Chapter 360 A Favoritistic Father!
Shen Yuantang said pitifully, "Big sister, haven't you forgiven me yet?"
Shen Lanxi: "I have forgiven him."
Shen Yuantang asked urgently, "Then why won't you speak up for me?"
Shen Lanxi glanced at her left and right. Such a well-behaved maid must be from the palace!
"Instead of begging me here, you should go to the palace and beg Consort Shu. She is the mother of the Prince of Zhennan, and her words carry more weight than anyone else's!"
Shen Yuantang moved her lips, hesitating several times as if she wanted to speak, but her pride wouldn't allow her to bow down and beg Shen Lanxi.
She is also the daughter of a princess, so why don't the Empress Dowager and the Emperor love her as much as they love their older sister?
She and the prince have not yet consummated their marriage, and Consort Shu has sent people to warn her several times. How can she consummate the marriage when she can't even see the prince?
The servants in the Prince's mansion all say that the Prince still has feelings for the eldest sister, and that the position of Princess Zhennan will still belong to the eldest sister in the future.
She and her elder sister are blood sisters. Her elder sister hasn't even entered the Prince's mansion yet. Does she expect him to monopolize the Prince and not allow him to get close to her?
Did the older sister even consider her younger sister's situation before doing this? Did she no longer want her own sister?
Seeing that Shen Lanxi had walked away, the maidservant walked up to Shen Yuantang with a stern face.
"Consort, don't forget Her Majesty's instructions."
Shen Yuantang subconsciously touched his knees, which seemed to be aching again.
Today is different from the past. After Shen Lanxi successfully presided over the imperial examination and was then granted the title of Duke of Juding, some sycophants who are used to currying favor and changing their tune with the wind have already seen the wind's direction.
The Shen family is safe for now.
More people attended Madam Shen's birthday banquet this time than in previous years.
Shen Lanxi also invited Wei Dongzhu, and the two of them helped the Shen family welcome guests, one on the left and one on the right.
The guests saw it all and knew exactly what was going on.
Today, several unmarried princesses from the palace also came to the mansion to offer their birthday wishes. Shen Lanxi glanced at her mother without making a sound and whispered a few words to the person beside her.
The sons of the Shen family are not incapable of marrying princesses, but they cannot succeed through underhanded means.
"Sir, the master is looking for you," a servant from the Shen household reported.
Shen Lanxi frowned: "What is it?"
"The master didn't say anything, he only said that you should come over."
Liu said, "Lanxi, go on. Your father is looking for you; he must have something to say."
Madam Shen smiled and said, "Go ahead, go ahead."
Shen Lanxi got up and left her seat. When she got there, Shen Yuantang was holding Shen Congwen's hand and pleading with him, while the latter looked extremely annoyed.
“Lanxi, your sister knows she was wrong. You are sisters, so you should resolve your conflicts at home, but when you are outside, you should stand together against outsiders.”
Shen Yuantang wiped away her tears pitifully; "Big sister, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me this time, considering my youth and ignorance!"
Shen Lanxi stared at her with a somber expression.
"I already said I forgive you. Why are you still looking for your father?"
Shen Congwen turned to look at Shen Yuantang: "You already looked for your older sister?"
Shen Yuantang said awkwardly, "My elder sister just said such harsh words, so I had no choice but to come to my father to plead for her."
Shen Congwen's face immediately showed displeasure: "Lanxi, how can sisters hold a grudge overnight? Yuan Tang is your own sister. Even if there is a great hatred, can't you, as the older sister, give in to her? Besides, it's not a big deal!"
Shen Lanxi sneered, "I've already said I've forgiven her. What else does Father want me to say?" Does he expect me, the innocent one, to kneel before the guilty one?
Upon hearing her assertive tone, Shen Congwen instinctively frowned and reprimanded her.
"She's your sister, not your enemy. Why are you being so relentless, showing no regard for sibling affection? What are you trying to achieve?"
Shen Lanxi felt only irony: "Wasn't it her who was relentlessly pursuing the matter from beginning to end?"
"Father, you didn't even understand why she came to me, yet you asked me to forgive her and gave me a dressing down. Is this favoritism and targeting of me because you don't care about our father-daughter relationship?"
Here it comes again. Shen Congwen glared at Shen Lanxi with a dark face, his anger rising higher and higher.
What kind of daughter talks back to her father like that? What kind of mother is as ruthless as her? What kind of mother shows her face in public like that?
They completely disgraced Shen Congwen.
"Big sister, how could you speak to Father like that?" Shen Yuantang stood beside Shen Congwen, angrily rebuking him.
Shen Lanxi sneered: "You were so pitiful just a moment ago, and now you're so bossy. Are you here to beg for forgiveness, or are you just trying to take this opportunity to drag Father into criticizing me?"
Shen Congwen angrily pointed at Shen Lanxi and scolded, "You're the older sister, how can you speak to your younger sister so harshly? Don't you have any love or care at all?"
Shen Lanxi looked coldly at the father and daughter: "Since I came here, I have never been harsh to anyone. It is my father and sister who have taken turns yelling at me. I just want to ask my father, why do you dislike me so much?"
Shen Congwen choked on his words. He couldn't answer this question. What was this about finding something pleasing to the eye or not?
"I just can't stand how cold and heartless you are to your family."
Shen Lanxi: "Where is the heartlessness? Where is the indifference? Please explain, Father."
Shen Congwen had much more to say: "How can you talk back to your elders like this? You made the Prince of Zhennan confine Yuan Tang to the Prince's residence, which is cruel to your sister. Shen Lanxi, how can you be so heartless to your family?"
Shen Lanxi looked at the father and daughter, who looked and spoke in strikingly similar manner, and gave a cold laugh.
“Every month, I have someone send a thousand taels of silver to the manor for expenses. A large portion of the tonics used by my grandmother and the elders of each branch of the family are also sent to the manor by me. I also have someone send half of the rewards from the palace to the manor each time. The brocade my father wears, the jade pendant around his waist, the jade crown in his hair, and the leather shoes on his feet are all from the Juding Duke's manor. If this is considered heartless, then I accept it!”
Shen Congwen subconsciously rubbed the warm jade at his waist, feeling a little awkward.
"If I'm not mistaken, the purple jade hairpin in Yuan Tang's hair and the eight-treasure gold bracelet on her wrist were gifts from me. Oh, and the bright brocade she's wearing today was a gift from the Persian envoy. After returning to the capital, I gave it to my sister. Father, sister, am I heartless?"
Shen Yuantang's hand, hidden beneath his sleeve, gripped the bracelet tightly.
If she had known earlier that her older sister was so calculating, she wouldn't have worn the things she was given.
"Big sister, we're talking about my being grounded, why are you bringing that up?"
“When I returned to Beijing from Dongchuan, I also took out my savings to help support my family. I also put a lot of the things I brought from Dongchuan into the storeroom. This is just a little bit of filial piety from the children of the Shen family. Not only me, but my father, mother, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters and cousins all took out their savings to help support their families. We have less stuff and can't compare with my eldest sister, but we all took out the most valuable things we had.”
Shen Lanxi coldly asked, "Is it paid every month?"
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