Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Since Old Madam Sheng said that the jade pen was hers, Molan and Rulan took it seriously. As for how Old Madam Sheng and Minglan dealt with it afterwards, it was none of Molan and Rulan's business.

After Ruolan returned to Weiruixuan, she told Qi Heng to give Minglan two jade pens separately, but Minglan gave them to her and Molan instead. The old lady made a fuss and told Wang Ruofu everything that she had been trying to cover up for Minglan.

Wang Ruofu exploded when she heard this. First, she was angry that the old lady covered up for Minglan and ignored the reputation of other girls in the family. Then she was angry that Qi Heng, that seemingly decent young man, was so blind that he fell in love with Minglan instead of her Ruolan. Finally, she was angry that Minglan, at such a young age, was so good at using tricks to harm her sisters!

It took Mama Liu a long time to persuade Wang Ruofu to stop going to Shou'an Hall to make trouble with the old lady, but Wang Ruofu was so angry that she asked someone to invite Minglan over to talk. Madam Sheng originally didn't want Minglan to go, but she also knew that if Wang Ruofu was not allowed to vent, she would only hate Minglan more, so she asked Mama Fang beside her to accompany her to Weiruixuan.

However, Wang Ruofu was furious when she saw that Minglan was sent here by Fang Mama. Without waiting for Minglan to greet her, she pointed at Minglan's nose and cursed: "You didn't hear with your own ears how Princess Pingning belittled my Sheng family and how she belittled you girls. You must have heard it in Shou'an Hall!"

"As a result, he actually dared to get close to the young master!"

"My Ru'er wouldn't dare to act like this. I didn't expect that a bastard like you would actually commit a crime against the wind and hand over the ready-made evidence to Princess Pingning. Are you afraid that the Sheng family's reputation will not be good enough?!"

"I warn you, if you dare to hurt the reputation of Hua'er, Ru'er and Changbai, I will skin you alive no matter what!"

Minglan had always known that Wang Ruofu was reckless, but now that she was being scolded by her, tears immediately fell from her eyes. She quickly knelt down and pleaded for justice: "Madam, you misunderstood me. You know I am just a concubine with no support. How dare I covet the young master!"

"The young master just saw that my handwriting was always bad, so he encouraged me a little out of friendship as classmates. He didn't mean anything else."

"Even if you don't trust me, you should at least trust the young master's judgment."

Madam Fang also came to her senses at this time and defended Minglan, "Madam, Sixth Miss has indeed strictly followed the rules and never overstepped the line. Besides, when the young master came to study at the Sheng family, Sixth Miss was still a young maid. How could the two of them have developed feelings for each other?"

Wang Ruofu was furious, but it was over by then. She reluctantly accepted Minglan and Fang Mama's explanation and let them go. When Sheng Hong came over at night, she told him what happened.

Sheng Hong's scalp tingled when he heard this, but even though the girls in his family were older, he never thought of sacrificing his own children for the sake of the students in the affiliated school. He told Wang Ruofu to just pretend that nothing happened, and he would go back and tell the old lady the rest.

There are some things that others don't know, but Sheng Hong, the male host, has noticed. Recently, the old lady has invited Qi Heng to have dinner in Shou'an Hall several times, and Minglan must have been there to accompany him. The old lady's intentions are also very obvious, but he is not optimistic.

Firstly, the Mansion of the Duke of Qi is very different from the Mansion of the Marquis of Zhongqin and cannot be compared; secondly, Minglan and Hualan are also incomparable. Hualan is the eldest daughter of the family after all, and was raised by the old lady since childhood. When she got married, it was the old lady who personally facilitated the marriage, and the whole family helped.

And what about Minglan?

Apart from being prettier than Hualan, even though she was also raised by the old lady, she could not be compared with Hualan.

Sheng Hong went to Old Madam Sheng and made it clear that he had his own arrangements for the marriages of his daughters, and asked Old Madam Sheng to just wait and see the results.

Old Madam Sheng was first humiliated by the two juniors, and then slapped in the face by her daughter-in-law Wang Ruofu. Finally, Sheng Hong came in person to ask her to behave herself. How could she bear this?

As a result, the obsession in her heart became more and more stubborn and firm, and she had to find someone for Minglan herself.

As for Lin Qige, after listening to Molan's narration, Lin Qinshuang became more convinced that Minglan was a scheming person. At the same time, she couldn't help but look down on Qi Heng's eyes: "Mo'er, you are obviously the most outstanding girl in the Sheng family, why would that young master like the timid Minglan?"

Molan corrected Lin Qinshuang without any emotion: "Mother, although Minglan has made a mistake and always likes to hide her shortcomings, in fact, many men like to be sympathetic to women."

Although Molan felt that Minglan's hiding her incompetence was unnecessary, she didn't even know what Minglan had to hide. Wasn't it just that she was secretly taught polo by the old lady? She and Rulan also learned a lot under Sheng Hong's teaching, and they had never concealed it at home, so Minglan's move was really unnecessary.

Lin Qinshuang was reluctant to let Molan give up those wealthy families. She pulled Molan aside and asked, "It's really not easy for you to marry into the Qiguogong Mansion with a mother-in-law like Princess Pingning. What about Gu Tingye? It's true that his family situation is complicated, but as the second son, he can plan to divide the family. What do you think of Gu Tingye?"

Molan sighed, but still had to deal with Lin Qinshuang seriously. "Apart from the mess in Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion, Gu Tingye himself can be considered to be a man of both civil and military talents, but he is too conceited and often won't listen to good words. Moreover, no matter how good his character and family background are, he can't stop having a mistress early on and having a son and a daughter. Second and third brothers all know about this."

Lin Qinshuang was shocked: "What? Gu Tingye is so ridiculous!"

Molan nodded, "Yes, my second and third brothers said that most of the rumors about Gu Tingye sleeping with other women were false accusations made against him by the remaining branches of the Gu family, but he did do such things to get angry with his father. As for keeping a concubine and tolerating her having children, it was his own decision, and he was not forced or framed by anyone else."

Lin Qinshuang still refused to give up. She asked for the detailed map of the powerful people in the capital that Molan and Rulan had obtained in the past, and insisted on finding a husband for Molan from it. Molan was unable to persuade her, so she could only let her go. At the same time, she did not forget her friend's death and the poor Taoist priest's death, and pulled Changfeng to her side: "Mother, Third Brother is old enough. Although it is difficult to arrange a marriage for him now because he is preparing for the imperial examination next year, you should also look for a general range of candidates for him as soon as possible."

Lin Qinshuang agreed with this deeply, and was so absorbed in it that even Sheng Hong had less energy to deal with it, which made Sheng Hong feel very aggrieved.

Minglan, who originally wanted to have an open talk with Qi Heng, was cut off from the possibility of being alone with him because Qi Heng suddenly lost his handkerchief, so she never had the chance to talk about the matter.

The Sheng family was also implicated because of the young master's lost handkerchief, which implicated several maids who were cleaning the garden. Sheng Hong was furious and stopped the girls' classes on the grounds that the boys had to prepare for the imperial examinations. This satisfied Princess Pingning, but Ming Qiheng became less and less favored by Sheng Hong.