Chapter 133 Fire Pit
"You don't have to look at me like that. I've been busy taking care of myself these days and I don't have the time to care about other people's affairs."
Duan Yingying spread her hands, turned around and left the Begonia Garden.
Shen Anan's face looked extremely ugly. In recent days, her mind had been on dealing with Duan Mengmeng and she hadn't paid attention to anything else.
The eldest brother was very cautious, fearing that he would damage Miss Lin's reputation. If it wasn't Duan Yingying, who would have spread the news?
"Mo Xiang, ask Uncle Zhong to check immediately to see what's going on."
"Yes." Mo Xiang bowed and was about to go out when a gentle voice came in.
"No need to check, I told it."
Shen Anan glanced sideways and saw Lin Yurou walking in with a brocade box in her hand. Her eyes were slightly red and swollen, but her face was full of smiles.
"Mo Xiang, take everyone down."
"Yes." Mo Xiang immediately ordered everyone to leave and closed the door.
"Miss Chen, congratulations." Lin Yurou walked forward and placed the brocade box on the table, with sincere blessings in her eyes.
Shen Anan did not look at the brocade box, but pulled her to sit beside her, "Miss Lin, do you know what you are doing?"
"My eldest brother has been keeping it a secret for fear of damaging your reputation. Now that you've told others, not only your reputation, but even the reputation of the Lin family will be affected. How can you get married in the future?"
"But this is the fact." Lin Yurou said softly.
"It is because our Lin family is pursuing profits that we canceled the marriage with the Shen family, making things worse for the Shen family."
Shen Anan's throat choked, "No, it's my eldest brother..."
Before she could finish her words, Lin Yurou's tears fell instantly. Shen Anan immediately stopped talking and didn't dare to continue.
"An An, this is the only time in life that matters. I want to take a gamble and you will help me once, okay?"
——
Xiao Yuan rode on a tall horse, and his high-spirited appearance attracted many women to cheer and applaud.
The betrothal gifts stretched the entire length of the street with no end in sight. Everyone praised the grandeur of the betrothal ceremony, and some were already looking forward to the wedding ceremony in three days, wondering what an unprecedented and grand spectacle it would be.
Xiao Ze, who was invited to the banquet, looked at this scene and narrowed his eyes coldly.
At first, people in Fengtian Palace said he was ostentatious, but now his posture is so grand that it may not even be comparable to the ceremony of marrying the queen.
Just as he was thinking, he was suddenly bumped by someone, and a soft and warm body came into his arms. Before Xiao Ze could react, a pair of soft and delicate hands climbed onto his shoulders.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Second Prince." The woman stepped back in panic, her face flushed. "There were too many people. I don't know who pushed me and disturbed the Second Prince. Please forgive me."
Xiao Ze narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman who hurriedly retreated from his arms with a smile.
He remembered that when he tied up Shen Anan and Duan Mengmeng that night, she came to him on her own initiative.
The second daughter of the Duan family, Duan...
"May I have your name?"
"Duan Yingying." She was trembling with fear, but her eyes were calm.
The corners of Xiao Ze's lips curled up into a smile.
Duan Yingying bowed and quickly left the bustling crowd.
Xiao Ze withdrew his gaze, with a gleam of disdain in his eyes.
He had seen such tactics countless times, but since she was the daughter of the Duan family and her appearance was acceptable, he could still give her some face and have some fun.
Everyone's attention was focused on Xiao Yuan and Shen Wen, and no one noticed the incident happening here. Xiao Ze straightened his brocade robe and followed everyone into the Shen Mansion.
Xiao Yuan gave Shen Wen a junior salute and called him "Father-in-law."
This caused people around to burst into laughter.
Shen Wen's face turned red. He changed his mind and said that the wedding day should be the day of the wedding. The Fourth Prince was too anxious.
The eldest princess immediately stepped forward and said some polite words. With the matchmaker present, Xiao Yuan didn't need to say anything and the process went very smoothly.
Shen Wen was surrounded by the eldest princess and the matchmaker. Xiao Yuan calmly withdrew from the crowd.
Shen Changhe had been paying attention to him, and immediately blocked his way when he saw this, "Fourth Prince, where are you going?"
