The rainstorm had not stopped, and this night was still deep.

The Fu family mansion was not far from the main Qi family residence, also being the same type of high gates and deep courtyards, everywhere revealing grandeur and nobility.

On such a night of thunder and rain, a carriage silently arrived at the back gate of the Fu mansion. Shortly after it stopped, a figure completely shrouded in a cloak descended from the carriage, face deeply hidden and unwilling to show themselves.

As soon as this person stepped down from the carriage, the back gate of the Fu mansion opened by itself. A maid stood there holding an umbrella, bowed to the visitor, then turned and led them into the mansion.

This person followed behind the maid with familiarity, walking and walking again, winding around the Fu mansion’s many towers and pavilions, finally arriving outside an inconspicuous small building. Looking up, they saw that the lintel of this small building bore no characters—it was a place without a name.

The maid turned to bow to the visitor again, then silently withdrew. The visitor looked around in all directions, and after confirming no one was present, pushed open the door and entered.

Inside the door was empty, the lamplight dim, creating a hazy and indistinct atmosphere with faint traces of rouge and floral fragrance.

The visitor turned into the inner room to look for someone, but saw that the bed was also empty. Just as they were wondering, they suddenly heard a woman’s delicate laughter, then were embraced from behind. They heard the woman complain: “Coming so late and still damp all over—how do you want to torment me before you’re satisfied?”

After speaking, she removed the visitor’s cloak, revealing their true appearance.

It was none other than Yang Dong.

The steward Yang who had been pale with terror under Second Young Master Qi’s sword just moments before was now quite the elegant gentleman. As soon as he removed his cloak, he turned to embrace the woman behind him fully, pinching her chin as he smiled and said: “In such wicked weather I still came to find sister-in-law—isn’t it because I missed you terribly? Yet sister-in-law mocks me. Then I really should leave.”

The dim lamplight illuminated the woman’s features—she was a woman past her prime, about forty years old, with heavy makeup on her face. At first glance she appeared beautiful and alluring, but a closer look still revealed her age. Willow-leaf eyebrows and upturned eyes gave her face a mean and unkind appearance that wasn’t very attractive.

However, whether she was beautiful or not wasn’t important. What was important was her identity—if Shen Xiling were in this room at this moment, she would recognize this woman at a glance: she was her father Shen Qian’s legitimate wife during his lifetime, Fu Zhen.

Shen Xiling had only seen this lady once, precisely when she had brought people to storm into her and her mother’s small courtyard to beat them. Just one meeting. After that incident, neither her father nor mother had any intention of bringing it up again, so the matter was dropped. Thus Shen Xiling had never known that her father’s legitimate wife was a daughter of the Fu family, and by relationship was even the aunt of Fourth Prince Consort Fu Rong.

Three years ago when the Great Liang Shen clan was destroyed overnight, all the clan’s men were beheaded for public display, and the women were all sentenced to exile. But Fu Zhen, after all, came from one of the four great surnames and had a noble status. The Fu family presumably couldn’t bear to part with her, so they secretly switched her out through substitution, hiding her deeply in an unnamed small building within the deep mansion courtyards, where she never left the inner chambers.

Yang Dong’s calling her “sister-in-law” wasn’t random—his real name was Shen Cheng, originally the illegitimate younger brother of Chancellor Shen Qian from a different mother.

The affair between him and his sister-in-law Fu Zhen would require quite a bit of explanation to unravel properly.

Twenty years ago, the Shen and Fu surnames united in marriage, with the Fu family marrying their legitimate daughter Fu Zhen to Shen Qian as his wife. But at that time there were rumors that Shen Qian had already privately pledged himself to a daughter of the Wei family of Langya, and Shen Qian himself was very resistant to the arranged marriage, firmly refusing to agree.

Hearing this, the Fu family was naturally displeased and went to argue with the Shen family. What kind of family were the Shens? Naturally they wouldn’t allow the Wei family daughter to enter their doors, and immediately promised to give the Fu family an explanation. Later, no one knew what methods they used, but in any case they disciplined their descendants into obedience, and eventually the marriage between the two surnames was accomplished. The grand wedding was celebrated by all, becoming a beautiful story in Jiankang City.

However, Shen Qian already had someone in his heart. Though he was forced by pressure to marry Fu Zhen, after marriage he was discordant with her.

In his youth, Chancellor Shen was a famously handsome man throughout Jiankang City. Even Princess Zhaohe, the Emperor of Liang’s sister, wanted to marry him. Combined with his extraordinary bearing and outstanding talent, Fu Zhen quickly fell secretly in love, yearning to have deep affection with her husband.

But her falling flowers had intention while his flowing water was heartless. Fu Zhen’s passionate love was all misplaced. Every day she guarded her empty chambers in loneliness, and eventually she ended up getting involved with Shen Qian’s younger brother Shen Cheng.

