“This time, even the wife of the official could no longer protect her son. She acted in haste and tried to save the boy"s life before her husband hurt him. She ordered her confidant to take her son out of the foster home and let him go south. In the meantime, she sent a letter to me explaining everything, and implored me to show mercy for the boy even if I didn"t take him back to Sheng Family.”

Sheng Weiqiao was confused, “It"s said that he was abandoned when he was five or six years old. This happened 11 or 12 years ago. Why did you wait till this year to take him in?”

“Oh, silly girl, you were just born at that time. I was busy taking care of you and your mother every day. How would I have time to read letters?” Sheng Lanci let out a sign, “Paperwork mounted on my desk, and I waited till your mother recovered from the childbirth to take care of those letters. Several months pa.s.sed by the time I read the letter! I didn"t believe it at first and dispatched someone to confirm with the official"s wife. After that, I talked with your mother and began searching for him. He was gone for over 6 months, and no trace of him was found!”

Besides, Sheng Lanci and Madam Feng were a loving couple. The news of having a son came as a shock to them than a surprise. When they failed to find him, they did not overthink it.

After all, he was an unexpected child, and Sheng Lanci never met him, let alone spent time with him. That was why he did not feel the same way about the boy as he did about his daughter.

Sheng Shuihe kept in mind his mother"s last words to him: go south even if caught in the hands of human traffickers.

It might be the divine will that helped him. Human traffickers did not plan to go south. However, a storm hit them on the sea. He was displaced by the storm to the Daimao Island, which was close to Sheng Lanci"s residency, and later became the foster son of Gongsun Family!

Sheng Weiqiao, wiggling the ta.s.sel tied around her waist, was distressed, “Since you have already forgotten him and he only knew his father was somewhere in the south, how did you confirm his ident.i.ty?”

“It was a coincidence!” Sheng Lanci cracked a smile, “Old Sea Master Gongsun was a close ally of mine. When he died in the war earlier this year, the inc.u.mbent Sea Master Gongsun retreated to Daimao Island and sent a letter to me by a secret envoy stating the renewal of the alliance. I came to the island for this matter, and a ceremony was held to renew the alliance. Sea Master Gongsun also invited Shuihe to join so that he could take over the position in the event of the death of the inc.u.mbent Sea Master.”

Sheng Lanci thought it over and agreed. Gongsun Su told him Huan Guanlan, the Royal Preceptor, was killed at the hands of Han Family and Pan Family. As a retiree from the Imperial Academy, Sheng Lanci would not work with these two families and had to choose Daimao Island as an ally.

Usually, the ceremony would use the blood of an animal to show the devotion. Nevertheless, the island was in a precarious situation, and Gongsun Su had not gained a solid footing and was hoping to get the support from Sheng Lanci. Therefore, he used his own blood for the ceremony to show his sincerity!

Sheng Shuihe forged a deep brotherly bond with Gongsun Su and tried to talk him out of it. During the dispute, both of them had a cut and let the blood drip into the bowl.

Sheng Lanci thought since he was determined to support the Daimao Island, he might as well cut himself to make the ceremony look proper. After the ceremony, the servants came to them with a towel and a basin of water to clean and bind up the wound.

Back then the Daimao Island was newly defeated, Gongsun Su and Sheng Shuihe only had a few servants to serve them despite their prestigious status on the island. When this basin of water was served to them, they all refused to clean up first out of courtesy.

When they were declining the use of basin, the blood of all three of them dropped into the water. To their surprise, the blood of Sheng Shuihe and Sheng Lanci merged as one!

“After that, I verified it with Shuihe and confirmed that he was my son. I went back home and discussed it with your grandfather and your mother. We decided to validate his ident.i.ty.” Sheng Lanci said softly, “Sweetheart, you don"t need to resent him. Frankly speaking, we took him in for your sake. Your mother and I are content with having you as our only child, just the way the other families are with a daughter and a son, but the world runs otherwise. Girls usually are looked down upon by her husband"s family if she has no male siblings. As your parents, we want nothing more than you living a comfortable life. If you had no siblings, we are fine with that. But since you got one who is raised well and makes a return to others" kindness, we thought why not take him in?”

Sheng Weiqiao opened her mouth for a while and said wearily, “Why did you tell me he was the son of a mistress?! If I had known earlier about his origin, I would not have… I would not have….”

I would not have resented him, driven him away by all means, and even called him the son of a mistress!

“Like I said before, if you had not insisted on knowing his origin, I would not have told you this.” Sheng Lanci said with a bitter smile, “Now I have told you the whole story, you have to bear in mind that you need to keep it a secret and never tell a soul. Otherwise, if the truth were known by Shuihe"s childhood family, some people that family would rather end their lives.”

Sheng Shuihe"s birth mother would surely hang herself, and the “father” who deemed Shuihe as his own son for 4 years would be ashamed of his actions.

If the truth were to spread, it would destroy a family.

On the one hand, Sheng Shuihe survived despite the official"s cruelty towards him. On the other hand, Sheng Shuihe was not as important as Sheng Weiqiao to Sheng Lanci; thus, Sheng Lanci had no intention of becoming enemies with that family for his son.

That was why Sheng Lanci would rather have the reputation of an unfaithful lover and let his son Sheng Shuihe be called “the son of a mistress” than get the truth out.

Sheng Weiqiao could vaguely guess his intents. Nodding her head, she felt her antipathy toward Sheng Shuihe began to melt away like the thaw of the snow in spring. She took pity on him, “The son of a mistress…. Oh no, why is this person suffering so much?”

