On this day"s trip to Xuanyu Mansion, Sheng Weiqiao came back from a good mood into a bad one.

On the way back, the more she thought about the reprimand she heard from her aunt today, the angrier she became. She even refused to go back to Sheng"s Mansion. She was wondering if she should go straight to the Feng family to meet her mother. The carriage stopped suddenly. Without waiting for Sheng Weiqiao to get angry, a sweet and crisp voice sounded outside the carriage, "Big Weiqiao?"

"Little Jiuniang?" Sheng Weiqiao turned her anger into joy when she heard the voice. She had got up quickly, pulled up the curtain and got off the carriage before maid reacted. She took the girl in purple with bright eyes beside the shaft and asked happily, "Why are you here? Didn"t you say you would not come until next month?"

The girl reached out her finger and pinched her cheek, pretending to be angry, "No rules! Call my cousin instead of Little Jiuniang!"

This was Shen Jiuniang, daughter of Sheng Weiqiao"s aunt Sheng Lanxin, two years senior to Sheng Weiqiao. They were indeed cousins.

There was also an allusion to their nicknames: The two cousins were not in the same place when they were young. When Sheng Weiqiao was five or six years old, Sheng Lanxin went back to their parents" home with her kids to pay the respects. That was their first meeting.

At that time, after the elders introduced them to each other, Shen Jiuniang called Sheng Weiqiao as "Little Weiqiao" according to the habit of naming her sisters. As a result, Sheng Weiqiao, who was looking forward to growing up, was irritated at once. She leaped to say, "You are the little one! You are little!"

Looking at this, Shen Jiuniang quickly changed salutation and called her Big Weiqiao. Only then was Sheng Weiqiao satisfied. She retaliated by calling her cousin "Little Jiuniang".

In this way, the childhood joke had been continued to the present.

At the moment, Sheng Weiqiao did not take her cousin"s joke to heart, but took her by the hand and said pleasantly, "Did you come alone or with aunt and cousins?"

Shen Jiuniang was about to answer when she caught a glimpse of a handsome 16 or 17-year-old man coming down from her cousin"s carriage. Nowadays, the atmosphere was not so conservative and it didn"t corrupt public morals for men and women to travel in the same carriage. However, knowing that Sheng Weiqiao had never been such a close male, Shen Jiuniang could not help but be shocked and pointed at him. She asked stutteringly, "Who is this? Big, big Weiqiao?"

"Why are you going down?" Sheng Weiqiao looked back, only to find Sheng Shuihe came out. She could not help but be sullen and shouted, "Do you want to ask my cousin for a meeting present?!"

Sheng Shuihe a.s.sumed that he did not hear her sarcasm. He tidied his clothes up and smiled at Shen Jiuniang, showing the handsome temperament, "I just heard from my sister about the aunt. Aren"t you the aunt"s daughter? I"m Sheng Shuihe, with the courtesy name Hengshu. I just returned to the Sheng Family today."

"It turns out to be my cousin!" Shen Jiuniang suddenly realized. She saw Sheng Weiqiao with a sorry look, who was full of anger. Gently lifting her dress, she came forward to greet Sheng Shuihe. She saw that her cousin didn"t like Sheng Shuihe very much. However, under the eyes of the public, she did not want to embarra.s.s her cousin. Otherwise, even if Sheng Lanci hadn"t said nothing, her parents would have blamed her for being disrespectful.

"My cousin looks like an indeed gentle girl who is amiable!" Sheng Shuihe motioned her to get up with a wave. He pulled out a flawless piece of a piece of mutton-fat jade from his sleeve and said kindly, "I didn"t know I would meet you today. I don"t prepare anything. Take this piece of the jade pendant!"

Shen Jiuniang knew that her great uncle was a man having real wealth but few children. Even Sheng Shuihe was the son of a mistress, who had just entered the house today, was certainly not short of money. Therefore, although seeing that this jade pendant was valuable, she did not refuse. She said with blessing, "Thank you, cousin."

"I"m going around the neighborhood. Tell me if you, my sisters, are leaving, and I"ll send you back!" Sheng Shuihe nodded at her, then jokingly looked at Sheng Weiqiao with flushed eyes, before turning to leave.

After he left, Shen Jiuniang puzzled and asked her cousin, "What"s wrong with you?"

"This piece of the jade pendant was given to him by my aunt just now!" Sheng Weiqiao"s teeth rattled. If Lvqi and Lvjin hadn"t remembered Mrs. Feng"s exhortation and hadn"t been tearing at her sleeve just now, she would have rushed up and beaten the shameless one in the street!

