After Sheng Weiqiao left with great concerns, Gongsun Su came inside, humming and laughing, “You are not being a good brother. Why do you scare her like that? I noticed she came to see you because she worried about you. She was just reluctant to admit it. If you had talked with her kindly, wouldn't it have been an excellent outcome for both of you?”

He continued, “Rumors have it that Sheng Lanci failed to educate his daughter so that she did not inherit anything from her father. Now that I have seen her in person, I think she is rather naive and has a tolerable temper. She is not one of those girls who is bossy and demanding, so I don't suppose you grow tired of her already?”

Sheng Shuihe leaned back, curled up his lips, and said with a languid tone, “It is precisely because she is not annoying that I have decided to guide and educate her a bit, just in case she can't recognize evil intents in disguise after marriage. If I find her irritating, I won't even consider wasting my time worrying about her. In that case, I will just coax her for the moment and let herself face the future in weal and woe!”

Gongsun Su was a bit surprised, “Before you could enlighten this girl in any way, she probably would end up hating you!”

“Considering her status in Sheng Family, you can see it yourself if she knows how to play with one's mind, it won't be this effortless to send her away.” Sheng Shuihe could not help laughing, “She has always led an easy life. She never has to worry about anything, and there is always someone in her life to take care of things for her. Educating her by reasoning is futile because she won't take it seriously, even if what I said is true. If I act like a kind brother to her, then she'll never learn anything from me!”

Gongsun Su touched his chin and smiled, “So you'd rather let her pick up tricks out of resentment towards you? That's one h.e.l.l of a sacrifice to make.”

Sheng Shuihe took a sip of the warm tea and said with ease, “It's hardly a sacrifice. After all, I got nothing to do at the moment, and teasing her is quite interesting. When she becomes thoughtful one day, she might be grateful to me, and the thought of that makes me quite satisfying! Hha!”

Sheng Weiqiao, who was discussed by foster brothers, was holding a tea bowl in front of Xu Baomo and looking at him awkwardly.

Xu Baomo glanced at his reflection on the silver pot for the thirty-ninth time, affirming that he was as dignified and handsome as ever before. While being complacent with his appearance, he felt anxious for her and thought to himself, “If you admire me, just say it! n.o.body is around now, even the maid Yu Shan has been sent away. Why are you still so shy about saying it?! Things will get awkward between us if we don't clear it up. What if that happens?!”

The reason why Xu Baomo was still so confident in Sheng Weiqiao's feelings for him after the blow to his pride given by Gongsun Yingjiang was not that he was narcissistic. He had his reasons.

First of all, he came to Sheng Family based on the strong bonds between Sheng and Xu Families for generations. Even if Sheng Weiqiao did not fall for him at first sight like Shen Jiuniang, she still had a good first impression on him. Senior Master Sheng preferred the eldest branch and was always kind to Sheng Weiqiao. As a pampered granddaughter, Sheng Weiqiao was close to her grandfather. Thus, how could she not treat Brother Xu, who was brought in by her grandfather, with kindness?

When Xu Baomo comforted her in the garden of Sheng Family, he already confirmed her goodwill.

Secondly, he looked attractive and was versed in both literature and martial arts, and the imperial court bestowed the t.i.tle “Young Lord” on him! As the saying went, people loved beauty, not to mention that he was enn.o.bled as Marquis' Young Lord. Sheng Weiqiao was raised in Sheng Family, and the men she had daily contact with were either the servants or his brothers and close relatives.

Xu Baomo thought that he was far more prestigious, charming, and gentlemanlike than the children of Feng Family and cousins of Sheng Weiqiao, such as Xuanyu She. Unless Sheng Weiqiao was ignorant of the concept of love, otherwise, he was the only man she could fall for in her life!

Thirdly, as an honorable and distinguished guest of Sheng Family, Xu Baomo put himself in danger and risked his life to follow and protect the siblings from Sheng Family…. How was it possible that she was not touched by all this?!

