Shen Miao sighed in her heart. Shen Qiu had a kind of innocence that made him look like a teenage boy. This innocence made his personality very precious. He was sincere and full of vitality. It was hard to imagine that such a person would end up drowning in a pond. Back then, people said that Shen Qiu killed himself because he felt that he was too ashamed of himself. But now that she thought about it, with Shen Qiu’s happy-go-lucky personality, he would not kill himself just because of someone else’s criticism. Now it seemed that it might be someone else’s scheme.
“Sister, why do you keep staring at me?” Shen Qiu was confused. “Is there something on my face?” He felt that the current Shen Miao was strange. The Shen Miao who was not temperamental and cold made Shen Qiu feel unfamiliar, as if he was not facing a little girl.
“Brother, why aren’t you going to the palace today?” Shen Miao asked softly.
“His Majesty only summoned Father and Mother.” Shen Qiu smiled and said, “Sister, you haven’t told me what happened yesterday. Why were you trapped in the fire in the ancestral hall?”
He was concerned about Shen Miao’s injuries, so he had to find out what happened.
“Will you believe what I say?” Shen Miao smiled. “If you don’t believe me, there’s no need to say anything.”
“Of course I believe you.” When Shen Qiu heard that, he hurriedly grabbed Shen Miao’s arm. “You’re my sister. If I don’t believe you, who will?”
“I can tell you about what happened, but you must promise me one thing. You can’t tell Father and Mother what I told you today. If you tell them, I’ll never talk to you again.”
“Why can’t I tell our parents?” Shen Qiu was a little confused, but then he realized something. “Could this have something to do with Prince Ding?” In the letter he received from the capital in the northwest, it was also mentioned that Shen Miao had a crush on Fu Xiuyi. However, Shen Miao was a girl from a rich family after all. She did not know that princes would fight for the throne. It was best for officials not to get involved. The sooner they got involved, the sooner they would die.
“It has nothing to do with him.” Shen Miao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She didn’t expect Shen Qiu to think of this. She said, “Before you came back, Second Aunt brought the three of us to the Wolong Temple to pray. That day, I changed rooms with Eldest Sister. Eldest Sister was raped by a villain. Second Aunt and her family thought that Eldest Sister suffered on my behalf and that I was the schemer. If I don’t admit my mistake, I will be grounded and punished to copy scriptures in the ancestral hall.”
When Shen Qiu heard this, he broke out in a cold sweat. He was extremely angry. What did this have to do with Shen Miao? Why did she have to be grounded?
“This is ridiculous!” Shen Qiu said angrily. He did not have a good impression of Shen Qing, because Shen Qing often looked down on Shen Qiu because she had a brother, Shen Yuan. She had even mocked Shen Qiu for being a military man who did not know anything about arts.
“Not only that.” Shen Miao continued, “Coincidentally, the secretary of the palace, the Wei family, came to propose marriage to me. The Huang family, the director of the imperial court, also came to propose marriage to Eldest Sister.”
Shen Qiu was stunned. “Propose marriage?” They had received a letter from the Shen family, but they had never mentioned Shen Miao’s marriage. This was too ridiculous. How could the Shen family not inform them of Shen Miao’s marriage?
“The young master of the Wei family, Wei Qian, is a young and talented man. The young master of the Huang family, Huang Dexing, is a homosexual. Second Aunt wanted to trick me into marrying Huang Dexing. When I found out about this, I said that I didn’t want to marry him. If they force, I will run away. Therefore, they locked me in the ancestral hall. The guards you saw yesterday weren’t there to put out the fire. They were there to keep an eye on me so that I couldn’t escape.”
