She was the gossip's biggest fan

"Have you seen the seventh miss who just came home?"

"I only saw her from behind at a distance. Couldn't get a good look."

"I saw her while I was cleaning the front garden this morning.

Not only did she dress like a country bumpkin, she was ugly, too. She looked nothing like our madam.

She looked dim-witted, dressed in all that bright red and green. You could tell there was something wrong with her IQ.

Who knows what madam was thinking, insisting on bringing her home?"

Just then, a bowl of sunflower seeds appeared behind them.

Neither gave it much thought. They each grabbed a handful and kept gossiping as they cracked the seeds.

"Whatever else, she's still her biological daughter. She had to bring her home sooner or later. It's not as if she can't afford to raise her."

"That's true, but Miss Mingyue is so beautiful and accomplished.

She's not even eighteen yet, and already so many people want a marriage alliance with her.

Who would've thought Miss Mingyue wasn't madam's biological daughter, while her real daughter turned out like that? It really reflects badly on madam.

If it were me, I'd just let things stay as they were. After all, she raised Miss Mingyue from childhood. She's no different from a biological daughter."

"I still think a biological daughter is better. She's her own flesh and blood, after all!"

"If it were me, I'd choose the beautiful, accomplished one."

"I'd choose the beautiful, accomplished one, too!" Shen Banxia chimed in.

If people could choose before giving birth, who wouldn't want a beautiful, accomplished child?

"Exactly!"

"The Pei Family was just waiting for Miss Mingyue to turn eighteen before formally proposing a marriage to the Shen Family. Now I'm afraid the marriage is going to fall through."

"Not necessarily. Maybe they'll switch the proposal from Miss Mingyue to Miss Banxia?"

"Impossible!"

The two housekeepers suddenly sensed something was wrong. They turned around and nearly died of fright.

The very person they had been discussing stood there holding a plate of sunflower seeds, cracking them as she listened to their chatter.

She didn't even seem to think anything was amiss.

"S-seventh miss!" The two housekeepers sprang to their feet as though shocked by electricity, their voices trembling.

"Sit down! Keep talking. I haven't heard enough yet!" Shen Banxia hurriedly urged them.

The two housekeepers exchanged mortified looks, then lowered their heads and apologized.

"Seventh miss, we won't dare do it again."

"Won't dare do what? Keep eating your seeds and talking.

It's torture to hear only half the gossip. I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Which Pei Family were you talking about?"

Shen Banxia pressed them back down onto the chairs in the covered walkway, urging them on as she cracked more seeds.

Embarrassed and mortified, the two housekeepers exchanged a look, neither knowing what to do.

Miss Banxia genuinely seemed eager to hear the gossip, but didn't she know she was its subject?

Suddenly, they both understood. Miss Banxia had something wrong with her IQ. She didn't realize she was the subject of the gossip; she only knew how to enjoy it.

The two housekeepers exchanged a knowing glance, breathed simultaneous sighs of relief, and sat down to enjoy more gossip with its very subject.

"The Pei Family is the prestigious Pei Family!"

Shen Banxia looked at them in puzzlement. That explanation told her absolutely nothing.

"Young Master Pei, Pei Yu, is the eldest legitimate grandson of the Pei Family. Sooner or later, he'll inherit the family business.

A marriage alliance with the Shen Family would bring two powerful families together. Then wouldn't the Shen and Pei Families have the final say in all of River City?

But now that Miss Mingyue has been confirmed not to be madam's biological daughter, I'm afraid the marriage alliance will fall through."

"It will!" Shen Banxia nodded in agreement.

In her previous life, the two families had indeed intended to form a marriage alliance, but abandoned it after discovering that Mingyue wasn't a child of the Shen Family.

Although the Shen Family wanted to replace her with their biological daughter, Banxia, Pei Yu refused.

He already disliked having his marriage dictated to him. Being told to marry someone even less familiar made him all the more unwilling.

But with Mingyue no longer a child of the Shen Family, the basis for the marriage alliance ceased to exist.

The Pei Family wouldn't agree to let Pei Yu be with Mingyue, whose origins were unknown, either.

The marriage had been about to come to nothing, but Mingyue was deeply in love with Pei Yu. Unable to bear letting him go, she had schemed against him.

In any case, Pei Yu had met a rather miserable end!

Both housekeepers looked at Shen Banxia.

"You think the two of them are going to fall through, too?"

