"Xueji, I have to say a few words in Li Zhi's defense here."
Xu Mingxuan suddenly spoke up. "Li Zhi has decent talent in the Martial Way, and he grew up with us. He's the right age, still unmarried, and we know him inside out."
"Huh, why does he sound more suitable the more I say?"
Xu Mingyuan pondered for a moment. "It seems that, apart from us brothers, Li Zhi is about the only person in the entire Commandery Seat who could be considered worthy of you."
"Second Brother, Third Brother, won't either of you help me?" Xu Mingshu stamped her foot in anger.
"Could it be that you mind him having once been our household servant, Xueji?" Xu Mingxuan frowned. "Then you're in the wrong. Father has always taught us not to judge people's worth by their status."
"Besides, he's a good friend of mine."
"Of course not." Xu Mingshu shook her head. "How should I put it? Li Zhi is a good man, but he isn't someone I like that way."
"Love is actually a very complicated thing," Xu Mingyuan said with feeling. "Look at me and your third brother. We'd only met your sisters-in-law once or twice before marrying them, yet aren't we deeply attached to each other now?"
"But I see Li Zhi as an older brother. How am I supposed to reconcile that sort of affection? Am I to add the love between siblings to it?" Xu Mingshu's brows knitted tightly, her fingertips unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes. "If that works, then you and I could do the same as brother and sister."
"Stop talking nonsense!" Xu Mingwei slammed his hand onto the Bronze Paperweight on the desk with a resounding bang, his voice booming like a great bell. "We share the