When Sheng Weiqiao arrived at Xiezhu Pavilion, Sheng Shuihe just finished bathing.

Perhaps for that reason, his pale face had a reddish tinge, which brought out more of his vigor.

“We just came back. Why do you come to me again?” Seeing Sheng Weiqiao enter with a gloomy face, Sheng Shuihe didn"t take it seriously at first. He laughed and teased as fastening the belt of his raven loose-sleeved coat, “Did you fell for some cousin while we were blocked by those people just now so you come here for the inquiry about him?”

Despite his smiling face, Sheng Weiqiao couldn"t bring herself to make a joke, and she ordered all the servants around, “You can quit now!”

Though Sheng Shuihe was the inheritor of the first branch, he came back not long ago and hadn"t built a solid position here. While Sheng Weiqiao had been pampered by everyone in Sheng Family since she was born. So, as Sheng Weiqiao commanded, all the people who served under Sheng Weiqiao curtsied and left without an objection.

However, it wasn"t for Gongsun Xi. Though other servants had quitted, this young man, with his regular cold face, crossed his arms and stood rooted behind Sheng Shuihe. He didn"t even bother with a glance at Sheng Weiqiao. Sheng Weiqiao, who had been unsetting, saw the scene and began to manifest impatience on her face!

But Sheng Shuihe nodded at him promptly, so Gongsun Xi rolled his eyes at Sheng Weiqiao loathly, cupped his hands to Sheng Shuihe, and stepped out of the door.

“Alright. Sweetheart, what"s so mysterious?” Seeing that Gongsun Xi had closed the door, Sheng Shuihe gestured at the seat nearby and asked with a smile.

“There"s no need for me to sit down!” Sheng Weiqiao glared at him. Her tiny teeth had chewed a line of mark on the lip before she spoke lowly, “Just answer me one question.”

She paused at the point, and obviously, she took a deep breath, “Are… are you my father"s son or not?”

“Aunt didn"t believe that I have Sheng Family"s blood?” Sheng Shuihe"s smile remained on his face, but his eyes darkened, and he sighed, “Sweetheart, at your age, you shouldn"t take anything others say! See? Before, when father brought me back, you called me the son of a mistress. Later, father told you about my origins, and you instantly became sympathetic to me! Now, aunt told you something on Lotus Feast, and you believed it again! You"re so gullible that I felt worried about you!”

Sheng Weiqiao snarled, “I take anything others say?! Are my father and my aunt "others"?!”

She found the conversation was deviating and stomped, “Don"t go off the topic! What"s your connection to my father? Tell me! Don"t play around!”

“Since you want to know it so badly…” Sheng Shuihe looked at her furious action with some interest, rubbed his chin, and he put on a mischievous smile, “I won"t tell you, anyway!”

Seeing the agitated blush on Sheng Weiqiao"s face, he even burst into laughter, “Sweetheart, what to do next? Will you call me "kind brother" and ma.s.sage my shoulders and legs? Maybe I will tell you when in a good mood, won"t I?”

“Pooh!” Sheng Weiqiao clenched her fists, and her eyes were filled with burning anger, “You won"t tell me? I suppose you"re diffident about the truth!”

Sheng Shuihe just beamed at her, rubbing his chin, without a clear answer.

“You… will you still hold your silence?!” Sheng Weiqiao was at a stalemate with him as time pa.s.sed. Seeing that he still looked nonchalant, she averted her eyes and suddenly stepped forward to grasp the Hossu Whisk on the table and pointed at him, yelling, “I will whip you!”

Sheng Shuihe glimpsed at the Hossu Whisk laxly and said in a gentle tone, “Sweetheart, you shouldn"t hold the Hossu like this! A girl like you who has never contacted any martial art doesn"t have enough hand strength, so you won"t be able to give me a painful strike with the hair of Hossu. You should reverse the Hossu and beat me with its handle!”

He reminded her kindly, “Meanwhile, from where you stand now, you could only reach my arms, which certainly wouldn"t startle me at all, right? At least you should move by two steps and target my wound, which hadn"t recovered yet! If you don"t want to cause any bleeding, at least you could step back a little and beat on my head, couldn"t you?”

“… Don"t think I"m ignorant! You implied that you saved me once on the sea!” Sheng Weiqiao clenched the Hossu, quivering. After a while, she said, biting her teeth, “But without you, I wouldn"t have been involved in it at all!”

Sheng Shuihe grinned with a “yes” and said leisurely, “So sweetheart, will you do it or not?”

He pointed at his wet hair, “If you have decided not to whip me, I"ll call someone back to serve me!”

In fact, though Sheng Weiqiao claimed that she didn"t appreciate his favor of saving her, she was more or less indecisive in the heart, and she had already let down the raised arm.

If Sheng Shuihe said some sweet words at the time to coax her, she definitely wouldn"t act.

But instead of giving in, Sheng Shuihe added fuel to the fire and behaved in the way of “whatever you do, I fear nothing about you”. Sheng Weiqiao, who had been hesitant, got exasperated!

“Is he so sure that I won"t beat him?!” As she thought, Sheng Weiqiao"s flinch turned to determination, and she stepped forward unhesitantly, swung the Hossu, and was about to give Sheng Shuihe a stroke on the arm!

She had heard well Sheng Shuihe"s “lecture” just now, but after all, to tie up someone and give him some whips wasn"t her hobby. So even she had been provoked by Sheng Shuihe time after time, she felt loathe to take advantage of his wound or his face.

Sheng Shuihe peered at the Hossu, which dashed at his left arm, motionless, with a smile, and his brows demonstrated his unflappability. However, when the Hossu almost reached his clothes, from the half-opened window, somebody cast something in, which hit forcefully into the handle of the Hossu!

Before Sheng Weiqiao realized, her hand had felt no longer the weight of Hossu!

