Mrs. Feng felt speechless about her niece's dullness, “Have you forgot the story your father once told you? Though it was made up to wheedle you, it did reflect the fact that your brother is gifted with schoolwork!”

She sneered, “Though your father hasn't intended to go back to Imperial Academy since he quitted, everyone knows that he hasn't necessarily lost his interest in the imperial court. He is just worried about your grandfather! What's worse, you're a girl who is not allowed to partic.i.p.ate in the imperial examination. Now he has brought back a talented son. Don't you think that he'll make Sheng Shuihe study diligently to offset his regret?”

Sheng Weiqiao muttered, “Before when we were in Orange Osmanthus Courtyard to felicitate Eldest Cousin Feng, brother… brother did say that for the imperial examination next year, he would be there to watch!”

“Right?” Mrs. Feng raised her brows, “You've seen today how much the girls admired you and your brother! Sheng Shuihe just came back to Sheng Family, and you haven't opened the ancestral hall and registered him in the family tree, but the girls from the top-cla.s.s of Nanfeng County already regard him as a most satisfying husband!”

Her eyes narrowed, and she said coldly, “You can imagine that once he takes part in the imperial examination next year and gets a rank, even though just a t.i.tle of scholar, the families willing to engage with him will only increase!”

“If he entered the court examination like your father, with his appearance and the property of Sheng Family, even the officials and the generals in Chang'an would also be tempted!”

“Then, with the aid of his wife's family, even though your mother is his nominal mother, she wouldn't be able to control him!”

Mrs. Feng sneered, “If that happened, how difficult would your and your mother's life be in the future? If Sheng Shuihe started to be tough and made some plots, you two would see it yourselves!”

She raised her hands to neaten the fringe by her ears falling from the hair clasp and tried to lead the conversation, “So, never allow him for any opportunities to make a marriage with the important people in the imperial court. You have to pick him a wife now! She shouldn't be from Feng Family or Xuanyu Family and is preferably from an ordinary family in the county. As long as she's pure! For her disposition, she's supposed to care about her own family and be in good health. The former is to make sure your mother's control over her, and the latter is to avoid the case that she died at a young age, and Sheng Shuihe would remarry another woman!”

Sheng Weiqiao felt unsetting and didn't know what to do. She hesitated for a while and still couldn't make a decision, so whispered, “But is there a 'what if'? What if he's not my father's son and my father had him back because of his own reasons? Then it would be improper for us to do this!”

“You're too naive!” Mrs. Feng sighed, patted her on the back of her hand, and said in a reproachful tone, “Whether he's your father's child or not, he's not your mother's child. He didn't enter Sheng Family until this age. How much respect do you suppose he holds for your mother? And how sincere to you could he be?”

“We say prevention is better than cure!”

“Once he marries a n.o.ble wife, whether you and your mother will live a cozy life mostly would depend on him and his wife!”

“You pick him a wife from an ordinary family, and if you find it's a misunderstanding in the future, to treat him better will make up for everything!”

“Man is always unpredictable. Because Sheng Shuihe came back not long ago and he's obviously the type good at disguising, so how could you simply count on his virtue for your and your mother's future?!”

Sheng Weiqiao got up, absent-minded, “I… I have to go back and talk with my mother first!”

“Take your time!” Mrs. Feng called her to stop, “If you step out with such a face, who couldn't see that you have something on your mind? I'll ask the servants to bring you some refreshments. Have some and calm down, and then you could leave!”

So, Sheng Weiqiao was recomposing herself until the end of Lotus Feast in the front house, and then she showed herself out. Then she didn't even bother going to the banquet. The guests in the feast simply thought that she was frightened by the scene just now and she purposely hid with Mrs. Feng, daring not to come out. Sheng Weiqiao got on the carriage and waited for Gongsun Yingjiang and Sheng Weiwu.

After getting on the carriage, Gongsun Yingjiang saw her very down and supposed that she wasn't feeling well. She asked about that tentatively, but Sheng Weiqiao just waved her hand and beckoned her not to disturb her. As a niece, she fell silent when seeing such a reaction and guessed secretly what had happened after her aunt had been called away by Old Madam of Xuanyu Family.

But Sheng Weiwu, who never knew to tell other's countenance, didn't notice her cousin's bad mood. After her entrance, she complained instantly about Sheng Weiqiao's absence, “I thought you would come back promptly! So I kept a seat for you by my side! But you didn't show up through the whole event, for which I was laughed at by the girls near me!”

Sheng Weiqiao lifted her spirit reluctantly and said, “Really? I'm sorry about that. I was at my aunt's company, and I forgot the time as we talked.”

“But it was good that you were missing today!” Sheng Weiwu wasn't meant to blame her, so she put on a smile again when hearing it and said, “Or you would have been famished! Today I had almost no food! Those people! They had been bugging me with all kinds of questions before the feast started! They asked about your hobbies, and then they jumped to the son of a mistress' hobbies, which really vexed me! If you had been there, they possibly would have stuck there and never think about leaving! You would have found it difficult to spare some time to drink some water!”

At the point, she glimpsed at Gongsun Yingjiang with some jealousy, “Yingjiang was lucky. They all came to me and asked the questions, so n.o.body went to disturb her. I noticed that she ate up all the best dishes on the table alone!”

Gongsun Yingjiang made a face at her and giggled, “Aunt Weiwu, you were too occupied with enjoying the dish. And the ladies of Feng Family and Xuanyu Family were too reserved and demure to eat. I thought since the dishes were already served, how could I let it wasted?”

