Zhao Zhen listened and suddenly felt reasonable, and couldn't help but exclaim: "Isn't this trip not going to happen?" He thought again that he was recommended by the Wang family, and his face sank: "You are fickle and opportunistic, you were trying to curry favor with Mrs. Xie in every way before, now that you sense the situation is unfavorable, you want to abandon Mrs. Xie, how can your words be trusted?"

  Li Ershun knelt down with a thud and said: "Your Honor, please be aware! I was recommended by Mrs. Xie to enter the mansion, not because she is kind-hearted, but because she has been jealous of the second room for a long time and wants to push those young siblings to desperation. That day, I went to intercept Third Young Miss's carriage and asked for Yu Xue with indecent language, which was also instructed by Mrs. Xie in secret.

  "She didn't expect that Xiaodie would be injured by the third daughter, and Madame Xie promised to recommend Xiaodie to the mansion of a high-ranking official. Xiaodie stayed in the mansion for some days and deeply felt the kindness and benevolence of the master and mistress. Now she can't bear to see the master in a difficult situation, so she gritted her teeth and spoke out. If you don't believe me, I have a silver ingot here that Madame Xie gave me as proof!"

  As he spoke, he pulled out a silver ingot with snowflake patterns from his sleeve. Zhao Zhen took it in surprise and saw that there was indeed a year mark printed under the Yuan Bao.

  An apprentice in a leather workshop would never have such silver patterns, if it wasn't for the Wang family's money, who else could have such a generous hand?

  Zhao Zhen suddenly found his words somewhat credible. Thinking again, Wang Shi had actually thought of sending Li Ershun, who had been beaten, to his mansion, pretending that when he was beaten by San Niang, he was already a slave of the Zhao family. Using such despicable means to deal with two underage children is not a good person.

  If it weren't for the sake of that foolish child at home, how would he have compromised his principles and yielded to his wife, thus agreeing to this matter?

  He became more and more regretful as he thought about it.

  "What should I do next, then?" He said, and at the same time, he waved his hand to let him get up.

  Xie's family is no ordinary family, let alone that you were still fuming and came to their door to argue in the morning. Now they're kindly inviting you over, but you refuse to go; doesn't that make it even more obvious that you have a guilty conscience?

  "This isn't difficult." Li Ershun immediately got up and said: "Your Excellency is just temporarily angry and has lost his composure, as long as you think carefully, we have only been fooled by that Mrs. Xie, so we took a wrong step. When we arrive at the Xie residence, if Mr. Xie asks about this matter, naturally he will indicate that he has investigated everything clearly. Mr. Xie is very concerned with saving face, Your Excellency doesn't need to reveal everything, just admit to it or not and that's enough."

  Zhao Zhen nodded thoughtfully and said, "But if it's not explained clearly, won't we offend the Xie family?" Being a parent is not easy either, many orders need to rely on the support of local influential families like the Xies. The Xie family is also the most prominent family in the county, he can't help but worry.

  Li Ershun said, "But if the adults explain everything clearly, where will Mr. Xie and his wife's face be? The adults are officials appointed by the imperial court, and Mr. Xie cannot ask for details from the adults. Moreover, the Xie family prides itself on being a family of scholars, and in such matters, they only ask about the general situation on the surface. If the adults consider the Xie family's face, isn't that saving the face of both families?"

  Zhao Zhen listened, pondered for a moment, and nodded: "What you said makes sense." She couldn't help but size him up again: "I didn't expect that despite your usual laziness, your brain is actually quite useful. It's really a loss that the Second Young Master of the Xie family let you go."

  Li Ershun nodded and bowed, thinking of Xie Wan's ruthless tactics, but his face remained calm and expressionless, with a stiff smile.

  Zhao Zhen and his wife arrived at Xie's residence, already more than half an hour after Pang Fu had left.

  Xie Qigong was waiting impatiently in the hall, and when he heard the two arrive, he restrained himself due to their relationship and slowly composed his expression to greet them.

  Zhao Zhenjin entered the door and first exchanged a fist bump with Xie Qigong, then said: "This morning was a bit confusing, because the people below were making a fuss, and without investigation, they came to disturb us. I was worried about how to apologize to Mr. Xie, but then I heard that Mr. Xie had invited me to drink tea, so I took this opportunity to make amends with Mr. Xie first."

  Wang heard this and was stunned, looking at Mrs. Zhao, who had a smile on her face but her eyes were cast down and didn't look in her direction.

  Xie Qigong felt much better after hearing Zhao Zhen's words, and his tone also became more gentle. "This time I invited you over is also because of this matter. The actual situation I have already understood clearly, but there are still a few small doubts that I want to ask for your verification."

  Zhao Zhen said: "Mr. Xie, please go ahead and speak."

  Xie Qigong said: "I don't know if your wife has discussed with you about arranging a marriage for our son?"

  Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Yes, there is such a thing."

  "Have you ever exchanged couplets?"

  "Mrs. Xie did indeed give us a letter of introduction," Zhao said cautiously.

  Huang's face suddenly fell.

  Xie Qigong's eyes swept over the Wang family, also carrying a thread of barely concealed anger. He suppressed his anger and asked again: "I don't know if you can let someone return to the mansion and bring back that letter from your wife for me to take a look?"

  With Li Ershun's words beforehand, Zhao Zhen had no choice but to agree. He immediately let Madam Zhao call the servants to go back to the mansion and fetch them.

