When the boat almost arrived at Furong Islet, Shen Cangfeng could not stand Wei Changying's increasingly strange gaze. He laughed, reached out his hand to pinched her cheek, and said, "What's the matter?"

"You actually hit them." Wei Changying pushed aside his hand and sighed, "Sister Mei was so presumptuous, and I would not let her go easily if it wasn't because of my identity! You are also polite to her. And I also know that you are a man so that it’s too embarrassing for to hit women. The youngest ones in those lotus-picking girls were at a very young age. I didn't expect that you not only hit them but also paddled their faces. I increasingly feel that I don't understand you anymore."

At first, she had never met Shen Cangfeng. When she only knew that she had such a fiancé, she listened to the news that was spread to Fengzhou from the capital and knew that Shen Cangfeng was a very outstanding man who was highly valued by the family. At that time, she imagined that Shen Cangfeng, the valued son of the Shen Family, who came out of the generation to fight against Western Liang, should be a rude and inexplicable man.

Later, when she met Shen Zhou and tried to infer from Shen Zhou of Shen Cangfeng's appearance and characters, she thought that since they were lineal uncle and nephew, her guesses could not be wrong. Such speculation strengthened her long-timed imagination, and she was very disappointed.

Then, Shen Cangfeng personally rushed to Fengzhou to send the "Lu Hu" sword. Outside the porch of the main room, Wei Changying saw him take down the conical hat to salute Old Madam Song. Although the body of this man in the red cloak was muddy, he was still standing straight like a lance, and his sharpness was fully revealed from his handsome features. He perfectly fitted with the aesthetic taste of Wei Changying. Moreover, his action of putting himself forward at her wits' end almost immediately made Wei Changying's heart skip a beat.

The ones who had never experienced such a thing that the noble lineal daughter of gentlefolk became a person who was reviled by everyone overnight, the sisters who were vindicated by her were ashamed to take the same carriage with her, and the people in her clan all wanted her to die early to maintain the reputation of the family, would be difficult to understand the despair of Wei Changying.

She wasn't grown up in thorns that had been accustomed to cruelty. Before she was assassinated on the highway, she was the treasure of Old Madam Song and Madam Song, who was raised with deep love, the two generations of the matriarchs of Ruiyu Hall. She has never reviled by others, not to mention hearing serious remarks.

With the sudden change of fate, she couldn't help but feel disheartened when she thought of the situation at that time.

If Shen Cangfeng had not rushed to Fengzhou to gift the sword, under the careful plan of her grandmother Old Madam Song, Wei Changying, who had struggled out of the abyss, definitely would not kill herself. But the sadness and anger in her heart would be difficult to get rid of for the rest of her lifetime.

Fortunately, her grandfather Wei Huan was quite discerning. This man, who was similar to her that came from a noble family and had a high status in the family, reached out to her during her darkest agony. Instead of pushing her, he bent over and pulled her out completely and ignored the fact the mundane sludge would also splash on him.

From the looking-back on the porch in the autumn rain that year to the meeting in Locust Court this spring, and then to the accompany since they got married, Wei Changying always thought of her husband as a gentle and generous person that he always seemed to be smiling. Also, he was very considerate.

So before, Wei Changying was annoyed that he was about to hit the lotus-picking boys who might appear but refused to drive away the lotus-picking girl Sister Mei, who teased him before. Thus, Wei Changying thought that Shen Cangfeng was not the kind of person who would draw swords towards women.

But just now, Shen Cangfeng not only hit them but also viciously hurt their features. This would make others feel more contemptuous than killing those women.

Wei Changying did not think that Shen Cangfeng did it all because she annoyed him that he refused to hurt a woman. But men, especially descendants of the distinguished families like Shen Cangfeng, would not hurt a woman in broad daylight due to their identity, let alone destroyed a woman's appearance.

She had thought that since she had married him, she would understand him after these days. But after this matter, Wei Changying became increasingly unsure of Shen Cangfeng's temperament.

Looking at his wife's puzzled gaze and listening to her doubts, Shen Cangfeng stopped smiling and gently said, "Did I scare you?"

"No." Wei Changying shook her head, smiled self-deprecatingly, and said, "I have killed people with my own hands, and it's more than one person. Now it's just a group of injured lotus-picking girls, how can they scare me?"

