Old Master Qian had lived his whole life and knew best how to judge the situation. What he feared wasn’t the Shen family—it was the fearless Shen Qingzhu standing before him.
He stiffly stepped aside.
That movement was no different from yielding the path.
Since the master had retreated, the household guards didn’t dare cause trouble. One by one, they lowered their heads and moved aside, leaving a passage leading to the inner courtyard.
Shen Qingzhu didn’t spare him another glance. Her gaze fell on Lingyu, whose face had already turned deathly pale with fear.
“Go.”
That single word jolted Lingyu awake as if she had finally found her backbone.
She scrambled to her feet, clutching her skirt as she ran ahead while crying.
“Young Master, this way! Quickly! Miss is… in Tingzhu Courtyard!”
Before they even reached the courtyard gate, a suppressed, heart-rending cry mixed with a woman’s screams and the filthy drunken curses of a man drifted into Shen Qingzhu’s ears.
“Bitch! Ungrateful bitch! Your father’s dead and you still think you’re the daughter of an imperial physician? I’ll beat you to death today! Beat the bastard in your belly to death!”
“Ah—! Jiabao! I beg you! Don’t… don’t hurt the child…”
Boom!
In that instant, Shen Qingzhu’s blood boiled.
She kicked open the half-closed courtyard gate. The scene before her made her pupils contract sharply.
In the courtyard, the maid Lingyin lay on the ground with blood covering her face, her hand pinned under someone’s foot so she couldn’t move.
The main room’s door stood wide open. A little girl about five years old, still in her nightclothes, was being dragged under the corridor by two matrons who covered her mouth tightly as she struggled in terror, tears streaming down her face.
It was her niece—Qian Miaomiao.
“Let her go!”
Shen Qingzhu’s voice was icy.
The two matrons shuddered at the sound and instinctively loosened their grip.
Shen Qingzhu rushed into the room.
The room was in complete chaos—tables overturned, chairs scattered, porcelain shattered across the floor.
Her sister was being dragged from the bed onto the floor by a drunken man who clutched her hair.
Shen Qingyao had a clear slap mark on her face. Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth as both hands desperately protected her bulging stomach.
Her husband, Qian Jiabao, was holding a pear-wood stool high above his head, his face twisted with rage.
“Go to hell, you jinx!”
The stool whistled through the air as it smashed straight toward Shen Qingyao’s stomach.
“No—!” Shen Qingyao cried out in despair.
In that flash of lightning, Shen Qingzhu moved.
She grabbed a half-man-tall blue-and-white porcelain vase beside her and hurled it with all her strength at the back of Qian Jiabao’s head.
Bang!
A dull, heavy crash echoed.
The vase exploded against the back of his skull. Shards flew everywhere with splashes of blood.
Qian Jiabao froze instantly, his arm holding the stool suspended mid-air. He slowly turned his head toward the doorway in disbelief.
“You…”
He barely managed a single word before his eyes rolled back and his tall body crashed to the floor. The stool fell beside him with a loud clang.
The room fell into dead silence.
Shen Qingyao stared blankly at her husband lying in a pool of blood, then at the terrifyingly cold-eyed “younger brother” at the door. Her mind went blank.
Shen Qingzhu’s chest rose and fell violently.
The overwhelming killing intent nearly shattered her reason.
She walked forward step by step and picked up the stool from the ground.
Then she raised it high.
“Zhu’er! No!” Shen Qingyao finally snapped back to reality and screamed in horror. “He’ll die! You’ll have to pay with your life!”
Shen Qingzhu ignored her.
A cruel smile curled on her lips as she looked at the unconscious Qian Jiabao.
Her voice was as soft as a demon whispering:
“Sis, are we keeping this thing for the New Year?”
As soon as the words fell, the stool came down.
She aimed straight at Qian Jiabao’s groin and smashed it down with all her strength.
Crack!
A sickening sound of bone shattering rang out. Qian Jiabao groaned painfully even in his unconsciousness. His body twitched once before going completely still.
“Ah—!”
The matrons and maids in the courtyard screamed in terror.
Shen Qingzhu casually tossed the stool aside as if discarding trash.
She crouched down beside Qian Jiabao, pretending to check his breathing. But her other hand moved like lightning—flicking a black pill from her sleeve and slipping it into his slightly open mouth while no one was looking. With a quick push to his jaw, the pill slid silently down his throat.
It was a specially made “Death Pill” from her space.
Colorless, tasteless.
It would only take effect after thirty-six hours, causing the organs to rot away as if from a mysterious illness—impossible to trace.
After finishing everything, she stood up again as if the ruthless demon from moments ago had never existed.
She walked to Shen Qingyao, removed her own outer robe, and draped it over her sister’s thin shoulders before helping her up from the cold floor.
“Sis, I’m here.”
“Zhu’er… Zhu’er…” Shen Qingyao clutched her hand like a drowning person grabbing the last piece of driftwood. She finally broke down, crying hysterically. “He wanted to kill me… he wanted to kill our child…”
“It’s alright now.”
