Chapter 263: Another Secret

Dong Biren looked into the distance, with nostalgia in his deep eyes.

After a long time, he stated, “Shi Lei replied that he learnt it from me. It’s said that things of a kind come together and people of a mind fall into the same group, so he was the same kind of person as me…

“Listen. He just acted shamelessly.”

Dong Biren said the last words with a smile after he turned to Shi Qingxue.

Before Shi Qingxue responded, he continued, “At that time, I said he was captious, but he didn’t admit it and insisted that what he said was the truth, and he asked me to find a reason to retort him. He even argued that if I, a Confucian scholar couldn’t find an argument, then it proved that he was right.”

Shi Qingxue didn’t know that Shi Lei was so fun when he was young, and she was anxious to know more. “Grandpa, did you find a reason to retort him?”

Dong Biren glanced at Shi Qingxue gloomily and asked in reply, “Didn’t you learn from that old guy to act shamelessly? I can’t even retort you. Do you think that I found a reason later?”

Shi Qingxue was stunned, and after a long while, she realized that Dong Biren said in an indirect way that she acted shamelessly.

She didn’t retort but laughed proudly and nodded to echo him. “As you said, I learnt it from my grandpa.”

So if there was a problem, he had to find her paternal grandpa.

She didn’t say the last words, while the complacency on her face showed her feelings.

After many years, when Dong Biren saw somebody act shamelessly again, he was powerless to resist it as always.

He looked at Shi Qingxue and sighed with emotion yet felt relieved. He murmured, “Your grandpa didn’t waste his effort on you.”

Shi Qingxue lowered her head while feeling guilty and looked dejected. “But I didn’t finish what he expected.”

She paused for a while and then expressed in a hoarse voice, “When my grandpa gave me the token granted by Emperor, he said that he hoped it could protect me for a lifetime, but I know that in fact he pinned his hope on me. Unfortunately, I…”

Unfortunately, she didn’t make Duke Shi’s mansion prosperous gradually yet it fell apart while it looked peaceful on the surface.

Qingxue thought that she was guilty in front of Shi Lei and later even had no courage to visit his memorial tablet in the ancestral hall.

Dong Biren didn’t know what had happened in the previous life, so he thought Shi Qingxue was modest.

He caressed Shi Qingxue’s head and stated with affection, “You have done a very good job, but you are powerless to do something… Why are you feeling guilty?”

“In the past…” Dong Biren recalled the past, with unspeakable emotions on his face.

It was depressing and complicated.

He didn’t look at Shi Qingxue and seemed to be immersed in his emotions. Then he mumbled, “If Shi Lei didn’t do something like that because of the herb, perhaps everything wouldn’t happen today.”

In the beginning, Shi Qingxue fell into self-loathing and could hardly extricate herself. She was stunned to hear Dong Biren’s words suddenly. Then she finally realized that they were not on the same page seemingly.

“The herb?”

“Right!” Dong Biren replied with emotion. “The herb would be used to save a life, but unexpectedly, the life couldn’t be saved, yet the happiness of several generations was ruined, including your parents and even you…”

Dong Biren abruptly stopped talking. He met Shi Qingxue’s confused eyes in embarrassment and realized what he had said. Then he hurriedly shut his mouth and didn’t say more.

Shi Qingxue thought by instinct that what Dong Biren said might be about a big secret, and how would she stop in this way? She grabbed her grandfather’s sleeve and shook it constantly. “Grandpa, why did you stop? What is that herb? Can it save a life? Why didn’t it make it? Did somebody else use it? Or somebody with evil intentions didn’t give the herb to my grandpa?

“What on earth happened? Tell me now!”

Shi Qingxue asked all her questions quickly, and before she got the answer to the last question, she replied to herself.

She talked rapidly, yet Dong Biren was astonished while listening.

Dong Biren hadn’t expected that Shi Qingxue would find some clues from his few words after he just spoke casually and didn’t reveal anything. Moreover, what she concluded was close to the truth, even though she didn’t know that.

Dong Biren made a lot of efforts to restrain his shock and pretended to be calm, interrupting Shi Qingxue’s guess. “Fine. Don’t make blind conjectures. I just said that casually and it has nothing to do with you as the young generation. Don’t waste time on something like this.”

“It has nothing to do with us?” Shi Qingxue murmured and suddenly had a brainwave. She blurted out, “Does it have something to do with my paternal grandma?”

Dong Biren turned pale in surprise and looked at Shi Qingxue in a daze, remaining silent.

However, at the moment, his silence revealed something.

Shi Qingxue got the answer from Dong Biren’s expression.

Nevertheless, she wasn’t satisfied as a result because she was more and more doubtful.

“It has something to do with my grandma? What is the relationship? Does it have something to do with my father, or…” Shi Qingxue lowered her head and whispered, beginning to think divergently.

