When Xu Baomo was still excited about his plan, Sheng Shuihe said apologetically, "Grandpa, thank you for your kindness. I know I should accept it, but I still have some injuries, which may become the burden of Brother Xu. So, I"m afraid that I can"t accept that."

Senior Master Sheng was hardly back from the last trip, so he did not know Sheng Shuihe"s injury. After hearing this, he was surprised and said, "How did you get hurt?"

"It was a misunderstanding. Thankfully, all the scabs are growing, and I guess it won"t take too long to heal." Sheng Shuihe replied with a smile, "There is no need to worry, Grandpa!"

Senior Master Sheng felt that he did not want to answer the question or he didn"t want to answer in public. So, he gave his grandson a meaningful look, touched his beard, and said to Xu Baomo, "Well, I really want to treat you well, but my grandson still has some injuries. You may need to stay with us for a couple of days!"

"There is no need to be so polite, Senior Master!" Xu Baomo said with a smile, "Healing the wounds is the most important thing for Brother Sheng. As for the trip, it"s not an emergency! I believe Senior Master won"t kick me out, isn"t it?"

When he regretted that he had lost an excellent chance to hook up with Sheng Weiqiao, Sheng Shuihe suddenly said, "Thank you for your understanding, Brother Xu. But I can"t ruin your trip because of my problems! In fact, Second Uncle has a son, Weide, who is already 14 years old. I heard that he is very mature and familiar with the local scenic spots in the county. He is better suited to accompany you on your journey than I am!"

Senior Master Sheng stroked his beard and looked at Sheng Shuihe happily. He was very pleased with his grandson who just came back. What a generous, tolerant, friendly and sensible kid!

Although he couldn"t go, he could think about his cousins!

Well. If there were his two spoiled granddaughters, they would wait for someone to comfort them. There was no way that they could be as generous as he was!

When thinking of that, he rolled his eyes to Sheng Weiqiao and Sheng Weiwu standing in front of him, "What are you waiting for? Go to find your big brother and tell him to be here now!"

If Sheng Weide were the one to take Xu Baomo to go on a trip instead of Sheng Shuihe, then Sheng Weiqiao wouldn"t come along.

So, two sisters went to the second branch and told them what grandpa said, and then they were going to go back to their own rooms instead of Jinxue House. They really needed their comfortable bed, soft pillows, considerate maids and delicious food to make up for the two days of terrible experiences in the ancestral hall!

However, on the way back, they met Shen Jiuniang, who was carrying a food container. Seeing them, Shen Jiuniang said, "Big Weiqiao, Little Wu, where are you going?"

"Where could we go?" Two sisters were totally downhearted, "We just came out of the ancestral hall, and we are going back to our rooms!"

"Do you guys want to go to the garden for a walk?" Shen Jiuniang didn"t know about their terrible experience last night. She thought they were in trouble, but since they had only been at that ancestral hall for two nights, they wouldn"t have suffered. So, she said happily, "I"ve just learned to make some cakes and pastries from a female cook, and I was going to find a good place in the garden and enjoy them with some good tea. Maternal grandma told me that there were two new pairs of sika deer in the southeast corner. They are domesticated. Also, they can take food from our hands and pick up the branches that we throw away. That sounds interesting!"

Sheng Weiqiao was not interested in sika deer at all. However, Sheng Weiwu was still young, so she was sort of curious and said, "Second Sister, should we go and have a look? I remembered that there were also some peac.o.c.ks in the southeast corner. If we go today, we may see them spreading their tails!"

"Let"s go then!" Sheng Weiqiao thought that her cousin was always so loyal to her. Although the result was that she put herself in trouble. Well, her intention was in a good place. So, she wouldn"t say no to her. Then, she asked Shen Jiuniang, "Little Jiuniang, how many cakes and pastries do you have? We haven"t eaten anything yet since this morning!"

Shen Jiuniang snorted, "If not enough, you guys could eat mine too, okay? The garden isn"t that far away. Later, if these were not enough for you, just ask the maids to bring more from the kitchen. Easy."

