Eastern Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms

Ma Teng couldn't help but feel ashamed when he heard Li Ru's words. Back when Dong Zhuo was still alive, Ma Teng considered Ma Chao and Dong Bai's marriage to be undeniably above his station. Back then, he'd been eager for Ma Chao to marry Dong Bai as soon as possible. But later, despite Dong Zhuo's hasty passing, the Ma family, leveraging their prestige, gradually rose to prominence in Xiliang. But the power of Longxi remained formidable, its military might still formidable. Thus, Ma Chao's marriage to Dong Bai wasn't an insult to Dong Bai, nor was it an insult to Ma Chao.

However, recalling that time, Ma Chao's emotional entanglement with the two women had indeed caused Dong Bai to suffer a lot of injustice. Ma Teng was well aware of these past events. Now that Li Ru had brought up such an old matter, he felt a little ashamed. But now that it had come to this, he could not refute anything. He could only look calm and admit generously, "Sir, you are absolutely right. In this regard, our Ma family is indeed ashamed of the Longxi Dong family. All the past is the fault of the Ma family. I hope you will forgive me."

Li Ru's eyes burned with unquestionable determination. He stared at Ma Teng and said solemnly, "My lord, it's not that we, as subordinates, want to rebel against our superiors. This matter is of great importance. It is Lord Dong's last wish. This marriage must be facilitated. After all, it was Lord Dong's last wish. Moreover, as Miss Dong Bai's elders, we should naturally be the ones to worry about and plan for her in these matters of love."

Ma Teng was stunned at first, then he quickly waved his hands, with a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face, and said: "What are you talking about, sir? This is something I have been dreaming of. When Mr. Dong mentioned this marriage when he was alive, I was so happy and looked forward to the marriage happening as soon as possible." As Ma Teng spoke, he secretly groaned in his heart, thinking about how his son was so worrying in matters of the heart, and who knew how many twists and turns would arise in the future.

Li Ru's tense expression eased slightly upon hearing Ma Teng's statement, and he continued, "Since my lord is not unhappy about this, please listen to me. The Lu family, in their pursuit of wealth and status, has already betrothed the daughter of the Lu family to the emperor as his consort. Therefore, my young master should not harbor any other thoughts about the daughter of the Lu family. Once everything here is concluded and my young master returns to Xiliang, it will be up to you to arrange for him to marry my Miss Dong Bai. There will be no such thing as two women sharing one husband. My Miss Dong Bai will definitely become the principal wife. I believe my lord has no objection to this, right?"

Ma Teng was about to agree when his mind suddenly flashed back to Cai Wenji, now in the mansion. His head ached, his brow furrowed, his face a look of helplessness and distress. He silently berated himself: This brat is good in every way, except for his emotional entanglements, which are such a headache. As his father, I'm practically broken by worry. And now this matter isn't over, and here comes another one. What should I do?

At this moment, the former Dong family generals in the hall all looked sincere. They were wholeheartedly serving the Ma family and were enthusiastically planning for its future. Everyone looked at Ma Teng with burning eyes, their eyes full of expectation, waiting for him to give a positive answer, so that they could take this reassurance and then focus on planning the future of the Ma family without any worries.

Li Ru had originally looked at Ma Teng expectantly, his eyes filled with fervent hope, hoping he would give everyone a clear and firm promise to reassure them. But unexpectedly, he saw Ma Teng's face full of hesitation. He stood there, his lips trembling slightly, his hands unconsciously rubbing his teeth, and he couldn't utter a complete sentence for a long time.

This really annoyed Li Ru. He frowned, a hint of anger flashed in his eyes, and he couldn't help but murmur in his heart, feeling that it was the Dong family who was rushing to force their daughter to betrothal to Ma Chao, making it seem like he was begging the Ma family for a favor. Li Ru was immediately displeased, and a hint of displeasure appeared on his face. He said coldly, "Why, my lord, are you embarrassed by this request of our Dong family?"

Ma Teng's face was filled with a look of turmoil and embarrassment, his brows furrowed tightly as if twisted into an intractable knot. He kept blaming his son, secretly muttering, "This brat keeps giving me all these headaches and troubles. He's really driving my old bones crazy!"

But when he glanced at the former Dong family generals in the hall, he saw that their faces, once filled with joy and anticipation, had gradually changed color, and the eagerness in their eyes seemed to be shrouded in a haze. Seeing this, Ma Teng sighed inwardly, knowing that he could no longer be vague about this matter. He gritted his teeth and decided to reveal the truth.

He said with a face full of shame: "Mr. Wenyou, you, you really misunderstood. It's not that my Ma family is unwilling to accept this marriage, it's really... Alas, it's really shameful to talk about this. It's all my fault, Ma Teng, for not educating my children well." As Ma Teng spoke, he shook his head helplessly, and the bitterness on his face became even stronger.