Shen Cangfeng nodded and gave a sign to ask her to lean into his arms. Wei Changying hesitated a second and followed his words. Shen Cangfeng's lip almost affixed to her ears and said in a voice that was almost could not be heard, "At the beginning of the year, I heard that the Crown Prince favored the beauty of the lotus-picking girls in Jiangnan, but I didn't hear any follow-up later. Today, those women said that they are the Crown Prince's people. Maybe it's true."

The facial expression of Wei Changying changed. Didn't Shen Cangfeng say they were just sham before? So she had put aside this matter.

She wanted to say something but her mouth was concealed by Shen Cangfeng. He continued to say, "The Crown Prince was lustful, and you just wounded the woman with Xu as her surname. When others returned and complain about this, if they haven't fallen out of favor, the Crown Prince would inevitably be vexed with us. We can instead say that they slander the reputation of the Crown Prince and destroyed their appearance so that they would definitely fall out of favor in front of the Crown Prince. At that time, we can just send the Crown Prince a group of beauties as compensation."

"….Those lotus-picking girls didn't look good. why does the Crown Prince like such women?" Wei Changying sincerely could not understand this Crown Prince. Although it could not be said that the women with dark skin must be not beautiful, from Sister Mei to Mrs. Xu, they only had agile movement, and their features were at most delicate. It was said that the Crown Prince was very lascivious. Then how could he dislike the beauty in common sense but like this kind of woman?

Wei Changying felicitated again that Song Zaishui, who was recognized as a beauty, did not marry into the Royalty...

Shen Zangfeng was stunned and said, "It's not the Crown Prince...Well, who knows about the Crown Prince?"

Seeing that he was speaking vaguely and was unwilling to answer, Wei Changying stopped asking questions because she thought there was something inconvenient to speak out. Instead, she awkwardly pulled the gong tao belt of the jade ornament around his waist and said, "I was a bit of impatient and got you into trouble."

"They deserved it." Shen Cangfeng disagreed and said, "If they were a group of lotus-picking boys, I wouldn't just knock their teeth out!" An enormous grin suddenly spread across his face, he bowed his head and rubbed her forehead and said with a smile, "I'm really happy to see Ying'er care about me so much."

How could he even smile...? Knowing that she made troubles, Wei Changying was not in such a good mood. She asked anxiously, "Is the Crown Prince so easy to speak with?"

"Don't take the Crown Prince's people too seriously." Seeing that she was worried, Shen Cangfeng said, "The Crown Prince has so many favorites, how can he treat so lovingly to all of them? Not to mention that this group of lotus-picking girls might be picked and gathered by him on a whim. Even if I don't hurt them today, when the Crown Prince loses interest in them, their fate will not be much better."

He then said, "Even if the Crown Prince is angry, the Empress is a reasonable person and will not offend our family for such a trifle. What's more, I have said that it is because someone was deliberately tarnishing the reputation of the Crown Prince."

Wei Changying did not know about the Royalty well. She was skeptical when she heard this, and said, "I heard the Empress is very shrewd."

"That's why she knows the trade-off." Shen Cangfeng said with a smile, "Don't worry about this. Look, we are almost at Furong Islet. It is just in front of us. We can try the fish soup made by Uncle Xie. Our cook came to learn it several times, yet he failed to learn it."

Wei Changying looked backed and saw that the lotus leaves were gradually sparse in front of her, and there was a driftwood trestle floating on the water, on which there were low pillars, which were used to moor boats. It seemed that it was a space that was specially cleared to berth boats. As expected, there were three or five showboats behind the trestle, which seemed to be tied up with the trestle and could be reached directly through the trestle.

At this time, because the tavern of the Xie Family was the only tavern that was open, and the rest were covered with ash. After lighting up by the sun and setting off by the bright red flowers and green covers, a sense of solitude and decay was revealed.

The showboat with the high-hanging flag of the tavern of the Xie Family had obviously been cleaned, and there were still a few traces of wetness on the shading side of the hull because the lake water washed it. And it could be seen that people were walking inside.

