Chapter 56: Ma Chao's Calculations

  If one's father says something on behalf of someone else, it is likely that he is thinking of the family and even if one feels wronged, they will still agree.

  But this pottery merchant, let alone all of Xuzhou, even in neighboring provinces, his notorious name is probably well-known to everyone.

  She never thought that, although it's almost impossible for someone from her family background to have the right to choose their own husband. But her father actually betrothed her to such a person, she really couldn't accept it, and tears of grievance welled up in her eyes.

  Mò Tàigōng's heart ached for his daughter, but the interests of the family were paramount to him. His daughter couldn't be compared to the entire family, and she had already promised Táo Qiān, so he tried to persuade her in vain.

  Zhen finally had no choice, although her own happiness might be gone in a few years, but for the sake of the family and her elderly father, she eventually agreed with tears. Although she verbally agreed, in her heart she told herself that there was nothing good to make her father change his mind at present. Once there is a good opportunity, she will definitely do everything possible to make her father change his mind, and her lifelong happiness depends on her own efforts.

  Unexpectedly, the opportunity had arrived. Today, Mu Zhen thought of finding her father to have a good chat with him again, and as a result, she happened to see Ma Chao being led into the courtyard by a servant from outside the mansion to pay his respects to Mu Tai Gong.

  Ma Chao is indeed too handsome, even more so than his own brother. Moreover, Mu Qian feels that there's something different about Ma Chao compared to others, which is what attracts her the most, to the point where she fell in love with him at first sight. Thinking about it, Ma Chao's soul isn't from ancient times after all, so when combined, he indeed has a unique quality that sets him apart from people of this era, but who would have thought that this would become a charm that attracts beauties?

  Zhi Zhen's cleverness naturally knew that the visitor was a guest coming to visit her father, so she didn't go to find Zhi Tai Gong again, but instead returned to her own inner courtyard.

  After returning, she let her maid Yan'er go to that side to inquire about the situation of today's visiting guests. Yan'er took orders and left. Zou Jing felt that her opportunity might have really come.

  After a while, Yan'er came back and told her about Ma Chao's situation. Of course, this intelligence was all obtained from the people at the gate, Fufeng Ma Chao Ma Mengqi, although she had never heard of this person, but Zou Xiu knew that he was looking for his father on some business. However, she didn't know what it was about, so she let Yan'er keep a close eye on Ma Chao's actions again.

  Yan'er went again, and one by one reported to Mou Zhen everything he had heard and seen. From Ma Chao having chatted with Mou Tai Gong for more than two hours, to Mou Tai Gong arranging rooms for Ma Chao and his men, to Mou Tai Gong hosting a banquet for Ma Chao and the two of them, accompanied by Mou Zhu and Mou Fang, Mou Zhen knew all about these things.

  It was an idea that had formed in her mind, and she would rather marry Ma Chao than that mediocre pottery merchant. Although she didn't know what kind of person Ma Chao really was, from the feeling she got when she saw him at the time, apart from thinking he was handsome and had a unique temperament, Ma Chao also gave her a sense of integrity, so she thought that such a person would not be someone with poor conduct or morals, and was definitely not comparable to the pottery merchant.

  After Mo Zhen had her own thoughts, she wanted to find Mo Tai Gong to have a good talk, and the previous scene reappeared.

  When Zou Taigong said that he couldn't go back on his word and cancel the engagement, Zou Xian smiled slightly.

  "Father, you are wrong. Yesterday's engagement was just a verbal agreement and nothing more. Can a marriage be settled by just talking about it?"

  "You, you, you really want to make Father do that kind of thing?" Marquis Taigong valued honesty and also cared about saving face. If you let him, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to directly call off the engagement.

  "No, Father, how could daughter let you do such a thing?" Zou Xi was indeed very familiar with her own father.

  "Not the best!"

  Taoyuan is now indeed regretful, shouldn't have agreed to Tao Qian. Now the Dragon Rider is in the mansion, no one is more suitable than Ma Chao. Why didn't this kid come a few days earlier, two days would be enough, but now it's too late to say anything.

  "Father, I think Ma Mengqi is quite good. He's much better than that Tao Shang, if someone like Ma Mengqi becomes my brother-in-law, I agree!" The speaker was Lao Er Fang, Fang had started speaking up for Ma Chao because he would be receiving guidance from Cui An early tomorrow morning.

  "What do you know! You have no right to speak here!" shouted Mu Tai Gong at Mu Fang.

