Why My Domineering Prince Regretted Filing for Divorce?-Chapter 784 - 596: My Little Sister, Shang Ruyi
A face both familiar and strange appeared before her eyes.
"Ru—Little Sister!?"
Listening to that nearly unfamiliar voice, seeing the joy rising on that nearly unfamiliar face, a joy tinged with a guilty smile, Shang Ruyi’s breath caught.
This face before her was strange because she hadn’t seen it in a dozen years; it was familiar because, despite her loathing and resentment, she couldn’t deny he was a handsome man. His most striking bright and shining eyes and tall nose came from the memory of their brilliant, handsome father.
However, compared to the gentle and refined father Shang Ruohong, this person exuded a sharpness from his bones, and even smiling at her, his gaze felt like a painful scrape across her bones.
Shang Ruyi’s brow instinctively furrowed.
Because the one calling her "Little Sister" was none other than her own elder brother—Shang Shoufei.
The last time the two met was ten years ago.
Ten years ago, at their father’s funeral, the then-fourteen-year-old Shang Shoufei, already possessing a heartlessness and coldness surpassing even some adults, ruthlessly expelled her from the Shang Family, not only disregarding her cries and pleas but also leaving her without any extra clothing to keep warm.
For so many years, Shang Ruyi rarely mentioned him, because mentioning him was like forcing oneself to recall the scariest nightmare from childhood. The hatred was a small matter; it was the suffocating torture of hatred and the memories of suffering, causing a heart-wrenching pain, that truly hurt.
Yet Shang Ruyi didn’t expect this nightmare to materialize at this moment, even sitting right in front of her.
And calling her—Little Sister?
She instinctively clenched her fists, digging her nails deeply into her pinky.
The numbness without feeling brought her to her senses, and a natural resentment and harshness cultivated by the years of hardship made her immediately want to speak, but before her somewhat blocked throat could utter a word, her hand was held by a gentle hand.
It was Shen Wuzheng.
He stood beside her, silently holding her hands.
His eyes, however, coldly fixated on Shang Shoufei, who called "Little Sister" but felt a guilty conscience under his gaze, appearing embarrassed, "You, calling me Little Sister, what for?"
"...!"
Shang Shoufei was stunned, and the smile on his face immediately became awkward.
Sitting on the main seat, Shen Shiyan softly said, "Wuzheng, after all—"
But his words were left unfinished, firstly because Shen Wuzheng glanced up at him, secondly because the impatient Yu pinched him hard. Under the pressure of his son’s unyielding gaze and his wife’s coercion, even if he wanted to consider the Shang Family’s face, it was not proper to speak up now.
He could only sit in the distance, looking distressed as if on pins and needles, without moving.
Without "external aid," Shang Shoufei also seemed uneasy, as if on pins and needles. He pondered for a moment, then stood up and saluted Shen Wuzheng with clasped hands, saying, "You, must be Wuzheng. Long time no see."
Shen Wuzheng didn’t even lift his eyelids: "I am—Shen, Wu, Zheng."
"..."
"This is my little sister, Shang Ruyi."
These two sentences he said were cold and hard, like two knives stabbing simultaneously into Shang Shoufei’s heart—the first sentence reminded him that they were not that close and familiar, not to call him by his name; the second sentence told him again that the "Little Sister" here belonged only to Shen Wuzheng alone.
Shang Shoufei’s expression became increasingly stiff.
But he seemed to have a great sense of timing and tact, and promptly addressed Shen Wuzheng, "Young Master Shen, long time no see."
Without waiting for Shen Wuzheng to reply, he immediately turned to look at Shang Ruyi, saying, "Ruyi."
"..."
Shang Ruyi looked at him indifferently, without speaking.
Although Shen Wuzheng had just exchanged a brief encounter with him, and it was a decisive victory, that brief interaction managed to calm her down, returning her usual rationality.
Shang Shoufei coming to the Shen Family at this time was certainly not for the people of the Shen Family.
But for herself!
No, for himself.
After all, the last time Shang Ruyi heard news of him was back in Luoyang, when Wang Shaoji came to deliver the Divine Arm Bow to Yu Wenye, mentioning to humiliate her that her brother Shang Shoufei had been swindled in Daxing City while buying an office. And seeing his current outfit, adorned in a somewhat luxurious raven-blue long robe with white crane feather and cloud brocade patterns, he was still evidently a commoner.
And with the Shen Family having returned to Chang An for so long, he neither came early nor late, but on this day, the day of Yu Wenquan’s significant event, he showed up, then he wasn’t seeking Mr. and Mrs. Shen but sought himself through them.
No, he wasn’t seeking herself either.
But Princess Qin!
