After the messenger left, the standoff between Zhang Yuelu and Tantai Qiong continued.0

Tantai Qiong could not help but ask her daughter, “I just don’t understand. What exactly do you see in him?”0

Truth be told, even Tantai Qiong herself felt a bit guilty asking this. After all, Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu were the only third-rank Deputy Hall Masters under thirty in the entire Daoist Order.0

Given Zhang Yuelu’s current status, there were only four possibilities. She could either devote herself to the Dao and never marry, get into a marriage alliance, marry below her status, or take a matrilocal husband. The notion of marrying above her station did not exist for someone of her rank. Even if she were to marry Li Changge, it would merely be considered a political alliance, not marrying up.0

Devotion to the Dao and never marrying was not a good option either. This was a path often chosen by Daoist women after experiencing heartbreak, a form of retreat into isolation. Zhang Yuelu had no such intentions. She was not one to make life difficult for herself and preferred to let things happen naturally.0

Given that, marrying beneath her station was highly unlikely, as such an arrangement would be a loss for the Zhang family. If she married below her status, it implied...0