A whirlwind marriage: The real heiress marries a warlord.

Qin Yan sought out several journalists with whom he had good relationships to praise Cheng Tianxun for vaccinating the entire city for free.

She even praised herself.

Some people watch the spectacle, while others carefully analyze the intricacies involved.

"Why the sudden need for smallpox vaccination?"

Qin Yan's editor also widely publicized her experience of being tricked at the newspaper office entrance and almost contracting smallpox.

The vernacular newspaper had a wide reach, and the matter quickly became known throughout the city.

"Was she set up?"

"Who would scheme against her?"

Ordinary people were completely baffled and made all sorts of guesses; the powerful and wealthy, being well-informed, quickly found out the truth.

The inside information they received was that Du Zhuojun and Feng Lin publicly insulted Madam Cheng at the club, and Cheng Tianxun shot and wounded Feng Lin.

"It wasn't me! I didn't conspire with Feng Lin to scheme against that woman!"

The Du family's living room was full of people.

Du Zhuojun had been suppressing his emotions, but he couldn't help getting excited and was almost furious.

Her parents, several of her father's concubines, and several of her brothers and sisters-in-law were all there.

No one spoke.

The seventh young lady is the most arrogant, and President Du favors her. No one else has the right to criticize her. Even if she has recently embarrassed herself, it has brought shame to the Du family as well.

Only her mother, Mrs. Du, spoke up to comfort her: "Nobody's saying anything about you."

"Everyone in town is talking about it, but they won't say it to my face." Du Zhuojun's face flushed. "That woman is so vicious. It was clearly business between us, but she used personal matters to scheme against me. Now she's throwing dirty water on me."

This is the second bucket of dirty water Qin Yan has thrown at Du Zhuojun; the last time it was when she asked the chief writer to slander her.

Mrs. Du retorted indignantly, "This is ruining your reputation. You have a good reputation in the South City, and you and your cousin are known as the 'Twin Beauties of the South City,' both of whom could marry into powerful families. She's afraid you'll get in her way. Her background is unclear, and she's afraid you'll push her out of the picture."

The cousin she mentioned is Lan Muhe, the daughter of Staff Officer Lan.

"Mom!" Du Zhuojun was even angrier. "All you know is getting married, getting married! You don't understand anything important!"

Mrs. Du always felt that any major event her daughter did was merely a way to enhance her social standing and marry into a higher social class.

Qin Yan's slander against Du Zhuojun is damaging her reputation and will delay her marriage, which makes Mrs. Du very angry.

Du Rongfei listened in silence for a long while, then finally snapped, his voice low and menacing: "Enough!"

Du Zhuojun was startled, her anger vanished, replaced by a sorrowful expression: "Father..."

"If you don't cause trouble, you won't be targeted by others," Du Rongfei said.

One of the young mistresses of the Du family sat quietly to the side, listening to their conversation, and couldn't help but think, "It's always Seventh Sister who provokes us, and in the end, Father-in-law still says that others are plotting against her? Others are just retaliating."

If we continue to spoil and pamper her like this, Seventh Sister might cause even bigger trouble and implicate the whole family.

But there was nothing they could do; the parents-in-law were powerful and influential in the family, so it wasn't up to anyone else to say anything.

"Dad, what should I do?" Du Zhuojun pleaded with Chief Du. "My newspaper and my reputation are all being crushed by that woman."

"Cheng Tianxun has also offended the Feng family. I will discuss this with Boss Feng and make sure he doesn't get away with it," Du Rongfei said.

He paused, then added, "As for that woman... she shouldn't think that others don't know her background."

"What's her background?" Du Zhuojun asked quickly.

"She is Lan Changming's illegitimate daughter, whom he kept while having affairs outside," Du Rongfei said.

The entire Du family was astonished.

The crowd erupted in uproar, with all sorts of opinions being expressed.

"How interesting," Mrs. Du laughed. "Back then, the old man and the old woman doted on A-Jia so much, finding her a good husband, but who would have thought that her husband would be so restless behind the scenes."

Lan Changming's wife is named Du Jia.

Du Jia was actually the only daughter of the Du family patriarch, while Du Rongfei was adopted from the clan; they were not biological siblings.

