"Mother, where are you going?" Shen Xiabai grabbed Dowager Shen, who was about to walk over, his brows furrowed tightly.
Dowager Shen had always been gentle; even when she glared at someone, it carried no real threat. "Look at that girl, see how angry she is. It's not good for a woman to be so upset. Go coax her, quickly."
"..."
Shen Xiabai felt a dark cloud hang over his head.
"Mother, you are overthinking this."
Even if everyone else in the world died of anger, Cui Yunchu would still be alive and well, grinning from ear to ear.
Besides, given the situation just now, the one who should be dying of anger was Side Consort Liu.
Dowager Shen's mild eyes showed obvious displeasure. "You child, how can you be like this? Is this how I taught you since you were young?"
Shen Xiabai was helpless. How was he being?
"I naturally keep Mother's teachings in my heart, but..." That was meant for his future wife. What did it have to do with how he treated Cui Yunchu?
Dowager Shen and Old Master Shen did not have a harmonious relationship, so she placed particular importance on teaching Shen Xiabai and Shen Zilan in this regard.
"But what..." Dowager Shen said with a cold face. "I saw everything just now, you... you..."
"You held onto the girl and refused to let go, and you even glared at her maid."
Shen Xiabai was left speechless, his face full of shock. "Mother."
What kind of fantasy was she talking about?
He held onto Cui Yunchu and refused to let go? "Mother, you saw wrong."
Dowager Shen glared at him. "Shut up."
She glanced at Cui Yunchu not far away, then lowered her voice to lecture him. "Whether it was you holding her and not letting go, or her holding you and not letting go, just tell me, did you hug or not? Do you admit it?"
"..." Shen Xiabai was actually left speechless. After a long while, he finally squeezed out a sentence, "That was an accident."
Dowager Shen, however, acted as if she hadn't heard him and continued, "In this kind of matter, whether she hugged you or you hugged her, the hug is a fact. And since you are a man, when you talk about it, you must say that you took the initiative to hug her. After all, she is a girl; she has thin skin, and her reputation is important."
"???"
Cui Yunchu hugged him, yet he had to say he initiated it?
What kind of logic was this? What a mess.
Shen Xiabai only felt a headache coming on, experiencing the same powerlessness he felt when arguing with the Chen siblings.
But it was also different. With the Chen siblings, he disdained wasting his breath, but with his mother, he was completely helpless.
"Mother, I said, it was an accident."
Dowager Shen said, "In these matters, it is always the woman who suffers more of a disadvantage. It's one thing for you as a man not to take the initiative, but to not even dare to admit it—it's simply disgraceful."
"Look at her, the girl's face is red with anger, and she's been standing there motionless for a long time."
Shen Xiabai let out a light chuckle, unable to tell if it was out of sarcasm, helplessness, or sheer speechlessness.
"I originally thought what Zilan said was pure nonsense, but to think..." Dowager Shen shook her head. "You, what am I going to do with you."
Dowager Shen glared at Shen Xiabai again, then immediately put on an extremely kind smile and walked gracefully towards Cui Yunchu.
What a beautiful girl. No matter how you looked at her, she was pleasing to the eye.
Cui Yunchu was frowning, pondering over something, when a figure suddenly stood before her. She raised her eyes, and upon clearly seeing the person in front of her, she was momentarily stunned.
"Dowager... Shen."
On the day of the palace banquet, she had briefly met Dowager Shen while accompanying her grandmother. Cui Yunchu still remembered the circumstances of that day.
She curtsied and bowed, her mind starting to race.
Without a doubt, the Shen family and the Cui family had a feud. However, the relationship between Dowager Shen and her grandmother was rather delicate; it was hard to say whether they were enemies or friends.
Dowager Shen gently supported her up. "Good child, you understand etiquette and have a dignified bearing. Truly wonderful."
"..."
Shen Xiabai, ...
His mouth twitched. He stepped forward and said, "Mother, if you can't find the words to praise her, you don't have to force it. It's getting late, we should go."
For some reason, he inexplicably felt a bit guilty, though he didn't know where it came from.
"You shut up."
Shen Xiabai fell silent.
This time it was Cui Yunchu's turn to be stunned. Her grandmother had said that Dowager Shen was from Jiangnan and had a gentle temperament. Now that they interacted, it was indeed so.
That "shut up" was spoken so lightly, and she even had a smile on her face. It was extremely gentle.
Yet it was able to intimidate Shen Xiabai, making her quite envious.
