Shen Chu wrote a letter pleading illness to avoid entering official service, addressed at the top to the Libu.
“Rebellious son! He dares threaten me with refusing office!”
Changning Hou’s eyes blazed with fury, unable to understand why Shen Chu resisted taking a concubine.
She was just a woman. If he liked her, he could favor her a few extra days; if not, he could simply keep her in the back courtyard.
Old Madame Shen read the letter and was equally furious. “He thinks he can just refuse? Has he rebelled? Don’t concern yourself with this matter—I’ll handle it. Today I insist he takes Yufang as a concubine.”
“Someone, go bring the young miss here.”
Shen Chu sent Hong Xiu off to deliver the letter, while she herself went to the Cangshulou, planning to find a couple of books on the Dawei Lüli to read.
Changning Hou fancied himself refined, so he had built a Cangshulou in the residence, filled with many rare volumes.
Of course, all of these had been purchased with Concubine Qiao’s money.
Shen Chu was fully absorbed in searching for the books she wanted when she suddenly heard a cry of alarm behind her.
She turned around— a pink figure came charging straight at her.
Shen Chu leaned back against the bookshelf.
The pink figure let out an “Aiyo!” and toppled to the floor.
Flat on the ground, limbs and all.
“Cousin, why didn’t you catch me?”
The pink figure straightened up, gazing at Shen Chu with a face full of grievance, eyes slightly red, looking as if she were about to cry.
Shen Chu’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Cousin Yufang?”
Zhao Yufang’s eyes lit up. She hurriedly rose, tugged at her newly donned pink dress, adjusted the pearls and jade in her hair, and made a lotus-fingered curtsy.
“This is a pouch Yufang embroidered herself—a gift for Cousin.”
Shen Chu shuddered at her winding, singsong tone, and seeing the pouch of mandarin ducks playing in water thrust before her eyes, quickly stepped back.
“I have pouches. No need to trouble yourself, Cousin.”
Zhao Yufang clutched at her heart, tilting her head up and batting her eyes at Shen Chu, casting flirtatious glances nonstop.
“Ever since Yufang first saw Cousin, she has fallen deeply in love with him. Why does Cousin stand on ceremony with me?”
Without giving him a chance to refuse, she thrust the pouch right at him.
Shen Chu didn’t take it. “How did you know I was in the Cangshulou, Cousin?”
Zhao Yufang stammered, “I… I asked the servants. They said they saw Cousin heading this way.”
A flash of coldness passed through Shen Chu’s eyes.
So Changning Hou was dead set on making her take Zhao Yufang as a concubine—even going so far as to personally manufacture opportunities.
She looked at Zhao Yufang and raised an eyebrow slightly. “Cousin Yufang likes me?”
Zhao Yufang’s face flushed with shyness. “Cousin is a Zhuangyuanlang, and so extraordinarily handsome. I’ve never seen anyone so good-looking back home.”
And there was one more crucial point—she had never seen a life of such wealth and luxury as the marquis’s residence back home either.
She had many sisters, but her great-aunt said only one could be sent to the marquis’s residence, and she had gone to great lengths to seize this opportunity for herself.
At the thought of marrying the handsome Shen Chu before her and staying in the marquis’s residence to live a life of wealth and splendor, Zhao Yufang would wake up laughing from her dreams.
Her great-aunt had said that today, no matter what, she had to make Cousin’s betrothal to her a fait accompli—otherwise she would be sent back home.
At this thought, Zhao Yufang steeled herself and reached for her sash.
Once Cousin saw her body, he would have no choice but to marry her.
The moment Zhao Yufang’s hand touched her sash, Shen Chu, quick-eyed and swift-handed, hurled a book at her.
The book struck Zhao Yufang squarely on the web of her hand. She cried out in alarm, and her hand instantly lost its strength.
“Cousin, you weren’t thinking of undressing to seduce me, were you?”
Shen Chu’s face was full of astonishment.
Having her thoughts laid bare, Zhao Yufang, after all a girl who had only just come of age, was both embarrassed and ashamed. “I… I’m not, I wasn’t.”
Shen Chu smiled pleasantly. “It’s best that you weren’t. If you had truly taken off your clothes, you’d have ruined Old Madame’s plans—and destroyed your own future happiness as well.”
Zhao Yufang looked utterly bewildered. “What do you mean?”
“If I had seen your body, you would have lost your innocence. A woman who loses her virtue before marriage can only become a concubine. By having you act this way, Old Madame is clearly making you my concubine, not my wife.”
Zhao Yufang’s expression shifted slightly. “Impossible. Great-Aunt promised me herself that she would have Cousin marry me as his wife.”