She was already impressed by him when they first met. Now she was moved by him, so it was only logical for him to think that she must have had a soft spot for him!

Xu Baomo even prepared how to answer her confession, “I never thought you would fall in love with me. I want you to know when I first laid my eyes on you, I realized immediately no other girl can ever enter my life!!!”

Although he had said this line pretty much to every girl he flirted with, Xu Baomo thought it did not matter since his Big Weiqiao did not know that and would certainly be happy to hear it!

“Grandfather also said he would let me live in Sheng Family for a long time and advised me to use the stay as an opportunity to impress Uncle Sheng so that he would allow me to be his son-in-law. Grandfather spent his whole life with my grandmother. He failed to understand this!” Xu Baomo let out a sigh, “Uncle Sheng loves Big Weiqiao so much that as long as Big Weiqiao likes me, his opinion of me really doesn't matter. Conversely, if Big Weiqiao doesn't like me, however, Uncle Sheng is satisfied with me, he will not go against the will of his beloved daughter!”

He could imagine returning to Cangwu County and reporting to Old Marquis about the journey. Old Marquis Xu would be surprised and praise his actions. Just then, after long hesitation, Sheng Weiqiao finally made up her mind and said hesitantly, “Brother Xu, I'd like to ask you something. And if you're offended in any way, please don't get angry with me!”

“Big Weiqiao is so shy. She still beats around the bush.” Xu Baomo thought to himself, “It's understandable. I came back this time for her, but she didn't know that and worried that I might turn her down! Anyways she is a girl and will prefer to express herself in a roundabout way in case of embarra.s.sing herself!”

What a pity he could not use his well-thought-out lines! He felt a bit regretful but gave a warm, gentle smile and said in a soft voice, “Sister Sheng, tell me what it is!”

Sheng Weiqiao took a deep breath as if she had risked everything and asked, “I am wondering whether it was your idea that Miss Gongsun dressed in a gown and danced in front of her little uncle in the middle of the night?”

In the meanwhile, Xu Baomo just blurted out without hesitation, “No. I have been sent back to my hometown by my parents since I was little and raised by my grandfather. He was an army man, just like Senior Master Sheng, who killed countless enemies and adhered to moral principles! He was strict with me and urged me to study day and night, so I had no spare time for myself. I don't even have a maid, let alone a crus.h.!.+”

Sheng Weiqiao, “…??”

Xu Baomo, “…!!!”

Young Lord Xu was having a mental breakdown and thought, “Aren't you going to ask me whether I have a crush or not?!”

“Why do you keep beating around the bush?!”

It was deadly still in the room. After a while, Xu Baomo, thanks to his cleverness, realized what went wrong and explained himself calmly, “What I meant is that I have no feelings for Miss Gongsun. Because I never had a maid before, I don't know how to get along with girls. Thus, I can't possibly give her any advice, let alone advising her to perform dancing for Brother Hengshu… Brother Hengshu?!!!”

Xu Baomo was stunned all of a sudden, “She, uh, she, she is Brother Hengshu's niece, right?! “

Sheng Shuihe and Gongsun Su were foster brothers, but such bonding was stronger than blood. Since Gongsun Family already acknowledged Sheng Shuihe as the foster son, conventionally, he was Gongsun Yingjiang's uncle. However, Gongsun Yingjiang used him as an experiment, and her real intent was to seduce her own little uncle?!

Xu Baomo felt down!

He imagined having a fling but at most with two sisters. A fling with someone in the family never crossed his mind!

Not to mention that Gongsun Yingjiang was the one who took the initiative!

Xu Baomo choked up with emotions, and his face blushed: he was envious of Brother Hengshu and then thought why he didn't have such a beautiful and bold niece?

Uncle and niece!

The idea never came to him before, let alone experiencing it. The idea just made him excited!

After the excitement, he thought it was rather fortunate he did not have such a niece!

