Chapter 151: Sunken Hill (3)
Shen Miao sighed inwardly. Shen Qiu possessed an almost boyish innocence, a quality that made him so precious. Sincere and full of life, it was hard to imagine such a man ending up drowning in a pond. People initially said Shen Qiu committed suicide because he felt he was notorious, but now, thinking about it, with Shen Qiu's fortitude, how could he have committed suicide just because of others' criticism? As for the instigator, her so-called sister-in-law, who initially pressured Shen Qiu into marrying her under the pretext of bed-climbing, it now seemed that this might not have been a conspiracy.
"Why is my sister staring at me?" Chen Qiu was puzzled: "Is there something on my face?" He felt that Shen Miao was strange now. Shen Miao who was not in a bad mood and not cold made Shen Qiu feel unfamiliar, as if he was not facing a little girl.
“Why didn’t Big Brother go to the palace today?” Shen Miao asked softly.
"His Majesty only summoned my parents." Chen Qiu smiled and said, "Of course I won't go with you. Sister, you haven't told me what happened yesterday and how you got trapped in the fire in the ancestral hall."
He was obsessed with this matter and was also concerned about Shen Miao's injuries, so he had to find out the whole story.
“Will Big Brother believe what I say?” Shen Miao smiled faintly: “If you won’t believe it even if I tell you, then there’s no need to say it.”
"Why wouldn't I believe it?" Upon hearing this, Shen Qiu hurriedly grabbed Shen Miao's arm and said, "You are my sister. If I don't believe you, who else can I believe?"
"I can tell this to Big Brother, but Big Brother must promise me one thing: don't tell my parents what I said to you today. If you do, I will never talk to you again."
"Why can't I tell my parents?" Chen Qiu was confused, then suddenly realized, "Could this be related to His Royal Highness Prince Ding?" The letter from Dingjing City that Xibei had received mentioned Shen Miao's special affection for Fu Xiuyi. But Shen Miao was a girl, after all, and didn't know that when the princes competed for the throne, it was best for ministers to refrain from interfering. The sooner they interfered, the sooner they would perish. Shen Miao, however, was single-mindedly devoted to Fu Xiuyi. Far away in Xibei, Chen Xin and his men were anxious, but helpless. They could only hope that Shen Miao would figure it out on her own and stop loving Fu Xiuyi.
"It has nothing to do with him." Shen Miao was inwardly amused and confused. Shen Qiu had actually thought of this. She said, "Before you returned, Second Aunt took the three legitimate daughters of the Shen family to Wolong Temple to burn incense. On that day, I switched rooms with my eldest sister. My eldest sister's innocence was slandered by a wicked person. Second Aunt's family believed that my eldest sister was suffering for me and that I was the instigator. Since I refused to admit my fault, they punished me by confining me to copy Buddhist scriptures."
When Shen Qiu heard this, he was shocked and broke out in a cold sweat. He thought it was a close call. It was Shen Miao who almost got into trouble instead of Shen Qing. After hearing this, he became extremely angry. What did this matter have to do with Shen Miao? Why was Shen Miao confined to her house?
"This is clearly a far-fetched argument!" Shen Qiu said angrily. He had no good feelings towards Shen Qing, simply because Shen Qing relied on having Shen Yuan as his brother and often looked down on Shen Qiu. He even ridiculed Shen Qiu for being a martial artist who didn't know how to write.
“Not only that,” Shen Miao continued, “it just so happened that the Wei family, the Minister of the Central Secretariat, came to the mansion to propose marriage, and they picked me. The Huang family, the Supervisor of the Imperial Household, also came to propose marriage, and they picked my eldest sister.”
Chen Qiu was stunned: "Proposing a marriage?" They had received letters from the Shen family, but they had never mentioned anything about Shen Miao's marriage. This was too absurd. How could parents not tell their children about their marriage? The Shen family's behavior was really too much.
"The Wei family's young master, Wei Qian, is a talented young man, while the Huang family's young master, Huang Dexing, is a homosexual. Second Aunt wanted to swap my eldest sister and me for a new marriage. When I learned of this, I had no choice but to say I wouldn't marry. If I were engaged, I would have run away. So they imprisoned me in the ancestral hall. Those guards you saw yesterday weren't there to put out the fire; they were there to protect me and prevent me from escaping."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com