Chapter 92

Chapter 92

At this moment, Lady Shen Er was still unaware that her nephew You Da had run into trouble. She and Lu Shaner hurried over and saw a group of people carrying out a man who had been pierced into a bloody mess. As women, they rarely witnessed such violent scenes, even when they punished others with the cane. Lady Shen Er's legs felt weak.

Lu Shaner, however, was bolder and mustered the courage to ask Yao Niang, "Lady, what happened?"

Yao Niang smiled and said, "Nothing much, just a thief who broke in while I was away. He ended up being shot like a sieve by the traps I set."

"You know the art of Qi Men Dun Jia?" Lu Shaner's face lit up with joy.

With the threat of criminals, if Yao Niang couldn't intimidate them, there would likely be more trouble next time. So she replied mysteriously, "Just a minor skill."

She even raised her arm and said, "I have hidden darts here. Ordinary people can't get close to me. But some scoundrels thought I was a weak woman and tried to scheme against our main branch."

Lady Shen Er quietly stepped back, as Yao Niang mentioned that officials might come to investigate, advising them to return home first while she stayed to wait for them.

After returning, Lady Shen Er sat down and told Mama Qian, "My legs are still trembling."

Papa Qian was also worried, "I never expected Lady to know the art of Qi Men Dun Jia and to hide it in her room. But how did the thief get in? The main branch is heavily guarded."

"I noticed that although Lady Yan looked nervous, she remained calm. She said she would go back to sleep after the officials finished their investigation. She has quite a bit of courage," Lady Shen Er sighed, feeling she wasn't as strong as before. She wanted to give Lady Yan some advice, but Lady Yan didn't listen.

Lu Shaner always thought she was the smartest person in the world and wasn't afraid to compete with others. But she found Lady Yan to be extraordinary, and not the type to get involved in trivial matters.

"Truly, there are always better people out there. By the way, Second Lady has been bleeding recently; let her rest in bed and use moxibustion to protect the fetus." Lu Shaner remembered how Lady Shao almost miscarried and felt responsible.

But then she thought, despite the conflict between Lady Yan and Lady Shao, Lady Yan wouldn't harm her sister-in-law's child, no matter how ruthless she was. Would their family treat their own sister-in-law poorly? After all, Lady Yan visited her pregnant sister-in-law yesterday, and Lady Li treated her well. When Lady Yan had her birthday, Lady Li, despite her large belly, came over.

Lady Shao, after nearly miscarrying, was visited several times by her aunt. Fortunately, the child was saved, leaving Lady Qing with no options, as any action now would easily be discovered.

Shen Bangyan shared the same thoughts. At most, he had spoken out of turn after drinking, praising his sister-in-law's beauty to You Da, and even tried to dissuade him afterward. It was You Da's own stubbornness, and he hadn't provided any real help. Even if You Da tried to implicate him, it wouldn't stick.

Indeed, You Da's identity was soon revealed, surprising even Lady Shen Er: "How could it be You Da? I wondered why he often came to my house these days. I thought he wanted to show respect."

Shen Bangyan spoke righteously, "Cousin You really went too far. Auntie had high hopes for him. Failing the military examination repeatedly is one thing, but sneaking into my sister-in-law's room is despicable. Mother, this has nothing to do with us. Besides, he's also involved in the death of Xu Yuelang from the Ministry of Works, who was sent to inspect river projects and died mysteriously."

"Yes, tell me about your cousin. How did he get involved in something like this?" Lady Shen Er naturally wanted to distance herself and wouldn't consider helping.

Shen Bangyan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Yan Mai wasn't someone to be trifled with. Seeing Yao Niang cry, he quickly said, "Don't worry, no matter if it was lust or another reason, I won't let him off easily. But how did you set up those traps in your room?"

"It was Shen Linfeng who set them up before he left. I didn't expect them to actually come in handy." Yao Niang hadn't anticipated that You Da would deliberately start a fire to lure him out and even send people to harass her on the road, all of which she managed to avoid.

