Sheng Weiqiao had stepped on Sheng Shuihe’s foot on purpose, and Shen Jiuniang comforted her all their way back home. However, she still felt wronged.
After returning to the Sheng Family, she shouted at the chief steward of the Sheng Family regardless of her need for changing clothes in her room. “Were those guards picked by you? They were like dead men! When Xuanyu Che insulted me and even my mother to my face, they just stood there and watched, like some of the onlookers! Did they see me as an insignificant one after Sheng Shuihe entered the family?!” She shouted.
Sheng Lanci heard the news. When Sheng Weiqiao was scolding the chief steward, he happened to arrive to give her some comforts. He was furious after hearing that, “Junk! You did your job in that way?!”
The chief steward pleaded his guilty words after words with a very careful mind. Because Sheng Weiqiao wanted to visit her aunt’s family, after Sheng Lanci took over the task of teaching them their lessons, she snorted and walked away to her room to change clothes.
She didn’t know that the chief steward started explaining right after she left, “My master, it was not that the guards sat back when Miss Sheng was being bullied. When they were just going to take action, Mr. Sheng had started earlier.”
He whispered, “After Mr. Sheng gave Miss Sheng a helping hand, Miss Sheng expressed her thanks to him. Although she didn’t call him brother, the tension between them was obviously eased!”
“What the hell are you talking about!” Sheng Lanci replied angrily, “Since they followed my sweetheart, it was absolutely their fault to make her angry! Stop explaining! Everyone will be beaten 20 times with rod, with no cheating on the number!”
With his voice down, he said, “You know how to beat them. Then, you take 20 taels of silver from the accountant as bonus. Remember to let them follow again next time my sweetheart goes out.”
Sheng Weiqiao didn’t know she was going to be fooled. She returned to Zhuying Mini Villa. In the room, she washed her face and hands. Lvjin twisted her braids into two spiral buns, decorating them with coral beads begonia flowers. Then, she put a pair of glazed hair clasps into the spiral buns. The body and pendants of the hair clasp were made of glazed glass. Its sparkling surface was in harmony with the dyestuff little plum between her eyebrows, making her delicate skin more attractive.
Also, she wore a short jacket with narrow sleeves, embroidered with magnolia flowers, and a pink goddess-fond dress with golden lines on it (like the pleated dress).Her slender waist was surrounded naturally with pine-green and gold clouding patterns. Such dressing was for meeting guests. After a while, she arrived at the Jinxue Hall, where Old Madam Ming lived. Just after crossing over the threshold, Sheng Weiqiao heard cheers by Sheng Lanxin. She joked with a smile, “Wow! Was there a little fairy losing her way and coming here by mistake?”
“Aunt always makes fun of me!” Sheng Weiqiao said with a bashful smile. After giving a salute to each of them, she said sweetly, “Aunt came here so early this time. Today, when I was stopped by Little Jiuniang outside, I couldn’t believe who I saw in front of me!”
At the beginning of the next month, it would be Senior Master Sheng’s birthday. In previous years, Sheng Lanxin also came back to celebrate the birthday with her husband and children. Because she was the mistress of her family with many affairs to handle, they usually arrived one day or two earlier before the birthday.
However, this year, they had arrived seven or eight days earlier than before. Sheng Weiqiao felt not only pleasantly surprised but also a little amazed.
Sheng Lanxin felt her amazement and said with a smile, “We came here earlier this year for the sake of your cousin. She has been fascinated by painting recently. At first, I invited a painting teacher for her, but she thought him too old-fashioned. I remembered that your mother was a painting master. You know that your cousin has always been a faithful follower of your mother since she was a little child. Now that there was an excuse for her, she always kept asking me to bring her over earlier to see her teacher. In spite of many affairs at hand, I couldn’t resist her continual pleading. Thus, we departed earlier lest her constant bothering!”
Of course, that was an excuse.
In fact, after Madam Feng went to her parents’ family several days ago, Old Madam Ming sent people to persuade her a few times. All of them were politely refused by the Feng Family. Old Madam Ming was afraid that Sheng Lanci was also unable to cheer her up. Sheng Lanxin shared a close relationship with her sister-in-law before her marrying, and Madam Feng always cared about her feelings. Thinking about that, Old Madam Ming sent her daughter a letter to ask her to come back earlier and give her brother a helping hand.
The Old Madam had her own considerations.Sheng Lanxin was her biological daughter, but Sheng Lanci was not her biological son, even though they had the same father. If Sheng Lanxin could do her brother a favor, it would be easy for her to ask for his help if the Old Madam and Senior Master Sheng passed away.
There had always been nothing for Sheng Weiqiao to worry about, so she was a naive girl. Since Sheng Weiqiao didn’t understand the inner meaning, she asked Shen Jiuniang with interest, “Little Jiuniang, why have you suddenly changed your attitude toward painting? Hadn’t you said that the tiresome colors made you feel dizzy?”
