Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 284 Disappointing Meeting
"No, Mother, your son didn't..."

"No?"

"there is nothing?"

Before Sheng Wei could even open his mouth and finish what he wanted to say, the old lady angrily berated him.

"Wei'er, I truly can no longer recognize what kind of person you are!"

"Ask yourself honestly, are you still the same Sheng Wei you used to be?"

"Is what you're doing really fair to Shulan?"

Upon hearing his mother speak like that, Sheng Wei's face immediately turned red.

"Mother, although I had some selfish motives, I certainly didn't disregard Shulan's feelings and marry her off so casually!"

“In my son’s heart, Shulan will always be my daughter. How could I, as her father, possibly harm her?”

At this point, Sheng Wei became excited. He straightened his back and said quickly, "Mother, you know why we chose Scholar Sun back then!"

"Although I chose him for Shulan, didn't this marriage ultimately require Shulan's consent?"

"If Shulan refuses, then we certainly cannot force her!"

To be fair, what happened back then was indeed as Sheng Wei described.

However, there is another reason behind this.

"Humph!"

"Don't you know what kind of person Shulan is?"

The old lady looked at Sheng Wei and asked with a sneer, "How could a young girl like her know the character of a man from another family!"

"Back then, because of the Sun family's attitude towards our Sheng family, I didn't agree to this marriage!"

At that time, when the Sun family was arranging a marriage with the Sheng family, their attitude was extremely perfunctory. In fact, if it weren't for the matchmaker pulling them along, the scholar Sun would not have wanted to stay at the Sheng family's house for even a little longer.

It was as if the Sheng family's residence was some kind of filthy place!
"Back then, if you and your wife hadn't insisted that this was the 'unyielding spirit' of the new son-in-law, a scholar, I would have beaten him up long ago!"

The old lady got so angry that she even mentioned her self-reference from when she was young.

"My...son..."

Seeing the old lady's furious appearance, Sheng Wei was momentarily intimidated and stammered, unsure of what to say.

"Ugh!"

After venting her frustrations, the old lady was quite tired. She leaned against the table next to her and sighed.

"Wei'er, you must be regretting choosing a good-for-nothing as your son-in-law right now!"

The old lady's eyes revealed a deep sense of disappointment.

"Wei'er!"

"How come things have come to this point, and all you still have in your mind are these things?"

"Didn't you ever consider Shulan's feelings at all?"

The old lady was heartbroken; she simply couldn't bear the thought of her son undergoing such a drastic change!
They've become so cold-blooded!

Such a prioritization of profit!
You should know that because of the old master's affair, Shengwei made a vow when he was a child that he would never let his own children follow in his footsteps and that he would definitely be a responsible father in the future!

But how can his current behavior be considered that of a competent father?

"How did Wei'er, who always loved her children, suddenly become like this?"

Looking at Sheng Wei, who remained silent, the old lady was truly baffled.

"Wei'er, do you remember what you said when you were little?"

The old lady tried to enlighten Shengwei with the past: "You said that when you grow up, you will make sure your children live a happy life!"

"But!"

"What you're doing now, is hardly the behavior of a good father."

"You've ruined Shulan's life!"

The old lady's words were very sharp, and she completely exposed Sheng Wei's true nature.

Sheng Wei was sweating profusely as he listened, muttering incoherently as if trying to argue his point. However, feeling guilty, he ultimately realized that whatever he said would be useless.

Because even if he could fool his own mother, he couldn't fool himself.

"Mother~"

In the end, Sheng Wei could only offer a feeble explanation: "Mother, it's not that your son and daughter-in-law are materialistic, but our family really needs someone from our own family to become an official!"

Sheng Wei's words seemed to be addressed to the old lady, yet also to himself: "Hongdi's family is ultimately an outsider. No matter how close our two families are now, there will still be a separation in the end!"

"Our eldest son's lineage must produce one of our own!"

Although Sheng Wei's voice was soft, it was filled with a firm tone, making it clear to anyone who heard it that he was determined.

"Humph!"

Upon hearing this, the old lady frowned again and said coldly, "If that's the case, then why are you still saying these things to an old woman like me?"

"Anyway, you are the head of the Sheng family. If there's anything, you should go and discuss it with your wife!"

At this time, the old lady did not know what Shulan's life was like in the Sun family. She simply thought that Shengwei was looking down on Sun Zhigao for having no future, so she was somewhat unhappy.

"Ugh……"

Seeing his mother's attitude, Sheng Wei naturally found it even more difficult to speak.

……

When Minglan and her brother entered the Sun family home with Pinlan, Xiaotao was already standing obediently in front of the Sun family's gate.

Because Minglan had asked Xiaotao to inquire about Shulan, she was quite familiar with the location of the Sun family.

"Young master, here's your medicine kit!"

Xiao Tao, carrying a simple purple medicine box, walked up to Sheng Changquan and replied to him.

"Yes, thank you very much, Sister Xiaotao!"

Sheng Changquan smiled slightly and easily took the medicine box from Xiao Tao's hand.

"Brother, let's go quickly!"

After greeting the two people beside her, Minglan quickly followed Pinlan and entered the Sun family compound.

Sheng Changquan smiled slightly, unlike Minglan who was anxious. Instead, he deliberately slowed down, intending to take a good look at the Sun family's environment. He planned to glean some insight into the family's personality from the layout and design of the residence, which would also help with his later plans.

However, Sheng Changquan soon regretted his idea.

Because all along the way, Sheng Changquan's eyes were filled with a bright golden yellow, and he felt that his eyes were about to be blinded by the light!
I have no idea what's wrong with the Sun family's thought process; their aesthetic sense is truly bizarre!
What they considered satisfactory and triumphant, to ordinary people, might not be entirely normal, but it was certainly appalling. In any case, as Sheng Changquan observed more closely, he felt that the mansion before him was truly unbearable to look at!
After looking at it for a while, Sheng Changquan shook his head slightly in his heart. He finally vaguely understood the aesthetic characteristics of the Sun family. It seemed that their family's "hobbies" were all about valuing "expensiveness" as beauty.

