Chapter 134 Meeting Jiang Heng
Chu Xinrou stared at Shen Zhang with resentment, and finally her eyes fell on Shen Shuwei. She gave her a fierce look and walked into the house with a flick of her sleeves.
Shen Shuwei was inexplicably glared at by her, but her expression remained calm and unchanged. She straightened her skirt and glanced at Shen Zhang, "Second brother, let's go in too."
Shen Zhang had a sour look on his face, and he said "hmm" and walked into the mansion with Shen Shuwei.
As soon as Chen Shuwei stepped into the reception courtyard, she saw Chu Xinrou being personally greeted by the steward of Huaiyuan Marquis's mansion. The latter gave her a provocative and contemptuous look, then put on a charming expression and left with the steward.
"There are so many of us, but we didn't see the steward of Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion come to welcome her in person. Who is that person that makes the steward of the Marquis' Mansion treat her with such respect?" asked a woman in a green dress.
Her friend replied, "You don't recognize that girl? She's the eldest daughter that the Jingning Marquisate just recognized. She was brought along by Princess Anyang during the winter hunt, and they have a very close friendship. It's not unusual for her to be personally welcomed by the Marquisate's steward. This must have been Princess Anyang's order."
The woman in the green dress said a few more sour words, the gist of which was that people from the Northern Frontier had no manners, and that the daughter of a mere declining marquisate treated her so kindly. None of them had a status as prominent as the Marquisate of Jingning.
Chen Shuwei lowered his eyes, picked up the fruit on the plate and took a bite. The sour and sweet juice exploded in his mouth.
Chen Shu narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to look for Chen Zhang, wanting him to have a taste too. However, when he turned his head, he found that the seat next to him was empty. Chen Zhang had disappeared without a trace.
"Miss Shen, are you looking for your brother?" A maid noticed her strange behavior, folded her hands in front of her belly, and walked over quickly to ask, "Mr. Shen was just summoned away by a young man to talk in the rockery in front."
Chen Shu glanced at her sideways, "Which young master do you know?"
The maid was startled for a moment, but quickly recovered her composure and said with a subtle smile, "Miss Shen, this question has stumped me. I am just a maid in the mansion, how could I recognize the young master of a noble family?"
Chen Shuwei nodded to indicate that he understood.
The maid then retreated and stood back in the corner, but if anyone looked carefully, they would have noticed that her gaze was always on Shen Shuwei. Her lowered brows lost their previous gentleness and respect, revealing the coldness and determination underneath.
Chen Shu rubbed his brows slightly and put the fruit with the tooth marks on it back on the plate.
She really didn't expect that she wouldn't be able to have peace even when attending an ordinary banquet at the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion.
The maid may have thought her disguise was flawless, but she had overlooked one point: ordinary maids, who had too much work to do, would often bend slightly when looking at guests to maintain humility. But she had a straight back and didn't bend even when talking to him face to face.
This posture makes him look like someone from the military.
She recognized that she was a member of the Shen family, but she couldn't recognize which family took Shen Zhang away. It meant that someone had deliberately instructed her to lead her to the rockery.
Secretly pulling out a silver hairpin and hiding it in his sleeve, Shen Shuwei stood up and walked towards the rockery.
Even though she was in the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion and the person who set the trap for her would not go too far, she was still used to making extra preparations.
Almost at the moment when Chen Shuwei disappeared around the corner, the maid who was standing in the corner with her brows lowered and eyes closed suddenly looked up and left the table quietly.
The Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion had not been inhabited for a long time. Although servants had been cleaning and repairing it, the furnishings in the mansion were still a bit old. The red paint on the main vermilion wooden pillars under the corridor had peeled off, revealing the dark brown wooden trunk inside.
Chen Shuwei hurried along with his head down. When he reached the rockery, a strong wind suddenly brushed past his ear. Chen Shuwei subconsciously drew out the silver hairpin from his sleeve.
"Heh." A light laugh sounded beside his ears. Chen Shuwei turned around and saw a handsome man standing in the pink and white flowers, holding a silver hairpin in his right hand.
"It's our first meeting, and you're quite enthusiastic, sister." The silver hairpin spun beautifully in Jiang Heng's hand and was inserted back into Shen Shuwei's temples.
Shen Shuwei stared at him. Jiang Heng was half a head taller than her, and happened to be standing sideways. Even she couldn't help but be distracted when looking at him from this angle.
Almost at a glance, she guessed who the person in front of her was.
She finally understood the complicated expression on Lin Yan's face when he looked at her. If her elder brother and the others were here, seeing Jiang Heng's face, they would also be distracted and guess the relationship between her and Jiang Heng.
Because they were so similar, she thought she saw herself wearing men's clothes.
Chen Shuwei took a half step back and lowered her head slightly, "I don't dare to be called sister by Master Jiang."
Jiang Heng's smile widened, and he took half a step forward, reaching out his hand to touch her cheek, but for some reason he didn't do it, and finally retracted it.
"Miss Shen has good eyesight," Jiang Heng praised, then suddenly changed the subject, "With your face, I'm sure Commander Lin has told you a lot about my mother, Princess Linzhao, including the fact that my mother gave birth to twins, and the whereabouts of the baby girl are unknown."
Shen Shuwei didn't expect Jiang Heng to reveal this matter so bluntly. She pursed her lips and said after a long moment, "Commander Lin beside the prince is just suspicious because he sees that I look like the prince."
Chen Shuwei raised his head and met Jiang Heng's eyes. The two pairs of eyes looked at each other with ninety percent similarity. "But my lord, things in the world are similar, and so are people. It's not impossible that my lord and I were born with similar appearances by coincidence."
Jiang Heng raised his eyebrows in surprise, looking at Chen Shuwei with some interest, "Why? You are not interested in becoming my eldest sister, but there is someone in the front yard who is eager to become my sister."
Shen Shuwei shook her head. Even though she looked very similar to Jiang Hengsheng, so much so that people who knew them would doubt their relationship, apart from her face, she had nothing to prove her identity.
She had neither birthmark nor keepsake.
As for the Prince Jiang in front of her, after just one encounter, Shen Shuwei knew that he was not someone who could be easily fooled, and the affectionate words "sister" he just said were just a test.
If she had happily agreed to it, he wouldn't be standing here chatting with her with a smile on his face.
A man who becomes famous at a young age and makes a name for himself in the bitter cold land of the northern border is not necessarily a good man or a faithful woman. Blood ties may not mean anything to him.
"How interesting." Jiang Heng sighed, his lips curled up, "You are the first person I have ever seen who rejected me."
Chen Shuwei's expression was calm and composed, "Your Highness, thank you for your praise."
Jiang Heng was obviously very interested in Shen Shuwei. His eyes wandered over her face, and the corners of his lips twitched. He was about to speak when he was interrupted by a burst of hurried footsteps.
"Prince." A guard hurried over and was stunned for a moment when he saw Jiang Heng and Shen Shuwei standing face to face, and the words he wanted to say got stuck in his mouth.
Jiang Heng put away the smile on his face and looked at him, "What's the matter?"
Although the guard didn't move his head, his eyes were darting back and forth between Shen Shuwei and Jiang Heng. When he heard Jiang Heng's question, he quickly lowered his head and replied, "Sir, the Miss Chu in the front yard wants to see you."
Miss Chu?
Shen Shuwei subconsciously thought of Chu Xinrou who vowed at the door of the Marquis' Mansion that Shen Zhang would regret not taking her back to the Shen family.
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