But she thought this approach was quite good.

Love requires passion and romance, but marriage needs calmness, rationality, and practicality.

Love is like freshly baked bread—no matter how warm or sweet it is, once past its expiration date, it changes flavor. It’s impossible to make it last forever; the best outcome is for it to transform into familial affection.

In modern times, she didn’t believe in love, let alone in this ancient era where three wives and four concubines were legal, women found divorce extremely difficult, and even after separation, they couldn’t take their children with them.

She gazed at the man across from her.

Lu Guanyi was undoubtedly sincere and honest at this moment, and to some extent, he did like her.

The fatigue and dishevelment revealed during difficult travels most truly display a person’s real character. Throughout their journey to Huizhou, Lu Guanyi had shown himself to be clean, not noisy, calm in the face of problems, decisive in handling matters, and though appearing cold, not lacking warmth in his heart—

He was considerate and caring toward his subordinates, and would quietly instruct them to provide supplies and silver to villagers facing acute illness or hardship. Yet this assistance always had limits; he wouldn’t be blindly charitable.

Most importantly, though he was only seventeen or eighteen, perhaps due to his upbringing, his mind was relatively mature. At least in terms of mental age, he wasn’t far from her.

Thinking about it this way, Ye Yaming had to admit that when she urgently needed a marriage partner to resolve her difficult situation, the man before her was the only one she could accept, and perhaps the best choice.

Moreover, he didn’t require immediate marriage, but rather an engagement with marriage after two years. This gave her a buffer period—if she found the arrangement unsuitable, she could find a way to dissolve the marriage.

Seeing Ye Yaming staring at him, neither moving nor speaking, Lu Guanyi suddenly felt a bit anxious.

If the woman across from him were someone he didn’t care about, perhaps he could have maintained his calm composure; but because he cared, he ultimately became worried about gain and loss.

He strove to maintain his composure, suppressing the flutter of panic in his heart, and said to Ye Yaming, “This is a significant matter. You don’t need to answer me now. Think about it first, discuss it with your family, and then give me your response.”

With that, he nodded to Ye Yaming, stood up, and walked out.

Soon after, the voices of Ye Chongming, Qi Ji, and Lu Guanyi could be heard outside, growing fainter as they moved away.

Then, Bai Rui’s voice sounded from outside: “Miss, may we come in?”

“Come in,” Ye Yaming stood up and walked to the soft couch by the window to sit down.

Bai Rui led several maids in to clear away the tea set.

After they left, Ye Chongming hurried in.

He waved for Bai Rui to leave, then moved close to Ye Yaming and asked, “Yaming, what did Young Master Lu say to you just now?”

Seeing the old man looking sneaky with his eyes sparkling, face full of expectation, and a hint of teasing in his gaze, Ye Yaming felt helpless.

She gestured for Ye Chongming to sit down, then said, “He said perhaps he could get engaged to me to solve the Duke of Ying’s trouble. This way, his stepmother couldn’t force unsuitable women on him as a wife.”

This was what Lu Guanyi had mentioned when explaining his family situation.

Originally worried that he might have children immediately after marriage, after Lu Guanyi’s fiancée died, Lady Shi had delayed arranging another engagement for him. Later, when others started gossiping and she could no longer delay, she sought women for Lu Guanyi who appeared fine on the surface but had serious problems underneath—not only to disgust him but also to damage his reputation. After all, how could a title be inherited by a cuckold? Who knew if the children born to his wife would be of the Lu family?

So if Ye Yaming agreed, Lu Guanyi would have the Crown Prince represent the groom’s side, with either Grand Master Zhineng or Princess Imperial Yuning as the matchmaker, to become engaged to Ye Yaming.

With the royal family’s seal of approval, neither his stepmother nor the Duke of Ying’s family would be able to scheme against their marriage.

While chatting with Qi Ji next door earlier, Ye Chongming had countless guesses in his mind, but whenever his thoughts turned toward marriage, he would stop himself, reminding himself not to indulge in wild fantasies.

The social status gap between the Ye family and the Marquis of Xuanwu’s household was simply too great. Even if Lu Guanyi had feelings for Ye Yaming, he could only take her as a concubine, never as a wife.

And Ye Yaming would never agree to be a concubine!

Now, hearing Ye Yaming’s words, he naturally assumed Lu Guanyi wanted to take Ye Yaming as a concubine, and amid his shock, he immediately became angry.

“No, absolutely not. How dare he? How could he do this?” He paced angrily around the room for two circles. “Recently, I saw that he and Young Master Qi were very respectful toward you. How could he take advantage of the situation and insult you by offering to make you a concubine?”

“No, I’m going to speak with him,” he said, about to rush out.

Ye Yaming quickly stopped him: “Grandfather, he didn’t mention being a concubine. He should mean… as a wife.” By the end, she suddenly became uncertain.

Because in her mind, the option of being a concubine had never existed.

And judging from Lu Guanyi’s attitude, although his words lacked explicit terms, his words, actions, and demeanor were genuinely expressing his feelings and proposal.

So she had never considered the possibility of “taking a concubine.”

Thinking carefully now, Lu Guanyi had only said “marry me,” without specifying whether he meant to take her as a wife or a concubine; later he did say “once you become my fiancée,” but that wasn’t definitive either.

With Ye Yaming’s reading comprehension abilities and intuition, although she felt Lu Guanyi most likely wouldn’t be so terrible, it wasn’t impossible.

Seeing Ye Yaming’s hesitation, Ye Chongming said, “Tell me exactly what he said, word for word.”

There was nothing that couldn’t be shared, so Ye Yaming repeated Lu Guanyi’s words.

After hearing this, Ye Chongming also hesitated, stroking his chin and saying, “From the sound of it, it seems he truly likes you and wants to marry you as his wife?”

Ye Yaming couldn’t nod to this statement.

She said, “This matter can’t be left ambiguous; we need to clarify it.”

She tugged at Ye Chongming’s sleeve, with a slightly coquettish tone, “Grandfather, before this matter is clear, I don’t want others to know. Could you personally help me ask him?”

“Of course, I was planning to ask him myself anyway,” Ye Chongming said.

Someone had come to propose to his granddaughter. As an elder, how could he not personally inquire about it? Should he send a servant instead?

No sooner said than done.

He immediately got up and went to the Lu residence.

The Lu family wasn’t far from the Ye family. By the time Ye Yaming had practiced writing a piece of calligraphy, Ye Chongming had returned.

One look at his smiling face told Ye Yaming the answer without asking.

“When I asked if he meant to marry you as a wife or take you as a concubine, he looked at me in disbelief and said, ‘How could it possibly be as a concubine?’ Even for marriage, he’s worried about you suffering grievances.”

Ye Chongming’s eyes crinkled with his smile: “That young man truly likes you.”

Due to differences in social status, even with his advanced age, Ye Chongming had always placed Lu and Qi in a position of higher status worthy of respect, always addressing them as “Young Master.”

Now, knowing that Lu Guanyi liked his granddaughter, he was so elated that he even called him “young man.”