It's Cui Zilu

Cui Shifan knew exactly when to raise his voice and when to lower it, when to speed up and when to slow down.

He knew precisely which tone, which expression, and which gaze to use at any given moment.

Every bit of his performance at this moment was the essence of decades of refinement.

It wasn't meant to deceive anyone, but to make every person present believe.

He was just an old father, exhausted from worry over his children.

As for how much calculation, how much probing, and how many undercurrents of court maneuvering lay beneath that?

Well, that was another matter entirely.

Luo Zhao shifted her gaze from Cui Shifan to Shangguan Yunying.

Shangguan Yunying stood beside her, her back straight, her hands clasped in front of her, her expression calm, her posture graceful.

It was exactly the same as any ordinary day.

But Luo Zhao saw Shangguan Yunying's fingers trembling slightly, the two hands clasped together.

Her fingernails were digging into her own flesh, leaving a few faint white marks.

Her lips were pressed tightly together, so tightly that they had lost all color, leaving only a pale line.

Her breathing was also very shallow, so shallow that it was almost impossible to see the rise and fall of her chest.

It was as if she was using every ounce of her strength to suppress something that was about to burst out of her throat.

Luo Zhao looked at Shangguan Yunying like this and suddenly felt a pang of unease in her heart.

She knew that Shangguan Yunying was nervous, was afraid, was waiting for Cui Shifan to speak her name.

Like a knife being drawn from its sheath, gleaming brightly, pressed against Shangguan Yunying's neck.

After all, Cui Shifan was the Senior Grand Secretary, and behind him stood the formidable Qinghe Cui clan.

The weight of taking the initiative to go to the other party's home to propose marriage, let alone for Luo Zhao herself—

Even if Shangguan Yuan were here right now, he would have to seriously consider it.

Because this was no ordinary marriage proposal; it was a political alliance.

It meant the first marriage between the aristocratic families of the Divine Capital and the Luo Capital.

That was why Shangguan Yunying was so flustered—the implications behind this were simply too vast.

So vast that even if her personal will resisted and refused fiercely,

it was still as fragile as glass before the will of coalition interests.

This wasn't an impossible alliance; it was a very possible one.

But the premise of that possibility was Gu Chengyin's absence.

Even now, Luo Zhao still had a doubt lingering in her mind:

Why did Cui Shifan come to propose marriage to Shangguan Yunying right after Cui Zhenji resigned?

How was that any different from slapping Gu Chengyin in the face?

Since Cui Shifan dared to slap Gu Chengyin, why would he let Cui Zhenji resign?

Wasn't that a contradiction?

It was like losing both his wife and his army.

After Cui Shifan finished speaking, he didn't look at Shangguan Yunying.

He shifted his gaze away from Luo Zhao and turned his head toward Gu Chengyin.

Then he spoke a sentence that Luo Zhao and Shangguan Yunying had never expected:

“Junior Preceptor Gu, are you willing to marry my Zilu?”

The moment those words were spoken, the main hall fell silent.

Time stopped. The air froze. Even the light seemed to congeal.

All sounds vanished in that instant.

The birdsong outside the window, the wind howling under the corridors, the faint hum of the underground heating beneath the golden bricks—

every sound was suddenly strangled by an invisible hand, cut off mid-course.

There wasn't even the sound of breathing.

Luo Zhao’s breath caught at the word “Zilu.”

Shangguan Yunying’s breath also caught at “Zilu.”

Cui Shifan’s own breath stopped at the word “willing.”

In the entire main hall, only Gu Chengyin was still breathing.

Steady and long, as if nothing had happened.

As if he was not even slightly surprised by this turn of events.

Luo Zhao’s eyes widened.

So wide that her pupils pressed against the edges of her sockets.

Her mouth opened slightly, then closed, then opened again.

She wanted to say something, to ask something, to confirm something.

But it was as if something blocked her throat—she couldn't utter a single word.

Luo Zhao’s mind was racing, replaying Cui Shifan’s words from just now.

Every word was seared into her brain like a branding iron, burning her to the point of numbness.

Zilu.

Cui Zilu.

Not Cui Zilong, but Cui Zilu!

The only and most beloved daughter of Cui Shifan, the Eldest Miss of the Cui family, the legitimate daughter of the Qinghe Cui clan!

Cui Shifan hadn’t come to propose on behalf of Cui Zilong.

He had come to propose on behalf of Cui Zilu.

He wasn’t trying to marry Shangguan Yunying; he was offering Cui Zilu to Gu Chengyin!

Luo Zhao’s brain completely shut down in that moment.

All her preparations, all her countermeasures, all the conversational strategies she had rehearsed a thousand times in her mind—

they all crumbled into useless, broken fragments scattered across the floor.

She had never imagined Cui Shifan would propose on behalf of Cui Zilu.

Never.

Because she had never, ever associated the two names “Cui Zilu” and “Gu Chengyin.”

One was the Eldest Miss of the Cui family, the other the Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince.

Those two had indeed spent some time together before.

But so what?

That was only a temporary collaboration.

Besides, Cui Zilu wasn't even in the Divine Capital right now.

So how could these two names ever be linked?

How could they possibly be linked by Cui Shifan through a marriage proposal?

But Cui Shifan had done exactly that.

Right in front of the Crown Prince, right in front of Shangguan Yunying, the Eldest Miss of the Shangguan family.

He had placed the name “Cui Zilu” together with “Gu Chengyin.”

And sandwiched between those two names was the word “proposal.”

Shangguan Yunying stood rooted to the spot, motionless.

Her expression had frozen the moment Cui Shifan said “Zilu.”

Frozen in a state she herself couldn’t define.

Shock? Fear? Anger?

None of that.

It was bewilderment.

Like being shoved from behind and falling off a cliff—

but not yet hitting the bottom, still floating in midair, with no foothold anywhere.

Shangguan Yunying’s mind kept replaying Cui Shifan’s words over and over,

like a stuck needle skipping across the same groove in a vinyl record:

“Are you willing to marry my Zilu?”

“Are you willing to marry my Zilu?”

“Are you willing to marry my Zilu?”

Not her.

It was Cui Zilu.

Her best friend.

Cui Zilu was going to marry Gu Chengyin?

No, not going to marry—she was being proposed to.

Cui Shifan was proposing on behalf of his daughter to Gu Chengyin.

Shangguan Yunying was utterly stunned, staring blankly at Gu Chengyin.

From beginning to end, Gu Chengyin hadn’t said a word.

He simply held Cui Shifan’s hand, watching him with a smile, as if he were an old friend telling a very amusing joke.

His expression had not changed one bit since Cui Shifan’s words ended.

Still that brilliant smile, still those eyes curved into crescent moons.

Still that face, smiling, showing no trace of a flaw.

“Pavilion Elder Cui,”

Gu Chengyin finally spoke, his tone exactly the same as before,

carrying that irresistible familiarity and ease:

“Are you...”

“Trying to marry Zilu off to me?”