When Shen Qingrang returned to the manor, it was already the third watch of the night. Madam He was just unable to sleep due to her worries about the dowry list sent by Tong Shao’s maternal family—although Tong Shao had been raised by the Marquis Wuning’s household, her dowry was being provided by Chamberlain Tong, Tong Yuchun. Chamberlain Tong still had legitimate sons under his knee along with several concubine-born daughters, so the items on the dowry list were really quite unseemly and beneath notice.
But now her eldest daughter had married and left home, her younger daughter had already gone to Dongying and her current situation was still unknown, and her husband had always been the type to wash his hands of such matters. She didn’t even have anyone to consult with, so she could only go to her son to complain and vent her frustrations. When she heard that Shen Qingrang had returned, she immediately threw on some clothes and headed toward the study in the front courtyard.
Speaking of which, this was probably the only thing that had gone smoothly for her recently—her son had finally stopped following those wastrel sons of wealthy families in their cockfighting, dog racing, and pleasure-seeking, and was beginning to understand the need to find proper work. Shen Xiaohai was also pulling connections, planning to buy him a sinecure position so he could first get some experience with official duties.
Sure enough, the lamp was lit in the front courtyard study. He Shi hurried forward a few steps and was just about to push open the door when she heard Shen Xiaohai’s angry reprimanding voice from inside. Her hand involuntarily froze mid-motion—ever since the betrothal to the Tong family had been settled, Shen Xiaohai had been looking at her as if nothing about her was right, blaming her for spoiling their son to the point where he didn’t know his place or any sense of propriety, which was why the Tong family and Marquis Wuning’s household had been able to seize upon his weaknesses. These days, just hearing Shen Xiaohai’s voice made her heart tremble with fear.
Shuilian was carrying tea when she saw He Shi and couldn’t help but be startled, timidly performing a curtsy.
He Shi waved her hand at her, indicating that she need not bring the tea inside, and pressed her own ear against the door to listen to the movements within.
“Tell me, what use are you at all?! You practiced martial arts with the household’s old soldiers since childhood, and now I’m not even asking you to personally kill anyone—just follow behind that group of well-trained death warriors and claim some credit, and you can’t even do that!” Shen Xiaohai paced anxiously and irritably in the study with his hands behind his back, his entire person like an enraged lion. “And you were even picked up and brought back by someone else—you really have the face for it! If today you had really had that mask torn off your face and your identity discovered, you wouldn’t just have gotten yourself killed, you would have implicated us and implicated the entire Duke Yingguo’s household! And I was counting on you to bring glory to the family!”
Shen Qingrang felt aggrieved in his heart. Shen Xiaohai talked a good game on the surface, as if he could go himself and be invincible, but while he himself at least had some rudimentary martial skills, his father was truly nothing but a wine sack and rice bag, with nothing but a belly full of ambition and nothing else. Even for such matters, he had to rely on his son to risk everything.
He pounded the bed once with immense grievance, his voice muffled: “Later, His Highness the Grand Heir and Ye Er both arrived. You know perfectly well that His Highness the Grand Heir has practiced martial arts since childhood, and Ye Er goes without saying—he’s been through countless trials in the military camps. How could I possibly compare with them? Of course I couldn’t even run away fast enough.”
“So is that Song Six actually dead or not?!” Shen Xiaohai was somewhat impatient. “If you’re useless, surely this batch of death warriors personally trained by Master Yuanhui can’t all be useless too?”
He Shi’s heart gave a heavy lurch, and she hurriedly covered her mouth to keep from crying out in shock—what do you mean dead or not? What death warriors? And what does this have to do with Master Yuanhui?
She thought of Master Yuanhui’s recent fortune-telling for Song Chuyi, and her entire person felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar in the dead of winter, trembling all over.
Shen Qingrang shook his head somewhat impatiently: “They all say the Grand Heir and Ye Er arrived far too timely, and that girl had someone protecting her to begin with. Moreover…” He swallowed and looked at Shen Xiaohai, hesitating several times before finally speaking of his fear: “Song Six seemed to recognize me.”
In an instant, Shen Xiaohai’s expression turned savage, glaring at Shen Qingrang with a sinister look. After a long moment, he finally let out a cold snort.
Shen Qingrang aggrievedly shrank his neck, trembling as he looked at the furious Shen Xiaohai: “I’m not certain she definitely recognized me, it’s just that the way she looked at me at the time…”
Shen Xiaohai somewhat irritably waved his hand to cut off his words, pondering in his heart that he needed to make a trip to see Master Yuanhui.
Since ancient times, wealth and honor have always been sought through danger. He could not allow Duke Yingguo’s household to continue this living death, declining generation after generation. In the past he had followed the wrong person in backing Prince Duan, but now, though they were both pledging loyalty to the Eastern Palace, he was working for Prince Dongping, and with Master Yuanhui helping and assisting him, he refused to believe that he would truly stumble time and again at the hands of a young girl.
When the servants of the ever-disciplined Marquis Changning’s household heard that Zhou Weizhao had come calling, they all lost their composure in panic. Song Chengru and Old Master Song, along with Song Jue, all came out together to greet him. When they heard that Song Chuyi had been injured, their expressions all turned extremely ugly.
Especially Song Jue—Song Chuyi never stayed out past this hour when going out before. He had already sent people to search at the Cui residence, never expecting that Song Chuyi had actually been injured.
She was wrapped entirely in a large cloak, and though she had bathed and changed, it could not conceal her dishevelment. A red mark on her cheek was glaringly conspicuous. Only after entering the study did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“What happened?” Song Jue looked at her, noticing that even the rims of her eyes were red, and her entire person was more bedraggled than ever before. His expression immediately changed: “Who would dare to be so bold?!”
“Jue ge’er!” Old Master Song spoke out to stop him, respectfully and courteously cupping his hands toward Zhou Weizhao: “Many thanks to Your Highness for escorting our Little Six back home.”
The corners of Song Chuyi’s lips curved up slightly in an arc, though the smile didn’t reach her eyes at all. She waited quietly until Old Master Song had finished his greetings to Zhou Weizhao before saying softly: “It was Yuanhui. He conspired with Consort Xian and the Shen family, wanting to kill me.”
Yuanhui’s wariness of her had reached this degree—she truly didn’t know whether she should be pleased by his excessive regard.
Song Jue was furious to the extreme. The look he gave Song Chuyi contained hidden worry as he cursed hatefully: “That old bald donkey!”
These past two days, Old Master Song had him thoroughly investigate Yuanhui’s background, which allowed him to learn the legendary story of this monk called a holy monk by the people of Fujian.
He had killed Japanese pirates and taught martial arts in Fujian, was a holy monk praised by word of mouth among the Fujian people, and had also achieved fame and success in the capital, already elevated to the altar as an enlightened high monk. With Emperor Jianzhang’s patronage and the adulation of high officials and nobles, plus Prince Duan’s full support over these years, this monk was far from being as simple as he appeared on the surface—he was a thoroughly difficult and ruthless character to deal with.
Now this ruthless character had set his sights on Song Chuyi, clearly with a momentum of not stopping until she was dead. He looked with lingering fear at Song Chuyi with the injury on her face, and murderous intent immediately rose in his heart.