Although Qi Ji had no prospects for an official career and turning to merchant affairs wasn’t ideal, the Qi family was an established official family with deep roots, making them considerably more powerful than Prefect Lü Xuanlin, who came from a small landlord background. Moreover, Qi Ji’s elder and second brothers were both successful.

With the support of two brothers and a solid family foundation, even if Qi Ji didn’t achieve great success in the future, his life would certainly be comfortable.

Furthermore, after conversing with Qi Ji, Lü Xuanlin discovered that he had clear logic, flexible thinking, and was well-read. Moreover, he was willing to travel and conduct business even in the bitter cold, showing he was hardworking and perseverant.

Among the sons of prominent families, these were extremely rare qualities.

Most importantly, their precious daughter was almost seventeen and had yet to find a talented young man she approved of. Madam Lü had been worrying herself sick over this.

Now that she had finally taken a liking to Qi Ji, and since Lü Xuanlin’s official rank was comparable to Qi Ji’s father’s, and his daughter had both good character and appearance, Lü Xuanlin believed that if he proposed this match, there would be a seventy percent chance of success.

But he hadn’t anticipated that upon meeting Lu Guanyi today, Lü Yan would immediately transfer her affections. Lu Guanyi was even more handsome than Qi Ji and had a stronger presence. When Qi Ji was with him, he followed Lu Guanyi’s lead, only able to play the role of a younger brother. Naturally, Lü Yan, who greatly admired strength, found Lu Guanyi more appealing.

Although neither Lü Xuanlin nor Lü Yan had explicitly mentioned marriage to Qi Ji or Lu Guanyi, after meeting Qi Ji, Madam Lü and Lü Yan began asking whether he was married or engaged. Upon learning he was neither married nor engaged, not to mention Madam Lü, even Lü Xuanlin’s attitude became noticeably warmer.

After Lü Yan met Lu Guanyi at noon today, her infatuated gaze was impossible for Qi Ji and Lu Guanyi to ignore. Lü Xuanlin and his wife then began inquiring about Lu Guanyi’s marriage situation.

Listen to the tone of their words, hear the sound of the gong and drum—if they didn’t understand the Lü family’s intentions, they would be fools.

Ye Yaming was a young lady, and they didn’t have a deep friendship, so Qi Ji didn’t feel comfortable complaining about Lü Yan in front of her. He only made this vague statement before stopping.

He believed that with Ye Yaming’s intelligence, she would understand his implied meaning.

Without him saying anything, from the moment she saw Lü Yan, Ye Yaming understood the situation they were facing.

She said, “We’ve already analyzed various situations before. The worst-case scenario is that we only buy tea mountains without building a teahouse. We originally came here planning to buy tea mountains, so even if we don’t build a teahouse, the loss isn’t significant. Xin’an isn’t prosperous enough; building a teahouse here wouldn’t generate much income anyway.”

Seeing that Ye Yaming immediately understood and was so considerate, without a hint of complaint, Qi Ji felt touched.

“Things haven’t reached the worst stage yet,” he said. “Prefect Lü has invited us to a banquet tonight. I’ll mention our cooperation proposal to him then. If he insists on exchanging it for something else, we can always abandon the idea of building a teahouse.”

Regardless of what happened, he and Lu Guanyi would never sell their lifelong happiness for the sake of building a teahouse.

Not to mention that Lü Yan’s fickleness—falling for every man she met—made them wary, but even if she were perfect in every way, neither Qi Ji nor Lu Guanyi would agree to this marriage.

Was their worth only equal to a teahouse?

Ye Yaming nodded, “As long as you know what you’re doing.”

After leaving the courtyard where the Ye family was staying and returning to their quarters, Qi Ji asked Lu Guanyi, “What are your plans regarding marriage?”

For himself, although his mother had been continuously arranging introductions for him in the past two years and urging him to settle down, his parents would listen to his opinions and wouldn’t arbitrarily arrange an engagement for him.

Lu Guanyi’s situation was different. His family circumstances were complicated, with a hostile stepmother, Madam Shi. Madam Shi had always been concerned that Lu Guanyi would marry a wife from an illustrious family and have children early.

If that happened, her son wouldn’t even need to think about inheriting the title.

After being reminded of this, Lu Guanyi’s grandfather had immediately arranged an engagement for him with a daughter from a collateral branch of the Duke Wei’s household.

Unfortunately, that girl had died from a fall from her horse just after coming of age.

Naturally, the Duke Wei’s household suspected Madam Shi, but despite thorough investigations, they couldn’t find evidence that anyone had deliberately sabotaged her. The incident appeared to be accidental. Thus, both Duke Wei’s household and Lu Guanyi had to let it go.

But this incident had a profound impact on Lu Guanyi.

From then on, he was unwilling to become engaged, fearing he would harm another girl.

A rumor also spread in the capital that Lu Guanyi’s destiny was to bring misfortune to his wife.

As a result, Lu Guanyi was almost eighteen and still neither engaged nor married.

However, Lu Guanyi was the eldest legitimate son of the Marquis of Xuanwu, and his half-brother Lu Guanyu, born to his stepmother, was only two years younger. If Lu Guanyi didn’t marry, Lu Guanyu couldn’t marry either, and the prominent families in the capital would criticize the Marquis of Xuanwu and gossip about Madam Shi behind her back.

To demonstrate that she wasn’t a wicked stepmother, Madam Shi would certainly arrange an engagement for Lu Guanyi within the year. After all, Lu Guanyu was already sixteen this year and could get married.

As for Lu Guanyi’s future wife, she would naturally be someone who appeared fine on the surface but had various flaws beneath. The fact that this marriage hadn’t been proposed yet suggested they hadn’t found a suitable candidate.

In other matters, the Crown Prince could help Lu Guanyi. But in the matter of marriage, he couldn’t override Lu Guanyi’s parents’ authority.

As a good friend, Qi Ji naturally worried for Lu Guanyi.

Seeing Lu Guanyi remain silent, he said, “Although this Miss Lü is a bit fierce, she’s quite innocent, with all her thoughts written on her face. Regardless, she’s better than whoever your stepmother would arrange for you.”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have immediately followed them to find Ye Yaming upon hearing that they were traveling with a young lady who wasn’t related to them.

As a result, when Ye Yaming displayed her full presence, Lü Yan was frightened away.

Although she might be a bit impulsive when seeing someone attractive, she was still a good girl.

“Prefect Lü may not have a distinguished background, but he’s reached his current position, which shows he’s capable. Having such an in-law would also add points for you in the Crown Prince’s eyes.”

Hearing Qi Ji’s increasingly inappropriate words, Lu Guanyi turned to glance at him. “Putting everything else aside, just considering Miss Lü’s temperament, do you think she could withstand even a few moves from Madam Shi?”

Qi Ji was momentarily at a loss.

After thinking about it, he shook his head helplessly. “Indeed, she couldn’t.” She wouldn’t last even half a move; she might die without even knowing how it happened.

“Alright, we’ve been busy all morning. Let’s rest for half an hour. This afternoon, we’ll visit the Tea Monopoly Bureau,” Lu Guanyi stood up, preparing to return to his room.

“Hey, you…” Qi Ji wanted to stop him, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he changed his mind and followed Lu Guanyi into his room.

Lu Guanyi ignored him, accepting a wet towel handed by a servant to wipe his face and hands before sitting down and silently looking at Qi Ji.

Qi Ji waved to the servants, “All of you, go out.”

Once the servants had all withdrawn, he moved closer to Lu Guanyi and whispered, “What do you think of Miss Ye?”