"..." Xiao Yuan's expression froze for a moment, and he immediately took out a brocade box from his sleeve, "According to the rules of the engagement, the man should give the woman a hairpin. I'm looking for Miss Shen."
“Give it to me,” Shen Changhe reached out to take it.
The brocade box turned around in Xiao Yuan's hand and then was put back into his sleeve.
Shen Changhe frowned, "The matchmaker repeatedly told me that you two can't meet three days before the wedding."
"There is also a rule that says that I must personally pin this hairpin into her hair, so that the marriage can be smooth and the couple can live happily ever after." Xiao Yuan said in a light tone.
Shen Changhe frowned, it seemed that was the case.
But the rules passed down by our ancestors cannot be broken.
Xiao Yuan's dark eyes swept around the bustling Shen Mansion, and his lips curled up slightly, "If you have time to stop me here, you should worry about yourself first."
Shen Changhe didn't understand.
Xiao Yuan continued, "Ms. Lin came to give Miss Chen a gift today, right? If my information is correct, the carriage parked at the gate of the mansion should belong to the Chen family, that is, Miss Lin's cousin, who came specially to pick up Miss Lin."
He looked at Shen Changhe's face which turned pale in an instant, raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, "Brother, time is running out, take care of yourself!!"
After saying that, he left.
Shen Changhe knew that he had gone to the Begonia Garden, and logically he should have chased after him to stop him, but his legs felt like they were filled with lead and he couldn't move.
"Sir, this is not good, this is not good."
The housekeeper ran over in a hurry, with a very grim look on his face, and whispered something in Shen Changhe's ear.
Shen Changhe's already bad expression suddenly turned cold and ferocious, and the housekeeper was so scared that he didn't even dare to breathe.
This matter is indeed infuriating, but it shouldn't make you so angry.
Shen Changhe strode towards the mansion gate.
At this moment, all the guests had entered the yard, and the onlookers had almost all dispersed. The gate of the mansion became deserted again. He walked out and saw the carriage at a glance.
And Mo Ran, who was standing next to the carriage and crying.
Lin Yurou stood aside, at a loss, and whispered to the man in the carriage.
"Sir, you have to make the decision for this servant."
Shen Changhe strode over, hardly daring to look at Lin Yurou. He glanced coldly at the carriage and asked Mo Ran, "What's going on?"
"I...I was ordered by the young lady to give sweet fruits to the people who came to watch the event today to show their good fortune. When I saw this carriage parked here, I gave some as well. I didn't expect...I didn't expect the young master inside to do something dirty to me."
"If Miss Lin hadn't arrived in time, I would... would..."
Before he could finish his words, Mo Ran started crying again.
Shen Changhe's face was gloomy to the extreme.
Lin Yurou hurriedly stepped forward, bowed and said, "Master Shen, the person sitting in the carriage is my cousin. He is used to being unruly and has no sense of propriety. This is his fault. I will apologize to the mansion on his behalf. When I go back, I will report it to my aunt and teach him a lesson."
Shen Changhe looked away and tilted his head to look at Lin Yurou, whose eyes were red with anxiety.
That day at the mansion, when he said he wanted to cancel the engagement, her eyes turned red, and she pushed him angrily, saying that she would not agree to cancel the engagement.
But today, she stopped in front of another man and pleaded for him.
The intense pain started again, it was so sour and painful. He knew he shouldn't do this. After all, he was the one who resolutely called off the marriage. But if she was looking for a good man, he wouldn't say anything.
The guy inside even dares to flirt with a maid openly. She even looks down on such a guy.
His anger was rising, but he suppressed it in front of Lin Yurou, "Miss Lin, will you apologize for him?"
After saying this, Lin Yurou shivered with coldness.
She lowered her head slightly and said, "Yes, my cousin came out with me. If anything happened to me, I would have a hard time explaining myself."
Shen Changhe's chest was heaving violently, and he no longer looked at Lin Yurou. He turned his wrist, and Lin Yurou only saw the curtain fluttering. Soon, the heavy curtain was torn by him and fell to the ground.
The man in the carriage was revealed, looking sickly from overindulgence.
He leaned in the carriage, and when he saw Shen Changhe, he smiled weakly, "Mr. Shen, it's just a joke, don't take it seriously."
