marrying her, but he had to give her some form of official status. Even a nominal one would suffice.
’Otherwise, once word spread, I, Wang Zilan, will be branded a reviled adulteress.’
For someone as proud and reputation-conscious as Wang Zilan, this was utterly unacceptable.
’Besides, if this really blows up, it would actually give the Wang Family some room to maneuver. Their fundamental reason for disapproval is their distrust of Chen Sheng. But once the deed is done, the Wang Family will have no choice but to pinch their noses and accept it. The alternative would be even greater humiliation.’
Wang Zilan knew that this course of action was a disservice to her family, but she felt she had no other choice but to take the path that would cause the least amount of damage.
But as it turned out, before Wang Zilan could even make her way to the Jingwu Bureau, she discovered she had been placed under a subtle form of house arrest.
The Wang Family had clearly sensed her resistance.
They assigned a Martial Master of the Profound Gang Realm to watch her, and the clan even issued an order: she was not to take a single step off the family estate before her engagement.
Although the Wang Family believed it was unlikely Wang Zilan would flee the marriage, the possibility wasn’t zero. If such a scandal were to occur, never mind the damage to the Ning’an Wang Clan’s reputation—Luoyun Manor might break off all ties with them completely.
Left with no other choice, Wang Zilan could only write a letter, entrusting it to a female cousin to deliver to the Jingwu Bureau. In it, she explained her predicament to Chen Sheng, placing all her hope in him to find a way out.
As for her, she was now truly helpless.
She sighed.
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