When Sheng Weiqiao asked Sheng Shuihe the question, she was very hopeful. After all, in her view, since Sheng Shuihe had seen through Madam Bai"s mind, and he mentioned it to her, he was very likely to have prepared a solution.

Unexpectedly, Sheng Shuihe spread his hands straightforwardly when hearing that and smiled, “It"s said that neither rainy weather nor an engaged mother could be helped. This saying has existed for long. It"s such a difficult thing to which so many ancestors haven"t found a solution. So, in my age, why am I supposed to have an idea?”

Seeing the disappointment on Sheng Weiqiao"s face, he smiled and continued, “After all, in the long-term, Second Aunt did that for her children"s sake. You must have heard of how Second Uncle treated his original wife after he drifted from her, haven"t you? So, we can conclude that since Second Uncle is already fed up with Second Aunt, even if she continues staying here, nothing can be helped. She"d better leave so that her children would be pitied by seniors like grandfather and grandmother. After all, even if Second Aunt doesn"t leave, she won"t be able to protect her children. However, though grandparents couldn"t stop Second Uncle switching from one woman to another, they can protect their grandchildren, right?”

“….” Sheng Weiqiao wanted to refute him but couldn"t find any proper argument. At a loss of words, she stomped in anger and decided to change the topic, “How did you enter? I just commanded that no one is welcome! But Lvjin neglected that?!”

At the last word, her face darkened. Before, when they were on Daimao Island, she definitely had shown some kindness to Sheng Shuihe in front of Lvjin and Lvqi. But it didn"t mean that Sheng Shuihe was allowed to go anywhere at her place and do anything he wanted!

If the two maids were so ignorant, Sheng Weiqiao thought she should tell Madam Feng about it and get another two maids!

Innocent though she was, she had the parents who were attending to the major family businesses. With their behaviors as a lesson, since a young age, she had understood very well the importance of her near servants" loyalty.

“Your two maids are surely loyal to you. Wasn"t Brother Xu stopped outside? And he"s still drinking the tea in the drawing room, I suppose.” Unexpectedly, Sheng Shuihe rolled up his sleeves with a smile and said baldly, “Luckily that I"m a wise person. After I arrived and saw how Brother Xu was treated, I found an excuse to leave, walked about the yard, and scrambled over the wall to get in. Or n.o.body would be here to console you, would he?”

Sheng Weiqiao stared at his face filled with “are you touched by my care for you in any sense” and couldn"t make a proper face in response, “Brother, it"s not Daimao Island here!!!”

Even though they were half brother and sister, people wouldn"t say anything kind about it when they heard that he scrambled over the wall of her yard, would they?!

Sheng Weiqiao taught him the general moralities on the land in agony, “I"m thirteen already, so both the father and the brothers have to keep a safe distance from me. Even if you"re worried about me, how could you do that?!”

“No worries, sister. A person as skillful as I am could be caught by no one.” Sheng Shuihe reminded her calmly, “But Brother Xu has supposedly had two teapots of tea outside. Do you intend for him to keep drinking?”

… Seeing Sheng Weiqiao left the backyard hastily, Sheng Shuihe"s smiling eyes turned cold. He tapped the wisteria pistils off the collar, and beneath the lashes, his eyes were thoughtful. He asked without turning back, “How long do you intend to lay p.r.o.ne there?”

An instant later, with petals falling down, a slender and delicate figure leaped down from pergola nimbly. In a colorful dress, with pearl ornaments and a pair of well-penciled fearless eyes, Gongsun Yingjiang stepped forward with a naughty smile and said sweetly, “Father asked me to follow aunt closely in case she was set up. But she didn"t allow anyone to come close right now, so naturally, I could only slip in and hide on the pergola!”

As she said, she had got up to Sheng Shuihe. Suddenly, she tumbled and tilted towards Sheng Shuihe out of imbalance!

Sheng Shuihe stared at her, expressionless.

Seeing that he wasn"t about to avert her, Gongsun Yingjiang was elated secretly. But the moment when she almost touched Sheng Shui"s gown, he stepped aside stably.