  Mao Fang immediately fell silent, to say that at home, he was most afraid of his father and younger sister, secondly his older brother. In other words, Mao Fang feared everyone in the family, it can also be said that this person had been timid since childhood, these are things that cannot be helped.

  Although Mu Tai Gong scolded Mu Fang a few times, after Mu Zhen heard her second brother's words, her face turned red immediately. To say that there is indeed a love at first sight in the world, such as Mu Zhen's feelings for Ma Chao. Ma Chao's temperament and appearance were all attractive to him. And from what she learned from her father, Ma Chao was also a very capable person, so she naturally thought that Ma Chao was her ideal husband.

  She stole a glance at her second brother and cast him a grateful look. That meant to say, thank you second brother for supporting little sister.

  Zhen leaned in close to Tai Gong's ear, laughing as she said a whole bunch of incomprehensible things. All that could be heard was Tai Gong furrowing his brow one moment and relaxing the next, shaking his head one moment and nodding it the next, with an expression on his face that was as colorful as it could get.

  After Mu Zhen finished speaking, Old Man Mu sank into deep thought for a long time. Then he opened his mouth and said, "Alright, it's also the only way to do so now. For the rise and fall of the family, for your happiness, Zhen Er, I'll do as you say! As your father, I will try my best, actually, I also hope that you can marry Ma Mengqi, only this son can match up to my precious daughter!" After finishing speaking, Old Man Mu laughed loudly.

  Zhen's face turned bright red, after all, she was a young girl, and it was normal for her to be shy.

  "Dad, you're teasing me." Zhen'er pouted again.

  "Alright, nothing else, I'll just head back first." Zao Taigong really couldn't take his daughter's tantrums anymore and just wanted to make a quick escape.

  While Zhen finished saying what she had to say, there was naturally nothing more to be done. "See off Father and two elder brothers!"

  Then the three men of the Mei family left Mei Zhen's room, and Mei Zhuo, who had not spoken all along, walked at the end. He took advantage of the opportunity to pull Mei Zhen down and said to her: "Little sister, Ma Mengqi is a good person, it would be great for him to be my brother-in-law! You have a good eye!" After finishing speaking, Mei Zhuo smiled and left, leaving only Mei Zhen's red face.

  "Hum! You all bully me!"

  Although she said so, her heart had already blossomed. Now that she has the support of her family, Zhen believes that she and Ma Chao's affair will succeed, perhaps this is what they call fate or predestined relationship.

  By noon of the next day, Lady Mi called a servant to invite Ma Chao alone. Before long, Ma Chao came to see her.

  "Junior nephew has seen uncle!" Ma Chao made a courtesy to Lady Mi Zhuang.

  "Good nephew, no need for too much courtesy, please sit down!"

  Tai Gong is still thinking, this "Xian Zhu" (nephew) title is already quite close, but if only it could be changed to "Xian Xu" (son-in-law), that would be great. Although they differ by just one character, the difference between them is really too big. When can this Xian Zhu become Xian Xu? From the current situation, it's truly not easy.

  "Has the young master ever been married?" asked Mrs. Mei.

  Ma Chao was taken aback at first, and didn't expect that Zou Ci would say this, "Never."

  "Is there an engagement?"

  Ma Chao thought of saying no, but he immediately changed his mind. If he said no, although it was the truth, he still didn't know what this old man was up to, and if he told the whole truth, he would inevitably be at a disadvantage.

  So he kept an eye on him and said: "Yes!"

  Tai Gong thought it was a pity, but if Zhen married him, even if she couldn't be the main wife, being a concubine wasn't unacceptable either. He didn't continue to ask further, fortunately he didn't ask again, or else Ma Chao would have been exposed for sure, he couldn't come up with anything else.

  "This is no big deal." Zou Taigong nodded again, but Ma Chao was confused, what did "no big deal" mean.

  "What does Uncle mean?" Ma Chao asked in confusion.

  Mou Tai Gong sighed and said, "To be honest with you, my Mou family has encountered a big event recently. Because of this matter, it's possible that our cooperation in business may not work out!"

  Ma Chao's heart skipped a beat, this is really what he feared would happen. At this time, the grain business should have started operating, but who knew that at this critical moment, they said they couldn't cooperate? How could he not be anxious? This doesn't make sense, if the Ji family can't cooperate, why didn't they say so yesterday? Was it something that just happened today? Ma Chao was full of questions.

