The news brought by Nanny Zhang was appalling, “Second Miss, please do us a favor. Plead with Senior Master to spare Third Miss and Madam Bai!”

Saying that, she was about to kneel down and kowtow.

Sheng Weiqiao was originally perplexed when seeing her rushed into her room. Hearing that, she was stunned, “Rise up to speak. What happened to Third Sister and Second Aunt?!”

“Yesterday, Senior Master and Old Madam called Second Master to Jinxue House and told him the whole story of Third Miss and Miss Shen's accident.” Nanny Zhang beckoned her to send away Lvqi and Lvjin, and then she explained, wiping her tears, “Originally, Senior Master and Old Madam were meant to clear up the misunderstanding between Second Master and the first branch. Meanwhile, they wanted Second Master to take more care of Third Miss and console her with gentle fatherly love.”

Saying that, she couldn't hold back her sobs, “But… but upon hearing this, Second Master burst into anger and said that Second Madam had started all of this! So, he would surely divorce Second Madam!”

Hearing that, Sheng Weiqiao clenched the jaded comb tight and said after a while, stunned, “Second Aunt is Third Sister's mother. Since Third Sister just experienced such a nightmare, if her mother were divorced, how would she live her life later on?!”

“That was also what Senior Master and Old Madam said. But Second Master took advantage of the fact that Miss Shen still hadn't been found yet and insisted that it wouldn't have been a serious problem if Second Madam had got only Third Miss into trouble, but actually she had harmed Miss Shen. So, it looked like he did wrong to Grandaunt and her family!” Nanny Zhang cried, “So if he didn't divorce Second Madam, Second Master would feel guilty. Grandaunt had been staying there these days. When she learned that Third Miss was found already while Miss Shen was still missing, she fainted instantly! Senior Master and Old Madam found themselves in a dilemma and wasn't sure if they should accept Second Master's request.”

Sheng Weiqiao took a deep breath and rose to her feet. Regardless of her loose hair and unkempt appearance, she walked back and forth with the jaded-comb clenched in her hand, stopped, and said, “I remember that you're the maid who came along with grandmother's maritage, so she hides nothing from you. Please tell me the truth. Does Second Uncle insist on divorcing Second Aunt out of his guilt for what happened to aunt?”

“… Old Madam heard roughly from the servants that Second Master fell for a scholar's daughter recently, who was scheming and wouldn't be satisfied with being a mistress.” Hearing that, Nanny Zhang mumbled haltingly for a moment and then uttered.

As what I expected!!!

Sheng Weiqiao's chest heaved for a while and finally, she managed to repress her anger. Though at the time neither Senior Master Sheng nor Old Madam Bai was happy with Madam Bai and they had been distant to her all these years, it didn't mean that they desired to see Madam Bai being abandoned!

After all, none of a sensible senior would be glad to see their juniors switch from one wife to another frequently.

Especially that Sheng Lansi had been beaten by Senior Master Sheng not long ago because of the mistress who had come to the door.

Even though he was fed up with Madam Bai and wanted to marry the scholar's daughter instead, he wouldn't dare to make the proposal to Senior Master Sheng.

At least in this period.

But Sheng Weiqiao hadn't supposed that her uncle was so crazy that he took advantage of his daughter, who came back after all the humiliation to divorce Madam Bai and prepare for the marriage with his new love!

Let alone a father, he didn't deserve to be a human!

“Again, grandmother didn't dare to tell grandfather about it, and she wanted me to talk with father so that my father would come out to deal with the mess made by Second Uncle?” as she thought further, Sheng Weiqiao got madder and her tone went sarcastic, “But she has made such requests several times, hasn't she?”

Initially, because Old Madam Ming had feared that her son would be beaten, she had persuaded her granddaughter Shen Jiuniang to join the outing, which had caused the violent clashes between her and Sheng Weirao, and then they both had an accident when being sent back to Sheng Family.

Old Madam Ming knew everything about Sheng Lansi's deeds, but because she pampered her son and didn't want him to be beaten or punished, she had covered up for him time after time.

As a result, even though Sheng Lanci burst into miserable shrieks when being beaten by Senior Master Sheng, he never corrected his behaviors afterward!

Nanny Zhang knew well about it, too, but she had no other solutions. She sobbed lowly, “But you know about Senior Master's temperament. Though he had been saying that he would beat Second Master to death, he held his hand. However, in the current situation, if the affair with the bachelor's daughter were exposed, with extreme indignation Senior Master may cause him some permanent injuries!”

Sheng Weiqiao wanted to say that “then just let grandfather bust his kneecap, in case he keeps going out later on and falls for new women from time to time!” But when Sheng Weirao occurred to her, she stayed sullen for a while and finally sighed, “I'll talk with father. But… convey to grandmother, if such things happen again, don't ever come to me again!!!”

Nanny Zhang said eagerly, “Thanks for your kindness, Second Miss!”

