Chapter 120: Worried and Afraid

  Ren Xiang was a clever person and nodded repeatedly: "This matter should be considered from a long-term perspective!"

  Wang's mother glared at Xiao Sa fiercely and pulled Shen Muqing aside.

  "I think Xiao Qi is not a good person, Miss, you should be careful."

  Shen Muqing suddenly thought of what Li said that day in the carriage, "From now on, you won't have to show your face again..."

  Different living environments lead to different ways of doing things.

  She didn't want to challenge the thousand-year-old rules, but in her heart, she had too many secrets, such as Liang Qimeng, and that plan that kept repeating in her mind... No one could say, and she had to try hard to cover it up... This heavy burden made her feel tense, worried, afraid, and anxious all the time!

  Xiao Xiao, just like an unexpected event in her life. It opened another window for her, bringing a refreshing breeze to her stagnant life. His recklessness, his arrogance, his untamed nature made her realize that there were indeed people living this way... But after admiring and envying, she would still return to her original path, doing what she should do, saying what she should say. Yet when she was angry, confused, unwilling or lost, she couldn't help but push open the window, take a breath of fresh air outside, and fantasize, "Should I also live freely for once?" Then, her behavior gradually deviated...

  Is this rebellion coming at the right time?

  She smiled wryly: "Don't worry, Mom, I know what I'm doing."

  How can Mother Wang be at ease?

  She couldn't help but complain: "This fourth girl, she's really harmful. If it weren't for her, I would have just let Xiao Qi and Ren Xiang in... if the mistress found out, what would happen to me?!"

  Yes, if Mr. Li knew about it, who knows what would happen!

  Shen Mu Qing's eyes sparkled with a sudden realization, and her facial expression gradually turned solemn.

  Xiao Xiao's face wore a smile, somewhat absent-mindedly listening to Ren Xiang talk about how he mobilized people to search for Shen Yue near Taicang, but her eyes couldn't help drifting to Shen Muqing.

  She stood beside the window frame with newly pasted paper, and the light cast a jade-like whiteness on her face, making her delicate and smooth complexion have a kind of tranquility that slowly settled people's hearts.

  There was a faint joy between his mouth and eyebrows.

  Never has anyone been as natural in front of him, expressing joy and anger freely. Never has anyone faced his sarcasm, ridicule, crudeness and violence with such equanimity... Sometimes treating him like a mischievous child, sometimes teasing him like a playmate... No one has ever treated him this way before.

  When I was adopted by my fourth uncle, it was after my mother had already found out that my father had a son with his concubine before me, and the second son was only two months younger than him... When we arrived at my fourth uncle's house, my fourth aunt was pregnant and kept saying that she would definitely give birth to a son, so why did they need to adopt the eldest son of the Lin family? After my brother was born, he was sent back to our old home in Lin City to live with our grandfather.

  In his memory, the room filled with mahogany furniture in his grandfather's house was always filled with the pungent smell of Guandong cigarettes. Occasionally, the light that shone in was not bright but gray and dusty. The concubine and mother had a joyful smile on their faces - at that time he always felt strange, how could someone be happy all the time without sorrow? Unlike him, every day when he looked up at the square sky, he felt a suffocating smell that made his heart feel anxious... He wanted to jump onto the roof and look out at the world outside!

  Later, as he grew up, the elders' gaze at him was tinged with schadenfreude, the aunts' eyes were filled with pity and a hint of resentment, and the younger generation looked at him with curiosity and a hint of experimentation... No one had ever smiled at him. Yes, there was once, the pomegranate who had served him closely before, had sweetly smiled at him, stuffed him into her mouth with sugar, and said "I don't like sweets" in dismay, and when he didn't do his homework, she would hold a board and threaten to hit him... This person who had once made her headache and was helpless, one day suddenly hugged him tightly, and begged him with extreme sorrow: "When I die, burn me into ashes, and scatter them under the pomegranate tree in the corner of the house."

  He also remembered that he pushed the pomegranate away, jumped anxiously and shouted: "Return my sword to me, otherwise when you die, I will let people throw you into the chaotic mound outside the city, let you have no incense, become a lonely soul, and cannot be reborn."

  The sword in his mouth was a Taoist priest from the Sanqing Temple who caught ghosts at his home. He asked his little servant to help him steal a peach wood sword - at that time, he didn't want to read books, wanted to be a hero like in books, carrying a sword, traveling around, fighting for justice.

  Pomegranate didn't say anything at that time, touched his head and let out a faint sigh.

  That night, Pomegranate swallowed gold and died.

  Her grandfather ordered her to be buried in the public cemetery - she was bought into the mansion for two taels of silver, not a born child, and no one would claim her.

  He hugged pomegranate's body tightly and wouldn't let anyone drag it away.

  The grandfather sighed at that time, and the person next to him said, "Don't mind him, he'll be fine in two days."

  No one dared to disobey grandfather's words, and he didn't dare either.

  He knew that his grandfather's words could make the pomegranate

  Lay at home for two days.