Three cousins went to the garden with laughs. As one of the three major families in Nan County, although Sheng Family was an up-rising star, their mansion was extremely wealthy and opulent. Speaking of the garden, it had a dozen mu of land!

In the garden, there were ponds, rockeries, flowers, rare birds and animals.

After they walked through a stone arch bridge over the stream, Shen Jiuniang chased away a red-crowned crane that was looking for food. Sheng Weiqiao and Sheng Weiwu were about to feel sorry for that red-crowned crane when suddenly they heard somebody crying behind the rockery not far away. Following the sound of a slap, a girl snapped, "Don"t you cry again! Or I will scratch your eyes out!"

Hearing what that girl said, three of them went totally shocked. They all knew that voice was Third Miss of Sheng Family, Sheng Weirao. Not including all the maternal grandchildren, Sheng Shuihe, and the daughter of a mistress of the second branch, there were eight grandchildren in Sheng Family.

The eldest branch only had a thirteen-year-old Second Miss, Sheng Weiqiao.

The second branch had a lot of children because of the lasciviousness of Sheng Lansi. So, he had more children than his siblings. He had three children who were from his two princ.i.p.al wives. The first son was Sheng Weide, one year older than Sheng Weiqiao. His mother was Mrs. Ao, who had divorced Sheng Lanci. Then, it was his two children of current wife, Madam Bai, who had a twelve-year-old daughter, Sheng Weirao, as Third Miss; and a ten-year-old son, Sheng Weixing, as Fifth Childe. After them, the other two children were from his concubines. They were Sheng Nianxian, as Sixth Childe, two years older than Sheng Weiwu, and Sheng Nianjie, as Eighth Childe, who was born last year, so he was only two years old and was still held in arms most of the time.

The third branch only had one boy and one girl. They were a twelve-year-old, Sheng Weiche, as Fourth Childe, and a seven-year-old, Sheng Weiwu, as Seventh Miss.

Sheng Weirao was the daughter of the second branch, whose mother was Madam Bai, then it was easy to guess which kid was being bullied by her!

As expected, when they went to the back of the rockery, they saw Sheng Weirao, who led four or five maids. That girl who was surrounded by them was the daughter of a mistress from the second branch, Sheng Lianlian. She had just been accepted by Old Madam Ming, and they beat her madly with thumb-thick branches that they snapped from the tree.

Sheng Lianlian had distinct hand marks on her red cheeks, which she may have had when she cried just now.

"Second Sister, cousin and Seventh Sister, are you also here for a walk too?" Sheng Weirao was shocked when she saw someone showed up behind the rockery. However, she immediately relaxed after she saw who they were. But she didn"t stop beating Sheng Lianlian and said, "Why are you carrying the food container? Want to find a place to have tea? The azaleas on the east side of the pond blossomed very well. I mean, it"s such a wonderful scene with the flowers, the pond and willows aside. Do you want to go to the Cuimo Waterside Pavilion?"

Sheng Weiqiao didn"t like the children of mistresses, but she felt Sheng Lianlian was still young, and her face and neck were full of terrible scars. So, she hesitated. Sheng Lianlian felt that she was looking at her, so she gave Sheng Weiqiao a pitiful look.

"Did she do something wrong?" Sheng Weiqiao saw that look and felt sympathetic, so she tried to plead for mercy for Sheng Lianlian, "She is still young, Third Sister, you could just punish her a little, and that should be fine. If you beat too hard, grandma would be angry about it!"

Shen Jiuniang saw Sheng Weirao frowned a little and quickly said, "Before, maternal grandfather was already furious because of her and her mother. If today something happens because of her again, I guess maternal grandfather will be mad again!"

In Sheng Family, including Old Madam Ming, all of them were afraid of Senior Master Sheng, excepted the eldest branch.

Although Sheng Weirao was still angry, she threw that branch on Sheng Lianlian"s head, and said disdainfully, "You are lucky today, little b*tch!" Then, she wiped the dust off her hands and prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, Sheng Lianlian held back her tears, climbed up and suddenly grabbed the branch and threw it to her back!

