“Yes, Madam. Everything has already been spread according to your instructions.” Steward Lin said ingratiatingly with a smile. “Madam has worked hard. You’ve suffered for this, my dear Madam.”
“Shen Yunhuai is just an ungrateful wolf raised in vain! This time, I’ll make him and that wench Wen Jiushu utterly disgraced.”
Madam Meng spat viciously.
The steward then drove the carriage away first.
“This time, thanks to Sister-in-law, Father was able to rest peacefully. Otherwise, we might have had to relocate his grave.”
On the return journey, Shen Yunhuai still rode his horse beside Wen Jiushu’s carriage.
Because it was the transition between spring and summer, the carriage windows were open on both sides. Sitting inside, Wen Jiushu heard Shen Yunhuai ask, “Sister-in-law seems to understand mystical arts?”
【He’s suspecting me. Well, that makes sense—after all, the original host didn’t know any of this. She was just a useless woman driven out by her in-laws and ultimately killed.】
Wen Jiushu let out a faint scoff and said, “When I was young, I studied some Daoist teachings with a wandering priest, so I know a little bit of medicine and metaphysics.”
Just a little—and yet she could dissolve resentment?
Shen Yunhuai thought she was being modest.
“Third Brother doesn’t need to test me. I mean no harm to the Shen family. Rather, you should write to your elder brother and ask when he will return,” Wen Jiushu said clearly.
“Does Sister-in-law miss him?”
【Miss him? I just want to ask when the Marquis returns so I can get a divorce.】
Shen Yunhuai: …
So she was thinking about divorce.
It suddenly felt like even his elder brother might not be able to keep this sister-in-law anymore.
“You see that? That’s the Shen family carriage. The one riding the horse is Third Young Master Shen.”
“I heard he’s a notorious playboy. With the Marquis away, he’s been flirting with his own sister-in-law.”
“That’s nothing—I’ve heard something even juicier. The Marquis’ wife is three months pregnant, but she only married the Marquis half a month ago, and he left for official duty right after the wedding. So whose child is it?”
“Tsk tsk. As they say—dumplings are best eaten hot, and sisters-in-law are the most fun!”
Voices from the roadside drifted into the carriage.
Wen Jiushu narrowed her eyes.
【So this is Madam Meng’s scheme. These rumors are quite well-crafted—spreading gossip to ruin me and Shen Yunhuai without lifting a finger. I have to admit, the stepmother is quite calculating.】
Shen Yunhuai’s face also turned dark.
This household really needed a proper purge.
Although he was usually a wastrel, when he turned cold, he carried a sharp, murderous aura. One glance from him made the gossiping bystanders instinctively shrink back and disperse.
Inside the Shen residence hall.
“I’ll deal with those loose tongues. Sister-in-law, don’t be angry.”
Wen Jiushu shook her head. She already knew it was Madam Meng’s doing, so she wasn’t particularly angered.
She was about to return to her room when Shen Yunhuai said, “Since Sister-in-law is the lady of the house, you should stay and familiarize yourself with household affairs. I’ve overstepped this time and handled things on your behalf. From now on, the household will be in your care.”
【What does he mean? Is he really making me the mistress of the household?】
【I thought we would just keep up appearances and ‘coexist peacefully’ until the divorce—that would’ve been ideal.】
But Wen Jiushu still stayed.
Shen Yunhuai smiled slightly, then suddenly his expression turned cold.
“Bring them in.”
Immediately, Mu Si dragged several maids and servants inside, forcing them to kneel.
“Third Master, spare us! Please spare us!”
Shen Yunhuai smiled faintly. “Oh? So you already know what you did wrong?”
The servants exchanged uneasy glances and shook their heads. “We… we don’t know. We don’t know what mistake we made to anger Third Master.”
“Heh.” He gave a low chuckle. “Doesn’t matter if you don’t know. As long as you don’t repeat it, that’s fine.”
The servants hurriedly knocked their heads in relief. “Yes! Thank you, Third Master!”
“Drag them out. Cut out their tongues.”
The servants froze in shock.
They thought they had been spared.
“N-no! Please, Third Master, spare us! We won’t dare again…”
It was they who had spread the rumors outside.
How could they not know why their tongues were being removed?!
But they were acting under Madam’s orders!
“Also remove their teeth, break their legs, and sell them off,” Shen Yunhuai added calmly.
They collapsed in terror, trembling and begging for mercy.
But he only waved his hand. Mu Si immediately dragged them away.
“What is going on here?!”
A sharp voice rang out as Madam Meng rushed in.
“Madam, save us! Third Master is going to sell us and cut out our tongues!”
The servants immediately cried for help.
Madam Meng’s eyelid twitched. “Yunhuai, what did they do to deserve such anger? If something is wrong, you could just tell me—I’ll handle it.”
Especially when she saw Wen Jiushu sitting in the seat of honor, her anger flared even higher. That was the position of the mistress of the household—how could she sit there?!
In the past, whenever she coaxed him like this, Shen Yunhuai would back down and let her decide everything.
That was how she had gained so much authority in the household.
But now—things had changed. The Marquis’ household needed a new master.
“Good,” Shen Yunhuai said with a smile. “Mother, these people are from your courtyard, aren’t they?”
“They’ve been spreading rumors about their masters. Are you aware of this?”
Madam Meng froze.
So quickly discovered?
Since when did Shen Yunhuai start meddling in such things?
He never cared when rumors were used to smear him before.
“This must be some misunderstanding,” she forced a smile. “Yunhuai, you know your sister-in-law’s reputation before she married into the family wasn’t very good. And now she’s pregnant—there’s no wall that doesn’t let wind through. Such rumors are unavoidable.”
Wen Jiushu rested her chin on her hand and looked at her.
【Well said. The Shen family walls really aren’t very tight. Then I wonder—if it got out that the widowed matriarch gave birth to a son and a daughter, would that also be ‘unavoidable’?】
Shen Yunhuai: …
Sister-in-law, that cannot be spread.
The Shen family needs its face.
Madam Meng’s children… can be investigated privately and quietly dealt with.