A constable from Daxing County, who dared to covet her and sneak into her room.

Yan Mai looked at his granddaughter and said, "Don't be sad. Your sister-in-law has given birth to a son and will soon have the third-day ceremony. You can stay at home for a while then."

"That's not necessary. There are so many servants at home. If I'm alone, I'll come back to accompany you." Yao Niang heard he had climbed out of the lake and needed to send people to patrol there regularly.

Seeing her determination, Yan Mai didn't insist, "Alright, be careful. Grandfather will go with you later."

Though old, he was still agile. After accompanying Yao Niang, he inspected the place and found that the Shen family had equipped many good things. He spent a long time looking around and then went to Yao Niang's room, which had already returned to normal. However, he still warned the people who had come with the Yan family dowry.

"This You Da is related to your second aunt, and I suspect he has ties to the second branch," Yan Mai said slowly.

Yao Niang nodded, "Yes, unfortunately, You Da didn't mention anyone from the Shen family and said Shen Bangyan tried to dissuade him. Our second master is a professor at the Imperial Academy, and Cheng Shaogong was the chief examiner for Uncle's provincial exam. Moreover, the man was stabbed to a bloody pulp and whipped thirty times. If I accuse the second branch, it might alert them. We should wait for Shen Linfeng to return and discuss a plan."

Yan Mai then said, "If he was driven by lust, he wouldn't have been carrying a golden cup. If it was an attempted theft, the punishment would be different."

Yao Niang said, "I put him in there, and I won't let him leave unscathed."

"You are interfering with the case," Yan Mai pointed at his granddaughter.

Yao Niang replied, "I knew that if such a villain were not eliminated, he would continue to harm others or seek revenge on me. If you don't cut the grass at its roots, it will grow back when the spring breeze blows. Grandfather, you must help your granddaughter."

"Rest assured." Yan Mai also knew that his granddaughter living alone here was coveted by others, leading to trouble, and it was necessary to make an example of someone.

"I think the Second House wouldn't want him alive either. Let me go ask them."

Yao Niang nodded, relieved.

Shen Bangyan did not expect Yan Mai to come knocking. The Second Master Shen hurried out to greet him: "Old friend, what wind has brought you here? I was just about to visit you. This You Da is truly despicable. With Linfeng away, it's our fault."

Yan Mai waved it off, unconcerned: "What he did has nothing to do with you. Even if he implicates you, this old man will never believe it. I have already told my granddaughter to act as she normally would and not ruin her feelings over an unrelated person."

Shen Bangyan thought, Could it be that You Da implicated me?

"The Yan family is fortunate to have an elder like you. Your wisdom and righteousness are truly commendable," the Second Master Shen said without changing his expression, seemingly unaware of everything.

Yan Mai left it at that. After all, as his granddaughter said, unless there was evidence, now You Da claimed that he acted out of familiarity with the Shen family's layout and lust, even mentioning that Shen Bangyan had tried to dissuade him, but he was blinded by desire. Therefore, Yan Mai gave a stern warning.

After saying his piece, Yan Mai excused himself, claiming he had business at the yamen.

Seeing Yan Mai leave, Shen Bangyan's steps became lighter. However, the Second Master Shen said to him, "Follow me to the study."

Compared to the First Master Shen, who often wore a stern face, the Second Master Shen actually smiled frequently but was very strict with his son. Once inside the study, Shen Bangyan heard the Second Master Shen ask, "Do you know about You Da?"

Shen Bangyan immediately cried injustice: "Son knows he was bold and lustful, and I tried to persuade him. How could I have known he would be so disobedient?"

"Do you really not know?" The Second Master Shen narrowed his eyes.

Shen Bangyan shook his head: "How could I have known he would act like that? I didn't expect my sister-in-law to be so prepared and set up traps."

The Second Master Shen snorted coldly: "She did this to guard against scoundrels. You idle around all day, doing nothing, and don't help your sister-in-law."

