Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 462 Showdown
Mo Lan slowly walked out of the cave and stood behind Sheng Hong. Even from a few steps away, she could feel the destructive aura emanating from her father, like a volcano about to erupt, with magma surging wildly beneath the thin crust.

Sheng Hong did not turn around. His back was stiff, like a stone sculpture that was rapidly cooling and cracking in the cold wind. Only his slightly trembling shoulders revealed the raging anger churning inside him and the metallic taste that almost burst from his throat.

“Father.” Mo Lan’s voice was unusually calm, even carrying a strange sense of relief after everything had settled. “You… saw it all.”

Sheng Hong suddenly turned around!
The movement was so fast that it stirred up a gust of cold wind!
His eyes were bloodshot, his eyeballs almost bulging out of their sockets. He pointed at her intently, his fingers trembling violently and uncontrollably. His voice was distorted and hoarse with extreme anger, like sandpaper rubbing against rough stone: "You...you shameless beast!"

"How dare you... how dare you do such a... such a despicable thing!"

Every word felt like blood foam squeezed from the depths of his chest.

"You...you've learned all those...shameless, despicable tricks of your mistress...completely! You've surpassed your master!"

He was so angry that he trembled all over, as if every bone in his body was cracking with rage, and his vision blurred and he saw stars.

Faced with her father's volcanic rage, Mo Lan did not back down or show fear. Instead, she raised her chin, her eyes flashing with a near-mad calm after making a desperate gamble, a calm that was like a poisoned icicle.

Her voice was clear and sharp, each word like a knife, piercing Sheng Hong's most painful spot!

"Father, please calm down. I had no choice but to do this!"

She met his murderous gaze without flinching: "My mother is imprisoned, chained, awaiting death unjustly, on the verge of death! Father, have you... have you ever thought of saving her?"

"Have you ever thought even a fraction of... our past affection?"

Her speech quickened, her voice filled with a tearful accusation, more like a pronouncement: "My daughter is imprisoned in Linxi Pavilion, treated like pigs and dogs! Even the lowest servants... can trample and humiliate her at will!"

"Father...did you ever utter a single word about it?! Did you ever consider that your daughter...is also your flesh and blood?!"

"If my daughter doesn't grasp onto Liang Han... her only lifeline, will she really end up like her mother... tortured to death... in that dark, stinking woodshed?!"

Her voice rose, carrying a desperate scream.

"My daughter's actions today... she's really going all out!"

She took a step forward, staring intently at Sheng Hong with a sharp, cold gaze that was unlike that of a young lady from a secluded family.

"Innocence? Reputation?" She let out a short, sharp laugh, full of contempt. "What do they mean in the face of survival... and turning the tables?!"

"Your mother taught you right... As long as the goal is achieved... the means?" Mo Lan's lips curled into a vicious smile. "What does it matter! Father, you've seen it all with your own eyes now! What's done is done! Liang Han touched me!"

"He loosened my belt...and touched my body!"

"Skin-to-skin contact!"

"You say... if the Yongchang Earl's Mansion finds out... that their son 'defiled' the Sheng family's daughter... yet refuses to take responsibility... can the Sheng family bear the gossip in Bianjing... the spittle of the censors?!"

"Can your reputation, which is so fragile and precarious, withstand scrutiny?!"

"The Sheng family...do they even care about their century-old reputation?!"

"Should we even bother staying in Bianjing City?!"

She emphasized the words "defile," "spit," and "establish a foothold" with extreme force, as if they were heavy hammer blows striking Sheng Hong's heart.

Sheng Hong was so enraged by her blatant and deadly confrontation that he trembled violently, like a wrecked ship about to capsize in a storm!
His face went from a furious red to a grimace, and then from a grimace to a deathly pale white!
My chest heaved violently, as if my battered heart was about to explode at any moment!
He pointed at Mo Lan, his fingers trembling like withered branches dancing wildly in the wind: "You...you...you beast! How dare you...how dare you threaten...your father?! You...you are simply...worse than a beast!! You have no regard for human ethics!!"

