Chapter 6: The Eldest Female Cousin

Slap!

The sound of a slap rang out.

Jixiang had just curled her lips into a smile, but halfway through, her expression froze.

But it wasn't over.

Slap!

Another slap rang out.

The first slap landed on Meng Meijing's left cheek. Meng Shisan's raised hand had not yet descended; instead, she swung it back to deliver another slap to Meng Meijing's right cheek.

Two slaps in quick succession—burning red and perfectly symmetrical.

Baozhu was stunned. Her Miss was actually this fierce!

Immediately following the shock came pride: Her Miss was mighty!

Meng Meijing, however, was thrown completely off balance by the sudden double blow. She was still trapped in her old perception of Meng Liangchen—someone who had always allowed her to humiliate and scold her at will. Today, merely facing a single sentence of cold sarcasm, she was actually struck, leaving her in a state of shock.

After a long moment of daze, her cheeks swelled, and the pain brought tears to her eyes before she finally snapped back to reality.

Being someone who naturally bullied the weak and feared the strong, her first instinct upon waking up was to raise her hand to slap back. However, out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone approaching from not far behind Meng Liangchen, and she instantly changed her mind.

"Sister asked me a question, and I merely replied to her. Why did Sister resort to violence?" Meng Meijing covered her face aggrievedly, two lines of clear tears falling, looking so pitiful that one could not help but feel compassion.

Meng Shisan scrutinized the highly performative Meng Meijing. The tears were real, born from the pain of the slap, but the act of weeping and playing the victim—looking as though she were being bullied for no reason—was fake.

"My mother passed away many years ago. Though she was not your biological mother, the deceased deserves respect. As a junior, you are reckless with your words, constantly disturbing my mother's spirit in heaven. Though we do not share the same womb, we are still sisters connected by blood. It is one thing if you refuse to respect me as your elder sister, but why must you be so aggressive every time, using every word to insult me and suggesting I should follow our late mother more quickly?"

She gave a cold laugh. "For such filial impiety and lack of sibling respect, it is only right that I strike you!"

"Your Highness..." Meng Meijing moved with delicate steps, circling around Meng Liangchen as if she were a wild beast, cautious and fearful. She bowed to Li Shou, her eyes brimming with tears, hoping for his sympathy.

Unfortunately, Li Shou was like a blind man; not only did he ignore Meng Meijing's feigned fragility, but he also kept his eyes fixed on Meng Liangchen.

Sensing something, Meng Shisan turned around and immediately locked eyes with Li Shou. They sized each other up.

His face was as if carved by a knife, his features handsome, and his temperament cold. Beneath his sword-like eyebrows that swept toward his temples, a pair of phoenix eyes stared at her unblinkingly. His thick, long, curled lashes seemed to intentionally flutter, partially veiling his ink-dark pupils. Yet, the flash of sharpness and contemplation that escaped in that brief moment was still captured by her keen senses.

Could he recognize her?

Meng Meijing called him "Your Highness." A prince who could walk so freely in the Meng residence and have Meng Renping accompany him could be none other than the Crown Prince, whose position was secured by the life of the late Empress Xianyuan.

He was Li Shou.

Strange. Based on what Baozhu and Jinyin had told her about the original owner's life, and the circumstances of everyone in the Meng household, the original owner had never met this cousin, the Crown Prince, during her lifetime. Why was his first reaction upon seeing her one of deep, searching scrutiny?

Meng Shisan desperately wanted to ask him right then and there.

But the current situation was truly not an appropriate time.

Her eyebrows were lightly brushed, her bright eyes held a hint of spring, and her porcelain skin was as clear as congealed fat. Her nose was delicate and her lips were as bright as vermilion. Her waist was slender enough to be held in one hand; she possessed peerless beauty and elegant grace. Only her phoenix eyes, shifting with life, held a hint of cunning that stood in stark contrast to the sickly, ill-fated aura of her entire body, adding a layer of contradictory temptation that made him want to know her better.

In particular, she was also sizing him up quite seriously. It seemed she had some doubts in her heart; her head tilted slightly of its own accord, and her bright eyes seemed to be filled with question marks. It looked as though she had a thousand questions but could only hold them back, unable to ask him freely due to her self-restraint. This sight almost made him lose control and reach out to pat her head.

How had he never noticed such an interesting elder cousin before?

If he had met her sooner, perhaps the confusion in his dreams would have been resolved long ago.

But it wasn't too late; there would be plenty of time and opportunities in the future.

Seeing that both Li Shou and Meng Shisan were staring, Ji Kuan whispered to Meng Renping, "Is that your eldest sister?"

The Ji and Meng families were long-time friends and were part of the Crown Prince's faction. Otherwise, one would not have become the Chief of the Crown Prince's Guards, responsible for Li Shou's security through martial prowess, while the other became a Deputy in the Secretariat, assisting through civil service.

The two had grown up together like brothers sharing the same pair of trousers, and they were very familiar with each other's family situations. He had seen Meng Meijing, but he had never seen Meng Liangchen; he only knew that the second branch of the Meng family had an eldest daughter who had been sickly for years.

Seeing her now, after a moment of thought, he guessed who she was.

Meng Renping nodded without a word.

He looked at Li Shou, then at Meng Liangchen. Reason told him he could not allow his eldest sister to continue staring so rudely at His Highness, so he clenched his fist and brought it to his mouth, letting out a loud, forced cough.

"Ahem!"

This sound successfully caused both Li Shou and Meng Shisan to shift their focus, their eyes landing simultaneously on Meng Renping's face.

Meng Renping felt quite uncomfortable under the two gazes. He thought it was strange; the Prince and his eldest sister had been staring at each other for so long without any discomfort, yet as an outsider, his attempt to remind them made things awkward.

Meng Meijing had been both polite and tearful, yet she failed to catch Li Shou's attention. Instead, Meng Shisan had done nothing at all, yet she had caught his eye, making Meng Meijing so angry she nearly bit through her teeth.

Just as Meng Renping was about to say something to ease the inexplicable atmosphere, he was interrupted by Meng Meijing, who began to complain to him: "Brother, Sister hit me!"

Meng Renping had been thinking that since his eldest sister had never met the Prince, he wanted to formally introduce her, but he hadn't expected his second sister to speak first, and to do so by crying to him about being hit by their eldest sister. This sudden turn left him feeling choked up.

He had seen with his own eyes that the second sister was hit by the eldest, and he had heard with his own ears why the eldest had hit her...

As the eldest brother, he was used to being the fair judge in disputes between brothers, deciding who was right and who was wrong. But his younger brothers were rough boys; there was no burden in scolding or even hitting them a few times.

His sisters were different.

They were delicate, lovely, and endearing. Even if they had quarrels, as the eldest brother, he felt he could not bring himself to be harsh, let alone strike them. Fortunately, his two sisters had never had such issues growing up.

Unexpectedly, on the rare occasion that his eldest sister left the house, she was seen by the Prince, and he was suddenly thrown this difficult problem.

As Meng Renping was pondering how to resolve the rift between his two sisters, he heard Li Shou ask him, "Cousin, is this your eldest cousin?"

Eldest cousin?

That was right; his two sisters were indeed the Prince's cousins. The eldest sister was naturally the eldest cousin.

But in the past, when the second sister wanted the Prince to call her "cousin" affectionately, hadn't he refused? Why was he calling the eldest sister "eldest cousin" now?

Upon hearing this, Meng Meijing was indeed greatly shaken. She looked at Li Shou in disbelief—the man who had refused to call her cousin even when she had begged and pleaded, was now calling the "short-lived ghost" she despised most "cousin"!

(End of Chapter)