Su Qishan listened in silence and said nothing for a long time. Looking into his daughter's bright, candid eyes, he felt both comfort and bitterness.
He was comforted that she had grown so confident and composed, with more courage and responsibility than he had possessed at her age.
The bitterness came from the fact that, as her father, he understood better than anyone what truly lay behind this marriage alliance. It was not a political marriage driven by Grand Elder Su Boyong's selfish desires, nor a decision that a vote at the Family Assembly could change. It was an agreement personally made by the Su Clan Ancestor.
What was at stake was not merely the Su Clan's standing, but also a secret between the two patriarchs concerning that legendary realm.
Unless the patriarch himself relented, anyone's opposition would be futile.
But he did not tell Su Qianxue any of this. Since his daughter possessed such courage and resolve, he had no reason to back down.
Su Qishan looked at his daughter with an aching heart and said softly, "Since you've made your decision, I'll go with you to tomorrow's clan assembly."
Early the next morning, in the Su Clan's Ancestral Hall.
Su Boyong sat to the right of the seat of honor, with Su Zhenchuan standing behind him. Su Zhenhai sat farther down, sipping unhurriedly from a teacup, while Su Wenhao stood in a corner with an indifferent expression.
More than thirty members of the Su Clan's direct line and collateral branches were seated there, all figures whose words carried weight within their respective branches.
Su Qianxue stood in the center of the Ancestral Hall and, neither servile nor overbearing, repeated what she had told her father the day before.
Her voice was not loud, but everyone in the Ancestral