Unsurprisingly, the news quickly spread throughout the capital.

Meanwhile, Lu Jingyan made his intentions clear, which really angered the Pan sisters.

Pan Hongyu slammed her hand on the table and exclaimed, "You actually want our Lan'er to be your concubine?!"

Madam Lu had clearly anticipated this outcome. She calmly took a sip of tea and said, "To be honest, my son Yan'er and Wu Miaoqing, the daughter of the Commander Wu, were betrothed when they were young, but they have never been married. Our Lu family is a prominent clan, and there is absolutely no reason for us to break off an engagement. Now that this has happened, I only dared to come and propose marriage after obtaining the Wu family's consent."

Upon hearing this, Madam Pan understood immediately. Who was Wu Dusi? Everyone in the capital knew he was not someone to be trifled with. He was a military man, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a brute. He only had one precious daughter, Wu Miaoqing, and how could he bear to let her suffer any injustice? Allowing Feng Ruilan to enter the mansion as a concubine was already a huge concession.

She hesitated for a moment, then asked Lu Jingyan, "About you and Ruilan..."

"Madam Liu, rest assured, now that I have taken Lan'er's body, I will naturally take responsibility. Lan'er will be a noble concubine after entering the manor, and she will not be mistreated."

These words made Madam Pan blush deeply.

I thought that since I hadn't seen Feng Ruilan have any contact with the Lu family before, it shouldn't have come to this point.

Pan Hongyu never expected things to turn out this way, and she cursed Feng Ruilan in her heart.

Madam Lu bluntly stated, "My Lu family is a prominent family in the capital. We will naturally admit our mistakes. Today, we have already shown you great respect by coming to propose marriage. If it were another family taking a concubine, they wouldn't give any betrothal gifts. They would just carry her in through the side gate in a sedan chair."

Pan Shi, unable to save face any longer, waved her hand and said, "In that case, let Madam Lu set the wedding date. We have no objections."

"Then let's make it the eighth day of next month. It's an auspicious day. Otherwise, if we delay and the pregnancy goes on for too long, it won't be good." Madam Lu added fuel to the fire.

The Pan sisters blushed and paled in turns, reluctantly accepting the betrothal gifts and politely seeing the man off.

Pan was so disgusted that she could only vent her anger on Pan Hongyu.

"You didn't even notice that little slut's big movements! And you let the Lu family humiliate you like this in front of everyone, you've completely disgraced me!"

Knowing she was in the wrong, Pan Hongyu could only try to appease her, "I know I was wrong, elder sister. I really didn't expect that she could be having an affair while going to the temple to burn incense."

"I think it's because you didn't teach her well. How much trouble has she caused me since she came to the capital? Besides, how important is a woman's chastity? She gave herself away so easily, and even if we have the right to argue, we can't do anything about it!" She sighed and waved her hand, saying, "Forget it, let her pack up and prepare to go to the Lu family as a concubine. She brought this on herself."

Madam Pan stood up, smoothed her temples, and snorted, "Still dreaming of becoming a duke's wife? Doesn't she know her own limitations?"

As soon as Madam Pan left, Pan Hongyu angrily swept the teacup off the table, "I was hoping she could help my child find a way out, but who would have thought she would turn out to be such a worthless thing!"

Well, now all our efforts have been in vain.

...

Qingying was somewhat surprised when she heard about what had happened earlier.

"So Lu Jingyan is actually engaged to Wu Miaoqing?"

Tong Xia said, "Yes, I heard it was a childhood betrothal. Back then, the Martial Capital Commander saved the old Duke's life, and it happened to be around the time Wu Miaoqing was 100 days old, so the betrothal was arranged."

"No wonder Wu Miaoqing always targets me, it turns out it's because of this."

"Not many people know about this, especially after the old Duke passed away, almost no one mentions it anymore."

It's not surprising, really. The Duke of Lu's mansion had just begun its decline when the old Duke passed away, while the Wu Commandery was the opposite, gradually rising to prominence around that time. The Duke's mansion was very concerned with its reputation and had previously looked down on the Wu family, so naturally they were too embarrassed to shamelessly try to establish a kinship after the Wu family rose to power. The Wu family, perhaps deliberately ignoring them, didn't mention the matter at all, and over time, naturally, no one remembered it anymore.

Qingying was in a good mood. "This is a real unexpected gain. Once Wu Miaoqing enters the family, Feng Ruilan's life will not be easy."

She wasn't stupid. Although she hadn't had any real conflict with Feng Ruilan yet, Na Si had been badmouthing her behind her back and even made effigies to curse her.

Cui'er told her all of this without missing a single word.

The next day.

Before Feng Ruilan could even come to her door, Qingying had already gone to her private residence with her entourage to meet her early in the morning.

Unsurprisingly, Feng Ruilan looked like she wanted to tear her apart the moment she saw her.

You schemed against me!

She lunged forward, but was stopped by Wei Dongchen's guards.

Yu Yue shielded Qingying behind her, saying, "Thanks to the young master's insightful advice, he arranged for people to protect you, Miss."

"What brilliant idea? I'm the one who asked him for the money."

She even sacrificed a bit of her looks.

That's all beside the point. Right now, Qingying's main concern is dealing with this crazy woman in front of her, who's all bared her teeth and claws.

"Why is Aunt Feng so angry? Didn't you manage to turn down the marriage with the Wen family and marry into the Duke of Lu's mansion? You should be happy."

Unable to get close to her, Feng Ruilan jumped up and down in anger, "Liu Qingying, what a clever scheme you have! You've sown discord between me and Madam Pan, ruined the Feng family's reputation, and implicated the General's Mansion. What are your true intentions?!"

"Auntie, you've really misunderstood me." Qingying said with a wronged expression, "I really only wanted what was best for you. I suggested you get to know Young Master Lu because you didn't want to marry into the Wen family. You were very happy with that at the time, so why are you turning your back on me now?"

"But you didn't tell me that Lu Jingyan was already engaged to someone else! And you even asked me to be your concubine!"

"This is truly a great injustice, Aunt. I only just learned about the marriage agreement between the Lu family and the Wu family. If you don't believe me, you can ask my mother. Even she didn't know about it, so how could I have known? As for the matter of becoming a concubine, I never expected that you would so easily make a private engagement with Lu Jingyan."

"You...you're pretending to be confused! How could you not know?! You gave me that medicine, you did it on purpose!"

"Auntie is wrong again. You were the one who asked me for that medicine, and when I gave it to you, I clearly told you to use it with caution."

Seeing that she couldn't win the argument, Feng Ruilan became enraged and started yelling and cursing: "Liu Qingying, if I'm not having a good time, neither are you! You, Pan Shi, and Liu Shushu, none of you in the Liu family are any good, ganging up on me! I curse you all to die a horrible death!"

If it weren't for Liu Shushu, she wouldn't have been betrothed to the Wen family, and she wouldn't have seduced Lu Jingyan to refuse the marriage, and she wouldn't be in this predicament now!

She sat on the ground, cursing and crying, looking disheveled and insane.

Qingying looked at her, her eyes crinkling into a smile, and said softly, "Mother, did you hear what you said?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Feng Ruilan immediately stopped crying and stared blankly at the familiar, elegant woman who walked out from behind her.