  They all lived in a county town, about half an hour later, the servant took the letter from Zhao's wife's personal maid.

  Zhao Zhen handed it over to Xie Qigong. Xie Qigong only took a glance, and the anger in his eyes could no longer be hidden.

  "What a fine Lord Zhao! In vain I treated you like an honored guest every day, no matter what task you entrusted to me, I would take on the greatest difficulties and run around everywhere to help you. Now you actually have designs on my eldest grandson's daughter! If your son were whole and healthy, that would be one thing, but you know he suffers from a mental illness - how can you still deceive me and harm my Yinger?"

  He stood up and pointed at Zhao Zhen's nose, scolding him. Mrs. Zhao heard this and was also frightened to stand up: "How could it be the eldest granddaughter of the Xie family? Didn't Madam Xie clearly say she was the eldest granddaughter of the Wang family?"

  "What's with Wang family's eldest granddaughter?! The birth year and month on this contract are clearly those of Wei Jie's!"

  Xie Qigong was furious and no longer cared about Mrs. Zhao's dignity.

  Huang's family wailed and burst into tears.

  Wang's lips trembled and for an instant he felt that what he had fallen into was not a pit, but a bottomless black abyss!

  Zhao Zhen also sensed something was amiss, and unlike a woman, he didn't easily lose his composure. He measured Wang Shi with a glance, took the letter of congratulations from Xie Qigong, and walked up to her: "Madam Xie, is this letter of congratulations for the eldest granddaughter of the Wang family or the eldest granddaughter of the Xie family?"

  Wang got up, speechless. How could she explain? The engagement letter she had given to Madam Zhao was clearly Wang Anmei's, so how could it have become Xie Yu's? If previously she still had a thread of hope for turning things around, by now she was completely on the brink of disaster.

  Zhao Zhen's face turned bright red with anger

  He didn't expect that after serving as an official for many years, he would still be outsmarted by a woman from a humble background! Although it's true that if they could get Xie Wei to marry into their family, the Zhao family would gain a great advantage, but do they have the good fortune to enjoy this? Doesn't he know what kind of person his own son is? He can't even take care of his own feces and urine, let alone Xie Wei being an official's daughter, who is said to be intelligent and sensible. Even if she were just a ordinary commoner's daughter, she wouldn't easily marry down.

  This time, it was because he heard that the Wang family was willing to marry their daughter to him, and it was their aunt who acted as the matchmaker, so he agreed to accept the marriage proposal. But now he has been ruined by the Wang family! In the future, he will also serve in the same court as Xie Rong, if he finds out that his beloved daughter has been schemed into marrying his son who cannot even take care of himself, can Xie Rong let him off?

  Even if this is the truth, he doesn't know it at all. Would Xie Rong not consider his own daughter's reputation and sympathize with him?! Wang Shi is his birth mother, and he has always emphasized loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness. Would he go so far as to blame his own mother and instead forgive him?!

  Thanks to Wang, he was remembered by Xie Rong!

  Outsiders wouldn't think that Wang is foolish, they would only say that Zhao Zhen has no shame, going after the intelligent and beautiful eldest daughter of a prestigious family. They would only say that the stupid son of the Zhao family is a toad who wants to eat swan meat!

  At that moment, he really had no words to describe his regret.

  "Thank you, Old Master!" He turned around and spoke with difficulty: "This matter is a misunderstanding. Before today, I truly did not know that this marriage certificate was for the eldest young lady. Even if Zhao Zhen had a thick face, he would not dare to ruin the lifelong happiness of the eldest young lady with his own son. Zhao Zhen here apologizes to Old Master!"

  He rushed to thank Xie Qigong with a deep bow. Mrs. Zhao also knew the severity of this and followed suit, making a courtesy to Xie Qigong. Turning around, she again made a courtesy to Huang's place and said: "I'll apologize to Third Lady and Big Miss here too, and I hope Third Lady will forgive us for our ignorance."

  Although Huang was finally able to vent his grievances, he still maintained his composure and silently returned a courtesy to Mrs. Zhao.

  Zhao Zhen said to Xie Qigong: "Zhao certain bids farewell!" and turned around, sweeping his sleeves as he left.

  Xie Qigong glared at Wang: "I'll see how you explain this to Rong'er!" and strode out to see the guests off.

  Huang walked past Wang's side, slightly bowed her head and left the door, from Wang's appearance to this time, she had never looked at her once.

  The house is empty with everyone gone.

  Wang picked up a porcelain tea cup from the table and smashed it to pieces on the ground.

  "...After Old Master sent Mr. Zhao back home, he met Third Madame returning to her room under the corridor and instructed her not to tell Third Master for the time being."

  Xie Wan listened to Yu Fang finish speaking, smiled and picked up the teacup on the desk, "Go to Chengfu Building to buy a roasted goose and a plate of stir-fried sparrow tongue to add dishes, and prepare a catty of osmanthus wine, heat it carefully. Brother will be back soon after busy with work in the shop, we'll have a good dinner together!"

  Yu Fang loudly responded and ran out skipping with joy.

  Xie Zhen was about to get on the carriage when he suddenly let out two loud sneezes.

  Today, I was inexplicably dragged to the store to identify a large pile of fabrics and satins. Then, Shentian pulled me to Liu Ye Hutong to look at the new store for half an afternoon. After returning to Lizi Hutong, Luo Sheng pestered me with a long lecture on business strategies. Just when I could finally return home, I suddenly started sneezing. Is this because of that homework Husband was muttering about today?