Not only was the plaque in front of the gate dyed gold, but even their tables, chairs, beds, and brick walls were also tinged with a light golden hue.

Fortunately, their family didn't have enough money to make all those things out of gold. According to Sheng Changquan's observation, apart from the plaque in front of the gate, which was dyed with gold leaf, everything else was coated with tung oil.

This tung oil is called Jin Feng Shui, a type of varnish that carpenters use to coat furniture surfaces for preservation.

The reason this varnish is called "Golden Phoenix Water" is because its appearance is golden, as dazzling as a golden phoenix.

However, although this varnish has a gorgeous design, looking at it for a long time can cause an uncomfortable feeling, somewhat similar to snow blindness, which can cause extreme discomfort to the eyes.

Therefore, when craftsmen use Golden Phoenix Water, they often treat it by adding one or two other things to reduce the final color of the varnish so that it will not cause any adverse effects when people use it.

However, Sheng Changquan discovered that the Sun family had done the opposite. Not only did they not deal with the gold feng shui, they even deliberately increased the concentration, making their house look incredibly "golden and magnificent".

It was so golden that it was almost blinding.

"elder sister!"

"elder sister……"

Pinlan walked ahead of Minglan and her siblings, calling out as she quickly moved forward, without needing any of the Sun family's servants to lead the way.

Judging from the looks of it, Pinlan must have been here before, as she seemed to have a very clear understanding of the Sun family's layout.

"Sister!"

Seeing that the Sun family's maids were barely following behind Pinlan and couldn't pay attention to the two of them, Sheng Changquan quietly approached Minglan and whispered, "Didn't Sister Pinlan say she didn't like the Sun family?"

"Why does she seem so familiar with this place?"

Seeing Pinlan's actions, Sheng Changquan couldn't help but doubt the things Pinlan had said before.

"Could it be that Pinlan is actually..."

"No, you really dislike Sun Zhigao?"

Sheng Changquan's eyes darted around, secretly lost in thought, and eighteen kinds of melodramatic and clichéd TV drama plots suddenly popped into his mind.

"Ah~"

Minglan, who was standing to the side, had no idea what her younger brother was thinking. She simply sighed and said, "Brother, you don't know!"

"Actually, this house originally belonged to my uncle's family!"

"what?"

Sheng Changquan was startled: "Could this house be Sister Shulan's dowry?"

Although he had heard that the Sheng family had spent a lot of money on the marriage between Shulan and the Sun family, Sheng Changquan really did not expect that his great-uncle's family would go to such lengths, directly giving a large house to the Sun family.

It's important to know that the Sun family's residence is not like the Zhuangyuan Hall, which is a small two-courtyard house. Theirs is a genuine three-courtyard house. Not only are the building materials extremely exquisite, but the area it occupies is also quite large, enough for the family of ten or so to live in.

And this does not include the side rooms and such for servants and attendants.

"Ok!"

Minglan nodded gently, her face showing a complex expression.

"So the Sun family's comfortable life today is all thanks to Sister Shulan."

"I don't know what they were thinking, daring to treat Sister Shulan so badly!"

"Don't they feel guilty living in this courtyard?"

"Ah!"

Sheng Changquan chuckled lightly at this.

"Sister!"

"The world is vast, and the character of people in this world is naturally diverse."

Sheng Changquan turned his head and said softly, "In our eyes, it is my uncle's family who have suffered a loss, but in their eyes it may not be so!"

"Perhaps they even feel wronged!"

Although he wasn't entirely clear on the specific reasons for the marriage alliance between the Sun and Sheng families, Sheng Changquan had already vaguely guessed what the Sun family was thinking.

"what?"

Minglan could hardly believe her ears: "What do they have to feel wronged about?"

"Could it be that someone as talented and beautiful as Sister Shulan is doing Sun Zhigao a disservice by marrying a country scholar?"

Because Minglan mostly interacted with scholars who held official titles, she didn't realize just how high the status of a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations) really was.

Especially in Youyang, a small county town where literary culture is not prevalent.

"hehe!"

"That's hard to say!"

Sheng Changquan carried his medicine box, a half-smile playing on his lips. However, his expression contained only a hint of mockery, the rest being blatant sarcasm.

"maybe……"

"what!"

"Sister!"

Before Sheng Changquan could finish speaking, he suddenly heard Pinlan scream!
"Hmm, something happened?"

Sheng Changquan reacted immediately. He didn't care about anything else and rushed into the back courtyard without saying a word!

"It's... Sister Pinlan's voice!"

Minglan was startled for a moment, and it took her a while to come to her senses. Without further delay, she simply said something to Xiaotao and immediately ran towards the backyard following Sheng Changquan's route.

Seeing Minglan's hurried steps, Xiaotao didn't have time to ask any questions. She just followed her and prepared to protect her young lady.

After all, she knew exactly what kind of family the Sun family was.

"We can't leave the girl alone in the Sun family!"

Xiao Tao's thoughts were simple: "The Sun family is no benevolent place. Without my protection, that girl might have encountered some dangerous situation!"

"Therefore, I have to protect the girl!"

……

Minglan's pace was not as fast as Sheng Changquan's, so when she walked into the backyard panting with Xiaotao, she was greeted by a very lively scene.

In the courtyard, Pinlan was jumping up and down in a panic!
Judging from her appearance, if her older sister Shulan hadn't been holding her back, she probably would have jumped right over there.

That's right, it's not "jump out", it's "jump over"!
(End of this chapter)