General Wolf (Stray Kids Bang Chan)

Chapter 1

A carriage stopped in front of the Wan family's residence. A maidservant got out of the vehicle first, giving a hand to the young lady who followed behind to help her down.
The father came to her who was riding a horse in front of the carriage.

The young lady was above the marriage age with three years, this making her 18 years old.

Surprisingly she was still unmarried despite her father's wish.
That's why she was here again, coming to madam Wan's birthday banquette only to find a husband-to-be for herself.
Of course, she was uninterested in getting married, so her father brought her here.

However, this event was the same as the previous ones she attended. Every banquette that was held in the capital, she was there, thanks to her father.

Her father somehow always managed to get invitation to all these events despite their paltry status.

She wished her mother to be there, she was always so caring and kind to her only daughter. But she also had poor health, so she was often sick. That's why she barely attended any of the banquettes her father managed to get invitation to.

Being 18 years old and still unmarried despite her father's wish. It was only possible because of her skills.
She was really good at talking. So good that she could convince anybody.
That's why when her father finally found a young lord who was willing to marry his daughter, at the end, it never came to a successful conclusion.

And why was she so skilled? It wasn't really a skill; it was only knowledge, as she always said. She studied a lot, read plenty of books and travelled around the whole country.
The travelling almost made her family go bankrupt but as her mother's only wish her father couldn't do else but make it true and send his only child on a few years long trip around the country.

So, there they stood. The father and daughter ready to enter the Wan mansion.

Inside, many lords and ladies had calm conversations with each other.

The girl had to follow her father to greet all the familiar lords. Every time she had to bow to them and introduce herself as a girl wanting to be married.
She felt embarrassed by it. Whether she said it indirectly it still sounded like "Hello, I want to marry your son."

Her father was actually kind to her but not when it was about marriage.

She didn't really know why he wanted to marry her out of their small family so much, maybe because he wanted to get new allies, or maybe was he too tired of her?

Slowly, they managed to reach the pavilion where the whole banquette was held. Here they had to take their seats far from each other because the ladies had to sit in a different area.

She went there and sat where the maidservant who led her showed. It was almost the last seat, showing her status was pretty low compared to the others.

Some young ladies were already sitting at their seats talking. Or rather gossiping about anything they heard from their maidservants.

They watched as the newcoming girl took her seat at the back and already started gossiping on her back. But this time louder so that the girl could also hear it.

"See who came? Isn't it our Cheng Qiqi? Who's so smart." One of them spoke.

"So smart that she only knows love from her books. Does she even know what love means or she's only reading classical books?" Another girl spoke.

She wasn't really hurt by the words at first, they probably don't know what love means either since they are the types who fall for every handsome and wealthy men when they see them for the first time.

But one thing was true. She never experienced love, so she doesn't really know how it feels. She wanted to feel it. But how can she when her father wants her to marry the first lord he sees?

"I heard her father brought her here to find her a husband. It's better for her like this anyways. She's too smart to fall in love and choose her own husband." To these comments the girls started to laugh elegantly, as their status required.

These words however took her by heart this time. Love has nothing to do with knowledge. The grand tutor of the princes also has a lovely wife and children.

She decided not to listen to them anymore and started to look at the pavilion's building structure and this brought her to the thoughts of the differences between the architecture in the different regions of the country.

What brought her out of her train of thoughts was the servant informing the guests about the empress's arrival.
She even forgot it. Madam Wan was the cousin of the empress, so she invited her too to her birthday celebration.

The empress came to the pavilion with about ten servants following her with different sizes of wooden boxes in their hands. Those were all the expensive gifts she brought for her cousin.

But not only servants followed her. There were her two daughters. They were still a bit young but walked after their mother elegantly.
All the men and women seated now got up and bowed to greet the empress.
She went to her seat in the middle; however, her daughters came to the lady's area and took the first two seats, showing they have the highest rank here.

Slowly the banquette started. The servants walked up and down with the delicious dishes and served them to every single person present. They were indeed delicious.
Lord Wan who prepared the whole event for his beloved wife also invited dancers to make the mood even more enjoyable. They danced very well but she couldn't see too much of them because of the paravian that divided the men's area from the women's area.

After the dancers some lords and their families wished happy birthday to madam Wan.
When her father's turn came for the wishes, she stood up and joined her father to hand the presents together.
Her father wasn't that good at talking so it was her job to tell some kind words.

"The Cheng family wishes Madam Wan a long and joyful life." She also quoted some words from a book to make it more memorable.

"Thank you, Young Lady Cheng, you are indeed good at talking. I heard a lot about you." The empress spoke.

This took her off guard. Did the empress know her? Is she that famous or just those gossipy ladies and maidservants spread it to her?

After the banquette the empress travelled back to the palace with her daughters.
After arriving her first thing was to find the emperor and tell him about the half successful plan's development.

She found him in his study room.

"My dear husband, I have good news."
She spoke, leaving behind the formalities. The emperor didn't really care about it. He loved his empress too much.

"Please tell me immediately, dear wife." He got up from his desk and went to her to hold her hands and look in her eyes.

"Your plan is seeming to go well, the daughter of the Cheng's is really as people say, frightfully good with words. Unfortunately, I could only experience a bit of her amazing skills, however I am sure she is more than perfect for the role."
She smiled to her loving husband.

"Wonderful, I will immediately notify her parents and him too." He winked.

Only they knew who that he was.