He looked at Su Anan, who was still standing in the hall, and rubbed the ring on his thumb with his right hand, which was a sign of his anger.
Su Nian gave Su Anan a provocative look, trying to make Su Anan angry and argue with her father later.
Su Anan was a pretty girl, but she was actually stupid. Otherwise, Su Pingping would have been able to coax her.
Su Nian was excited to watch the show, but the next second, Su Anan raised her eyebrows and gave a generous smile.
Then, she bowed slightly to her father and said respectfully, "How could that be? It's only natural for parents and matchmakers to agree. Father has raised Anan for so long, how could Anan not know how to repay him?"
"I've been looking at father just now, and I feel that after not seeing you for a few days, you seem to have lost some weight. Anan is just worried that you're unwell. "
Su Sheng was surprised. He was indeed a little upset the day before yesterday, so it was inevitable that he was not in good spirits. However, he was much better today.
After all, she was his daughter who had grown up under his nose. She had always been well-behaved and it was impossible for her to be so insensible. Su Sheng's anger dissipated and he explained, "I'm fine. I just felt a cold wind the day before yesterday. There's no need to worry. Sit down and be quiet."
Su Anan nodded and was about to sit down. She pretended to be surprised and asked, "Where's mother? Why didn't she come out?"
The mother she spoke of was Su Pingping's birth mother, and also the mistress who was later promoted to the official position, Liu Shi.
At first, she didn't know that Su Pingping and Liu Shi didn't like her so much. She had really called Liu Shi her mother.
Su Sheng didn't want to talk about her. "She hasn't been in good health recently, so she's been accompanying your sister in the ancestral hall every day, copying Buddhist scriptures and praying for the good of the family," he said casually.
Su Anan understood that because of Su Pingping, Liu Shi was also punished. She went to the ancestral hall to copy the scriptures and was locked up.
"No wonder," she said with a smile.
"No wonder what?"
Su Anan raised her eyes."No wonder no one is in charge of the back of the house. This little concubine's daughter has forgotten her position. She doesn't even greet her daughter and even calls her sister."
A concubine's daughter was not qualified to call her sister, so she had to call her Young Miss.
Her attitude was very natural, with a trace of her previous arrogance."Father, don't you think so? If this is spread out that the Su family does not distinguish between hierarchy and the daughter of a concubine oversteps etiquette, others will say that our family is improper."
Hearing this, Su Sheng frowned. Anan was right. There was a clear hierarchy between the young and the old. A concubine's daughter was a concubine's daughter. She could not call the Young Miss her sister.
After all, he was a man and didn't notice many details. Liu Shi was also locked up by him and no one was around to remind him, so he didn't realize.
These past few days, he had only been thinking about how to train Su Nian as soon as possible so that she could be sent to the Minister of Revenue as a concubine and win over some power. He had forgotten to knock her down.
Su Sheng immediately coughed and his face darkened. "Niannian, hurry up and bow to your sister."
Su Nian's eyes widened. She had never expected that Su Anan would not only not be angry, but also take the opportunity to belittle her.
She had underestimated her.
Su Nian was also very flexible. She immediately bowed and apologized, saying that she was too happy to see the eldest Young Lady return to the manor and forgot the rules. She hoped that the eldest Young Lady would forgive her.
Su Anan walked up to her with a smile. Just when Su Nian thought that Su Anan was pretending to be generous and reached out to help her up, she suddenly felt her hair loosen.
The precious plum blossom glazed hairpin that she had just obtained was gone.
She ignored the rules and subconsciously went forward to snatch it. "This is a gift from my father."
Su Anan dodged Su Nian's hand as if she had a premonition. She pretended to be surprised. "Father, if I remember correctly, this plum blossom hairpin was something that mother left behind when she was still alive, right?"
She questioned, "Mother, didn't she say that she'd leave these for her daughter's dowry in the future? You also said that you would leave it to me, so why is it now on my step sister's head?"
Su Sheng frowned. He really didn't know that it was Anan's mother 's.
He only randomly picked a few pieces of jewelry from the warehouse and gave them to Su Nian, giving her two pieces that were presentable.
He beat around the bush and said, "It's probably because the dowry was accounted for. There was nothing left out. Since it's your mother's relic, you should take it back."
But as soon as he said that, Su Anan suddenly burst into tears.
"It's not just this hairpin. I still remember that she used to love wearing gold buyao, jade bracelets, pearl hairpins…," She cried.
She named a few accessories in a row.
Su Anan's mother, who came from the Feng family, used to be a businesswoman. She was afraid that her daughter would be aggrieved when she married Su Sheng, so her maternal family gave her a lot of dowry, but her mother didn't touch them, saying that they were for her.
However, in her previous life, these dowries did not fall into her hands, and in this life, her father had even embezzled the most valuable items.
Su Anan had been thinking about how to get it back from her father, but now that Su Nian had brought it out, she had an excuse.
Thus, she cried even more sadly and said, "Daughter remembered that mother would often gently hug me and her hair ornaments were very beautiful. At that time, daughter was bored and counted. Just the hair ornaments, mother had ten of them. Each of them are filled with memories of my mother."
She seemed to have fallen into a beautiful memory and her eyes were clear. "But when my dowry was stored in Shen Manor the day before yesterday, these jewelries were not counted. Father, did you forget to bring them to Anan?"
Su Sheng frowned at her words. He did not forget. He had deliberately left the box empty and kept the most valuable things.
No one was afraid of having more money. Anan had only married into a small place and her future would be like that. Su Sheng was not stupid. Why would he give her so much dowry?
However, she cried and questioned him, as if she didn't guess her father's intentions. She was just purely guessing if her father had forgotten.
Anan might have only thought of the relics, but to outsiders, it sounded as if he looked down on the Shen family and deliberately withheld the dowry.
Sure enough, he saw that the Shen family's servant girl, Yue Luo, who previously had her head lowered, had already raised her eyes and looked over. There was a thoughtful look between her brows, as if she was planning to go back and say something.
Rumors in the countryside were the easiest to exaggerate, and if they were to spread, it would leave a bad reputation.
Su Sheng's expression was unsightly. He didn't expect that such a small hairpin would involve the dowry.
Su Sheng glanced at Su Nian and became even more unhappy. She was brainless and didn't know how to keep a low profile. She was in such a hurry to show off.
He couldn't back down now. In the face of his daughter's "simple" question, he had to show magnanimity and say, "Is that so? Maybe the person in charge of the storeroom was changed. I don't know which of the things were left behind by your mother and it was a mistake. Anan, go to the storeroom and take a look at what else was left for you by your mother. Take them all with you."
Su Anan quickly wiped her tears and bowed to thank him.