Bang!… Bang! Bang!
“It’s the second watch… all’s well…”
The night watchman’s hoarse report cut through the heavy curtain of night like a dull blade. The second watch… the deepest, coldest hour of the night. The long street lay empty and silent, the houses on both sides pitch-black, like slumbering behemoths.
Shuo Feng, badly wounded and frail, had been unconscious the whole way, carried in Shen Ji’s arms. After settling him onto Old Li’s bed, Shen Ji quietly took some healing medicine from his storage space and fed it to him. The internal injuries were stabilized for now, but a physician would need to take a proper look tomorrow.
『System, can’t you extend me credit to exchange for medicine?』
『Newbie world. Host, please focus on completing tasks to earn points. Do not harbor thoughts of getting something for nothing.』
Shen Ji silently cursed the system for being useless and stingy, when another voice suddenly rang out in his mind: 『Host, please note that the system can hear your inner grumbling.』
『System 01 hereby declares: As the first-generation system of the Quick-Transmigration World Bureau, this system will deliver unexpected surprises to the host in the future!』
Shen Ji was speechless. How could the system say something so arrogant, yet almost coquettish, in such an ice-cold tone? He helplessly rolled his eyes… surely the system couldn’t see that. Just think: he, a big shot who had commanded an entire base in the apocalypse, had been stifled and humiliated enough in this world.
Shuo Feng slept on, his breathing faint. Old Li had brought in a basin of hot water from outside and was carefully dabbing at the wounds on his face with a cloth. The air was thick with the bitter smell of herbs and the stench of blood.
Shen Ji’s gaze swept over Shuo Feng’s swollen, bruised face… still bearing traces of his former handsomeness… then drifted to the heavy darkness beyond the window. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.
The most urgent task was to get his hands on some silver: Shuo Feng needed treatment, and Old Li’s place was no place to stay long… too noisy, and not safe either. He needed to return to the Pingyang Marquis Residence. Taking his own family’s money… how could that be called stealing? Besides, the succession ceremony was in two days. It was the perfect chance to probe the situation inside the residence and gather evidence of Lady Liu’s schemes against the original owner.
Just past the fourth watch, scattered lamps flickered to life in the darkness… early-rising vendors beginning to set up their stalls. Old Li was fast asleep on a pile of straw in the corner. Shen Ji rose silently and melted into the night. His figure ghostlike, he moved swiftly through the silent streets and soon reached the back wall of the Pingyang Marquis Residence. With a light leap, he was over and inside. A patrolling guard leaned against a pillar, yawning endlessly.
Relying on the original owner’s memories, Shen Ji headed straight for the Marquis Residence study.
Ever since the original owner’s father, the old marquis Shen Yue, had taken to his sickbed, the entire vast Marquis Residence had fallen into Lady Liu’s hands. The old marquis’s study had also been appropriated by Lady Liu as her own place of business, a display of her authority as mistress of the household.
Lady Liu had been elevated to the position not even a month after the original owner’s birth mother, Lin Wan, had passed away… rising from a lowly merchant’s daughter to mistress of the Marquis Residence in one stroke. Who could have imagined that the woman who had once served before the legitimate wife with downcast eyes and diligent deference, like a maidservant, would enjoy such “fortune” today?
The original owner’s impression of Lady Liu was vague. He had been sickly and frail since childhood, mostly confined to his courtyard to recuperate. Everything changed after his mother, Lin Wan, took a turn for the worse and became bedridden. Lady Liu began to wield power, and with it came her harsh treatment of the original owner and the conspiracies that followed one after another.
Come to think of it, after the decline of the Duke of Fuguo’s residence and the successive deaths of Lin Wan’s relatives on her mother’s side, Lin Wan had lost all support. The old marquis grew increasingly cold… not only taking several young and beautiful concubines, but also ignoring his gravely ill wife and growing ever more impatient with his sickly legitimate son.
Shen Yue’s attitude emboldened Lady Liu. She poisoned Lin Wan, schemed to strip the original owner of his Heir position, and in the end, a single cup of poisoned wine sent the original owner to the grave as Shen Yue’s burial companion!
Shen Ji avoided the guards and made his way to the study roof. Carefully lifting a few tiles, he slipped silently down into the room.
The rich scent of osmanthus incense washed over him. In the faint moonlight filtering through the window, Shen Ji’s gaze swept across the desk, the curio shelves, and several locked cabinets. His mental energy probed outward… inside the cabinets were thick account ledgers, several letters, and some luxurious jewelry.