Gongsun Yingjiang caught his action clearly. She took a deep breath and did an “Iron Bridge,” hoping to rebalance herself. However, Sheng Shuihe flapped his sleeve on a crucial acupuncture point of her waist and dispersed her strength. Though unwilling with indignation, helpless, Gongsun Yingjiang finally fell to the ground with her face down in front of Sheng Shuihe"s feet.

With his hands behind his back, Sheng Shuihe watched her sprawling on the ground, no emotion in his eyes. Such dreadful peace.

“Little Uncle, at least we grew up together, and we"re literal uncle and niece.” Gongsun Yingjiang struggled for some time on the ground before she finally made it to rise. Kneading her painful nose, she looked at Sheng Shuihe bitterly and said with despondency, “When I slipped over, why didn"t you give me a hand?”

“Oh, you still remember that we"re uncle and niece?” Sheng Shuihe raised his lashes and peered at her flatly. His cold voice came along with obvious irony, “Though there"s plenty of ridiculous stuff on Daimao Island, believe it or not, once your father learns about your mind, even if he doesn"t beat you to death, he"ll surely break your legs?”

Hearing that, instead of showing any terror, Gongsun Yingjiang burst into laughter. She swung her silk handkerchief freely and said slowly, “So I"ve taken the chance to run away with the excuse of protecting my aunt! At the time, you risked your life to save me out of the intense ambush, so he won"t beat me to death just because I always pop up in front of you, will he?”

She peered at Sheng Shuihe"s pretty face and said, half affectionate and half teasing, “In fact, in my opinion, why are you so stubborn? After all, you haven"t got married yet, and I haven"t been engaged, either! We"re both single, so what will be the problem if we have a relationship? You won"t get pregnant, anyway, will you?”

Seeing Sheng Shuihe"s nonchalance, she rolled her eyes and said, “Are you bothered by Gongsun Family"s favor for you? It"s too righteous of you! Keep in your mind, though my father and grandfather adopted you as a foster son, how many times have you risked your life for their sake all these years? Leave aside the things too remote, at the beginning of this year, if you didn"t come to help, let alone my brother and I, even my father would lose his life! You"ve paid back everything you owed to Gongsun Family!”

She giggled and tried to approach Sheng Shuihe again tentatively with sweet temptation, “If you think we"re not even yet… as a daughter of Gongsun Family, I want you to pay back in this way….”

The finger which was about to touch on Sheng Shuihe"s chest was fended off as expected.

“You and Yingdun are both too young. Meanwhile, you haven"t contacted Sea Master"s duties before,” seeing his niece clinging to him, Sheng Shuihe"s expression remained bland and he said coldly, “so your father announced before that if he got into an accident, I would take over the position of Sea Master. Actually, he feared that if you and your brother came into power, you would be manipulated by others or even lose your lives. However, I"m already a member of Sheng Family, and you"ve seen it clearly during your stay here that the first branch of Sheng Family didn"t have another son, so they would never allow me to go back to Daimao Island. Hence, there"s no need to worry that I"ll threaten Yingdun"s position!”

“You should figure that I"ve been pestering you with an offer since I was saved by you at the beginning of the year because I"m afraid that you"ll compete with Yingdun for a higher position?” Though full of immoral thoughts at the moment, Gongsun Yingjiang was stunned at his words. Then she said awkwardly, “Let alone Yingdun and I have different mothers, since Sea Master"s position would never fall on me and my mother has pa.s.sed away, whoever takes over this position, it will make no difference for me at all. At least, because his mother was a rival of my mother, could I possibly sacrifice myself for him? If it were true, my mother would crawl here for me from the sea bottom out of outrage!”

Sheng Shuihe stared at her, moveless. He had a hint of doubt in the cold black eyes, “Then though I"m not your real uncle, I"ve once saved you. Why do you bite the hands that fed you?”

“Bite the hand that fed me? You have misjudged me completely!” Gongsun Yingjiang averted her eyes. There was some time when her look stayed as vague as the smog, and later she giggled, “I"m truly attracted by your appearance. And I think mine shouldn"t be a bad match for you, so I made the offer forwardly. After all, I"ve got much more broad-minded now after surviving from a death! Life is short, so to gingerly obey the rules or to freely enjoy the pleasure appears the same. So, what"s the sense of stifling myself?”

