“Shen Yiren! Why did you steal Eldest Sister’s Moonlight Residence?” A clear yet irritating child’s voice rang out—it was Shen Yiren’s full-blooded younger brother, Shen Zhi’ang.
“Go back to your side courtyard. A lowly village girl like you should consider it a reward just to live in the side courtyard!”
“If Eldest Sister has nowhere to stay when she returns home tomorrow, I’ll have the servants throw you out!”
“Do you think you have the right to call me ‘Shen Yiren’?” Shen Yiren scolded him as a brat: “I don’t care who taught you these words or where you heard them. Since they came out of your mouth, you deserve punishment.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Shen Zhi’ang lifted his chin arrogantly, refusing to even look Shen Yiren in the eye. Did she really think she was his sister just because they shared blood?
Eldest Sister had said that closeness shouldn’t be determined by blood ties.
“Watch me.” Shen Yiren narrowed her eyes with a smile and called out, “Xiao Ba.”
Xiao Ba understood and ran to fetch a shovel. On the way, he encountered Cang Ming, who had just finished writing a letter. Handing the shovel to him, Xiao Ba went to find another one. The two of them then began digging energetically under the large tree in the courtyard.
Cang Ming watched in confusion and astonishment as Xiao Ba swung his shovel so fast it became a blur.
In no time, a three-foot-deep pit was dug.
While Cang Ming was still stunned, Shen Yiren had already approached Shen Zhi’ang and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
“Ah!” Shen Zhi’ang’s feet left the ground as he flailed his limbs and shouted, “Don’t touch me with your pig-feeding, manure-scooping hands!”
When the original body had first returned, Mother had asked what she had learned in the countryside. The original body had been honest, saying she had chopped firewood, fed pigs, carried manure to fertilize the soil, and even knew how to cook a few simple dishes.
That very night, she had cooked, but only Father had reached his chopsticks toward the dish. Under Father’s stern pressure, the others reluctantly tried it.
Shen Qingrui had stopped her younger brother from eating, reasoning, “Zhi’ang is young and has a delicate stomach. He shouldn’t eat something that might upset it.”
Shen Zhi’ang had avoided the ordeal. After the meal, seeing Shen Qingrui vomit until her face turned pale, he had begun insulting Shen Yiren for having dirty hands.
“Your own sister lived a life of feeding pigs and scooping manure, and as her brother, you feel no pity—instead, you look down on her?” The current Shen Yiren wouldn’t indulge him. She tossed him into the pit. “You’re the one I’m burying. Go for Reincarnation Refinement.”
She stretched out her hand, and Xiao Ba handed her the shovel with both hands.
“Second Miss!” Shen Zhi’ang’s servant rushed forward. “You mustn’t, Second Miss! The Elderly Lady and Madam dote on the Young Master the most! He’s your own younger brother!”
“My younger brother is Xiao Ba. What does he count as?” Shen Yiren ordered Cang Ming to stop them.
Cang Ming stepped forward. His sword remained sheathed, yet his presence alone was enough to intimidate them.
“Sister!” Xiao Ba came over with sparkling eyes, overjoyed.
Shen Zhi’ang, who had stood up after falling into the pit, spat out a mouthful of mud and glared up at Shen Yiren. “If you dare bully me, I’ll tell Grandmother! She’ll punish you by making you kneel in the ancestral hall for three days and three nights without food!”
Whenever he complained, Grandmother would punish Shen Yiren like that.
“And I’ll tell Eldest Sister too! Eldest Sister is now a Princess Consort. Punishing you with thirty lashes would be easy for her!”
A shovelful of dirt was flung directly into his face.
“Pah! Pah! Pah!” Shen Zhi’ang wrinkled his face and spat out more mud.
Standing at the edge of the pit, Shen Yiren tossed shovelful after shovelful of dirt inside, not holding back with her words either.
“I’m a village girl? Wasn’t it your mother’s maid who switched us at birth?”
“What kind of person makes their own daughter live in a side courtyard?”
“Your mouth is so foul. Let Mother Earth wash it clean for you.”
“Barging into someone’s residence so casually—do you know what they say about easy entry and difficult exit?”
