Nangong Prince's Mansion.
Yu Sui was on her way to see Lady Sheng. The strange incident in the corridor had made her wary, but she encountered nothing else before reaching Lady Sheng's courtyard.
Lady Sheng sat in the Open-air Pavilion, with some Account Books spread across the table. She usually handled the merchant association's accounts here. Yu Sui had already stepped into the pavilion, but Lady Sheng didn't look up, her fingers swiftly clicking the Abacus Beads.
"Auntie." Yu Sui greeted her softly.
Lady Sheng responded absentmindedly. "Sit."
Yu Sui didn't sit. Instead, she asked, "Has Third Brother still not returned from the ancestral home?"
"He left rather late," Lady Sheng replied coolly.
Her indifference didn't make Yu Sui uncomfortable. Nor did Lady Sheng manage to find any trace of the girl's former helplessness and timidity.
Yu Sui strolled over to the pavilion railing and looked down at the Green Leaves and fish swimming in the pond. She grabbed a handful of fish food and scattered it over the water, calm and unhurried.
Lady Sheng was the one who grew impatient and asked outright, "You came back this time and have been so openly targeting him. What happened?"
"I thought you already knew. Isn't that why you called me here?" Yu Sui said with a smile.
Lady Sheng said, "I just can't understand how the two of you ended up like this."
Yu Sui turned around and scattered the rest of the fish food. "Auntie, you're so clever. How could you not understand? If I insist on becoming the Nangong Family's heir, what sibling affection could there possibly be between Third Brother and me?"
She looked down at Lady Sheng, who sat by the table, her attitude as arrogant as it had been toward Sheng Zui that morning.
Lady Sheng