Chapter 252: Mad Couple 12

Hearing Wu Chufeng’s words, Wu Daniu’s brow furrowed even more deeply.

He said gravely, “Chu Feng, do you truly mean that? Marriage is a serious matter, not a child’s game. You need to think this through!”

Wu Chufeng smiled, a hint of resolve in his tone:

“Father, of course I mean it. Miss Ji is intelligent, clever, and kind-hearted. She’s the ideal wife for me. I’ve made up my mind. I’ll marry no one but her.”

A flash of glee appeared in Wang Cuihua’s eyes when she heard Wu Chufeng, but she quickly hid it.

Her attempts to stop him just now had been nothing but an act.

‘After all, she couldn’t let Wu Daniu think that she, the stepmother, was actually eager for Wu Chufeng to ruin himself.’

‘Now that Wu Chufeng was insisting on marrying no one but Ji Xiaosong, she’d done her part to dissuade him. There was no need to say more.’

She lowered her head, the corners of her lips curling up slightly as she schemed to herself:

‘If Wu Chufeng marries a country bumpkin, his wife’s family won’t be able to offer him any support. For me and my son, this is an absolute godsend.’

‘That way, Wu Chufeng’s standing in the Wu Family will surely suffer, which means my son will have a much better chance of inheriting the family assets in the future.’

She lifted her head, her face a mask of concern and her voice frail:

“My lord, since Chu Feng has already made up his mind, it’s not our place to say much more. It’s just… Miss Ji is from the countryside, after all. I’m afraid she’ll have trouble adjusting to life in the Capital City. The Wu Family is a family of status and reputation. If word of this gets out, I fear we’ll become a laughingstock.”

As she spoke, tears welled in her eyes, and her voice dripped with feigned injury:

“My lord, I’m only thinking of our Wu Family’s reputation.”

Wu Daniu’s face turned livid when he heard Wang Cuihua’s words.

He slammed his fist on the table, his voice trembling with rage. “Enough! Cuihua, shut your mouth! It’s not your place to meddle in Chu Feng’s marriage!”

Startled by Wu Daniu’s furious shout, Wang Cuihua’s face went pale.

She lowered her head, her voice tinged with hurt. “Yes, my lord.”

Wu Daniu turned to Wu Chufeng, his eyes blazing with fury:

“Chu Feng, do you have any idea what you’re saying? You’re the eldest son and heir of the Wu Family! How can you marry a country bumpkin? Your granddaughter, Xiao Mumu, marrying that freeloader Li Zhixiao was embarrassing enough! Now you want to marry a village girl, too? Are you deliberately trying to anger me to death?”

A cold glint flashed in Wu Chufeng’s eyes upon hearing this, and his tone was laced with sarcasm:

“Father, you’re showing a bit of favoritism. Besides, must the Wu Family’s reputation be maintained by marrying a bride from a noble house?”

He finished, his gaze sweeping over Xiao Mumu and Li Zhixiao, who were standing off to the side. His voice was still mocking. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mumu?”

Wu Daniu was left speechless by Wu Chufeng’s retort, and his expression grew darker.

He shot to his feet, his voice thundering with rage:

“I am your father! Your marriage is for me to decide!”

“That’s rich, Father. I grew up in the wilderness, never eating a bite of the Wu Family’s food or wearing a scrap of its clothing. Why weren’t you thinking about managing me back then? But now that I’m grown, you suddenly remember you get to manage my marriage?”

“You’re a man. What’s so wrong with enduring a little hardship?”

“So because I’m a man, it’s only right that I suffer? But when Wu Wanqing was cast out with her mother, you were consumed with guilt and had to compensate her. What kind of logic is that!”

“I don’t care what you say, I will not agree! I’ve fought and scraped my whole life, and it wasn’t so you could drag this family back into the mud!”

“Hah. And Xiao Mumu isn’t dragging us backward? Why don’t you open your eyes and take a good look at what kind of person Li Zhixiao is?”

At Wu Chufeng’s words, Xiao Mumu’s gaze grew even more evasive.

“Uncle, what do you mean by that? Zhixiao… he became a scholar on his own merit!”

Wu Chufeng sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm:

“On his own merit? Mumu, that’s rich. Don’t you know perfectly well where Li Zhixiao got his exam questions?”

Standing off to the side, Ji Xiaosong heard Wu Chufeng’s words and instantly understood.

‘So Li Zhixiao had only become a scholar because Xiao Mumu had pulled strings for him in secret.’

Her gaze fell on Xiao Mumu. The girl’s face was pale and her eyes were darting about—clear signs that the accusation had hit home.

Wu Chufeng sneered, pulling a stack of letters from his sleeve and tossing them onto the table. His voice was ice-cold.

“Father, if you don’t believe me, feel free to look at these letters. Xiao Mumu went to great lengths to ensure Li Zhixiao would become a scholar. She used your name to take soldiers and threaten the official who wrote the questions, forcing him to leak the exam. If something like this were to get out, the Wu Family’s reputation would be truly and utterly ruined.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Daniu snatched the letters from the table.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot you can’t read, Father. How about I read them to you?”

Wu Chufeng selected the most damning pieces of evidence and read them aloud. The more Wu Daniu heard, the angrier he became, his face flushing a deep red.

Finally, he slammed the letters to the ground and glared furiously at Xiao Mumu. “Mumu, you… How could you do such a thing!”

Xiao Mumu trembled at Wu Daniu’s roar, and tears instantly welled up in her eyes.

She dropped to her knees with a THUD, her voice trembling. “Grandfather, I… I was just thinking about Zhixiao’s future! He would have been devastated if he hadn’t become a scholar! I… I had no other choice…”

Li Zhixiao stood to the side, his face ashen and his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

He kept his head down, daring neither to meet Wu Daniu’s eyes nor Wu Chufeng’s mocking gaze.

Trembling with rage, Wu Daniu pointed a finger at Xiao Mumu and roared:

“You… you foolish girl! To do something that so disgraces our family, and all for Li Zhixiao! Do you have any idea what would happen if His Majesty were to find out about this? The Wu Family would be finished!”

Seeing this, a flicker of malicious glee flashed in Wang Cuihua’s eyes, but she quickly hid it.

She hurried forward, feigning a placating tone. “My lord, please don’t be angry. Mumu just wasn’t thinking clearly. Since it’s already happened, we should focus on how to fix this.”

Wu Chufeng sneered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Fix this? How? By continuing to cover for them? Father, if you keep indulging them, it’s a question of whether the Wu Family will even survive. Or do you want to go back to being a mud-legged peasant?”

At Wu Chufeng’s words, veins bulged on Wu Daniu’s forehead, and his fists clenched so hard his knuckles cracked.

He slammed his fist on the table, so hard that the teacups jumped and splashed tea all over the floor.

“Insolence!”

Wu Daniu’s roar thundered through the hall. “Wu Chufeng, are you lecturing your own father? Do you even see me as your father anymore?!”

Wu Chufeng was utterly fearless, his gaze as sharp as a knife as he stared directly at Wu Daniu.

“Father, I respect you as my elder, but you must also be reasonable. The reputation and future of the Wu Family are not for you to decide alone. If word gets out about what Xiao Mumu and Li Zhixiao have done, it could lead to the execution of our entire clan! Are you going to keep playing deaf and dumb?”