The early summer breeze, wrapped in the fragrance of pomegranate blossoms, rustled the beaded curtains in the General's Mansion's garden. Chen Weiwan was squatting beside the rockery, fiddling with the moss in the cracks with a thin bamboo stick. Chuntao stood nearby, holding a glass of iced sour plum juice. With her sharp eyes, she spotted the edge of a royal blue garment passing by the moon-shaped gate in the distance.
"Miss," Chuntao lowered her voice, "that lame fellow is here again, and he's brought the second young lady with him!"
Without even looking up, Shen Weiwan drew a crooked "渣" character on the moss with a bamboo stick. "Oh? Looks like you haven't heard enough about yesterday's '断袖' rumors, and you're looking for a new title?"
Before he finished speaking, Li Xiu, leaning on a cane, walked in side by side with Shen Ruoruo. Today, Li Xiu was wearing a brand new royal blue brocade robe, a jade pendant dangling from his waist, but his lame leg made the hem of his robe tilt with every step, making him look like a drake with its tail stepped on. Shen Ruoruo, on the other hand, wore a lilac gauze dress, her eyes reddened, and she looked as if she was about to cry.
"Oh, isn't this Mr. Li and his cousin?" Shen Weiwan stood up and patted the dust off her skirt. "Did the two of them make an appointment to come to the garden to 'talk about something'?"
Li Xiu took a deep breath, suppressing the anger that stung him at the word "cripple". He put on a heartbroken expression and said, "Sister Weiwan, I came here today to clarify something with you."
Shen Ruorou took over the conversation at the right time, her voice filled with tears: "Yes, sister, Mr. Li and I are innocent. It was all a misunderstanding before. Don't believe the rumors and wrongly accuse a good person."
"Misunderstanding?" Shen Weiwan blinked, bewildered. "What misunderstanding? Didn't my cousin cry so hard because of the 'handkerchief with a missing thread' that Mr. Li gave her?"
Li Xiu's face froze - he hadn't gotten over the handkerchief yet! Shen Ruorou stamped her feet anxiously: "Sister, why are you still mentioning this! I told you it's fake!"
"Oh? It's fake?" Shen Weiwan clapped her hands as if she suddenly understood something. "Then it seems that the lotus on Mr. Li's sleeve is really just a coincidence?"
"That's right!" Li Xiu quickly answered, fearing that Shen Weiwan would ask any tricky questions again. "Sister Weiwan, I know you have some misunderstandings about me. Today, I specially asked the second lady to testify that I am sincere to you, sister, and heaven and earth can bear witness!"
As he spoke, he deliberately moved half a step forward, trying to distance himself from Shen Ruoruo, but he accidentally stepped on the hem of Shen Ruoruo's skirt, and the two stumbled and almost hugged each other.
"Oh!" Shen Ruoruo exclaimed, leaning on Li Xiu's shoulder. The teardrop mole at the end of her eye looked particularly glaring in the sunlight, "Mr. Li, be careful!"
Li Xiu hurriedly pushed her away, but was afraid that too much movement would make him look guilty, so he stiffened his body and forced out a smile that was uglier than crying: "Second Miss, be careful."
Shen Weiwan almost laughed out loud when she saw this scene. She deliberately widened her eyes and pointed at the two of them: "Cousin! Master Li! You... why are you so close?"
Li Xiu was delighted, thinking to himself, "The plan worked!" He quickly put on an affectionate look, "Sister Weiwan, don't misunderstand me, I just..."
"Just what?" Shen Weiwan interrupted him, suddenly changing to a "horrified" expression, "Could it be that... the 'clarification' you just mentioned means that you two have actually already secretly decided to spend your lives together, but you deliberately hid it from me because you were afraid that a 'silly' legitimate daughter like me would get in the way?"
“You’re talking nonsense!” Shen Ruoruo screamed, her face pale, “Mr. Li and I have never had any relationship!”
"No?" Shen Weiwan raised an eyebrow, "But the 'affectionate gaze' and 'accidental cuddling' you just now, even a fool like me can see that something is wrong, can't others see it?"
She paused, then deliberately raised her voice so that the servants cleaning nearby could hear. "Oh, this is terrible! If outsiders saw my cousin and Master Li being so intimate in the garden, I'm afraid rumors of a 'secret meeting' would spread again! Cousin, how are you going to get married in the future?"
Shen Ruorou was sore by these words that she trembled with anger, but she couldn't refute it - the scene just now was indeed easy to arouse people's imagination. Li Xiu was even more anxious and sweating profusely. He had wanted to play an "innocent" scene with Shen Ruorou and make Shen Weiwan jealous, but he didn't expect that she would be the one to take advantage of him!
"Chen Weiwan! Stop slandering me!" Li Xiu roared, "The Second Miss and I were just discussing how to help you clear up the rumors. There was never any private relationship between us!"
"Help me clarify?" Shen Weiwan pretended to be surprised. "Mr. Li is really kind. But..." She suddenly moved closer to Li Xiu and lowered her voice, "Are you sure you don't want to use your cousin to trip me up again? For example... stuffing grass clippings into my clothes or something like that?"
Li Xiu subconsciously looked at Shen Ruorou, only to see her eyes flicker, clearly having been caught on camera. The incident of stuffing grass scraps into the Spring Banquet was orchestrated by Liu's mother and daughter, and Li Xiu was also aware of it.
"I...I didn't!" Li Xiu denied hurriedly, but seemed to lack confidence.
"That's good." Shen Weiwan shrugged and took a step back. "But Mr. Li, you should pay more attention to yourself. I heard that there are a lot of 'new rumors' about you in the capital recently."
"What new rumors?" Li Xiu asked vigilantly.
Shen Weiwan blinked, looking "innocent": "That is to say... the reason why you always come to our general's mansion is actually to see the commander of the guards in our mansion? You also said that the last time you blocked me in the garden, you wanted to find out his birth date..."
"Bullshit!" Li Xiu was so angry that his crutch almost pierced the ground. "When did I ever say such a thing?"
"Oh? Isn't it?" Shen Weiwan tilted her head, "But people outside are saying so. Some people also say that the 'handkerchief with a missing thread' you gave to my cousin last time was actually intended to be given to the commander of the guards, but ended up giving it to the wrong person..."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