"Then you give it back to your aunt!" After asking clearly, Shen Jiuniang was also in distress situation. She hurried to send the jade pendant into Sheng Weiqiao"s hands.

"That"s not what I meant." Sheng Weiqiao pushed it back to her. The Feng family had always been rich, and her aunt did not lack such a piece of the jade pendant. She just had anger but nowhere to give off!

The two cousins gave the jade pendant up to each other, and Shen Jiuniang finally reluctantly accepted it. She felt nothing but a little embarra.s.sed, "This cousin…has gone too far!"

Even if Sheng Weiqiao didn"t have a good att.i.tude towards him, Sheng Shuihe didn"t enter the Sheng Family for a very long time. He was not only being hubristic but also meant to fight against his natural sister who was the daughter of an official wife, leaving Shen Jiuniang a greatly terrible impression. She couldn"t figure out why this cousin had so handsome and fantastic appearance but extreme pettiness of character. Not to mention their different mothers, that was, Sheng Weiqiao was the daughter of the first Madam while Sheng Shuihe was not, couldn"t he just make some concession for Sheng Weiqiao who was four years junior to him?

However, it was not suitable for her to say such words as a daughter of Sheng"s daughter. Seeing Sheng Weiqiao was still in bad mood, she turned her mind and pointed to the shop behind her, "My mother and the family are all resting in the Sheng"s Mansion. I was thinking about the sugar cakes made by the shop. So I came out. They happened to sell out a drawer when I arrived, so I had to wait outside. At that time, I saw your carriage. How about that? Accompany me to go in and see if their next drawer is steamed?"

Sheng Weiqiao glanced at the signboard and said, "Little Jiuniang, you miss their sugar cake, but I prefer their chestnut cake with melon seeds sprinkled on it. That is delicious!"

"You prefer the melon seeds on the chestnut cake. You don"t like the melon seeds maid peeled for you at home!" Shen Jiuniang played her forehead, criticizing, "Every time you finish eating the melon seeds on the cake, you will reward servants cakes. This is what you call love eating?"

"I have never seen that plum blossom crisp before. I think it"s new. Buy two to try?" During the conversation, the cousins had already entered the shop. Looking at the water signs hanging on the counter, one of them began to talk, "I don"t know if it is made of plum blossom or just like it?"

After a long time, the maid standing behind them had already carried a dozen oilpaper bags when they went out. After buying purchases, Sheng Weiqiao was obviously in a much better mood. After walking down the steps, she didn"t see Sheng Shuihe, but of course, she would not send someone to look for him. She was about to propose to Shen Jiuniang to go back when a line of people came along not far away. When the young man leading the team saw her, his eyes lit up.

"Isn"t the sister of the Sheng Family?" The young man laughed and stopped the two sisters" way, staring at Shen Jiuniang, who had already shown a girl"s graceful figure, and then he set his sights on Sheng Weiqiao, who was still closing to great shape. His tone of voice was affectionate, "Sister, where did you come from? Are you going back? Do you want me, your cousin, to give you a ride?"

Sheng Weiqiao glanced at him and recognized him. He was Xuanyu Che, the cousin of Xuanyu She. She asked with a curl of her mouth, "Why didn"t you hide from me today?"

There was a reason why she said this: It was well-known that Sheng Lanci doted on his wife and daughter, and the Sheng Family was basically developed and expanded by him. Therefore, everyone knew that Sheng Lanci would never be stingy even if taking a great deal of fortune of the Sheng Family to be Sheng Weiqiao"s dowry if she would marry somebody.

In this way, the father of Xuanyu Che was not the master of the Xuanyu Family, and he had no chance to be. Besides, the children of Xuanyu Family who were not the kids of the master could hardly get much fortune. Therefore, how could they not calculate on Sheng Weiqiao?

However, he had bad luck. He quietly wrote a loving letter to Sheng Weiqiao at the end of last year. As a result, the servant of the Sheng Family who he had paid for did not give the letter to Sheng Weiqiao but gladly presented it to Sheng Lanci!

It was clear for Xuanyu Che that he was severely punished by his eldest aunt Mrs. Feng who had been informed of the situation by Sheng Lanci.

After that, Sheng Lanci also sent someone to warn him: If he still didn"t stay away from his daughter since then, Sheng Lanci a.s.serted that he would not come to a good end!

After that, Xuanyu Che was quite frightened for some time. As long as he saw Sheng Weiqiao from a distance, he would immediately turn away. However, today he stopped her way on his initiative. Sheng Weiqiao was not stupid. She found out the reason instantly. It was due to the appearance of Sheng Shuihe that made him think that her status was not guaranteed and n.o.ble as before.