"Be careful, Third Miss!" Sheng Weirao"s maids all shouted loudly to warn her. Then, Sheng Weiqiao"s and Shen Jiuniang"s hearts stopped a beat, "c.r.a.p!"

Sure enough, although Sheng Weirao avoided that branch, her rage came back to her and even became more furious. Her beautiful face twisted, rolling up her sleeves, she ran to Sheng Lianlian, "You son of a b*tch! I am going to skin you off!"

However, there was a gleam of cunning in Sheng Lianlian"s eyes, and she suddenly ran to Sheng Weiqiao and Shen Jiuniang. She grabbed their clothes with both hands and sobbed, "Two pretty sisters, help me!"

Sheng Weiqiao, "…."

Shen Jiuniang, "…."

Although two of them were speechless, Sheng Weiwu started to feel mad. She had always been so loyal to Sheng Weiqiao. In front of this cousin, her sense of rivalry was particularly acute. Before, she already felt jealous when Sheng Weiqiao interceded for Sheng Lianlian. Now, Sheng Lianlian hit Sheng Weirao and tried to use Sheng Weiqiao as the cover. She couldn"t take it anymore!

She quickly pushed Sheng Lianlian away and shouted, "She is my sister! Don"t you dare to touch her dress!"

Although Sheng Lianlian could live in Sheng Family now, it was the first time that she met Sheng Weiwu. Also, Sheng Weiwu followed her cousin who disliked this daughter of a mistress. Naturally, she would not treat her as a sister.

Sheng Weiwu didn"t mean to hurt her, so she didn"t push too hard. But, Sheng Lianlian immediately cried loudly, along with her thrust, fell to the ground dramatically. Then, she hurriedly held Sheng Weiqiao"s leg and cried, "Beautiful elder sister, you see? they are bullying me…."

"Like mother like daughter!" When Sheng Weirao saw that, even she was angry before, but now she just laughed, "Second Sister, cousin, you saw that? You guys had a good intention to help her, but she tried to use you. Now, she even came to frame Seventh Sister up! As I said, how could the woman like a hooker give birth to anything good?!"

Sheng Weiqiao and Shen Jiuniang were quite embarra.s.sed now. Even before, they didn"t really like Sheng Lianlian. Like a normal person, no one would like the children whose mother was a mistress. However, they saw she was still young and was beaten so hard, which was why they tried to help her to stop Sheng Weirao.

It turned out that you gave her an inch and she would take an ell!

Then, Shen Jiuniang pressed her lips and stepped back a little bit silently while Sheng Lianlian was going to grab Sheng Weiqiao with her both hands. Obviously, as a granddaughter of the mother"s side, she was just a guest for Sheng Family, and she definitely didn"t want to get involved in this fight of Sheng Family"s backyard!

There was a look of horror in her eyes as she noticed her movements. Grabbing Sheng Weiqiao tighter, she begged, "Pretty sister, please save me! I will repay you for sure! My father loves my mother the best. Unfortunately, my mother is not here now. Otherwise, the b*tch wouldn"t be so lucky like today! My father said his Wife was not beautiful anymore, and sooner or later, my mother will be his Wife. At that time, I would be Miss Sheng of the second branch! After that, I will definitely kick this b*tch out. No, I will sell her to a brothel and let thousands of people torture her! Let her regret it for the rest of her life!"

After hearing what she said, Sheng Weirao totally went mad. Sheng Weiqiao also felt really sick about it. She pushed Sheng Lianlian"s hands away with a stony expression, "This is about the second branch, deal with it by yourselves!"

Then, she was going to take Sheng Weiwu to leave here. However, when she just walked a few steps, her head was suddenly hit by a small thing. Sheng Weiqiao subconsciously turned around and saw Sheng Lianlian pick up some small stones on the ground to hit her. At the same time, Sheng Lianlian cried, "So you and this b*tch are the same! I hate you!!"