Meanwhile, Meng Zhao had not neglected to win over and integrate the various powers, great and small, in Lingwu City.
He secretly sent Night Cat to investigate the female relatives of several major powerholders, screening them for those who caught his interest as he prepared to make a move.
The first to receive word was Old Master Xun. He was advanced in years and had many sons and daughters, but the branch of his eldest son was still the one most favored by him. In particular, his son Xun Min was proper in conduct, filial and respectful by nature, and not lacking in means.
He was fully capable of shouldering the responsibility of maintaining the Xun Family and even leading it to prosperity and growth.
Xun Min also had many children. Among them was a daughter named Xun Wenjun, sixteen years old, graceful and beautiful. She was skilled in poetry and painting, gentle and virtuous, and was a renowned talented beauty in Lingwu City, deeply cherished by her family.
Yet on this day, Old Master Xun received a hint from someone of the Meng Family that Meng Zhao seemed interested in his talented granddaughter and wished to form a marriage alliance.
Next came the Ding Family Patriarch and the Zhuo Family Patriarch. Each likewise had a daughter of both fine character and appearance whom Meng Zhao had taken a fancy to. He sent Dou Xi to their doors to drop a few hints.
Since it had been Dou Xi's suggestion, Meng Zhao let him handle the matter as he saw fit.
An ordinary person could not have handled this well. It demanded tremendous ability, like walking a tightrope—one misstep, and one could plunge to one's death.
It was not that Meng Zhao's appetite was too great, wanting the women of