He picked the locks and searched carefully. The ledgers recorded the dowry properties of the original owner’s birth mother… now all converted into Lady Liu’s private assets. Moreover, quite a number of Marquis Residence properties had been quietly transferred into the names of Lady Liu herself, Shen Mingxuan, and the Liu family. One could only wonder what expression the old marquis would make if he knew the Marquis Residence was changing its surname to Liu.
Among the letters lay the ironclad evidence of Lady Liu’s scheme to frame the original owner for “extravagant squandering.” The letters came from several notoriously disreputable gambling houses and moneylenders in the capital, detailing in full how they spread rumors of “Heir Shen” gambling recklessly, forged massive promissory notes, hired thugs to besiege the residence demanding payment, and spread the scandal throughout the capital… Every scheme, every calculation, laid out in crystal clarity.
Shen Ji’s fingertip traced the signatures at the bottom of the letters, a cold gleam sharpening in his eyes. Lady Liu’s schemes were crude, to be sure… but the original owner had been utterly isolated and helpless, his circumstances dire.
In a hidden compartment at the back of the desk, he found several other letters. One look at the gold-flecked feathered-paper envelopes, reserved for royal nobility, told him their sender was no ordinary person.
“…The matter that Madam is concerned about can be put to rest. Shen Ji is a mere child, not worth worrying over. The Heir position belongs to Mingxuan and no other. Once the deed is done, this prince will reward you handsomely… As for the new salt permits in Liuzhou, Madam may also be granted a three-tenths share…”
At the signature, a single character “Duan,” beside it a small, distinctive personal seal… it was Prince Duan!
Shen Ji’s fingers tightened slightly around the letter. Prince Duan… So that was it. No wonder Lady Liu was so brazen… she had latched onto such a mighty tree for support!
But for now, even his own Heir position was hanging by a thread, so the Prince Duan thread would have to wait. The urgent priority was tomorrow’s “succession ceremony”… stopping Shen Mingxuan from inheriting the title and exposing the conspiracy of Lady Liu and her son!
Voices began to rise outside; dawn light was faintly breaking. Shen Ji erased all traces of his presence and slipped away. Passing the storeroom, he “helped himself” to a stack of banknotes and a small chest of loose silver, then vanished like smoke into the darkness beyond the back gate.
In the early morning, Old Li was stunned when Shen Ji pressed three hundred taels of banknotes into his hand: “Young Master, this…”
“After you’ve eaten, hire a physician to tend to Shuo Feng’s wounds. Later, find a quiet courtyard for us to stay in temporarily. Buy whatever’s needed as you see fit.” Old Li’s eyes grew hot, and he agreed again and again, a faint glimmer of hope for a new life kindling in his clouded gaze.
Shuo Feng only woke once in the middle of the night to drink some water, then fell back into a deep sleep.
Shen Ji ate a quick meal and left. Time was tight… tomorrow was the day Shen Mingxuan would inherit the title, so today he had to investigate the dowry properties of his birth mother, Lin Wan, that had been seized.
On central Yongning Street, the former “Lin’s Silk Shop”… the storefront was the same, but the signboard had been changed to “Liu’s.” The manager was a new face… obsequious and sharp-featured… and the counter bore the mark of the Liu family trading house.
The grain shop on Yongfu Lane… its signboard had become “Yingxue Pavilion,” running a cosmetics business for Lady Liu’s maternal brothers.
The vast paddy-field estate on the outskirts of the city… the tenant farmers wore worried, grim expressions, fretting over the new year’s exorbitant rent. Their clothes were ragged, and they complained bitterly about the harsh new overseer… the rent had been squeezed up a full thirty percent or more over previous years!
…
Shen Ji hid in the shadows and investigated each one. He quietly noted the current state of these properties and their account transactions, gathering evidence of the illegally altered property and land deeds. All of it would become proof of Lady Liu’s embezzlement and seizure of the former mistress’s dowry.
It was nearly evening by the time Shen Ji returned to the small courtyard.
Shuo Feng had just taken his medicine and was half-reclining against the headboard, gazing out the window. Seeing Shen Ji return, he struggled to rise and bow, but Shen Ji hurried over and pressed him back down. Old Li happened to walk in carrying a steaming bowl of chicken soup, and he too was startled to see Shen Ji.
