These words truly left Old Madam Song completely baffled. She leaned against the soft cushions, a small blanket made of silver-gray squirrel fur that Yulan had just handed her spread over her knees. Upon hearing He Shi’s words, she raised her eyebrows somewhat perplexed. “Princess Consort, speak more clearly. This really has confused this old woman. What matter requires you to come begging before me?”
He Shi had unspeakable grievances. Ever since that night when she overheard the conversation between her husband and son, she had begun to feel anxious and uneasy, having nightmares every single night. She had always known her husband was wildly ambitious, and for the sake of this ambition, he had schemed and maneuvered ceaselessly. First, he had tried to attach himself to Prince Duan, then when that failed, he tried to latch onto the ship that was Changning Earl Manor. Unfortunately, Changning Earl Manor looked down on him and completely scoffed at his petty schemes. Having offended Changning Earl Manor, he could only cling desperately to Marquis Wuning Manor. For the sake of Marquis Wuning Manor’s sphere of influence in that corner of the northwest, he was willing to have Shen Qingrang marry the crippled granddaughter of Marquis Wuning Manor. Wasn’t the whole scheme just to use the northwest connection to curry favor with Prince Dongping in the future?
Later, he did manage to achieve his wish and climb up to Master Yuanhui—he had already become acquainted with Master Yuanhui back when he was doing work for Prince Duan in his earlier years. Now that Master Yuanhui had switched allegiance to Prince Dongping, he began to stir restlessly again. Believing that the Eastern Palace’s position was already stable, and that the Crown Prince favored Consort Fan and Prince Dongping, after much deliberation he began foolishly causing trouble alongside Master Yuanhui.
Also because he had latched onto Master Yuanhui and wanted to play a useful role before Master Yuanhui, he forcibly dragged Marquis Wuning Manor along, allowing that ill-bred girl raised by Marquis Wuning Manor to turn Duke Yingguo Manor into such chaos that there wasn’t a single day of peace.
All of this still wasn’t enough. When Master Yuanhui set his sights on the Song family, he actually dared to involve himself again. Not only did he offer strategies and counsel, he was even willing to serve as Master Yuanhui’s vanguard, having Shen Qingrang join Prince Duan’s death warriors in attempting to assassinate Song Chuyi.
He Shi had witnessed the capabilities of this Sixth Miss of the Song family. Shen Xiaohai and Shen Qingrang had suffered losses at Sixth Miss Song’s hands more than once, yet they still didn’t know to restrain themselves. Ever since that night when she heard Shen Qingrang say that Song Chuyi seemed to have recognized him, she hadn’t slept well a single night. Although she knew Master Yuanhui was formidable, for some reason her heart was filled with anxiety, as if her head might fall from her shoulders at any moment.
Sure enough, she had truly guessed correctly. Bad things came knocking one after another. First, Tong Shao somehow learned that Shen Qingrang had been injured and insisted on making a fuss asking how he got injured. After causing a commotion, somehow the matter snowballed, growing bigger and bigger. In the end, it even escalated to the point where Old Madam was injured, Her Majesty the Empress issued an edict reprimanding Marquis Wuning Manor, Tong Shao hanged herself, and Marquis Wuning Manor and Duke Yingguo Manor completely broke relations.
If it were just this, He Shi wouldn’t necessarily suspect the matter was connected to Sixth Miss Song. But even Master Yuanhui met with misfortune… He Shi suddenly had an epiphany and finally sensed something was amiss.
All of these events were too coincidental. Those who met with disaster were precisely all the people who had made a move against Song Chuyi that day.
And now, Duke Yingguo Manor’s days were becoming almost unbearable—recently, people came to Duke Yingguo Manor every night with IOUs demanding debt repayment, claiming these were high-interest loans that Duke Yingguo’s heir Shen Xiaohai had taken out.
Duke Yingguo Manor’s situation worsened year by year—they truly couldn’t make ends meet. The expenses for the last assassination attempt on Song Chuyi hadn’t been covered by Yuanhui at all. The silver used to grease palms and smooth things over had all been borrowed by Shen Xiaohai at high interest.
Their Duke Yingguo Manor had dealt with these people for many years, and ordinarily they had an unspoken understanding. But now these people were brazenly coming to their door.
If there wasn’t someone behind the scenes acting as a driving force, how could this be possible?
He Shi’s tears slid down her cheeks and into her collar, sticky and uncomfortable, but she couldn’t care about that at all. She kept begging Old Madam Song to let them off. “We know we were wrong… We’ll never dare make things difficult for Sixth Miss again…”
Shen Xiaohai was now hiding outside every day and not returning home. Shen Qingrang was also learning from his father and staying in the outer courtyard. As a woman confined to the inner quarters, she truly had no options left. A few days ago, she had just borrowed three thousand taels of silver from her eldest daughter, but that was merely a drop in the bucket.
Old Madam Song finally understood the reason for He Shi’s plea for mercy. Her eyes deepened as she looked at He Shi and sighed meaningfully. “I thought it was something else. So you believe it was our Xiao Yi who caused you to become like this?”
At these words, He Shi’s legs went somewhat weak. Changning Earl Manor was now rising like the sun at midday—how would she dare agree? She hurriedly shook her head. “No, no, no, how would this nephew’s wife dare have such meaning? It’s just really… really that there’s no other way…”
“Why has the Princess Consort come to beg my grandmother?” The curtain outside was raised, and Song Chuyi walked in with the cold wind, tilting her head as if somewhat puzzled as she looked toward He Shi. “According to what the Princess Consort just said, it’s the heir who borrowed money at high interest and is being pressed hard for debt repayment. What does this have to do with my family? These matters are completely unrelated—why has the Princess Consort instead come begging at our door?”
Upon seeing Song Chuyi, He Shi felt inexplicably guilty for some reason. She turned her head away, not daring to meet her gaze, only feeling at a complete loss.
Song Chuyi slowly walked to sit beside Old Madam Song. Only now upon looking did she discover that He Shi had truly become much thinner than before, even her complexion haggard to an unbearable degree.
She looked at He Shi, who was at a loss and couldn’t even speak, and slowly sighed, seemingly with some pity. “If the Princess Consort had come to find my grandmother before the people from Marquis Wuning Manor stormed into our home, perhaps grandmother, considering the friendship between our two families, would have extended a helping hand if she could. But has the Princess Consort perhaps forgotten the reason why Madam Wuning came to our home to cause trouble for no reason when Seventh Young Master Shen and Miss Tong privately pledged themselves to each other?”
He Shi’s lips trembled, unable to speak, yet tears and snot couldn’t help flowing all over her face.
“What use is saying all this now?” Song Chuyi lowered her head to look at the gourd-shaped beast-carved hand warmer in her hands, her tone indistinct. “The dead cannot come back to life. It’s only natural that Marquis Wuning Manor would be angry. They probably helped the heir quite a bit before, didn’t they? Saying all this now—it’s already too late.”
He Shi suddenly clutched at the front of her garment, breathing with difficulty for a while before finally catching her breath. She shook her head violently. “No, no, no, I beg you, Sixth Miss… They were just momentarily confused… Please show mercy…”