With the last shovelful of dirt thrown in, Shen Zhi’ang was buried up to his neck, only a round head poking out.
Shen Yiren stuck the shovel into the ground, leaning on it with one hand as she caught her breath in small gasps. The human body really tired easily.
“Stay put now.”
“Shen Yiren! Shen Yiren! I’m going to tell Grandmother, tell Mother, tell Eldest Sister!”
Shen Yiren tore off a piece of cloth, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into his mouth. Clapping her hands, she said, “Whew, finally quiet.”
“Even your threats are just about tattling—how useless. And you call yourself the son of a great general, yet you don’t even know martial arts.”
Why should he know martial arts?
Eldest Sister had said before: he was the son of a general, and in the future, he would be the younger brother of the future princess consort. With such a noble status, there was no need to suffer through the hardships of studying literature or practicing martial arts.
Originally, he had been living well day after day. But ever since Shen Yiren, his own sister, returned, she either reminded him to review his books and practice writing or told him to go punch wooden stakes and practice horse stances.
She really overstepped!
And now she even dared to mock him for not knowing martial arts! Shen Zhi’ang was so angry his eyes turned red, grinding his teeth as if he could chew through the cloth ball in his mouth.
Shen Yiren snorted, turning around to see the servants who had been so aggressive earlier now kneeling on the ground, pleading with her: “Second Young Miss, please spare the Young Master! The Young Master is just young and doesn’t understand!”
“The Young Master is just young and doesn’t understand~” Shen Yiren deliberately mimicked them, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. “Do you want to join him too?”
Of course they didn’t, scrambling to their feet to go inform Madam.
Cang Ming said, “Lady Shen will surely come looking for trouble.”
“So you stay here and keep watch.” Shen Yiren turned to Xiao Ba. “Let’s go!”
The siblings slipped away.
Cang Ming: “…”
Fine.
“Sister, where are we going?”
“The side courtyard.” The original owner’s living quarters, right next to the Bright Moon Residence.
Originally a dilapidated, abandoned yard, it had been cleaned up and furnished with scattered pieces of furniture, and the original owner had moved in just like that.
Compared to even the main room of the Bright Moon Residence, the cramped side courtyard was like heaven and earth.
Shen Yiren discovered that the relatively valuable jewelry and paintings in the room were indeed missing.
That’s odd—she had no memory of packing up valuables in her mind. Only the original owner receiving Cen Liangxuan’s letter and then sneaking off empty-handed to meet him.
The letter!
While searching her memory, Shen Yiren scanned the surroundings. Where was the letter hidden?
She remembered—under the pillow.
The original owner had treasured it dearly. After all, this was the first letter Cen Liangxuan had written to her. She kept it under her pillow so she could read it every night before falling asleep.
Rummaging through the bed, she exclaimed, “Found it!”
“What is it, Sister?” Xiao Ba leaned in.
Shen Yiren opened it and read: “Meet at the city gate at Shen hour.”
Only one line, not even a name left behind. Shen Yiren felt a pang of sadness. Why did the original owner have to suffer so? She could have loved food or drink, but instead, she fell for a man.
But then again, after the original owner’s father left, she had no one to rely on.
When Cen Liangxuan first met her, he was elegant and showed no signs of disdain. As her fiancé, it was like having a big tree beside a Ginseng Spirit—not only could she lean on it, but it could also shield her from thunder.
It was indeed hard not to be moved.
Shen Yiren tucked the letter away and searched inside and outside the room with Xiao Ba, but the valuables were still nowhere to be found.
“Sister, someone must have hidden them!”
“It must be that fake!” Shen Yiren planted her hands on her hips.
Xiao Ba mimicked her stance. “The fake! But what do we do now?”
“If only you could smell the original body’s scent. It’s urgent—the impostor is busy with the substitute marriage. She hasn’t returned since being married off, so the hidden items can’t be far away,” Shen Yiren analyzed.
Xiao Ba complained, “Sister, I’m not a dog. I can’t smell it.”
Shen Yiren had a sudden inspiration: “Then let’s go find a dog!”