The newly rented courtyard was in the back alley behind the Duan Family Silk Shop… quiet and secluded. After a simple meal, Shen Ji helped Shuo Feng up, and together with Old Li, they took up their only two bundles… Old Li had already purchased everything they needed during the day. The three soon settled into their new lodgings.
Three main rooms and two side rooms, surrounding an exquisite little garden… Shen Ji was quite satisfied. Perfect, one room for each of them.
Shuo Feng, timid and grateful, thanked Shen Ji profusely. Seeing that he was recovering well enough, Shen Ji came straight to the point and asked about the details of the Marquis Residence flower banquet.
Shuo Feng lowered his eyes and concentrated, thinking back: “That day I was forced into a small sedan chair and carried to the back gate of the Marquis Residence. Two men dressed as Marquis Residence guards came up, and one of them pressed a cloth soaked in medicine over my nose and mouth… When I woke up, the Madam of the marquis was already leading a crowd bursting through the door.”
Shen Ji listened quietly… it was much as he had expected. Shuo Feng added: “When I was being bound at the South Wind House, in the struggle I caught a glimpse behind the folding screen of the corner of a crimson official robe… and hanging from that person’s waist… was a green jade bird pendant, glossy and translucent.”
Shen Ji understood in his heart. He reassured Shuo Feng not to dwell on it and to focus on recovering. …
That evening, the Pingyang Marquis Residence blazed with light. Servants and maids hurried about, making final preparations for tomorrow’s succession ceremony. Great swaths of red silk hung high, and the lanterns under the eaves had been replaced with brand-new glazed eight-treasure lamps.
Lady Liu was still in the front courtyard, busy overseeing the arrangements, while Shen Mingxuan was in his own courtyard, drinking and carousing with a few maidservants, laughter and chatter spilling out endlessly.
Shen Ji came to the Marquis Residence again and took the evidence directly from the study. He hadn’t taken it before to avoid alerting Lady Liu and Shen Mingxuan… to avoid beating the grass and startling the snakes, inviting unnecessary trouble.
Shen Ji secretly hid part of the evidence in Shen Mingxuan’s room. Lady Liu thought she could bear all the blame alone? Not a chance! This mother-and-son pair deserved to “share the good fortune and share the misfortune.” Not to mention the fact that the original owner had been forced to drink poison while Shen Mingxuan watched.
Shen Mingxuan was dead drunk, boasting smugly between swigs about how glorious he would be tomorrow, his hand occasionally groping a maidservant’s waist, drawing affected, coquettish protests.
Shen Ji paid no heed to the revolting scene before him. He went straight past into the inner bedchamber, stuffed the rolled-up ledgers and letters into the back of the drawer, and slipped away in a flash.
The next day, the Pingyang Marquis Residence.
Early in the morning, the gatekeeper’s wife suddenly hurried anxiously toward Lady Liu’s bedchamber. Lady Liu had been woken by her senior maidservant Lan’er, and before she could even flare up in anger, she heard Lan’er say that Shen Ji might not be dead.
It turned out that a few local grave robbers, having heard that the Pingyang Marquis Residence Heir’s grave was there, had snuck out at night to dig it up. To their fury, not only was there nothing valuable inside, but there were actually two men buried there wearing guard uniforms! One of them, while drinking, complained about it carelessly… and was overheard by the gatekeeper’s wife Zhang’s youngest son, who went home and told his mother.
Lady Liu was shaken. Forget Shen Ji’s chronically frail constitution… he had been given a full dose of Heart-Eroding Powder, a deadly poison! She immediately ordered several guards to check Shen Ji’s grave. Today was of the utmost importance… for herself and for Xuan’er alike. Lady Liu would not allow any unexpected complications.
Suddenly remembering something, she rushed to the study. Opening the sandalwood cabinet, she found that some of the account ledgers and letters were indeed missing.
Even Heart-Eroding Powder couldn’t kill him? Lady Liu’s face went deathly pale, cold sweat beading in her palms. That little bastard had a stubborn grip on life! But she quickly forced herself to calm down. The entire Marquis Residence was in her grasp… what waves could a powerless waste stir up? She sharply ordered her maidservant Haitang: “Summon Shen Yi!”
To ensure absolute certainty, Lady Liu issued a death order to Shen Yi, the shadow guard leader, who arrived in haste: take men immediately and cast an inescapable net around the gambling houses and the Marquis Residence! If Shen Ji’s trace was found, kill on sight! He must not be allowed to disturb today’s ceremony!
