Everyone in the room was startled by the commotion and looked toward the door in unison.
Dust swirled in the air, blending with the sunlight streaming in through the window lattice.
Shen Xiabai waved away the dust lingering before his eyes, his brows furrowing slightly.
"Young... Master," Yu Feng bowed in surprise.
Shen Zilan stood at the doorway with a cold expression. The door was still swaying from the force he had just used, letting out creaking sounds.
He stood there, his gaze first landing on the man behind the desk. Upon meeting the man's cold, deep stare, he immediately looked away.
The atmosphere grew extremely awkward for a moment.
Shen Xiabai spoke first. "What are you standing there for? That kick you just gave the door was quite impressive, wasn't it?"
He had nearly torn the door down. Who knew what kind of sudden madness had possessed him.
Shen Zilan had always been respectful and fearful in front of him; today's behavior was unprecedented.
"Yu Feng, I have something to say to my youngest uncle. Leave us," Shen Zilan ordered, stiffening his neck.
He wasn't wrong. It was his uncle who was being unjust; he shouldn't be the one feeling afraid.
Yu Feng looked at Shen Xiabai. After receiving a nod of approval, he retreated and tactfully closed the door behind him.
Only... as soon as the door was touched, it trembled more than an eighty-year-old woman, groaning and creaking noisily.
The sound was quite grating on the ears.
Shen Zilan pursed his lips and cast a subtle glance at it.
"Do you know how to fix it?" Shen Xiabai suddenly asked.
Shen Zilan paused, taken aback. "What?"
"The door."
"..." Shen Zilan's expression turned unnatural as he shook his head.
Shen Xiabai wore a faint smile, but it sent a chill down Shen Zilan's spine. "That's fine. Have the butler teach you. It shouldn't be too difficult."
All the anger bubbling inside Shen Zilan instantly turned into a feeling of stifled grievance.
His father had passed away early, his mother didn't care for him, and his grandmother doted on him. All the dark shadows of his youth had been cast by the man sitting right in front of him.
"I... understand."
Shen Xiabai gave a flat hum of acknowledgment, lowering his eyes to flip through a few more pages of his book. "Is there anything else?"
Of course there was. He hadn't even started on the main issue yet. At the thought of this, Shen Zilan's courage returned.
"Uncle, you won't let me break off my engagement, and you won't let me like the Miss of the Cui family because you like her too, right?"
Shen Xiabai abruptly raised his eyes to look at the young man before him, his brows knitting tightly. "What nonsense are you spouting? Who told you that?"
"The Miss of the Chen family." Tears welled up in Shen Zilan's eyes. "Even outsiders know, yet I was the only one kept in the dark."
"You and Eldest Miss Cui... are mutually in love and have long since privately pledged your lives to each other."
Shen Xiabai raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, thoroughly agreeing with the words Cui Yunchu had used to scold the Chen family son that day.
Neither of the Chen siblings had a normal brain.
"It's all a pack of lies."
Chen Jiuhe's claim of mutual love was already baseless enough; how did it evolve into privately pledging their lives in Chen Miaohe's mouth?
Shen Zilan looked heartbroken. "How much longer are you going to hide it from me? Until you two get married and have children?"
Shen Xiabai, "..."
In the blink of an eye, they were suddenly expecting a child.
So his remark about it being a pack of lies had, just like Cui Yunchu's, fallen on deaf ears.
Shen Xiabai's expression went slightly numb. Watching the furious Shen Zilan, who was on the verge of tears, he lost all energy to defend himself.
"The Shen family cannot possibly form a marriage alliance with the Cui family."
"When you suddenly left the temple that day, you didn't go to handle official business, did you? You went to look for Miss Cui!" Shen Zilan interrogated.
"Don't try to hide it from me. I heard Yu Feng say it that day. Your departure had everything to do with Miss Cui."
"..." Shen Xiabai's hand tightened slightly.
He squeezed his eyes shut forcefully, his breathing only steadying a fraction.
"Seeing what you have grown into today, I ought to go to the ancestral hall and apologize to your father and the ancestors of the Shen family."
The person Shen Zilan respected the most was this very uncle, whose teachings since his childhood were no different from a biological father's.
"Uncle," his voice choked up slightly, his eyes stinging. "Matters of the heart cannot be controlled; what matters is mutual affection. I understand all of that. You don't need to feel sorry toward my father."
He just couldn't get over it in his heart. He just truly... liked Sister Peach Blossom.
Shen Xiabai, "..."
"Get out."
Shen Zilan could see with absolute clarity the slightly bulging veins on the forehead of the man behind the desk. His hands, resting on the table, were clenched tight, evidently trying his best to suppress his temper.
"Fine." He turned around, intending to leave.
When his uncle got angry, even his grandmother would steer clear.
But just as he reached the door, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Uncle, I am going to break off my engagement with the Miss of the Chen family. I want to compete with you fairly and squarely."
"You always taught me to be an upright gentleman, to act properly and sit straight, and to never disgrace the Shen family's reputation. But this time, you were the one who acted like a... hypocrite first..."
An unknown object suddenly flew toward him. Shen Zilan darted out of the room as fast as he could.
A book smashed against the doorframe with a loud bang before falling to the floor.
Yu Feng pursed his lips, watching Shen Zilan.
From the aggressive questioning at the very beginning to his current panicked escape, it was all exactly as he had expected.
"Young Master, are you alright?"
Shen Zilan gave a cold snort and turned to head toward Old Madam Shen's courtyard.
Yu Feng went inside, picked up the book, and carefully placed it on the desk.
He had heard the conversation between the uncle and nephew just now, and couldn't help but say, "Master, you and Eldest Miss Cui don't have that kind of relationship. Why didn't you explain it clearly?"
Shen Xiabai's face was gloomy. "Looking at the state he was in, do you think he could understand human speech?"
"..."
Last time at the Cui residence, when Eldest Miss Cui got angry and asked why he wouldn't explain, the Master seemed to have given the exact same answer.
The two scenes overlapped in Yu Feng's mind...
The Master's mouth was simply too clumsy. It was no wonder he kept suffering losses whenever he encountered Eldest Miss Cui.
Yu Feng's gaze unconsciously fell beneath the desk, landing on Shen Xiabai's legs.
The Cui family's miss had quite the eloquence. She and the Master were actually very complementary. Besides, they had already seen what shouldn't be seen, had shared life and death, and spent two nights together.
If only she weren't from the Cui family, she would be a perfect match for the Master.
"What are you looking at?" Shen Xiabai looked up, his gaze turning icy.
Yu Feng immediately shook his head. "This subordinate was just thinking that the Young Master rushed off to the Old Madam's courtyard just now, probably to make a fuss about breaking off his engagement."
At the mention of this, Shen Xiabai felt a headache coming on.
Old Madam Shen's doting on Shen Zilan knew absolutely no bounds.
"If the Old Madam comes over the next few days, tell her I am busy with official duties and have no time."
"And what about the Young Master's marriage with the Chen family?"
"Impossible."
