Seeing the expressions on the Su Family couple’s faces, Mr. Pei simply assumed they looked down on Pei Yu and were dissatisfied with today’s betrothal gifts. He felt extremely displeased, thinking the Su Family was far too lacking in manners.

With Su Qianxue’s reputation rotten to this degree, whichever family married her would become the laughingstock of the entire capital.

As the head of the Pei Family, he naturally also looked down on Su Qianxue, but the two children had already done that kind of disgraceful thing, and had even been caught red‑handed on the spot. If they didn’t form a marriage alliance, what else could they do?

In this kind of situation, only a marriage alliance was the best way to handle it.

So he had no choice but to throw away his face and let the whole Pei Family become a joke, agreeing to the Su Family’s demands and coming as promised to deliver the betrothal gifts.

The marriage had already been settled. Even though he was very displeased with Su Qianxue in his heart, not the slightest trace of it showed on his face. Unlike this Su couple, putting on long faces on such an occasion—truly spoiling people’s mood.

"Lord Grand Commandant, Madam, these betrothal gifts were all carefully prepared by your humble servant and my wife. I hope you won’t disdain them~"

"If My Lord and Madam have any other conditions, you may raise them freely. Your humble servant will certainly do his utmost."

Mr. Pei suppressed the displeasure in his heart and, with a calm expression, said these polite words.

Yet in his heart he was thinking that the Su Family had better not go too far. With goods like Su Qianxue, the fact that they were even willing to take responsibility was already benevolence to the utmost.

If they really dared raise some excessive conditions, then it wasn’t as if they couldn’t consider backing out of the marriage at the last moment.

In any case, their face was already gone, their reputation ruined, and Su Jian and the Duke had always been at odds politically. If pushed to the limit, what was so impossible about stabbing the Su Family in the back while bearing the scolding?

"This official has no other conditions. On the wedding day, your Pei Family need only send the matchmaker and an eight‑bearer bridal sedan chair to fetch the bride."

The proposal, the exchanging of names, and the divination for auspiciousness had all been secretly carried out after that incident. Both families wanted to quell this scandal as quickly as possible, so naturally, the sooner the wedding date, the better.

The wedding date was set for the first month of next year; as soon as the New Year passed, they would immediately start preparing the wedding.

Now, with the year’s end approaching, time was extremely tight. Only then did the Pei Family grit their teeth and come to present the grand betrothal ceremony, that is, the formal betrothal gifts.

And Su Jian was no fool. Right now, he only wanted to marry Su Qianxue off as quickly as possible, so as to avoid any new trouble or unexpected mishaps that would further tarnish the Su Family’s name. How could he still be in the mood to raise conditions?

Besides, given his current power and influence, anything the Pei Family could do, he could do as well; and what the Pei Family couldn’t do, he could still manage.

So why make things hard for the Pei Family at such a juncture?

That was just as well. Mr. Pei nodded in satisfaction, no longer quibbling over the Su couple’s sour expressions. After exchanging a few more polite words, he took his people and took his leave.

"Master, Xue’er still hasn’t been found even now. What are we to do? Could she really have run away from the marriage?"

"There are so many bad people outside. She’s just a weak young girl—if she runs into some misfortune, what are we to do?"

"If anything happens to Xue’er, what meaning would my life still have? I might as well find a rope and hang myself..."

As soon as they left, Madam Su clutched her handkerchief and began to weep softly.

Earlier, Mr. Pei had truly misunderstood. The Su couple’s dark expressions were not them deliberately putting on airs, nor were they because of Pei Yu or the betrothal gifts.

At this moment they simply couldn’t spare a thought for Pei Yu or the gifts. Their faces were ugly because... their daughter was missing.

For a full four days now, Su Qianxue hadn’t come back.

None of the servants in the residence knew where she’d gone or when she’d disappeared. She hadn’t left behind a single word; she had just vanished like that.

The Su and Wang families, together with the Government, had practically turned all of Haojing upside down, yet they still hadn’t found her.

It was as if she had vanished into thin air.

The Su couple had no way of telling whether she had run away from home on her own, or whether, in a moment of carelessness, she’d been abducted by some scoundrel.

Therefore, these past few days, besides making an all‑out effort to look for her, they had also been waiting for some message from kidnappers—but there had been no movement at all.

This left Madam Su flustered and deeply uneasy.

"I’ve already sent orders for everyone to search with all their might. Dead or alive, we must see her. Even if we have to dig up all of Da Wu Country three feet deep, we must find Xue’er~"

"Don’t panic yet. For now, just try to wait patiently a while longer."

Su Jian rubbed his forehead, feeling quite a headache as he offered a word of comfort.

His daughter was missing—of course he was anxious too. But he had already mobilized every force he could; if they still couldn’t find her, what else could he do?

Aside from waiting, was there any other way?

Sigh, what was even more vexing was that the Pei Family clearly still didn’t know that Xue’er was missing. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come today to deliver the betrothal gifts.

He could hardly imagine what kind of storm would break out once the Pei Family learned of this.

Thinking of this, Su Jian became even more irritable.