After being forced to leave the marriage, I became the wife of a top scholar.

Chapter 164 Connected
The Bai family welcomed back the people from prison, but the Hai family had not yet seen off the people they wanted to see off.

Hai Shengyang was furious when Madam Wu refused his request to annul the engagement and returned directly to Huaizhou City.

Madam Wu naturally wouldn't let Hai Shengyang off the hook, and she went after him the day after he left.

Now, Hai Shengyang grits his teeth whenever he hears the name of the Wu family. "It seems the Wu family isn't planning to let me go."

Helpless, Hai Shengyang got up and ran to find Hai Chengming.

Hai Chengming has been extremely stressed these past two days. He was stood up by Lin Yunche, so he tried his best to find fault with Lin Yunche. However, Lin Yunche reported everything, and he couldn't find any major mistakes.

However, Hai Chengming couldn't bring himself to talk about those minor mistakes, which made him extremely frustrated.

He had originally thought his daughter would stay in Huai'an County for a while, but she returned in a huff yesterday evening. He had planned to find an opportunity to talk to her today, but she came to his door first.

"Father! Do you know what's going on with my marriage to the Wu family?" Hai Shengyang asked softly, his face full of grievance.

"The Wu family's marriage?" If Hai Shengyang hadn't brought it up, he would have completely forgotten about the Wu family!
"Shengyang, our two families already agreed that the marriage with the Wu family is off, so why are you suddenly asking about this?"

Hai Shengyang's eyes reddened. "Father, isn't it just that our word doesn't count?"

"Did you know that the Wu family has a marriage certificate with our Hai family? Madam Wu even came looking for us with the marriage certificate. They have no intention of letting our daughter go or letting our family go!"

Hai Chengming suddenly stood up. "What did you say? The Wu family even has a marriage certificate?"

Hai Shengyang nodded and said, "Father, why would I lie to you? It's absolutely true, which is why I came to ask you. Didn't Mother already discuss annulling the engagement with the Wu family?"

"How come the Wu family has reappeared!"

Hai Chengming frowned, seemingly understanding what was going on.

"I heard your mother mention this matter. Your mother did indeed take our Hai family's marriage certificate to the Wu family to annul the engagement."

"But the Wu family was in trouble at the time, and your mother couldn't find anyone from the Wu family!"

"If you can't find them, then naturally you haven't mentioned breaking off the engagement."

Hai Shengyang was a little confused. "Father, why did Mother come back and say that my marriage with the Wu family is off?"

"Since it's not going to work out, then the engagement is off!"

Hai Chengming shook his head. "Your mother and I thought the marriage wouldn't happen because the Wu family might not leave any survivors."

"At that time, the Wu family offended the Prince of Huai, and the Prince of Huai arrested the entire Wu family."

"Who knows when the entire Wu family might be executed."

"Since the Wu family is gone, our marriage with them is obviously invalid!"

"So this is no different from breaking off the engagement with the Wu family."

Hai Shengyang now understood. So, back then, her mother had predicted that the Wu family would never recover, so she simply called off the marriage.

"Father! You and Mother have really screwed over your daughter this time!" Hai Shengyang almost burst into tears.

Hai Chengming looked up and said, "It's just the Wu family, right? Since she's come looking for us, we can just discuss annulling the engagement with her."

"Shengyang, you don't need to be in such a hurry."

Hai Chengming felt sorry for Hai Shengyang when he saw how anxious he was, and quickly comforted him.

Hai Shengyang bit his lip and said, "Father, this time it might not be so simple."

"How could it not be simple? Isn't the Wu family short of money right now?"

“If we give the Wu family a sum of money, they will surely agree.”

Hai Shengyang pursed his lips. "Father, I've already stated my conditions, but Madam Wu isn't going to budge."

“Father, if I am dragged down by the Wu family for three to five years, I will miss out on any good family, let alone the Lin family.”

"At that time, it will be just as Madam Wu wishes, and my daughter will have no choice but to marry into the Wu family."

"At that time, let alone what benefit our daughter can bring to our Hai family, she may even tarnish our family's reputation."

Upon hearing that it would tarnish the Hai family's reputation, Hai Chengming suddenly became furious.

"She dares!"

"It's just a small Wu family, how could she possibly fight against such a powerful force?"

"Don't they even consider whether their family is worthy of the title anymore!"

Seeing his father angry, Hai Shengyang knew that his father would take his matter to heart.

"Father, do you have any good ideas?" Hai Shengyang asked.

Hai Chengming raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Shengyang, you don't need to worry about these things."

"Just wait patiently, and your father will surely grant your wish."

Hai Shengyang knew that once his father made up his mind to do something, he would definitely succeed, just like when his younger sister wanted to enter the palace.

With that thought in mind, Hai Shengyang felt relieved.

"What about Madam Wu?" Hai Shengyang suddenly thought.

Hai Chengming smiled slightly, "Daughter! Isn't your greatest skill to soothe people's hearts?"

