Pei Yuan looked down at her from above, a cold smirk curling at the corner of his lips.
“So the little Zhuangyuan Shen also believes that I, this prince, am the best-looking.”
Shen Chu’s face broke into an ingratiating smile. “Naturally. In Shen Chu’s eyes, Your Highness the Sixth Prince is tall and graceful, handsome and dashing, elegant and charming, imposing and mighty—”
The icy jade-bone fan pressed against her chin once more.
Shen Chu couldn’t continue. She looked up and met Pei Yuan’s utterly cold eyes.
His gaze lingered on her face for a moment, then he suddenly chuckled softly. “Mm, indeed, a few points better looking than you.”
Shen Chu… was a little angry.
Her chin ached slightly.
Pei Yuan tapped her chin lightly with the jade-bone fan, his voice rather cold.
“So what makes you think that a woman you yourself look down on would catch my eye?”
“You actually tried to trick a woman you don’t even fancy into seducing me. Shen Chu, who gave you the nerve to scheme against me, this prince?”
“Heh, have you forgotten that I still hold leverage over you?”
Shen Chu gently pushed the jade-bone fan away and laughed drily. “A misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding. Even with ten times the courage, I wouldn’t dare scheme against Your Highness.”
“Heh, is that so? It had better be. If I hear such talk again, I’ll knock that woman out cold and toss her straight into your bed.”
Shen Chu silently cursed Pei Yuan’s ancestors eighteen generations back.
Yet the smile on her face was utterly sincere. “Thank you for Your Highness’s magnanimity in not holding it against me.”
Pei Yuan gave a noncommittal “mm,” then suddenly his gaze sharpened. “Don’t move.”
Shen Chu froze instantly and looked up to see Pei Yuan’s eyes fixed directly on her.
Then his hand actually reached toward her face.
Shen Chu’s whole body went stiff.
What was he trying to do? Don’t tell me…
The two of them were standing rather close, and Pei Yuan’s scent inexplicably brought back that chaotic night two days ago.
Shen Chu’s face betrayed her by flushing red, her heart pounding wildly.
Could Pei Yuan have recognized something?
Pei Yuan’s hand brushed past her earlobe, the warmth of his fingers touching her soft, tender earlobe, making her shiver involuntarily.
“So it’s here.”
Shen Chu looked up blankly and saw Pei Yuan holding a hand-copied volume in his hand, head lowered as he flipped through it.
She was stunned for a moment, then instinctively turned to look at the bookshelf.
Oh, so he was looking for a book.
That scared her half to death—she’d thought Pei Yuan had discovered she was the one who had tangled in the sheets with him that night.
Annoyed, Shen Chu reached out and gave Pei Yuan a shove. “If you’re looking for a book, just look for a book, Your Highness. Could you not be so frightening?”
Pei Yuan frowned. “When did I ever frighten anyone?”
His gaze swept over Shen Chu’s reddened face, and suddenly his eyes narrowed slightly, a look of disgust appearing on his face.
“Shen Chu, don’t tell me you think I was just about to…”
A trace of icy disgust rose in his eyes. “No matter how desperate I might be, I would never take a fancy to a man like you. Looking so effeminate—you really are a cut-sleeve. Stay away from me from now on. Don’t make me sick.”
Book in hand, he flicked his sleeve and turned to leave.
Shen Chu was furious. She rolled up her sleeves and shook her fists fiercely at his retreating back.
Bastard. If I didn’t have that leverage hanging over me, I’d have knocked your teeth out ages ago.
She ground her teeth, took the book she had found, and left Cangshulou.
The moment she stepped out the door, she saw Old Madame Shen leading a group of people, charging toward Cangshulou with menacing momentum.
“Just now a maid came to report that Yufang ran out of the Cangshulou with her clothes in disarray—it must have been you who took advantage of her.”
Old Madame Shen entered the room and struck her cane heavily against the floor, glaring at Shen Chu with displeasure.
“Today you must take Yufang as your concubine.”
Old Madame Shen gave the order with an air of self-assurance.
Shen Chu found it amusing. It seemed Zhao Yufang hadn’t yet had a chance to speak with Old Madame Shen after returning.
