Chapter 24 Endurance
A man who is about to enter his forties.
Any trick will be exposed in his eyes.
Wei Heng opened her mouth, and after a long while, she finally said, "Uncle, I... Brother Xingjian wants to break off our engagement."
Pei Yanzhi raised an eyebrow, then picked up the teacup on the desk and took a sip. He already knew about this matter from the letter last night, and he also knew who he was doing this for.
That's ridiculous.
He thought he had been special enough to Ji Shu, but he never expected that his son would surpass him.
Let alone the fact that he was just the heir of the Pei family, it would be impossible for any other scion of a powerful family to marry a merchant's daughter.
Aristocratic families placed great importance on social status, with scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants considered the lowest class.
Social standing is not formed overnight, throughout history.
"Xingjian did not tell me that he was going to the Wei family to break off the engagement. Even if he wanted to, I would never agree to it."
After saying that, he slightly lifted his eyelids and glanced coldly at Wei Heng. Wei Heng was so intimidated by his expression that she didn't dare to say another word.
Wei Heng shrank back half a step, looking pleadingly at her brother.
Wei Ziming lowered his eyes and said respectfully, "Uncle is right. But you may not know that Xingjian has fallen in love with a woman. It seems that the woman does not want to be a concubine, so Xingjian has resorted to this tactic."
Wei Ziming's idea was simple: neither Wei Heng nor he himself could easily make a move, but if the Marquis of Yan were to make a move, he would surely strike with deadly accuracy.
Pei Xingjian dared not say much, and could only obediently ask to marry his sister with a grand procession.
"What a clever scheme," Pei Yanzhi snorted. His mother doted on Pei Xingjian the most. If Xingjian could persuade his mother, then his mother would try to persuade him.
Perhaps this marriage will really be called off, and the Wei family will truly lose both their wife and their money.
Everything went wrong.
She would never be able to hold her head high in Yang County again. Who would dare to ask to marry a girl who had been rejected by the Pei family?
Wei Heng glanced at her brother cautiously, then quickly lowered her head when their eyes met.
Pei Yanzhi narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the two people below and said in a deep voice, "Go and bring that rebellious son over here."
Lu Changming glanced at the Wei siblings and said yes.
He closed the door and left, thinking to himself, "If he didn't know what his lord was thinking, that would be one thing, but now he knows exactly what his lord is thinking."
But now he couldn't see the situation clearly. The Wei siblings complaining to their lord like this meant that, even if the lord didn't care much about Lady Ji, he at least kept it in mind.
Then there's the Crown Prince.
You two are really something, coming to complain about people the lord cares about. It's like pulling the hair out of a tiger.
Before Wei Heng could react, she saw Lu Changming leave the room, clearly heading to find her brother Xingjian.
Wei Ziming hadn't expected that after he said those words, the Marquis of Yan would immediately deal with the woman, and he was still quite distressed last night.
Who knew they would have to confront Pei Xingjian directly?
There was nothing else he could do, so Wei Ziming reassured Wei Heng with his eyes, telling her not to panic.
Pei Xingjian was just about to leave when he was summoned to the study. Upon seeing the Wei siblings, he understood everything.
He bowed and said, "Greetings, Father."
Pei Yanzhi hummed in response, his tone indifferent, "I heard you're going to break off your engagement with the Wei family?"
The voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling indifference: "Who gave you the audacity to bypass me and send a message to your grandmother? Huh?"
Pei Xingjian swallowed hard and said, "Father, I only have brotherly and sisterly feelings for Wei Heng. I ask you, what kind of brother would marry his own sister? Isn't that reckless?"
Hearing these heart-wrenching words, Wei Heng glared at him resentfully from where no one else could see.
Pei Yanzhi laughed in anger, staring intently at Pei Xingjian, "Why didn't you speak when your grandmother asked you last year? Now you're telling me you only have brotherly and sisterly feelings for Wei Heng. Things have come to this point, what are you going to do now?"
Pei Xingjian: "Yes, it is indeed all my fault. As long as you agree to let me break off the engagement with the Wei family, Father, I will have no objection to anything you say in the future."
After saying that, he turned to Wei Heng and said, "Hengmei, I know I was wrong, but I have no other choice. You can tell me what compensation you want. It just so happens that you are here too, Brother Ziming."
“You can represent the entire Wei family. Whatever compensation you want, I will do my best to provide it.”
Wei Heng looked at him with red eyes, "Brother Xingjian, even if you only have brotherly feelings for me, have all our companionship over the years been fake? You even gave me a gift before the New Year, and now you want to break off the engagement. You're humiliating me."
"Alright, what kind of behavior is this, crying and sobbing? I will make a decision on this matter. You may all leave now, Xingjian stays."
Having achieved his goal, Wei Ziming naturally could not be too aggressive and provoke the Marquis of Yan.
He led the reluctant Wei Heng out.
As soon as they stepped outside, Wei Heng broke free from her brother's hand, her voice trembling: "Brother, how could you take it upon yourself to go directly to the Marquis of Yan to explain this matter? Didn't you see that Brother Xingjian's face turned green?"
How can she explain this?
Wei Ziming took a deep breath. Sometimes he really wanted to knock on his sister's head and ask her if she could stop thinking about romance all day.
"Heng'er, didn't you realize that only Marquis Yan can keep Xingjian in check? Have you ever considered that if I directly take action against that woman, Xingjian and Marquis Yan really won't be able to find out who did it?"
"How will you conduct yourself after the investigation is completed? You lost your composure over a woman with no official status. How can you convince Marquis Yan and the Dowager that you are capable of becoming the Crown Prince's consort?"
"Have you thought about these things? They can tolerate you doing anything, but they absolutely cannot tolerate you doing such a thing for a woman who hasn't even entered the household yet."
The sky cleared up, and the early spring sunlight felt warm on her skin, yet Wei Heng inexplicably felt a chill seeping into her bones.
She stood on the steps, the color draining from her face little by little.
"What do you mean, brother? Do you think I'm wicked?" The voice came out from his throat, thin and trembling.
Wei Ziming endured it all. As long as his sister secured her position as the Crown Princess of Yanzhou, his status as the head of the Wei family would be unshakeable. All of this was for the sake of the bigger picture.
"Now that things have come to this, you shouldn't be thinking about competing with that woman for her affections, but rather how to secure your position as the Crown Prince's consort of Yanzhou."
"It's normal for men to have multiple wives and concubines... How many men in this world only have a legal wife and don't take concubines?"
Wei Heng interrupted abruptly, her voice filled with sorrow: "What I care about is not whether Xingjian takes a concubine or not, I only care whether he has me in his heart."
"I can't accept that my fiancé, who has been with me for seven or eight years, has fallen in love with another woman in just two or three months. How can I bear this..."
Wei Ziming finally couldn't stand her unreasonable behavior any longer and roared in a low voice, "You have to put up with it whether you like it or not!"
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