"Absurd! This is ridiculous! It's totally ridiculous!" If Shen Cangfeng only openly called himself as the grandson-in-law of the Wei Family, it would not be irreparable. After all, Shen Xuan was in charge of his marriage. At the worst, it would offend the Wei Family more. Eventually, he would have to offend the Wei Family for breaking off a marital engagement. But the sword of "Lu Hu" was given to Wei Changying in the name of Shen Xuan. Fengzhou and the Capital were far away from each other. Even though Shen Zhou knew that Shen Cangfeng was lying, he could not prove his lies immediately. The Wei Family was not a family that could be taken lightly at will. No matter how shameless Shen Zhou was, he couldn't say anything about breaking of the marriage when it seemed that his elder brother had approved of his nephew's marriage.

What's more, Shen Cangfeng arrived later than Shen Zhou. According to Shen Zhou's understanding of this nephew, even if he risked everything and continued to break off the marriage, Shen Cangfeng would probably immediately indicate that Shen Xuan had changed his mind. Therefore, he sent him to catch up with Shen Zhou. So this kid was one step later than him, yet it was not that he didn't catch up with him. He did it on purpose!

The problem was that Shen Zhou knew about his plan but couldn't do anything. Could he still tell the Wei Family that the Shen Family decided to break off the marriage? I was ordered by my brother and sister-in-law to take back that piece of jade ornament with greasy leaf, but Shen Cangfeng did not agree with this. Now he was so bold that he stole his father's sword to send to his fiancee, deliberately creating the illusion that the Shen Family was not going to break off the marriage. If you didn't believe in this, you could send someone to the capital to check with my brother and sister-in-law?

Although Ruiyu Hall temporarily declined a bit, it was still one of the six gentlefolk in the country!

Not to mention Shen Zhou, even Shen Xuan dared not to bully the Wei Family like this! Wei Changying had not lost the Shou Gong Mark on her arm so that it was not reasonable to break off this marriage in this case. After Shen Cangfeng did this thing, unless Shen Zhou planned to create a feud with the Wei Family for at least a few generations, he felt that in this situation, he was not so brazen to talk about breaking off the marriage.

Feeling that he was vomiting in his heart, Shen Zhou was perfunctory with the excuse of worrying about his nephew's health and rushed to the yard prepared by Wei's Family for them to wait for his nephew.

Shen Cangfeng bathed and changed clothes. When he just went out of the bathroom, Shen Zhou immediately angrily came up, lifted his leg to kick him to stagger. He furiously said, "The marriage is a big deal so that parents are in charge of it! Your father and mother have decided to let me renounce the marriage. What do you mean by coming here like this and giving the sword of "Lu Hu" to the Miss of the Wei Family in the name of your father?! Ah!"

"It's not wise for Uncle to be angry at the moment." Shen Cangfeng was kicked by him, but he didn't care about it. After getting back on his feet, Shen Cangfeng said, "Has Uncle ever thought about the current situation?"

"Huh?" Shen Zhou frowned and immediately reined his anger.

The heirs of the Shen Family's lineal clan were very prosperous. Grand Preceptor Shen Xuan alone had six young masters, counting his lineal and concubines'. Together with Shen Zhou, there were eight young masters, and four of them were lineal sons. The Shen family and the Liu Family, because of years of warring with the western and northern tribes, could not ignore the importance of male heirs. Unlike the families like the Wei Family, the position of the Family Head had always been inherited by one male heir, unless the Family Head was childless.

The rules of the Shen Family in Western Liang and the Liu Family in Eastern Hu had always been: The children of this clan, no matter whether they were from the lineal or not, could inherit the position of the Family Head if they were talented enough. For example, Liu Xixun, who was now vigorously cultivated by the Liu Family in Eastern Hu, was not a son of the clan at all. But because of his outstanding talents, the Liu Family still regarded him as the next Family Head to teach and support.

Although Shen Cangfeng was one of the lineal sons of this generation, he only ranks third. He had the eldest brother as the eldest lineal son and the second brother who was born by a concubine. All of them were sent to Western Liang to fight with the western tribes before they turned 15 years old. They were recognized as valiant and skillful ones in fighting through their experience on the battlefield.

A few of the younger brothers below him were also praised as smart, intelligent, and eager to learn. In terms of Shen Cangfeng, he had always been in the capital and had never been to Western Liang so that his battlefield's abilities were still unknown. On the other hand, due to the "joust for peace" characteristics of practicing martial arts in front of the Emperor and to prevent spoiling the interest of the Emperor, as well as the various taboos of the Royalty, it was impossible to give full play to his martial arts. Therefore, although the recognition he gained in his physical skills was far more than Liu Xixun, he was still far less recognized than that of his two elder brothers.

