Ji Yunshu nearly spat out the tea she had just taken a mouthful of.
Dating two women in one day, and at the same location.
This kind of scumbag behavior did not seem like something Zhao Heng would do.
She couldn’t help but ask, “Are you sure you didn’t see wrong?”
Shen Qingchuan tried his best to prove his eyesight was excellent. “With Zhao Heng’s face and build, it would be hard to find a second like him in the entire capital. How could I possibly be mistaken? Besides, he was wearing the same clothes he had on this morning.”
Zhao Shen knew his cousin well and knew he wouldn’t joke about such things. He asked directly, “Who was the woman?”
Speaking of this, Shen Qingchuan was less certain. “I saw the insignia of Weiguogongfu on her carriage, but I don’t know which lady of the Duke’s house it was.”
Zhao Shen and Ji Yunshu exchanged a look; both had a good idea who it was.
But why was Zhao Heng meeting Wei Yuanmin at a time like this?
Zhao Shen continued to ask Shen Qingchuan, “What did they say?”
Shen Qingchuan looked troubled. “Cousin, I didn’t tamper with the private room just to eavesdrop on young lords and ladies’ secret trysts.”
Ji Yunshu was shocked. “You mean they…”
“No, no.” Shen Qingchuan knew what she was thinking as soon as he looked at her and waved his hands repeatedly in denial. “They didn’t do that kind of thing; they just talked for a while. But I only saw them as they were leaving, so I don’t know what they said.”
As a restaurant owner, how would he dare spread gossip about a young lady of Weiguogongfu?
If his cousin hadn’t asked him, he wouldn’t have breathed a word of it to anyone.
Ji Yunshu said suspiciously, “Since you didn’t eavesdrop, how do you know they didn’t do anything?”
Shen Qingchuan explained, “I specifically asked the waiter; that lady had her maid serving her the entire time.”
The two were, after all, unmarried; it wouldn’t be proper to do such things right in front of a maid.
Zhao Shen nodded to show he understood, gave Shen Qingchuan a few more instructions, and then returned to the residence with Ji Yunshu.
Because of Shen Qingchuan’s appearance, the two had been delayed quite a while. To their surprise, when they returned, they encountered Zhao Heng at the main gate, even though he had left long ago.
“Eldest Brother, why are you out?”
Zhao Heng was also very surprised to see Zhao Shen. After all, in his memory, Zhao Shen had not left the house in many years.
Zhao Shen glanced at Ji Yunshu beside him and said casually, “I accompanied your sister-in-law for a stroll.”
He said “sister-in-law” very naturally, but Zhao Heng’s expression stiffened for a moment. A forced smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Father was always worried that Eldest Brother would be bored to death staying in the courtyard; you should come out more often.”
Zhao Shen nodded and asked in return, “Why are you returning at this hour? Where did you go?”
Zhao Heng was still studying at the academy, but his schoolwork was actually not particularly outstanding.
He had taken the imperial examinations once but failed to pass.
It might have been because he had an elder brother over his head who seemed impossible to ever surpass, which caused him to develop a resistance toward studying.
In comparison, he preferred practicing martial arts. Whenever he thought about how his elder brother could only sit in a chair as a disabled man for the rest of his life while he could practice martial arts as he pleased, he felt filled with strength.
Today, in order to attend two appointments, he had specifically requested leave from the academy.
After leaving the restaurant with Yao Ruolan, she had insisted on returning to the Silk and Satin Shop. He had no choice but to take her back.
However, he still felt uneasy, so he had gone specifically to warn Cen Yi.
He was just an illegitimate son of a merchant; surely he wouldn’t dare touch Zhao Heng’s woman.
Seeing that it was getting late, he had headed straight home.
He hadn’t expected to run into his elder brother, who rarely went out, at the gate.
But he didn’t think much of it. Remembering his mother’s advice to be respectful to his elder brother and sister-in-law for future benefits, he suppressed his resentment toward the two.
“I had some matters to handle. It’s late, so I didn’t go back to the academy.”
Zhao Shen nodded noncommittally and didn’t ask further.
When they returned to their courtyard, it was still light out, so Ji Yunshu sat in the yard to enjoy the cool air.
