When their four eyes met, Yuwen Changqing was momentarily dazzled. He didn’t know if it was because he had seen too few women, but the woman before him had delicate brows and almond-shaped eyes, as warm and gentle as warm jade in one’s hand, making him feel comfortable just looking at her.

However, he wasn’t wearing any disguise right now. If others saw this face, it would be a great disaster. Yuwen Changqing came back to his senses and was just about to find something to cover his face when Shen Guiyan had already lowered her eyes.

“Has Your Excellency come to the wrong place?”

Her voice was like an oriole emerging from a valley—neither shrill nor coquettish. Another small lamp lit up in Yuwen Changqing’s heart. Feeling somewhat embarrassed for once, he cupped his hands. “I have mistakenly intruded upon Miss’s chambers. Please forgive me.”

Shen Guiyan was very curious about what this person was doing here and how he had suddenly appeared in Swallow Tower. Just as she was about to ask, a strained voice came from the window. “Yan’er, give me a hand.”

Gu Chaobei? Shen Guiyan froze and hurried over to look. Who knew what madness had possessed this man—perfectly good doors available, yet he was climbing in through the window?

After climbing into the room, Gu Chaobei shot Yuwen Changqing a look, then pulled Shen Guiyan over. “I’ve thrown out my back!”

“What?” The corners of Shen Guiyan’s mouth twitched. She quickly bent down to rub it for him. “Come lie down. I’ll have Baoshan bring medicinal wine.”

“Good.” Gu Chaobei grimaced and grabbed Shen Guiyan’s arm, leading her to the bedside, which gave Yuwen Changqing the opportunity to slip out through the window.

But for some reason, this fellow stood there staring blankly for a while. Only when Gu Chaobei cleared his throat lightly did he react, leaving with three backward glances.

What was there to stare at? Gu Chaobei cursed under his breath.

Shen Guiyan pretended not to see his expression and just rubbed his waist. “Why would my husband climb over walls for no reason?”

Gu Chaobei paused, then said very seriously, “Haven’t exercised in too long. Practicing a bit.”

Shen Guiyan: “…”

That person just now clearly wasn’t very ordinary. Gu Chaobei’s friends were all dandies, so who was that man?

If she asked Gu Chaobei, he certainly wouldn’t tell her. Shen Guiyan kept it bottled up inside and remained curious by herself.

After spending most of the day at the Shen residence, they finally felt bored by evening. Gu Chaobei said he wanted to go out for a walk. Shen Guiyan nodded, and after serving refreshments at Master Shen’s place, she also left the residence.

Gu Chaobei was going out to play, so naturally they didn’t take the same route. Shen Guiyan went to the grain shop to inquire about current grain prices.

“What does Miss wish to do?” Baoshan asked curiously.

Shen Guiyan calculated the price. “Don’t I still have some silver? With so many refugees in the capital now, I thought that rather than letting silver sit there, aside from what’s needed for opening the school, I could use the remaining silver to provide some relief.”

Baoshan’s eyes widened. “Does Miss want to distribute porridge?”

“Mm.” Shen Guiyan looked up at the refugees on the street edge. “To do something is always better than withering away day by day in that pile of prosperity.”

“But…” Baoshan frowned. “That’s something the magistrate’s office should do.”

The magistrate’s office? Shen Guiyan laughed lightly. “Look at this realm. The magistrate’s offices have all become places for officials to enjoy themselves. Who still cares about the lives and deaths of refugees? Though I cannot save everyone, being able to save some is still good. Consider it accumulating blessings for myself.”

Baoshan thought about it and sighed. “In any case, Miss has a kind heart. Then this servant will go find people to help with the work.”

“Good.” Shen Guiyan nodded.

With silver and an official family background, doing such small tasks was quite easy. The very next day, a porridge distribution point was set up on a street near the Shen residence. They distributed for one hour in the morning and two hours around midday, specifically for nearby refugees. After eating their fill, the refugees were organized to clean two dirty and chaotic alleys. Mats and bedding were laid out, giving them temporary places to sleep.

Shen Guiyan watched Baoshan busying about at the far end of the street with great satisfaction. Gu Chaobei stood beside her and snorted lightly. “Women are so easily soft-hearted. How many people do you think you can save?”

“However many I can save.” Shen Guiyan shrugged. “At least I feel at ease, and they have food to eat. What’s wrong with that?”

“People who are too kindhearted can’t survive in this world, don’t you know?” Gu Chaobei looked at the refugees receiving porridge at the far end, his gaze profound. “You help these people, but you won’t gain anything yourself.”

Why must one gain something to do good deeds? Shen Guiyan didn’t agree, nor did she think herself particularly kindhearted. She wasn’t unconditionally good to everyone—she just found the refugees pitiful and was lending a small hand. If one couldn’t even move with basic compassion, that would be truly frightening.

But toward certain other people, she remembered both kindnesses and grievances very clearly, never missing anyone.

The refugees lined up according to the rules, holding bowls to receive porridge, drawing quite a crowd of onlookers. Some passing common folk asked curiously, “Whose family set up this porridge tent?”

Following Shen Guiyan’s instructions, Baoshan answered softly, “Anonymous.”

“What a truly good person.” A refugee who had received porridge sighed as he walked away. “If the current sovereign also had such thoughts for the people, we wouldn’t have to wander homeless.”

The voice gradually dispersed into the air. A man in fine robes at the street edge heard these words and looked at the distant porridge tent, his gaze profound.