Dong Biren heard that and felt his scalp numb. He stopped her in a hurry. “Fine, fine. Girl, why do you guess randomly? Don’t you want to see your mother? If you don’t go, I will kick you out.”

His threat was quite effective.

Shi Qingxue immediately shut her mouth and made a gesture of silence, expressing that she wouldn’t ask him anymore.

After a while, she peeped at Dong Biren cautiously. “Grandpa, can I go to see Mother now?”

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“Go. I knew that you didn’t come to play Go with me sincerely. If you don’t see your mother, how would you be in the mood to play?” Dong Biren seemed to dislike Shi Qingxue and waved at her. Then he turned around and didn’t want to talk with her.

Shi Qingxue was seen through and didn’t retort. She just giggled.

Then she stated, “I am going to see if Mother is well. Then I will come again to play with you.”

Dong Biren was anxious to send this girl away, in case that she sounded him out and lured him to reveal all the secrets, so how would he dare to let her play Go with him?

Unexpectedly, hearing that Dong Biren didn’t want her to play with him, Shi Qingxue refused to leave.

Her big eyes got red in an instant, and it seemed more effective than anything.

“Grandpa, you dislike me again… Purr, I know…”

Shi Qingxue repeated what she had performed in front of Dong Biren.

Logically, Dong Biren should be immune from this. However, as soon as he saw the red and swollen eyes like a rabbit’s, he could do nothing but get helpless and feel sad for her.

“Fine. You won. Just ask what you want to.”

Shi Qingxue was quite complacent in her heart and secretly made a gesture of victory. However, when she faced Dong Biren, she was obedient.

She looked at Dong Biren seriously and expressed sincerely, “Grandpa, I hope that you can frankly tell me what happened that year. Is there a secret that I don’t know yet I should know?”

From Shi Qingxue’s serious eyes, Dong Biren seemed to see his bosom friend who was fearless to the truth.

He was in a trance for a moment.

After quite a while, he murmured, “They are old stories, and the people involved passed away long ago. What’s the point of mentioning them again?”

Shi Qingxue didn’t shrink back at all and just stressed each word. “I am a weak woman, but since I promised my grandpa, I should protect the Shi family and never give it up. Now the family is shaky, yet I always think that I am confused and can’t find the root of the problem, let alone defending against disasters and punish the evil people.

“So, Grandpa, please consider my filial piety and tell me what you know.”

Afterward, she thought that Dong Biren kept the secret because he was probably afraid that if the news spread, it would do harm to the Shi family, so she raised her right hand and swore, “I swear, I will keep my mouth shut after I learn the truth from you today. I will never tell anybody else. If I break my word, I will…”

Before she finished her words, Dong Biren interrupted her forcefully.

Dong Biren spat to the floor several times and whispered, “Take no offense at a child’s babble. Please forgive her…”

After that, he looked at Shi Qingxue again and sighed as if complaining. “If your grandpa knows that I force you to swear, he would jump out of his coffin and pinch me to death.”

“Grandpa, it’s none of your business. I am willing to…”

Dong Biren shook his head and stopped her from speaking more.

The old man sighed deeply and then explained slowly, “In fact, it’s not a secret. However, because ‘the person concerned’ was guilty, it made this thing become a taboo in all people’s hearts.”

“The person concerned”, “all people”, “guilty”…

The more Dong Biren explained, the more confused Shi Qingxue was.

She almost cried. Who would unravel the mysteries in this way?

When she was about to protest, Dong Biren waved his hand again and talked to her almost in a solemn tone. “To be honest, it is not a secret, but as an outsider, I shouldn’t talk about this thing. So, my little girl, don’t force me anymore, okay?”

Shi Qingxue goggled speechlessly. Could she say no?

The little girl was fooled by the old man and couldn’t ask more, and she couldn’t make a scene and insist on asking her grandpa to tell her about this matter.

Fortunately, the old man didn’t intend to hide it from his granddaughter.

He pondered for a moment and then suggested, “If you want to know, you can go to the Shi family’s ancestral graveyard to have a look. You are so smart, and maybe you can find a clue.”

With that, Dong Biren left directly.

Shi Qingxue was left alone and puzzled. She didn’t have a clue.

“Humph! You don’t tell me, but I can check it by myself.”

The only thing that Shi Qingxue could be sure of was that this matter had something to do with Mo Shujun.

As long as she knew this point, she wouldn’t give up investigating.

She encouraged herself in secret and ran slowly to Dong Hui’s bedroom.

Shi Qingxue hoped that there was nothing wrong with her mother after she was irritated by Mo Shujun so much.

However, anyway, she couldn’t hide the fact that Shi Junhe would marry Leng Yan as his concubine.

At this thought, Shi Qingxue felt that the future was hazy.

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