Sharing Dreams with My Bestie's Cousin

Wen Zhi’s eyes darted away, but her lips parted in a shy smile, "Of course, you can interpret it any way you like."

"Wen Zhi, those are your very words, I’ll believe them," Shang Hexing felt relieved, at least this time she wasn’t responding with silence.

Wen Zhi gently nodded her head, "Hmm."

After Old Master Zhou and Old Master Han took their seats, the opera troupe that came to celebrate Old Master Zhou’s birthday also took to the stage.

There were many pieces on the agenda today, starting with Old Master Zhou’s favorite Jingju piece, "Borrowing the Eastern Wind." As the opera’s melodies began, the atmosphere throughout the banquet became lively.

The younger generation wasn’t too interested in Jingju, but today was Old Master Zhou’s event, so everyone was very cooperative, and when it came to the climactic parts, they clapped and cheered along.

After "Borrowing the Eastern Wind" finished, they performed another Jingju piece, "Relinquishing Xuzhou."

Wen Zhi was multitasking, earnestly eating her food while earnestly watching the play. Although she didn’t usually have much contact with Jingju, watching the performance on stage was quite interesting, and most importantly, the troupe was indeed singing well.

Before the end of "Relinquishing Xuzhou," Wen Zhi guessed that today’s Jingju pieces were all of one type.

She suspected that the next would be "The Empty Fort Strategy."

Because of this, she even made a bet with Shang Hexing, "I bet the next one is ’The Empty Fort Strategy,’ do you believe it?"

Shang Hexing tapped his fingertips lightly on the armrest of the chair, his voice profound, "In any case, it will be a good show."

Shang Hexing’s thoughts were always restrained, not easily discerned by others, but he didn’t take special pains to hide them in front of Wen Zhi.

Wen Zhi leaned towards him, her hand naturally resting on his wrist, then whispered, "Do you know what the next play is?"

Shang Hexing looked at her with a half-smile, "You’ve guessed ’The Empty Fort Strategy,’ why not continue your guessing?"

"That’s a tough one to guess," Wen Zhi said, chin up slightly, looking into his meaningful eyes.

After "Relinquishing Xuzhou" ended, the performers retreated, and after a short while, another play began.

It was "Mu Guiying Breaks Through The Heavenly Gate Formation."

"Lost the bet, it’s not ’The Empty Fort Strategy,’" Wen Zhi murmured.

Shang Hexing said, "This one is even more interesting."

Wen Zhi gave him a look, her eyes subtle.

The actor playing Mu Guiying was remarkably valiant; even under thick makeup, she captivated many guests’ attention as soon as she appeared on stage.

At this moment, Wen Zhi noticed the smile on old Master Zhou’s face was even more joyful than during the previous two performances.

In the end, "Mu Guiying Breaks Through The Heavenly Gate Formation" was performed exceptionally well, and even Wen Zhi found it thrilling to watch.

As the opera drew to a close, by this time everyone had almost finished eating. Old Master Zhou suddenly stood up, drawing the gaze of everyone in the room.

With a beaming smile, Old Master Zhou raised his hands enthusiastically clapping, "Good, well sung!"

Seeing this, the guests also stood up, one by one, applauding for the final performance.

With a chorus of cheers, the banquet came to a perfect close.

Everyone was puzzled as to why Old Master Zhou was so excited, assuming it was because the performance of "Mu Guiying Breaks Through The Heavenly Gate Formation" really resonated with him.

However, nobody expected that Old Master Zhou would suddenly beckon to the lead actress on stage.

Confused, the guests looked at each other in bewilderment.

The lead actress playing Mu Guiying slowly descended from the stage, then boldly walked towards Old Master Zhou under the watchful eyes of everyone.

With every step she took, the banner trailing behind her fluttered gently in the wind. As she drew closer, Old Zhou took her hand and introduced her to everyone, "Today, taking advantage of this auspicious day, I, Zhou, would like to formally introduce my daughter, Zhou Qin, to you all."

As these words were spoken, a sigh ran through the gathered guests—

"Old Zhou actually has a daughter? I’ve never heard of her before."

