Chapter Six: Belief

Chapter Six: Belief

Yuan Lingling was listening to Auntie Yang scolding the Xie mother and daughter when she saw Shen Caisheng return with a child.

She was dumbfounded, her first thought being that he already had a child, but then she quickly dismissed it as impossible. If he had a child that old, wouldn’t that mean...

She couldn’t dwell on it.

Upon closer inspection, Yuan Lingling quickly recalled the little kid from her memory—wasn’t this Hou Yuan, the younger brother of Hou Yuan?

Sure enough, he looked like a poor little thing.

"Big Brother Shen."

Ma Jie suddenly jumped in front of Shen Caisheng, even more eager than Yuan Lingling, Shen’s wife.

After greeting him, Ma Jie hurriedly went to play with the child, "Yuan Yuan, aren’t you going to call me Brother Ma?"

"Brother Ma Jie, Auntie Yang," Hou Yuan spoke slowly, his voice sweet as he addressed them. After that, he grabbed Shen Caisheng’s hand and stared at Yuan Lingling with wide eyes, but he didn’t take the initiative to call her.

Ma Jie couldn’t stand the awkward atmosphere. He glanced at Shen Caisheng and quickly pulled Hou Yuan over to introduce him, "This is your Brother Caisheng’s wife, call her Sister Lingling."

Hou Yuan tilted his head and looked at Shen Caisheng, "Sister Lingling? Is she the Yuan Lingling the Xie sister and auntie were talking about?"

Yuan Lingling’s lip twitched. Just how much bad stuff had those two been saying about her? Why did it seem like everyone had heard them badmouthing her?

She might as well have Xie Guanglian’s leg broken so they wouldn’t have time to keep slandering her.

She awkwardly glanced at Shen Caisheng, who remained as calm as ever. Truly, he was the boss.

"Those two shameless women are still spouting nonsense. I say they must be out of their minds. They’re dirty themselves, yet they drag others into it. They deserve to be poisoned!" Yang Ying fumed.

If it were anything else, she wouldn’t have much to say, but her son, Ma Jie, had told her that the sweet potato cakes were brought by Yuan Lingling for their family, not for the Xies. If they had any pride, they wouldn’t eat other people’s food.

Thinking about this, she couldn’t help but point at Ma Jie and start scolding, "What good are you? Tell me the truth, are you still hung up on Xie Aihe?"

Yuan Lingling’s eyes widened. What kind of juicy gossip had she missed?

To be fair, Xie Aihe wasn’t bad-looking. The Xie family members were all quite attractive, otherwise the original person wouldn’t have fallen for Xie Guanglian.

But who would have thought that Ma Jie, who seemed a bit clever, would also be as foolish as the original person? It could be said that he was a poor judge of character.

Sure enough, his mother shared the same thoughts as Yuan Lingling, "You fool, when you were little, she conned you out of your rations. Now that you’re grown up, you still don’t understand. If you dare to still have those feelings..."

Ma Jie, hearing that his mother was about to expose his past, quickly interjected, "Mom, mom... can’t you spare your son some dignity? That was so many years ago, why bring it up now?"

"Then tell me, why did you give those sweet potato cakes to them?"

Yang Ying was worried. Her foolish son couldn’t see that the couple was about to have a conflict? Was it so hard to take the blame?

Little did she know that she had accidentally hit the nail on the head, touching on her son’s guilty conscience, which naturally made him want to argue his case.

Just as she hit the crucial point, Ma Jie’s face turned red, and his eyes kept darting toward Shen Caisheng as he tried to explain.

"Mom, can I explain later?"

Yang Ying gave him a knowing look and sneered, "Fine, let’s go. I’d like to see what kind of explanation you can come up with."

As she spoke, she reached out to pinch Ma Jie’s ear. Ma Jie wasn’t about to stand there and take it, so he jumped up and ran home, leaving Yang Ying fuming.

"Caisheng, don’t blame Lingling. Today’s trouble was all caused by that troublemaker Jie. I’ll go back and take care of him!"

Before leaving, Yang Ying gave Yuan Lingling an apologetic smile. After walking a few steps, she turned back, "Oh, by the way, are you still planning to send food later?"

Shen Caisheng’s cooking was just as good as hers. Since he was back, she probably wouldn’t be needed, giving the couple more time together.

