The streets bustled with activity, packed with people. Worried that Ning Sang-sang would get jostled, Ning Chengxiao said, "Sang-sang, let's go play by the river."
There were simply too many people on the main street, and the smells of rouge and face powder filled the air. Ning Sang-sang no longer wanted to stroll there either, so she nodded without hesitation. "All right."
By the time the three of them reached the river, a crowd had already gathered. Young men and women lined the banks, setting flower lanterns afloat.
"Big Sister, do you want to float a flower lantern? I'll go buy one," Ning Hui asked, turning toward Ning Sang-sang.
Ning Sang-sang said, "No. There are too many people. Let's just stand here and watch them float theirs."
Ning Hui glanced at the riverbank. There really were too many people launching lanterns.
Watching the young men and women floating their lanterns, Ning Chengxiao couldn't help recalling past Double Seventh Festivals, when he and Bai Xinrou had floated flower lanterns together...
As he reminisced, his younger sister's clear voice rang out:
"Second Brother, look over there! There's a surprise."
Ning Chengxiao came back to himself and looked where Ning Sang-sang was pointing. A young couple was happily nestled together, floating flower lanterns. The woman gazed at the man with a smile blooming like a flower, her eyes brimming with tender affection. They were none other than Bai Xinrou and Lin Shijie. Ning Chengxiao's expression instantly turned cold. That morning, she had still been telling him how deeply she loved him, yet that evening she was acting so intimate with Lin Shijie. He must have been blind to fall for a fickle, wanton woman like Bai Xinrou.
Ning Hui also looked where Ning Sang-sang was pointing. Seeing Bai Xinrou and Lin Shijie embracing by the river, he raised his brows and teased Ning Chengxiao, plainly eager to fan the flames. "Second Brother, isn't that your beloved Miss Xinrou, so innocent and kind? How come she's gone behind your back to be with Lin Shijie?"
"Shut up!" Ning Chengxiao shot him an icy look.
Ning Hui's lips moved, then he fell silent. He figured his second brother must feel awful after witnessing the woman he loved betray him. He had better stop running his mouth and provoking him. Otherwise, if his brother passed out from anger, he would have to carry him home.
[Second Brother, surprised? Didn't see that coming, did you? Love is a beam of light, glowing cuckold-green.]
[Eww, now that I look, Second Brother really does seem green all over, like a green-haired turtle.]
Ning Sang-sang teased him inwardly.
Ning Hui couldn't suppress his amusement, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.
Ning Chengxiao: "..."
His younger brother and sister really were both eager to stir up trouble for their own entertainment. All they knew how to do was rub salt into his wounded heart, without offering him a scrap of comfort.
Bai Xinrou had spoiled Ning Chengxiao's mood, leaving him with no desire to keep strolling. Ning Sang-sang and Ning Hui were also tired of the crowds, so the three of them headed home.
Chen Zihao stormed up to the residence at No. 83, East City Orchid Alley, with two guards. He ordered them to kick the gate open, then marched inside with his head held high. He still clung to a shred of hope, convinced that Ning Sang-sang must have been spouting nonsense. His wonderful father couldn't possibly be keeping a mistress behind his mother's back.
But that last shred of hope soon shattered. The moment he entered the courtyard, he saw his father behaving intimately with an attractive woman. His face darkened at once.
"Zihao, wh-what are you doing here?" Duke Chen's expression stiffened when he spotted his son. He glanced fearfully behind him. Seeing only two guards and no sign of his tigress of a wife, Duke Chen breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Who is this woman?" Chen Zihao demanded angrily.
Caught keeping a mistress, Duke Chen was wracked with guilt and at a loss. Hearing his son's furious question, he knew that fiery temper would explode if he learned she was his mistress. He steeled himself and lied. "Zihao, this woman is a distant cousin of mine. She..."
"Father, Mother, what's going on?"
Before he could finish concocting his lie, his daughter suddenly appeared and interrupted him.
His entire body went rigid. With that rascal son's explosive temper, he would surely blow up if he learned that his father not only kept a mistress, but had children with her who were older than him.
At the sight of the twins, a girl and a boy, Chen Zihao's eyes reddened with fury.
He had always taken pride in his father, believing him to be the finest man in the capital. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that his father had been keeping a mistress behind his mother's back-and for so many years...
Seething with rage, Chen Zihao cursed, "Chen Guoan, you bastard! You've been keeping a mistress behind my mother's back, and you've even had two children this old with her!"
His expression turned savage. "I, Chen Zihao, have no scoundrel like you for a father. From this day on, you're no longer my father!"
With that, he turned to storm away. Then he realized that leaving without doing anything would never quell the fury in his heart. He angrily ordered the two guards behind him, "Smash it! Smash everything you can in this house!"
"Yes, Young Master."
The two guards answered, then set about smashing things with a vengeance.
Duke Chen watched without a word. His rascal son was in the throes of fury. If he tried to stop him, he would only make him angrier and drive him to do something even more
"My lord, stop them!"
Lady Li, his mistress, cried anxiously.
Duke Chen remained silent. He was utterly panicked, trying to think of a way to persuade his rascal son not to tell the tigress at home. How could he spare a thought for the guards smashing things?
Lady Li's two children knew that the youth before them was their father's rascal son from his other household, and neither dared utter a word.
The entire courtyard was silent except for the crashing and banging of shattered objects and Lady Li's frantic cries.
Only after everything breakable in his mistress's home had been smashed did Chen Zihao's fury subside a little.
"Chen Guoan, you'd better think carefully about how you're going to explain this to my mother."
Leaving those cold words behind, he departed with the two guards.
"Zihao, wait!" Duke Chen hurried forward to block his path.
"For the sake of how well I've treated you all these years, could you please not tell your mother?" he pleaded with Chen Zihao.
His present position and status were entirely thanks to the support of his wife's family.
If his wife, who couldn't tolerate even a grain of sand in her eye, learned of this, he dared not imagine the consequences.
Chen Zihao refused coldly. "There's no way I won't tell my mother about this filthy thing you've done."
With that, he walked straight out.
Duke Chen's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.
It was all over!
Chen Zihao had caused such a commotion while catching the affair that all the neighbors found out. They couldn't help gossiping about it.
The next day, word spread throughout the capital that Duke Chen, renowned as a devoted husband, had been keeping a mistress-and that her children were older than his legal wife's youngest son.
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