The guest immediately noticed the conspicuous appearance of Shen Yelan, who stood out among the rest. She was sitting in a wheelchair with a pale appearance and casual clothes that hung loosely over her frame. She looked really frail and sickly, yet so beautiful that no one could look away from her.
"Who is that?"
"I don't know. I have never seen her before."
"She may be a relative?"
No one knew who she was, and they were asking around about her identity. Long ago, Shen Yelan rarely appeared in public even before she'd been sent away. After she left, the Shen family had removed all of her traces. Over the years, people had simply forgotten there had ever been an eldest daughter of the Shen family.
Shen Yelan appeared completely unaware of the stares and whispers, especially the glares sent by Shen Chengwei and Fang Xin.
Just yesterday, they'd sent a maid to Shen Yelan's room with a message that she should focus on her health and rest. That was them indirectly telling her that her presence was not required today. Unfortunately, Shen Yelan was too stupid to understand their words and had appeared.
Sun Lili pushed the wheelchair to the main hall. Once they were inside, she stepped back, not helping Shen Yelan with anything else. She still had to maintain the appearance of a vicious maid who looked down on her mistress like everyone else.
From where Mo Jingrui stood, he had a clear view of the inside through the large double doors that were currently open. The other guests were also watching curiously.
Shen Yelan seemed unbothered by the attention and pushed the wheelchair forward. She first took an incense and lit it up. Then, she bowed to the memorial tablet thrice before putting the incense into the burner.
Finally, when Shen Yelan was done, she left the hall. The guests parted to let her pass until she reached Shen Chengwei.
"Father."
Immediately, ripples of murmur spread out, and people began to question if they had heard right.
"Did she just say 'father'?"
"Master Shen has another daughter?"
"Oh my god, I remember now. He did have another daughter before. What was her name again?"
"Shen... Shen Yelan, I think?"
"That's right! Shen Yelan. But I haven't heard that name in years. I'd completely forgotten about her."
Soon, the few people who remembered Shen Yelan began to tell others about her, but they all wondered why they had not heard of her in a decade. But then, noticing her appearance, it kind of made sense. Yet at the same time, they were beginning to question what exactly had happened to her to end up in this state.
Within minutes, everyone had a new topic to gossip about.
Shen Chengwei stared at Shen Yelan, hoping he could strangle her right here but with dozens of eyes set on them, he had no choice but to force a smile on his face.
"It's good that you are here. How are you feeling right now?" he asked her, like the loving father he was to her.
"Thanks to your care and attention, I'm feeling much better. I apologize that I wasn't able to see Grandfather one last time yesterday. I wanted to pay my respects to him today, at least." Shen Yelan answered respectfully.
"I am sure Father would understand," Feng Xin stepped forward and patted Shen Yelan's shoulder. "Your health isn't good, dear. Father would be terribly sad if he knew you'd made yourself worse by attending today. Now that you've paid your respects, you should return to your room and get some rest."
To everyone else, she certainly looked like a loving mother, but those who knew the truth were aware she was trying to get rid of her. The less attention Shen Yelan caught, the better it was for them.
Unfortunately for Feng Xin, Shen Meli wasn't about to let that happen.
"I think Yelan can stay a little longer, Sister-in-Law." Shen Meli appeared on Shen Yelan's other side, placing her own hand on the girl's opposite shoulder. She gave Shen Yelan an encouraging smile, as if to say I've got your back. "My poor niece has been away for so long. She only came back recently because Dad wanted to spend time with her. Now Dad is gone, and she barely got any time with him at all. She must want to stay here for a while, so she won't have regrets later."
"I understand what you're trying to say, Sister Meli." Feng Xin's smile remained fixed in place, though her eyes had gone cold. "But you must not forget that Yelan's health is not good. We can't risk making it worse."
As she spoke, her hand pressed down harder on Shen Yelan's shoulder.
In response, Shen Meli's grip on Shen Yelan's other shoulder tightened as well while both women maintained their smiles.
"An hour would not make any difference. Besides, we have doctors here. If she feels even the slightest bit uncomfortable, we can have them examine her immediately." Shen Meli said.
Shen Meli might feel a tiny bit of affection towards Shen Yelan, but that feeling was nothing compared to her ambition and her deep-seated resentment toward her brother and his family. She would use any tool available to cause them trouble without any hesitation. This included her niece who was bound to a wheelchair.
From his position across the courtyard, Mo Jingrui was watching the entire scene. His eyes were fixed on the two hands gripping Shen Yelan's shoulders. Others might not notice, but he could see the pressure both women were applying.
His gaze then went to Shen Yelan, who had a soft, fragile look on her face, but her face had gone considerably paler than it had been just moments ago. It was clear that she was in pain, but she was unable to voice it out loud because of these two women.
Some of the other guests had started to notice something was off, though they couldn't quite identify what. Both women clearly seemed to care about the girl's wellbeing, so what was this odd feeling they were getting?
Suddenly, Shen Yelan began to cough, and her whole body trembled. Startled, both Feng Xin and Shen Meli immediately released their grips and stepped back, staring down at her with alarm.
Mo Jingrui's eyes narrowed dangerously. He took a step forward but immediately stopped, as if he was reminded of something. Deng Weijun noticed his action and saw the worry flicker in his eyes. He then looked at the girl in the wheelchair, wondering who she was and why his boss, who had always avoided the opposite gender like a plague, cared for her.
Thankfully, the coughing fit wasn't severe and subsided within a few seconds.
Shen Yelan lowered the napkin held in her hand from her mouth and looked up at Shen Meli with a weak smile. "Thank you for your concern, Aunt Meli. But Aunt Feng is right. I should return to my room and rest now."
Feng Xin's face twisted ugly. In just one sentence, Shen Yelan had revealed that they were not biologically related.
Truthfully, Feng Xin wanted nothing to do with Shen Yelan. But at the same time, Feng Xin had worked so hard to make people forget that Shen Chengwei had been married twice before her.
What terrified her most was the possibility that people might discover Shen Wanwan and Xiao Wei weren't actually Shen Chengwei's biological children at all.
No. She couldn't let that happen. She hadn't worked this hard all these years just for a cripple to ruin it all.
Shen Meli stared at Shen Yelan and could tell she was indeed not feeling well. If she insisted on keeping her here any longer, it would make Shen Meli look like the villain causing problems.
"Alright, then you go back. Tell the maids if you need something."
Sun Lili stepped forward and began pushing Shen Yelan away from the gathered crowd.
"She really doesn't look like she has long to live."
"Such a beautiful face is wasted."
"With that face, she could have been valuable. If only she weren't a crippled invalid."
"I feel sorry for the Shen family's loss."
"No wonder they had kept her hidden."
There was hardly anyone who cared about Shen Yelan's health. Most of the people were talking about how the Shen family could have taken advantage of her beauty through a marriage if only she were not a crippled waste.
Shen Chengwei's face darkened as he heard the whispers. Every comment was a reminder of his failure and the disappointment he reffered as his daughter.
Shen Chengwei's face soured when he heard all those things.
His eyes met with Feng Xin, and a message silently passed between them.
Shen Yelan had only gone halfway when a servant ran past her and went to Shen Chengwei. Shen Yelan looked over her shoulder and saw him whisper something to Shen Chengwei. Immediately afterwards, Shen Chengwei paled. He immediately excused himself and ran outside. Many of the curious onlookers decided to follow and see what was going on.
The corner of Shen Yelan's lips curved upward.