So, hearing the "brothers" that the sisters repeated one after the other, Sheng Shuihe sat back reluctantly, "You are not kids anymore and there are no servants around us. Although I am your biological elder brother, it is still not good to spread it out and make other people know. Remember, it's between us."

What Sheng Weiqiao and Sheng Weiwu wanted was to let him stay to embolden them, and therefore they were so subservient to him and nodded their heads in a hurry. Absolutely, they had the same idea in mind: when the servant delivered the food at dawn, you would be useless. Then just see how we would fix you!!!

However, the night was long and boundless. They just looked at each other and didn't know what to do. Sheng Shuihe wanted to go to sleep, but he had been shaken awake by these two sisters. He asked these two sisters to sleep, but none of them dared to close their eyes although they were already too sleepy.

After dawdling like this for a while, Sheng Weiqiao thought they needed to find a topic and had a chat to refresh themselves. Then she said, "Hey, how about your mother?"

"I don't remember." She just realized that her words were inappropriate after she asked. Fortunately, Sheng Shuihe didn't turn against her or looked unhappy. He just said in a calm tone, "The people around me said she was in a place far, far away. I guess she must be doing very well."

So, it meant that his mother had already pa.s.sed away? The so-called "doing well" maybe meant that he hoped she can rest in peace.

The two sisters exchanged a glance and stopped talking.

Sheng Shuihe's biological mother was a mistress after all. Therefore, they could hardly say that the felt sorry for this mistress's death.

Thus, the room fell into silence.

After a while, Sheng Weiqiao was too sleepy to open her eyes. She had to find topics to talk again, "What did you do before?"

She thought her family was so rich that Sheng Shuihe, even as a son of a mistress, couldn't have suffered. He was probably like his second uncle, spending money like water, philandering with other women, and doing nothing outside all day… Maybe a woman would come to the door with his child in a couple of days.

Unexpectedly, Sheng Shuihe smiled and said slowly, "I can't remember what had happened before I was five or six. Then I was caught by a trafficker. I was lucky that I had met my foster father in the midway and he saved me!"

"But I was so scared at that time that I couldn't remember my biological parents and families. My foster father couldn't send me home, and therefore he kept me in his home temporarily. My foster father tended to make me a servant. However, his only child appreciated me, so he accepted me as his younger brother and taught me martial arts."

"After practicing for a while, my foster father believed that I was diligent. Then he recognized me as his adopted son and trained me like training his biological son."

"Then when I gradually grew up, my foster brother found me more talented in studying. He went on a long journey on purpose to help... help me invite a teacher. Under the guidance of this teacher, I had studied for a few years. I also worked as my foster father and brother's a.s.sistant during that period. Actually, my teacher had already convinced my foster father and brother to let me partic.i.p.ate in the imperial examination after two years. But who knew that something unexpected might happen at any time? My foster father suddenly pa.s.sed away some time ago. In order to get more family property, my foster father's brothers gathered together to bully me and my brother. My teacher died unfortunately because of that accident, and I had suffered a lot as well!"

When saying that, he pointed at his chest in a gloomy expression.

Sheng Weiqiao became stupefied but realized immediately that he was hinting at the origin of the scars. She couldn't help rounding her eyes, "How rich is your foster father? How much property has he left on earth? Why the families vied for that this seriously?"

Sheng Family built up their family fortune pretty late and Senior Master Sheng was old but vigorous. Therefore, they didn't need to divide family fortune in recent years.

Besides, Senior Master Sheng and Sheng Lanci were always in power in Sheng Family. The other two brothers, Sheng Lansi and Sheng Lanzi, didn't have a say on their family business. They were even less powerful than their steward. Moreover, they were afraid of their father and elder brother. Even if Sheng Family needed to divide the family fortune later, Sheng Lansi and Sheng Lanzi dared not to do something outrageous.

The old well-known families of Nanfeng County were Xuanyu Family and Feng Family both had had family fortune wars before. The most recent one happened to Sheng Weiqiao's uncle, Xuanyu Le. He died suddenly, leaving some terrible love affairs and five younger brothers who were all in an important position. It took her aunt a lot of effort to resolve the dispute, which made everyone in Nanfeng County realize Mrs. Feng's power.

Otherwise, just relying on that seventeen-year-old cousin, Xuanyu She, could never daunt all the people in Xuanyu Family!

Xuanyu Le pa.s.sed away three years ago. Sheng Weiqiao was only ten years old then. However, because it was a big scandal and concerned her biological aunt and brother's future, she also knew about that more or less. She thought the family fortune dispute of Xuanyu Family was serious enough, but to her surprise, Sheng Shuihe's experience was much crueler!

"It doesn't have much to do with the amount of family property." Sheng Shuihe couldn't help smiling and gave her a glance, saying, "After all, my uncles were not very good-tempered and they always fought when they had different opinions. It really hurt that they didn't care about the bonds of kins.h.i.+p at all."

Sheng Weiqiao was a little bit angry for no reason, "Who is your foster father? Ask father tomorrow. Father may have some relations.h.i.+p with your foster father's local government. How could they kill people this casually? Did they still care about the law?"

She felt a little bit wrong when her indignant words just came out. "I should be happier when this son of a mistress was unluckier! Why did I give him advice for revenge?

It was just because I need to steady him now!

Right!

I wouldn't care about him for real!"

Sheng Weiqiao was relieved secretly while thinking like this.

But she heard Sheng Shuihe smiling and saying, "It doesn't matter. The people who hurt me have already been slain by me… ahem, ahem… have already been released apparently but have been sent to prison by other charges in fact!"

Netherworld prison was also a prison!