With no one speaking, the atmosphere was truly a bit awkward. Cui Yunchu took the initiative to ease the tension. "You are amazing."
"Oh?" Dowager Shen raised an eyebrow. Did she look hard to get along with? She shouldn't. Throughout the entire capital, she was famous for her good temper.
"You misunderstand. I mean, with Lord Shen, he shuts up with just two light words from you. When I tell him to shut up, he looks like he wants to draw his sword and kill me."
Cui Yunchu laughed cheerfully, solely focused on lightening the mood. Her small mouth opened and closed, and as for what she was actually saying, even she didn't really know.
"Cui Yunchu." Shen Xiabai's gaze was cold and gloomy.
What did she mean by saying that? Wasn't she deliberately leading his mother to misunderstand?
Or was his guess correct, and she had ulterior motives regarding him, for the sake of the Cui family?
Cui Yunchu looked at Shen Xiabai, fully receiving the threat and scrutiny in his eyes, and curled her lip. "What I said is the truth anyway."
"Exactly, what are you glaring at?" Dowager Shen also chimed in.
She lifted her chin and said to Shen Xiabai, "You, go wait on the side. I have a few words to say to Eldest Miss Cui."
Shen Xiabai was displeased. "Mother, her surname is Cui." His voice was very heavy.
A trace of something seemed to flash through Dowager Shen's eyes, but she quickly concealed it. "Why do you have so much to say? Just go when I tell you to."
Cui Yunchu also felt that, meeting Dowager Shen for only the second time, there was truly no friendship to speak of.
But Shen Xiabai had already walked far away under Dowager Shen's orders. If Cui Yunchu turned around and left, it would be somewhat impolite.
"If you have something to say, please speak frankly."
Dowager Shen smiled. "Don't be nervous, I don't mean anything else. The grievances between the Shen family and the Cui family..."
She paused, then continued, "Those are matters of the previous generation. They have nothing to do with you juniors."
Cui Yunchu raised an eyebrow, rather surprised.
Dowager Shen's husband and son had died at the hands of the Cui family. For Dowager Shen to say such words was truly astonishing.
"Dowager..."
Dowager Shen smiled. "The living must eventually move forward. Do not let past events cause regrets. Xiabai has always had a heavy mind since childhood, and bearing the heavy responsibility of the Shen family, it's inevitable that he is deep and somewhat unapproachable. But his heart is not bad."
"..."
Cui Yunchu was completely baffled by what she heard.
The mother of the man who stabbed her to death was telling her that the man who stabbed her to death didn't have a strange mind and was a good person?
Was the world so upside down?
Cui Yunchu actually understood.
The Shen family was an aristocratic family. Back then, when the head of the Shen family and the eldest son both died, leaving behind the direct line's orphans and widow, they were naturally coveted by the collateral branches. For Shen Xiabai to protect the direct line, keep the family estate from falling into the hands of others, and achieve his current success...
He must have experienced things that others could not. And a person's experiences directly influence their temperament and methods of doing things.
But what did that have to do with her?
Besides, how much better were her own experiences?
Cui Yunchu could understand him, and even felt a sense of mutual sympathy. But that understanding could only be directed towards a stranger, not someone who had killed her once before.
For anyone who had hurt her, no reason or tragic past could ever be enough for her to completely bury the hatchet.
Cui Yunchu wore a fake smile on her face. "Then Lord Shen is truly pitiful."
"???" Dowager Shen froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting Cui Yunchu to say such a thing.
Meanwhile, Shen Xiabai, who was walking over, seemed to sense something. He frowned and looked back.
Cui Yunchu said, "Dowager Shen might have misunderstood something. There have been many times when Lord Shen truly wanted to kill me."
Dowager Shen frowned.
She turned her head to look at her son, just in time to meet Shen Xiabai's gaze. As if feeling guilty or uncomfortable, Shen Xiabai quickly averted his eyes.
"That shouldn't be," Dowager Shen murmured.
She knew her own son better than anyone else. While he might not be madly in love, he clearly harbored some special feelings for this Eldest Miss Cui.
Could it be because of what happened in the past?
Dowager Shen pondered, a few traces of guilt and self-reproach surfacing on her gentle face.
"Are you afraid of him?"
Cui Yunchu almost laughed out loud.
A man who would draw his sword to cut her down at any given moment—did you think she was afraid?
"What if I have a way to make sure he never lays a hand on you again? Moreover, he will have to protect you, forced to suffer in silence. Would you be willing?"
Dowager Shen kept saying such astonishing things that Cui Yunchu's brain could barely keep up.