"Humph!"

Now that things had come to this, Mo Lan had completely torn away the last veil of pretense. Looking at Sheng Hong's heartbroken and resentful expression, as if she were the victim, the twisted resentment in her heart finally erupted. She retorted sharply, each word piercing to the heart: "Father, you don't need to be so angry, after all!"

"Didn't you and my stepmother... also have this kind of 'illicit affair' back then?!"

"I was just... imitating you!!"

These words, like the most poisonous scorpion sting, pierced with unparalleled precision the deepest, most unbearable, and most unwanted old scar in Sheng Hong's heart!

His feigned anger and moral high ground were instantly shattered!
"You!—You!—"

Sheng Hong felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, as if he had been struck in the chest by a giant hammer. The bloody taste he had been suppressing in his throat could no longer be contained. With a heart-wrenching cough, "Pfft—!" a large mouthful of hot, foamy blood gushed out!
Spots of scarlet, like the mournful blooming of spider lilies, were scattered glaringly on the gray-white, jagged rocks at his feet and on the front of his deep purple official robe, instantly spreading into a shocking, dark red that symbolized shame and collapse!

"master!!"

Dong Rong's exclamation was filled with unprecedented terror. She rushed forward and used all her strength to support Sheng Hong, who was swaying precariously, his face ashen, and he collapsed instantly.

Sheng Hong felt dizzy and his ears were ringing; the whole world seemed to be drifting away from him.

His body swayed a few times, and it was only thanks to Dong Rong's desperate efforts that he didn't collapse like a lump of mud.

He stared intently at his daughter, a stranger, a terrifying creature, like a venomous snake, pointing at her. His lips trembled violently, moving for a long time, but only a hoarse, bellows-like sound came from his throat; he couldn't utter a single word. All that remained was endless, all-consuming rage, a deep-seated, soul-crushing humiliation, the stifling despair of being betrayed and schemed against by his own flesh and blood in the most vicious way, and... a deep fear of the unmanageable mess before him, a mess that could destroy the Sheng family's century-old foundation.

He was driven to the very edge of a precipice by his own daughter in the most despicable, vile, and shameless way in the world. If he took a step back, he would be plunged into the abyss of utter disgrace and destruction!

Mo Lan looked at the shocking blood on her father's chest and was initially panicked. A kind of primal fear gripped her for a moment, but it was fleeting and was immediately swallowed up and replaced by his cold, desperate determination.

That faint stirring was like a pebble thrown into a cold pool, failing to even create a ripple for long.

She knew that her father... had no choice.

She... won the bet.

The chilling sense of victory quickly overwhelmed that insignificant feeling of unease.

“Dong… Dongrong…” Sheng Hong squeezed out broken syllables through clenched teeth, filled with overwhelming hatred and utter exhaustion, “Take this beast back to… the Sheng family ancestral hall!! Keep him under strict guard!!”

This was the only order he could issue at that moment to maintain the last shred of the family head's authority.

However, Sheng Hong and the others were so shocked that they did not notice that in the shadow of a pavilion on a slightly higher ground not far from the back mountain of Yuqing Temple, two people were standing quietly, taking in this heart-wrenching scene of "filial piety and loving father and daughter".

These two can hardly be considered outsiders.

It was Sheng Changquan and his confidant Xu Changqing.

"Young Master, this... is truly..." Even Xu Changqing, who was used to seeing all kinds of storms, couldn't help but gasp at this moment, his voice low and filled with disbelief.

He knew about the deep-seated hatred between his young master and Linxi Pavilion, but even so, seeing Sheng Molan commit adultery for the sake of her future, and being caught red-handed, not only did she show no remorse, but she also pressed on relentlessly, even using the most shameful past to make her beloved biological father vomit blood, he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of sorrow for Sheng Hong.