Otherwise, the rule Old Marquis Xu learned from Senior Master Sheng was that men got beaten up, and women got spared. If such a thing happened in Xu Family, whether he seduced his niece or not, he would be beaten to death! That was for sure, regardless of what kind of punishment his niece would get.

He was frightened by the thought. Old Marquis Xu was getting up in years, but he was as vigorous as Senior Master Sheng. He knew well how to beat his grandson up in a cruel manner despite his age!

All these thoughts calmed Xu Baomo a bit. He managed to subdue his emotions and put on a worried look, “Sister, what is this all about? Miss Gongsun is the foster niece of Brother Hengshu. If this is heard by others, she and Brother Hengshu will lose their reputation!”

“That's what I am afraid of!” Sheng Weiqiao worried herself sick, “Her Little Uncle will not tell a soul about it. But he had no clue what triggered Miss Gongsun to behave like that. I want to talk about it with her, but the thing is I don't know her that well. I don't even know how to start this conversation with her!”

Xu Baomo thought to himself, “How am I supposed to know how to deal with her? Over the years, I've been trying to corrupt girls from decent families or encourage the corrupt ones to be more wicked. How am I supposed to know how to bring a girl who is determined to jump into the abyss back on track?”

Nevertheless, he knew the drill: don't tell a girl you can't do it to her face. He calmed down and said in a serious tone, “Was it a misunderstanding?”

Sheng Weiqiao puzzled, “Misunderstanding?”

“Brother Hengshu is not recovered from his injuries yet. He is the little uncle of Miss Gongsun, and maybe she did that out of respect to him to cheer him up….” Xu Baomo considered himself lucky for Sheng Weiqiao was quite naive and failed to notice his guilty conscience. He kept a straight face and continued, “After all, this is Daimao Island, the stronghold of pirates. We should not judge them by the moral principles we hold, right? Miss Gongsun is quite young. Based on her residence and her maids, I think Gongsun Family copied our way of raising a girl to raise and pamper her.”

“So, she is not quite sensible. Seeing others put on performances to sick and injured people, she probably thought dancing for Brother Hengshu was her way of fulfilling the filial duty.”

Sheng Weiqiao did not know anything about Daimao Island. Although she found this explanation rather bizarre, she pondered it over and accepted it, “But shouldn't we let her know where the boundary lies? What if she… does it again next time?”

“If you intend to have this conversation with her, here is a piece of advice.” Xu Baomo said sincerely, “No matter what drove her to dance for Brother Hengshu, you just regard her as an innocent and unsophisticated girl who doesn't know the boundaries of men and women. In this way, she won't be ashamed, and you won't need to worry about hurting her feelings!”

Xu Baomo broke out in a cold sweat. Seeing Sheng Weiqiao nodding her head, he added, “Miss Gongsun puts on her delicate manner every time she sees you. She thinks highly of your opinion. If you insist Miss Gongsun only did what seemed like a seduction out of her ignorance of worldly boundaries between men and women, she won't contradict you!”

Hopefully, Gongsun Yingjiang's blatant seductive behaviors could be kept secret. When Sheng Weiqiao asked him whether it was his idea earlier, he was petrified!

Although he knew Sheng Weiqiao trusted him far more than Gongsun Yingjiang, walls had ears. There was no other witness on that day, and it was impossible to clear things up by himself!

Once he was accused of inciting the niece to seduce her uncle, it would be unlikely for him to marry his Big Weiqiao.

Someone would break his legs as well!

“Miss Gongsun is such a wicked lady!” Xu Baomo thought to himself vengefully, “What I said to her was nothing more than a few words as goodwill. Anyways, I am not the one she had a crush on, but who would have thought she would revenge herself on me this like? Just as I expected, not a single soul from a pirate lair is good! Whoever marries this vicious girl is so unfortunate!”

Then he turned to Sheng Weiqiao, who was attractive, charming, and innocent. Xu Baomo let out a sigh of relief and thought with delight, “I'm glad my Big Weiqiao is raised among great wealth. She turned out so educated, kind, and sweet. She would never treat me that way!”