Outside the door, Zhu Mojie encountered Zhu Kuo rushing home, looking gloomy. When Zhu Mojie asked, he was stunned by the answer.
It turned out Zhu Kuo, seeing Zhu Yan brought home with a high fever, had angrily gone to confront Shen Du at Shen Manor, but it seemed to have been ineffective.
“Father, are we letting them divorce?” Zhu Mojie asked hesitantly.
Zhu Kuo fumed, “What else? Should I beg Shen Du to take back the divorce papers?”
He hadn’t even seen Shen Du at the manor. It was like punching cotton. Zhu Kuo, who had only been this assertive once in his life, was deeply frustrated.
Thinking of Zhu Yan, Zhu Kuo quickly adjusted his mood and brushed off his clothes, preparing to go inside. “I’ll go check on Sixth Miss.”
“Don’t!” Zhu Mojie stopped him. Seeing Zhu Kuo’s confusion, he quickly explained, “Stepmother is changing Sixth Sister’s clothes. Her clothes were damp with sweat from the fever.”
With this explanation, Zhu Kuo naturally understood. His rationality returned, and he frowned, “What do you think Her Majesty means? I don’t understand the recent court situation at all.”
First, Shen Du and Zhu Yan were rewarded after returning from Yingzhou. A few days later, Shen Du was imprisoned in the Court of Judicial Review, seemingly doomed. Zhu Kuo had even asked Grand Secretary Zhang to protect his daughter. But after a few days, Shen Du unexpectedly came out of the Court of Judicial Review, only demoted, with the Inner Court now under Lai Luozhi.
Two equally powerful, mutually restraining departments were now under one person, and crucially, Crown Prince Li Zhong was still imprisoned.
The Crown Prince hadn’t been released, but Shen Du had. When had the Court of Judicial Review ever let people come and go so freely?
“I also find it very strange. First, the Jin clan members came out of the Court of Judicial Review, then Shen Du. The Court of Judicial Review used to be a place of no return. When did it become like someone’s backyard?” Zhu Mojie scratched his head. He had heard plenty about these matters at the Hongwen Academy. All the students preparing for the imperial examinations naturally paid attention to court affairs.
The situation was as complex as a tangled mess of threads, impossible to unravel.
Zhu Kuo beckoned to Zhu Mojie, walking away while saying, “Never mind all that. Since Shen Du voluntarily proposed divorce, it shows he has some genuine concern for the Sixth Miss. Considering this, we shouldn’t be petty and slander him behind his back.”
Speaking of this, Zhu Kuo’s cloudy eyes opened wide as he remembered something: “When they married, Shen Du said the Sixth Miss wouldn’t live past three months. Look now, as soon as he got his freedom from this incident, he sent Sixth Miss back with divorce papers.”
Zhu Mojie didn’t understand: “Indeed, he seems to have some conscience, but writing divorce papers is too hurtful. It ruins Sixth Sister’s reputation.”
“What do you know,” Zhu Kuo chuckled, boasting proudly, “In the end, it shows our Sixth Miss is clever and charming enough to have firmly grasped Shen Du’s heart.”
Zhu Mojie: … Aren’t you missing the point?
In her room, Zhu Yan overheard most of this. Her initially unsettled heart gradually calmed. Beside her, Concubine Jin helped her change clothes while chattering:
“You don’t know how it was. When you were brought back yesterday, your whole body was burning hot and you were unconscious. Your father and Fifth Brother rushed to fetch a doctor. Your father was so anxious he nearly fell.”
Imagining Zhu Kuo’s already round body stumbling at the threshold, Zhu Yan wanted to laugh but couldn’t. Her father was good, but sometimes muddle-headed, and without much power. He had sent his daughter as a substitute bride, probably not entirely willingly.
“I was so scared. It was thanks to your mother and Manshu that we put you in a bathtub. Your master said this could reduce the fever.”
Zhu Yan knew about medicine and understood this method was effective. “Where’s my master?”
Chen Wen had come?
“Your father saw him as soon as he went out. He came to check on you, used acupuncture, and took your pulse. After confirming you were alright, he left.”
Zhu Yan: “Did he say anything?”
