“You…” Shen Dingjiang’s voice rose several degrees higher. “Get back here this instant!”
Shen Jinghong didn’t move.
Standing on the threshold with one hand braced against the doorframe, his shoulders sagged slightly. He looked utterly dejected.
“Father,” he said, “the betrothal documents… can’t be returned.”
Shen Dingjiang thought he had misheard.
“What did you say?”
“The documents can’t be returned!” Shen Jinghong turned around to face his parents. His face was pale, his lips dry, and his eyes red-rimmed. “And they can’t be accepted back either.”
Shen Dingjiang’s brows twisted into a knot.
“Just moments ago, right in front of that young lady, you clearly and plainly talked about breaking off the engagement, about being unworthy of her, about being a burden.
“She agreed. She said the birth-chart papers would be sent back shortly. And now you’re telling me they can neither be returned nor accepted? What are you doing, performing an opera? Flipping back and forth and singing every role yourself?”
Scolded like that, Shen Jinghong shrank his neck slightly, but he stubbornly refused to back down.
“I… I didn’t see her face just now.”
The room fell silent.
Shen Dingjiang froze.
Liu Yunshuang froze too.
The two exchanged a glance before looking back at Shen Jinghong with identical expressions:
What kind of nonsense are you talking about?
Under their stares, Shen Jinghong grew uncomfortable. The tips of his ears slowly turned red, but he didn’t look away.
Liu Yunshuang was the first to understand.
Looking at her son’s guilty yet stubborn expression, something suddenly clicked.
Her brows slowly furrowed, then gradually relaxed, finally settling into a look that was equal parts helpless and amused.
“Shen Jinghong.”
She called him by his full name.
His back immediately stiffened.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
His mouth opened, but no words came out.
Liu Yunshuang looked at him for a moment, took a deep breath, and folded her arms across her chest.
“So from beginning to end, while you were in that room, you never actually saw her face?”
Shen Jinghong shook his head.
“She was wearing a hat. The veil covered everything… I couldn’t see.”
“Then how did you suddenly arrive at ‘the engagement can neither be broken nor accepted’?”
Liu Yunshuang’s tone was calm and unhurried, but every word struck directly at his weak spot.
“When she was leaving, the wind lifted the veil and you caught a glimpse of her, didn’t you?”
Shen Jinghong didn’t answer.
But his silence was answer enough.
Liu Yunshuang nodded slowly.
A look of pure disdain appeared on her face.
After a pause, she said,
“Shen Jinghong, you really are obsessed with appearances.”
The remark wasn’t harsh. If anything, it carried a trace of teasing.
Yet to Shen Jinghong, it hurt more than any beating from his father.
His face instantly turned scarlet, from his cheeks all the way to his ears.
“I’m not!” he blurted out. “That’s not why ”
“You sounded so mature in there just now.”
Liu Yunshuang cut him off calmly.
“‘I’m not worthy of her.’ ‘I’d only burden her.’ ‘Breaking off the engagement is for the best.’
“You had a whole speech prepared. Listening to you, I thought my son had finally grown up, learned to be considerate, and started thinking of others.”
She paused.
“And then one gust of wind came along, you saw her face once, and all of that went straight out the window.”
Shen Jinghong opened his mouth to argue.
But he found he couldn’t.
Because every word his mother said was true.
The moment he saw that face, every bit of logic in his head, every thought about being unworthy, every conviction that ending the engagement was best
Vanished completely.
Watching him, Liu Yunshuang shook her head, torn between irritation and amusement.
“I’ve never seen anyone as shallow as you.”
“So what if I am shallow?!”
All his embarrassment, indignation, frustration, and grievance exploded out at once.
The shout was so loud that a maid passing through the corridor nearly dropped her tea tray.
Shen Dingjiang stood there stunned, mouth hanging open.
At the doorway, Shen Jinghong’s chest rose and fell violently. His face was red, his eyes were red, and after glaring at his mother and then his father, he added with complete confidence:
“You think Father didn’t fall for your looks too? I inherited it from him!”
Liu Yunshuang froze.
Her expression shifted from shock to disbelief.
As for Shen Dingjiang
His face went from red to purple, from purple to green.
Even beneath his thick beard, the skin turned the color of pig liver at a visible speed.
His lips trembled.
His fingers trembled.
His entire body trembled.
“You… you little…”
“You shameless brat!”
He lunged forward, raising a hand the size of a fan.
Fortunately, Shen Jinghong had been prepared.
He dodged sideways and immediately hid behind his mother.
“Father! I’m telling the truth! Don’t deny it!”
“I’ll beat you to death!”
Shen Dingjiang charged after him.
“Mother! Save me!”
Clinging to Liu Yunshuang’s shoulders, Shen Jinghong hid behind her, exposing only half his head.
Liu Yunshuang stood her ground.
One hand blocked her husband.
The other shielded her son.
“That’s enough!”
Her sharp command instantly silenced both men.
Shen Dingjiang’s raised hand froze midair.
Shen Jinghong’s shouting stopped at once.
Liu Yunshuang looked at her husband, then at her son.
After taking a deep breath, she said in a voice weary beyond words:
“The two of you every last one of you is hopeless.”
She pointed at Shen Dingjiang.
“You’re how old now? And you’re arguing with your son like this? Aren’t you afraid people will laugh at you?”
Shen Dingjiang shut his mouth, though his face remained purple with rage.
Then she turned to Shen Jinghong.
He instinctively shrank back and offered a sheepish grin.
“And you.”
Her voice was quiet.
“If even half a word of what you just said gets out, your father won’t be the one breaking your legs I will.”
Shen Jinghong nodded so fast he looked like a pecking chicken.
“No, no, absolutely not! I was just talking! Just talking!”
Liu Yunshuang pressed a hand to her forehead.
She could feel another headache coming on.
“The betrothal papers.”
Lowering her hand, she looked directly at her son.
“You say they can neither be returned nor accepted. Then what exactly do you plan to do?”
The grin faded from Shen Jinghong’s face.
He stepped out from behind her and stood before his parents.
All traces of his usual carefree attitude disappeared.
“I…”
What was he going to do?
He had no idea.
He only knew the papers couldn’t be returned.
If they were, everything would truly be over.
He only knew they couldn’t be accepted back either.
If they were, then all the words spoken today would become final.
He only knew he couldn’t let that girl disappear from his life.
But beyond that
He had no idea what to do.
Looking at his parents, his face held a bewilderment they had never seen before.
“I want…”
His voice was very quiet.
“I want to see her one more time.”
Liu Yunshuang said nothing.
Neither did Shen Dingjiang.
The room remained silent for a long time.
In the distance, faint laughter and conversation drifted from the waterside pavilion, where the guests were still waiting.
Meanwhile, on this side of the residence, half of the Shen family’s sky had already come crashing down.
Shen Jinghong stood there, unconsciously rubbing the edge of his sleeve with his fingers.