"Whom will this marriage be bestowed upon?!"
Shen Mingjiang shouted sharply, startling Shen Muyu. She belatedly realized that she might have said something wrong. Under Shen Mingjiang's stern gaze, she stammered and repeated, "To bestow a marriage upon my second sister and the Prince of Qin."
After saying that, she felt a little aggrieved and muttered softly, "It wasn't me who arranged the marriage, why is Father yelling at me..."
Shen Mingjiang ignored her mutterings and glanced at Fang Shi and his second son. Seeing that both of them looked guilty, he realized that they had known all along, but neither of them had mentioned it to him.
His gaze finally fell on his youngest daughter.
Shen Youying looked up, her expression showing no grievance, but rather a calm acceptance of what had been settled.
She knew it, and she accepted it.
A surge of immense grief welled up in Shen Mingjiang's heart. He called out his attendant's name and commanded, "Shen Ren, go and fetch my spear."
Shen Ren quickly brought over his usual long spear. Shen Mingjiang took it and strode out without even changing his clothes.
Realizing something, Fang cried out and rushed forward to grab his arm: "Master, what are you going to do?"
Shen Mingjiang broke free from her grasp, his words ringing with conviction: "Go to the Prince of Qin's residence and annul the engagement. I would rather die than send my daughter to be abused!"
"This is an imperial marriage!" Madam Fang's voice trembled with fear, but she couldn't stop Shen Mingjiang by herself. She could only turn to her two children and say, "What are you standing there for? Stop your father!"
The Shen family is already in deep trouble. If they disobey the imperial decree and anger the officials, it will be more than just confiscation of their property!
Shen Huaizhou and Shen Muyu nervously went to stop Shen Mingjiang.
But even with their best efforts, the three of them couldn't stop Shen Mingjiang. Standing to the side, Shen Youying saw her father's furious expression and his determination to break off the engagement. Her previously suppressed emotions suddenly broke down, and she cried out "Father!" in a sob.
Shen Mingjiang was stunned. He turned around and saw her standing to the side, her face covered in tears.
"Zhaozhao, don't cry." Shen Mingjiang strode up to her, bent down and carefully wiped away her tears, his own eyes reddening as well. "Father won't let you marry into the Qin Prince's mansion, don't be afraid."
Shen Youying threw herself into his arms and finally dared to cry freely.
Shen Mingjiang carefully held his daughter in his arms, trying to comfort her incoherently. Shen Youying, however, had finished crying and looked up, saying in a muffled voice, "Father, don't go. This marriage was my own choice."
Shen Mingjiang's expression changed slightly. He thought of many things in an instant, and finally looked at his youngest daughter with heartache: "Zhaozhao, if you trade your lifelong happiness for the peace of the Shen family, how will your father have the face to see your mother in the future?"
He planted his spear on the ground and gritted his teeth, saying, "I, Shen Mingjiang, have fought alongside my ancestors for half my life. If I am to die, I should die honorably on the battlefield, not cowardly sitting at home, enjoying the peace that I bought with my daughter's money!"
Shen Youying shook her head and said softly, "It's not what Father thinks." She looked at Fang and her two children and saw that Fang had taken the opportunity to have the servants lock the gate. She said, "This is not the place to talk. Let's go inside and talk."
Shen Mingjiang also realized what was happening, glanced at Fang Shi, and said to Shen Youying, "Come with me to the study."
The father and daughter went to the study alone.
Shen Mingjiang placed the spear on the weapon rack, looked at his daughter whose eyes were red and swollen like a little rabbit, took out a handkerchief and a small piece of pine nut candy wrapped in oil paper from the drawer under the desk, and handed them to her: "Wipe your eyes, they'll get swollen if you keep crying."
Shen Youying took it, and looking at the slightly melted pine nut candy, she burst into laughter through her tears: "I'm about to get married, why is Father still treating me like a child?"
She lost her mother at a young age, and her brother went to the Northwest Army for training. When she was little, she loved to stick to her father. When her father was handling official business in his study, she would sit in his lap and play. While he was reviewing documents, he would occasionally take out a small piece of pine nut candy from a small compartment to coax her.
Later, she ate too much candy and got a toothache, so her father stopped giving her any more.
“In Father’s eyes, Zhao Zhao will always be a child.” Shen Mingjiang looked at her solemnly: “You don’t need to worry about things at home, and you don’t need to sacrifice yourself to protect the Shen family.”
He had figured it out in a moment. No wonder the Emperor had let him and the Shen family off so readily. Besides the fear that suppressing military generals too much would bring infamy and cause a mutiny in the army, it was probably also because of the "ladder" that the Prince of Qin had offered up.
The Prince of Qin was the only son of Emperor Taizu. Before his death, Emperor Taizu entrusted the throne and his only son to the Emperor. Over the years, whether the Emperor was sincere or just putting on an act, he could not find fault with the Prince of Qin.
Now that the King of Qin wants to marry a queen, the queen's background may not be illustrious, but she must not be a member of a criminal family.
The emperor had no intention of killing him, and now that he had been granted a marriage, it was a convenient way to back down.
It is unclear whether this marriage was arranged by the King of Qin taking advantage of the situation or by Zhao Zhao actively seeking it to protect her family.
“I understand what Father means, but I’m all grown up now, and I’m not a child who doesn’t understand anything anymore.”
Shen Youying looked intently at her father, at his gray hair, at his wrinkled face that was no longer young, at his slightly hunched back caused by an old ailment...
Her father was a victorious hero, and she lived under his protection, never experiencing any hardship.
But ever since the Shen family got into trouble, she has been turned away when she sought help everywhere. Suddenly she realized that her father would also grow old, and that there would come a day when he would be unable to protect her, or even need her to protect him.
Over the past month, she had been gathering information from all sides and had a thorough understanding of the Shen family's situation.
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