Facing the Pei Residence's towering fury, Lin Zhenyue and his son remained utterly fearless.
The father and son had plotted every step, each move striking with precision. From the very beginning, they had calculated the Pei Residence's fatal weakness to the letter.
Today, the grand procession of a marquis swept through the city with ceremonial music, carriages and horses passing through the streets as they ostentatiously came to seek marriage.
In secret, they had spread word that Lin Jingtan wished to marry Pei Qingyuan and that the two residences had entered into a marriage agreement, stirring the entire city into an uproar until everyone knew.
They had completely blocked off the Pei Residence's retreat, leaving them no room to go back on their word.
Before coming, they had already dispatched large numbers of people to spread the news everywhere.
In less than half an hour, from common folk in the markets to high-ranking nobles, all of Peace Prefecture knew.
If the Pei Residence turned hostile now, broke off the engagement, and overturned the agreement between the two residences, outsiders would not know of the struggle beneath the surface. They would not know that Lin Jingtan had delayed the wedding date, nor would they know of the Marquis Residence's schemes.
The world would only insist that the Pei Residence's legitimate daughter had secretly pledged herself to another, changed her mind morning and night, repeatedly reneged on her engagement, and possessed improper character.
When that time came, Pei Qingyuan's reputation would be utterly ruined. She would never again find a suitable marriage in her lifetime and would become the laughingstock of the entire prefecture.
Worse still, outsiders would mock the Pei Residence for currying favor with the powerful, being fickle and capricious, changing agreements for profit, and possessing none of the bearing