Wei Changying originally went to Furong Islet for a relaxation. However, after meeting a group of rude and cunning lotus-picking girls, she encountered Gu Naizheng, an impolite man of a great family. Therefore, her pleasure was totally spoiled. Now, she was eager to have a rest in the court after lunch.

Except Gu Naizheng, it was a hard lunchtime for people. After they finished the meal and then put their chopsticks on the table in a cold sweat, they felt a little relieved.

As they left, they said goodbye to Uncle Xie and his family who were cleaning the table. During this period, Uncle Xie specially greeted his guests. When Wei Changying watched this man over sixty years old, she thought that he was not as old as he looked, because his son and daughter-in-law were still rather young. It was likely that the person on the lake worked so hard that he looked older than he actually was.

He was a merciful old man with a slight trace of fishy smell, but his behavior was polite. Since he opened a tavern in this place, he had served many noble people. Despite he had known nothing before, now after a long time of business, he was adept at serving his noble guests.

In general, it would have been a nice day if Wei Changying had not encountered Gu Naizheng.

Unfortunately, she not only met him, but also was enthusiastically invited by him, after getting off the showboat to land the pier, “It must be fate that we have met again, so what about departing from Furong Islet together? If so, it will be interesting on our way home.”

The brothers of the Huo Family noticed Wei Changying’s angry face, in a cold sweat, so they stopped Gu Naizheng with an embarrassing smile, “Brother Zilie, Brother Zilie! Do you mean that we are too foolish to talk with you? If not, we are willing to chat with you on our way home. And why do we disturb Brother Yaoye and his wife?”

The brothers of the Huo Family thought, “This couple didn’t want to be disturbed, so there were no maids serving them as they went boating and had lunch. However, we have annoyed them after we lunched with them. Now, you continue offending them by this suggestion, so do you want to be revenged by them?”

Gu Naizheng glanced them with a contempt and said, “Brother Jiayao, you are too honest to get the point of my interesting words. Sometimes, you even deliberately dodge them. As a man of integrity, you are rather dull. So, I prefer talking with Brother Yaoye.”

Huo Zhaoyu was so gentle that he merely bitterly smiled, after being teased by Gu Naizheng in public, without any anger. As for Huo Chenyuan, he was also twitted by him despite he silently restrained Gu Naizheng with his lineal brother. “As for Brother Chenyuan, if not necessary, you don’t utter a word. So, Vice-premier Wei even... Forget it. Therefore, what could I speak to you two brothers in a boat?”

People were all speechless.

Wei Changying privately ground her teeth, squeezing out a smile, and said, “Brother Zilie, you are wrong. In your view, the brothers of the Huo Family are not interesting, but why did you come here with them before? Therefore you...” Wei Changying could not bear Gu Naizheng, hoping that he would return home with Huo Zhaoyu and Huo Chenyuan who had accompanied him to arrive at this place before.

Gu Naizheng interrupted her in an impolite manner. He violently shook his fan and said shamelessly, “You may not know the reason. For one thing, no one accompanied me to come here, so I had to walk with them; for another thing, their arrival was smooth. And you will get it soon.”

Wei Changying took an awkward look at the brothers of the Huo Family. Huo Zhaoyu remained a bitter smile while Huo Chenyuan lowered his head, keeping silent. How poor they were! Although being jeered by Gu Naizheng for many times, they didn’t show any trace of irritation. Perhaps it was because they had been used to being taunted by Gu Naizheng, or because as gentlemen, they didn’t know how to get along with Gu Naizheng whose character was bad.

They were not alone. Shen Cangfeng didn’t know how to get on with Gu Naizheng, either. Wei Changying let out her breath in a deep sigh and thought to herself, “I will ask Mrs. Cao to help us get rid of them. After she untied the rope, we should quickly row a boat to leave away, totally ignoring the shout of Gu Zilie.”

