“Qin Shizhan is dead?” General Lu asked.
Nian Chujiu nodded. “Yes.”
“He deserved to die.”
Nian Chujiu did not pick up that thread of conversation. Instead, she said, “When Yuncheng fell, and the entire city’s population was slaughtered, it left a wound in Madam Qin’s heart that can never be erased.”
Upon hearing those words, the caution in General Lu’s eyes noticeably eased. Leaning back slightly in his chair, he asked again, “Where is she now? Has she already arrived in the capital?”
Nian Chujiu took in all of the anxiety and urgency hidden beneath his composure, yet still did not answer directly. “Madam Qin asked me to convey a message to you. She hopes that you will not propose to the court that Yuncheng be retaken.”
“She… truly said that?” General Lu’s brows knitted together. He was skeptical, yet hopeful.
Nian Chujiu forced herself to nod. Lowering her eyes at the appropriate moment, she said, “Madam Qin said that the matter of Yuncheng must be approached slowly and deliberately. It cannot be rushed.”
She stopped there. The more she said, the greater the risk of making a mistake.
General Lu’s doubts finally faded. But deceiving him was never Nian Chujiu’s true purpose. Lifting her gaze once more, she spoke with complete seriousness.
“General, the Gu family has acted dishonorably. A marriage agreement already bound Gu Jiangzhi, yet he concealed it and tried to marry into your household. In doing so, the Gu family has not only wronged my Nian family, but also shown complete disregard for the reputation of your household.”
The sudden change of topic caught everyone off guard.
General Lu’s eyes sharpened once again. His weathered face revealed little emotion. “A marriage agreement?”
“Gu Jiangzhi?”
“Yes.” Nian Chujiu remained calm and respectful. “This matter is not difficult to verify—”
“You need not teach this Marquis how to investigate.” General Lu interrupted her lightly. Rising to his feet with his hands clasped behind his back, he instantly filled the room with an invisible pressure. He was tall, and once standing, the authority born of years in command became impossible to ignore.
“You are the young woman who is engaged to Gu Jiangzhi?”
“Yes.”
From within her sleeve, Nian Chujiu produced a red marriage agreement document and presented it with both hands.
“This is the exchange of birth records and marriage pledges made between our two families many years ago.”
“It bears the signed marks of Marquis Zhongyong and my grandfather.”
General Lu reached out and accepted it. Unfolding the neatly folded marriage document, his eyes quickly swept over the names, seals, and signatures before falling on Nian Chujiu’s birth date and horoscope.
The ninth day of the first lunar month. Nian Chujiu. What a convenient name.
General Lu was surprised that, after learning of such betrayal, he still had the spare attention to dwell on something so trivial.
The Gu family. If they truly possessed such character, then they were certainly not a suitable match. Better to break off the engagement sooner rather than later. For Zhaohua, that would actually be a blessing.
As the thought crossed his mind, he felt remarkably little regret—only disgust. It felt like swallowing a fly. Revolting.
Closing the marriage document, he set it casually on the tea table. Then he raised his eyes and studied the young woman before him once more. She was undeniably beautiful, with a slender, graceful figure. But her eyes were unusually calm. So calm that it was impossible to tell how much she concealed behind them. Her expression remained composed. There was no bitterness. No loss of control. Nor any deliberate display of weakness or pitifulness. Her mannerisms and speech were measured and proper. Clearly, her family had educated her carefully.
Something stirred in General Lu’s thoughts, though nothing showed on his face. Instead, he said in a low voice: “So the message was merely a pretext. The real purpose was to lodge a complaint.”
After a brief silence, Nian Chujiu answered calmly: “To be honest with you, General, the Gu family still owes the Nian family over a thousand taels of silver.”
“If my family wished, we could beat drums through the streets today and march directly to the Gu residence carrying loan contracts and the marriage agreement to demand repayment and the dissolution of the engagement.”
“If that happened, the entire city would be talking about it, and the General would still learn of the Gu family’s breach of faith.”
For the first time, General Lu’s expression changed. “But by then, Miss Lu would become entangled in market gossip and public rumors, and her reputation would suffer through no fault of her own.”
“That is not something my Nian family wishes to see happen. Why should one woman make life difficult for another?”
The world was already harsh enough on women. The fault lay with the Gu family. With Gu Jiangzhi. Why should women make life difficult for other women?
The room fell silent.
When General Lu spoke again, a trace of embarrassment crossed his face. “Then Lu must thank Miss Nian.”