As for her so-called “never again”, Nanny Zhang didn't take it seriously. After all, everyone in Sheng Family knew that Second Miss was the favorite one and the easiest one.

Knowing nothing about her thoughts, Sheng Weiqiao beckoned her to leave and freshened herself up loathly. Not in a mood for breakfast, she ordered someone to prepare the ink and paper, wrote the whole thing into a letter, handed it to Lvqi and asked her to send someone trusted to deliver it to Sheng Lanci. Sheng Lanci wasn't at the foster home at the moment. After all, he had been on Daimao Island all the time recently, so there was plenty of stuff waiting for him on the land. Hence, he could spare no time to drop by the foster home and accompany the juniors.

But even though he had been occupied with all kinds of affairs the moment he stepped onto the land, Sheng Lanci wrote back to his daughter as early as he could, where he consoled her that there was no need to worry and he would handle everything.

At the same time, he informed her of the date when Xu Baomo would come back. Because based on the explanation prepared by them, Xu Baomo had to come to the foster home and accompany the two sisters back to Sheng Family with Sheng Shuihe.

Sheng Lanci praised Xu Baomo's behaviors this time in the letter, but of course, he didn't forget to remind his daughter to regard this brother “as her own brother”.

Xu Baomo and this letter arrived at almost the same time. After his arrival, he didn't inquire after her latest condition in order to court her; instead, he asked after Sheng Weirao's condition.

Sheng Weiqiao smiled bitterly and asked back, “How well could she be?”

Xu Baomo was intended to say something to show his guilt, like if it hadn't been for treating him, they wouldn't have gone for the outing, and the two girls wouldn't have been involved in such a disaster. But he held them back when the words were already on his lips. It had already turned out in this way, so what would be the sense of saying that?

Being the landowner, Sheng Family would only feel embarra.s.sed.

But luckily, after his arrival, the group of people didn't need to stay in the foster home anymore and could openly return to Sheng Family. Everyone was busy packing up the baggage and rehearsing their lines, so they averted the embarra.s.sment of silence.

The outsiders didn't know about Sheng Weiqiao, Sheng Shuihe and Xu Baomo's experience these days, but they knew that Third Miss Sheng Weirao had been missing for long and supposed that she was already dead. Now, as the news that she was still alive and was about to go back spread suddenly, they felt surprised and there was undoubtedly some gossip over it.

Especially that Shen Jiuniang, who went missing with Sheng Weirao, didn't come back together with her this time, so it looked even more suspicious.

Even when Gongsun Yingjiang and Gongsun Xi had been said to be the “lifesavers of Sheng Family”, such rumors weren't suppressed but augmented. Many people got the truth that Sheng Weirao had suffered the abuse in that period, and to protect their reputation, Sheng Family made up two so-called lifesavers and covered up for her.

But it was like before when Sheng Weiwu made such a big scene openly on grandfather's birthday banquet but it still ended up as if nothing had happened, because Sheng Family was powerful at the moment, for most people, even though they were skeptical about Sheng Weirao's virginity, they wouldn't offend Sheng Family just for the pleasure of gossiping.

So ostensibly and wisely, they didn't mention it and said something like “Third Miss is blessed” with a tacit agreement. Anyway, all the influential families in the county had decided to avert Third Miss Sheng when making an offer of marriage to Sheng Family. Of course, the members of Sheng Family could do nothing about the private gossip.

Under these circ.u.mstances, the sudden death of Xuanyu E and his family caused some uproar and was easily unlearned.

Because Xuanyu E was once in power when Xuanyu Le was alive, even though he lost power after Madam Feng took over the family businesses. As the brother of the former master of Xuanyu Family and the uncle of the current master, he still had some remaining influence. And in Nanfeng County, he was also somebody.

None of the three in his family nor the servants had survived. Such an incident would surely bring about a big impact. But the reasons behind found out by Yamen could only cause some sighs and the reflection that life and death were both destined. Because the servants of Xuanyu Family had mistaken the gelsemium elegan for the honeysuckle and picked it back to make the tea, all people in the family lost their lives!

In this season, Nanfeng County was entering its summer, and everyone began to make the medicines and tea for clearing the heat. Because of the effect of clearing the heat of honeysuckle, it was an indispensable material in many recipes of herb tea. Gelsemium elegans, namely “tharm-cutting gra.s.s”, bloomed at almost the same time with honeysuckle and they looked alike, so people often mixed the two. Though this time too many people died of that, it was reasonable.

Though there was a minority who mumbled, “Xuanyu E was one of the rich people in the county. To make the honeysuckle tea, why did he send someone to the mountain instead of buying some directly from the pharmacy? In the pharmacies, some specialists were in charge of identifying such herbs in case of any accidents, so would such a thing ever happen? For more, taking into account the servants, there were more than twenty people in that family. Even if they had all taken the tea poisoned with gelsemium elegan, wouldn't it be too doubtful if none of them went out and called for help? Did the poison take effect at the same time?”