When Du Jia got married, the old man turned half of the Du family's assets into the old lady's dowry. The mother's dowry could be given directly to her daughter.

Using this method, they transferred the family property, and Du Jia effectively split the Du family's wealth with Du Rongfei.

Every time Mrs. Du thought about it, she was so angry that she wanted to have a big fight with her parents-in-law: What kind of girl can take so much money with her when she gets married?

Since Du Rongfei was adopted by the Du family, he is the Du family's son and will inherit the family line in the future. Why should his sister take away his money?

Those two old bastards are too biased, they really deserve to be punished!

Then they died, and Mrs. Du was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, Lan Changming has developed very well in recent years. He has a great reputation in the army and is highly valued by the warlord. Du Rongfei is not as good as him, and Du's wife still has to continue to curry favor with that sister.

She felt incredibly frustrated.

Madam Lan's four sons are all quite successful and obedient; her daughter, Lan Muhe, is outstanding in every way, surpassing Du Zhuojun in every aspect.

Mrs. Du absolutely hated Du Jia.

Upon suddenly hearing that the sharp-tongued Qin Yan was actually Lan Changming's illegitimate daughter, Mrs. Du was overjoyed.

That's hilarious.

"Ah-Jia always boasts outside that she and Lan Changming have been a devoted couple for thirty years. So this is what true devotion is like," Mrs. Du added.

"Uncle, surely he wouldn't go that far?" said one of Du Zhuojun's half-brothers.

"How could it not be like that?" Mrs. Du scolded her illegitimate son with a stern face. "That hypocrite is obviously no good. Your aunt is a fool too."

Thinking of the family fortune that fool had taken, Mrs. Du was furious and cursed Du Jia several times.

"Zhuo Jun, make this public and see how the Lan family's reputation is ruined," Mrs. Du said.

Du Rongfei coldly rebuked her: "Shut up, what do you know!"

Mrs. Du was frightened and restrained herself somewhat.

"Don't reveal her secrets until the very last moment." Du Rongfei looked at Du Zhuojun. "This is your trump card against her. I'm giving you this card; let's see how you play it. You must strike decisively and leave her without a trace."

This also dealt a heavy blow to Lan Changming.

It's not really suitable right now. Du Rongfei hasn't become the Prime Minister yet, and he still needs his brother-in-law, Lan Changming, to support him.

Du Zhuojun wiped away her tears, a resolute look appearing in her eyes: "Father, I won't let you down. I understand."

Du Rongfei nodded.

His daughter is intelligent and visionary, just like him.

Mrs. Du, however, was unwilling to give up. She was itching to go, so she immediately went to the Lan family's house.

Mrs. Lan, Du Jia, and this sister-in-law had always been at odds, and she was quite confused by her sudden visit.

She asked why they had come.

"...Has Muhe been engaged yet?" Mrs. Du asked with a smile.

Mrs. Lan: "She wants to choose her own partner, and her grandmother is backing her up."

"We can't let her have her way," Mrs. Du said with a smile. "It would be such a loss if she married someone not as good as Cheng Tianxun. With her character, looks, and good family background, she should definitely marry someone even better."

If you're not born an illegitimate child, then you'll be utterly humiliated.

In the southern part of the city, besides the cabinet, there probably isn't another family with a higher social status than Governor Cheng's family. Perhaps the Du family will be the most prestigious in the end.

If your daughter marries into the Du family, let's see how much dowry you provide. Don't even think about having your daughter become my daughter-in-law unless you return all the property you took with you.

Thirty years of resentment finally found a place to vent.

"Please sit down, sister-in-law. I have something to attend to." Madam Lan stood up.

She left, telling her trusted maid, "She rambled on and on; I didn't understand a word she said. My sister-in-law is always so unreliable."

The key point is that her sister-in-law also mentioned Lan Muhe.

Mrs. Lan didn't want to talk about her daughter with anyone, and really didn't want others to see her attitude towards her daughter.

She tried to avoid it at all costs.

Her sister-in-law came and went happily, seemingly oblivious to being slighted. Madam Lan had no idea what she was secretly pleased about.

"baffling."