She sipped a bowl of cooling tea and complained, “It’s only just the sixth month, and the weather is already this hot. How will I survive the days to come?”
She really missed modern air conditioning.
Lürü brought over a plate of washed cherries. “You should drink less cooling tea, lest you upset your stomach. These were sent by the Empress Dowager and have been soaking in cold water for a while. Please, have a taste.”
Ji Yunshu didn’t understand—if both were cold, why would the tea upset her stomach but the cherries wouldn’t?
She picked up a cherry and popped it into her mouth. She felt a burst of cool sweetness and let out a satisfied sigh.
After eating several in a row, Zhao Shen couldn’t watch any longer. “These are also cold; eat fewer.”
Ji Yunshu turned around and stuffed a cherry into his mouth, then asked, “Since it’s hot so early this year, do you think the climate is abnormal?”
She had been constantly worried about the natural and man-made disasters mentioned in the book, but by the time the book mentioned them, civil unrest had already broken out everywhere.
It hadn’t specified exactly when those droughts and floods began.
The original host was a daughter of a Marquis’s Household and had grown up in the Palace; her memory held no concept of what kind of lives the common people outside led.
Since her arrival, she had stayed within the Marquis’s residence and hadn’t interacted with ordinary citizens.
Going out today, all she saw was the bustling prosperity of the capital.
But the capital was, after all, at the foot of the Emperor. If even the people here couldn’t live and work in peace, then the fall of the nation probably wasn’t far off.
Zhao Shen didn’t like sweets. Usually, he wouldn’t even touch pastries with a hint of sweetness. Now, with a cherry stuffed into his mouth, it wasn’t polite to spit it out, so he frowned and swallowed it before saying, “Nothing will happen this year.”
Hearing him say this, Ji Yunshu felt a sense of relief. As long as it wasn’t this year, she still had time to do something.
“That’s good.”
Before the natural disasters arrived, the court situation was still relatively stable.
“Is the Empress about to give birth soon?”
While eating cherries, Ji Yunshu suddenly remembered an incident that occurred in the palace about a month after her marriage in the book.
Something seemed to have gone wrong during the Empress’s labor, leading to a shift in the relationship between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.
Zhao Shen clearly knew about this as well, and his brow furrowed even tighter. “It should be after Taining Chang Gongzhu’s birthday banquet.”
In the book, Madam Yao had only mentioned this in passing and hadn’t given a specific date. This was where Zhao Shen’s usefulness became apparent. “Remind me when the time comes; I want to go to the Palace to see my Aunt.”
Zhao Shen’s brow finally relaxed slightly. “Mhm.”
Ji Yunshu looked at Zhao Shen, a sudden surge of confidence rising in her heart.
With their combined efforts, they would surely be able to change their fate.
Otherwise, why would the heavens have sent her here?
To experience the original host’s tragic fate all over again?
Ji Yunshu had thought Zhao Heng would throw a fit with Madam Yao over the matter of Yao Ruolan.
To her surprise, until the day of Taining Chang Gongzhu’s birthday, there was still no movement from the Main Courtyard.
Compared to the scenes he caused on the wedding night, the current Zhao Heng seemed much more capable of keeping his composure.
Ji Yunshu was forced to sit and be dressed by Mama Li early in the morning. Mama Li seemed to want her to try on every single piece of jewelry in her dressing box.
Before she had even set out, Ji Yunshu already felt exhausted. “Mama, there’s no need to be so formal, is there? The protagonist today is the Chang Gongzhu. Why should I go and steal the spotlight?”
Mama Li spent a long time gesturing with a set of hair ornaments inlaid with rubies against her head, still feeling unsatisfied. “This is your first appearance in public after your marriage. Naturally, you must be dressed beautifully; otherwise, who knows how people will ridicule you.”
Ji Yunshu wanted to say she didn’t care about others’ opinions; in any case, no one would likely dare to gossip to her face.
What she was worried about was Zhao Heng.
His private meeting with Wei Yunmin couldn’t possibly be out of mutual affection.
Banquets were high-risk locations for incidents.
She had a nagging feeling that Zhao Heng would take the opportunity to do something.