"Look at this kid, he's a real flirt. He's not just involved with Miss Lu and Miss Dong Bai, but now there's also Cai Wenji standing in the way. You know Ma Chao's temperament; he's always stubborn and willful. If I were to make a decision on something so crucial to his life, I'd have to get his consent. If I just agree to it, who knows what kind of awful thing he'd do, and the situation would be even more difficult to handle."

Upon hearing this, Li Ru's eyes widened in disbelief. He darted forward and grasped Ma Teng's arm tightly, even applying a bit of force due to his excitement. He eagerly asked, "My lord, what do you mean by this? And where did Cai Wenji come from? What is going on here?"

Seeing this, Ma Teng slapped his forehead lightly, his face full of annoyance. Then he held his forehead with his hand and sighed, saying, "Oh, this is a long story. Cai Wenji was the daughter of the great scholar Cai Yong. When Chao'er was studying in Chang'an, he became close friends with this woman. Later, Cai Wenji married the Wei family in Hedong. I thought that the matter would end there. But who could have predicted that after Cai Yong passed away in Luoyang, Chao'er, remembering their old friendship, took care of his funeral and sent his belongings to Hedong. That's how the two of them met again."

Ma Teng paused, the look of helplessness on his face growing even more pronounced. He continued, "I originally thought that this would be enough, but who knew that Hedong would be invaded by the Southern Xiongnu. Those Xiongnu were extremely brutal, slaughtering the entire Wei family and then kidnapping Cai Wenji. Perhaps they knew that Cai Wenji and Chao'er were old friends, so the Southern Xiongnu didn't dare to harm her and sent her to Wuwei City in Xiliang in one piece. You see, Chao'er saw his former best friend reduced to such a miserable state. He already had feelings for this girl, and now those feelings have become even more uncontrollable."

After hearing Ma Teng's story, Li Ru's expression softened slightly, his brows no longer furrowed as tightly as before, but a hint of helplessness still lingered in his eyes. He looked at Ma Teng and slowly spoke, "So, this Cai girl is the widow of the Wei family. My lord, are you simply going to let the young master continue to act like this? Will you allow him to marry this Wei widow into the mansion? Not to mention the illogicality of this matter, just in terms of status, how can she be compared to my Miss Dong Bai?" Li Ru said, shaking his head slightly, his face full of disapproval.

Ma Teng sighed helplessly and said with a sad face: "Hey, you are well aware of the character of this rebellious son. He seems to be docile and can listen to other people's advice on weekdays, but once he makes up his mind, he really can't be changed even by nine oxen. What's more, Miss Dong Bai has already known about the existence of Cai Wenji and has acquiesced to this situation. Now that this rebellious son has been in a high position for some time, if you insist on forcing him on an emotional matter like this, I really don't know what kind of trouble this rebellious son will cause." As Ma Teng spoke, the worry on his face became more and more intense, as if he could already foresee all the troubles that Ma Chao would cause.

Upon hearing this, Li Ru was stunned. He realized that Miss Dong Bai had long known about Cai Wenji's existence and had always been deeply devoted to Ma Chao. Thinking of this, Li Ru felt helpless about this entanglement of young men and women, and was at a loss for what to do. He secretly wondered, if Miss Dong Bai herself didn't care, how could they, as elders, stop her? He probably couldn't. Even so, the Cai girl couldn't be on the same level as Miss Dong Bai. The distinction between superior and inferior had to be clarified today.

Thinking of this, Li Ru seemed to have suddenly figured something out. He laughed out loud, forcing a seemingly open-minded smile on his face and said, "Ah, my lord, the young master is so young and promising. He is a young talent. It is not surprising that he can be favored by a beautiful woman. Moreover, in this world, it is common for a man to have three wives and four concubines. Since Miss Dong Bai doesn't care, how can we, as elders, do such a thing as to force a couple to break up?"

Ma Teng watched Li Ru's radiant smile, but he didn't breathe a sigh of relief. He knew Li Ru too well to know he wouldn't leave it at that. As expected, Li Ru changed the subject. Though the smile hadn't faded, his expression had grown serious. "But my lord, as the young master's father, your Ma family is the spiritual pillar of Xiliang, and indeed, the entire northwest. You should set a good example. How can we allow the young master to marry this Cai girl in a formal ceremony? We don't have any other excessive demands, but we simply hope that Miss Dong Bai will become his legal wife. After all, a man of honor can have a concubine or two, and he already has so many emotional entanglements. If this matter isn't handled properly, it will be disastrous if word gets out, and it will also affect the reputation of the Ma family." Li Ru looked at Ma Teng intently, awaiting his response, clearly taking this matter very seriously.