"That sounds okay!" Sheng Weiqiao didn't realize that was a lie and nodded with satisfaction, "This kind of criminals should be addressed by the government. Are you familiar with the local government? Do you want father to send some taels to the jail officer and let the officer 'treat' them specially?"

Sheng Weiqiao, as Sheng Lanci's biological daughter, had been spoiled into a naive and innocent girl, but she still knew some special approaches since she was influenced by her environment.

"No, that's okay." But Sheng Shuihe did think this sophisticated suggestion didn't match her impression she had left on him. He looked at her in astonishment, then smiled, saying, "Do you think that the government will give up this chance to make a fortune?"

Sheng Weiqiao thought that was right, then she didn't give advice anymore, but asked curiously, "What happened then?"

"Then, I was seriously injured. Instead of helping my foster brother, I even needed my foster brother to take extra time to take care of me. I felt guilty, so I wanted to find my biological parents." Sheng Shuihe said lazily, "I didn't expect much. But because my foster father and brother had helped me look for my parents in these years, it didn't take a long time for me to find father…."

When talking about this, he paused for a while and his tone became obscure, "Actually, I have never thought that I could go back to my original family. I just thought that foster father and brother treated me so well, however, I just kept enc.u.mbering them and couldn't help them at all. If my biological parents were powerful, maybe they could help me to repay my foster brother to some extent. It would still be good, even if they could just find a place for me to recover. Then my foster brother didn't need to take care of me while taking care of my young and innocent nieces."

"…." Sheng Weiqiao didn't know how to answer him. She was not willing to comfort him for Sheng Lanci and Madam Feng's long-lasting enviable marriage was broken because of him after all. She didn't want to laugh at him, either. Firstly, she needed him to stay to accompany them. Secondly, she couldn't bear to hurt him.

"My words didn't mean anything. Actually, father had never tried to look for me in the past years, which means he had only cared about you and your mother in his heart." Sheng Shuihe saw she didn't answer, but he didn't care and kept saying in a tender look, "Taking me back home this time is actually considering for you!"

Sheng Weiqiao couldn't help but said, "I don't need your help!"

"Of course, I know I am not useful for you since you are clever and pretty." Sheng Shuihe didn't feel awkward at all. On the contrary, he nodded naturally. Then he s.h.i.+fted his topic, "However, father cares about you so much. There is an old saying that the overwhelmed concern will make mistakes. Even if he knows that you can live a glorious life depending on your ingenuity and wisdom and without anyone's help, he still worries about you and can't help preparing all kinds of protection and ways of escape for you. Do you think this makes sense?"

"Father likes worrying about me!" Sheng Weiqiao had been educated a lot by Madam Feng recently since she always bl.u.s.tered that she didn't need Sheng Shuihe's help and she could beat all her enemies down by herself. How could her parents look down on her? She didn't expect that Sheng Shuihe would support her. Although she felt a little bit strange, she still found this son of a mistress was not that annoying. She lifted her chin and sighed in a mature tone, "I, as his daughter, has to consider him more and tolerate him!"

"…" Sheng Shuihe kept a poker face for one second to refrain from bursting into laughter. In order to cover his real emotion, he nodded his head seriously, "I feel ashamed that I am not as filial as you!"

Sheng Weiqiao hummed without saying any words. It seemed that she didn't care about his praise, but she didn't feel good. She knew that her half-blooded elder brother was raised outside by Sheng Lanci's money, living a posh and carefree life. Maybe he would think about how to root out her and her mother and occupy Sheng Family when he had time like her aunt had said.

Who knew that he had been trafficked when he was five or six? After being saved luckily, it seemed that he was adopted by a wealthy foster father. His foster father didn't think highly of him since he wanted him to be a servant at first. Even though he adopted him afterwards, he either thought he was talented or he actually knew that Sheng Shuihe was Sheng Lanci's illegitimate son out and then had ulterior motives.

Could the dependent Sheng Shuihe live well in that situation?

If he were doing well, how could he be beaten into a half-dead man?

Even though he put the men who had hurt him into prison, they were rich. Probably those men had bought off the officer and regained freedom when Sheng Shuihe just left his foster father's home!

"I don't know what he said is true or fake?" Sheng Weiqiao felt confused for a while, considering on the sly, "I will check with father tomorrow. If that were true, I had better restrain myself… when I want to fix him later."

She fell asleep unconsciously when thinking about that. The younger Sheng Weiwu beside her had already fallen into sweet dreams a long time ago.

Sheng Shuihe who kept saying that he was sleepy before was still mettlesome now.

He watched these two sisters falling asleep, smiling. He held them up and put them into the quilt on the straw one by one. He covered the quilt on them and tucked them tightly. Then he tiptoed quietly and left the room to find that "green fire" in the yard. After destroying all the evidence, he came back to the room relievedly, sitting in the chair and beginning to refresh his spirit by closing his eyes.

The next day dawned. The three siblings washed up hastily. After checking their appearances, Sheng Shuihe let them leave the ancestral hall considerately and told them to complain about their fear and grievance about last night to the elders.

Of course, the end of Sheng Weiqiao and Sheng Weiwu's complaint was just like he had imagined. Senior Master Sheng took what they had said with a pinch of salt. He walked around in the ancestral hall and found nothing suspicious. Then he doubted them naturally, "I have just grounded you for no more than two days! You two want to get out?! Green fire? Ghost? If the green fire and ghosts did exist, how could you be safe and sound?! You don't even know how to lie!"

Actually, Senior Master didn't plan to lock his two granddaughters for a whole month, but these two kids did make him too disappointed! It was no more than three days, and even the aftermath of the birthday banquet disturbance hadn't been well coped with. They wanted to come out?

Absolutely, no way!

So, Senior Master decided without any hesitation, "Lock them back! Don't let them out in two weeks!!!"