The Chu Dynasty permitted divorce, and if the wife's natal family was powerful, she could even divorce her husband.
"Divorce?" Shen Qingqing sneered coldly. "Wouldn't that be letting him off too easily?"
Since she wanted him to have no heirs, naturally she needed to become a widow!
Nanzhi looked at Shen Qingqing's icy smile and couldn't help shivering. She felt her mistress had become completely different from before. But no matter what, she would remain loyal to her mistress. Whatever her mistress wanted to do, she would fully support.
"Send someone to inform Xijin. Tell her to come to the Shen residence after closing the shop."
"Should we bring the young miss?" Song Xinyin was still young and often looked for her mother. Nanzhi thought if they were staying overnight, they should bring her.
"No need." Shen Qingqing refused.
Nanzhi found this increasingly strange. Since waking up after falling into the water, her mistress seemed particularly cold toward the three young masters. Previously, her mistress had valued the children most, personally teaching them, which often made Lan'er cry and complain that her mother was too strict.
"Madam, your second brother from your natal family has arrived," a servant reported.
Shen Jingshuo walked in. "Little sister, mother misses you. She sent me to bring you home for a visit."
Seeing her second brother walking briskly and healthily, Shen Qingqing's eyes reddened, nearly bringing her to tears.
In her previous life, her second brother had gotten into a conflict with someone who deliberately sought revenge, resulting in both his legs being broken. From then on, he could only use a wheelchair.
Struggling to control her emotions, she smiled and said, "Second brother, let's go."
In this life, she must protect her second brother's legs.
The carriage Shen Jingshuo had prepared was spacious and comfortable, lined with thick blankets and equipped with a warming stove and hot tea. This was something the Marquis Manor's carriages couldn't compare to, which was why he had come personally to fetch her.
"Little sister, has something happened?" Having raised his younger sister, he naturally understood her temperament. This time, he felt she seemed shrouded in sorrow, with hidden melancholy between her brows.
"I'll tell you all in detail when we arrive." This would give her time in the carriage to think about what should be said and what should temporarily remain unspoken.
When they arrived at the Guogong Manor, her emotions surged. Several times, she barely restrained herself from crying.
In her previous life, lying bedridden and unable to move, how she had longed to return to her natal home, to see her family. Yet she couldn't even crawl out that door.
"Qingqing, my precious daughter has returned! Why have you gotten so thin?" Ye Manshu had been waiting for her.
"Mother!" Shen Qingqing ran over and hugged her, burying her head in her mother's embrace. The familiar scent of her mother made her unable to control her emotions any longer, and she began to sob quietly.
Hearing her cry, Ye Manshu was astonished. "Why are you crying? Second son, what's going on? Has she been bullied at the Marquis Manor?"
"Something must have happened. Little sister didn't say, she said she'd tell us together when we got home." Shen Jingshuo's heart ached for her.
Before marriage, Shen Qingqing had been utterly pampered at home. She had never suffered such grievances that would make her cry like this.
"Cry if you need to. We'll talk after you've finished." Ye Manshu held her like this, gently patting her back.
This made Shen Qingqing cry even more uncontrollably. In her previous life, after her eldest brother's incident, her mother couldn't bear the blow and passed away not long after. The Shen family held two funerals in one year, making people sigh with pity.
"Damn it! For little sister to cry so bitterly, it must be that bastard Song Lingxiao who's done something utterly despicable!" Shen Jingshuo said coldly.
Shen Qingqing had cried herself weary, having vented enough of her grievances and longing for her family. She lifted her head to look at Ye Manshu, her voice hoarse as she said, "Mother, I'm hungry."
Ye Manshu was taken aback for a moment before breaking into a smile. "You greedy girl, alright, let's get you something to eat first."
She nodded.
"Is there chicken soup simmering in the kitchen? Go fetch a bowl for Qingqing."
It wasn't yet dinnertime, so they let her eat something to tide her over.
The chicken soup was delicious, with a piece of chicken drumstick and some mushrooms. Her stomach instantly felt warm.
After finishing, she noticed two pairs of eyes fixed intently on her, waiting for her to explain what had happened, yet not daring to rush her. She felt increasingly that she truly deserved to die!
If Song Lingxiao dared to poison her, then she had reason to suspect whether her eldest brother's death and her second brother's injuries were also related to him.
So, she couldn't afford to openly confront Song Lingxiao yet, but she had to make her family aware of his true nature!
"Second Brother, when you ran into Nanzhi outside, it was because I asked her to find an outside physician to check if the Bird's Nest Soup Song Lingxiao has been giving me daily is poisoned." She blurted this out in one breath, not wanting to keep her mother and second brother in suspense.
"What? Why would you suspect the Bird's Nest Soup is poisoned?" Shen Jingshuo was confused.
Ye Manshu gripped Shen Qingqing's hand and asked gravely, "It is poisoned, isn't it?" Otherwise, why would she have cried so bitterly earlier?
Shen Qingqing nodded.
"After I fell into the water, I sought an outside physician. He diagnosed me with a chronic poison, which led me to investigate my food. That's when we discovered the poison Phytolacca in the Bird's Nest Soup."
"For the past three months, he personally brought me the Bird's Nest Soup about twenty days out of each month." Thankfully, it had only been three months, or her health would have been beyond recovery.
"Damn him!" Ye Manshu slammed the tea table furiously. "How dare he? How dare he poison you? I'll go wring his neck right now!"
She stood up, ready to charge out, but Shen Qingqing pulled her back.
"Mother, don't act impulsively. If we confront him now, he'll surely deny it and push the blame onto a scapegoat. I plan to turn the tables on him. I came back this time to discuss a strategy with you and to make sure you know his true colors."
"That scum, that beast in human clothing! Back then, he begged your eldest brother to persuade me to agree to your marriage. I was reluctant at first, thinking his family were mere martial artists with nothing to their name, and I worried you'd suffer."
"But then I thought, with no father-in-law and only a widowed sister-in-law, you could be the mistress of the household. With our support, your life should have been comfortable. Who would have thought he'd dare to harm you!" Ye Manshu grew angrier as she spoke, itching to grab a knife and confront him immediately.
Coming from a military family, she had a fiery temper. Though she had mellowed over the years, it all came rushing back now.
"Mother, it's my fault. I was deceived by him." Back then, Song Lingxiao had been exceedingly accommodating to her. With little exposure to other men and his handsome appearance, she had fallen for him.
"Little Sister, it's not your fault. It's all because he was too good at pretending. But I can't understand why he would want to poison you. Does he have someone else? Is he worried you won't agree to him taking a concubine?" Shen Jingshuo couldn't make sense of it. With Shen Qingqing as the mistress, the Shen Family would surely support the Song Family. Without the Shen Family's backing, the Song Family would be nothing in the capital.
"Let's wait for Eldest Brother to return, and then we can plan our next steps carefully."
The eldest son of the Shen Family, Shen Jingzhi, took the imperial examination together with Song Lingxiao. Shen Jingzhi achieved the rank of Third Place Scholar and subsequently entered the Hanlin Yuan (Imperial Academy), while Song Lingxiao repeatedly failed the examinations.
Upon returning, he was surprised to see Shen Qingqing there. "Little sister, why are you here? And why do you look so unwell?"
"Elder brother!" Shen Qingqing's heart burned with emotion seeing him standing alive before her. In her past life, her elder brother had been dispatched to provide disaster relief but was beaten to death by victims, leaving him unrecognizable.
The male members of the Shen Family had either died, been injured, or gone missing, leaving them with no choice but to fully support her son, Song Yu.