Before she finished her words, she pulled out a small bag from her sleeves as if playing a magic trick, “I saw before that you cast several looks at these lotus pastries, so I packed up the last one!”

“It's so nice of you!” Sheng Weiwu's eyes lightened. She said happily as she took it, “No wonder that since you came our home, Second Sister has been bringing you with her everywhere she goes. She spends more time with you than with me!”

While the last line demonstrated some envy. Though occupied by her own concerns, Sheng Weiqiao couldn't help but curled her lips upwards. She caressed her head strongly and laughed, “Yingjiang arrived not long ago and isn't familiar with the surroundings. So surely I have to bring her with me! Since you're raised up in the mansion, do you still need me as a guide?”

Sheng Weiwu gingerly split the lotus pastries into three. She handed them to Sheng Weiqiao and Gongsun Yingjiang as she said despondently, “But the day before yesterday when Brother Xu painted in the garden, you had only Yingjiang with you and didn't even come to call me out!”

“It's hot recently. Brother Xu went to the garden because he wanted a painting of lotus at noon.” Sheng Weiqiao said immediately, “I cared about your condition and feared that you would have a heat stroke, so I purposely didn't go to call you!”

Finally, Sheng Weiwu was satisfied, “Alright. But I don't fear the heat. It's so hot that staying indoors becomes boring! Next time, you'd better call me to go with you!”

As Sheng Weiqiao nodded gladly, she didn't note that Gongsun Yingjiang winked at Sheng Weiwu behind her. That day, Sheng Weiqiao felt much easier while coaxing her cousin on the carriage.

But after being back to the mansion, saying goodbye to Sheng Weiwu, and heading on separate ways, she recalled her aunt's words the moment she stepped into the first branch and put on a suffering face!

Madam Feng, who was waiting for her daughter and her story on Lotus Feast, was amused by her distressed expression, “Were you scolded by your aunt? You were happy when setting off. Why do you come back with such a face?”

“I have something to talk with you alone, mother.” Sheng Weiqiao, not interested in her mother's tease, said seriously with a stern face, “Yingjiang, you must be tired. You can go back first!”

Seeing that, Madam Feng frowned, but still, she agreed. After other people all dispersed and there were only the mother and daughter remaining in the room, Madam Feng took a sip of tea and asked, “What's the matter?”

“Mother, father deceived me!!!” As Sheng Weiqiao uttered, the depression that she had refrained in front of Mrs. Feng spilled out unstoppably, and she burst into sobs, “It's so evil of father!”

Madam Feng was stunned, some words were on her tongue, but she held it back. After a momently contemplation, she asked tentatively and prudently, “Sweetheart, you said your father deceived you… but into what?”

Sheng Lanci, no, she and Sheng Lanci had set up to deceive their daughter many times, or Sheng Weiqiao wouldn't have been brought up, so innocent and naive. Now she burst into tears after speaking only one word, so Madam Feng really had difficulties in making out. Exactly, which was let out and discovered by her?

Sheng Weiqiao knew nothing about her mother's thoughts, cried, and repeated Mrs. Feng's a.n.a.lysis. In the end, she said, “Aunt doubted that brother… Sheng Shuihe was actually the father's son of a mistress. To alleviate my feelings against him, he made up a pathetic story to mislead me! I think he's too evil! I trusted him so much, but he fooled me on such things as if I were a kid!”

“Let alone you're literally a kid, even if you entered your seventies or eighties, wouldn't you be still a kid in our eyes?” Madam Feng whinged secretly and put on a serious face, trying to show some anger, “Unbelievable! Your father really did wrong! Sweetheart, no worries. I'll give him a lesson after he comes back!”

Sheng Weiqiao stomped and said, “Mother! The crucial thing, for now, is not to teach father a lesson but to figure out the things about Sheng Shuihe!”

“Yes, sure!” Madam Feng said thoughtfully, “But it's improper to let out such things. If you were here, out of shame, your father might not tell the truth! Alright. You must be tired from the banquet, so go back and get some rest. I'll interrogate your father alone, call you here tomorrow, and tell you all the details of this event!”

Sheng Weiqiao looked a bit reluctant, “I'll ask father myself. Why did he cheat me?!”

“You've already got the reason yourself, haven't you?” Madam Feng's lips twitched, “It's to reconcile you with your brother!”

“He's not my brother!” Sheng Weiqiao said madly but softened her tone later and said with sobs, “I believed that his mother didn't have any affairs with father, so I called him brother! If… if his mother were really father's mistress, I wouldn't call him brother!”

Madam Feng was secretly swearing at her sister's over care. Without Mrs. Feng's suggestions, how could Sheng Weiqiao have become so agitated about Sheng Shuihe's coming as a daughter? Since she didn't show any tinge of vexation as Sheng Lanci's wife.

But it wasn't the time to grumble over Mrs. Feng. Madam Feng coaxed and wheedled, and finally, she duly got her daughter back to Zhuying Mini Villa before Sheng Lanci's return.

Set aside how Madam Feng interrogated Sheng Lanci first. Sheng Weiqiao went back to Zhuying Mini Villa, weeping. Though her servants were all consoling her and ordered the cook to prepare her favorite chestnut cake to coax her out of the bad mood, Sheng Weiqiao got madder as she thought about it further. Finally, she came to realize, “To interrogate father alone, mother sent me away. But I could ask Sheng Shuihe about it directly!”