She said briskly, “After all, my hobby isn"t a foul one. I just think that the charming males in the world are too diverse to make a choice among them, so I decided to experience all of them in my life! Just a one-night romance and we become strangers again. It won"t bother anyone. Since you are tolerant with my aunt, who hadn"t spent a long time with you, why can"t you be more permissive with your niece, who has at least grown up together with you?”

Sheng Shuihe said flatly, “But the moment I heard your ridiculous demand, I wanted to hang you up and whip you. Will you be permissive to me for that?”

Gongsun Yingjiang, “….”

She noticed that Sheng Shuihe cast a glance at the pergola above them. With Sheng Weiqiao"s status in the family, her place was evidently built to perfection. Though this pergola was to be placed outside and would experience wind and weather, they had picked the expensive and c.u.mbersome sandalwood as the material for it.

To guarantee Sheng Weiqiao"s safety when she walked beneath it, the pergola was well-designed and carefully-a.s.sembled. Even a layman would be able to tell its firmness and stableness by all kinds of details.

Which was to say, as long as Sheng Shuihe found himself a rope, he would be able to hang her up and whip her anytime he wanted!

“Little Uncle, I was kidding!” Thoughts flashed through her mind, and Gongsun Yingjiang stepped back to keep a normal distance between uncle and niece from Sheng Shuihe. With a sweet smile, she raised her hands to surrender, “On Daimao Island, everyone knows about your pureness and n.o.bleness. Except for Fifth Master, none of a male nor a female is allowed to approach you. So, I just wanted to play tricks on you. I don"t have any other intentions! Don"t take it seriously, Little Uncle!”

Sheng Shuihe peered blandly at her.

Gongsun Yingjiang said some other apology words. Seeing his silence, she was guilty and feared that he would really hang her up and whip her. As she said, she receded. And when she had reached a safe distance from him, she said, “Ah! My skirt was stained! I have to go back and get it changed. I"ll see you around, Little Uncle.” Then she raised her skirt and ran away!

Because at the gate of Zhuying Mini Villa, there were maids who got the way blocked with the command of their Miss, she came here surely by climbing over the wall. Out of the fear that Sheng Shuihe would act to stop her, Gongsun Yingjiang didn"t dare to look back when she leaped onto the top of the wall and dashed almost all her way back to Qiongpa House!

As a result, she didn"t see that the moment she disappeared at the back of the wall, from the shadow at the corner, silently came out a boy with insidious expression.

Until Gongsun Yingjiang had supposedly gone far and wasn"t able to catch any hush voice in the backyard, Gongsun Xi said lowly, “Chief, you"ve served for Gongsun Family for so many years, putting your life at risk. Even though Gongsun Family has once saved your life and fostered you for several years, as Gongsun Yingjiang said before, you"ve paid off everything! Now you come to Sheng Family for Sea Master"s will, but still, he sent his daughter to spy on you. He"s pushing us too far!”

“To make Yingjiang come to Sheng Family is my suggestion.” But Sheng Shuihe just said peacefully, “First, it"s to comfort all the people on the island. After all, though brother trusts me, many of his followers don"t know me well at all, so where could their trust come from? Second, it"s just in case. Don"t be too suspicious. Brother isn"t mistrustful of me.”

Gongsun Xi was slightly surprised, “In case?”

He was about to ask the meaning of those words when something suddenly occurred to him. He figured it out, but said, frowning, “But Gongsun Yingjiang has feelings for you….”

“It"s just children"s nonsense.” Sheng Shuihe said indifferently, “I"ll find a chance to hang her up and whip her, and it will be alright.”

When on the island, he had once thrown the niece into the sea and soak her there for half a night, but so soon she came up again…. Sheng Shuihe said gently, “If once isn"t enough for her, I"ll whip her every day. Anyway, she"s st.u.r.dy. I believe she will understand it one day!”