  "Worthy nephew may be puzzled, yesterday everyone discussed it quite well, how did I, the old man, change my mind today? To say that this matter is all because of me, the old man. Yesterday, due to the appearance of the Xuanlu sword, I got too excited and forgot such an important matter!"

  So, Taogong told the story of Tao Qian seeking a marriage for his son Tao Shang, but he turned it into a governor of a state who came to force a marriage for his son and finally had no choice but to agree.

  This is not all, the old man also said that Tao Qian let him take out half of his family property as dowry. He was making up nonsense while thinking to himself, "Ancestor, you can't blame me for this. A friend who doesn't die together with a poor friend, although you never said those words, but after knowing each other for so many years, I still understand what kind of person you are. That day you fooled me, fortunately, I have reacted now."

  Although Taigong Wang was saying that Tao Qian was not good to Ma Chao, he did not feel much guilt in his heart. For old foxes like them, what they care about most is their family and their own interests. Previously, Tao Qian had thought that he could not be too forceful with familiar people, but in the end, for the sake of his own son, for his own benefit, he went to ask for a marriage with a thick face.

  He thinks he didn't take advantage of his power to bully others, but in reality, as the governor of a state, this is an unchangeable fact. You go to someone's house to ask for their daughter's hand in marriage and say you're not the governor, but just a father who wants the best for his son, but can they possibly treat you like an ordinary person?

  You Tao Qian is just a humble commoner, and it's unlikely that he would even be able to enter the gates of the Wei Manor. In the end, Lady Wei had no choice but to agree, seemingly moved by the situation at the time, but in reality, she only agreed because of your identity as the Governor of Yizhou.

  Yi Lai Mei Taigong felt that the marriage between the two families would be beneficial to the development of their family, and secondly, he was afraid of Tao Qian, so he said that if Tao Qian did not assume the identity of a governor, this matter would also disappear.

  Ma Chao listened to the words of Mei Taigong and thought that Tao Qian and Tao Gongzu were too detestable. You want to gain both wealth and power, it's really a clever plan. With your eldest son's character, you should be clear about it, but you still have the nerve to come and ask for marriage. Although Ma Chao had never met Mei Zhen, from the records in the book, Mei Zhen gave Ma Chao a pretty good impression.

  After hearing Tao Qian's "evil deeds", he slapped the table and stood up, saying "Tao Gongzu deceived people too much!" The long table in front of him was directly broken by Ma Chao. This scared Mi Taitai to death, thinking that Ma Chao looked harmless, but unexpectedly had such a big temper, and his kung fu was quite good, really, you can't judge a person by appearance. Just like this, Mi Taitai again labeled Ma Chao as a dangerous character.

  The long table was broken, and Mother Zhuang ordered the servants to replace it with a new one.

  Ma Chao calmed down and apologized to Mu Taigong, "I have frightened Uncle, it is a fault of this junior!"

  Ma Chao's temper wasn't originally this bad, but he was actually still a hot-blooded young man despite not being in his teens. More importantly, the business had been settled with Tao Qian and others yesterday, but today Tao Qian and his son suddenly appeared out of nowhere, causing the deal to fall through.

  This is not all, the cooperation with the Ma family directly relates to his own ideals and ambitions, so Ma Chao was really excited and couldn't hold back.

  "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. My good nephew is a true character, can't stand seeing the likes of Tao Gongzu bullying others with his power and influence! I completely understand, old man that I am!"

  Zhang Fei did not dare say anything else. What he was thinking more about now was what Ma Chao would do after finding out that he had been deceived and played a trick on him.

  He became even more determined to make Ma Chao his son-in-law, and he would stop at nothing to make it happen, or else he wouldn't be able to live with himself like that.

  After seeing Ma Chao calm down, Lady Mi continued: "Although things seem to be the case now, it's not that there is no room for redemption at all!"

  Ma Chao's eyes lit up, "I wonder if Uncle has a solution?"

  "Good nephew, just now the old man asked you if you were married or had any marriage plans, it was actually for this reason. If there's a way to resolve this, we'll still need your help, good nephew!"

  "No problem, Uncle. Nowadays we are all in the same boat, helping you is helping myself. Please tell me, what do I need to do? As long as it doesn't violate morality or break the law, and it's within my power, I'll definitely do my best!"

  "This is wonderful! This matter cannot be done without a wise nephew!" Zou Taigong was overjoyed, never expecting Ma Chao to fall into his own trap so quickly.