Chapter 139 - Bestowing Marriage

Gu Daiqin was Xiao Gu’s niece, the second legal young miss of the Gu Family. She was beautiful and gorgeous, like a fairy descending from heaven. Everyone was stunned and shocked by her appearance.

But a beautiful woman like her actually had IQ issues. She was worse than a ten years old child.

Would the eldest master agree to the madam finding a wife like Gu Daiqin for him? Would the Lord agree?

And that Old Madam...although she normally didn’t intervene in matters, there was no way she’d stay silent when it involved the eldest master’s marriage.

“Even if he doesn’t want to marry, he has to!” She had the intention of matchmaking the two idiots together anyway. Since Qi Zheng had become Dazhou’s hero now, she mustn’t let him marry anyone else than her especially.

No matter who he married, they’d be a helping hand to him. She refused to let Qi Zheng gain any assistance.

Nanny Su glanced at Xiao Gu with a distorted expression and she became quiet.

In the evening, Qi Zheng was in Duke An’s study.

“I’ll ask the emperor in a few days for him to announce a decree and bestow you the title of heir. Zheng’er, I know you resent me and don’t care for the position of an heir anyway. But this is the only way that I can compensate you.” Duke An glanced at Qi Zheng who stood up straight and tall. Of course he understood.

His son had been pretending to be stupid all these years.

Qi Zheng must’ve known how his mother died and knew that he had done something in the past. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have acted stupid all these years.

Duke An could feel his son’s resentment for him.

“It’s fine. I’ll leave the residence and move out after getting married.” Qi Zheng didn’t feel grateful. After all, he was never interested in the position of an heir.

“What?” Duke An thought he had heard wrong. He slowly stood up and stared fixated at Qi Zheng’s face. He enunciated each word, “You want to leave the residence?”

Qi Zheng stared at him and nodded firmly. “Yes, after getting married, I’m moving out.”

That meant he didn’t want the position of an heir! Duke An obviously knew the meaning behind his words. But why? After becoming the heir, he wouldn’t need to be afraid of Xiao Gu in this residence anymore. Why didn’t he want to be an heir? “Zheng’er, why?”

“This is my mother’s wish. If she was still alive, she would not want to live here.” Qi Zheng exclaimed calmly. He did resent him but he didn’t hate him. His mother had passed away and she’d only feel comforted if he lived a good life.

When Duke An heard him mention his late wife, his face paled. He knew it!

Duke An appeared dispirited right then as if he had grown a few years older. “When do you want to get married? With which family’s young lady?”

“I’ll tell you after I arrange everything. I hope that Xiao Gu won’t intervene in my marriage.” Qi Zheng said faintly. Before confirming everything, he didn’t want too many people to know that he wanted to marry Shen Ziqiao.

“Is it Shen Family’s young miss?” Duke An asked.

Qi Zheng lifted his brows. “How do you know?”

“A few days ago, Second Master Shen had tried to pry information from me. His daughter is virtuous and able, a good match for you actually.” Duke An stumbled back in his seat, unable to describe his sadness. Yet, he had to smile facing Qi Zheng.

He should wait until he gets married before advising him to become an heir. He refused to let him move out of the residence and whatnot.

When Qi Zheng heard this, he knitted his brows and asked, “What does Second Master Shen’s daughter have to do with me?”

“Didn’t you want to marry her?” Duke An froze. Who else then? Then he recalled that there were two people in the Shen Family who hadn’t gotten married. “Shen Ziqiao?”

“Didn’t you have problems with that woman? In the past, you guys even...even…” Didn’t Shen Ziqiao beat Qi Zheng up before? He wanted to marry a violent woman like her still?

Qi Zheng curled his lips, probably thinking of when he and Shen Ziqiao had first encountered each other. His expressions softened. “She’s great.”

In other people’s perspectives, Shen Ziqiao had a lot of shortcomings. But in his eyes, her shortcomings and strengths were both really cute. He adored her a lot.

Duke An was also a sensitive person. When he saw the slight change in expression on Qi Zheng’s face when he mentioned Shen Ziqiao, he knew that he didn’t have any excuses to object to this.

“Then okay. When we find an auspicious date, I’ll personally go and propose marriage to the Shen Family.” Duke An stopped Qi Zheng from talking. “After all, I’m your father. I’ll go propose marriage in order to show that we value Third Miss Shen. No matter how much you resent me, we can’t let your future wife suffer grievances.”

Qi Zheng thought about it before nodding.

He actually wanted to ask the empress to bestow the marriage. That way, once Jiao Jiao marries into the family, she’d be valued even more. Xiao Gu wouldn’t dare to go too far either.

Bestowing marriage was better!

The capital was bustling with noises for the past three days and this was the same in the royal palace too. Shen Xiao and Qi Zheng had been in the palace the entire time. They drank for the past few days. No matter how good their tolerance was, they wouldn’t be able to withstand drinking continuously. Thankfully, the celebratory banquet had disappeared. Shen Xiao and Shen Zikai were sent back, their legs weak. Qi Zheng sat in the horse carriage and his pair of dark eyes were now bright and sparkling like

When the banquet was about to end, Shen Xiao handed the tiger tally back to the emperor and then requested retiring to spend time with his family.

The emperor urged him to stay for a bit before accepting the tiger tally in the end, and then announcing the decree to betroth Shen Xiao’s daughter, Shen Ziqiao, to Qi Zheng.