As for the strategy of warring, "questioning and answering" in front of the Emperor....Today's Emperor was known for notoriously rewarded and punished at will, and how could this be compared with those who actually went to war? Even within the field of literature, he had not written anything popular yet. At this point, Shen Cangfeng could not even compare with his niece Shen Shuyan, who had the name of a child prodigy at a young age.

He was chosen to be the next Family Head before turning 20. It was not because he was better than his brothers at all aspects, but because he was far superior to his brothers in two points: one was his magnanimity, and the other was his insight of the overall situation.

Even when Shen Zhou, who was nearly 50 years old, had to admit that his judgment and prediction of the situation were far inferior to that of his nephew.

Now hearing what Shen Cangfeng said, Shen Zhou immediately calmed down. He stopped beating and scolding his nephew, and sat down with him on the seats by the window. Shen Zhou had sent his servants out a while ago, so as to prevent other people from seeing Shen Cangfeng being beaten. After all, such his nephew had grown to this age and was highly expected by the clan. Even if the confidants saw it, it was still embarrassing. They had to watch out carefully to not let the Wei Family eavesdrop about this.

They sat down, and Shen Zhou asked seriously, "Did anything change these days so that your father changed his mind to let you marry the girl from the Wei Family?"

At this moment, Shen Zhou felt a little guilty. The sword of "Lu Hu" was the love of his eldest brother Shen Xuan that he was not willing to give to him. Although Shen Cangfeng occasionally behaved without being restrained by the elders, they were all in the minority. "Lu Hu" was the loved thing of the elderly. His nephew was not a person that had no appreciation of a thing's importance, how could he casually remove and take things like this?

Did something take place as soon as he left the capital or the situation changed so that the family decided to continue to the marriage with the Wei Family? It was just that even though this girl from the Wei Family still had her virginity, her reputation had been ruined. Shen Cangfeng would be really aggrieved because of this. No wonder the eldest brother would give up "Lu Hu" to help this future daughter-in-law turn bad reputation into good ones and reverse the trend of public opinion.

After all, no matter how much Shen Xuan loved "Lu Hu", it could never compare with Shen Cangfeng.

However...

Shen Cangfeng coughed softly, pointed to his waist, and said, "Uncle did not know, Father did not allow me to come to Fengzhou. So when I entered the palace, I asked for a leave from the Emperor, borrowed two imperial horses, and went straight on the road. Because I was in a hurry, I didn't have enough money. Thus I pawned the jade on me when I was in the capital so that I got enough money for the journey. I also worried that Father would send people from the 'Thorn Hedge' to arrest me so that I slept at open places and was careful not to enter the station easily. Therefore, I don't know what's going on in the capital now."

Shen Zhou changed his facial expressions and shouted, "Then the situation you are talking about...?"

"What I mean is that it is now a foregone conclusion that the engagement will continue, and it will be in vain for the uncle to get angry. Even if you beat me to death, it cannot be changed..." At this point, Shen Zhou almost lost his breath!

Angrily, he rolled up his sleeves and crackled his bones. It was not that he did not love his nephew. How could he bear not to beat such a nephew?

Unfortunately, at the critical moment, the manservant outside reported through the window: "The Granny who stays by the side of the old madam come. She said that the third young master must be tired to travel all the way here and was also caught in the rain, so she especially sends wine here to drive away the cold for him."

Shen Zhou kept a straight face. In Shen Cangfeng's rejoicing eyesight, he took back the fist which was about to hit on the boy's head. He quickly tidied up his clothes and said depressingly, "Is that Granny Chen? Let her in!"

A moment later, Chen Ruping personally carried the food box into the room, smiled when met the two people, and handed over the food box. She first asked Shen Cangfeng's physical conditions that whether he needed the doctor to have a look. Shen Cangfeng politely declined. Chen Ruping did not stay long. After she conveyed the greetings and concerns of Old Madam Song and the news that Wei Huan would personally hold a banquet welcome them in the evening, she left the room.

Chen Ruping neatly spread the wine and dishes on the desk between the uncle and nephew as she smiled and asked questions, and she also poured a cup of wine for each of them. After such an interruption and facing the politeness and the dishes in front of them, Shen Zhou did not have the mood to beat up Shen Cangfeng. He said with a cold face, "Let's first drink several cups of wine to drive out the cold."

Shen Cangfeng smiled and let him drink first. Shen Zhou casually picked up the wine in front of him, took a sip, narrowed his eyes, and hummed, "Boy, you have coaxed the Wei Family really happy today. Because of the tedious and fastidious materials of the prescription, this Shuanglang Wine has not much production. Later on, even the prescription was lost. Nowadays, there are very few among the well-known families, and they all regarded it as treasure. Even your father will pour out a cup to taste it carefully only when he is very happy. Now it is just to drive out the cold for you, and the Wei Family has already brought out a pot of it!"

