After enduring half an hour of watching these mother and daughter endless crying, Old Madam finally opened her mouth, “Okay, it’s a joyous day today. What’s with the crying? Sit down and wipe your faces. Let’s us grandmother and granddaughter have a good chat.”
Shen Miao Qi wiped away her tears and helped Lin Shi to her seat. Soon after, she knelt on the futon and kowtowed to both elderly before offering them some tea; performing the whole etiquette flawlessly.
Old Madam was satisfied with this, her stern face became slightly gentle. She accepted the tea and took a sip, waved her hand as she said, “Don’t kneel, get up. How have you been these past few days? Has the injury on your hands healed and how’s the learning of etiquettes?”
“Responding to Grandmother, Qin Momo has been taking utmost good care of me. Granddaughter has been doing well recently; eating well and sleeping soundly. Simply missing all of you very much. My hands’ injuries have fully recovered except for some scars which should slowly fade in days to come.” When she mentioned that, she attempted to cover those scars that were caused by the punishment on her overlapping hands.
Beaming with smiles, Qin Momo continued the thread of conversation, “Reporting to Old Madam. Young Miss is a fast learner. It has only been six days, Nubi has nothing to teach anymore.”
Hearing that, Old Madam nodded her head slightly but Lin Shi leapt up and held her daughter’s hands as she asked urgently, “How did you get hurt and who caused it? Tell Mother and Mother will ask your Elder Brother to seek justice for you!”
Wasn’t this done by Yu Pin Yan? Moreover, Shen Miao Qi really didn’t want to mention the imprisonment. Glancing secretly at Old Madam who knew what she was talking about, she shook her head with reddened eyes, “Don’t worry, Mother. These injuries were accidentally caused by this daughter’s intense scratching. No one bullies this daughter.”
“Truly?”
“Truly!”
The mother and daughter hugged each other and wept again, causing Old Madam to frown repeatedly. Instead of feeling gratified that Shen Miao Qi helped her grandson to cover up, it brought up the deep buried taboos about the destiny speculation and became momentarily depressed. And who did she learn this ‘crying in a couple of sentences’ habit from? She was after all Lin Shi’s daughter, so inevitably has a remarkable resemblance even in her bones.
Old Madam really couldn’t appreciate these overly sentimental women after often seeing the cheerful and lively Yu Xiang. Moreover, she was too old to bear such noise that she really wanted to leave this mother and daughter alone.
After holding back for a moment, she interrupted them, “Miao Qi, how have you been these fourteen years? Has that Shen family ever treated you badly?” She wanted to hear for herself what her granddaughter would say, even though it had been thoroughly documented in the file.
It finally came. Using the interval of wiping her tears, Shen Miao Qi secretly reviewed the pretext she had prepared earlier. Yu Pin Yan didn’t even utter a superfluous word to her that day nor he asked how her life had actually been in the past fourteen years. She did sigh a breath of relief inwardly, but was also somewhat discontented.
The sigh of relief was her own condemnable action which mustn’t be known by others even if the Shen family had treated her badly first. Should Yu Pin Yan had really asked, she wouldn’t dare lied in front of him while the discontent was Yu Pin Yan’s indifference and turned a blind eye on her.
She held the tear-soaked handkerchief tightly and slowly opened her mouth, “Replying to Grandmother. Granddaughter has had a miserable life these part fourteen years. The Shen family had treated me well at first, but after the major disaster four years ago, they lost all their wealth. If I hadn’t overheard Mother Shen and her son talking about my identity, I wouldn’t even know my biological family was a thousand miles away. Fearing they would sell me to a wealthy family serving as a slave, I had no choice but to steal the infant’s swaddling clothes and escape. Trudging my way to the Capital, I ran into bandits and was fortunate for the timely rescue by Lord Zhao’s family thus enabled today’s meeting.” Once she finished her narration, she picked up the handkerchief and kept wiping her tears.
She would omit, conceal and distort the truth while portraying herself an orphan who had suffered hardships in search of her long distance kin which once again caused Lin Shi weeping bitterly. She hugged Shen Miao Qi and cursed the Shen family for their lack of virtue. If it wasn’t for the fact that Zhao An Shun’s family was in the Capital for a convenient confrontation, Shen Miao Qi would have wanted to manipulate, so that the Marquis manor could dispose of them.
Old Madam looked at her profoundly with half-lidded eyes while twisting the rosary lightly as she chanted.
Standing by the side, Ma Momo secretly shook her head and thought the daughter from the merchant family was precisely business minded. This nature of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages was indeed implanted in their marrows. Not only had she buried the Shen family, she even stepped on them and eradicated herself completely. Having a skill in scheming was not bad but it’s inept if it was used wrongly. She could even slandered and abandoned the Shen family who raised her at the drop of a hat, wouldn’t it be worse for the Yu family who has not accumulated much affection?
Even if she was brought home, Old Madam wouldn’t be able to trust her, not to mention having such a fate! She didn’t know what the Dragon Scaled guard did for living, otherwise she wouldn’t have put on such a show.
Thinking of this, Ma Momo took a glance at her master and as expected, saw her weariness. She just waved her hand nonchalantly, “Well, the past is over as long as the person is back. Lin Shi, don’t say too much. I am tired. I will go to the rear hall and discuss the teaching of Buddhism with Master Fu Hui. Both you mother and daughter stay to have some private chats.”
That was exactly what Lin Shi and Shen Miao Qi wished for; they promptly sent her off.
After meeting three members of her family, Lin Shi was the only one who was most affectionate to her hence Shen Miao Qi would naturally win her over first. Moreover, after much probing, she had not been able to find out more about Yu manor from Qin Momo and merely thought Yu manor was no different from other families. The inner manor’s matters would all be decided by the main wife, hence she was more attentive towards Lin Shi.