“Grandmother, shouldn’t you first ask Cousin Yufang’s opinion?”
Seeing that Shen Chu didn’t object, a satisfied expression immediately appeared on Old Madame Shen’s face.
She waved her hand dismissively. “Yufang will have no objection. Since you have none either, the matter is settled.”
Shen Chu smiled faintly. “This grandson does have an objection. This grandson does not wish to take a concubine.”
Old Madame Shen’s face darkened, and she swung her cane at him.
“Stop using that ‘refusing to serve in office’ trick to manipulate your father and me. Let me tell you, we won’t fall for it.”
“Your younger brother studies just as well. Sooner or later he’ll pass the exams and become an official too. The Houfu doesn’t depend on you alone to bring it glory.”
“Today you must take Yufang as your concubine. You’re only a concubine-born son—if you’re obedient, there will still be a place for you in the marquis’s residence.”
Shen Chu sneered. “And if I refuse?”
Old Madame Shen slapped her thigh and began to wail.
“How pitiful that I’m old and despised! I offer my good intentions and am rejected for it!”
“I’m doing this all for your sake and the marquis’s residence’s! If you take Yufang, it will lessen the Shaqi on you. Unfilial wretch! You’re clearly trying to anger me to death!”
Shen Chu leaned lazily against a pillar and chuckled. “Grandmother, this trick doesn’t work on me. At least squeeze out a couple of tears when you cry.”
Old Madame Shen…
“If you don’t marry Yufang, the Shaqi will clash with me, and sooner or later you’ll be the death of me. In that case, I might as well die early.”
“I’ll let everyone in the capital know that the new Zhuangyuan is a rebellious, unfilial creature.”
Wailing, Old Madame Shen pulled out a zhang of white silk from her person and flung it over the corridor’s crossbeam.
Her technique was so practiced that Shen Chu almost wanted to applaud her.
Old Madame Shen skillfully tied a knot in the white silk and gripped it with both hands, placing it under her chin.
“If you don’t agree to take Yufang as your concubine today, I’ll kill myself right before your eyes.”
Mama Zhang, Old Madame Shen’s trusted servant, turned pale with alarm and rushed forward to grab her leg. “Old Madame, please don’t!”
Old Madame Shen shoved her away and made as if to loop the silk over her head. “No one stop me! If Shen Chu doesn’t nod today, I’ll hang myself right here!”
Mama Zhang turned to look at Shen Chu. “Young Master, look what you’ve driven your grandmother to! Hurry and agree to her demand!”
Shen Chu set down the book in her hands, lifted the hem of her white robe, and tore off a strip.
She deftly tied the white strip around her forehead, dropped to her knees with a thud, and cried out in a voice full of grief:
“This grandson kneels to see Grandmother off on her final journey! May Grandmother travel well!”
Old Madame Shen…
“You… you’re actually cursing me to die?”
Old Madame Shen was so furious she nearly snapped the silk in her hands.
Shen Chu looked utterly astonished. “Isn’t this Grandmother’s own choice to end her life? Grandmother is the elder. Since she has made this decision, though this grandson grieves, I cannot bear to defy her.”
“You wretched thing! I really will die before your eyes!” Old Madame Shen, face black with rage, looped the silk around her neck and made as if to tighten it.
Shen Chu stepped forward and waved a hand. “Grandmother, wait.”
A flash of smugness crossed Old Madame Shen’s eyes.
See, see—she was frightened after all.
She had been using this trick since the Old Marquis was still alive, and it had never failed her.
In a moment, she would make Shen Chu kneel at her feet, kowtow and beg her, and only then would she come down from the white silk.
Shen Chu called out loudly, “Hong Xiu.”
“Coming, Young Master.”
Hong Xiu jogged in, still holding a stack of papers in her hand.
Old Madame Shen frowned, feeling that the papers looked somewhat familiar.
Before she could recall what they were, Shen Chu had already taken them and lit them all at once with a fire striker.
The paper met the flame and quickly burned to ashes.
Old Madame Shen asked with a dark face, “What did you burn?”