Shen Bangyan humbly agreed.

Three days later, You Da hanged himself in his cell. It was said that after his mother visited and scolded him for disgracing the family, he felt too ashamed to live and smashed his head against the wall.

Normally, hearing about a death should cause fear, but when Yao Niang thought about the many times this man had acted behind her back, she felt no emotion.

"Yesterday, I sent the gifts for the third-day washing ceremony. My nephew is quite adorable. In a few more days, he will be a month old, and I'll go back to see him then." As Yao Niang spoke, she thought of Shen Linfeng. If she told him that the trap he set up worked, how would he react?

Meanwhile, Shen Linfeng had arrived in Jiangxi. When people saw him, they found him very young and somewhat unconvinced, because Shen Linfeng was not a grandmaster-level figure. It must be said that in official circles, older and more experienced people were often seen as having seniority.

However, although young, Shen Linfeng carried himself with dignity and had a handsome appearance. He maintained high moral standards; when subordinate officials offered him beautiful women, he refused to even look at them and instead reprimanded them. At the same time, Shen Linfeng realized that being an official was entirely different from studying. He felt very tired, and he wished his wife were by his side. Whenever he felt a bit down, Yao Niang always comforted him. Even if she did nothing, just being by his side made him inexplicably feel at ease.

Thinking of this, he took out the painting from his chest. The woman in it looked like a celestial being, but now she was his wife. "Yao Niang, do you know how much I miss you?"

A month later, it was now autumn. Yao Niang had people make clothes for the servants and made several sets for herself. She thought Shen Linfeng would return soon and wanted to make some clothes for him as well, but considering Shen Linfeng's discerning taste, she decided against it, thinking he might not like what she chose.

Among the fabrics she brought as part of her dowry, some were of the highest quality and had bright colors. She selected the best ones to keep aside, planning to let Shen Linfeng choose when he returned.

At this time, Lady Shao's pregnancy had stabilized. After this ordeal, Lady Shao had lost some of her former strength and turned to Buddhism, inviting several abbots from the nunnery.

Yao Niang said to Aunt Gu, "When people suffer great setbacks, they easily turn to beliefs in gods and spirits. But why did she give this to me? I don't believe in such things."

Aunt Gu laughed, "You don't have to believe. Those who wish to harm you can't get close, and they will have no good end."

"That's because even if I am in trouble, I believe that man can conquer nature. Sending some tonics to the Shao family will do."

However, today she was going to the Wen family. Qian Niang had given birth to a daughter, and it was her first month today. Yao Niang had prepared a gold necklace, bracelets, and anklets as gifts. She naturally heard that Qian Niang was not very happy, but matters of children were truly a matter of fate, just like how Yao Niang and Shen Linfeng shared a bed for a while without conceiving.

One must know that Qian Niang paid great attention to this pregnancy. After the fetus grew larger, she did not go anywhere, all for the sake of nurturing the baby. In the end, she believed that the child born was not as she wished, leading to depression, yet she had to pretend to be strong in front of others.

Qian Niang did not care about what happened at Yao Niang’s place; she only wanted to talk about herself: "For giving birth to this child, I really suffered. You don’t know how much I bled and..."

"Second Sister, where is your family’s guest room? I want to go there first." She did not wish to listen to these things, as Qian Niang had already told her once before, but Qian Niang seemed to have forgotten.

If she suggested solving the problem, Qian Niang would say that one could not do this or that, turning around to say she did not understand the rules.

So, Yao Niang directly excused herself. She felt that her married life seemed different from many others. It wasn’t that she thought they were vulgar; it was just that it was so different from before marriage. She did not want to talk about her husband at any time, nor did she like complaining. Actually, there were plenty of worries at home, but she believed that dealing with problems was better than complaining.

Later, when Qian Niang found out that Yao Niang had left, she blamed her: "She really should have stayed longer here to get to know more people, being from the Prime Minister’s family. Now that she is married, she still doesn’t understand socializing, thinking that scholarly pursuits alone can achieve everything."