As she plotted this idea, they had arrived at the spot where they anchored their boat. It occurred to Wei Changying something as she only saw her small boat which she took with Shen Cangfeng.

Shen Cangfeng also realized what she had thought of, so he asked in astonishment, “Brother Zilie, Brother Jiayao, Brother Chenyuan, have you gone the wrong way?”

After meeting these three men, Wei Changying was first tricked by Gu Naizheng, and then shocked by his awful character, so she didn’t consider this situation. However, Shen Cangfeng knew that there were other landing stages to anchor boats. He only told them there were no other boats beside his, so the boat of Gu Naizheng and his companions must be anchored in another place.

They reached here as they had a talk with each other. There was only one boat, so Shen Cangfeng thought that they had gone the wrong way. Wei Changying let out a sigh of relief. Their boats were not tied together, so she didn’t have to privately ask Mrs. Cao to do something. As they left, everything would be OK.

However, something unexpected happened.

Gu Naizheng, Huo Zhaoyu and Huo Chenyuan were startled to ask, after gazing at the lake for a few seconds, “Where is our boat?”

Shen Cangfeng and Wei Changying were both speechless.

Shen Cangfeng paused for a while and then coughed to hide his embarrassment, “Have you also anchored your boat as you arrived here?”

“Of course, we have,” answered Gu Naizheng. He suddenly folded his fan and then tightly clutched it. His eyes fixed at the lake as if he wanted to have his boat come out from the water. “We came here in the purpose of the tavern of the Xie Family, so the boat was anchored nearest it. But now, where is it?”

Where was their boat?

Besides him, Wei Changying stopped complaining about them, but considered where their boat was on their behalf. As for the place, Furong Islet was close to the center of Spring Grass Lake, so it was not a coincidence that someone had stolen the boat in this remote place. As for the missing boat, the one that Wei Changying and Shen Cangfeng took was common. And residents along the lake all at least had one boat, so it was not rare. Moreover, it was not easy to move it nearby the Furong Islet filled with lotus flowers and leaves. If someone stole the boat and then were caught, it would be misfortune to be a thief and even offend noble people. Therefore, who would be so silly to do this thing?

The key was that, in this season, someone should not have been in Furong Islet. If a thief were here, how silly he or she would be?

After thinking for a while, Wei Changying thought that it was most likely that Gu Naizheng and the brothers of the Huo Family didn’t remember the right place where they had anchored their boat. If there were only Gu Naizheng who was unreliable, Wei Changying must suspect that he was to blame for it. However, the brothers of the Huo Family accompanying him were enough reliable, and was it likely that the three men and their servants all mistook the place?

It was also likely that the boat had sunk into the lake. However, Spring Grass Lake was clear, without any impurities except mud, and Furong Islet was shallow, so the bottom of the lake could be seen clearly.

All of them looked at each other in speechless despair for a while. Wei Changying asked, “Is it likely that you didn’t tie tightly the boat, so it floated in the midst of the lotus flowers?” This speculation was also possible.

However, the servant of Gu Naizheng immediately explained, “Young Madam Wei, I used to live here, so I am good at anchoring the boat as a child. It is always breezes and gentle waves in Furong Islet despite there are strong wind and waves outside. In summer, this islet is surrounded by reeds, so there is almost no wind here. The pole to which attached the boat is still here, so I promise that it is impossible that the missing boat is loosely tied.”

Shen Cangfeng squeezed Wei Changying’s hand and said, “The lotus flowers nearby are not affected, so the boat perhaps did not float there.”

“I got it,” suddenly shouted Gu Naizheng, with a furious face, grinding his teeth, as others were thinking about where the boat was. He patted his palm with the folding fan and snarled, “It must be done by that pack of shameless hussies.”

That pack of shameless hussies? Wei Changying at once recalled the group of lotus-picking girls.

As expected, Huo Zhaoyu and Huo Chenyuan looked upset as well. Huo Zhaoyu said with a deep frown, “Those girls have left, right?”