But because after mourning for the dead, Xuanyu Family accepted the saying that Xuanyu E and his family had died of misfortune and wasn't intended to seek further clues. It was improper for the outsiders to make judgments, so they stopped the discussion after a few words.

Actually, even for such an ending of Xuanyu E and his family, Xuanyu Family, which was led by Mrs. Feng, had made a great effort. Mrs. Feng desired to see a miserable ending of Xuanyu E and his family, but the problem was that they couldn't lose their lives because of their connection to the pirates!

Because in that way, all the confidences of Xuanyu Family would be totally exposed!

After all, Xuanyu E was bonded closely with the two masters of Xuanyu Family. He wasn't a servant or an outsider that could be eliminated easily.

If he were established to be involved with the pirates, moreover, the pirates who had once murdered Royal Preceptor Huan Guanlan, Xuanyu Family would certainly be implicated!

It was related to the benefit of Mrs. Feng, her son, and the whole Xuanyu Family, so Mrs. Feng tried everything she could. She sent Xuanyu She to Sheng Family in the name of paying a visit to his aunt, and begged Madam Feng for her help, kneeling down.

While Madam Feng also agreed that they could compromise on this thing, “First, my sister also had a grudge against Xuanyu E and his wife. This time, what Jiuniang and Weirao suffered had nothing doing with my sister and other people in Xuanyu Family. Second, anyway, Xuanyu Family was among the three most powerful families in this county with great acc.u.mulation of money and relations.h.i.+ps, so it won't be a good thing if Shen Family and the second branch offend them. Third, if we decided to announce the deeds of Xuanyu E and his wife, regardless, the story we made up for Weirao would unavoidably be exposed! At the time, how would Weirao go out and face the public?”

But what finally convinced Shen Family, the second branch and Old Madam Ming was, “My sister said that though this thing was caused by Xuanyu E and his wife and none of the other members of Xuanyu Family was involved, considering the fact that Jiuniang hadn't come back yet and Weirao also had been mistreated, if sister, brother-in-law, Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law would do them a favor with regard to Xuanyu E's affair, Xuanyu Family would return you with some small gifts!”

Though they called it some small gifts and you felt it light when holding it in hand, it was definitely not small. The checks for 100 thousand taels!

“Since it already happened, it won't be beneficial if we take out the anger on Xuanyu Family, and it will also make your eldest sister-in-law difficult. You'll damage the family love for nothing.” Having beckoned the eldest daughter-in-law to leave, Old Madam Ming said to Sheng Lanxin and Madam Bai, weeping, “You'd better accept the checks. You'll do your eldest sister-in-law a favor and avoid making a competent enemy like Xuanyu Family! After all, even for Yamen, they wouldn't wish to see such a wicked case happen in the county, which would affect the result of their appraisal!”

Normally for such a thing, though Shen Jiuniang's father couldn't spare the time to stay in Sheng Family and wait for the updating news because of his duties, as Sheng Weirao's father, Sheng Lansi shouldn't be absent.

But completed attracted to his new love, to make the woman replace Madam Bai, Sheng Lansi could even bear to hurt his daughter. How could they count on him to revenge his daughter?

Old Madam Ming feared that Senior Master Sheng would injure his son severely when he learned about the fact, so without making a big scene she managed to conceal it for him. So, at the moment, Sheng Lansi had left to accompany his new love, and she could only get her daughter and daughter-in-law there together and have a discussion.

Though Sheng Lanxin and Madam Bai were women, they knew about the grudge between Mrs. Feng and her brother-in-law and also recognized that Mrs. Feng was uninformed and innocent in this thing. So, they didn't have any resentment against Mrs. Feng. They weren't willing to compromise before mainly out of hatred against Xuanyu E's family. And they wanted them to die in pain with a stained reputation.

Now Mrs. Feng paid them 100 thousand taels for the favor. It was to plead, and also to menace. Understanding that very well, they thought it over. Though still felt a bit unfair, they accepted it.

Seeing that, Old Madam Ming was relieved. She didn't want her children to go against Xuanyu Family. After all, she knew that her children weren't competent, and if they got into trouble in the future, they had to count on the eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law. Now that Madam Feng had come over here herself to intercede, if she were rejected, wouldn't she hold some grudge?

Considering Sheng Lanci's affection for Madam Feng and Sheng Weiqiao, if Madam Feng didn't like her siblings-in-law, Sheng Lanci would be affected by her sooner or later.

Old Madam Ming didn't want to see that happen. Besides, Mrs. Feng and Xuanyu Family definitely didn't partic.i.p.ate in murdering Sheng Jiuniang and Sheng Weirao, so Old Madam was willing to let her children compromise.

But Old Madam didn't expect that though her children approved to take Mrs. Feng's money, they had a heated argument over the distribution of it!