This Shen Cheng was quite a shrewd person. Though he wasn’t valued by the family due to his poor birth and couldn’t enter government service, he turned to commerce instead. He was sharp-eyed, clever-minded, and ruthless in his dealings, truly making a name for himself and earning the favor of the Shen family elders, gradually taking over many businesses under the Shen family name.

The affair between Fu Zhen and Shen Cheng was later discovered by Shen Qian, but because of the Wei family matter, he had always ignored Fu Zhen for years, always feeling he owed her something. To compensate this wife in name only, he didn’t expose the matter to the elders of both families. Even when Fu Zhen later became pregnant with Shen Cheng’s child, Shen Qian didn’t mind. At that time he had already grown cold toward his family and didn’t care about inheritance matters. He even said he could acknowledge the child she bore with Shen Cheng, as long as she no longer made things difficult for the Wei family woman and his daughter Shen Xiling.

Fu Zhen both hated Shen Qian for his heartlessness and was addicted to her lust with Shen Cheng, daily indulging in debauchery beyond redemption. Later she followed Shen Cheng in becoming addicted to Five Stone Powder, completely falling into degradation, and subsequently bore Shen Cheng a son and daughter.

A few years later the Shen family’s crimes were exposed. In the space of a day and night their great mansion collapsed, and whether male or female, all clan members suffered great disaster. Because Fu Zhen and Shen Cheng’s children were nominally the legitimate line of the Shen family, they were naturally especially watched. In the end, the son died on the execution platform, and the daughter died of illness in prison.

However, the death of both children didn’t cause Fu Zhen much pain.

She didn’t love Shen Cheng. These two children were merely the result of momentary pleasure after taking Five Stone Powder, only serving to remind her of her own degradation. She had long stopped caring about them. When they died, she grieved for a moment, but later felt nothing.

Though Fu Zhen was such a useless and fallen appearance, she was after all the legitimate daughter of the Fu family. Her mother loved and cherished her—how could she watch her be exiled? She thought of every possible way to secretly rescue her and hide her in the mansion, essentially saving her life.

This matter wasn’t finished yet.

Shen Cheng was a person with an active mind. Before the Shen family’s downfall, he had sensed something was wrong and had long asked Fu Zhen to save him. On one hand he pestered Fu Zhen saying he loved her as his life, on the other hand he claimed he was willing to follow the Fu family’s lead completely and help them secretly compete for the influence and connections the Shen family had left behind in commerce.

Though Fu Zhen couldn’t be said to love Shen Cheng, the two had been involved for many years and had even had two children together, so there was considerable affection. She also pleaded for him before the Fu family elders.

The Fu family elders didn’t care about their daughter’s adulterer’s life or death, but they were very interested in the Shen family influence he mentioned.

Fu Zhen’s third uncle Fu Hong, the current Third Master Fu, was the one most deeply involved in commerce among the Fu family back then. He had long heard of Shen Cheng’s reputation and was convinced he was a capable person. He stepped forward to protect him with great effort, spending enormous energy to save his life and using every means to help him change his name and identity. From then on, Shen Cheng was completely dead, and the world instead gained a Yang Dong, Steward Yang.

This roundabout mess of affairs still had consequences to this day.

Ever since Fu Zhen was rescued and brought home, she became even more debauched, keeping several young lovers besides her old flame Yang Dong for her own pleasure. Yang Dong was much the same. These two were neither husband and wife nor proper lovers—it was as strange as could be and as debauched as could be, yet they had continued like this for so many years, with quite a deep relationship between them.

At this moment Fu Zhen said petulantly: “That’s ancient history from so many years ago. Why do you still call me ‘sister-in-law’? It’s just degrading.”

She seemed somewhat displeased and wanted to push Yang Dong away and turn to leave. Seeing this, Yang Dong smiled, pulled her back into his arms with one motion and kissed her, placating: “It was just a joke. Why are you really getting angry?”

Fu Zhen rolled her eyes at him and snorted coldly, but didn’t make a fuss anymore.

Yang Dong smiled, then heard the woman in his arms ask: “Running to my place in the middle of the night—did something happen?”

If it were any other day, Yang Dong would definitely deflect and dodge to avoid appearing desperate and unsightly. But tonight Second Young Master Qi’s sword edge and that final glance were too cold and terrifying, leaving him unable to care about flirting and joking with Fu Zhen anymore. He simply nodded directly and asked: “Zhen’er… do you know if Third Master has any friendship with that Second Young Master of the Qi family?”

Fu Zhen first snorted coldly, as if mocking Yang Dong for never visiting without needing something. Then after listening carefully to his words, she raised her willow eyebrows and asked: “The Qi family’s Second Young Master? That young Prime Minister?”

Yang Dong nodded gravely.