"She must be a daughter he’s only recently acknowledged. I wonder what her background is. If she were the result of an infidelity from years past, Old Zhou wouldn’t likely bring her up on stage for recognition."

"Look over there; the Zhou family’s eldest son truly lives up to his title, maintaining his composure. Zhou Er’s face is almost turning as black as charcoal."

"I figure the eldest son must be in on it. It’s likely that Zhou Er wasn’t informed."

Murmurs of speculation spread among the seats.

Wen Zhi suddenly grabbed Shang Hexing’s hand. Seeing the puzzled look in her eyes, he knew what she was about to ask and whispered, "You’re not the only one who’s curious here, let’s talk about it when we get back."

Wen Zhi furrowed her brows, "Was this your doing?"

Shang Hexing neither confirmed nor denied, "What makes you say that?"

Wen Zhi glanced around to confirm that the guests were all watching Old Zhou and Zhou Qin, then withdrew her gaze, her mouth curling slightly, "Now I finally understand why you kicked Shang Jing out of the Zhou family."

Because the hotheaded Shang Jing couldn’t keep his composure. If he saw Zhou Qin here, who knows if he would walk up and loudly declare—This woman is an impostor!

But Wen Zhi couldn’t fathom how Zhou Qin, the ’impostor’ who had played Shang Jing and Shang Mingshu for fools, managed to leap to this identity in just a couple of months?

Shang Hexing, looking at Wen Zhi’s deeply furrowed brows, couldn’t help but smile, then took her hand and tapped on the center of her palm with his fingertip, "Be good, just watch the show for now."

Wen Zhi looked up towards the scene unfolding.

Old Zhou was happier today than ever before. He beckoned with his hand, and then the Zhou family’s eldest son, Zhou Nanli, slowly stood up from where he was sitting and walked over with a smile.

"Nanli," Old Zhou extended his hand.

Zhou Nanli supported Old Zhou’s sleeve, "Father."

Old Zhou was overtaken with emotion, "Quickly tell everyone when you brought your sister back, what happened in the meantime, and how much suffering my QinQin has endured..."

Zhou Nanli nodded his head and immediately turned around, explained to the guests by stretching out his hand to hold Zhou Qin’s shoulders.

As it turned out, Zhou Qin was Old Zhou’s second daughter, who was abducted by swindlers twenty-one years ago. Due to Old Zhou’s status, he could not publicize the search on newspapers or television, fearing that it might endanger the life of his missing daughter. Thus, for so many years, Old Zhou and his wife had been searching in the darkness. Nevertheless, they never found her, and eventually, Zhou’s wife succumbed to illness born of grief, passing away too soon with regrets.

Now that Old Zhou had finally found his daughter, his wife, who lived her life in regret, was not there to witness this moment, a constant pain in Old Zhou’s heart.

As for how Zhou Qin was found, Old Zhou felt deeply emotional, his gaze conveying gratitude towards a certain direction, everything left unsaid.

Everyone was moved by Old Zhou’s happiness, as after all, the Zhou family had kept the return of their daughter a secret from many people, even planning to recognize her during the birthday feast as a covert operation.

However, no one expected that at this moment, Zhou Congjie suddenly stood up to speak, "Old man, are you sure she’s the daughter you lost years ago? Don’t mistakenly recognize someone else in your old age."

The moment the words were spoken, the room suddenly fell silent.

Old Zhou was always infuriated at the sight of Zhou Congjie, "Congjie, take a good look. She is your long-lost second sister."

"Hmph, second sister? Who knows if she’s not some imposter that popped up from somewhere. After all, it has been over twenty years. I don’t recognize her."

At that moment, Zhou Congjie stepped out from his seat, his long legs carrying him forward.

Anyone close enough could see the hostility and displeasure in Zhou Congjie’s eyebrows. He seemed to have a considerable contention against this newly found second sister, or perhaps, he simply did not welcome her at all.

Zhou Nanli’s brows furrowed with displeasure, "Zhou Er, today is the old man’s birthday; don’t anger him."

Zhou Congjie scoffed, "Then did you inform me, a member of the Zhou family, about this act of yours?"