Hearing that, Sheng Lanci was dazed. Instead of answering her question, he asked, “Why do you ask such a question? Did someone tell you something?”

“When we were on the s.h.i.+p, he talked as if he weren't your son.” Sheng Weiqiao pouted. Because recently, she was committed to telling on Sheng Shuihe, but Sheng Lanci always covered for him. At the moment, she feared that Sheng Lanci figured she was telling on him again. So, she hurried to explain, “When he talked about you, he always said 'your father'. In your view, if he were your son, why did he call you that way?”

“And then?” Sheng Lanci's voice was gentle, while his eyes turned dark, and he asked lovingly, “Did you ask him why he called me this way?”

Sheng Weiqiao groaned, “I did! He said that he wouldn't be a child of Sheng Family anymore! So, is he your son or not? If not, why did you bring him back and said that he was my brother?”

“Surely, he is your brother.” Sheng Lanci blinked for a moment and sighed, “After all, sweetheart, you know that I'm the legitimate son of your grandfather. Your grandfather felt regretful for my mother's death, so he was always partial towards us first branch. My son would definitely be the future master of Sheng Family! If he weren't my son, do you think I would entrust Sheng Family to an outsider?”

Hearing that, Sheng Weiqiao bit her lip, wordless. She had no idea. Was it good news or not?

Logically, she should feel down. Because if Sheng Shuihe weren't her father's son, it would prove that her father didn't break his vow to her mother, and he was still the good husband and good father in her memories. Also, if Sheng Shuihe wanted to scramble for the property and relatives' affection, and to tell Senior Master Sheng on her every day, he would have no standing.

However, when it occurred to her that Sheng Shuihe would possibly never go back to Sheng Family, but stay at this island, make his living by slaughtering people, and maybe lose his life in the sea someday like Old Sea Master Gongsun, Sheng Weiqiao felt some nameless pity for him.

So, when she heard that Sheng Shuihe was literally her brother, she felt secretly relieved.

“It's not because I'm attached to him, but that this lair isn't a good place!” Sheng Weiqiao thought gloomily, “As a member of Country Mu, I don't hope to see anyone, out of any reason, join the pirates! It's for the sake of our country and our people!”

Sheng Weiqiao thought herself so great, thinking she definitely had inherited her grandfather's characteristics. Hadn't he abandoned the prosperous life of a wealthy Childe, left Madam Ai alone, went to Beijiang and joined the army?

Even a woodcutter was supposed to take responsibility for the prosperity of the country. It was a successive value of Sheng Family, and I manifested it for my generation!

Having one thought after another on her mind, Sheng Weiqiao forgot to answer. Sheng Lanci, who sat next to her, seeing her silent, figured that she was expressing her resistance to Sheng Shuihe.

He frowned, contemplated for a while, and laughed bitterly, “In fact, though Shuihe is definitely your brother, his mother isn't my mistress.”

He paused and stressed seriously, “I've never got a mistress!”

“So, who's his mother?” Hearing that, Sheng Weiqiao was stunned, and she asked instinctively.

Before she finished her words, she remembered that in the ancestral hall of Sheng Family, when Sheng Shuihe had been asked about his mother, his answer had seemed to indicate that she had pa.s.sed away?

As expected, Sheng Lanci said, “She's probably gone.”

“Probably?” Sheng Weiqiao frowned and asked in confusion, “Why did you say 'probably'? You're not sure of her death? Why?”

“Actually, I've never seen his mother.” After saying that, Sheng Lanci waved his hand to stop Sheng Weiqiao's further questions and said, “In principle, I shouldn't tell a girl such a thing. But there is only you and I. I'll tell you, but don't tell anyone else afterward. At the time, I had just got to know your mother. I traveled to another county for business.”

“The government wasn't concerned with the business, but an official in the local government had seen me once in Chang'an. He happened to learn that I was there, so he sent someone to the auberge where I lived and give me an invitation letter.”

“I barely knew him when I was in Chang'an. But he was an old acquaintance of mine in a strange land; meanwhile, half a local lord, so I found no excuse to reject the invitation.”

“The official had the staff in Yamen in his company, and they played line drinkers' wager game. I wasn't familiar with their local rules, and I had to be humble to the host as a guest, so I got sloshed.”

“I spent one night at his place, unconscious. I woke up the next morning, and the official told me that since I had been drunk, he lodged me for one night in the guest room and made the maids get me changed. I didn't find it unusual at the time, chatted with him for a while, and had breakfast there for his invitation. And then I bade a farewell!”

Hearing that, Sheng Weiqiao frowned, “Do you mean that the official sent a domestic prost.i.tute to serve you?”

She knew about the domestic prost.i.tutes. Because of the luxurious fas.h.i.+on in Nanfeng County, almost all the distinguished families and officials in the county had hired domestic prost.i.tutes and actresses to please the guests.

Sheng Family originally intended to hire some as well, but because Second Master Sheng Lansi was always indulged with pretty girls, Senior Master Sheng thought that to have such a group of people at home was to have a personal brothel in the mansion for Sheng Lansi, which would surely ruin the atmosphere in the family. Therefore, they'd better save it and let Sheng Lansi play around outside, in case he tainted the children!

Sheng Weiqiao happened to overhear it when Senior Master scolded Sheng Lansi. Hence, she knew that the wealthy families kept domestic prost.i.tutes not for their own pleasure, but for the guests.