“Therefore, they are mean,” said Gu Naizheng. As a lineal son of the Gu Family of clan in the Capital City, he was nobler than Gu Yiran, his family brother. However, he was not better than Gu Yiran in cultivation and appearance of a great family. He spoke out insulted words before Wei Changying, “They are too black and ugly to be qualified to seduce a man. How shameless they are! I used to think that they would correct their behavior after being touched by my criticized words. As they left, they looked a little guilty. Unexpectedly, these bitches are vengeful. At that time, they feared me, so they didn’t retort me. As I walked into the tavern, they stole my boat. How shameless they are!”

Wei Changying was pretty astounded.

She understood what had happened to Gu Naizheng and the brothers of the Huo Family. After reaching here, they met the lotus-picking girls. Huo Zhaoyu was so handsome that he was stopped and then flirted with by the girls.

Huo Zhaoyu was gentle, so he perhaps ignored or directly rejected them. Because Wei Changying had personally experienced it before, she speculated that the girls, who had gotten used to these two reactions, would continue harassing him.

However, these girls were not lucky enough because they met Gu Naizheng. His looks, clothes and status met the standards of a great family, but his character and behavior were far from them. He was even more sharp-tongue than a douche bag in the street.

In his view, the lotus-picking girls were shameless and mean, not because they flirted with a handsome man, which was against a woman’s moral behavior. However, it was because they were too black and ugly to be qualified to attract men. Gu Naizheng looked down upon their looks, which were not skinned-fair, so he called them shameless bitches.

What worse was that Gu Naizheng must directly say those words or fully expressed his contempt in front of those girls.

The silver-tongued girls who were hard to get rid of were irritated by Gu Naizheng’s sharp and vicious words, so they didn’t want to quarrel with him. Supported by the Crown Prince, they would revenge on Gu Naizheng.

They carried out their vengeful plan after Gu Naizheng left. They stole his boat in an effort to trap he and his companions in Furong Islet.

The brothers of the Huo Family were dragged by him to an awkward situation again.

Wei Changying took a deep breath. As Gu Naizheng and Shen Cangfeng talked about the solution, she asked Huo Chenyuan not far from her in a low voice, “Brother Zilie have spoken out those words to the girls, and as you walked into the tavern, why not leave a servant to guard the boat here?”

It was not far from the tavern of the Xie Family. And everything could be seen from the deck of the tavern.

There were not so many people now, so it would be impossible if someone kept watching the boat. However, if only one person had stayed here and shouted as something strange occurred, he must have prevented the girls stealing the boat.

Huo Chenyuan didn’t expect that Wei Changying would talk with him, so he whispered after being surprised for a while, “Young Madam Wei, at that time, those girls rapidly fled away. Brother Zilie guessed that they would never appear near the lake again this year.”

He hesitantly added, “What Brother Zilie spoke to them was a little offensive, but my brother and I agreed with his conclusion.”

In other words, the brothers of the Huo Family were convinced that the lotus-picking girls had been humiliated by Gu Naizheng’s vicious words, so these girls would not dare to appear again this year. These brothers seemed honest, so it could be imagined that Gu Naizheng was pretty not reliable. Therefore, the poorest people were not the couple who didn’t want to be disturbed, but the innocent brothers.

As Gu Naizheng finished the talk with Shen Cangfeng for a while, he unfolded his fan, shaking it for many times. Suddenly, he turned to his head to glare at Huo Zhaoyu, as though he knew what Wei Changying had thought.

Others were confused by his behavior, but then they saw Gu Naizheng poke Huo Zhaoyu with one finger and snarled, “It is all your fault. Why are you so handsome that you have attracted those ugly women to disturb us? Now they stole our boat, so we cannot return home. How innocent I am as I am dragged by you today!”

How shameless he was! Wei Changying thought that her vision was too narrow before.