Doing good deeds put one in a good mood. Shen Guiyan rarely held Gu Chaobei’s hand all the way back to the residence.

Gu Chaobei didn’t approve of her actions in his heart, but seeing her so happy, he could only sigh and let it be.

Good deeds weren’t so easily done. Some people would be grateful, but others would only push for more. On the second day of distributing porridge, many refugees came upon hearing the news. Eventually there wasn’t enough porridge. Refugees who had waited in line for a long time but didn’t get any porridge flew into a rage and overturned the porridge tent, frightening Baoshan until her face went white. She quickly led people back to the residence.

“Those people are so ungrateful.” Baoshan said with lingering fear. “They nearly hurt someone.”

Shen Guiyan frowned. She had originally thought distributing porridge was a simple matter. She hadn’t expected such an incident.

“I told you early on—why sympathize with them?” Gu Chaobei sat nearby with his legs crossed, speaking sarcastically. “Just live your own life well. Why do you care about them?”

Shen Guiyan said gloomily, “I didn’t consider things thoroughly enough.”

“Good that you’ve come to your senses.” Gu Chaobei clicked his tongue twice. “Tomorrow just obediently return to the Prime Minister’s residence.”

She lowered her eyes without responding. Shen Guiyan stared at the sachet in her hands in a daze. Gu Chaobei assumed she had truly figured things out and sat peacefully in his chair thinking about his own matters.

Tomorrow General Yuwen should return to the capital. Following that would be two major events in the capital—the imperial examinations and the Empress Dowager’s birthday. The examinations didn’t matter much—his elder brother would certainly come out on top anyway. But he absolutely must enter the palace once before the birthday banquet.

However, what method should he use to enter the palace? Under what pretext? This truly gave him a headache.

His head ached until the next day dawned, but Shen Guiyan was already gone.

“Where is she?” he asked Zhuiyun.

Zhuiyun said helplessly, “Young Madam left early this morning. She went to the grain shop again.”

Gu Chaobei covered his face. How had he married a wife who worried about country and people?

What Shen Guiyan had meant yesterday by “not considering things thoroughly” wasn’t the matter of distributing porridge itself, but the quantity of porridge. With more and more refugees coming to receive porridge, naturally more rice should be bought. In any case, it wasn’t expensive—her monthly allowance alone could provide porridge for this large group of disaster victims for half a month.

So early this morning, she had gone out first to buy porridge. At noon she would return to pack her things, perform her farewells, and return to the Prime Minister’s residence.

“Fourth Young Madam wants more rice?” The grain shop manager was somewhat surprised. “After what happened yesterday, everyone was saying there wouldn’t be porridge distribution today.”

Shen Guiyan smiled and handed over the banknote. “I’ll distribute as much as I can.”

The grain shop manager sighed. “You truly have a bodhisattva’s heart.”

Then he went to weigh out rice according to the silver.

A man in ordinary clothes nearby couldn’t help glancing at Shen Guiyan. “The porridge distribution already caused riots—why do you still want to do it?”

Shen Guiyan froze and turned to look at him. This person was a kind-looking middle-aged man, staring at her with a face full of curiosity.

“The cause of the riot was insufficient porridge. The fault wasn’t in distributing porridge.” Shen Guiyan said, “If distributing porridge isn’t wrong, then why not increase the quantity and continue?”

The man disagreed. “How much silver can you have? How long can you distribute porridge?”

“This young woman has calculated that.” Shen Guiyan smiled slightly. “Adding in part of my dowry, I can use thirty taels of silver, enough to buy three hundred dan of grain, enough for them to eat for three months. After three months, they should have settled down in the capital or elsewhere, living by their own labor.”

“If after three months they still expect this young woman to distribute porridge for their survival, then aside from the old, weak, sick, and disabled, this young woman will not continue to extend aid to the rest.”

Compassion must also have its limits.

The man looked at her deeply, then turned and left. Shen Guiyan looked at the ill-fitting cloth garments on that person, thought about it briefly, but didn’t delve deeper.

After arranging the porridge distribution process, Shen Guiyan hurried back to the Shen residence to prepare her farewells. Master Shen hadn’t yet reached the main hall. Madam Shen sat above, looking at her with a beaming smile. “Master praised you for being sensible, so I did something that will surely make you happy.”

Shen Guiyan looked up somewhat bewildered.

Madam Shen smiled without warmth. “Concubine Qin served Master for so long. Even without merit, she had toil. I had someone place her spirit tablet in the Shen family ancestral hall.”

Concubine Qin’s spirit tablet had originally been enshrined upstairs in Swallow Tower. Shen Guiyan had even offered incense before leaving early in the morning.

What did Madam Shen mean by this?

“You’re not happy?” Madam Shen raised an eyebrow. “This is a tremendous honor. As a lowly concubine, she originally had no opportunity to enter the ancestral hall.”

“Since there was no opportunity, Mother should still give Concubine Qin’s spirit tablet to Yan’er. Yan’er can take it with her.” Shen Guiyan frowned. “Where blessings are too abundant, Mother cannot bear them.”

“How dare you!” Madam Shen slammed the tea table with a loud sound. “I allowed Qin Shi into the ancestral hall for your sake. How could there be any reason to take it away? Moreover, if you bring a spirit tablet back to your husband’s family, what would that look like?”

Shen Guiyan knelt below with an unpleasant expression. With Concubine Qin’s death, she no longer had any attachment here and could come and go freely.

Who could have imagined they wouldn’t even spare the spirit tablet of a dead person?