“Tell you again! Call me cousin.” Shen Jiuniang rolled her eyes and then said, “Couldn’t I change my mind?”
Then, she pointed at a new porcelain hair clasp in her hair, reminding Sheng Lanxin, “Mother, didn’t the fourth brother just say that both I and Big Weiqiao have one hair clasp?”
“Oh, my poor memory!” Sheng Lanxin patted her forehead. She asked the maid to fetch a porcelain hair clasp similar to the one in Shen Jiuniang’s hair. “The hair clasp was bought by Silang for its unique design. It is very cheap. Just take it as a toy.” she said.
The porcelain hair clasp was in the shape of a lotus flower, with one petal unfolded. Dewdrops on the petal, the lotus flower was as natural as a real one. As was said by Sheng Lanxin, the porcelain was of low value, but the novelty was its highlight. Taking the porcelain hair clasp, Sheng Weiqiao played and appreciated for a while, and then put it in her hair. She smiled at Shen Silang, “Thank you, cousin!”
Shen Silang was with a heroic appearance. His eyebrows were thick, eyes big, nose high and mouth wide. He was also very straightforward, replying with one hand waving, “In a hurry to come back, I have not found any good stuff. I will take a trip to the North in the next half of the year, and then I can bring you something better!”
Sheng Weiqiao had a small talk with him, asking about lifestyles in the North. Then, she talked with Shen Shisan, who was only six years old. With an opposite temperament to his brother, he was a shy boy. A few words spoken, he hid behind Sheng Lanxin.
After a while of coaxing by Sheng Lanxin, he dared not to go front. She said with embarrassment, “Maybe that is because I wished it a girl to keep Jiuniang company when I was pregnant. Although Shisan was a boy, he seemed even shyer than a girl!”
“He will grow up less shy!” Old Madam Ming said. “You came here just on a few occasions. Without many communications with Weiqiao, it is natural for him to be shy.”
Looking at the sky, she was about to talk about the dinner to be served. But a maid came in and said, “There is a letter from the Senior Master, saying that he has been on the way to the family!”
Senior Master Sheng had left home to visit an old friend, who lived in Cangwu County next to Nanfeng County.
Though two counties bordered each other, there would still be several days’ journey between their town areas. As a soldier ever in the army, he usually rode horses instead of taking the carriage on the journey. That was convenient too. However, counting the days before his birthday, it was less than ten. It was time to go back.
Old Madam Ming nodded slightly after hearing that. Before asking the girl to put the letter in the room where she would read after dinner, the maid added, “The messenger told that the Senior Master would come back with the successor to Ningwei Marquis. Besides offering birthday congratulations on behalf of Ningwei Marquis, the successor seemed to have something else to do, and thus staying here for some days. Senior Master hoped that you could make some preparations for it.”
Chapter 9 The Worried Old Madam MingThe old friend that Senior Master Sheng visited was Xu Baoting, whose son was the Ningwei Marquis, named Xu Zijing.Those two elderly people met in the army when they were teenagers. During the years of war in Beijiang, they warded off arrows and swords with their own body for each other, saving each other on many occasions. Therefore, they had a very deep friendship.After their leaving from the army because of the old age, they no longer stayed with each other day and night. Later on, the Xu Family was conferred as the Marquis. Such changes didn’t estrange them. On the contrary, they became more closely associated.Nevertheless, there was a huge gap between their social classes. Old Madam Ming got very nervous.Although her daughter, as well as her daughter’s family, had just arrived, she was in no mood to entertain them. She sent a maid to call over Sheng Lanci to have a discussi
In fact, Sheng Shuihe didn’t want to run this errand. He sat on the couch and spoke to the steward through the curtain, “The reason why my father took me home was that I got wounded seriously, and he was worried about my wounds might result in sequela because no one could take care of me out there! So, how am I supposed to work with an injury?”Then, he coughed.The steward smiled sadly and thought that actually, Sheng Lanci did say the same thing after he brought his son home.But during these days, everyone started to talk about the news that Sheng Family’s son hit a person for his sister. Now, everybody knew that the first day Sheng Shuihe came back home, he beat the ass of the Xuanyu Che.But strangely, Xuanyu Che said something rude and insulting to Sheng Weiqiao and her mother that day in public. However, until now, his parents still didn’t bring his son to the Sheng Family to offer a humble apology. Well, the reason actually