The sun blazed high. Inside the front hall of the Caiyuan Gambling House,
Manager Wang Wu was so terrified by Shen Ji’s vicious strike that his corpulent body slid off the chair and onto the floor: “Spare… spare me! Heir Shen, spare me! I’ll confess! It was all the Madam of the marquis who ordered it!”
With the cold blade pressed against his throat, Wang Wu wept and wailed, breaking down completely: “It was her! It was Lady Liu who paid me to forge everything! The fingerprints on those promissory notes, and the signatures on the land deeds… all of them were faked by people she hired to imitate the originals! I was just following orders, I beg you, have mercy!”
Wang Wu tremblingly wrote out his confession and affixed his signature and fingerprint. Shen Ji bound him tightly with a hemp rope and dragged him along like a dead dog.
The moment he stepped out of the gambling house, Shen Ji’s mental energy keenly detected six killing intents hidden in the surroundings. Lady Liu had reacted quickly. He let out a cold snort and casually tossed Wang Wu back into an empty room inside the gambling house. Almost at the same instant, six Marquis Residence shadow guards burst out from the shadows, the cold gleam of their blades aimed straight at Shen Ji. Their eyes held the inherent contempt they felt for this “frail waste of an Heir”… the Madam’s order was to kill, and so they would.
But before they could even think twice, Shen Ji activated his ice ability directly. His strikes were so fast that only afterimages remained, each move vicious and ruthless… and in their shock, the Marquis Residence shadow guards were cut down to the last man. Wang Wu, tied up inside the room, had been thinking of sneaking away, but the sight of the shadow guards’ corpses around Shen Ji froze him in place.
Shen Ji dragged the limp Wang Wu up again. The succession ceremony was to begin at high noon, and there were still two quarters of an hour to go. Old Li and Shuo Feng should already be waiting for him outside the Pingyang Marquis Residence.
The Pingyang Marquis Residence, before the main hall.
Shen Mingxuan stood in a brand-new robe of crimson-gold brocade embroidered with serpents, a jade crown on his head, radiating confidence. Lady Liu wore a dark red cloud-pattern brocade court gown, a hairpin of gold inlaid with kingfisher feathers and rubies glittering in her coiffure… regal and elegant, her face beaming with satisfaction.
A Ministry of Rites official in a crimson robe stood solemnly before the hall and announced in a ringing voice: “The auspicious hour has arrived… ! Let the heir, Shen Mingxuan, enter the main hall, pay homage to the ancestors, and receive the marquis’s golden seal… !”
Solemn, majestic drum music followed.
Shen Mingxuan took a deep breath, straightened his back, and, under countless gazes of envy or awe, lifted his foot to cross the threshold of the main hall… the threshold symbolizing the pinnacle of power. Just as the tip of his shoe was about to touch the mirror-smooth golden threshold…
“Hold!”
A cold, clear voice suddenly rang out from beyond the hall, landing distinctly in everyone’s ears. The crowd turned in unison toward the sound!
All the color drained from Lady Liu’s face. Her hand, gripping her maidservant’s arm, tightened violently, her nails digging deep into the girl’s flesh. How was this possible? Shen Yi and the others… they’d all failed to stop him?!
Shen Mingxuan froze in place and turned to look as well. In his mind, Shen Ji was already a dead man, but he turned with the rest of the crowd, puzzled.
Shen Ji walked through the crowd with a calm expression and unhurried steps. The surrounding guards, faces full of fear, held their weapons and kept a wide circle around him… but not one dared to approach. Just outside the Marquis Residence gates, this former “frail” Heir had killed Shen Yi, the shadow guard leader, in a few moves with vicious ferocity. That had thoroughly cowed them.
As Shen Ji drew near, the sunlight clearly illuminated his features.
The newcomer… was none other than the one rumored to have followed the old marquis to the grave just days ago… the eldest legitimate son of the Pingyang Marquis Residence, Shen Ji!
In an instant, the entire hall fell into dead silence.
Lady Liu’s face was ashen, her lips trembling, as if she had seen a vengeful ghost demanding her life.
Shen Mingxuan felt as if he had been struck by five thunderbolts. A colossal terror seized his heart. Shen Ji had been forced to drink deadly poison under his own watch just days ago… how could a dead man suddenly appear? His mouth hung open, but no sound came out. His body seemed nailed to the spot, unable to move.
Shen Ji’s cold gaze swept over the two shocked faces, his voice icy:
“My dear little brother… and my dear stepmother. I’ve come specially today to offer my congratulations. Tell me… are the two of you ‘pleased’?”