But, typically, to send a domestic prost.i.tute, they need to get the permission of the guest first. They would rarely send a prost.i.tute without any information beforehand.

Let alone the guest was drunk. Sheng Weiqiao thought that it surely was not her father's fault, but the official was too hateful!!!

But Sheng Lanci sighed and shook his head, “The domestic prost.i.tutes are usually made to take the contraceptive. They're unlikely to get pregnant, so how could they give birth to your brother?”

He put on an awkward face and then whispered the answer, “It was… the official's wife!”

“What?!” Sheng Weiqiao could expect a truth like that by no means and almost bounced off the seat. She was astounded to hear that. She said, “Did the official know about it?!”

Sheng Lanci felt speechless and said, “It was he who set up everything, so how could he be uninformed?”

Sheng Weiqiao really rose to her feet when hearing that, “The official set up everything?! Was he crazy!”

She supposed that her father was too charming when he was young. So, deeply attracted, the official's wife cheated her husband. But actually, the ringleader was the official?!

Seeing her stunned face, Sheng Lanci hesitated for a while, but finally told her, “Sweetheart, you don't know that letting the wife conceive other's child and raise him as his own is very common in the rural region, especially exotic tribes. But the exotic tribes do that because in their tribes, there isn't a large population. After several generations of intermarriages, without the external blood, their descendants would get fewer and fewer. While the official, he did it because he was already in his forties with plenty of wives and concubines, but he still had no children!”

Having no children had always been a big problem.

In fact, Sheng Lanci himself had also been bothered by this problem in recent years. Even if he didn't care about that, his families, servants, and relatives would also meddle in it. In this way, it would become a big problem.

But because Sheng Lanci was very insistent and tough, and Senior Master Sheng, as the only one he would obey, always indulged the eldest son, everyone could see that they needn't mind the problem, so they shut up.

The official who set up Sheng Lanci was different. He minded not having a child very much. So, to cover up this problem, he would let his wife conceive other's child rather than adopt one from his relatives. And Sheng Lanci was his choice.

It was hardly surprising. Handsome and in good health, Sheng Lanci was also granted the t.i.tle of Jins.h.i.+. His children should inherit his advantages more or less.

Most importantly, Sheng Lanci's hometown was Nanfeng County, which was quite remote from the workplace and the birthplace of the official.

In this way, even if the child looked like his biological father, n.o.body could notice that. They would simply figure that the boy didn't resemble his parents, but a relative in their family several generations ago!

“Originally, the official's scheme worked very well. I knew nothing about it, and his wife got pregnant as he wished and gave birth to Shuihe.” Peering at his daughter who was in blank amazement, he smiled bitterly and pressed her shoulders, beckoned her to sit down and listen to the end, “The official eliminated the rumors that he had no children. Feeling relieved and seeing the cuteness of Shuihe, he regarded him as his own son and loved him very much!”

He paused, “It was also why when Shuihe was found on Daimao Island, he dressed bravely as like a wealthy Childe!”

Sheng Weiqiao asked in confusion, “Since the official treasured him so much, why was he kidnapped by traffickers? Besides, I remember that he had told me before that he had lived in the foster home by the time he was five or six?”

A normal kid, before reaching his adulthood, would surely live with his parents or seniors like grandparents, especially when he was the most cherished only “son”. But why was he sent to the foster home?

“Because in the world, everything is unpredictable.” Sheng Lanci sighed, “When Shuihe was three, the official's wife got pregnant again. That child was literally his own child. A boy!”

Sheng Weiqiao was stunned!

“Though the official loved Shuihe, it was mainly because he couldn't have his own child.” Sheng Lanci sighed, “Shuihe was so misfortunate. If he had been ten or eight years old at the time and had built a bond more solid with the official, he might have been more merciful. But he hadn't turned three yet and had lived with the official for no more than two years. How could such a vulnerable relations.h.i.+p be as important as the future of his own son?”

After all, Sheng Shuihe was nominally the eldest legitimate son!

He had a legal priority in terms of the heirdom.

The official didn't want him to take what belonged to his real son, so how could he tolerate the existence of such an “eldest legitimate son”?

“Luckily, Shuihe's mother had pity for him. Though she failed to change her husband's mind, she convinced him not to kill him and instead, to send him to the foster home for recuperation with an excuse that he was vulnerable. So that he was isolated from people. At the time, Shuihe was only three, so he didn't retain all the memories. Maybe he unlearned the time when he was in the major mansion and thought that he was in the foster home all the time.”

“His mother wanted him to get a reputation of 'being vulnerable', so he would naturally be unable to attend to any affairs, and his brother would inherit their family property in place of him. In this way, though he was confined for all his life, he could stay alive. But Shuihe was young and unconscious of the circ.u.mstance. Shortly after he moved to the foster home, thanks to the fortuitous education of a maid who had literacy skills, he manifested great talent!”

At that point, Sheng Lanci had a complicated expression, “He was born with a photographic memory. The maid who taught him to read reported it to her master out of kindness. She thought that in this way, Eldest Childe that she looked after might be allowed to go back to the major mansion! But when the official learned the news, ignoring his wife's objection, he insisted on eliminating him!”

After all, with such a genius, even though Sheng Shuihe wasn't well-educated in his childhood, when he learned about the situation after he grew up, he could reverse the situation!

The official would never let out his deeds of letting his wife conceive other's child, so as the eldest son, he was very likely to affect his brother's position!

Thus, for his son's sake, how could the official spare his life?!