Sheng Weiqiao went back to Zhuying Mini Villa with a flushed face. She felt grateful that no one appeared in her way to see her nuances, and hastened to warn Lvqu and Lvjin never to let out the thing.The two maids logically nodded, “We’ve seen nothing and heard nothing today!”“He’s fortunate!” Sheng Weiqiao relieved herself. When recalling the scene that she ran into today, though she felt bashful and annoyed, she had no courage to go trouble Sheng Shuihe again, so she simply cursed in her mind, “Next time when I catch you, you’ll see!”At that thought, she lowered her head, caught the kylin jade pendant and couldn’t help crumpling her brows. She considered in heart, “The jade is not a common one. I have to take it to my aunt!”After a while, At Xuanyu’s mansion, Madam Feng frowned, studying the kylin jade pendant, and said, “It belongs to the son of a mistress? Are you sure?”“I saw him put it by his hand myself. Ho
“Old Sea Master Gongsun, who was keeping us good connection, failed in the war and died. His son has retreated to Daimao Island. Outside there are two Sea Masters seeing covetously, including Han and Pan; Inside there is a group of cunning underlings who are not loyal to him for his inferior age,” Sheng Lanci sighed, “The son of Old Sea Master sent his henchmen to island to sell the treasure accumulated by the ancestors during a long time on sea. That jade pendant was in the treasure.”The name Sea Master was to address the leaders of the pirate respectfully.Nanfeng County was next to the sea, surrounded by many islands where lived abundant pirates making a living by robbing the boat past. They robbed the people near the sea from time to time but could not be arrested by feudal officials more than once. The officials only set out the sea as a deterrent for the pirates every year.But the emperor on the throne indulged himself in the lust and n
We would leave aside the bustle and stir in Sheng’s Mansion tonight first. The early next morning, all the people ranking below Old Madam Ming, including Sheng Lanxin who came back for a visit with her whole family, had dressed up and went outside of the gate in order to receive Senior Master and Young Lord Xu.Senior Master Sheng had got married twice, and he had three sons and two daughters in total. Among them, the oldest son Sheng Lanci’s birth mother was Madam Ai, his first wife. When giving birth, she suffered from dystocia, but Senior Master had happened to be absent, so the midwife had followed Madam Ai’s orders and had sacrificed the mother to save the son. Because of this, Sheng Lanci was born but Madam Ai died, which was why Old Senior thought he owed Madam Ai a lot and he had been partial to the eldest branch all the time.Fortunately, his second wife Old Madam Ming wasn’t a narrow-minded person. Even if she had given birth to two sons and two d
For god’s sake, Old Madam asked this completely out of her concern for the guest and the consideration of the relationship between Xu Family and Sheng Family.But the words somehow offended Senior Master Sheng. Senior Master was extending his arms to let Old Madam Ming fasten the clothes band for him, and hearing the words, his countenance turned gloomy and groaned, “You’re a woman. What’s the meaning of inquiring so much?!”“Wasn’t I afraid that we weren’t thoughtful enough for that child?” Old Madam Ming found the blame unjust. Because she was the second wife, naturally she was inferior to the first wife. Especially that the first wife died of giving birth to a child for Sheng Family, which made Senior Master Sheng guilty until then, moreover, Sheng Lanci alone was even more competent than all the four children she had given birth to, so she knew that she had no power and never dared to go against Senior Master Sheng.However, though Senor Ma
When Sheng Weiqiao and her cousin arrived, Sheng Shuihe and Xu Baomo were watching the servant packing up the chess and getting ready to leave.Sheng Shuihe and Xu Baomo were shocked when they saw Sheng Weiqiao making a beeline for them angrily.“Sh*t, sister will find out I lied to her!” Luckily, Sheng Shuihe had a quick reaction, and he quickly saluted to Xu Baomo, saying regretfully, “Brother Xu, there is something perhaps you don’t know. Two days ago, I beat a playboy, who said something nasty to my sister and her mother on the street. After that, my sister has been going on about this for many days! This time, she would not let it go when she saw me. So, later, if my sister said anything rude, hope brother could forgive her!”After hearing what he said, Xu Baomo quickly replied, “Our families have been old friends for two generations, so there is no need to be so overcautious! Besides, it is actually quite enviable that sister cares about
When two siblings went back, they didn’t see Shen Jiuniang talking to Xu Baomo. Well, because he had already gone.But Shen Jiuniang was still standing there, reluctantly seeing his back off.Well, even a blind person could feel the sense of infatuation and intoxication through her eyes. Sheng Shuihe showed a faint smile when she looked at the expression of Sheng Weiqiao. First, she frowned, and then she pouted. When she realized that his eyes were on her, she glared at him angrily and shouted, “What?!”“Big Weiqiao?” Sheng Shuihe hadn’t answer yet, Shen Jiuniang was already shocked by the voice. She was flustered. She turned around, making her gourd-shaped earrings shook violently, and her red cheek became even redder as blood. “When, when did you guys come back?”“Good to see you, Cousin Shen!” Sheng Weiqiao was going to say something, but Sheng Shuihe took the chance to speak first, and he smiled, “We were just playing around, y