“Eh?!” He Ketian’s eyes suddenly widened.

She had only felt an inexplicable sense of crisis because of A’Ke’s call of “Second Brother Lu,” and then due to this crisis, she instinctively wanted to eliminate potential romantic rivals. Based on feminine intuition, she always felt that Lu Chi treated Shi Fa Ke differently…

But big brother actually agreed?!

She thought she would be mocked as usual…

He Ketian’s gaze toward He Kexian gradually became strange.

Under his sister’s strange gaze, He Kexian remained composed. He said with a straight face: “I’ve thought about it seriously. This marriage affair of yours is very troublesome, and the current situation is simply not easy to resolve… But we can make the best of a bad situation. I’ll go to the Shi family to propose marriage to A’Ke. This way, the matter between you and that Shi Chonghai boy can be explained to outsiders as a misunderstanding.”

“Would this… work?” He Ketian was somewhat doubtful.

No one was a fool, after all.

“Of course, there might be some rumors at first, but as long as I marry A’Ke, over time these rumors will naturally collapse on their own.” He Kexian said seriously: “After all, if I marry A’Ke, the matter between you and Shi Chonghai definitely cannot proceed.”

Otherwise, wouldn’t it become an exchange marriage? That was something only families too poor to afford wives would do. The Shi and He families would never do such a thing.

He Ketian listened… well, it seemed to make sense, and she couldn’t help but be moved, “Brother, you’re so good to me.”

He had both resolved her current predicament and eliminated a potential romantic rival for her. What a good brother!

He Kexian smiled, “Who told me I only have one sister?”

A’Ke was not a sister, not before, and never would be in the future.

Hearing this, He Ketian was even more moved, “Brother, I’ll never again say you’re stingy, nitpicky, bad-tempered, unreasonable, and unsympathetic.”

“…Hmm?” He Kexian’s eyebrows unconsciously raised high.

So his sister had always disliked him this much?

“You’re the best brother in the world!” He Ketian realized she had gotten excited and let something slip, so she quickly tried to remedy it, praising him with all her might.

He Kexian’s mouth twitched. He narrowed his eyes and suddenly said: “Ketian.”

“Hmm?” He Ketian blinked hard, trying to create a starry-eyed look of admiration.

“…Are your eyes having spasms?” He Kexian really couldn’t hold back anymore.

He Ketian choked and finally returned to normal.

Seeing her return to normal, He Kexian then said: “Everything has a purpose. Have you thought about what the purpose might be for the person who spread this matter?”

“They have a grudge against me?” He Ketian said without hesitation. She had already discussed this question with A’Ke earlier. After all, she had an unlikeable personality, and there were far more people in Copper Gong Town who disliked her than liked her…

She was quite self-aware.

He Kexian was speechless for a long while before saying: “But the prerequisite is that people who have grudges against you don’t know about your marriage discussions with Shi Chonghai. If we think from another angle, the person who spread this matter aimed to force this marriage to continue…” He Kexian narrowed his eyes and led her on: “Then who do you think would be the beneficiary?”

He Ketian stared blankly, and a baby face suddenly popped into her mind.

“It couldn’t be him.” He Ketian firmly rejected the idea.

“Oh? Who is this ‘him’ you’re referring to?” He Kexian asked meaningfully.

He Ketian couldn’t help but roll her eyes at her brother, “Brother, you should change this habit of saying half sentences and leaving half unsaid. Is this beating around the bush interesting? You’ve already fed the words to my mouth, so why are you still pretending to be innocent? You want to say that the person who spread this matter was Third Brother Shi, right?”

Hey… she had just said he was the best brother in the world.

“However, it couldn’t be Third Brother Shi.” He Ketian shook her head.

“Oh?” He Kexian raised an eyebrow, “Why are you so certain?”

“Third Brother Shi, he…” He Ketian thought for a moment, not knowing how to describe it, paused and then said: “He’s not that kind of person.”

He Kexian looked at his foolish sister, and his expression suddenly became somewhat subtle, “Let’s hope so.”

Shi Fa Ke naturally didn’t know yet that the He siblings had already suspected her third brother, nor did she know that the He siblings were each harboring ulterior motives and scheming to marry her into the He family. Her heart felt heavy as if pressed by a large stone, and she hurried home, directly bursting into Third Brother Shi’s study.

There was no one in the study; Third Brother Shi hadn’t returned yet.

Feeling anxious, she simply sat in the study to wait. While waiting for Third Brother Shi to return, she repeatedly thought through the entire matter and how to handle the aftermath… Then she remembered she had promised Ketian that when Second Brother Lu returned, she would help propose to him on her behalf, and suddenly felt that the whole matter seemed to have come full circle back to the starting point.

