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Li Banfeng set down his cup and coughed for a long moment before he finally caught his breath.
"You know Lu Xiaolan?"
"I do. We are acquainted."
Li Banfeng lifted his cup. "How well acquainted?"
Ma Wu hesitated, clearly struggling to find the right words. "If we go by the latest arrangement… she should be my fiancée."
Cough! Cough! Cough! Li Banfeng choked again.
Fiancée? Since when? How have I never heard you mention this?
The truth was that Ma Wu had never tried to hide it. It simply had never come up. That was how the two of them were. If one chose not to speak, the other would not pry. But now that the word was out in the open, the old logic no longer held.
Li Banfeng narrowed his eyes. "If Lu Xiaolan is your fiancée, then what does that make He Jiaqing? Don't tell me he's your fiancé too."
Ma Wu choked on his drink as well.
"What fiancé?" he snapped, coughing as he set the cup down. "How could I possibly be caught between them like that? It's not what you think. There's… something else going on."
Curiosity gnawed at Li Banfeng, but he did not break their long-standing habit. "If you don't want to talk about it, then forget it."
"I truly don't want to," he admitted. "But this matter is important. I have to tell you. Lu Xiaolan is two years younger than me. When she was thirteen, our families arranged a betrothal."
In Puluo Province, marriage alliances between prominent families were nothing unusual. Even so, betrothals still required parity in status.
At the time, Lu Xiaolan had not been a good match for Ma Wu. Nor had she been a good match for He Jiaqing. The only reason she...
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