"A woman from the Wu family shouldn't be a problem for my daughter."

Hai Shengyang understood and immediately smiled, saying, "It's no problem, Father. Don't worry, I will definitely not let Madam Wu spread this matter." Hai Chengming hummed in agreement and then told Hai Shengyang to go back first.

After Hai Shengyang left, Hai Chengming immediately summoned the Hai family's butler.

“We were unfair to the Fang family because we didn’t choose sides clearly before,” Hai Chengming said, squinting. “Now we’re afraid we can’t stick with the Lin family anymore.”

The Hai family's butler immediately understood the master's meaning.

"Master, where is Miss? Miss is still waiting to enter the Lin family's gate!"

"If we side with the Fang family, it would be tantamount to cutting off Miss's path."

Hai Chengming smirked, "It's just going to be a concubine. No matter how powerful the Lin family is, can they be as powerful as the Prince of Huai?"

“If she hadn’t been so determined back then, I wouldn’t have wanted to contradict her idea, but now it’s obviously impossible to go to the Lin family.”

"Of course we need to get on another boat!"

"Besides, I can't let Hai Shengyang become worthless!"

"They're just a small Wu family. They think they can ruin the interests of our Hai family? They're dreaming!"

"So, what does the master mean?"

"Send a message to the Fang family! Tell them I want to hear their thoughts," Hai Chengming said.

The Hai family's butler immediately agreed and went to deliver the message to the Fang family.

The Fang family was extremely anxious, like ants on a hot pan, because they had been turned away by the Hai family last time.

"The master is already urging us, we probably need to send this money out as soon as possible," the housekeeper reminded the master in his study.

How could Master Fang not know? It's just that Lin Yunche suddenly disappeared recently.

The incident with the assassins a while ago seemed to have never happened, which made him uneasy.

"Where has Lin Yunche gone all this time? Don't you have any news yet?"

The housekeeper lowered his head and said softly, "Master, we have already sent people to look for him, but we still don't know where Lord Lin has gone."

"However, I heard that Lord Lin left because he was trying to escape Miss Hai's forced marriage."

"Perhaps we're overthinking it."

Overthinking it? Mr. Fang never thought he was overthinking it.

"Did they say anything about sending us more people? With so much money, we definitely can't manage with just our few servants," Master Fang asked.

The housekeeper smiled and said, "Don't worry, sir. The higher-ups know about our situation and say they will send another batch of assassins in a couple of days."

"That's good then. We'll transport the money whenever the assassins arrive," Master Fang decided.

The matter was settled, but what troubled Mr. Fang even more was the century-old medical clinic.

"How's business at our clinic lately? Have you looked at the accounts?"

The housekeeper nodded and said, "I see, sir. The century-old medical clinic has taken away a lot of our business."

"Especially after opening the second branch, perhaps it's because the century-old medical clinic has indeed established itself in our Huaizhou City."

“These patients are led by some powerful people.”

"In addition, there's the added advantage of Dr. Luo's medical skills, and the fact that their clinic offers affordable medicines."

"Now they mostly go to the century-old clinic for medical treatment or to get medicine, so there aren't many people at our Fang Family Clinic right now."

"At this rate, I'm afraid we won't have enough money to hand over to the higher-ups for the next cycle."

Master Fang frowned. He knew it wasn't enough, but what could he do? Bai Wanqing was constantly expanding her business because she had Doctor Luo and Lin Yunche backing her up. Why didn't the higher-ups send someone to support her?

At this moment, Master Fang was full of grievances against his superiors, but of course he dared not voice them.

The housekeeper, also looking troubled, said, "Sir, how about we try looking for Lord Hai again?"

The mere mention of Hai Chengming only fueled Mr. Fang's anger.

Previously, his henchmen had run into trouble, and their business had been taken away by others, so he naturally had to complain to the people behind them.

The person behind him pointed him in the right direction and told him to go find Lord Hai.

But Lord Hai actually refused his request to meet. Did the higher-ups really contact Hai Chengming about this?
Is the status and position of these people not enough to make Hai Chengming submit?
Master Fang thought about it all night but still couldn't figure it out. He didn't dare to ask the higher-ups again, otherwise it would make the Fang family seem too useless.

Even if the Fang family is gone, they can still have the Liu family, the Li family, and the Wang family.
Master Fang is in a terrible predicament! He really hopes that when he wakes up this morning, Lin Yunche and Bai Wanqing will have completely disappeared from Huaizhou City with their century-old medical clinic.

Unable to come up with a solution, Master Fang decided to use some more money to bribe Hai Chengming.

To his surprise, the Hai family's butler sent a message.

"Master, Lord Hai says he wants to see you!" the steward reported, bowing his head.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Fang jumped up from his chair.

"Thank heavens have truly spared us, they have truly spared the Fang family!"

"Quickly! Go and get the best deer antlers and ginseng from the storeroom and pack them up. I'll take them with me when I see Lord Hai tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)