  He fetched firewood, poured on oil and set it on fire.

  The flames shot up into the sky, startling everyone in the house awake.

  Everyone was running around in their clothes.

  His grandfather's face turned iron-green and he slapped him with a loud slap.

  "What do you want to do?"

  He watched as the flames engulfed the pomegranate, watching it gradually curl up and emit a pungent, acrid smell...

  But he endured it, standing there watching.

  The old house was inhabited by his grandfather and him... He didn't dare ask why the pomegranate had swallowed itself to death.

  So when his grandfather's palm hit his face, he suddenly burst out laughing.

  Smiling at his grandfather, he said: "I want to scatter her ashes under the pomegranate tree."

  His grandfather stared at him with a gaze as if he was looking at a madman, while the old lady rushed over wailing loudly.

  From then on, people behind his back would point and whisper to each other, and the uncles in his family would look at him with a guarded gaze... But he didn't feel sad about it, because he discovered that no one dared to say "no" to him anymore.

  Then, Mrs. Tai brought back her personal maid, Pongyu, from far-off Guangdong to attend to him personally.

  Pang Debao served him wholeheartedly, treating him with the utmost respect as if he were a true master. He would also accompany him to stare blankly at the charred and withered pomegranate tree. However, in his heart, he was not satisfied and often felt anxious, wanting someone like the pomegranate who wouldn't say "no" when he didn't want to and would say "like" when he did... rather than making him guess back and forth...

  Just like Shen Muqing... No matter what he was like, she believed that she wouldn't hurt him... She would reveal a Bodhisattva-like quiet demeanor towards him... If she was happy, her gaze at him would sparkle with starry brilliance... That was an expression she had never revealed in front of anyone before, only for him alone, and only he knew, letting him always have a mysterious joy of having discovered a secret, the joy of seeing through appearances to the essence.

  Xiao Xiao wholeheartedly focused on Shen Muqing, seeing her slightly furrowed eyebrows, seeing the redness on her cheeks, seeing her helpless smile... The smile at the corner of his mouth became stiff... A bitter feeling arose in his heart.

  Wang's mother is teaching her a lesson, isn't she?

  Like a proud daughter of heaven, Mu Qing was scolded by her mother...

  He suddenly felt as if he had been turned upside down and was suffering terribly!

  She just wanted to see... the smile that shone brightly in those eyes, the cheeks that flushed like peach blossoms in March, the long eyelashes that fluttered like butterfly wings... but instead she suffered such humiliation...

  Xiao Xiao's hand was clenched tightly, her fingertips turned white.

  He was completely unaware of it.

  The four people stood together again.

  Xiao Xiao's face was still as bright and clear, his demeanor was still as calm and composed, but Shen Mu Qing could feel a sense of desolation and decadence emanating from him... like a bright lamp, gradually burning out.

  She couldn't help but feel secretly amazed in her heart.

  What did Ren Xiang and Xiao Sa say to each other that made him look so devastated?

  Mom Wang was very happy.

  This Xiao Qi is still a bit sharp-eyed. Seeing that he had pulled his aunt aside, he indeed knew quite a lot.

  Ren Xiang's eyes sparkled, sometimes warm and gentle, sometimes calm and serene.

  "Master Ren, if something like this happened to your elder sister, I'd like to hear your thoughts?"

  Shen Mu's expression was calm and tranquil as he asked Ren Xiang calmly.

  Ren Xiang was called out, and he looked slightly unhappy.

  "What do you have to say, just say it!" Xiao Sa's expression was gloomy, like the weather before a storm, with a hint of madness that made people's hearts palpitate. "This matter has been spread out, and although it is a great shame for the Shen family, I'm afraid it's not so glorious for you either?"

  Ren Xiang wanted to speak but hesitated.

  Xiao Xiao was already impatient: "Ren Xiang, don't you believe me? I have a way to make you speechless?"

  Ren Xiang smiled wryly and replied with a hint of resignation: "I believe you."

  Shen Mu Qing stared at this person in surprise.

  But after living together for just a few days, they actually figured out each other's secrets?

  "Shen Si's dowry includes a piece of land, located at Taicang West Bridge, right next to the Shitang River. Ren Xiang carefully spoke up, 'If we can get our hands on that land, we can build a dock beside the river. Then, any ship passing through Taicang will have no choice but to stop at the dock. With time, I'll be able to outdo the Chongming gang.'"

  It's all for the money!

  Shen Mu Qing stopped and unexpectedly let out a sigh of relief.

  Wang's mother couldn't help but mutter, "It's all for this piece of land... Young Master Ren has been working too hard!" Her tone was tinged with sarcasm.

  "Mother doesn't know" Ren Xiang's two women in the room looked at each other, seemingly puzzled by their own behavior, and couldn't help but explain: "I also asked Si Gu Niang about that piece of land, no matter how much money I offered, Si Gu Niang refused to sell. Not only that, when she found out about my plans, she was even going to sell the land to the Chongming gang, I had no choice...".

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  Chapter 120 Worried and Afraid