Bailu then said, "You are the elder sister, always so tolerant of Third Young Miss."

"The Shen family has been implicated by the Gong family. Grand Censor Shen has resigned and returned home, and Shen Linfeng is now just a minor scholar. Whether she comes or not, it doesn’t matter. I think she hasn’t realized how the situation has changed; she still thinks it’s the same as when she was at the Yan family." Qian Niang didn’t care and flipped through the gifts Yao Niang had sent, finding them insufficient.

In the past, she was just a secondary daughter, long accustomed to her father’s favoritism. But now that she was married and considered the best-married among her sisters, she naturally became dissatisfied. Everything that displeased her reached its peak after giving birth.

Yao Niang paid no heed to her. Upon returning, she comfortably bathed, washed her hair, and even had someone wash her feet thoroughly, lying on the bed contentedly reading a book.

Mother Gu, now older, mostly no longer kept night watches. After dinner, she went back home.

Just as Yao Niang was about to rest, she heard from outside, "Master has returned."

The couple had been apart since late summer and met again in deep autumn. Yao Niang was somewhat taken aback, and Shen Linfeng looked at her in a daze: "Am I dreaming?"

Yao Niang led him inside, holding his hand: "You’re back, why are you talking nonsense? Have you eaten?"

Shen Linfeng shook his head: "No, I didn’t want to stay at an inn, and I wanted to see you early, so I rushed back through the night. These days, I’ve been having nightmares, but it’s good to see you."

"Nightmares? Possessed by ghosts? Don’t worry, now that you’re with me, I’ll protect you well." Yao Niang noticed he had lost weight and felt very heartbroken.

Leading him in as if guiding a child, Shen Linfeng felt a bit embarrassed and said, "I need to bathe first, we can talk later."

Yao Niang replied, "I’ll wait for you outside. Don’t worry, I have something to tell you about your mechanism. Hurry up and wash."

She hadn’t expected Shen Linfeng to return at this time. She wasn’t the type who liked to rely on men, but after his return, she felt much more at ease, though she also worried if he had encountered anything. Their marriage seemed a bit different from others. Somehow, those who tried to harm her were easily countered, but many evil spirits lingered around Shen Linfeng, and some of them managed to succeed in their plots.

Wei Wuji causing trouble, You Da coveting her...

These incidents seemed coincidental, but each one was somehow connected to the Second House.

Upon returning, Shen Linfeng was immediately enveloped in warmth. The bathtub was filled with angelica dahurica (bai zhi), peach bark, cypress leaves, lingling, and qingmu incense, creating a five-fragrance soup believed to ward off evil spirits.

After bathing, he also washed his hair, feeling refreshed.

Seeing that he had washed his hair, Yao Niang said, "Come over, let me dry your hair. Be careful not to catch a cold, or you’ll have a headache tomorrow morning."

Unexpectedly, Shen Linfeng shook his head: "My lady, just sit there, I can dry myself. Let’s talk. To be honest, during my trip to Jiangxi, I thought of you day and night, even when grading exam papers."

Yao Niang blushed and said, "Silly, am I that important to you?"

"No, it’s just that every time I think of you, I’m not afraid of anything," Shen Linfeng shook his head.

Yao Niang couldn’t help but laugh and cry, "Am I Guan Yu or Qin Qiong?"

Shen Linfeng hurriedly said, "My lady, don't be angry. I was thinking about when you were in Kaifeng, and I saw several people trying to catch you. You were so valiant, directly having your subordinates tie them up. I admired you greatly. But when I was on the boat to Jiangxi, to relax, I also out of curiosity watched many murder cases, which led to nightmares."

After hearing him, Yao Niang replied, "You had nightmares, but I encountered real ones."

"What?" Shen Linfeng was startled.

