Dong Hui ignored s.h.i.+ Junhe's smart words and turned to look at Qingxue. She asked seriously, "Qingxue, if I want you to marry your Brother Wenren, will you be willing? Will you be unhappy?"

"What?" s.h.i.+ Qingxue was astonished. She looked at Dong Hui and then looked at s.h.i.+ Junhe. Then she frowned and said, "Mom."

Dong Hui was untouched and asked toughly, "Answer me. Will you do it?"

In the past, s.h.i.+ Qingxue would certainly not hesitate to refuse because she didn't love Wenren Chi. But at this moment, she didn't want to make Dong Hui sad no matter what, so she had to nod, "I will."

Even though Dong Hui pretended to be tough on the surface, after hearing s.h.i.+ Qingxue's answer, she was as astonished as s.h.i.+ Junhe. She never expected that s.h.i.+ Qingxue, who was used to making decisions on her own, would actually agree with it.

As for Wenren Chi, there was no need to ask his idea at all.

Dong Hui knew clearly what her son thought. She immediately raised her head proudly and looked at s.h.i.+ Junhe, as if saying, "What else do you want to say?"

s.h.i.+ Junhe was silent for a while, but then said, "Even if she marries him, the wedding will still be unsure. Talking about their children will be..."

"Huh! I reckon you think that Qingxue can't have a son too."

"No, I don't mean it!" s.h.i.+ Junhe made it more and more chaotic, and finally had to give up and murmured, "Even if Qingxue really gives birth to a son, his last name still won't be s.h.i.+..."

Not to mention whether the Royal Family would agree or not, Mo Shujun wouldn't permit it.

But s.h.i.+ Junhe hadn't finished yet, when Dong Hui shouted excitedly, "s.h.i.+ Junhe. You are such a hypocrite without conscience. You spoil Qingxue in normal time, but when it's really crucial, you would rather make an outsider inherit this t.i.tle than giving it to our daughter as a guarantee!"

s.h.i.+ Qingxue saw that her parents were quarreling fiercely, she felt embarra.s.sed and sad in her heart. She quickly said, "Mom, don't say this. I don't want father's t.i.tle. It will be fine if dad gives it to others. I..."

"What do you know? Shut up!" Dong Hui acted extremely resolutely in this matter. She wiped the tears from her face and stared at s.h.i.+ Junhe with her dim eyes, "s.h.i.+ Junhe, I'm asking you for the last time. Do you really refuse to make your daughter inherit this t.i.tle?"

"Hui, I..." Of course, s.h.i.+ Junhe wanted to promise her, but he had so much to concern that he couldn't even say a word at all.

Dong Hui smiled sadly, "I get it."

She stood up and walked outwards, which terrified s.h.i.+ Junhe and s.h.i.+ Qingxue. He stopped her hurriedly, "What's the matter with you?"

"Now you can disregard the interests of Qingxue and give this t.i.tle to another person. Then will you give my position of First Madam of the s.h.i.+ Family to another person in the future?" Dong Hui's words were sharp, and her look was resolute, "This being the case, I might as well leave early, so that you won't be annoyed."

After saying this, she shook s.h.i.+ Junhe's hand off and left.

When they reacted and chased after her, the subordinate came to report that Dong Hui had already got into the carriage and returned to the house of the Dong Family.

It was the first time that s.h.i.+ Qingxue had seen Dong Hui so mad, so she indeed didn't know what to do. She looked to s.h.i.+ Junhe for help, but the latter was also helpless, "I also have no idea. Your mother... Well, let her calm down first."

"What? Aren't you afraid that she will never come back again?" s.h.i.+ Qingxue's eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't believe that s.h.i.+ Junhe really let Dong Hui leave like this.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was also helpless, "I don't think it will be peaceful in our family for a while. If your mother stays here, she will feel wronged. We might as well take her back after we settle everything down well here."

She thought about it in this way, and it seemed a little reasonable indeed. But... "What are you going to do with Zhou Ruru?"

s.h.i.+ Junhe's face froze, and he was speechless.

Well, he had no idea.

The father and daughter looked at each other and sighed again.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue suddenly was reminded of s.h.i.+ Baoning and said, "Maybe sister has some ideas?"

She ran to the door and wanted to call s.h.i.+ Baoning in, but found that s.h.i.+ Baoning had already left.

"Why did she leave?"

s.h.i.+ Qingxue murmured, but s.h.i.+ Junhe's face changed, "Baoning was also here just now?"

"Yes. What's wrong?" s.h.i.+ Qingxue responded in doubt, wondering what his father was fussing about.

Shouldn't he still blame them for eavesdropping?

She quickly explained, "My sister and I were just too worried about you and mother. We really didn't mean to come to eavesdrop."

But the more she said, the more embarra.s.sed s.h.i.+ Junhe looked. Finally, she had to shut her mouth up with guilt.

After a while, s.h.i.+ Junhe sighed helplessly, "Qingxue! This time you are going to do great harm to Baoning!"

"What?" s.h.i.+ Qingxue was frightened, completely unaware when she had made a great mistake again. But she hadn't done anything!

She asked gloomily, "What have I done?"

s.h.i.+ Junhe opened his mouth, but didn't say anything when he met s.h.i.+ Qingxue's dim and anxious sight.

What could he say?

Could he tell s.h.i.+ Qingxue that because s.h.i.+ Baoning adored Wenren Chi, if she knew that they didn't intend to marry s.h.i.+ Baoning to Wenren Chi, but wanted to match s.h.i.+ Qingxue and him, would she not be reconciled with Qingxue any more?