Cao Yingmei parked his boat beside the trestle bridge, used the bamboo spar to fix the boat, called the two men to get onto the trestle bridge. At this time, some people rushed out of the tavern. They were a young man and a young woman, who looked like a couple. The man looked honest, and he bowed to salute from far away. Shen Cangfeng knew how to swim and had been practicing martial arts for a long time so that he could stand steadily. He didn't wait for the man from the tavern to come near to help, and he had already jumped onto the trestle and turned back to help Wei Changying.

When the two men came near, even Wei Changying had already stood on the trestle. She didn't know how to swim, so even if the trestle was very spacious and was only shaking slightly along with the lake water, she still clung Shen Cangfeng's hand tightly and refused to let go.

When the two people from the tavern of the Xie Family came near, they saluted again and said with a smile to Shen Cangfeng, "Third young master never comes here in summer, but you have a very good mood this year."

The woman greeted with all the blessings and also said with a smile, "It's the first time that young madam comes here, so my father-in-law deliberately busy cooking in the kitchen throughout the noon. We are just vulgar people in the village. I hoped that the young madam would forgive us." As expected, they were a couple and should be Uncle Xie's son and daughter-in-law.

Seeing that they were familiar with Shen Cangfeng, Wei Changying said politely, "I heard from my husband that Uncle Xie's cooking skill is excellent."

"Young madam praise us too absurdly. We are just people who lived on the lake and can only cook some small dishes. We only want to give the young madam a taste of fresh food." Although the woman was only a common people, maybe she was used to receiving dignitaries here, she was very articulate and was not restrained by the identity of Wei Changying. She answered Wei Changying with a bright smile.

As they were chatting, they walked towards the tavern. Cao Yingmei fastened the boat and followed them behind.

It was only when they arrived at the restaurant, Wei Changying saw that there were no connections between the showboats and the trestle. There were only a few iron chains that were stretched to the trestle and the plank was laid. So this section of the road was even shakier, and it was swinging like a swing.

Knowing that she was afraid, Shen Cangfeng loosened their holding hands and held her shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, just walk forward."

Just like this, she walked cautiously onto the showboat. Standing on the deck, Wei Changying breathed a sigh of relief. When she was about to speak, but she heard someone in the cabin laughed loudly and said, "As expected, it's Shen San! We've been waiting so long for you!"

This smile was loud and sudden, and it made Wei Changying startled. Then she saw four or five menservants surrounded three men in finery walked out of the cabin. The laugh before was from the man who took the lead. He was about 20 years old, wearing a bamboo crown and a dark indigo blue cloth. He was also holding a folding fan in his hand. It was not for the elegant style but because he could not tolerate the heat. He was fanning himself hard, and his expressions revealed an uninhibited and casual attitude.

Behind him, two men followed him side by side. The one on the left side was wearing an ultramarine round neck robe and a headcloth. Because of the hot weather, his round neck was wet out by sweat and has changed color. This man was white-skinned, and his features were clear and looked very handsome. Wei Changying couldn't help but wonder whether this good-looking man ran into those bold lotus-picking girls and whether they were stopped by them...

The man on the right looked the youngest, and he was not even 20 years old. He wore a crescent-white robe and a bamboo hairpin. His appearance was plain, and his expression seemed very reticent.

At this time, the three people also saw Wei Changying. Because they had already known from the tavern that Shen Cangfeng came here today to bring his wife to visit, now they were busy coming up to greet.

After finishing the etiquette, Shen Cangfeng naturally introduces these three men for his wife. The man who quickly shook his folding fan was the son of the Gu Family in the capital. He was the brother of Gu Yiran, Gu Naizheng, and he was styled "Zilie." The two behind him were the members of the Huo Family in Yunxia. The man in the ultramarine robe was the lineal son of the clan, Huo Zhaoyu, and he was styled "Jiayao". And the man in crescent-white was the son of the concubine of the clan, Huo Zhaoyu's half-blooded younger brother, Huo Chenyuan.

In this way, they introduced themselves to each other. Because of what Gu Naizheng said earlier, Shen Cangfeng asked smilingly, "Brother Zilie, Brother Jiayao, and Brother Huoxian, why are you also here today?"

Gu Naizheng smiled and put away the folding fan. With a heavy blow in the palm of his hand and a look with bitter hatred, Gu Naizheng sighed, "Isn't it because of you?