That night, the loan sharks who had been harassing Duke Yingguo’s manor for over a month didn’t come to the door. For several consecutive days, Duke Yingguo’s manor remained quiet and peaceful. This quietness made He Shi breathe a sigh of relief, though she also felt somewhat uneasy.

Now they had appeased the Song family, but as for Master Yuanhui and Huangjue Temple—they had truly and thoroughly offended them to the bone.

Shen Xiaohai was ten times more frightened than she was. For several days in a row, he sent people out to gather information. When he learned that the abbot of Huangjue Temple had personally rushed to Shuntian Prefecture to collect Master Yuanhui, he felt darkness before his eyes, deeply convinced that his end was near.

Others might not know Master Yuanhui’s methods, but he knew them well. What Buddhist compassion and mercy? He had never seen any compassion from Master Yuanhui—only the iron-blooded methods he used to deal with those death warriors who weren’t dedicated in training or harbored disloyalty.

He was so frightened that he couldn’t sleep peacefully at night, afraid that when he opened his eyes upon waking, Master Yuanhui’s bloodthirsty eyes would be staring right at him.

He had begun to regret it—regret helping Song Chuyi do something that would offend Master Yuanhui to the bone. He had always known about Master Yuanhui’s ambitions. Now he had essentially completely cut off his prospects and made him infamous. Shen Xiaohai gripped the chair’s armrest tightly, tossing and turning in fear, unable to sleep through the night. His mind was filled with these matters. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

But when he wanted to go seek help from the Song family, his mind suddenly became clear. He stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning—Song Chuyi had absolutely no need to have him deliver that cup of tea to Master Yuanhui. If Song Chuyi had been willing, she could have simply sent any capable subordinate, used the same pretense to lure Master Yuanhui down from the mountain, and gotten him to drink the tampered tea with just some effort. Yet she deliberately made her words sound so appealing, so ambiguous, as if no one but Duke Yingguo’s manor could do this task, and as if Duke Yingguo’s manor would be finished if they didn’t do it.

But thinking carefully, Song Chuyi had never even admitted that those loan sharks were connected to her—she had pushed everything onto Marquis Wuning’s manor. Shen Xiaohai’s mind was in chaos, as if millions of ants were crawling through it. He completely collapsed into his chair, unable to move.

The Song family had absolutely no need to use Duke Yingguo’s manor, yet they deliberately wanted to use him, because they knew that whoever did this deed would be locked in a fight to the death with Master Yuanhui—although Master Yuanhui would certainly hate the Song family as the mastermind, he would hate even more the person who had lured him into the trap.

Cold sweat poured down Shen Xiaohai’s face, sliding down his neck into his back and chest, freezing him until he shivered.

The door was knocked. He jumped up in alarm, cautiously asking who it was. Only after hearing it was He Shi did he breathe a sigh of relief. With wide, frightened eyes, he called for He Shi to enter.

He Shi hadn’t thought as deeply as he had. She only knew that being debt-free was liberating. These past few days, no one had come demanding payment. Even Shen Qingrang had started coming home again, and Old Madam Shen’s illness had improved considerably.

She entered and closed the door. Seeing Shen Xiaohai’s extremely poor complexion with cold sweat on his forehead, she was somewhat surprised and concerned. She stepped forward to touch his forehead: “What’s wrong, my lord? Why does your complexion look so terrible? Did you catch a chill?”

Shen Xiaohai pushed away her hand. Looking at her, he wanted to speak but stopped, wanting to scold her yet not knowing where to begin. In the end, the one who had decided to follow Song Chuyi’s instructions wasn’t He Shi—it was himself.

His face deathly pale, he shook his head and closed his eyes wearily, asking her: “Why did you come?”

Hearing his question, He Shi sighed: “Although the debt collectors have stopped coming to our door, maintaining such large expenses in our manor is truly quite difficult. For instance, this time when Second Master of Marquis Changning’s manor remarries, we must send a substantial gift. That’s another expense. Treating Mother’s illness with Master Hu and the imperial physicians has also cost quite a bit of money…”

She looked at Shen Xiaohai and pressed her lips together: “Young Master, please don’t be angry at what I’m about to say. Life in the capital is extremely expensive. You currently have no official position. Little Seven, that good-for-nothing, clearly won’t amount to anything now either… We at least still have our ancestral home back in our hometown, and there are several hundred acres of land there where we can live quite well. Why don’t we just return to our hometown?”

Shen Xiaohai was struck as if by lightning. His gaze darkened as he looked at her for a long moment, then suddenly asked: “Who taught you to say this?”

He Shi looked up somewhat puzzled, glancing around in confusion before looking at Shen Xiaohai: “What do you mean?”

Shen Xiaohai grasped her hand, seeming extremely nervous, raising his voice to ask again: “I’m asking, who taught you this? Who told you to go back to your hometown?!”

He Shi thought he was angry. He had always been ambitious, wholeheartedly wanting to restore Duke Yingguo’s manor from its declining state and make it flourish.

“No one taught me,” she said carefully, cautiously glancing at Shen Xiaohai’s expression. Seeing that he hadn’t flown into a rage as she’d expected, she relaxed slightly and continued to persuade him tactfully: “It came up in idle conversation with Sixth Miss Song earlier. What she said made sense. I came back and thought about it, and I realized our family’s situation is truly worrying. Apart from the annual imperial rewards, we have no income. The business in Xibei was cut off long ago, and you sold several estates to invest money in Xibei. Then all those things happened… Our family’s foundation—if we continue staying in the capital, I’m afraid we won’t even be able to maintain our current standard of living. When that day truly comes, that would be bringing shame to our ancestors underground…”

It was Song Chuyi who said it, it was Song Chuyi who said it! Shen Xiaohai stared blankly at He Shi for a long while without speaking.

Song Chuyi had long ago predicted that if he did this deed, Master Yuanhui wouldn’t let him off, so she had already prepared the outcome for them—return to their hometown and from then on live honestly with their tails between their legs.

Song Chuyi had never let Duke Yingguo’s manor off at all. Instead, she had killed two birds with one stone—using his hand to utterly ruin Master Yuanhui’s reputation, then using Master Yuanhui’s revenge to threaten him into leaving the capital.

He had actually been played by a young girl without even realizing it. Now, even though he had figured it out, it was already too late. He closed his eyes in anguish, so angry he almost wanted to beat his chest and stamp his feet.

He Shi was somewhat frightened by his gaze. She weakly called out: “Young Master?”

Shen Xiaohai seemed to age ten years in an instant. The forced grimness between his brows completely dissipated. Like a defeated rooster, he waved his hand dejectedly: “What you say makes sense, makes sense… We’ll do as you say.”

What else could he do? If he hesitated any longer, when Master Yuanhui’s revenge came, Duke Yingguo’s manor would truly be destroyed by his own hands.