Summary:
<blockquote>"My son is overwhelmed by such flattery," Jin Guangshan says from the table. The words are friendly but Jin Guangyao can hear the rebuke in his tone, the sharp anger promising consequences should Jin Guangyao refuse.
For a moment, he longs to refuse. He could keep the secret and marry Qin Su, have his children recognised as Jin and make his mother proud. He could be part of his father's sect as she'd always dreamed for him. But his father has no intention of letting this possible alliance slip through his fingers and Jin Guangyao doesn't know if he could keep such a terrible secret; if he could bed Qin Su knowingly, if those children would ever be possible.
Marrying into the Lan will please his father. Jin Guangyao will still be a member of the gentry as his mother wanted. If he has to leave the Jin and play the subservient furen, he could choose no one better than Lan Xichen.</blockquote>