“But your great-aunt has changed her mind.”
Zhao Yufang twisted the handkerchief in her hands, her expression shifting constantly, until finally her gaze settled on Shen Chu’s face.
“Cousin, you are so handsome, a dragon among men. Even… even as a concubine, Yufang would be willing.”
Shen Chu…
She rubbed her face. “Cousin, what do you think of life in the marquis’s household?”
Zhao Yufang thought for a moment. “Prosperous and wealthy.”
Back in her hometown, she couldn’t even have dreamed of such a life.
Shen Chu nodded. Wealthy indeed—spending her concubine-mother’s money, neither Old Madame Shen nor Madam Chen felt any pang, and everything they ate and wore was of the finest quality.
“Cousin, you’ve only been in the capital a short while. You haven’t yet seen what true wealth and splendor look like.”
“There’s a life more wealthy than the marquis’s household?”
“Of course there is. In the capital, the marquis’s household barely counts as middling. The imperial consorts in the palace, the ladies of the princes’ and imperial sons’ residences—they are the ones who truly live in splendor. I hear the imperial consorts wash their faces with milk, change their clothes a dozen times a day, and own countless hair ornaments and jewels.”
An unmistakable look of longing appeared on Zhao Yufang’s face. “Is it really as wonderful as you say?”
Shen Chu nodded earnestly. “Naturally. Cousin, you’re as beautiful as a flower, a beauty to topple kingdoms—you deserve to live the life of someone above ordinary people. But if you became my concubine, you’d be shut away in the inner courtyard for the rest of your life, unable even to leave through the gate. And since a concubine’s status is lowly, you wouldn’t even have the right to attend banquets.”
Zhao Yufang couldn’t help raising a hand to touch her face, her heart blooming with delight at Shen Chu’s flattery.
She too believed she was the prettiest among the sisters of her family.
“But Cousin, you’re wonderful too. Though I long for the life you described, I know my own status is lowly—I couldn’t possibly climb up to marry a nobleman.”
Shen Chu’s face turned serious. “Cousin, don’t sell yourself short. You are the cousin-niece of the Changning Hou, the grandniece of the Old Madame. How can you call your status lowly? Never mind the heir of a marquis’s household—even the princes and imperial sons are within your reach. To speak of nothing far off, our own household has an heir. If you married the heir, you would immediately be a titled Lady Heir, moving among noblewomen wherever you went.”
Zhao Yufang looked conflicted. “But the heir isn’t as handsome as you.”
Shen Chu… So she wanted both good looks and wealth—wasn’t that a bit greedy?
She shook her head. “That’s only because you’ve met so few people. There are plenty of men more handsome than I.”
“Really? I don’t believe it.” Zhao Yufang stared at Shen Chu’s refined features, her face full of doubt.
Shen Chu swore it earnestly. “Really. You haven’t met the Sixth Imperial Prince yet, have you? The Sixth Prince has a face like jade and the looks of Pan An—he is the most handsome man of all.
Cousin, if you want wealth, power, and influence, you could choose to marry the heir.
“If you want someone impressive, Cousin, you could choose the Sixth Prince. Either way, any of them would be better than me. Go back and think carefully about what I’ve said. Don’t simply follow the Old Madame’s arrangements. If the Old Madame truly cared for you, she would plan for you a better life.”
Zhao Yufang was so beguiled that her face lit up with temptation, as if she could already see herself dressed in splendid silks, commanding servants at her beck and call, living a life of luxury and abundance.
She couldn’t help smiling like a blooming flower.
Thinking this way, Shen Chu really wasn’t the best choice after all, and her great-aunt didn’t truly care for her either.
Successfully brainwashed, Zhao Yufang left without the slightest hesitation.
Shen Chu curled her lips and bent down to pick up the book on the floor.
A cold snort sounded behind her.
A chill ran down her spine, and she whipped around. “Who’s there?”
A tall figure emerged from behind the bookshelf, leaning lazily against it, his peach-blossom eyes brimming with a familiar mockery.
“You truly live up to your name as Zhuangyuanlang—what a silver tongue you have.”
Shen Chu broke out in a cold sweat. Why would Pei Yuan be here? When did he arrive?
Despite her martial arts skills, she had once again failed to detect his presence.
Could this man also be a hidden master?
“Shen Chu did not know Your Highness the Sixth Prince was here. My apologies for—Your Highness, what are you doing?”
Before she could finish speaking, Pei Yuan suddenly strode toward her, closing in directly.
The man’s icy aura instantly assailed her senses, forcing her back flat against the bookshelf, glaring at Pei Yuan with a face full of wariness.