578 Pastry (1)
On this day, the weather was warm. The sun was shining brightly outside. In the east courtyard of the Shen family, Chen Ruoqiu and Shen Yue were sitting and chatting.
Over the past few days, because Chen Ruoqiu asked Shen Yue to start choosing a husband, Shen Yue and Chen Ruoqiu had quarreled a few times. Shen Yue had no choice but to go out with Chen Ruoqiu to meet all these young masters. After a few times, the mother and daughter became enemies.
It was rare to see them sitting together so peacefully today.
“I heard that Shen Miao was kidnapped. There’s still no news of her.” Shen Yue picked up a fruit from the porcelain plate on the table and ate it. As she ate, she looked like she was gloating. “I wonder if she’s still alive.”
Chen Ruoqiu frowned. She had always wanted to train Shen Yue to be calm and composed. At least on the surface, she could maintain calmness at all times, but compared to Chen Ruoqiu when she was young, Shen Yue was much more quick-tempered. She showed all her emotions on her face, especially at home, which made Chen Ruoqiu very worried.
“Who would kidnap her?” Shen Yue pondered and said, “Eldest Uncle has many enemies in the capital. I wonder who did it this time.”
“Since they dare to take such a risk, they must have a deep hatred for Shen Miao.” Chen Ruoqiu said, “Besides, the Shen army has been searching for her for a few days, but they haven’t found her. Shen Miao is not likely to survive this calamity.”
Hearing this, Shen Yue looked a little afraid at first. Suddenly, she thought of something and smiled. “Speaking of which, I’d rather she survived.” She did not continue.
After being abducted for so long, if she was still alive, she must have suffered a lot of inhumane torture. Rumors were the most hurtful in the world. If Shen Miao died, she would not need to care about the rumors. If she was alive, who knew what nasty words people would say about her? How many girls in the capital were kidnapped and saved? Although she survived, in the end, she would most likely kill herself because of all the criticism.
Moreover, Shen Miao was the daughter of the mighty general.
Chen Ruoqiu glanced at Shen Yue and sighed. “No matter what, this is still her business. Yue, you haven’t spoken to your father these days. How long are you going to throw a tantrum?”
Shen Yue hated Shen Wan more than Chen Ruoqiu. She found out from the servants that Shen Wan was the one who instigated Chen Ruoqiu to look for a husband for Shen Yue in such a hurry. Therefore, Shen Yue pushed all the blame to Shen Wan, thinking that Shen Wan wanted her to get married early for the sake of his official career. Therefore, Shen Yue had not spoken to Shen Wan for the past few days. Hearing this, Shen Yue said impatiently, “Father is nowhere to be seen all day. How can I talk to him?” After saying that, she turned around angrily and ignored Chen Ruoqiu.
Chen Ruoqiu also noticed it. She did not know if it was because he had been too busy in the imperial court these days, but she didn’t get to see Shen Wan as often.
Chen Ruoqiu sighed in her heart. Old Madam Shen was urging Shen Wan to take in a concubine. If her marriage with Shen Was was in danger of breaking up, she would face the greatest crisis.
Chen Ruoqiu did not know that at this moment, Shen Wan, who she thought was “busy in the imperial court”, was playing chess with Chang Zaiqing in the west courtyard.
Chang Zaiqing was wearing a green shirt and a light yellow palace satin dress. Her hair was tied into a bun, making her look especially elegant and gentle. The tea she made was extremely tasty. Shen Wan, who loved tea, often came here to talk about tea with her. When he came to talk about tea, Chang Zaiqing would ask him questions about chess. Gradually, Shen Wan got used to coming here.
