Chapter 548 - 205: A Meeting
"Dad, if you keep this up, I’m really not getting married!"
"Fine by me. If you really don’t want to marry, I’ll just keep you here at home to be the one in charge. To tell you the truth, I’ve spoiled you since you were a child. The thought of marrying you off to another family just to see you suffer as a daughter-in-law... I truly can’t bear it."
Sheng Saya huffed. "Fine, then I won’t get married. When you’re gone, if my three older sisters prove unreliable and the fallback plans you’ve made are useless, I’ll have no one to support me. With nowhere else to turn, Lian’er and I will just shave our heads and head for the mountains. One of us will become a Monk, and the other a nun."
Upon hearing this, Sheng Mingchuan erupted into a fit of deafening coughs.
’He was just glad the tea in his cup was gone and the maid hadn’t come in to refill it yet. Otherwise, if he’d had a mouthful of tea, he surely would have choked to death right then and there.’
Sheng Mingchuan pointed a finger at Sheng Saya. "You rebellious girl! An absolute rebel! Are you trying to be the death of me?"
Seeing her father’s face turn crimson from coughing, Sheng Saya felt a pang of guilt for what she’d said. ’But wasn’t it because she was just so anxious?’
Sheng Saya hurried over to pat her father’s back. "Please, stop talking. Just take a moment to breathe, you’ll be fine. I was wrong. I won’t say things like that anymore, alright?"
With Sheng Saya rubbing his back, Sheng Mingchuan slowly caught his breath.
But he was still angry and stubbornly refused to speak with his daughter about the marriage proposal.
Sheng Saya, on the other hand, was the one who couldn’t sit still, like she had ants in her pants.
She knelt before her father, tugging on his sleeve. "Look at you. You call me in here and then refuse to talk. Aren’t you just teasing me on purpose?"
"Hmph."
"Dad, my dearest dad, please tell me everything. What’s this about a marriage proposal? There are plenty of families named Chen in the Prefecture. Exactly which one sent someone to put out feelers?"
Sheng Mingchuan ignored her, calling instead for a young maid to come in and pour tea.
"I’ll pour it, I’ll pour it! I’m your daughter. Isn’t it only right and proper that I serve my own father? With me here, there’s no need for anyone else to lift a finger."
As she spoke, she eagerly refilled Sheng Mingchuan’s cup and waited with hopeful eyes for him to speak.
Unfortunately, Sheng Mingchuan couldn’t stand seeing her look so desperate to be married off, so he simply refused to say a word.
Sheng Saya gave up waiting, stood up, and headed for the door.
Seeing this, Sheng Mingchuan quickly called after her, "What are you doing? Don’t you want the answer anymore?"
"Of course I want to know, but you don’t want to tell me, and I can’t force you, can I? You just get some rest. I’ll go find my mother and have her ask you. Ah, I must have paste for brains. Major life events like marriage have always been arranged by parents and matchmakers, so why am I even meddling? This is something you should discuss with Mother."
Sheng Mingchuan’s wife, Sheng Saya’s mother, was around forty when she gave birth to this youngest daughter.
Her health suffered greatly from giving birth at such an advanced age, and then, less than two years later, their eldest son passed away.
Mrs. Sheng was devastated by the blow. She fell gravely ill and was bedridden for several years before she was even able to weakly get back on her feet.
Sheng Mingchuan and his wife were very close. He felt that his son’s death and his wife’s grave illness were his fault, and his heart was filled with guilt and self-reproach.
Though he never spoke of it over the years, his respect for his wife only grew, and he wished he could grant her every whim.
Unfortunately, having lost her son, most of Mrs. Sheng’s spirit had been drained away. If Sheng Saya had not been such a clever little imp—clinging to Mrs. Sheng from a young age, personally tending to her during her illness, and staying extremely close by her side—Mrs. Sheng would have likely followed her eldest son to the grave long ago.
But she was getting on in years, after all. Now approaching sixty, her body was clearly failing her.
Furthermore, the seasons were changing and the weather was turning cooler. She had been feeling unwell these past few days, and he couldn’t bear to make her worry about her daughter’s marriage on top of everything else.
His weak spot thoroughly pinched, Sheng Mingchuan glared, silently threatening Sheng Saya to return.
Sheng Saya did return, but she put on a long face and gave her father the cold shoulder.
Sheng Mingchuan sighed. "You’re really something else. Using your own mother as leverage, and all for some man. How did your mother and I give birth to such a shameless daughter?"
He added resentfully, "That Chen De’an at best has some petty cleverness. He doesn’t even seem as capable as you are. How did he manage to bewitch you like this?"
Sheng Saya paid no mind to her father’s disparaging remarks. The moment she heard him mention Chen De’an, her heart was put at ease.
’So it really is Chen De’an’s branch of the Chen family!’
A sweet feeling bloomed in her heart. A bashful expression crossed her face, but her eyes shone with a crystalline light.
Sheng Mingchuan looked at his daughter’s lovestruck expression and couldn’t help but sigh again. "It’s true what they say: a grown daughter cannot be kept. Keep her too long, and you’ll only turn her into an enemy. What is so special about that Chen De’an, anyway, that you can’t get him out of your head?"