Yao Niang then said, "Second Aunt's nephew You Da, it is said that after seeing me one day, he wanted to... harm me. First, he set fire near our west gate, but during those days, I often patrolled at night, teaching the servants how to use water pumps, so the fire was quickly extinguished, and he did not succeed. After that, I almost never left the house, only going out when my sister-in-law was about to give birth. He monitored me day and night, but his methods were too poor. He didn't know I always had guards with me, wanting to have ruffians harass me and then play the hero, but naturally, he failed again."

Shen Linfeng listened with great tension, grabbing Yao Niang's hand, even harboring thoughts of killing.

Then he heard Yao Niang say, "On that day, he lost patience. While I was drawing the suspect at the Ministry of Works, he took away many close associates. He entered from the bottom of the lake of the Second House, as our family's lake is connected to the Second House's. Knowing the route well, he swam over, climbed over the wall, and waited until the two maids guarding my room were napping before coming in. His original intention was to use a sleeping drug, and when we returned, he would secretly do something improper to me. However, he didn't expect that after seeing your portrait, he somehow touched it and was shot through like a sieve. I feared that if he failed to steal, he might retaliate against me, so I said he came to kill me because of the murder case at the Ministry of Works. This person also knew the consequences, and in prison, he confessed that he only coveted my beauty, hanging himself a few days later."

Shen Linfeng quickly walked to the mechanism, where a floral bird painting was already placed. He hadn't expected that Yao Niang had experienced so much, and in his urgency, he held her hand and said, "From now on, let's not separate. Wherever I go, I'll take you with me."

"That's not a solution. Although we are husband and wife, we each have our own things to do and can't be together all the time. The former Wei Wuji, the current You Da, my lord, we need to eliminate those with ill intentions. Don't these two have something in common?" Yao Niang reminded him.

Shen Linfeng stood up and looked at Yao Niang, "I know what you mean. I once had suspicions. Do you know how my brother Shen Linyi died?"

Yao Niang shook her head; she had only heard that Shen Linfeng's elder brother was a young prodigy.

"My brother died of wind-riding fever. At that time, he was only thirteen years old and was about to take the examination for the degree of Ju Ren. Our family's rule was to place one or two maidservants around the men to prevent them from being lured by outsiders. These maids were carefully selected, and those two seemed honest and simple, but privately, they were completely different, even feeding my brother some drugs, leading to his premature death, which brought shame to our family. At that time, I didn't know. In the morning, I rushed to my brother's room excitedly, asking him to bring ducks back from Jin Ling for me to eat, but who would have thought that my brother..." Shen Linfeng still felt nauseous and disgusted when he recalled it.

Yao Niang didn't expect it to be like this. She looked at Shen Linfeng, "Where did these two maids get such stimulating drugs?"

"No, it was my brother who asked for them. They privately spread rumors that my brother was impotent. My brother was young and talented, proud in nature, and was mocked by the two maids, so he...," Shen Linfeng explained.

"Just like You Da, who acted voluntarily, he even said that Shen Bangyan advised him not to have designs on me. Did your mother find nothing when she investigated back then?" Yao Niang asked.

Shen Linfeng replied, "When my brother passed away, my mother nearly went mad, not eating or drinking for days and nights, almost following my brother to the grave. No one wanted to bring up the old matter, and at that time, I started growing taller, and my studies began to improve. My mother focused most of her attention on me. As for those two maids, they were originally sent to the authorities for the crime of killing their master, but Second Aunt said that if such matters were exposed, the Shen family would be ridiculed. Later, my grandmother asked Second Aunt to handle it quickly and quietly."

"Could these two maids' backgrounds be related to your Second Aunt?" Yao Niang asked.

Shen Linfeng shook his head, "No, they were daughters of the maids who accompanied my mother, the most trustworthy people. That's why I've disliked having maids close to me all these years. You mentioned a connection to Second Aunt, but I was just a child back then. Later, the adults forbade mentioning this matter, so it would be difficult to investigate now. I don't even know what happened to those two maids afterward."