Chapter 553 - 206: Claiming Kinship (Part 3)

Chapter 553: Chapter 206: Claiming Kinship (Part 3)

The Chengyi Bo Mansion also helped the founding Emperor establish his dynasty. In fact, their ancestor was a subordinate of Mr. Xu.

The Xu family wisely withdrew from military life to pursue scholarly endeavors, but the Chengyi Bo Mansion lacked such foresight. They wanted to press on and achieve further military glory, hoping to elevate their noble rank.

Mr. Xu was not optimistic about their chances, but it was another family’s affair. A word or two of caution was all that was appropriate. They were all adults, capable of thinking for themselves. It wasn’t that they didn’t understand, but that different personal considerations led to different choices. Saying more wouldn’t earn him any gratitude and might instead cause them to resent his meddling.

So, Mr. Xu simply left them to it.

As it turned out, Mr. Xu was right.

The Chengyi Bo Mansion’s frantic maneuvering gained them nothing. In fact, because of their lack of tact, the new Emperor, after ascending the throne, was frequently displeased and often rebuked them.

Far from raising their rank, Yan Gao’s arrogance led him to bungle an important task, and the Emperor nearly stripped the Chengyi Bo Mansion of its title.

That terrified the Chengyi Bo Mansion, and they finally fell in line.

After falling in line, they took the initiative to get closer to the Xu family again, hoping to unite their families through marriage.

As it happened, Yan Cheng of the Yan family’s younger generation was accomplished in both literature and martial arts. He was also strikingly handsome and dignified—a truly outstanding young man.

Mr. Xu took a liking to him, so he didn’t stand in the way, letting matters take their course.

Yan Cheng was very fond of Xu Suying.

From a young age, Xu Suying was adorably fair-skinned, clever, and sharp-witted, endearing her to everyone in the Xu family, young and old.

She wasn’t just beloved within the Xu family. Across the entire Capital City, who didn’t know the eldest daughter of the Xu family?

She was a young woman of brilliant and lucid intelligence, yet also shrewd and kind. She could get along with anyone and everyone. From the princesses and Commandery Princesses in the palace down to the daughters of minor Sixth-Rank officials, there was no one who did not like her.

Xu Suying had no shortage of suitors, but Yan Cheng was the most "sincere" one among them.

The event that made Xu Suying resolve to marry Yan Cheng happened on the Lantern Festival. She had gone out to admire the lanterns and was nearly abducted by human traffickers.

As the knockout drug took effect, Xu Suying’s consciousness began to fade. The last thing she saw before blacking out was Yan Cheng charging after her without hesitation.

Yan Cheng’s leg was broken in the process. It was the price he paid to buy enough time for rescuers to arrive, allowing them both to escape to safety.

Once Yan Cheng’s leg healed, the two were betrothed and decided to marry once Xu Suying turned eighteen.

But things took an unexpected turn.

A year later, Yan Cheng’s grandfather fell critically ill. The Imperial Physicians came several times but couldn’t save him. Yan Cheng’s grandmother, in her desperation to find a cure, found a Monk to perform a ritual.

The Monk then proposed the strategy of warding off bad luck with a joyous occasion.

At the time, Yan Cheng was the only one in the Yan family who was engaged. Furthermore, as the eldest legitimate grandson, if such a joyous event were to take place, it naturally had to be his wedding.

But Xu Suying had just reached marriageable age and had been raised with the utmost care and privilege; the Xu family was hardly willing to marry her off so hastily.

When the Xu family expressed their reluctance, the Yan family had Yan Cheng find a way to persuade them.

Yan Cheng invited Xu Suying out to admire the flowers. His real intention was to appeal to her heart and her reason, hoping to persuade her to agree to the joy-warding marriage into the Yan family.

But unexpectedly, an accident occurred during their flower-viewing outing.

"The story at the time was that the rented boat was old and in disrepair. The planks were rotten, and it took on water and listed, causing it to capsize. Everyone fell into the water. It was just that my aunt was terribly unlucky and fell right into a whirlpool..."

"A whirlpool? How could there be a whirlpool?" De’an asked. His voice cracked with anxiety.

The others also frowned at his words, their gazes fixed on Xu Yanlin. But they too had a dreadful feeling, and their lips were pressed into thin, pale lines.

Why would there be a whirlpool in a perfectly calm river?

Had there been a recent downpour?

’My mother falling into a whirlpool... was it an accident, or was it deliberate?’

"There had indeed just been a torrential downpour... Afterwards, we poured all our efforts into searching for my aunt, and for a time we neglected to investigate the boat. By the time we came to our senses and wanted to verify whether this was an accident or deliberate, the boat had been ’accidentally’ destroyed by fire."

"It was deliberate," De’an sighed softly.

"It was indeed deliberate. It’s just a shame that we started looking too late, and every clue was destroyed. But our search wasn’t entirely fruitless..."

"How so?" everyone asked, looking at Xu Yanlin with anticipation.

Xu Yanlin said, "You just have to see who stood to gain the most. That person is almost certainly the culprit."

"Who stood to gain the most?"

"The wife of Mr. Chengyi, and her niece."

He then provided a detailed explanation.

The wife of Mr. Chengyi was considered to have married up when she joined the Chengyi Bo Mansion. Wanting to elevate her maiden family’s status, she frequently invited her nieces and nephews to the mansion after securing her own position there. Her motives were clear to everyone.

During those years, there were even rumors circulating that the wife of Mr. Chengyi intended to betroth her son to her own niece, thus making the two families doubly related.