At this moment, hearing him call her name again, Shang Ruyi once more pinched her already numb pinky, and then coldly said to him, "What do you want?"
Shang Shoufei’s thick, dark eyebrows twitched slightly.
Upon seeing him, Shang Ruyi not only refrained from addressing him as "elder brother," she didn’t use any conciliatory terms, directly questioning him with an undisguised coldness in her voice. Clearly, there was no unnecessary affection left.
Although the weather had already cooled down by now, at this moment, he broke out in a cold sweat.
If it were someone else, or if it were the old Shang Ruyi, he would have long been furious, perhaps even subjected her to family discipline. But now, standing before him was not the powerless little sister who he had once driven out of the house.
She was the Princess Qin!
With this realization, Shang Shoufei’s legs began to tremble slightly.
Previously, he had heard that the Duke Sheng, Yu Wenquan, who took Daxing City without a single soldier lost and supported the new emperor, had as his daughter-in-law his own younger sister whom he had driven out, who was later adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Shen. His heart was filled with dread, afraid that Shang Ruyi would remember the past and take revenge on him; later, hearing that Shang Ruyi had also followed Yu Wenye to Daxing City, he felt conflicted, half afraid, half intrigued, believing in proximity to power, dreaming of entering politics. Now, with a brother-in-law who was a Great General with a future brimming with promise, he thought it a shame not to rely on him.
But as he hesitated, the Great General and the General’s wife went on an expedition to Fufeng.
Thus, he immediately halted his plans to reconcile.
After all, considering what he had done to Shang Ruyi in the past, he was fully aware that she was unlikely to forgive him easily, or perhaps she hadn’t had the chance to confront him before. If given time to retaliate, he feared he would suffer.
If she died on the battlefield, though he might lose a shortcut into politics, at least he would be rid of a threat.
However, shortly after came the news of a great victory in Fufeng, and not only that, rumors circulated among the people that the General’s wife, a mere woman, directly participated in the battle at Fufeng and even burned to ashes tens of thousands of Xue Xian’s troops. Such rumors terrified him; he hadn’t expected that the little girl he had driven out, who had only known how to cry and plead with him back then, had now acquired such skills and ruthless means, forcing him to suppress his slight hopes.
He couldn’t imagine what methods Shang Ruyi would use against him if he appeared before her again.
And now...
If not for survival, for his future, how would he dare to appear before Shang Ruyi again?
At this thought, he suppressed the slight displeasure and greater fear in his heart, pressing a façade of a smile onto his face, and said with a smile, "Ruyi, do you still blame your elder brother?"
"..."
Shang Ruyi gave him a faint glance, as if saying "What do you think?" or perhaps simply unwilling to talk to him.
Yet Shang Shoufei, still thick-skinned, continued, "Ruyi, you should understand your elder brother."
"Oh?"
"At that time, people in the clan said you were the calamity that caused the death of our parents, an ominous person, and wanted to drown you. Elder brother only drove you out to save your life."
"..."
"Now, seeing that you are well, your elder brother is relieved."
"..."
Upon hearing such shameless words, Yu rolled her eyes to the ceiling, and even the usually gentle Shen Shiyan couldn’t help but frown.
He hadn’t forgotten the sight ten years ago, in that bitterly cold winter, when he rushed back to the Shang Family to mourn his brother-in-law and on the roadside found Shang Ruyi, disheveled and shivering from the cold, with bruises from fights with beggars, looking as pitiful as a stray kitten. If he hadn’t arrived at that time, the girl might not have survived the night.
This was by no means the outcome for someone driven out for her safety; Shang Shoufei hadn’t even given her a warm piece of clothing.
And now, he had the nerve to say such words.
Shang Ruyi didn’t even bother to sneer.
She simply said calmly, "Yes, I am well."
"..."
"Since you’re relieved, can you leave? I want to have a reunion with my uncle, aunt, and brother, and have a good talk."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Shang Shoufei’s mouth twitched again.
Clearly, Shang Ruyi’s words meant she didn’t recognize him as her brother at all, but regarded Mr. and Mrs. Shen and Shen Wuzheng as her true family.
They were the "family."
At this point, no matter how thick-skinned or smooth-tongued he was, he couldn’t stay after Princess Qin had given the order to leave. He could only sigh long, saying, "In that case, I shall take my leave first."
Having said that, he saluted Mr. and Mrs. Shen and gave a fist-palm salute to Shen Wuzheng, then turned to leave.
But just as he was about to leave the parlor, he suddenly stopped, turned back to look at Shang Ruyi, who hadn’t once turned to look at him, and said, "Ruyi, you’ve been away from home for over ten years... don’t you want to return home to pay respects to your father and mother?"
"...!"