"Master probably never expected that his daughter, whom he has cherished and raised for over a decade, would betray him like this! This stab was too cruel and too vicious!" He shook his head, his tone complicated.

"Ah!"

"what is this?"

Sheng Changquan's tone, however, was so calm it was almost cold, as if he were commenting on some trivial anecdote that had nothing to do with him.

The moonlight outlined his handsome yet overly serene profile, his eyes like a bottomless, icy pool.

“This is all my father’s fault…” He paused, his voice completely flat. “The unrest in the family and the chaos in the social order all stem from him, the ruler.”

"Favoring a concubine over one's wife is neither the conduct of a gentleman nor the way to manage a household. Lin Xige dared to commit such heinous acts as plotting against the mistress and harming the children. Sheng Hong... cannot escape responsibility!"

Sheng Changquan's analysis was almost cruelly calm: "As a son, he had a long-standing feud with his stepmother and failed to fulfill his filial duties; as a husband, he favored his concubine over his wife, causing disorder between legitimate and illegitimate children and unrest in the household; as a father, he doted on his illegitimate daughter, neglected to discipline her, and allowed her to run rampant."

"Mo Lan's actions today, which are so shocking, shameless, and rebellious, pushing his father to the brink of vomiting blood...aren't all of these the evil fruits of his years of indulgence, unfair treatment, and the seeds of disaster he has sown?"

As for Sheng Hong's slight favoritism towards him, a son born out of wedlock?
Sheng Changquan sneered inwardly and decisively ignored it.

After all, that little bit of warmth is probably insignificant in the face of a family's downfall.

"Alright." Sheng Changquan saw Sheng Hong, supported by Dong Rong, struggling to direct the old women to put the numb Mo Lan into the carriage. The group, like defeated soldiers, headed in a sorry state towards the Sheng residence. He said calmly, "Father is preparing to go back. We should also leave. The imperial examinations are approaching, and it is not advisable to stay here any longer."

"By the way," he turned to look at Xu Changqing, his gaze sharp, "make sure no one around here notices what's going on, right?"

If even a whisper of this matter were to leak out, the Sheng family would lose face, and Sheng Changquan's path to the imperial examinations would inevitably be tarnished.

"Don't worry, young master!" Xu Changqing replied immediately with a serious expression and a firm tone. "Tonight, the back mountain of Yuqing Temple is quiet and deserted, with few worshippers. Our men, as you instructed, have been disguised as tourists or temple servants and scattered along the paths leading here since early this morning."

"Anyone who was foolish enough to try to come here by chance was 'unintentionally' lured away, or simply stopped by excuses such as 'the mountain road is slippery and rocks are being cleared ahead.' So, apart from us and the Sheng family, no outsiders know what happened here."

He is always prudent in his work.

"Well, that's good." Sheng Changquan nodded slightly, his tense nerves relaxing a little. "After all, 'family scandals should not be aired in public.' With the imperial examinations just around the corner, countless eyes are on the Sheng family, and we cannot afford the slightest mistake."

His gaze drifted towards the Sheng residence, a hint of complex emotion barely perceptible in his eyes: "If it weren't for my elder sister's eagerness to act and the elaborate plan she'd devised, I wouldn't have wanted to touch Linxi Pavilion at this time, lest one move affect the whole situation..."

Sheng Changquan didn't finish his sentence, but Xu Changqing knew exactly what he meant.

Why would our young master be worried about disturbing Linxi Pavilion?
He was worried that the sixth young lady, Sheng Minglan, was young and impetuous and lacked experience in handling such dirty matters. If she left any loose ends, it would damage her reputation as an unmarried young lady, which would be disastrous.

Therefore, Sheng Changquan personally orchestrated a scheme, mobilizing manpower to tightly control the scope of this shocking scandal between the Sheng and Liang mansions, as if building an invisible wall to minimize any potential sparks that might affect Minglan.

This desire to protect is deep and subtle.

……