Chapter 15 Chance Encounter
Xiao Mo's eyes swept across the pavilion in the middle of the lake where the noble ladies were staying, and the mountain path that led up the stairs.
The pavilion at the foot of the mountain was now empty. The young men and women who were chatting and laughing just now had long since disappeared.
The guard left and returned: "Master!"
"explain!"
"There was no one here except Miss Liu. I saw the master talking to Madam Shen, so I didn't say anything to stop them..." The guard looked up and saw the deep disgust in the prince's eyes, and for some reason he couldn't continue.
Xiao Mo didn't look at him again, but asked, "Was that Fourth Brother at the foot of the mountain just now?"
"yes."
"Go down!"
After Xu Shuyao left the pavilion, she did not squeeze into the group of noble ladies, but strolled around the garden by herself.
She was accompanied by Qiao Wei and Hui Xiang today. She asked Qiao Wei to help take Xiao Jinwen's reading notes back to Jiyunzhai first, and then she walked slowly with Hui Xiang.
Although it is mid-autumn, there is no sign of decay in the garden, especially the chrysanthemums that were newly planted for this wedding.
Just like the path she was walking on at this moment, one side was pure white, while the other side was bright yellow, and the fragrance was overwhelming.
Xu Shuyao stood beside a yellow chrysanthemum in full bloom, admiring it. She raised her eyes slightly and saw a man standing there.
His light green brocade robe was blown by the wind, and perhaps because he was too thin, he looked a little desolate.
Xu Shuyao thought of the poem: "Wait till autumn arrives on September 8th, when my flower blooms, all other flowers die." She craned her neck to gaze at the bright sun, feeling a little ridiculous about the inexplicable emotions she was feeling.
I don’t know how this man got here?
She didn't even bother looking at the flowers. She was about to walk away when she heard a voice from the front: "Miss! How do I get to the outer courtyard from here? Could you please ask your maid to show me the way?"
It was like the beginning of a conversation. Although Xu Shuyao seldom went out now, she had met this man before in Huzhou, so she looked at the man who was standing beside the yellow chrysanthemums and feeling sad about the passing of time.
His eyes were clear and his expression seemed extremely sincere. Xu Shuyao thought she had some unique insights into physiognomy, but she had no way of telling whether what he said was true or not.
She turned her head to look at the lone maid behind her and said indifferently, "Just follow us!"
It just so happened that she also wanted to go back to Jiyunzhai, and the young man in front of her could find the way to the outer courtyard by following them.
The man was tactful and didn't ask any questions. The two parted ways at the gate of Jiyunzhai.
I thought he would leave after thanking me, but he turned back after a few steps and said, "You are not from the Duke's Mansion, are you? May I ask where your ancestral home is?"
Seeing this, Huixiang was extremely anxious and wanted to spit at him as a scoundrel right then and there.
It was already a violation for them to travel with a strange man.
But there are too many guests at the wedding banquet today, and I think if someone gets lost, it wouldn't be a problem if the girl could kindly help point the way.
This guy is so good that he is actually coming to me in a very presumptuous way.
"You'd better go quickly. How can you chase a girl and ask her questions like this?" Huixiang said as she was about to pull her young lady into the yard.
Xu Shuyao saw that the man didn't seem angry, and even looked a little embarrassed and aggrieved.
"Huzhou." She looked at the man and said directly.
After he finished speaking, he saw that his eyes seemed to dim for a moment. Xu Shuyao didn't understand why and hurried into the courtyard.
Huixiang immediately asked the maid to close the door, as if she was afraid that he would break in again, and she also asked her to put two bolts on it.
Xu Shuyao shook her head and didn't take it to heart.
The man outside glanced at the words "Jiyunzhai" on the door lintel before leaving. His servant hurried over from a distance and said, "Where did you go, young master? I went to look for you in the chrysanthemum field, but there was no sign of you."
The young master the servant was referring to was Shen Shaoyu, the eldest grandson of Grand Tutor Shen. There were four branches in the Shen family in the capital.
Shen Shaoyu's father, Shen Xinian, is the second son of Shen Taifu. He currently serves as the Right Censor-in-Chief of the fourth rank in the court.
Shen Xinian has a half-brother. The Shen family has always had a strict family tradition, but where did this eldest half-brother come from?
It's a strange story. At that time, Old Madam Shen had just married into the Shen family. She didn't get pregnant for several years. Even after consulting all the famous doctors in the capital, it was of no avail. That's why her mother-in-law decided to hire a concubine.
But after the birth of this eldest son, Madam Shen gave birth to three sons in succession like a hen hatching eggs.
The Shen family was very good at studying. Although the third son of the Shen family passed the imperial examination, he was not keen on becoming an official, so he taught children in the Shen family school.
The fourth son now serves as the chief academic officer of the Imperial College.
Therefore, there is a reason why the nephews and nieces of these noble families all want to enter the Shen family school. After all, the Shen family not only has an imperial teacher like Shen Taifu, but also an official like Shen Jijiu who specializes in managing academic affairs.
Shen Shaoyu did not reply to the words of the servant beside him. Thinking about the woman he had just seen, he felt that she looked somewhat familiar at first sight.
So the eldest son of the Shen family, who rarely lied, lied to the woman without blushing or beating his heart.
The Shen family and the Chengguo Mansion are so close to each other. He often went back and forth between the two when he was a child. He could find the place even with his eyes closed, so how could he get lost?
He had no intention of greeting those young masters before, but when he heard that there were some rare chrysanthemums planted in the inner courtyard across the wall, he wanted to come in and take a look.
There was nothing to do anyway, and Shen Shaoyu knew that there would be no women in this area.
It wasn't long after I arrived that I ran into that young lady, who was incredibly pretty.
But Young Master Shen’s focus was not on appearance, but on that inexplicable sense of intimacy.
The woman's appearance made him unconsciously think of his sister in his memory.
If she were still alive, she would probably be about this age, right?
He stubbornly asked the young lady about her ancestral home, naturally with some expectations in his heart.
Over the years, his parents and he had all put a lot of effort into this, but to no avail. They only got a tiny clue: the man had clearly gone west after kidnapping his sister.
Huzhou is located in the south of the Yangtze River, so how could she be his sister?
Shen Shaoyu shook his head and laughed, feeling that he might have gone a little crazy, because everyone looked like his sister to him.
The servant looked at the eldest young master's nervous look and shook his head, knowing that he must be thinking about the young lady again.
For so many years, whenever the young master thought of the young lady, he would look like a dead person.
It's really pitiful. The young master was only five years old at the time, but he had to spend his whole life carrying the guilt of losing his own sister.
The servant didn't know how to comfort the already weak eldest young master of the Shen family, so he could only follow him silently and wait for him to come to his senses from his guilt.
The two of them were walking in silence when suddenly their way was blocked by a figure.
Shen Shaoyu staggered and almost bumped into it, but Xiao Mo helped him up.
“Be careful!”
Shen Shaoyu finally came back to his senses, "Thank you!"
The man continued walking forward and ignored him.
“What were you doing in the inner courtyard just now?” Xiao Mo looked straight at Shen Shaoyu with sharp eyebrows.
"Look at the chrysanthemums."
…
Xiao Mo did not try to stop him. The Shen and Xiao families were already familiar with each other, and he knew what kind of personality Shen Shaoyu usually had.
However, when I thought about the scene I saw when I came down from the mountain just now, I saw that Madam Xu came with this man and said goodbye in front of Jiyunzhai.
For a moment, the two young men and women in the pavilion who were talking and laughing happily flashed through his mind, and he sneered in his heart.
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