Shen Qingzhu gently patted her back while placing two fingers on her wrist to check her pulse.
Fortunately, it was only a disturbance to the pregnancy—nothing serious.
Supporting her sister, Shen Qingzhu looked toward the little girl under the corridor.
“Miaomiao, come here.”
Qian Miaomiao stared at the mess and blood everywhere, too frightened to move, silent tears running down her cheeks.
“Miaomiao, don’t be afraid,” Shen Qingzhu said softly. “Come to your uncle. I’ll take you and your mother… home.”
The little girl’s lips trembled. Finally, she burst into tears and ran into Shen Qingzhu’s arms.
Just as Shen Qingzhu held her niece in one arm and supported her sister with the other, preparing to leave this living hell—
A shrill, vicious voice exploded at the courtyard gate.
“Have you all gone mad?! Who dares cause trouble in my Qian family’s house?! Ah—my son!”
Madam Qian, the mistress of the household, rushed in with a large group of guards. The moment she saw her son lying in a pool of blood, she let out a piercing scream and threw herself over him.
“Jiabao! My Jiabao! Who did this? Who harmed you like this?!”
She suddenly raised her head, her venomous gaze locking onto Shen Qingzhu and Shen Qingyao in her arms.
“It was you! You jinx! Killing your father wasn’t enough—you came here to kill my son too! Guards! Beat these filthy siblings to death!”
The guards looked at each other.
They glanced at Shen Qingzhu, whose killing intent had yet to fade, and then at Old Master Qian, who had arrived late with a dark face.
For a moment, none of them dared move.
Shen Qingzhu smiled.
A smile cold enough to freeze the bone.
She handed Miaomiao to Lingyu behind her and gently patted her sister’s hand.
Then she walked toward the mother and son.
“I didn’t come here to argue with you.”
Her voice was calm but clear.
“I came here… to arrange a divorce.”
“A divorce?!” Old Master Qian froze.
Madam Qian exploded like a cat with its tail stepped on.
“Divorce? Dream on! You injured my son and still want a divorce?! I’ll divorce this poisonous woman! She’ll leave with nothing!”
“Divorce her?” Shen Qingzhu’s smile widened. “Old Master Qian, did you hear that? Your Qian family wants to discard a wife who hasn’t committed any of the seven grounds for divorce.”
Her voice suddenly turned icy as she scanned the crowd.
“Or perhaps your Qian family would rather bring this matter to the Shuntian Prefecture, let the Imperial Guards judge it—see how many filthy secrets the in-laws of Prince An’s so-called accomplices are hiding?”
The same trick again.
But it worked every time.
Old Master Qian clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his flesh.
Shen Qingzhu didn’t give him time to breathe.
“My sister was properly married into the Qian family. Today, Qian Jiabao tried to murder his wife and unborn child. This divorce agreement—you will write it.”
“Not only that,” her gaze swept across Madam Qian’s twisted face, “I’m taking my sister, my niece Miaomiao, and the two maids who came with her.”
“And,” she added casually, “every piece of her dowry—every needle, every coin—will be returned. As for those shops and land deeds you secretly transferred to Qian Jiabao…”
Her expression turned playful.
“Well, he’s crippled now. Time for those things to return to their rightful owner. I’m the type who believes in eliminating the roots. Today I’m taking the people… and the money.”
“You… you’re going too far!” Madam Qian trembled with rage.
“And one more thing,” Shen Qingzhu raised three fingers toward Old Master Qian.
“My sister spent six years of youth here, suffering humiliation and nearly losing two lives. Thirty thousand taels—to buy out this cursed marriage. Compared to your entire family’s lives… is that expensive?”
“You’re dreaming!” Madam Qian shrieked.
“Shut up!”
Old Master Qian finally erupted. He kicked Madam Qian aside and roared:
“Do you want the entire family buried with your son?!”
He seemed to age ten years in that moment.
Looking at the completely different Shen Qingzhu before him, he said weakly:
“…Fine.”
“I’ll give it.”
He turned to the steward behind him and ordered through clenched teeth:
“Go! Do exactly as Young Master Shen says. Immediately! Return everything!”
Shen Qingzhu helped the dazed Shen Qingyao into the carriage, then settled Miaomiao and the two red-eyed maids inside.
Before leaving, she stood at the gate of the Qian residence and looked back at the pale-faced Old Master Qian.
“Before the hour of Shen, I want the silver and deeds delivered to the Shen residence.”
She paused.
“Otherwise…”
She didn’t finish the sentence.
But everyone understood the meaning in her eyes.
“…Let’s go.”
The carriage wheels rumbled over the stone road as they headed back toward the Shen residence.
The household was full of panic, but now that they had someone to rely on, some order remained.
Shen Qingzhu had just settled her sister and Miaomiao into a room, asking Madam Lin and the maids to take good care of them. She was about to handle her father’s funeral arrangements.
She had just stepped out of the room, barely having time to breathe—
When a young servant rushed over from the front courtyard, stumbling and terrified.
He fell to his knees before her.
“Yo… Young Master! Something terrible has happened!”