Qi Yuan shook her head honestly. “There wasn’t enough time. I only got one look at him and heard him say a couple of sentences. That’s not enough to tell much. He seems like an honest man.”
An honest man?
Upon hearing those three words, Old Madam Qi immediately understood Madam Xiang’s reasoning in choosing a son-in-law.
It made sense.
Previously, they had chosen Qi Yunting from their own family, but that scoundrel had turned out to be anything but honest.
After suffering enough because of Qi Yunting, the Xiang family was now deliberately choosing an honest man for Xiang Rong.
Honest men were good.
Old Madam Qi sighed somewhat emotionally.
“You seem rather unhappy about it?”
“I wouldn’t say unhappy.” Qi Yuan sighed softly. She truly felt somewhat melancholy.
When she had stood before Xiang Rong earlier, she had suddenly felt dazed.
It seemed that from the very day a girl got married, she was expected to sever herself from her original family.
Even Xiang Jie and the rest of the Xiang family regarded it as perfectly natural.
They all believed that once Xiang Rong married out, she would become a member of the Gao family. Her future happiness would depend entirely on Gao Xiang.
It wasn’t that the Xiang family was wrong to think that way.
But Qi Yuan simply didn’t like it.
She quietly said to Old Madam Qi, “I just don’t understand why, once a woman gets married, her maiden family automatically treats her as water that’s been poured out and can never be taken back.”
Old Madam Qi felt that she was speaking like a child.
Yet she did not find it amusing.
Because there was nothing amusing about it.
She reached out and pulled Qi Yuan down to sit beside her. “This is the helplessness of being a woman. Yet everyone, including women themselves, accepts it as perfectly natural.”
After a pause, Old Madam Qi said solemnly, “But Yuan Jie’er, you are different. Grandmother believes in you. You will ascend to that position, and when that day comes, there will be countless girls in this world who see you and wish to become someone like you!”
Just hearing those words was enough to make one’s blood boil with excitement.
For once, Old Madam Qi was visibly stirred. “Yuan Jie’er, if you want to change the circumstances of girls like Rong-jie’er, if you want them to control their own lives, then you must continue moving unwaveringly toward the destination you’ve chosen!”
Go farther.
Stand higher.
Why should men be the ones standing above women?
Women could do the same!
Just as Qi Zhen entered the room, he happened to hear this earth-shattering declaration from his mother and nearly lost his footing.
What day was this?
Why were all the women in his family so bold in their ambitions?
Old Marquis Qi, however, pretended not to hear anything.
Did they really need his opinion?
Qi Yuan had already been acting this way for a long time.
Maintaining a perfectly normal expression, he walked in and asked with a smile, “What’s this all about? Did Yuan Jie’er suffer some grievance at the Xiang family?”
Old Madam Qi chuckled. “As if they’d dare!”
After a few jokes, the topic passed, and then Old Madam Qi turned to Qi Yuan. “After the New Year, Jialang will be heading to Shuzhong. It’s a very long journey, so I’ve decided to have your second uncle accompany him and Yunzheng there.”
With the invitation Chu Bo had provided, they would at least be able to get through the door. But whether Shen Jialang could truly become a disciple of the great scholar Fan would depend on fate.
All Old Madam Qi could do was demonstrate utmost sincerity by sending the Qi family’s second legitimate son in person. Representing the Old Marquis and Qi Zhen, he would ask Great Scholar Fan to accept Shen Jialang as a student in recognition of their sincerity.
Qi Zhen added from the side, “I’ve made inquiries as well. Great Scholar Fan’s temperament… isn’t very good. I heard that the last time he accepted a disciple was five years ago, and he publicly declared afterward that he would take no more students.”
At those words, Old Madam Qi grew worried. “Then we’ll just have to take things one step at a time.”
Qi Yuan felt the same way. She believed that when a boat reached the bridge, a way forward would naturally appear.
Right now, however, there was a more urgent matter. “By the way, Grandfather, Grandmother, Father, I need to make a trip to Jinling.”
The moment she said that, everyone was shocked.
Even Old Marquis Qi needed a moment to react. “Yuan Jie’er, why have you suddenly decided to go to Jinling?”
After thinking for a moment, Qi Yuan honestly explained her reasons.
Upon hearing that she intended to find the concubine from the Wen family, Old Marquis Qi instinctively felt the matter would be difficult.
The Wen family had already been exterminated years ago, and Wen Mingfeng himself was dead now. Who knew where that woman had hidden herself?
For the first time, he wanted to object. “Yuan Jie’er, this won’t be easy. Why don’t we think it over carefully first?”
The main issue was that Qi Yuan was getting older.
Xiang Rong had already married, and Wang Chan’s marriage had become an urgent matter. Madam Lu worried about it every day as if her life depended on it.
Calculating carefully, Qi Yuan was only about half a year younger than Wang Chan.
According to the customs of the capital, girls of their age should be constantly attending flower banquets and social gatherings hosted by various noble families.
Of course, fewer such banquets were being held nowadays.
But they still needed to prepare for the future.
They couldn’t keep saying she was staying in her hometown forever.
People who didn’t know the truth might assume she had committed some offense and been sent away, or that she was recovering from an illness in the countryside.
Either rumor would damage a young woman’s reputation.
Qi Zhen, however, understood that if Qi Yuan wanted to go somewhere, she must have a good reason.
After thinking it over, he said, “Then go early and come back early. You absolutely must return home in time for the New Year.”
Old Marquis Qi immediately blew up. “Am I your father, or are you mine?!”
“I’m her father!” Qi Zhen replied with a grin at his own father. “Forget it, Father. Yuan Jie’er won’t listen to us anyway. If she wants to go, let her go.”
In any case, he wasn’t worried that Qi Yuan would run into trouble.
Generally speaking, the unlucky ones were always other people.
Old Marquis Qi was so angry he wanted to grab a shoe and smack Qi Zhen several times.
Old Madam Qi quickly coughed and shot Old Marquis Qi a look.
Then she asked Qi Yuan, “When are you leaving?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
Qi Yuan answered immediately, clearly having planned everything long ago.
Once those words were spoken, there was little left to discuss.
Old Marquis Qi knew perfectly well that there was no way he could stop her.
All he could do was glare at his son again.
That useless fellow, always causing more trouble than he solved!
As everyone was talking, Liu Zhong suddenly came running in from outside at full speed.
Overjoyed and choking with emotion, he cried out, “Old Marquis! Old Madam! Marquis! Eldest Miss! Third Young Master, Third Young Master is better! He’s recovered! He’s recovered!”
Everyone in the room froze for a moment before simultaneously rising to their feet.
Earlier, the Divine Physician Xue had said that Qi Changting’s condition was steadily improving.
But all this time, they had only heard reports. They had never seen him or spoken with him.
To say they weren’t worried would have been impossible.
The moment they heard that Qi Changting had recovered, Old Madam Qi became so overwhelmed that she hardly knew what to do. “Recovered? Really? Did Divine Physician Xue say so? Where is Changting? I have to see him, I have to see him…”
She hurried outside, no longer caring about anything else.
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