"Not for now, thanks, Auntie." This was the first sentence Shen Caisheng had spoken since entering the courtyard.

Yuan Lingling’s gaze flickered across his face for a moment, then she quickly looked away, even the smile she had just managed fading away.

Seeing her like this, Shen Caisheng was puzzled, not understanding why her attitude towards him had changed again.

When she first married him, it seemed like she was completely devoted to him, eager to share everything she saw and ate, which made him, who disliked noise, quite uncomfortable.

Later, when rumors about her and Xie Guanglian began to spread, she seemed to grow distant from him, instead getting closer to the Xie family several times.

Now, she didn’t seem to favor him much, but why did she seem a bit afraid of him?

No wonder they say a woman’s heart is as deep as the ocean, taking a lifetime to understand.

He didn’t realize his silent, brooding presence only made Yuan Lingling more afraid.

Yuan Lingling’s mind was flooded with images of dark, underground dungeons she’d seen before, even associating them with some cases of wife murder and dismemberment she had read about, making her feel terrible.

But just then, Hou Yuan spoke up, breaking the awkward silence.

"Sister Lingling, did you poison the Xie mother and daughter?"

Well, he saved the moment, but barely.

Yuan Lingling’s lips twitched as she reached to pinch the child’s cheek, but he dodged.

Hou Yuan clung to Shen Caisheng’s leg, acting like he was scared of Yuan Lingling.

"I..." Yuan Lingling slightly retracted her hand. She glanced at Shen Caisheng, trying to show she hadn’t done anything, but felt that explaining directly would make her seem guilty, so she forced herself to stay calm and said, "Poisoning is against the law. You could get arrested. You shouldn’t do things like that."

Hou Yuan clung tightly to Shen Caisheng’s leg and asked again, "So, Sister Lingling, did you poison them or not?"

"Of course not." Yuan Lingling was at a loss. What had she done to upset this kid?

But she didn’t care whether the child believed her or not; the most important thing was to make Shen Caisheng believe her.

Seeing Shen Caisheng’s silence, she wondered if he didn’t believe her.

Yuan Lingling: "I..."

"I know you didn’t poison them. It was Ma Jie, wasn’t it?"

Actually, they’d originally prepared something to help Hou Yuan deal with someone, but it wasn’t used. Coincidentally, the Xie mother and daughter fell victim, and Shen Caisheng guessed as much.

Yuan Lingling was surprised he believed her so quickly. Her heart raced inexplicably, but she knew she had to say something now.

"I’m not sure, but I didn’t do it."

Her relationship with Shen Caisheng was so awkward now that even a simple word made Yuan Lingling uneasy.

But when Shen Caisheng glanced at her and spoke, she wished she could go back a second and slap herself.

Awkwardness isn’t the worst thing; staying peaceful is what really matters.

Shen Caisheng asked, "Did you just say that poisoning is illegal?"

Yuan Lingling paused, realizing his insinuation, and her face flushed instantly.

She had dug her own grave and buried herself in it.

Just then, Hou Yuan asked sweetly, "Sister Lingling, why is your face so red?"

Yuan Lingling thought to herself: Don’t ask, I don’t want to live anymore.

She had finally caught on.

Not only was Ma Jie devious, but Shen Caisheng, Hou Yuan, and even that monkey—they all seemed kind, cute, or indifferent on the surface, but in reality, they were all incredibly cunning.

Now that she saw through them, Yuan Lingling suddenly felt Shen Caisheng wasn’t so intimidating. He was clearly messing with her.

Teasing... right?

Yuan Lingling glanced up and caught him staring at her. She quickly said, "To err is human, to forgive divine. Admitting your mistakes and fixing them is the best you can do."

"Right?"

Was she imagining it, or did Shen Caisheng just smile?

Ugh, seriously!

Yuan Lingling was convinced this man was heaven-sent to test her, oozing charm nonstop. And then he had the nerve to smile at her. So annoying.

"I’ll go cook. You all keep talking."

As she turned to leave, her foot slipped on the wet, freshly cleared snow. Her heart leapt into her throat.

This is the end.

Was she really going to die like this, taking two lives with her?

The worst didn’t happen. Instead, a warm hand steadied her waist.