Chapter 15: The Origin of Misunderstanding

What is the biggest event in Beijing these days? It must be the exile of the Imperial College's chief academician. However, Zhao Ruming was caught in a brothel. Every family forbids servants to gossip about him in front of the girls. The adults can just talk about it. How can an unmarried girl feel comfortable with it?

But Shen Yuan was about to disappoint them. In this matter, Shen's father was the same as other families and did not tell his daughter much about it.

"My father didn't say much to me."

This was within everyone's expectations. Lu Shuyan said, "That's right. Why would they tell us such a dirty thing?"

After all, this matter was just a temporary novelty. Neither Zhao Jijiu nor Wang Jijiu had ever seen anything like it before. After saying "new", the girls turned around and started talking about the Cuju match next month.

A girl asked Yan Siyu: "Siyu, isn't your brother also going to participate in the competition? Will Mr. He participate this year?"

"Yes, my brother has been practicing every day recently. Last time, he was practicing in his yard and kicked the ball into my yard." After saying that, he teased the girl who had just spoken, "Ayi, you just want to ask Mr. He, why are you pretending to ask my brother?"

The girl named Ayi blushed and reached out to hold Yan Siyu's waist. "Don't talk nonsense, I was just asking casually!"

Yan Siyu dodged and said, "Why are you so shy? You're already engaged anyway, why don't you just ask?"

Seeing that he was about to be caught, Yan Siyu hid behind Shen Yuan, "Yuanyuan, this is the first time we meet, so you may not know that Ah Yi got engaged last month. The son of the Grand Tutor's family is said to be very handsome. Look, the engagement has already made Ah Yi take it to heart."

Because she was not familiar with Shen Yuan, Jiang Yunyi was embarrassed to pull Shen Yuan to catch Yan Siyu behind her. Shen Yuan looked at Jiang Yunyi standing in front of her, "Sister Yi, congratulations."

Jiang Yunyi thanked her with a red face. Seeing that Zhenzhen was three times more pink and tender than the crabapple flowers in the yard, Shen Yuan couldn't help but smile.

Yan Siyu also poked his head out at this time, "My brother said that Mr. He will participate, and he happens to be on the same team with my brother."

Another girl asked Yan Siyu: "I heard that Mr. Xie will also participate in the competition this year. Is he on the same team with your brother?"

"Of course not. If Master Xie was on the same team with my brother, my brother wouldn't be so nervous."

Lord Xie? Shen Yuan blinked. She did know a man named Xie, but she didn't know if he was the same person they were talking about.

But soon, Lu Shuyan explained to her considerately: "Master Xie is the only son of Princess Kangle. He is a colleague of your father. He is very good at Cuju, but he went to the border two years ago, and no one has seen him participate in Cuju competitions for a long time."

Cuju is very popular nowadays. Even the imperial court has its own Cuju team. Private wealthy businessmen also train their own Cuju teams, and they are all very professional. Cuju competitions are held in April every year. The most exciting game is naturally the competition between the private Cuju teams and the imperial court team.

Another game is the one where you can thank the team composed of young masters like Ruhe Gongzi, which is also a big attraction.

Shen Yuan thought of Xie Hui, who was tall and slender, with a white face, and looked like a scholar. She didn't expect him to be a Cuju master. Shen Yuan had never watched Cuju matches in previous years. She thought it was boring to see a group of people spinning around a ball, but she was interested this year.

When I was about to go home from Sinanbo's mansion, I made an appointment with a few people to go watch the Cuju match together this year.

As usual, Shen Yuan had dinner with her father first, and then went to her sister-in-law's place for a bite. Thinking of what she heard from the ladies in Si Nanbo's mansion recently, Shen Yuan asked her father with her chin in her hand: "Dad, why do men want to go to brothels? Isn't it enough to have a wife at home?"

Shen Yuan was no longer a child, so he naturally knew what brothels were used for. It was impossible that they went there just to eat.

Shen Yun still had a mouthful of black chicken soup in his mouth and almost choked when he heard his daughter's question.

He thought for a moment before saying, "Of course those men don't know what's good for them. They go out to have fun even though they have a wife." Thinking that his daughter will soon be 15 and will get married in a few years, it's not too early to say some things now. "There are many men like this, who are fickle and fickle. Don't worry, Dad will find you a husband who is devoted to you in the future."

Shen Yuan giggled and said, "It's not enough to be loyal to me, he also has to be handsome." She had never thought about getting married before, so she naturally didn't care about being shy.

"You are so shameless. How can you find such a shameless girl like you out there?" Shen Yun pretended to be fierce.

But after hearing what his daughter said, a candidate really came to Shen Yun's mind. He was clean and handsome. Isn't Xie Hui one of them?

However, he suppressed the thought as soon as it came to his mind. Xie Hui's family background was not something their family could reach. Even if we ignored family background and only looked at age, Xie Hui was already over 20 years old this year, while his daughter was still a child. They were not a match.

But soon Shen Yun thought again, his daughter was still young, and he was not in a hurry to get her married. If he looked for a few more years, he would be able to find a good one.

Shen Yuan didn't know that her father had already started to plan a son-in-law in his mind with just one simple sentence. Then she thought of Jiang Yunyi, the girl who looked like a crabapple flower, "Dad, I met a girl at Si Nanbo's mansion today. She got engaged to the son of Master He last month. Did you know about this?"

"Yes, the one we are betrothed to is the grandson of Master He. He is a man of good character and good knowledge. The He and Jiang families are well matched, so this is a good match."

"Is that so? I feel relieved then."

Shen Yun found it funny to see his daughter like this, "You're still worrying about others. Did you have a good time at Si Nanbo's mansion today?"

"I'm happy. I met several beautiful girls. We also made an appointment to watch the Cuju match next month!" Shen Yuan thought again, "Dad, you have watched it before. I heard that Mr. Xie is a Cuju master. Have you seen it?"

After hearing his daughter talking around the issue for a long time and asking about thanking him again, Shen Yun felt sad, thinking that this was really a case of male beauty misleading people!

Sometimes misunderstandings arise in this way...

Shen Yun said unhappily, "Your father doesn't understand Cuju, so I can't tell whether it's good or bad."

Shen Yuan was amused. He didn't expect this answer. "Okay then. I'll take a look myself this time."

--the next day

Xie Hui discovered that his colleague, Lord Shen, was looking at him with a complicated expression, and there was an expression in his eyes that he could not understand.

Shen Yun is indeed complicated. It's OK that he has a good family background. He is also so handsome. Why? The official uniform of the color of soybean paste looks better on Xie Hui than on others...

In this case, it’s no wonder that my daughter is attracted to him. I think Yan’er was attracted to me because I was pretty... ahem!