In the teahouse, the air was filled with a sickeningly sweet smell.
Wen Shu was pressed against the door, her voice desperate and pleading. "Si Mocan, no... my mother is outside..."
"Just relax."
Si Mocan's deep, ambiguous voice echoed in Wen Shu's ears. She bit her lower lip, her face flushed as she endured the continuous onslaught from the man behind her, daring not make a sound.
Outside, the sound of footsteps went back and forth. Her mother, Jiang Xinyan's voice rang out from behind the door, "Where did that rebellious girl run off to? On such an important day, daring to cause trouble!"
Wen Shu shivered, terrified her mother would barge in at any minute.
"Please, let me go..." she pleaded softly.
But the man would not relent, toying with her non-stop, almost making her let out a cry.
At that moment, the footsteps halted at the door. "Why is the tea room door locked?"
Jiang Xinyan's footsteps were getting closer.
"... " Only then did Si Mocan retreat abruptly.
Wen Shu's legs gave out. She collapsed onto the floor.
Right in front of her was a mirror meant for straightening one's appearance. Seeing her flushed face and disheveled clothing in the mirror, Wen Shu grimaced, a bitter smile curled at the corner of her lips.
"Si Mocan, we can't continue like this."
Behind her, the impeccably dressed and handsome Si Mocan looked down at her, his eyes filled with mockery. He taunted her, "Are you truly planning to cut ties with me?"
Wen Shu hung her head low, pressing a hand on an undone button on her blouse, biting her bottom lip without responding.
Sī Mò Hán sneered coldly, "Wen Shu, you're really growing more capable."
Finishing his words, he left the tea room through the side door.
Upon his departure, Wen Shu rose and immediately adjusted her attire in front of a mirror.
Just then, the door to the tea room swung open, and a frantic Wen Shu twisted her head towards it, meeting the gaze of Jiang Xinyan.
Seeing Wen Shu's flustered demeanor and her unusually flushed complexion, Jiang Xinyan immediately interrogated, "What are you doing here? Why is your face so red?"
"I... I caught a cold. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so I thought of getting a cup of hot water from the tea room."
"A cold? Weren't you all well when you came to the mansion this afternoon? How did you come down with a cold all of a sudden?" Jiang Xinyan questioned.
On hearing her words, Wen Shu nervously pursed her lips. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of being caught red-handed and quickly racked her brain for an excuse to divert the situation.
But, owing to her overt nervousness, her mind seemed to have crashed and she couldn’t come up with any explanation.
"I…"
Just as she was unsure how to respond, someone nearby called out for the Old Master.
Jiang Xinyan immediately came to her senses and said, "Nevermind, come with me!" It was time for dinner and being disdained at Sī’s was already a given for them. Fearful of upsetting the Old Master by being the last ones to arrive, she didn't probe further and quickly pulled Wen Shu out of the tea room.
By the time the mother-daughter duo reached the dining room, more than half of the seats around the three large round tables were already filled.
Jiang Xinyan exhaled in relief, thanking her lucky stars she was not the last to arrive.
The Si family reunion dinner was bustling, with three large round tables crammed with people. Despite the festivity, nobody took the initiative to engage in conversation with Wen Shu.
Wen Shu couldn't be bothered to interact with the Si family members either. She kept her head low, sitting quietly on the dining chair, waiting for the meal to start.
Suddenly, she heard someone at the main table say, "Second Brother, we've been waiting for you. Didn't you arrive at the Si mansion quite awhile ago? Where have you been hiding?"
Looking up, she saw Si Mohan lightly answering, "I was busy with something just now."
Perhaps she was too sensitive, but she felt like Si Mohan glanced at her when he said that.
Feeling self-conscious, she lowered her head, her face flushing all of a sudden.
Si Mohan took off his suit jacket and threw it over the back of his chair. He gave indifferent, perfunctory responses to those who addressed him, yet nobody dared to show any sign of dissatisfaction towards him.
In the Si family, he had always been revered and chased after by everyone.
He was always respected.
His experiences were entirely different from Wen Shu's.
When she was eight years old, her mother, Jiang Xinyan, remarried - marrying Si Mohan's fifth uncle.
The younger generation of the Si family was named sequentially, from the eldest to the youngest, from the Master Si to Miss Six. Try as they might to blend in, they nonetheless revealed their Si family membership.
But only Wen Shu was called "Miss Wen" by the servants.
It was a clear marker that she was an outsider.
"Master was originally dissatisfied with us, mother and daughter," whispered Jiang Xinyan. "Today, you've been running around and almost delayed the start of the family feast. Luckily, we arrived in time, or else the Master would blame us again."
Wen Shu's mother was a remarried woman and ever since she married into the Si family, she had been discriminated against constantly. After the death of Si Mochan's fifth uncle, Wen Shu and her mother were no longer welcomed in the Si family.
Even the family’s servants gossiped that Jiang Xinyan was a husband-killer and that Wen Shu was a disaster star.
Jiang Xinyan lived in the Si family as if she were beneath others, and therefore paid extra attention to the family rules.
Wen Shu was so accustomed to her mother's constant nagging that she barely paid any attention to it. All she could think about now was the questions Si Mochan had asked her in the tea room.
He wanted to buy her a car, but she had turned him down.
This relationship, she felt, should come to an end...
As the meal gradually proceeded, Wen Shu's thoughts were dragged back to reality.
At this time, the servant presented a bowl of braised pork, and suddenly, a tempting scent of meat permeated the air.
Wen Shu didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt nauseous. She forced herself to resist the discomfort, trying to avoid the smell, but could not help but gag, “Ugh…”
The rules of the Si family were strict, and the dining rules were plenty. After the formal start of the meal, there was less chitchat.
Wen Shu's gagging immediately drew everyone's attention.
Some even frowned, seemingly unsatisfied.
At this moment, the distant aunt sitting directly opposite Wen Shu, sarcastically said, "Little Wen, what's wrong with you? Your look of nausea resembles my condition when I was pregnant. You better not follow those unruly girls who get pregnant before marriage! Our Si family has a pristine reputation; we can't afford such disgrace."
