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

Chapter 30: Cooking raw rice into cooked rice
After hearing this, Bai Wanqing immediately followed Ruixin to the front hall. Her father was placed in a side hall, and his face looked terrible. Bai Wanqing called out to him several times, but he did not respond. Chen Shi, who was on the side, was so frightened that her face turned pale. She did not say a word and just wiped away her tears with a handkerchief.

"Uncle Liu, may we please summon a doctor?" Bai Wanqing asked hurriedly.

"Don't worry, Miss, we've already gone to fetch Doctor Chang, and he should be here soon!" Uncle Liu was covered in sweat, and there was a bruise on his forehead, indicating that he had also been involved in a fight.

"Okay!" Bai Wanqing said, then stood guard beside her father.

Bai Chenming's face grew increasingly pale, and the sweat on his forehead became more and more profuse.

Bai Wanqing took out a handkerchief to wipe her father's sweat, but was pushed away by Chen Shi who was standing next to her.

"Bai Wanqing, it's all because of you! If you hadn't insisted on breaking off the engagement, your father wouldn't be in this state now!"

"You're a jinx! If you come back, nobody will have a good time!"

As she spoke, Chen wiped away Bai Chenming's sweat.

Bai Wanqing glanced at Chen Shi. Her father was so ill; now was not the time to talk about these things.

Just then, Doctor Chang walked in, accompanied by Old Man Luo.

When the doctor arrived, Bai Wanqing and Madam Chen both stood up to make room for him.

Doctor Chang took Bai Chenming's pulse and asked about the cause of the incident. He said that Bai Chenming had fainted due to a sudden surge of anger. Doctor Chang then administered acupuncture to Bai Chenming, and Bai Chenming's pulse gradually stabilized, while the sweat on his forehead decreased.

"Qing girl, don't worry! He's fine!" It was Old Man Luo who said this. He had heard that someone was bullying his grand-disciple, so he rushed over in a hurry. He didn't bring his medicine box but instead took a wooden stick.

"Don't worry, no one can force you to marry! Not even Bai Chenming, my old man's stick won't allow it!" Old Man Luo intentionally or unintentionally swept the wooden stick across Chen's face, looking at her fiercely, which frightened Chen into shrinking into a ball.

"Who is this person? Who let you into the Bai family!" Madam Chen wanted to kick them out, but everyone in the room was looking at her unfriendly, which made her swallow back the words she was about to shout.

Bai Chenming's condition stabilized, and Doctor Chang prescribed medicine. "Take this medicine for half a month, and you will recover quickly."

Bai Wanqing took the prescription and asked Uncle Liu to go back with Doctor Chang to get the medicine. Old Man Luo, who originally didn't want to leave, was also persuaded to go back by Bai Wanqing.

Only Chen Shi and Bai Wanqing remained in the room.

Seeing that Bai Wanqing insisted on staying to take care of her father, Chen made an excuse to return to her courtyard first.

She sat in the room, still feeling a bit scared thinking about what had just happened. Bai Chenming was actually willing to risk his life for Bai Wanqing.

But it seems that Master Huang has no intention of giving up. What should we do now?
When Bai Qinglian returned, she ran into Uncle Liu accompanying Doctor Chang to get medicine. After inquiring with the gatekeeper, she learned that Master Huang and her father had quarreled, and hurriedly ran to Madam Chen's room.

"Mother, I heard that Father and Master Huang got into a fight?" Bai Qinglian asked anxiously.

When Chen saw her daughter return, she couldn't hold back her tears again. She told Bai Qinglian what had happened that day. Bai Qinglian looked surprised, but hesitated: "So, does that mean that Master Huang's plan to take Bai Wanqing as a concubine might fall through?"

Chen cried and said, "Your father is willing to risk his life! This matter is probably doomed to fail!"

"It won't work out?" Bai Qinglian felt a surge of anger. She had just made a deal with that person today: Bai Wanqing had to marry Master Huang.

Bai Qinglian offered Chen a few words of comfort, then went to check on Bai Chenming before returning to her room.

I didn't sleep a wink all night, but finally made up my mind.

The next morning, Bai Qinglian left home early and went to the address that the person had given her the day before. When she arrived, she found that it was an inn.

She walked in and asked the waiter, "Excuse me, does Miss Liu live here?"

The waiter, seeing that the visitor was also a young woman, kindly replied, "Miss Liu? Yes, yes, she doesn't seem to have gone out today. You can just go to her door to find her."

Following the waiter's directions, Bai Qinglian knocked on the door of the guest room. The person who opened the door was the same young lady who had looked for her at the entrance of the clinic yesterday.

A hint of surprise flashed in Liu Feifei's eyes, then she invited the person inside. "What? We just finalized the deal yesterday, are you going to back out today?"

Bai Qinglian waved her hand, "It's not that I'm going back on my word, it's just that something went wrong. I'm afraid Bai Wanqing won't be marrying Master Huang!"

Liu Feifei raised an eyebrow and said, "Why? You said yesterday that this marriage was a done deal, so why are you suddenly going to call it off!"

"In that case, our deal is off!"

Bai Qinglian bit her lip and said, "I don't want to either! But that bitch Bai Wanqing just has a way of getting Father on her side. What can I do?"