Qi Zheng already knew that Shen Xiao would’ve handed over the tiger tally.

It wasn’t so that the emperor would bestow marriage for his daughter but because Jin people had already been driven out of the wasteland and they wouldn’t be invading in the next fifty years or so at the very least. Shen Xiao had control over the three armed services and naturally, any emperor would feel threatened.

He retired right now to consider for the future of the Shen Family as well.

“Young master, it’s Third Miss Shen’s carriage ahead.” When Uncle Qun saw that Shen Ziqiao’s carriage stopped by a store, he thought that Shen Ziqiao would probably be inside.

Although he still disliked Shen Ziqiao and thought that she was unworthy of the eldest master, he didn’t dare to say anything since the emperor had bestowed marriage already.

Plus, if he continued to say anything else, it’d be considered disrespectful to the emperor.

Qi Zheng had drank a lot today. He reeked of alcohol but he was excited right now so his eyes were bright. “Stop ahead.”

He was really happy and he wanted to share his happy mood with her.

She would definitely be really happy too.

Shen Ziqiao came out today to discuss with Liang Jianhai about establishing a Tianbao Pavilion branch in the capital. They were about done talking right now. She came out of the store to see Qi Zheng sitting on the horse’s back and staring at her passionately.

“Why are you here?” Shen Ziqiao asked in shock.

She didn’t know that the emperor had already bestowed marriage for them! Qi Zheng smiled and extended his hand at her.

“What?” Shen Ziqiao looked at him confusedly but still placed her hand in his palm.

Qi Zheng tugged hard and carried her onto the horse’s back. He exclaimed softly in her ears. “Let’s go out of the city.”

“Ah—!” Before Shen Ziqiao could react, the horse started galloping under his urge.

Madam Zhou was talking to Madam Wang and she was talking about going to talk to Xiao Gu and checking out her attitude.

“...After all, Qi Zheng isn’t her real son. Xiao Gu doesn’t really care much for Eldest Master Qi’s marriage. I talk to her about it but she doesn’t really listen so I don’t know how she feels about it.” Madam Wang exclaimed.

“No matter how much she didn’t care for him, Qi Zheng was still the legal son of the residence. Do you think she can really do nothing about it? I made inquiries before. Duke An wants to pass the heir position to Qi Zheng.” If that was really the case, wouldn’t Xin’er become a duchess? Plus, with how well-known Qi Zheng was right now, their lives in the future would be really outstanding.

Madam Wang smiled. “Then I’ll go try again tomorrow.”

Madam Zhou’s personal maid, Yue Ji, hurried inside when they just finished talking. She wore a smile as she exclaimed, “Second madam, second madam…”

“What’s the matter?” Madam Zhou glared at her.

“I heard that the emperor bestowed marriage to Qi Zheng and our young miss.” Yue Ji hurriedly exclaimed.

Madam Zhou was delighted. She hastily stood up and asked, “Really? Quick, call the fourth miss over.”

Madam Wang also smiled. “Congratulations, you’ve gotten your wish.”

“Besides my Xin’er, who else is worthy of Qi Zheng?” Who else could the emperor bestow marriage to besides Xin’er?

Madam Zhou called a housekeeper in. “Did the Lord return yet? This is a grand occasion in our family. We mustn’t neglect this. I need to discuss with the Lord. We have to make sure Xin’er gets enough dowry.”

Since the emperor had bestowed marriage, obviously they couldn’t be too stingy.

The housekeeper replied, “The Lord is back. He’s talking to the eldest master and second lord in the study.”

Madam Zhou couldn’t contain her smile. “Ah, they must be talking about Xin’er and Qi Zheng’s marriage. What could these men come up with? They should let women be in charge of this.”

Nanny Li smiled sarcastically hearing Madam Zhou’s words. She didn’t even wait for someone to report her presence. She just walked in and exclaimed, “Second madam is smiling so happily. Are you happy for the third miss’ marriage?”

“Why should I be happy over that girl’s marriage?” Madam Zhou hmphed. She glared unhappily at Nanny Li. “Nanny Li, you are stepping out of your boundaries. You don’t even place me in your eyes anymore.”

Nanny Li smiled and obediently greeted. “Old Madam wants this maid to bring you a message. Third miss has lost her mother at a young age so her marriage will naturally be managed by the elders in the family. It’s the third miss’ honor that the emperor had bestowed marriage to her as well as the Shen Family’s. Second madam, troubling you to manage and take care of third miss’ marriage.”

Madam Zhou’s pleasant expression gradually turned into a confused one. “What bestowed marriage? Jiao Jiao also got a bestowed marriage?”

Nanny Li smiled. “Right, third miss was bestowed upon marriage with the eldest master of Duke An. Second madam, you don’t know about this yet?”

Look at her expression. She really thought that the emperor had bestowed marriage for her daughter?

If the Lord didn’t hand over his military power, Shen Ziqiao, that stupid girl, wouldn’t be that lucky! Nanny Li felt uneasy. She wondered just what sort of luck Shen Ziqiao had run into!

Madam Zhou’s expression turned ashen completely this time.

It was Shen Ziqiao! It was actually that bitch!

When Madam Wang saw her expression, she didn’t dare to stay any longer. She made up an excuse that there was something urgent in her family that she needed to attend to before leaving.