After seeing off the Third Prince's chief steward, Xu Rao hurriedly went to the backyard.

After telling Zhang Zhaoci and Granny Lu the purpose of the Third Prince's chief steward's visit, Zhang Zhaoci trembled with anger.

Zhang Zhaoci said, "What kind of creature is this? A beast? Xiao Jiu is only thirteen years old! How could he possibly be an emperor? He's dreaming!"

Granny Lu grabbed Zhang Zhaoci's arm and shouted sternly, "Silence!"

Zhang Zhaoci sat down angrily. Granny Lu, with a sullen face, thought for a long time and said, "This matter will not be settled so easily. The Third Prince is a treacherous person who values ​​his reputation very much. Moreover, Consort Wan has always been someone who gains status through her son. The Third Prince's reputation is her reputation. The Ninth Miss's marriage needs to be reconsidered. Otherwise, there may be some complications."

Zhang Zhaoci slapped the table and said, "Granny, what else do we need to plan? This daughter of mine is the apple of my and my grandfather's eye. For her sake, we swallowed our pride and invited the young man to our home. Isn't the marriage already arranged? We're just waiting for Xiao Jiu to come of age so she can marry him. What, he still won't let me marry off my daughter?"

Granny Lu nodded and said, "It's really possible that you won't be allowed to marry off your daughter."

Thinking of those shady methods, Zhang Zhaoci's heart sank, and he said with a pale face, "We can't let them harm their child."

Xu Rao sat at the table, head down, silent, lost in thought.

Granny Lu said, "The best course of action now is for us to marry Xiao Jiu off to the Zheng family."

Zhang Zhaoci exclaimed in surprise, "Marry? Granny, to be honest, Xiao Jiu is only thirteen years old, her body hasn't even fully developed yet, and you're already letting her marry? What would she do there?"

Granny Lu said, "Don't be anxious yet. Let me tell you why the Third Prince wants to bring the Ninth Miss into the manor. It's all for our master's sake, so that our master can stand on his side. Now, the young man from the Zheng family has become an obstacle for the Ninth Miss to enter the Third Prince's manor. He might really make our Ninth Miss a widow. If the Third Prince says he doesn't care about our Ninth Miss's status as a widow and insists on letting her in, what can you do? If the Ninth Miss enters the manor now, to put it bluntly, even if the young man from the Zheng family dies, our Ninth Miss will be a widow. With this status, no one can force the Ninth Miss to stay with the young man from the Zheng family or remarry."

Xu Rao and Zhang Zhaoci looked at each other, not having been exposed to these ideas since childhood, so they naturally didn't know there was such a saying, but it did sound reasonable.

Xu Rao said, "I'm just afraid that getting married off nowadays is becoming a bit too deliberate."

Granny Lu said, "We can't do it too deliberately. Let the Zheng family come up with a reason why the Ninth Miss has to marry into the family."

Zhang Zhaoci said, "Granny, Zheng's son's status is different from others. What kind of title do you think he needs to have for Xiao Jiu to marry into the family?"

Granny Lu said, "The best course of action now is to send someone to the capital to talk to the old lady and ask her to help us find a way. It doesn't have to be some kind of supernatural or mystical reason, as long as we can come up with a pretext to get the Zheng family to come to our house to propose marriage."

Xu Rao listened and nodded repeatedly. He quickly returned to the study in the front yard to write a letter to the old lady, telling her about Xu Zhi's situation.

Xu Di had made some secret agreements with the old lady as if it were a joke. Xu Rao knew about them and wrote down the request for the old lady's help according to the secret codes. On the surface, he only mentioned that Zhang Zhaoci had arranged a marriage with the wife of the Marquis of Pingxi. In the letter, he kept praising Zheng Boyuan as an ambitious young man.

Watching Xu Rao leave, Zhang Zhaoci said to Granny Lu, "Granny, what are we going to do with Xiao Jiu in the future? She's only a few years old, and she's already getting married."

Granny Lu said, "Let the Ninth Miss marry him, but don't consummate the marriage until she comes of age."

Zhang Zhaoci was still worried and said, "But she's already married, can we really make the decisions?"

Granny Lu said, "I'll go with you when you get married, won't I? I'll be watching over you, what are you afraid of?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhaoci wiped away her tears and said, "Grandma, I feel bad that you always have to go to so much trouble."

Granny Lu sighed and said, "I treat all the children in this family as my own. Of course, I hope they are all well. Our Ninth Miss is a blessed girl. These troubles are nothing but trivial matters."

Zhang Zhaoci said, "I hope so."

Granny Lu had someone call Xu Zhi over. When Xu Zhi arrived, she saw that her mother's eyes were red, and her heart skipped a beat, fearing that something had happened.

Looking at her daughter standing before her, so graceful and poised, Zhang Zhaoci felt increasingly saddened. Despite being only a teenager, she was burdened with so much weight that was beyond her years. She simply let go of her daughter's hand and used her handkerchief to wipe away her tears.

Xu Zhi, holding Zhang Zhaoci's arm, asked, "Mother, what are you doing? Has something happened?"

Granny Lu sighed and said, "Things have taken a turn for the worse. The Third Prince sent his head steward to find your father and wants to bring you into the mansion."

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhi said, "Then I'll cut my hair off tomorrow and become a nun."

Granny Lu said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Your father has already made it clear to them that you are to marry into the Zheng family. We've discussed it, and you should marry into the Zheng family as soon as possible."

The marriage was arranged only a few days ago, and she was to be married off to him. Even though Xu Zhi was full of expectations for the marriage, she still found it unbelievable and felt a little lost.

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