“Even dogs don’t go into heat anywhere and everywhere, yet you two have no standards at all.”
A clear, crisp laugh rang out as Wen Jiushu looked at the ancestral hall reduced to ruins by fire, her eyes full of mockery.
Madam Meng’s eyelid twitched violently. “Y-you…”
“Hit your head?” Wen Jiushu smiled as she looked at her. “Housekeeper Lin really has quite the skill when it comes to smashing faces.”
Perfectly symmetrical.
Inside the ancestral hall, the ancestral tablets of the Shen family remained intact.
They had not been burned.
“It seems Father-in-law is quite furious,” she added, fanning the flames.
Madam Meng’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted from anger.
“You spout nonsense and angered your mother-in-law into fainting—this is outright unfilial!” Housekeeper Lin said coldly, grinding his teeth. However, he was far more composed than Madam Meng, putting on a worried expression. “Third Master, Madam has been frightened by this…”
“I already told you not to come to the ancestral hall.”
Madam Meng’s eyelids trembled.
So she really had been struck by the Old Marquis’s spirit tablet!
Shen Yunhuai understood the situation clearly. “Take Mother back first. If the ancestral hall is burned, so be it—just rebuild it.”
“Understood, Third Master. I’ll take Madam back first and then find people to repair the ancestral hall,” Housekeeper Lin said, never forgetting his duties.
After the excitement was over, Wen Jiushu prepared to leave.
Suddenly—
Shen Yunhuai rushed over.
“Sister-in-law… watch out!”
A burned beam from the ancestral hall window came crashing down.
It was about to hit Wen Jiushu!
Shen Yunhuai reacted quickly, stretching out his arm to block it for her.
A faint scent of soapwood suddenly drifted in—the smell of Shen Yunhuai after bathing.
Wen Jiushu calmly withdrew the spiritual energy hidden at her fingertips. The falling beam struck his arm instead.
[Hmm? He actually saved me? This foolish younger brother isn’t entirely bad at heart. The stench between the stepmother and her lover is so obvious—how does he not notice? Sigh, he really was ruined by her upbringing. What a pity.]
Shen Yunhuai: …
He… could hear it again?
Was it because he saved his sister-in-law?
“Sister-in-law, are you alright?”
Wen Jiushu glanced at his arm. “I’m fine. Thank you.”
“You’re too polite, Sister-in-law.”
He was actually more curious now—how exactly would the rest of the Shen family die?
Wen Jiushu nodded and turned to leave.
Then she paused.
“Third Master Shen…”
“You can just call me Third Brother, Sister-in-law.”
Wen Jiushu didn’t hesitate. “Third Brother, I want to ask you something.”
“Go ahead, I’ll tell you anything I know.”
“….”
Why did he seem more eager than expected?
And almost a bit too friendly.
“Does the Shen family… aside from you and the Marquis, have any other male descendants?”
Shen Yunhuai’s eyes flickered. Was his sister-in-law trying to investigate the father of the child in her belly?
He glanced at her flat abdomen, then replied calmly, “Aside from me and my elder brother, there are a few uncles—but they’ve already split off and live separately. Why do you ask?”
“To find someone.”
Wen Jiushu said nothing more.
As she left, Shen Yunhuai heard her speaking to her maid, “Yuanbao, it’s going to rain tonight. Don’t open the windows.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Shen Yunhuai flexed his aching arm. That blow was worth it.
His sister-in-law didn’t seem to dislike him.
“Third Master, let’s go back and treat your wound,” Butler Mu said worriedly.
“It’s just a minor injury, nothing serious.” Shen Yunhuai instructed, “It’s going to rain tonight—remember to close the windows.”
“Huh? …Yes, Third Master.”
Then Butler Mu frowned at the ancestral hall. “Third Master, Madam and Housekeeper Lin…”
It was all because of that adulterous pair—they had burned down the ancestral hall.
Butler Mu was a household servant born into the estate and deeply attached to the Shen family.
Shen Yunhuai’s lips curled into a cold smile. “No rush. Once I uncover all their crimes, I’ll deal with them together.”
He suspected Madam Meng’s wrongdoing didn’t end there.
Boom—
Thunder shook the night sky.
Shen Yunhuai woke abruptly in the middle of the night, his eyelid twitching uncontrollably, an ominous feeling growing in his chest.
By morning, that premonition came true.
Hasty footsteps rushed in from the outer courtyard.
“Third Master! Something’s happened! The Old Marquis has been struck by lightning!”