CHAPTER 372: CHAPTER 365: I’M JUST A FACE-LOVER 7

Xu Pengju and Mrs. Xu returned to their quarters. As soon as Mrs. Xu entered, she began to nag.

"Master, I think Baobao is right; we only have this one daughter. Instead of marrying her off, why not let her hold a sitting-in ceremony to attract a suitor?"

Xu Pengju contemplated for a moment: "This matter requires careful, long-term planning."

"You’d better hurry it up, though."

Mrs. Xu urged: "The Yue Family is just waiting to marry our Baobao. If we delay, I’m afraid it might become complicated to arrange."

Xu Pengju’s face darkened slightly, he clenched his fists tightly and ground his teeth in thought for a long while: "Tomorrow you tell people outside that Baobao’s illness has worsened again. Make sure the servants in our household appear distressed, and find more doctors to treat Baobao."

Mrs. Xu immediately knew what Xu Pengju was up to.

She agreed at once.

Anning watched Xu Bao’er fall into deep sleep before she sat up.

She gazed at the bright moon outside the window for a long time. Then, she put on her clothes and stepped outside.

Standing in the courtyard, Anning raised her head to the sky, closing her eyes and concentrating hard to communicate with the Heavenly Dao.

After a long while, Anning opened her eyes, revealing a faint smile at the corners of her mouth.

So that was it.

She nodded and returned to the room. This time, she went to sleep peacefully.

Actually, the first time Anning saw Xu Pengju upon arriving in this world, she found it very strange.

If Xu Pengju looked down on the integrity of the Yue Family, if he was unwilling to let Xu Bao’er marry Yue Zhong, what he should have done was to cancel the marriage arrangement, not to try to swap brides.

After all, swapping brides would entail far more effort than simply calling off the match, which would be more straightforward and trouble-free.

Moreover, Xu Pengju was a man of deep feelings and loyalty.

He Juren had previously saved his life. After He Juren’s death, he and Mrs. Xu had always been exceptionally kind to He Anning, taking care of her as if she were their own daughter.

With only Xu Bao’er as a daughter in his household, Xu Pengju had thought that having He Anning and Xu Bao’er grow up together would mean they could look after one another once they were both married.

He Anning had been raised in the Xu Family for many years, and being clever and agile, as well as very filial to Xu Pengju and Mrs. Xu, how could Xu Pengju not have developed feelings for her?

Not to mention raising a person, even raising a cat or a dog, one would develop affection.

Xu Pengju truly cherished He Anning, far more than Yue Zhong, who he could barely see once or twice a year as a future son-in-law.

By such reasoning, in terms of both emotion and rationale, the marriage Xu Pengju should be calling off is with the Yue Family, not to harm He Anning.

Yue Zhong’s father and Xu Pengju were very close friends. He did not want to tarnish his reputation, and he also did not want to fail his friend by calling off the marriage.

However, not only was He Anning’s father a close friend of Xu Pengju, but he was also his lifesaver. Xu Pengju didn’t want to let down Mr. Yue, but how could he justify failing He Juren?

Moreover, the matter of swapping brides couldn’t be kept secret forever.

Once the girls had gotten married, it would only be a matter of days before the entire Qingyuan County would learn of Xu Pengju’s bride swapping, and how would that reflect on the Xu Family’s reputation?

Moreover, in doing so, Xu Pengju would also offend the Xiao Family.

All things considered, there’s no way Xu Pengju should make such an unwise decision.

Anning didn’t know where the mistake had occurred, leading Xu Pengju to bungle things in a moment of confusion.

She had just now communicated with the Heavenly Dao of this world and discovered that there were some special people in this world.

Among these special people, there were Qi Refiners, some Feng Shui Masters, and even some Wizards.

Anning became aware of the existence of these people, thus she wondered whether it was the work of such a person, at a crucial moment taking control of Xu Pengju, making him choose to swap the bride.

Now, Xu Pengju appears to be normal, which should mean those people haven’t made their move yet.

Anning planned to wait a bit longer, to see what exactly was the situation.

Yue Family

Entering the study, Yue Zhong took out a talisman paper from a book.

This talisman paper was given to him some time ago after he had helped an Old Madam who had no sons or daughters and seemed very down on her luck. She bumped into Yue Zhong as he was passing by.

Not only did Yue Zhong not blame the Old Madam, but he also took her to see a doctor and bought her food.

The Old Madam, to thank Yue Zhong for his help, gave him a talisman and said this talisman had been passed down through her family. Using it could change a person’s mind, compelling them to act according to your wishes.

At the time, Yue Zhong did not believe it, but seeing that the talisman had a certain ancient charm, he took it home.

He never used it, just kept it within a book. Now, taking it out, Yue Zhong wanted to give it a try.

He resorted to using this kind of talisman because he was truly out of options.

Yue Zhong thought of the rapidly approaching day of his marriage to Xu Bao’er, and Anning would soon marry into the Xiao Family. If Anning got married, then everything would be too late.

He decided to risk it all and give it a try, regardless of the outcome. At least he would have tried.

Indeed, Yue Zhong had always liked Anning.

After Anning’s father, He Juren, passed away, Anning was taken to the Xu Family. At that time, Yue Zhong happened to visit the Xu Family for learning purposes and encountered little Anning who had just arrived.

Anning had just lost her father at that time and looked extremely sad.

The young girl, in plain clothes, was walking some steps behind Xu Pengju, stumbling a bit, tears swirling in her eyes, yet she stubbornly refused to let them fall.

When she saw him, Anning politely nodded at him and offered a smile.

She was so heartbroken, yet still tried her best to smile, probably not wanting others to pity her.

A girl so stubborn and strong instantly captured Yue Zhong’s heart.

Afterwards, he began to pay attention to Anning. As the years passed, he grew fonder of her, more than once dreaming of marrying her.

However, Anning had been betrothed from a young age, and he too had been engaged to Xu Bao’er since a young age. The thought of marrying Anning was nothing but wishful thinking.

Now, Yue Zhong wanted to give it a try, to try with all his might. If it succeeded, he would get his heart’s desire.

Even if it didn’t, nobody would know he had done such a despicable thing.

Yue Zhong laid the talisman flat on the table, then took out a strand of Xu Pengju’s hair he had secretly collected during his visit to the Xu Family, pricked his fingertip with a needle, and dripped a drop of blood on the talisman, placing the hair on it as well.

Afterward, he burned the talisman with a Fire Talisman, silently wishing for Xu Pengju to surely marry Anning to him and Xu Bao’er to Xiao Yuan.

Once everything was over, Yue Zhong was drenched in cold sweat.

He didn’t even bother with bathing or changing clothes, he just sat for a while and then went to sleep.

Anning suddenly opened her eyes when the sky was about to brighten.

She felt a ripple of Spiritual Power from the main house of the Xu Family, as if someone had cast a spell.

Anning sat up in her clothes, calculated by pinching her fingers.

Soon, she had a clear understanding in her heart.

So it turned out, all of this was done by Yue Zhong.

In that case, when dealing with him later, he couldn’t consider himself wronged.