These words were too dark. s.h.i.+ Junhe didn't want s.h.i.+ Qingxue to know about them this early. Moreover, he didn't think that s.h.i.+ Qingxue liked Wenren Chi at all, and in his eyes, when s.h.i.+ Qingxue promised, it was more like a farce.

"Qingxue, don't you always like Fourth Prince? Even if His Highness has a Concubine now, there is still..." Mo Junyang.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was still unclear about the relations.h.i.+p between his daughter and Mo Junyang, so he didn't say the name of Mo Junyang straightforwardly. He just said, "You always regard Chi as your own brother. Why did you obey your mother's words?"

When she was young, they did think about marrying s.h.i.+ Qingxue to Wenren Chi. But when the boy grew up, the girl was still heart-whole and even only regarded him as her own brother. So s.h.i.+ Junhe gradually didn't insist on this. However, he didn't expect that s.h.i.+ Qingxue actually didn't hesitate to agree to marry Wenren Chi.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue was silent for a while, and whispered, "Isn't it said in the book that we should always follow parents' orders and the matchmaker's words? I don't have the one whom I am determined to marry, and brother is a fantastic person. Since mother wants me to marry him, there's no reason for me not to agree.

I, I don't want you and mother to worry about me any more."

The obscurity and distress in the words made s.h.i.+ Junhe feel sad, and he couldn't ask any other questions.

He didn't know when his daughter whom he spoiled for half of his life had grown up silently. She was still mature and sincere, but was burdened with too much stress that they couldn't see, couldn't help with, or even couldn't ask about. It made him painful.

"Okay, let's leave this as it is for the time being!" s.h.i.+ Junhe patted s.h.i.+ Qingxue's shoulder and gave her silent comfort, "You go back to rest first!"

It was spread quickly in the house of the s.h.i.+ Family that Dong Hui was angry and returned to her family's house. Thanks to it that s.h.i.+ Junhe suppressed it, even Mo Shujun didn't say anything but just thought Dong Hui went back and stayed there for a few days.

However, when the hostess in the east garden left, Zhou Ruru, who was already troublesome, became more rampant. A few days later, she even ran to the master's bedroom to find s.h.i.+ Junhe and said that she was going to discuss the skills in the military books.

Who believed that she was going to read the military books at night?

s.h.i.+ Junhe asked Zhou Ruru to go to the reading room and said that it was inappropriate for an unmarried woman to come to the master's bedroom at night. But Zhou Ruru seemed not to understand his refusal and said innocently, "It doesn't matter. Although it's a bit far from the Langyue Pavilion, I don't regard it as a long distance. If it's really too late, I believe Sister Dong won't mind me sleeping in her bed."

d.a.m.n. She could even say such words, which showed how shameless Zhou Ruru was.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was almost speechless to this woman and said with a cold look, "Now Hui is not here. You are just a young girl but stay alone with me, such an old man, it will have bad influence on your reputation."

"It's okay. As for my reputation, a clean hand wants no was.h.i.+ng. I don't worry about it." Zhou Ruru smiled at ease.

s.h.i.+ Junhe, "..."

He didn't know how he could drive this woman away. It was true that one was unbeatable when being extremely shameless!

Just when s.h.i.+ Junhe was helpless to the extreme, s.h.i.+ Qingxue ran into the room and shouted anxiously, "Daddy, are you okay?"

"Why am I not okay?" s.h.i.+ Junhe glanced at Qingxue in doubts, wondering what she was up to.

Of course I was worried that you would be swallowed alive by the h.o.r.n.y woman!

s.h.i.+ Qingxue muttered silently in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face. Instead, she looked at Zhou Ruru with her blinking eyes, "Aunt Ru, why are you here?"

Zhou Ruru deliberately moved closer to s.h.i.+ Junhe again, and smiled gently, "I'm here to discuss the thoughts after reading with Brother s.h.i.+. Qingxue, if you have nothing important, can you come next time?"

She said it as if she were the hostess of this family, and she even began to feel s.h.i.+ Qingxue annoyed.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue narrowed her eyes slightly, glanced at Zhou Ruru up and down for a while, and suddenly laughed out.

d.a.m.n! She had been so gentle recently that there was someone who dared to bully her.

Let alone the whole s.h.i.+ Family, even those royal peers didn't dare to talk to her in this tone. She didn't expect that the first experience was actually given by Zhou Ruru.

"Do you like the military books very much?" s.h.i.+ Qingxue sat between the two of them, leaned in s.h.i.+ Junhe's arms and raised an eyebrow, looking at Zhou Ruru with her cold eyes.

Zhou Ruru was suddenly glanced at and questioned sharply by someone, and that person occupied whom she was about to make her own. So she was even unhappier, and complained to s.h.i.+ Junhe, "Brother s.h.i.+, look. I'm talking about serious matters with you, but Qingxue..."

She didn't say the following words, as if she was bullied by s.h.i.+ Qingxue and didn't dare to speak. She also sobbed, which made herself pitiful.

But s.h.i.+ Junhe was completely indifferent, and offered Qingxue his wide shoulder to lean on. He said with his love for s.h.i.+ Qingxue, "Nothing is more important than my little baby! Besides, Qingxue is talking to you, why is it that you don't answer her but talk to me instead? This is very impolite!"

Zhou Ruru was so choked that she was speechless, especially at this time Qingxue raised an eyebrow towards her again, as if mocking her failure. It made her face red out of rage. It took her a long while to suppress her anger, and she answered coldly, "Sorry, I didn't hear what Qingxue said just now. Could you repeat it?"

She deliberately pretended not to hear s.h.i.+ Qingxue's words, just in order to irritate her.