21 – Past Events
Shen Qiu brought Xiao Hang back to the Shen residence and went directly to Shen Rouyun’s quarters.
As soon as she entered, a lady rushed toward her, shouting obscenities: “You vile woman! What have you done to your cousin? She’s been burning with fever all night without any sign of improvement!”
Shen Qiu sidestepped to avoid the woman, then stood straight and said: “What are you talking about, Second Aunt? Second Sister was perfectly fine when she left my place, and nothing was wrong when she returned. How can you say it was my doing?”
The woman was Shen Qiu’s second aunt, surnamed Fang – an unreasonable person who loved to make trouble. She glared at Shen Qiu with venomous eyes: “She only visited your home these past few days, then fell ill that very night. If not you, then who?”
No one had told her what her daughter had actually done. Otherwise, she would have twisted the truth completely. Had she known her daughter’s actions, she would have tried every means to marry her daughter into the Duke Manor.
Shen Qiu smiled faintly: “Second Aunt, she’s not important enough for me to personally harm her. If I wanted to hurt her, I wouldn’t have sent her back yesterday.”
Then she turned to Xiao Hang: “Doctor Xiao, please examine her.”
Xiao Hang shrugged: “Alright, since you want to save her, I’ll take a look.”
He walked to the bedside, took the wrist extended from behind the bed curtain, and after a while said: “The fever can be reduced. The wrong medicine was used before. But with such high temperature lasting this long, even if the fever breaks, she’ll likely suffer brain damage.”
Madam Fang immediately stepped forward and shouted: “What do you mean?”
Xiao Hang glanced at the bed curtain: “Even if the fever subsides, she’ll become an idiot.”
Madam Fang stumbled back two steps in disbelief, gritting her teeth: “I don’t believe you! None of your main branch are any good! I don’t trust any of you!”
Old Madam Shen sighed and said to the Marquis of Yong’an: “They’re all your descendants. You decide. As their grandmother by birth, my words carry no weight with them, but they might still listen to you, their biological grandfather.”
Xiao Hang said: “If you want treatment, I’ll write a prescription now and perform acupuncture. If not, I’ll leave first – I have plenty of work waiting in my medicine garden.”
After hearing Xiao Hang’s words, Old Madam Shen told Shen Qiu: “Qiu’er, let’s go. Let them discuss among themselves how to handle this. We shouldn’t interfere.”
Shen Qiu nodded to Xiao Hang, then followed Old Madam Shen out. The Marquis of Yong’an watched his wife leave, feeling indescribable bitterness in his heart.
If he hadn’t lost control back then, he wouldn’t be facing these unreasonable people now. People say birds of a feather flock together – what kind of people were this second branch?
Everyone in the second branch was like that woman – given to hysterics, making trouble, and being utterly unreasonable.
The Marquis of Yong’an heaved a long sigh, closed his eyes and said: “Treat her. Even if she becomes foolish, the Marquis of Yong’an’s mansion will still have a place for her.”
After Shen Qiu and Old Madam Shen left, neither spoke as they walked to the garden. Finally, Old Madam Shen said: “Qiu’er, I’ve wronged you. To protect the Shen family, I made you marry into the Duke Manor, and now these people still try to harm you. It’s all because your grandmother is too weak.”
Shen Qiu shook her head: “I’m happy to be married to my husband, and he treats me very well. Grandmother, you needn’t blame yourself over this matter anymore.”
She then looked at Old Madam Shen and said: “I just can’t understand why you…” Shen Qiu hesitated, considering how best to phrase her question.Old Madam Shen continued, “You want to ask why someone like me, who fought on battlefields, would constantly humble myself in this confined space of the inner courtyard?”
Shen Qiu nodded, watching Old Madam Shen as she waited for her to continue.
Old Madam Shen stood up and gazed into the distance. “What I despise most is competing with other women over a man, distorting myself beyond recognition. If he truly cared for me, I wouldn’t need to fight to keep him. But if his heart no longer held a place for me, no amount of struggle could win him back. In the end, I’d lose myself—how worthless would that be?”
She then turned to Shen Qiu. “Actually, you and I are quite alike. We’re willing to give men a second chance when they repent, but after being hurt a few times, we stop investing. If we can’t have it, it’s better to let go.”
Shen Qiu smiled and said, “But we still soften our hearts. Otherwise, Grandmother, you wouldn’t have stayed in the capital all this time and would have probably gone to the northwest long ago, right?”
Old Madam Shen sat down with a sigh. “Who says otherwise? It’s been nearly fifty years with him, hasn’t it? I remember meeting him when I was fifteen, following Emperor Taizu in campaigns everywhere. We married when I was nineteen, and I had your father at twenty-two.”
“That year, I had my own child, but it was also the year a rift grew between him and me.”
Shen Qiu asked, “Was it because of Aunt Zhao?”
Old Madam Shen nodded. “She was originally someone I saved on the battlefield. I took her in out of pity—she was clever, spoke softly and gently, unlike me, who’s always been rough and careless. But it was precisely this person who dealt me the most fatal blow when I was at my most vulnerable.”
Old Madam Shen gave a bitter laugh. “While I was still in confinement after childbirth, I suppressed the urge to kill her and drank her tea as a concubine.”
Shen Qiu reached out and held Old Madam Shen’s hand. “My father knew about all this, didn’t he? That’s why he has me come back to stay with you every year!”
Old Madam Shen smiled. “Yes, when he was little, he heard me arguing with your grandfather and learned about it. I still remember his thin arms wrapping around me as he said, ‘Mother, don’t cry. Lin’er will care for you. No matter where I go, I’ll take you with me, alright?'”
At this, a tear fell from Old Madam Shen’s eye.
She looked at Shen Qiu and said, “When the marriage with the Duke Manor was proposed for you, I was utterly unwilling. The affair between Ye Chen and the young lady of the Gu Family was the talk of the capital.”
“I watched Ye Chen grow up. That child may appear delicate and beautiful, but his heart is hard as stone. I knew you’d suffer if you married him, but for the sake of the Shen Family, I still let you marry into that household.”
Shen Qiu smiled and said, “Alright, Grandmother, why bring this up again? It’s all in the past. I’m doing well now, and you know my husband treats me kindly. Don’t blame yourself anymore, okay?”
Old Madam Shen smiled. “Fine, I’ll listen to my granddaughter.”
Mu Qing reported to Ye Chen today that the wolf girl refused to go with him. Ye Chen decided to see for himself. In his previous life, it was his Qiu’er who had tamed her; this time, he wanted to buy her himself as a gift for Qiu’er. So he went with Mu Qing to the underground slave market.But he had tried both gentle and forceful methods, yet this wolf girl simply refused to go with him. She fought with ruthless precision—those iron-clad guards couldn’t hold her back at all. It was her own choice to stay, so unless she was willing, no one could take her away.
Ye Chen had no choice but to return to find Shen Qiu. However, the servants said Shen Qiu had immediately gone back to the Shen residence after returning. He rushed over at once, never expecting to overhear the conversation between Shen Qiu and Old Madam Shen.