Concubine Jin was surprised: “What could he say?” Then she remembered, “Oh, he said he’d come to check on you again in a few days.”
Zhu Yan murmured a barely audible “Mm,” her mind elsewhere. Seeing this, Concubine Jin didn’t say much more, just tucked her in and told her to rest.
Zhu Yan suddenly grabbed Concubine Jin’s wrist: “Mother, has my dowry been returned?”
Concubine Jin shook her head and advised Zhu Yan: “Don’t think too much about it. Consider it a loss to avoid misfortune. I’m sure that man, I mean, he probably didn’t think of these things due to his sudden misfortune.”
Concubine Jin meant to let it go and cut ties cleanly with Shen Du, but Zhu Yan shook her head, her eyes determined: “How can we not ask for it back? That dowry was prepared with all your family’s resources. It must be returned.”
“Ah?” Concubine Jin gaped. Seeing Zhu Yan’s clear reasoning and improved complexion, she was pleased. “It’s not so bad. We didn’t exhaust all our resources. After all, you have three brothers and two sisters. We need to save something for them.”
Realizing she had said too much, Concubine Jin laughed awkwardly. Zhu Yan didn’t notice, her mind elsewhere.
That night, Shen Du, cloaked in black, snuck into Zhu Yan’s room under cover of darkness. He stayed for a long while, leaving only as the sky began to lighten.
—
On the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yan recovered and personally went to the Shen family to reclaim her dowry. She saw Shen Du wearing a mask, but behind it, his neck was covered in scabbed whip marks. He was still so thin, and when the wind lifted his clothes, they seemed ill-fitting, though these were the casual clothes he used to wear.
Zhu Yan’s heart pounded fiercely. Her fingers curled, unconsciously clenching, dispelling the urge to embrace Shen Du. She raised her head angrily:
“Since we’re divorced, return the dowry. I…”
“Steward!” Shen Du’s hoarse voice had barely finished the order when the steward understood, directing people to bring out all the dowry items from the storehouse and arrange them at the entrance.
Zhu Yan: …
The steward stepped forward: “Madam…”
“Hm?”
Ignoring Shen Du’s warning look, the steward continued: “Madam, please check if the number of items is correct?”
What could be incorrect? From the day she married into the family, the dowry had been locked away in the storehouse gathering dust. Besides, her main purpose in coming wasn’t for the dowry.
Seeing no one else around, Zhu Yan stepped closer, speaking softly: “Shen Du, what exactly happened?”
Shen Du turned slightly, keeping an arm’s length between them, his voice cold and mocking: “Since we’re divorced, why come to pester me? Could it be Miss Zhu can’t bear to part with me?”
Seeing Zhu Yan’s face turned deathly pale, her post-illness complexion not yet recovered, Shen Du’s cold eyes narrowed behind his mask, but his words remained merciless:
“I don’t have the habit of picking up discarded shoes. Please have some self-respect, Miss Zhu.”
The phrase “have some self-respect” made their relationship sound utterly worthless.
Zhu Yan wasn’t without a temper. She became angry: “Shen Du, you coward. No matter how many difficulties, there’s no reason for divorce. What can’t we face together?”
The more she looked at Shen Du, the angrier she became. Her shoulders trembled with rage, her shoulder blades thin enough to snap:
“Shen Du, don’t forget what you’ve said today. In the future, I will repay you doubly.”
Shen Du’s eyes narrowed, his hands clenched behind his back. Future? If he had a future, why would he send her away?
Zhu Mojie and Zhu Manshu didn’t know what they had said privately, but it was clear Shen Du had angered Zhu Yan. They rushed up to support her, but Zhu Yan stopped them. She glanced sideways at Shen Du:
“Let’s go.”
“Sixth Sister!” Zhu Mojie protested.
Zhu Yan left without looking back.
Zhu Mojie stamped his foot, not forgetting to throw a threat at Shen Du: “I’m telling you, no one can bully Sixth Sister.”
Unusually, Zhu Manshu didn’t lose her temper. Instead, she looked at Shen Du from a distance, noting his much-diminished spirit and the mask he wore. Puzzled, she pushed Zhu Mojie to leave.