"If Uncle likes it, I will drink this one cup. How about uncle drinking all this pot of wine?" Shen Cangfeng smiled and said.

Shen Zhou snorted, took another sip, and suddenly said, "Since your father even forbade you to come to Fengzhou, how did you get the sword of "Lu Hu" from his study? Even if you deceived him out, the gatekeeper would not let you take it, would he?"

"Lu Hu" was a long sword, which couldn't be hidden even in broad robes. Otherwise, Shen Zhou would not need to have been thinking about "Lu Hu" for many years. Yet, Shen Xuan always refused to give it to him. Although Shen Zhou seemed rough, he had a prudent evaluation from the outsiders. He was already at this age, but he still thought of tricking this own lineal elder brother. But the sword was always kept in the study, and it was guarded by "Thorn Hedge" so that it was impossible to steal it.

But Shen Cangfeng not only easily got it and took it all the way to Fengzhou but also gave it to his fiancee in the name of Shen Xuan.

When calming down, what Shen Zhou cared the most was this question: How did this boy do it when he didn't succeed after all these years of thinking?

"I asked Cangning and Shuyan for help." Shen Cangfeng smiled and coughed, "Cangning composed music for a new poem written by Shuyan. And when Father was not busy, she went to the study with Shuyan to play the music for Father."

Shen Zhou frowned and said, "Then hid the sword under the instrument and brought it out? This was not right! Since the eldest brother was in the study, how could he not find out?"

"I asked someone to craft the same handle, scabbard, and sword tassel according to the appearance of 'Lu Hu' and let Cangning hide under the musical instrument to bring it in. How could Cangning compose music? Not to mention that her skill of playing the musical instrument was even worse than that of composing music. Father felt a headache when hearing that yet didn't have the heart to rebuke her, so he could only look at the official document to get distracted. When Father read the official document, the sword happened to be behind him. Cangning took the chance to let Shuyan play a bit on her behalf. She then stood up and switched the sword, so..."

Shen Zhou said with an expressionless face, "Where was the young servant in the study?"

"Shuyan said she just wanted her father to listen first and forced her father's young servant out." Shen Cangfeng touched his chin and said with a smile, "My father has always doted on them so that he would never care about these little things."

"..." So this troubled nephew not only planned carefully to steal his father's beloved sword, but also even encumbered his 13-year-old sister Shen Cangning and the three-year-old niece Shen Shuyan into this matter. According to him, hadn’t Shen Xuan discovered that his beloved "Lu Hu" had been switched by several unfilial children of his own?

Shen Zhou admitted that he had been thinking of stealing the sword more than once, and each time he felt that this thought had made him lose the demeanor as a decedent of the gentlefolk. But he never shamelessly of putting his mind on the trick involving a thirteen and a three-year-old niece and grandniece. When Shen Cangfeng got the sword, he went into the palace to ask for a leave and borrow horses from the Emperor. He pawned the Jade and traveled all the way to Fengzhou, but he didn't know what happened to Shen Zhou's niece and grandniece who helped him steal the sword...

He thought for a long time and admitted that he could not compare with Shen Cangfeng. He picked up the wine and drank it with his head up.

Shen Cangfeng might be aware of his uncle's depression and explained, "Originally I planned to try it alone. But when I took home the empty scabbard from outside to replace the real one, I happened to be seen by them. Cangning was naughty and wanted to involve in this. And she said that she would go to her mother to expose me, if I didn't let them come. So..."

"I treated my nieces and grandnieces pretty well, right?" Shen Zhou suddenly felt even more saddened and indignant...

The grieving uncle was a little too angry, so Shen Zhou sneered and said coldly, "Well, now let's talk about it, why do you have to marry this notorious girl from the Wei Family? It's true that this girl is quite beautiful now, but you only saw her once when she was in swaddling, didn't you? Don't tell me you can remember her appearance from ten years ago! Besides, if you like beautiful women, the family would surely find them for you!"

Seeing Shen Cangfeng smiled and said nothing, Shen Zhou took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "The news from the palace has been confirmed. During the banquet of this year's New Year's Eve, people will perform martial arts. The top three can be promoted as an exception and serve in the army! Although there are three places, the first place's rewards and benefits are far better than that of the second or the third place. Now the Liu Family is trying everything to help Liu Xixun win the championship. Instead of preparing for this martial arts performance in the capital, you come to Fengzhou to stop the breaking of the marriage. You should know that Ruiyu Hall has been declining over the years because of Duke Wei's retirement. Although Duke Wei is still alive, however..."

After all, they were still in the Wei Family. And even if he had confidants guarding outside, Shen Zhou still felt that it was inappropriate to speak of bad things about the Wei Family. So he stopped and asked carefully, "What on earth is the reason that you insist on marrying this girl from the Wei Family?"