"It's not what I think. The Pei Family won't let Pei Yu marry a girl whose family status doesn't match theirs and whose origins are unknown.

It has nothing to do with the Shen Family!" Shen Banxia replied, shaking her head.

"There are only a handful of families on equal footing with the Pei Family, and the girl would have to be around his age, too.

Whichever way you look at it, you're probably the only one who could marry into the Pei Family, seventh miss!"

"Me? Hahahaha-" Shen Banxia burst out laughing.

The two housekeepers looked at each other. Had they said something funny?

"I wouldn't want Pei Yu. That man's prettier than a woman."

After making that disparaging remark, Shen Banxia swept the seed shells into the empty plate and dusted off her hands.

"I've finished the seeds and heard all the gossip. Now I can get a good night's sleep.

Remember to invite me next time you have some juicy gossip!"

Carrying the plate of seed shells, she headed toward the main house.

"Cheng, do you think the seventh miss really is stupid?"

"Not just stupid. Full of herself, too!"

The two housekeepers whispered as they watched the seventh miss walk away.

Shen Banxia tipped the shells into a garbage bag, returned the plate to the kitchen counter, and stretched.

All those sunflower seeds had made her thirsty. She picked up a glass and poured herself some warm water.

After taking just two sips, she left the kitchen and entered the living room.

There, she saw her second brother, who had just come back from outside.

Shen Banxia froze, then choked on the water in her mouth and began coughing.

Shen Jinyan hurried over, gently patting his youngest sister's back as he said helplessly,

"You don't have to get this excited about seeing your second brother!"

Once Shen Banxia finally stopped coughing, she looked up at him and asked in astonishment,

"Did someone catch you cheating and beat you to a pulp?"

Shen Jinyan rolled his eyes.

"I'm having an allergic reaction!"

"An allergic reaction? To what? Have you seen a doctor or taken any medicine?" Shen Banxia asked anxiously.

Allergic reactions were no trivial matter.

"It's nothing. An allergy pill will take care of it. I'm going upstairs to rest," Shen Jinyan said irritably, waving a hand.

He wondered whether Lisa's honey-trap scheme had left him so psychologically repulsed by women that he now felt sick around them.

Today, he had barely had two drinks at the bar before a beautiful woman approached him, making him uncomfortable all over.

Before long, red rashes had appeared on his face and body. By the time he got home, his face had unexpectedly swollen up like a pig's head.

Still worried, Shen Banxia later asked the butler to call the family doctor over to examine her second brother.

Half an hour later, Shen Jinyan and the family doctor, Doctor Liang, were glaring at each other so hard their eyes nearly crossed.

All because Doctor Liang wanted Shen Jinyan to take off his shirt so she could examine the rash on his body, while Shen Jinyan looked as though he was being assaulted and refused to undress no matter what.

"In a doctor's eyes, there are only sick people and healthy people, not men and women. Second Young Master Shen, there's no need to look as though you're defending your chastity to the death!" Liang Xin said expressionlessly.

"I... I'm just not used to taking my clothes off in front of other people!" Shen Jinyan argued, his face flushing.

"Really? Then all those rumors about you must be completely unfounded!"

"I never realized you were such a gossip, Doctor Liang!" Shen Jinyan said, speechless.

"I'm not a gossip. You're simply too famous, Second Young Master Shen. It's hard not to hear about you!" Liang Xin replied as she prepared an injection. Then she said expressionlessly, "Take off your pants."

"What are you going to do?" Shen Jinyan instantly looked wary.

"Your allergic reaction is rather severe. An injection is the safer option!"

"Can I skip it?"

"No. Are you questioning my medical expertise?"

"No! It's just-"

"Don't tell me you're still afraid of injections at your age, Second Young Master Shen!"

"Of course not. But couldn't you give it intravenously instead of in my butt?" Shen Jinyan continued his futile resistance.

In the end, under Liang Xin's contemptuous gaze, he reluctantly lowered his pants a little.

A second later, the second young master of the Shen Family let out a bloodcurdling howl that echoed throughout the house.

By the next day, word of the second young master's fear of injections had spread to every corner of the Shen household. Not even the ant nests were spared.

Shen Jinyan stayed in his bedroom for an entire day without coming downstairs, feeling utterly humiliated.

He had no doubt that Liang Xin had abused her position to settle a personal score, taking revenge because he had mistaken her for a boy when they were children!