Liu Feifei gave Bai Qinglian a deep look, then sighed softly, "Alas! There's nothing I can do about it! We agreed before that if you arranged the marriage between Bai Wanqing and Master Huang, I would introduce you to some talented young men from Huaizhou Prefecture. Now that you can't do it, I don't have to keep my promise."

Bai Qinglian's heart tightened with anxiety. "No, no! This matter is still unresolved. Master Huang hasn't given his consent yet!" Liu Feifei smiled slightly and suggested, "Since it's not completely settled yet, why don't you give it a push?"

Bai Qinglian looked at Liu Feifei with a blank expression, "How do we fuel the flames?"

Liu Feifei smiled and whispered a few words in Bai Qinglian's ear.

Bai Qinglian's eyes widened and her mouth opened wider and wider.

You mean let them?

"Shh! This matter cannot be spoken of. If you do this, no matter how many people Bai Wanqing has backing her up, she will have nowhere to escape. Now let's see if you have the guts."

Bai Qinglian bit her lip and hesitated, her hand holding the handkerchief trembling uncontrollably.

Liu Feifei laughed at her, "You! You! This little thing scares you like this. If you really marry into a powerful family in the future, how will you stand in that family with such an indecisive attitude?"

Liu Feifei's words struck a chord with Bai Qinglian. She hardened her heart and said, "You're right. I shouldn't have hesitated. Bai Wanqing should go where she belongs. I'm just helping out."

"If you can think like this, then I know I didn't misjudge you," Liu Feifei said, still smiling.

After Bai Qinglian and Liu Feifei left, she went alone to Master Huang's mansion.

Upon hearing that the person who opened the door was from the Bai family, the person tried to drive them away.

Bai Qinglian said, "If you send me away now, Master Huang will definitely punish you. This is related to Master Huang's tenth concubine!"

Seeing Bai Qinglian speak so confidently, the gatekeeper became unsure and could only tell her to wait a moment while he went to inform Master Huang.

A short while later, the Huang family's steward came out and invited Bai Qinglian inside, but his attitude was not warm.

He led Bai Qinglian to the side hall of the Huang family. Master Huang was sitting in the side hall waiting for her. When Bai Qinglian saw him, she was stunned. Master Huang's face was swollen like a pig's head. Was this because his father beat him last night?
Huang Yuanwai noticed Bai Qinglian's surprise and said, "Steward Wang, you may leave now!"

After receiving the order, Steward Wang left the house, but did not go far, waiting at the door, fearing that the Bai family's daughter had come to cause trouble for his master.

Master Huang glanced at the little girl in front of him and grinned, but unexpectedly, this aggravated the spot where he had been beaten yesterday, and he couldn't help but sob a few times.

"Speak! What do you want from me? Are you trying to persuade me not to take Bai Wanqing as a concubine again?" Master Huang's face was swollen, but his imposing manner was still overwhelming, and Bai Qinglian was momentarily stunned by his aura.

It took him a while to realize what was happening. “Master Huang, I’m not here to ask you to give up on taking my sister as your wife. On the contrary, I’m here to help you.”

Master Huang looked suspicious. "Oh? You must know about your father's attitude yesterday. I tried to pressure him with the Huang family's status, but he still refused to marry his daughter to me. What can a little girl like you do?"

Bai Qinglian smiled and said, "Master Huang, do you know that raw rice can be cooked into cooked rice? Even if my father is unwilling, he can't do anything about it, can he?"

Master Huang never expected to hear such a thing from the Bai family's daughter. He endured the pain and laughed a few times.

"Good, good! That's for the best! Do you have a way to coax Bai Wanqing out?" Master Huang's eyes gleamed. He had long been interested in Bai Wanqing and had been thinking about her for a long time. If he could get his hands on her sooner, what was wrong with that?
"Of course!" Bai Qinglian told Master Huang her plan, and only left satisfied after all the details were agreed upon.

Bai Wanqing, marrying Master Huang is your destiny! You have no choice but to accept it!
Two days later, under Bai Wanqing's careful care, Bai Chenming woke up, but his body was still very weak and his heart would hurt from time to time. Bai Wanqing asked Doctor Chang to prescribe a new prescription.

"Uncle Liu isn't here today, so I'll go with you to the clinic to get the medicine!"

Bai Wanqing instructed Bai Chenming's servant Cong An to take care of things first, and then she went to the clinic with Doctor Chang.

"Dr. Chang, it seems that Father's condition is not improving as quickly as we had hoped!" Bai Wanqing said with some concern.

Dr. Chang sighed and said, "It's a mental illness! The old master was really upset this time. He should try to relax more in the future."

"Take these medicines back and decoct them for him. I'll go to his residence in a couple of days to check on his condition."

Bai Wanqing received the medicine and nodded gently.

Seeing that it was getting late, Doctor Chang said to Bai Wanqing, "Master, it's getting late. Let Xiao Liu take you home!"

Bai Wanqing looked at the sky outside and said, "No need, the Bai family is not far from here, no need to see us off!"

Dr. Chang thought about it and agreed, so he didn't insist any further.

On the way back, the streets were deserted. Bai Wanqing walked through the alley diagonally opposite to return to the Bai family as usual, but suddenly everything went black. Just as she was about to struggle, she felt a jolt at the back of her head and then lost consciousness.

"Got her! Get her to Yunlai Inn, quick!"

(End of this chapter)