A man who could distinguish right from wrong.
Nian Chujiu quietly let out a breath of relief and offered another respectful curtsy. “You are too kind, General. I imagine you have been occupied with official duties, while Miss Lu rarely leaves the inner quarters. That is why both of you were kept in the dark.”
General Lu was no fool. He immediately understood the implication. He was busy. His daughter rarely went out. If both of them had been deceived, then how had the marriage negotiations progressed this far?
Naturally, it had been Zhu Shumei’s doing. A chill flashed through General Lu’s eyes. If she had been unaware of the truth, that was one thing. If she had known… Then perhaps this relative was not worth keeping.
General Lu sat back down and picked up his teacup. Brushing aside the floating tea leaves with the lid, he lowered his eyes casually and asked, “Miss Nian, after going to such great lengths to persuade my Lu family to withdraw from this marriage, do you still intend to reconcile with Gu Jiangzhi and proceed with the match yourself?”
Nian Chujiu’s gaze grew cold. So did her voice. “Does General Lu truly believe that my Nian family treasures the Gu family so highly?”
General Lu was momentarily at a loss for words. Instead of taking offense, he found himself respecting the young woman before him even more. In that instant, he realized that Gu Jiangzhi’s arrest the previous night was probably not as simple as it appeared.
A faint smile tugged at his lips. His curiosity deepened. “Then if your only goal was to distance yourself from the Gu family, why go so far as to send Gu Jiangzhi to prison?”
Seeing that General Lu immediately connected the dots, Nian Chujiu decided there was no point in hiding it. “If the Gu family wishes to break off the engagement, then so be it. I don’t care. But the Gu family is greedy. They can’t let go of the Nian family’s dowry, so they tried to force me to become a concubine.”
General Lu’s face darkened at once. The implication was obvious. Not long after his daughter married into the family, the Gu family intended to bring another woman into the household as a concubine? They certainly had their plans well thought out. They wanted power and wealth alike. Even Chen Tongzhou, standing to one side, couldn’t help rolling his eyes inwardly.
What sort of people are these? Their greed is truly shameless. There might not be many genuinely respectable people left in the capital these days, but people this brazenly thick-skinned were still uncommon.
Then he heard Miss Nian continue in a clear, steady voice: “More than that. Gu Jiangzhi threatened me. If I refused to enter his household obediently with my dowry, they would withdraw their sponsorship at the Ward Office and have the authorities arrest my entire family under charges of ‘vagrants resisting the law.’ They even planned to frame the Nian family for aiding rebel forces and send my entire household to prison.”
Then she asked: “General, should I simply swallow such an insult? If the outcome is death either way, then at worst we perish together…”
General Lu raised a hand to stop her. “How could the Gu family possibly possess that kind of power? This is the capital, beneath the Son of Heaven’s feet. Where would the law be?”
Nian Chujiu also wanted to ask: Under the Son of Heaven’s rule, where is justice?
Before she realized it, her eyes had filled with tears, and her voice trembled with grief as she choked out, “Doesn’t the General know how hard life is for ordinary people? How can common folk ever hope to stand against the powerful and privileged?”
General Lu fell silent. Did he not know the suffering of the common people? Of course he did. His own father had been beaten to death after offending the county magistrate of the previous dynasty. Back then, he had nowhere to seek justice. He himself had nearly been beaten to death as well. Even now, he still remembered that feeling of despair and helplessness. At that moment, in the young woman’s reddened eyes, he saw the same sorrow and hopelessness.
“Miss Nian, do not worry excessively.” General Lu’s voice softened unconsciously. “This is a new dynasty. His Majesty is determined to bring reform, and the law still holds authority. No matter how influential the Gu family may be, they cannot place themselves above the law.”
“And what if officials protect one another?” Nian Chujiu pressed stubbornly.
That question left General Lu momentarily speechless. He could guarantee that he himself would not be corrupted, but could he guarantee that every official in a bureaucracy bound together by shared interests, from top to bottom, remained upright and incorruptible?
“General,” Nian Chujiu said, wiping away her tears and regaining her usual composure, “my Nian family are merchants. We understand better than anyone how money can open doors. If the Gu family joins forces with certain nobles and uses the immense wealth of my family as bait to sway greedy, well-connected officials with promises of substantial profit…” She let out a soft, bitter laugh. “General, surely you know how poor many of today’s so-called nobles actually are?”