After saying that, he hid in the carriage and kept winking at Lin Yurou, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up and beg for mercy. If anything happens to me, do you still want to enter my Chen family?"
After hearing this, Shen Changhe was about to explode.
But Lin Yurou added fuel to the fire, "Mr. Chen, for the sake of our past friendship, please don't treat my cousin like that."
Because of our past friendship? Shen Changhe's eyes became cold and depressed.
She was using their past relationship to beg for mercy from a despicable and disgusting man?
"Even if it's for the sake of those pastries, after all, I worked hard for several days to learn it."
Lin Yurou spoke in a low voice, with her head down, at a loss, and gradually choked up.
Shen Changhe clenched his fists, veins bulged, and blood rushed to his head.
Without paying attention to the cowardly man inside, Shen Changhe for the first time broke the rules and grabbed Lin Yurou's wrist and walked into an empty alley.
When the young master of the Chen family in the carriage saw this, he was still shouting extremely unpleasant words in the back.
“Mr. Shen, what are you doing, let me go.”
In the alley, Lin Yurou shook off Shen Changhe's hand and burst into tears of grievance.
For the first time, Shen Changhe felt the pain in his heart, but he did not have the status or position to wipe the water stains from her eyelashes.
He turned his head away, no longer looking at her face, and asked in a cold voice, "What did he mean by that just now?"
"What?" Lin Yurou rubbed her wrist, hiding the joy in her eyes very well.
Shen Changhe frowned, "He said...you want to enter the Chen family? What does that mean?"
Lin Yurou's face darkened almost instantly, and she said in a low voice, "That's what Mr. Shen thought it meant."
Her tone was cold, without any trace of the girlish demeanor she had before.
Shen Changhe was almost furious after hearing this, "How could you..."
"What else?" Lin Yurou raised her eyes, tears falling down, "Mr. Chen is a gentleman, then tell me, what should I do?"
Shen Changhe was slightly startled.
Lin Yurou continued, "Mr. Chen has been busy these days, so he probably doesn't know about the rumors outside. Now that our story has been spread, everyone knows about it. I don't know how many people have accused me of being snobbish and of taking advantage of the situation of the Lin family."
"Master Shen, do you think that with my reputation being so ruined, there will be any young man from a good family willing to marry me? The Chen family and my family are cousins, and it is a grace that they are willing to accept a woman who has been rejected. Do I have the right to be picky?"
Shen Changhe looked shocked. "When did this happen? Why have I never heard of it?"
At the beginning, he repeatedly warned his mother to be careful when she broke off the engagement and not to let any rumor leak out. Even the entire Shen family ordered everyone to keep silent, so how could the rumor get out?
And what he said... is so ugly!
Lin Yurou sneered, “Mr. Shen is a busy man, so he naturally won’t hear about such trivial matters.”
Shen Changhe pursed his thin lips tightly, "Miss Lin, this was not my original intention. I never thought things would turn out like this."
Lin Yurou nodded, "I know."
She looked up at Shen Changhe, her eyes tender again, "Mr. Shen is a gentleman, he doesn't want me to step into the fire pit of the Shen family, so he withdrew this marriage."
"But... there are very few upright gentlemen like Mr. Shen in this world. If you don't want me to marry into the Shen family, how do you know that I won't jump into another fire pit?"
She looked out with dim eyes, "Or maybe the Chen family can't even be called a fire pit, but a bottomless abyss."
Her words and eyes were like a heavy hammer hitting Shen Changhe's chest. He stood there, unable to breathe for a long time.
"Shen Changhe," Lin Yurou looked straight at him, "If I marry into the Shen family, at least you will protect me, right?"
Shen Changhe didn't dare to look into her eyes, his heart ached.
"Forget it, it's getting late, and my cousin still has to go to the gambling house. If I dawdle any longer, I'm afraid he'll get angry. I won't accompany Master Shen to reminisce about the past. On the day of the wedding, if Master Shen is free, you can come and have a drink of wedding wine."
Shen Changhe watched the beautiful figure leave and pass by him.
The Chen family's young master's extremely unpleasant complaints were heard outside, but the girl who always spoke to him in a soft voice remained silent.
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