Fu Zhen looked him up and down and asked: “You offended him?”

Yang Dong glanced at Fu Zhen, embarrassment flashing in his eyes, and didn’t answer.

Fu Zhen had known him for so many years—they had even had two children together—so naturally she understood him better than anyone. Seeing his expression, she knew he hadn’t just offended that currently influential Young Master Qi, but it probably also involved some romantic affair.

Fu Zhen’s eyes rolled as she asked shrewdly: “You touched his woman?”

Seeing that Fu Zhen had seen through it, Yang Dong couldn’t deny it anymore, lest she get annoyed and refuse to help him later. He simply admitted it, then said angrily: “I’m naturally not someone who doesn’t know boundaries. The Qi family is currently at their peak, and that Second Young Master is rising rapidly. I’m not stupid—how would I actively seek such bad luck? It’s just that he hid that little lover too deeply. I misjudged the situation and thought there was nothing between them. Who could have expected…”

Yang Dong sighed in frustration and stopped speaking.

With the conversation reaching this point, what didn’t Fu Zhen understand? She naturally comprehended everything, knowing that Yang Dong had stepped in something and laid hands on Young Master Qi’s beloved.

Fu Zhen’s eyes filled with anger as she scolded: “Are you mad? That Qi Er is currently at the height of his influence. Even my brother doesn’t dare offend him lightly, yet you have such boldness to touch his woman!”

Being scolded like this by Fu Zhen, Yang Dong felt somewhat indignant in his heart.

As someone in commerce, logically he shouldn’t be able to clearly understand the personal affairs around Young Master Qi. The reason he had underestimated that Fang Jun was ultimately due to information passed from their Fu family, wasn’t it? That Fu family young lady who had become Fourth Prince Consort said Second Young Master Qi’s marriage to Sixth Princess was already settled, and also said that Fang Jun would soon marry out. He believed it and went to pressure her, never expecting this information to be inaccurate, causing him to provoke trouble for nothing!

Yang Dong was both annoyed and angry, but couldn’t explode in front of Fu Zhen. He could only repeatedly apologize and coax her for a long while before seeing her expression slightly clear.

Fu Zhen actually wasn’t truly angry.

Though that Qi Er wasn’t easy to provoke, he was after all a junior, and their families all had marriage connections. Even a major incident could be smoothed over. Moreover, Yang Dong had only touched that Qi Er’s little lover—what was she worth? Just a plaything. Could he really offend the Fu family over her?

Fu Zhen truly didn’t take this matter seriously at the time, instead developing a teasing mood. She looked at Yang Dong sideways, lips curved as she said: “How old are you? Still can’t control yourself from touching other people’s little lovers? Is that little girl stunningly beautiful or does she have seductive skills that made you lose your mind like this?”

This comment stirred Yang Dong’s thoughts.

Though the little girl was young, her figure was extremely graceful, and she was also extremely beautiful, especially that red mole between her eyebrows—beautiful beyond human appearance, truly soul-stirring. Though he hadn’t succeeded today, he had touched her small hand and kissed her neck once. It was truly soft jade and warm fragrance, an absolute beauty that was quite intoxicating.

But Yang Dong didn’t dare speak directly of this to Fu Zhen. He coughed and smiled placatingly, saying: “How could I have lost my mind? It was just casual fun…”

Fu Zhen snorted coldly, then half-jokingly, half-seriously stared at Yang Dong, saying: “Tell me, what’s that little girl’s name and what does she look like? How does she compare to me?”

Hearing this, Yang Dong knew this mature woman was jealous. To avoid offending her, he naturally couldn’t tell the truth, only answering vaguely: “She’s a yellow-haired little girl called Fang Jun, her appearance is just ordinary. How could she compare to my Zhen’er’s beauty? You should know long ago that I only have eyes for you…”

Fu Zhen naturally didn’t believe such nonsense, but hearing it was quite gratifying. She smiled, cursed Yang Dong as a “dead thing,” then said: “Put away those pretty words. Your smooth talking is just to get me to beg Third Uncle to save you. Do you really think I can’t see through it?”

Hearing this, Yang Dong continued smiling apologetically, repeatedly saying she had misunderstood. Fu Zhen had no interest in listening more, silently noting down the name “Fang Jun,” then said casually: “Fine, fine. Tomorrow I’ll go before Third Uncle and plead for you. With Third Uncle protecting you, even if that Qi Er has high position and great power, he still has to give our Fu family some face.”

Yang Dong was overjoyed at this, immediately flattering Fu Zhen with endless sweet words and compliments, making her laugh like flowers swaying.

In the nameless small building, the lamplight was dim and subtle fragrance floated. The two talked and laughed for a long while, then later, taking advantage of Yang Dong’s Five Stone Powder effects not being completely worn off, they rolled onto the bed together.