The so-called official father schemed Shuihe"s birth and brought him to the world, but abandoned him right after he got his own son. His birth father never expected his delivery and never seemed to care about his life. Though his birth father admitted him as his son, he did this for his own daughter"s sake so that she would be better protected. As the foster son of Old Sea Master Gongsun, he would be of great use. Otherwise, why would the t.i.tle “Crow Slaughterer” spread so widely?

Gongsun Su was the foster brother of Sheng Shuihe, who thought highly of Gongsun Su, but he might not treat him as a brother wholeheartedly.

After all, Gongsun Su was the only son of Old Sea Master Gongsun and was carefully raised and protected by him. If Gongsun Su were to love his foster brother dearly, why would he let Old Sea Master send Sheng Shuihe to dangerous battlefields over and over again?!

In particular, when that Fifth Master was sent back to the valley a few days ago, Gongsun Yingdun said himself, “After Little Uncle saved our father, our father didn"t let him go back and save the others. But Little Uncle went back for us, fought his way out, and pushed us to the fast ship where our father was.” Sheng Shuihe always sheltered Gongsun Su from dangers. As the son of Sea Master, Gongsun Su was by no means a vulnerable and weak guy!

If he wanted Sheng Shuihe, who just saved him in the bloodshed to stay, how come he failed to make him stay?

It was most likely that it was an act he put on!

It was probably Gongsun Su"s scheme to get Sheng Lanci to find out Sheng Shuihe was his son. It was perhaps Gongsun Su"s idea to use his own blood for the ceremony to renew the alliance.

Otherwise, the discovery of the father-son relationship between Sheng Shuihe and Sheng Lanci was too coincidental!

Though there were indeed many unexpected coincidences in the world, the things that seemed to be the result of pure serendipity often were deliberately arranged—

The sudden death of Old Sea Master Gongsun, the retreat of the defeated Gongsun Family to the Daimao Island, Gongsun Su"s accession to the Sea Master, and the image of “Young Sea Master” engraved upon the heart of the public made it look like that the support of Sheng Lanci was desperately needed!

It was at this time Sheng Lanci, at the invitation of Gongsun Family to renew the alliance, came to the island and found out Sheng Shuihe, the foster brother of Gongsun Su and foster son of Gongsun Family, was his own son displaced for years!

How could it be that all this happened by chance? It raised suspicion.

Even a girl as naive as Sheng Weiqiao could not help thinking that did Gongsun Su, or he and his father, already know the origin of Sheng Shuihe?

Back then, Old Sea Master Gongsun intended to make Sheng Shuihe a servant. However, Sheng Shuihe made a good impression on Gongsun Su, and he persuaded his father to take Shuihe in as a foster son instead. According to Gongsun Yingdun, Gongsun Su judged people based on their looks. He thought Sheng Shuihe was good-looking, and it was a waste to make him a servant.

Sheng Weiqiao did not believe that. Gongsun Su was sanguinary and cunning. To put it bluntly, he was blind to the beauty in things, and why would he show kindness for no reason at all?

It was also possible that Gongsun Su and his father set up a scheme for Sheng Shuihe: Old Sea Master pretended to make Sheng Shuihe a servant, and Gongsun Su pretended to speak up for him and suggested the idea of a foster son. One could only imagine how grateful Sheng Shuihe must be to Gongsun Su!

That was why Sheng Shuihe hurried back to Daimao Island the minute he heard something terrible had happened to Gongsun Su instead of bonding with his birth father and Sheng Family!

“He was so gullible! They just said a few nice words, and he would risk his life for them!” Sheng Weiqiao thought so and could not help feeling angry. She lashed out at Sheng Lanci, “Since we cleared it up, I won"t bother him anymore. When will Little Jiuniang and Third Sister be rescued? If it will take a long time, couldn"t we just arrange a ship and send him back ash.o.r.e? He was severely injured that day, and his clothes were soaked in blood. This island was so shabby and rusty. I"m healthy but I feel uncomfortable living here. How could one get cured here?”

The sudden change of his daughter"s att.i.tude made Sheng Lanci feel both satisfied and a bit jealous, “Sweetheart, I know you don"t like it here. That"s why I came back to accompany you. But you only feel sorry for your brother, what about me?”

“Isn"t it your decision to come here?!” Sheng Weiqiao was going to let him off the hook. Hearing what her father said to her, she sneered at him and said bluntly, “If you had been nice to him and let him store confidence in you, he would not have sneaked away! His servants would not have taken me with them! In that case, do you still need to make this trip in person?! Honestly, you"re not being a good father, and whose fault is that?!”

Irritated, Sheng Lanci pressed his chest and thought to himself, “What does she mean? I tried my best to dispel her prejudice against him so that the siblings could live in harmony. How come I fall into disfavor right away?!”

It was not fair!!

Sheng Lanci pulled himself together and determined to dig a hole for his own son, so he would get caught in the trap like Xu Baomo did, “I know you have a kind heart, but you need to be watchful! Shuihe is your brother, but you did not spend much time with him. How can you be sure of his feelings towards you? He is nice to you for the moment, and his kindness was, more or less, out of his fear and respect for me! It is fine that you feel sorry for him, but you cannot trust him wholeheartedly. To be honest, your mother and I are the only persons you can trust without reservation!”

He thought, “Since your mother is not on the island, who can you trust and rely unconditionally on besides me?!”