Fan Zehao thought to himself, a rough man like him, what kind of person could possibly like him?
Anyone who fancied him didn't care about him as a person; they were either after his princely status or his wealth. Only his wife was different; she genuinely liked him.
This wasn't him bragging. It was because when he married his wife, he had nothing.
"Niece, though I'm a bit younger than your father, I can still be your uncle. If I were to call you 'big sister,' then I'd be a generation younger than your father. That simply won't do!"
Wang Hui bit her lip, looking at Fan Zehao, then at Zhao Jiaqi. She glared at Zhao Jiaqi fiercely, said nothing, and turned to run away.
Zhao Jiaqi watched the retreating figure and kicked the person next to her, "Your good niece ran off. Aren't you going to chase her?"
Fan Zehao chuckled, revealing a row of pearly white teeth. His tongue could be seen trembling.
"Let alone a niece, even if the Four Great Beauties came, I wouldn't spare them a glance!"
He placed his hand on Zhao Jiaqi's, squeezing it tightly. "Before, you weren't jealous, and I was starting to wonder if you didn't like me. Now, it seems I'm quite important to you!"
It wasn't sweet talk, but it made Zhao Jiaqi blush. She playfully glided her eyes at him, "Even eating doesn't shut your mouth!"
While the two were sweetly eating, Wang Hui, in contrast, ran back to the front hall and began to cry, hugging her father's leg.
"Father, that Fan Da is such a boring person. He completely ignores my affections. He's a dullard, completely unromantic!"
She cried with great grievance, tears and snot streaming down her face, looking utterly pitiful.
Wang Yuanzhi helped his daughter up, frowning. "If he's unromantic, why are you throwing yourself at him?"
This statement made Wang Hui pout. "Who told me I liked him? Look at him; he's tall and strong, looks healthy and not prone to illness, and his family has money. While he's not strikingly handsome, at least he's not like those young masters in town who attract attention from all sides!"
Wang Yuanzhi listened to his daughter and chuckled. His child was so stubborn. At seventeen, she was still unmarried and hadn't even met a decent man she fancied.
Now she had developed feelings for a married man. This truly left him, her father, at a loss.
"Daughter, we don't know his background, and he already has a wife. I believe their child is no longer young. You're so young, why wouldn't you find someone else? Why insist on being his concubine!"
Upon hearing she was to be Fan Da's concubine, she immediately became unhappy. She stamped her feet and cried out, "No, no, I don't want to be a concubine!"
After shouting, she began to act spoiled with Wang Yuanzhi, tugging at his sleeve and shaking it. "Father, I don't want to be a concubine. At least let me be an equal wife!"
Wang Yuanzhi looked at his daughter's behavior. She was determined to marry that fellow. His head throbbed with pain. He couldn't heartlessly refuse his daughter, so he could only try to placate her, "Alright, Father will ask later. You go back to your room first. When there's news, Father will tell you immediately!"
Wang Hui believed her father, and her tears immediately stopped. She immediately broke into a smile and happily ran back to her room.
The mother, who had been hiding behind a screen, had heard everything the father and daughter had said in the front hall. Seeing her daughter leave, she finally revealed herself.
She sat in a grand armchair, turned to Wang Yuanzhi, and asked with a cold face, holding her prayer beads, "That man already has a wife. Are you still planning to marry our daughter to him as a secondary wife?"
Facing her outburst, Wang Yuanzhi's smile vanished, replaced by a cold expression. He snorted, "So what if he has a primary wife? At worst, he can divorce her, give her some money, and send her away. Then he can marry our daughter, and she'll be the primary wife anyway!"
Wang Zhangshi yelled at him hatefully, "What you're doing is sinful and will lead to a bad end!"
Breaking up a couple just so her daughter could marry him. Not only would the man have to agree, but the woman might not either.
Sinful?
That single word struck him to the heart. His face contorted. He slammed his hand on the eight immortals table, roaring in anger, "If I'm sinful, then where do your silks and satins come from? What you wear on your heads, what you eat, every single thing comes from my 'sinfulness'!"
"If there's retribution, it will fall on you first. Don't pretend to be benevolent and merciful here. Let me tell you, I am the heaven here. If you want to live well, then shut your mouth!"
His sinister true nature was fully revealed to Wang Zhangshi, a stark contrast to the smiling man from before.
Wang Zhangshi seemed to have endured such threats for years. Not only was she not afraid, but she even let out a light laugh, her eyes filled with endless pain.
She also stood up, meeting Wang Yuanzhi's sinister gaze. She sneered, "You're so cruel. Otherwise, Zhang Rui wouldn't have..."
*Slap!*
Wang Zhangshi cupped her left cheek, tilted her head to touch the blood trickling from her lip, and slowly looked up at the enraged man. She taunted, "What, scared?"
Wang Yuanzhi pointed at her nose, his molars grinding together ominously. "If I hear Zhang Rui's name again, I'll strangle you and feed you to the dogs!"
Seeing the killing intent in his eyes, Wang Zhangshi wisely stopped. She straightened her back and said with her head held high, "I don't care what wicked deeds you do, but our daughter cannot marry a man who is already married. This is my condition!"
Wang Yuanzhi flicked his eyelids, his thin lips parting. "Get out!"
Did he really think she would be happy with their daughter marrying someone like that?
After she left, Wang Yuanzhi slumped onto the chair, looking weary despite being only in his early forties. His appearance made him look at least fifty to outsiders.
He reminisced about his sweet times with Zhang Rui, falling into a daze. A sweet smile even graced his lips. But when a servant came in to deliver something, he snapped back to reality. That was a beautiful memory, and only a memory.
Just after lunch, the village chief went out. The special agent secretly followed him, wanting to see who he usually associated with.
When he saw the village chief heading towards the back mountain, he followed, taking a winding path for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, before stopping.
He gestured towards a stone. The stone door actually opened, revealing a narrow passage inside. As they stepped in, the door closed behind them.
It was the first time the special agent had seen such a hidden door. He memorized its location and then retraced his steps along the complex route he had taken to get there.
If he hadn't been clever enough to remember the convoluted path beforehand, finding it on his own in this remote area might have been impossible.
Returning to the village chief's house, the special agent truthfully reported everything he had seen and heard to his master and mistress.