Chapter 47: Defying All Opposition, The Ideal Son‑in‑Law of a Scholar‑Merchant

Outside Wang Zhi's boudoir, several maids paced anxiously, yet dared not approach.

Wang Hui (Wang Xiu) waved them away, walked alone to the door, and knocked lightly.

"Zhi'er, it's me, open the door."

There was no response inside, only a suppressed sobbing.

"I know you feel wronged," Wang Hui said, his voice gentle and calm, "You think our elder brother sacrificed your happiness for the family's benefit, marrying you off to a merchant and subjecting you to humiliation, right?"

The crying in the room paused.

Wang Hui continued, "Zhi'er, we share the same mother and grew up together. After our father's death, you are the person I cherish most in this world. Do you think our elder brother would ever sacrifice your happiness for anything?"

Inside the door, the silence remained absolute.

Wang Hui sighed, leaned against the door, and said slowly, "Tell me, how many of those noble suitors have you actually seen? Do you know their characters? If you marry into their families, will you be a principal wife or a concubine? Do their households have three wives and multiple concubines, with tangled inner‑court struggles?"

"After you marry into them, will they respect and love you, or only value the Wang Family's wealth and influence behind you? If our Wang Family falls from power, what will become of you?"

This barrage of questions hammered like a heavy mallet against Wang Zhi's heart.

She was not an innocent girl unaware of the world. She had secretly pondered these questions before, but never dared to dwell on them. The inner chambers of those high‑born families are like battles without gunpowder; countless women waste their lives there, ending in tragic fates.

"But... but he is still a merchant..." Wang Zhi's voice, tinged with sobs, finally emerged from the door. "If I marry him, how can I ever hold my head high before those ladies and missresses?"

"Hold your head up?" Wang Hui's voice rose a few degrees. "Does a Wang Family daughter need to gauge others' moods to decide whether she can hold her head up? Zhi'er, remember, your status is given by yourself and by our Wang Family, not by the idle gossip of those meddling aunts!"

"Let me ask again, where does the Wang Family's current wealth come from? Every bite and garment, isn't it earned penny by penny from the merchant house our father founded? We enjoy the riches merchants bring, yet look down on merchants—what logic is that?"

"Our elder brother chose not just any merchant. Lu Wen, I have personally vetted him. He is upright, exceptionally talented, and truly sincere toward you. He has ability and responsibility, can give you a stable, harmonious home, and offer respect and care. Isn't that worth millions of times more than those illusory pedigrees and reputations?"

"The Wang Family does not need to cling to power through our daughter's marriage! What I want is for my sister to marry someone she likes and who truly loves her, to live a peaceful, happy life!"

Wang Hui (Wang Xiu)'s words came from the heart, sincere and earnest.

After a long silence in the room, a creak sounded, and the door was opened from inside.

Wang Zhi stood at the doorway, her eyes swollen from crying, but her gaze was no longer filled with grievance and resistance; it was now full of emotion and a hint of enlightenment.

"Elder brother..."

"Have you come to understand?" Wang Hui looked at her and smiled gently.

Wang Zhi lowered her head and gave a gentle nod.

"Very well," Wang Hui patted her shoulder. "Go freshen up; Lu Wen is still waiting in the front hall. Don't keep him waiting too long."

Having soothed his sister, Wang Hui knew the next step was to deal with those clan elders.

He did not explain to each individually; instead, he summoned all Wang clan members and held a family meeting in the Wang Family ancestral hall.

In the ancestral hall, the atmosphere was solemn and dignified. Dozens of principal Wang Family members gathered, led by the few highly respected clan elders.

Wang Hui (Wang Xiu) donned a solemn sacrificial robe, first respectfully offering incense to the Wang Family's ancestors and to his father Wang Jin's spirit tablet.

Then he turned, facing all the clan members.

"I have gathered you all today for one purpose—my sister Wang Zhi's marriage."

His gaze swept the crowd, and in a deep voice he said, "I know that all of you uncles and elders think that marrying Zhi'er to a merchant's son disgraces the Wang Family's name, that I am willingly degrading ourselves. Today, I am here to give you an explanation."

He did not launch into a lengthy explanation; instead, he gestured to Fu Bo behind him.

Fu Bo immediately lifted an account book and read aloud, "In the eleventh year of the Kaiyuan era, the Wang merchant house's total annual income was 183,420 taels of silver and 1,250 taels of gold; among them, the glassware industry earned 48,000 taels, Silk, tea and other southern goods earned 76,000 taels, the remaining industries earned…"

A series of astonishing figures poured from Fu Bo's mouth, leaving every clan member present dumbfounded.

They knew the Wang Family was wealthy, but never imagined it was to this extent! One year's income rivals the annual tax revenue of a medium-sized provincial administration of the Court!

After finishing the accounts, Wang Hui (Wang Xiu) finally spoke slowly.

"Everyone has heard. How has the Wang Family achieved this today? Not through official posts or titles, but through these tangible enterprises, through merchants like Qian Zhanggui and others who labor day and night to earn us real gold and silver!"

"I ask all the uncles present, who dares say they have never received a share of the merchant house's profits? Who dares claim their family's food, clothing, and expenses do not come from these 'merchant affairs'?"

The ancestral hall fell silent; everyone bowed their heads in shame.

"We enjoy the prosperity commerce brings, yet deep down look down on merchants. Don't you find this ridiculous?"

Wang Hui's voice rang through the hall like a massive bronze bell.

"The times have changed! The Wang Family's future does not lie in producing a few ministers, but in firmly grasping the world's economic lifeline! Ensuring our lineage endures for millennia, allying with the Lu Family is not the Wang Family's subordination, but our strategic planning for the future!"

"Here and now I set a rule: any Wang descendant must not harbor prejudice against scholars, farmers, artisans, or merchants! Let the capable take the positions! Whether serving as officials, merchants, or farmers, as long as one contributes to the family, they are a worthy Wang descendant!"

"As for Zhier's marriage, my decision is final! Anyone who still objects is opposing me, Wang Hui, and the entire Wang Family's future!"

Finishing, he swung his robe forcefully, his gaze sharp as a blade, scanning the whole room.

The elders who had hoped to rely on seniority were cowed by his aura, each falling silent as cold cicadas, daring not utter another word.

A turmoil that could have shaken the head of the family was thus completely quelled by Wang Hui (Wang Xiu) with the strongest and most direct approach.

Half a month later, the Wang Family gave a daughter in marriage.

The wedding was not lavish, yet every detail exuded refinement and care.

What shocked everyone most was that, on the wedding day, people arrived from the palace.

Gao Lishi personally dispatched his trusted junior eunuch, who delivered an enormous pair of South Sea pearls as a wedding gift. The Emperor Li Longji, upon hearing of it, found it amusing and also casually presented a pair of jade ruyi.

The Emperor's and Gao Lishi's gifts, like an Imperial Edict, instantly silenced all dissent.

Even the Emperor approved this marriage, who would dare criticize it?

Those who had been waiting to mock the Wang Family were left dumbfounded. Only then did they realize that the young head of the Wang Family was not merely a youth inheriting the family's shadow.

After the wedding, Lu Wen did not linger in Luoyang.

He took his newlywed wife Wang Zhi, along with a secret "merchant convoy" of twenty elite guards that Wang Hui (Wang Xiu) had allocated to him, plus a massive sum of one hundred thousand guan, and set out for Yangzhou.

Although he is the Lu Family's eldest son, he has already explained to the family that he will not inherit…