Guan Muyun had no response. Ruojin wasn’t the Shen family’s biological daughter, so it wasn’t surprising they treated her coldly.

The Duke’s wife was angry, but Duke Ling was more practical. He understood that Ruojin was still the companion of Princess Hui’an from the Eastern Palace, and her maternal grandfather was the former Grand Tutor, Luo Xin’s father. Offending such influential figures wasn’t an option. He warned Guan Muyun that canceling the marriage would make their family a joke. However, if the Shen family was unreasonable, the two shops and two farms initially promised as Ruojin’s management after the marriage would be withheld.

Lady Lingguo protested, “Didn’t we agree to handle this after Yun’er got married? Why is the master changing things?” Duke Ling replied that while Tang Yizi’s dowry was generous, he couldn’t favor one son over the other, as it would spoil their brotherly relationship.

Now it seemed like a mistake to propose marriage to the Shen family. Ruojin might have had good looks and a decent background, but without family support, Lady Lingguo feared she would bring little to help Guan Muyun in the future.

After the imperial court’s recent praise of the King of Chu, he was in a good mood and went out to celebrate with friends. Meanwhile, Ji Yanming was assisting with an investigation in Jinzhou, and there had been no news from him. His aunt, Su Jia, had returned to her parents’ home. Tao Sheng was filled with joy after receiving the imperial decree but had no one to share it with.

At this moment, Xie Huaian came to visit Tao Sheng and said “Congratulations.”

Tao Sheng welcomed him warmly, ordering Liu Mian to prepare tea and snacks, saying, “Master Xie is well-informed.”

Xie Huaian smiled, “It’s not that I’m well-informed. The imperial decree appointing you as the eighth-rank music director at the Imperial Music Bureau was drafted by me.”

“So it was you who wrote the decree for His Majesty,” Tao Sheng said with a smile, “Master Xie’s literary skills are remarkable.”

Although, she thought, some of the words and allusions were so difficult to understand that she nearly missed their meaning.

Xie Huaian noticed the slight stiffness in Tao Sheng’s expression but still sincerely said “thank you” in response to the compliment.

“I heard that Brother Ji has been away for almost a month. Is there any news about when he’ll return?”

“I thought investigating such a case was very confidential, so I didn’t ask too much,” Tao Sheng replied. “My family hasn’t received any correspondence recently, nor any news from my cousin.”

“The Ministry of Justice is handling the case, and that’s about all we know,” Xie Huaian said. “But don’t worry, the Imperial Guard has sent someone to protect the adults, and Brother Ji should be safe in Jinzhou. By the way, I haven’t seen Madam Su around lately. I was thinking of visiting her today.”

“My grandfather’s health has been poor, so my aunt went back to her hometown to take care of him,” Tao Sheng said.

The performance of the Oriental zither Shop that her aunt runs has been average. Most of its income comes from advertisements, and it has become stable. When her aunt heard about her father’s condition, she hired a professional manager to handle the shop and went home to visit her father.

In other words, the elders in the family left on a long trip, and the only son of the family was assigned a distant mission by his superiors, with no certain return date.

Xie Huaian came from a large family with many members. His father had many concubines, and he had numerous siblings. His sisters rarely left home, only visiting temples in groups with five or six maids.

Xie Huaian expressed concern about Tao Sheng’s situation: “Isn’t it dangerous for you to live alone?”

“There’s a little phoenix sent by the Prince of Chu to guard the house. This house was given by the Emperor, so no one would dare to cause trouble,” Tao Sheng replied.

Su Jia used to take Ji Yanming with her to study in various places, and she often thought of traveling. However, living in the western part of the city wasn’t peaceful, and it wasn’t easy to travel with a girl like Tao Sheng, who was waiting to be married.

Now that they had moved to the inner city, Su Jia no longer had such concerns. Before leaving, she told Tao Sheng that once her father recovered, she might travel for several months before returning.

Xie Huaian could see that Tao Sheng was in a good mood today. She had a faint smile, her eyes were bright and lively. She looked like a so-called “lively beauty.”

Looking at her, Xie Huaian felt moved: “There’s a poetry meeting at Qingping Villa today. I have two invitations. Is Miss Luo interested?”

“I’m not going,” Tao Sheng said without hesitation. “I’m not good at poetry. I heard the third-place winner is very talented, but are you planning to show off your skills?”

Xie Huaian sighed. “I want to go, but I don’t at the same time. I’m in a dilemma.”

Tao Sheng was curious. “Why’s that?”

Xie Huaian explained the issue troubling him lately.

In the past few days, Guan Muyun, the son of Duke Ling, asked to borrow a large sum of money. He wanted to buy a shop on Sanyuan Street, but the owner was asking for a high price. Guan didn’t have enough money and needed to borrow some urgently.

Xie Huaian muttered as he spoke. In their circle, Guan Muyun was always seen as the wealthiest. Because of disputes between legitimate and illegitimate children in his family, Guan’s mother had secured a lot of money for him from Duke Ling.

Xie Huaian asked why he wanted the shop, and Guan said it was for his upcoming marriage.

However, Xie Huaian found this strange because when a duke’s son gets married, the family handles the wedding arrangements and expenses.

Tao Sheng also thought it sounded odd. She suddenly remembered that a few days ago, Shen Ci came to the Ji family to borrow money to buy makeup for his sister. The concierge didn’t let him in, as they didn’t know him, and without Tao Sheng’s permission, he wasn’t allowed inside.

If Shen Ci came to the Ji family, he must have already borrowed money from others, meaning this wasn’t just a small dowry; it involved a large sum.

And now Guan Muyun was borrowing money to get married…

Tao Sheng pieced things together. There must have been an issue at the Wenyuan Marquis’s Mansion, so Ruojin’s dowry wasn’t enough. Shen Ci was borrowing money for her, and Guan Muyun was doing the same to buy a shop.

In her previous life, Tao Sheng had heard stories from a relationship blogger. In one live stream, a young woman mentioned that her wedding was approaching, and her boyfriend asked her to help borrow money for the betrothal gifts to save face with her parents.

At that time, viewers wanted to shout, “Wake up! What’s the difference between this and marrying yourself!”

It seemed that there were always people too caught up in love. While ordinary people might borrow money for wedding gifts, it was shocking that Guan Muyun even borrowed money for a dowry.

Who wouldn’t admire the power of love after hearing this?

Tao Sheng asked Xie Huaian, “So, will you lend him the money?”

Xie Huaian chuckled. “I haven’t even saved enough to marry my own wife. How can I spare any?”

He knew that Guan Muyun wanted to give Shen Ruojin a proper dowry. But in his view, marriage was about uniting two families, living together, supporting future children, and contributing to the family’s legacy.

Guan Muyun, once a respected duke’s son, had now become hard to understand because of his actions for a woman.

Xie Huaian even questioned whether Guan was as smart as everyone said, considering the puzzling decisions he made.

Tao Sheng remembered that in the original story, Guan Muyun had always supported the prince in the early stages. Later, he became an important advisor to King Rui and a close minister after King Rui came to power.

With this in mind, perhaps the characters in the original story were not very intelligent. If even Guan Muyun, who was love-obsessed, could become King Rui’s advisor, then what did His Royal Highness the King of Chu lack? Wouldn’t it be easy for him to make a comeback?

Tao Sheng suddenly felt very confident about King Chu’s future.