Zhu Yan’s eye twitched. Children will be children; at the mere mention of food, they instantly perked up.
“Ahem…” Zhu Yan cleared her throat. “If you want to go, then go.”
“Brother-in-law, where are the wild rabbits?”
“They’re…” Before Shen Du could finish, his relaxed brow furrowed again. “You’re quite comfortable calling me brother-in-law, aren’t you?”
Qi Yeyun scratched his neck awkwardly. “It’s all thanks to my sister that I can stay at the Shen residence. And brother-in-law treats sister so well. As long as sister and brother-in-law are happy, I’m happy too.”
Qi Yeyun was truly a clever little devil. The first time he called Shen Du “brother-in-law,” he had already observed his expression.
Grand Secretary, Lord Shen – none of these titles pleased Shen Du as much as “brother-in-law.”
Besides, in this situation, flattery might earn him some wild rabbit meat. Why wouldn’t he do it?
Late that night, Zhu Yan returned to her room to find Shen Du waiting for her.
“Aren’t you going to your study today? Why are you in the bedroom?”
As she spoke, Zhu Yan removed her outer garments, preparing to wash up.
“We haven’t talked in a long time. Don’t you have anything you want to tell me?”
Hearing this, Zhu Yan was puzzled. “Don’t we talk every day? We even ate wild rabbit meat together today.”
“That’s not what I mean,” Shen Du said, patting the bed.
He missed those times when he and Zhu Yan would lie in bed discussing cases.
Zhu Yan understood his meaning and seemed a bit embarrassed. She lowered her head and said, “The case is closed now, and we… don’t have that many topics to discuss. I’ll go take a bath first, we can talk later.”
With that, Zhu Yan left.
Watching Zhu Yan’s somewhat flustered retreat, Shen Du’s lips curled into a smile. Tonight, they would have pillow talk again.
…
The next day, while Shen Du was away from the residence, Zhu Yan reviewed the case once more.
She discovered a shocking clue: It turned out that Liang Man’s death wasn’t just a rumor; he was indeed killed by Liang Jiren of the main branch.
The entire murder process was witnessed by Liang Chenzhong. Liang Chenzhong had a good relationship with Liang Man, and after learning of his father’s crime, he began to resent Liang Jiren. He subsequently fell into debauchery and started frequenting Pingkang Ward.
But that wasn’t all. Before his incident, he had even beaten Liang Jiren and his birth mother, threatening to ruin the Liang family.
Thus, not long after, Liang Chenzhong met with misfortune.
After obtaining these clues, Zhu Yan’s mind was in turmoil.
Could it be that just because his son wanted revenge, he decided to kill him?
The Liang family had always been on good terms with Madam Tang, and traces of Water Goddess poison were found on Liang Chenzhong’s body.
Could it be that when Liang Jiren failed to harm his son, he sold this information to Madam Tang, using her as a proxy to commit murder?
How cunning!
Zhu Yan was shocked by her thoughts, but her theory wasn’t entirely impossible.
As Zhu Yan pondered, a servant hurriedly came to report, “Madam, the Grand Secretary has returned from court and is waiting for you at the gate. He says he wants to take you somewhere.”
“Where?” Zhu Yan asked casually.
The servant shook his head. “This lowly one doesn’t know. The Grand Secretary is still waiting at the gate. Please don’t keep him waiting too long, Madam.”
“Alright, I understand.”
Zhu Yan stood up, took a deep breath, and cleared her mind of the case details.
She walked out of the Shen residence.
“Where are we going?” Zhu Yan looked at Shen Du on horseback, confused.
Shen Du didn’t answer her question, merely extending his hand to help her onto the horse.
Zhu Yan hesitated for a moment before taking Shen Du’s hand and mounting the horse.
It wasn’t the first time they had ridden together, so there was no need to feel awkward.
They arrived at Pingkang Ward, which surprised Zhu Yan.
This was a place where men sought pleasure. If he wanted to come, he could have come alone. Why bring her along?
After dismounting, Shen Du led Zhu Yan into a tailor shop.
The shopkeeper greeted them warmly and brought out the clothes Shen Du had previously ordered.
“Lady Shen, these are the clothes the Grand Secretary ordered for you. We worked through the night to finish them. Please see if they fit?”
“…” Zhu Yan was stunned. Shen Du had brought her here because he had ordered clothes for her.
“Look, these are made from the finest cloud-patterned silk,” the shopkeeper continued. “And every plum blossom on it was carefully embroidered by hand. Are you satisfied?”
Zhu Yan’s hand trembled slightly as she touched the pink plum blossoms on the clothes. Her heart seemed to strike an inexplicable chord.
The echo resounded, buzzing.
The plum blossoms on the clothes were pink, just as she had once mentioned wanting to cultivate a pink plum blossom tree. He had remembered.
This man was becoming increasingly perplexing to her…
Wasn’t she supposed to not have long to live? Why spend money on custom-made clothes for her? Could it be… to make her look good in death?
“What’s wrong? Try it on.”
Shen Du’s cool voice suddenly rang out, pulling Zhu Yan back from her thoughts.
Startled, Zhu Yan quickly suppressed all her emotions and said nonchalantly, “It’s fine. I like the pink plum blossoms. Wrap it up.”
Thinking the matter was settled, they were surprised when the shopkeeper looked at Zhu Yan with an odd expression.
“Madam doesn’t like pink plum blossoms? I thought all women liked pink. Even the clothes Lord Liang had made for Miss Qing’er were pink.”
At these words, both Zhu Yan and Shen Du’s hearts sank.
“What did you say?” Zhu Yan asked first. “Lord Liang? Miss Qing’er? Which Lord Liang? Who is Qing’er?”
Seeing their serious expressions, the shopkeeper seemed to realize he had said too much.
“I… well…”
“Stop stammering. Answer the question,” Shen Du commanded, his tone so cold it made the shopkeeper shiver.
The shopkeeper hurriedly wiped the cold sweat from his brow and said tremblingly, “Before the young master of the Liang family met with misfortune, the elder Lord Liang had a set of clothes made for Miss Qing’er from Lanyin Pavilion. They were similar to the ones you ordered for your wife. Miss Qing’er was so happy at the time.”
Hearing this, neither of them spoke, only exchanging a glance.
“Does this Miss Qing’er have any other distinguishing features?”
Zhu Yan didn’t know why she asked this and immediately regretted it.
If they wanted to know about Miss Qing’er’s features, they could just ask Madam Rong Zhui directly.
But to their surprise, Zhu Yan’s casual question revealed another secret.
“Oh…” The shopkeeper’s expression turned grim. “At that time, Miss Qing’er was already with child. When Lord Liang accompanied her here, she looked like she was about to give birth.”
The shopkeeper’s words struck Zhu Yan like a thunderbolt, leaving her stunned.
Liang Jiren had an affair with a courtesan, and she was pregnant with his child.
The sheer amount of information was almost too much for Zhu Yan to process.