Hmm, perhaps Second Brother Lu’s marriage had always been going in circles without being settled because He Ketian was his destined match?

At this time, in Lanzhou, at Flying Phoenix Stronghold on Thousand Cliff Mountain, in order to help the naturally shy Zhu Yanyan quickly integrate into this big family, the entire Lu family was engaging in a leisurely activity that was beneficial to both body and mind… mushroom picking.

The above were Xu Feiqiong’s original words.

In fact, Lu Ting had already run off with Xu Feiqiong long ago, gone to who knows where, not even a shadow could be seen.

As for Lu Zhusi, he was keeping close watch over his new wife. Only the new wife Zhu Yanyan was seriously picking mushrooms, and in no time had gathered a large handful, treasuring them as she put them in the small bamboo basket she carried. She played until her face was flushed red, with crystal beads of sweat hanging on her forehead. Lu Zhusi had to keep pulling her aside to wipe her sweat helplessly.

“Big Brother Lu, I picked so many! We can have fried mushrooms tonight!” Zhu Yanyan said excitedly, her eyes bright and sparkling as if they could glow.

Ever since eating fried mushrooms once at Flying Phoenix Stronghold, Zhu Yanyan had been obsessed with them.

“Mm, Yanyan is so capable.” Lu Zhusi wiped her sweaty forehead and praised her.

Lu Chi, who was alone on the side, felt his eyes ache watching this. He glanced at the small bamboo basket Zhu Yanyan carried – good heavens, it was so full it was almost overflowing, but looking at that pile of colorful things… could these life-threatening things really be fried and eaten?

Speaking of which, ever since his brother got married, he had become increasingly blind! He could actually say such nonsense with a straight face!

If Lady Zhu were here now, she definitely wouldn’t recognize that this vibrant girl was her constantly sickly daughter. It was just that Flying Phoenix Stronghold was becoming increasingly unbearable to stay in. Previously, although his parents were annoyingly lovey-dovey, at least Lu Zhusi kept him company. Now even Lu Zhusi had become like this… what was he supposed to do?!

Lu Chi was feeling indignant when he suddenly felt his nose itch and couldn’t control himself, sneezing several loud sneezes in succession.

The sound was so loud that it startled the birds resting in the forest into flight.

Zhu Yanyan was also startled. She timidly turned to look at Lu Chi… because of the earlier mix-up where she had mistaken him for someone else, she had always been too embarrassed to face her husband’s younger brother.

“A’Chi, did you catch a cold?” she asked with concern.

Mm, she was showing the proper demeanor of a sister-in-law.

Lu Chi rubbed his nose, but his mood suddenly brightened. Even looking at these two paired-up people in front of him didn’t seem so irritating anymore. Therefore, he smiled and said: “I’m perfectly healthy. A’Ke is probably thinking of me. I was just planning to return to Copper Gong Town in the next couple of days.”

Indeed, he had been away from Copper Gong Town for too long.

But distance creates beauty, and appropriate separation might unexpectedly help A’Ke realize his feelings… Thinking this way, Lu Chi couldn’t help but feel pleased with himself.

Zhu Yanyan was stunned… had she heard correctly?

Her brother-in-law was calling A’Ke so intimately? Could there be something between them that she didn’t know about? Thinking of this, and remembering how she had mistaken him for someone else that day, insisting on marrying Lu Chi and even asking A’Ke to be a matchmaker… it must have put A’Ke in a difficult position. She couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

“Heh.” Seeing his wife’s embarrassment, Lu Zhusi gave Lu Chi a cold laugh.

“Lu Zhusi, what do you mean?” Lu Chi raised an eyebrow at Lu Zhusi, dissatisfied.

Lu Zhusi smiled slightly, “Miss Shi thinking of you is true, but what she’s probably thinking about is… how to arrange a good marriage for you.”

Lu Chi paused, then snorted and turned to walk away with a flourish of his sleeves.

What could he say? He lacked confidence! Could he say there was actually this possibility?!

No way, he had to return to Copper Gong Town tomorrow. After all, there were quite a few wolf pups coveting A’Ke, and he couldn’t give those wolf pups any opportunity to take advantage of!… This sudden sense of crisis made Lu Chi immediately decide.

However… the next day Lu Chi was unable to return to Copper Gong Town as planned, because something extremely incredible happened – his mother had actually become pregnant in her old age!

Of course, this is a story for later.