"Good news!" Huan Yehe broke the silence, seeing that everyone had accepted the news. She cast an eye over the crowd and smiled cheerfully despite the coldness in her eyes, "We must visit State Duke Zheng Family sometime and say congratulation!"
"I'll skip this!" Zhao Taoxuan raised her brows and responded curtly, "I'll go back now, if you're setting off to see Fourteenth Miss Meng!"
She rose and gave Huan Yehe a nod as if to leave.
Huan Yehe explained immediately, "I said I must go, sometime! Not now! Would I leave my guests alone and go talk with others after inviting you here in my name? Besides, Meng Family must be having a private talk now. They're a big family, and Fourteenth Miss Meng received the decree just now. I won't intrude on their family gathering!"
Then Zhao Taoxuan sat down and flicked her mauve pleated skirt. She smiled, "So I'll stay."
Sheng Weiqiao inwardly complimented Zhao Taoxuan on her tact. The
Huan Yehe blew on her tea contained in a rosebay-patterned teacup and took a sip. She sighed, "I heard they decided to find the truth to prove their master’s innocence after learning the unjust accusation against him! Meng Boqin's potency isn't to be abused by others, after all.""But how is it connected to our acts back in the cave?" Sheng Weiqiao got impatient. Huan Yehe wasn't talking nonsense, but her vague response to Sheng Weiqiao's question and her emphasis on the involvement of Meng Boqin and their risk of being exposed appeared to be a sign that she was creating tension and flustering Sheng Weiqiao.Sheng Weiqiao didn't develop those negotiation tactics, as her parents pampered her and only wanted her to lead a carefree life. But it didn't mean she didn't pick up anything concerning that through her daily conversation with her father Sheng Lanci, who was known to be an expert in this field. Hence, she felt displeased, seeing through Huan Yehe's int
"What's wrong with you?!" Huan Yehe frantically squeezed her hanky and rolled her eyes at Sheng Weiqiao, "I see your brother as a sly rival rather than a potential lover. Moreover, girls tend to feign fear rather than overcome fear when facing the men they like! It's the trick to get one’s attention! There's no need for me to overcome anything unless your brother and I switch the gender roles!"After criticizing Sheng Weiqiao's view on relationships, she expressly smoothed her chignon and pushed in the hairpin, showing off the tender aura around her. Then she continued, "Sheng Shuihe isn't compassionate, but he's a man, still!"Sheng Weiqiao pursed her lips, interpreting Huan Yehe’s words as contempt for females, "You seemed to think that girls had to stay at home and be depressed all day long. But a princess from the former dynasty once formed an army of women for the war!""That's not what I mean." Huan Yehe explained, "You mentioned the prin
But Madam Nan was favorable to her saying, "You made sense! He looks like that kind of person who would try to impress Weiqiao with underhand tricks, but that's too much for him!"She pondered, "Then... What happened actually?"Xu Caikui uttered indignantly, "Mother, haven't you seen it? As Grandfather wrote in the letter, Eldest Brother went to Nanfeng County with Senior Master Sheng to discuss the possibility of marriage between the two families, and the academic communication with Uncle Sheng was merely a pretext. Senior Master Sheng also connived at that deed... But for Sheng Family's part, wouldn't they manage to test Eldest Brother's faithfulness to their most beloved daughter?"Sheng Weiqiao was speechless.Please, we didn't have such a convention in our family!And my grandfather only prompted us to talk more so that we could ascertain if we matched!On the top of that, did many people fall in love
Sheng Weiqiao was exhausted when she finally returned to Jihong Pavilion.And then she remembered something crucial that had been ignored by all of them, "Fourteenth Miss Meng accepted the decree of being step-empress. Even if Ningwei Marquis Family didn’t support Meng Family, Caikui, her sister and the three girls in my party have all attended to the birthday banquet of Fourteenth Miss Meng, we're supposed to go felicitate her on the decree that declared her the future empress, despite the political independence of Ningwei Marquis Family!"Other people, including Huan Yehe, all swung by Meng Family after the activities in Yongyi Count Family wrapped up.They would have done the same if Madam Nan and Xu Caikui hadn't mauled Xu Baomo as if he had been their arch enemy throughout the afternoon. Sheng Weiqiao had been trying to convince them that Xu Baomo wasn't as filthy as they expected, while they were trying to suggest that she shouldn't be be
Sheng Shuihe and Xu Baomo didn't know that Sheng Weiqiao stabbed Xu Baomo in the back these days, so after saying their farewells to Madam Nan, they went to the drawing room to eat food unsuspectingly.At this time, the table in the drawing room had been covered with various dishes, such as fried gardenias, plain chicken, fried wild bamboo shoots, shrimp, jujube puree cake, fried shrimp, tomato crispy rice, ham and broad beans, shredded chicken white fungus, osmanthus fish sticks, sweet and sour lotus root, fresh mushroom cabbage, white braised pork belly, braised red shellfish...Obviously, the chefs of Marquis Mansion cooked the food with earnestness.Staying in the Examination Hall for nine consecutive days, except for the porridge and water provided by the Examination Hall, they could only eat some dry food. Looking at the food at this time, they had a great appetite.Madam Nan didn't let anyone come to serve them, so only they
Xu Baomo saw that things were in a bad way, so he swam towards the middle of the pool to avoid Madam Nan's beating.In the meantime, he quickly thought about what he had done recently and confessed his mistakes in a hurry, "Mom! I didn't mean to carry on with the lame horsekeeper's sister! It was that she wanted me to promote her elder brother, so she took the initiative to say that she wants to marry me!""As for the maid Yan who is in charge of washing vegetables in the kitchen, I just praised the dress she wore that day was beautiful casually, and then she invited me to go to the rockery in the middle of the night to enjoy the moon. I just thought that a beautiful girl who was only fourteen years old might meet danger at midnight in the rockery alone, so I went to keep the appointment. When going down the rockery, she fell into my arms accidentally. I... I was just bewitched for a while. I swear! I will absolutely not do this kind of thing again!"
Xu Baomo was overcome with grief and anger, while after Sheng Weiqiao noticed that Madam Nan had been away too long in the back hall, she started to worry whether she was going to make trouble with Xu Baomo. So she beat around the bush, hoping to come to intercede for Xu Baomo.However, Xu Caikui steered clear of the crucial point. When Sheng Weiqiao was uneasy, Madam Nan, who had changed her clothes and turned refreshed, came back. As soon as entering the door, she apologized, "Something happened just now and the maid asked me for help. It took me some time to handle it."After explaining the reason why it took her so long a time to change clothes, she then smiled and nodded towards Sheng Shuihe, "Shuihe, you finished the bath? You look more refreshed now! But if you felt tired, you should have a rest! Since you are back now, we can talk about what happened tomorrow or the day after tomorrow!"Without waiting for anyone to answer her, she look
Sheng Weiqiao was astonished to hear it and asked unconsciously, "What do you mean?"Fairly swiftly, she cleared her mind and then put on a long face, "Stop being melodramatic! Second Uncle and Third Uncle are afraid that war will cause havoc and therefore have never gone to war. Besides, they are not cut out for study. They are not even Confucian apprentices, let alone inferior government workers, or even government officials. As for grandpa and dad, they have resigned from their official posts for about twenty or thirty years. What do they have to do with the ups and downs of the imperial court?""Oh?" Sheng Shuihe smiled and said in a soft tone, "Well, sweetie, don't you think that it means something? It is easy to understand why Senior Master Ao and Old Marquis Xu made such a decision. Well, grandpa quit being a rich man and left his young, beautiful wife at home. And then he took the initiative in joining the army to guard the country. He was such a pa