“Clatter!”

The half handle joined to the hair fell to the azure mat in the pattern of pa.s.sionflower and sea animals lined with gold, and after several bounces, it lay weakly in front of Sheng Weiqiao"s feet.

“What are you doing?!” Sheng Weiqiao was momentarily stunned, and then she berated madly at Gongsun Xi, who just appeared by the window, “Who permitted you to stay there furtively?!”

Expressionless, Gongsun Xi didn"t contradict nor apologize.

His indifferent reaction was so similar to Sheng Shuihe"s when he provoked her just now. Sheng Weiqiao glared at him, hoping that she could have moved a stone drum here and have thrown it into his face so that his indifference would have been crumbled!

After some moments of stalemate, Sheng Shuihe chuckled and broke their soundless confrontation, “Xi, you can leave now!”

After hearing his order, Gongsun Xi"s impa.s.sive face went slightly wavering, “Chief…”

Sheng Shuihe just looked at him with a smile. Then Gongsun Xi lowered his head, “Yes!”

After he left, Sheng Shuihe turned to Sheng Weiqiao, “Sweetheart, you kept fazing me just because you wanted to find out if my mother had once been involved with your father and your mother"s relationship, didn"t you? Or based on what father told you before, we"re half brother and sister. How could you suddenly change your att.i.tude towards me?”

He waved to stop Sheng Weiqiao"s words. With the lips curling upwards, he showed a broader smile, “However, have you ever considered that even if my mother had once intruded on your parents" relationship since I"m already born, what can you do with me? Are you going to kill me? You didn"t even dare to hit my face just now, so are you sure you will be courageous enough to do anything brutal to your half-brother?”

He lowered the feather-fan-like lashes and the corners of his mouth upturned even more, “The problem is that if you won"t kill me, even if, I say even if, even if you throw me out of the door later, because you"re a girl who will get married in several years, unless your mother gives birth to another son, believe it or not, you father will take me back again, won"t he?”

“At the time, will anything change?”

“Without your crossing me at home, what an easy life will I live!”

“Above all, the outsiders never know about your mother"s kindness to me and that only you can"t tolerate my existence. They would only gossip on your mother"s narrow mind, arrogance, and willfulness, and say that she pretended to be tolerant but secretly incited you to counter me!”

Seeing Sheng Weiqiao stared out her almond-shaped eyes, Sheng Shuihe laughed joyfully, “Of course, I know that based on your mother"s conduct, she wouldn"t care about those rumors. So, sweetheart, it seems that you needn"t worry too much about it?”

“… It"s so despicable of you!!!” Sheng Weiqiao wanted to refute. But she thought it over for some time, only to find that all her contradiction seemed so weak. As Sheng Shuihe had said, no matter Sheng Lanci had once betrayed Madam Feng or not, Sheng Shuihe had already been born.

Even if she confirmed that his origin wasn"t as innocent as Sheng Lanci described, would it make a difference?

She could throw him out of the door, splash him with ink, and whip him with a Hossu… But she couldn"t treat him like Young Master Han and cut off his dead at one stroke!

It wasn"t only because they might be brother and sister. More importantly, Sheng Shuihe had only teased her, without any insult nor a.s.sault. So, to do such a thing didn"t correspond to Sheng Weiqiao"s manner.

“I"m not despicable. But sweetheart, you"re too impulsive!” Sheng Shuihe looked at her teasingly, his eyes glistening indoors. And he said slowly, “See? You came over here agitatedly to question me without any plan at hand…. Luckily, we"re at home. If we were outside, and an outsider was questioned by you, how would you get out of the predicament?”

“If this outsider"s family happened to have a generation-spanning friendship with ours or he were our business partner, could you imagine the serial troubles caused by your impulsive behaviors?”

Sheng Weiqiao listened blankly to his lecture, and she asked subconsciously, “Then what should I do?”

Before she finished her words and Sheng Shuihe uttered to answer, she realized and shrieked out of anger, “Who allowed you to lecture me?! You should be so offensive as to lecture me!!! Who do you think you are!!!”

After the hysteric cry, Sheng Weiqiao had also lost the confidence to resume her interrogation. She had not only gone speechless when confronting him but also consulted him in turn when caught off defend!

What a huge shame!!!

Sheng Weiqiao felt she wouldn"t be more shameful in all her lifetime!

Sheng Weiqiao kicked over the table, and with all her self-restraint, she successfully held back her haste when leaving Xiezhu Pavilion. However, though she had tried her best to manifest elegance and pride, she still felt her face burning after exiting the door. Without looking in the mirror, she was sure of the blush on her face: half out of the shame and half out of the anger!

She suppressed the impulse to feel the temperature with hand. When she was about to ask the maids to go back to Zhuying Mini Villa, she suddenly saw Xiquan coming along the way, hasty, “Miss, where are you going?”

Without waiting for her answer, she said directly, “If you didn"t have any urgency, please go to the second branch with me!”

As she said, she took her arm and pulled her away. Totally off guard, Sheng Weiqiao almost slipped over with her force!

“What happened? What happened?” Thanks to Lvjin"s giving a hand, Sheng Weiqiao regained her footing. While catching up with Xiquan, she asked, unsettled, “What needs me in the second branch at the moment?”

Though Lotus Feast in Xuanyu Family had ended soon after lunch, it was hot in this season, when days were long and nights were short, and they settled the ch.o.r.es after coming back, so it was close to dinner time. Though Sheng Family didn"t dictate that no visits were allowed between branches at the time, typically, without important affairs, everyone was supposed to return to their own branch.

So, Sheng Weiqiao was surprised. She was guessing that maybe her troublesome Second Uncle caused a big scene again. But Xiquan heaved a sigh and said briefly, “Second Madam is dead!”