The situation changed too quickly, leaving everyone somewhat stunned.
How could there be a person hidden beneath the sacred altar?
What was going on?
Those who had originally rushed toward Shen Zhiyi to protect her stopped in their tracks. While they sighed in relief, they also showed looks of sudden realization.
Xu Jiangchen and Shen Jingqian were both shocked.
Xu Jiangchen did want to save the Ninth Prince, but he had not fully believed Shen Zhiyi’s words. He had only concluded from the information he gathered that she likely knew many hidden details from back then.
Her information might be a breakthrough point.
Thus, he had wanted to protect Shen Zhiyi from being condemned by the crowd, but the situation had been too urgent. Monk Kongwu’s influence was too great; he could not simply step forward and expose the altar.
After all, if there were no one hidden beneath the altar, and the Buddha statue mechanism had been destroyed without traceable evidence, not only would he fail to save her, but he might also implicate himself.
Yet through a twist of fate, everything was now exposed to the light of day—exactly as she had said!
It seemed Shen Zhiyi had reacted just in time.
Xu Jiangchen and Shen Jingqian exchanged a thought and then continued forward, pushing through the crowd to the altar.
Shen Jingxuan was overjoyed.
This was what you called karma!
Wang Zimo’s actions were disgusting beyond measure. He only regretted not having beaten him up earlier.
Fortunately, his little sister had not been harmed. That kick she gave—truly, it was perfectly done!
He had originally been worried about how to expose the situation, but if the matter of the altar were exposed by members of the Shen family themselves, it might look like internal sabotage. Worse still, it could give Monk Kongwu an opportunity to twist the narrative and accuse them of blasphemy.
Shen Jingxuan looked at the situation now and immediately seized the initiative.
“Master Kongwu, w-what is going on here?”
He looked toward Leng Zhu with feigned shock and disbelief.
“You have always been fully in charge of this blessing ritual. The Marquis household has never interfered. How could there be such a large person hidden beneath such a sacred altar?”
As if realizing something, he raised his voice even higher so that everyone in the courtyard could hear clearly.
“This person is so disrespectful to the divine! He must have angered the Buddha, which is why the statue shattered!”
As for any “bomb mechanism,” he did not understand it—but he knew one thing: he had to pull his little sister out of this muddy situation as quickly as possible.
“Shen Zhiyi is pure-hearted and devout. Even when faced with such an accident, she still completed the ritual properly before standing up. How could such a sincere person be mistaken by the Buddha?”
“The ominous sign earlier has absolutely nothing to do with my Shen family’s Zhiyi!”
Shen Jingxuan’s words rang out forcefully, and the crowd seemed to suddenly awaken, coming back to their senses.
“Amitabha, so Miss Shen was wrongly accused!”
“Exactly! She was clearly so devout. I even felt pity earlier, thinking what sin she must have committed to be punished by divine wrath. Now it all makes sense…”
“Who is this damned brute? How dare he harm people like this?”
“Miss Shen is truly innocent…”
“If it were me, I would have been terrified out of my wits. Yet she remained so strong—truly admirable.”
“To think such a sacred ritual was disrupted by such a wicked person. Master Kongwu must give us an explanation and severely punish him!”
Hearing Shen Zhiyi’s reputation shift drastically in an instant, Shen Ruoyue froze in place, her smile stiffening.
She only knew that her mother had arranged for Shen Zhiyi to be utterly disgraced at the blessing ceremony—but what was happening now? Even her mother was being suspected?
All eyes turned toward Leng Zhu. She struggled to suppress the urge to scratch at herself, her usually calm expression now completely overtaken by visible anger.
This had originally been a perfect ritual. Yue’er would be elevated to the highest point, everything proceeding smoothly, while Shen Zhiyi would fall into the abyss and never be able to recover. Once this strange nuisance was eliminated, the marquis household would gradually fall completely under their control.
In the Great Xia dynasty, people deeply revered gods and Buddha. A sacred altar was not a place anyone would easily question. This miniature device had been extremely sophisticated and required someone to activate it in order to detonate at the scheduled time, so she had confidently arranged personnel.
She had never imagined the altar would be knocked over—and that these small tricks would risk exposure.
The situation had developed far too suddenly, and Leng Zhu was already drenched in cold sweat.
She had originally planned to shift the blame onto Chen Wanyan, but she had not expected Shen Jingxuan to react so quickly and push her into the center of attention.
Leng Zhu shouted angrily, “Who is that man? Who was responsible for setting up the altar?!”
She scanned the trembling nuns around her and locked onto one who was shaking the most.
“Was it you?!”
The nun, startled by the sudden shout, collapsed to her knees in fear. She had never seen such a scene before and could barely breathe, tears streaming down her face.
Sobbing, she said, “N-no… it wasn’t me… I, I know nothing…”
When she set up the altar, she had not even dared to take a break. It was only when Master Kongyi saw how exhausted she was that he allowed her to rest for a while…
When she left, she vaguely seemed to see a tall, eight-foot-tall strong man…
Thinking of this, her face flushed red.
“It was—”
But the nun standing beside Leng Zhu suddenly cut her off.
“What are you still trying to argue about! The altar has always been under your supervision. It must have been you who secretly let him in!”
“Someone, drag her and this man away!”
“Tsk tsk tsk… as expected, like mother like daughter. Shen Ruoyue is clearly following her mother’s habit of shifting blame!”
“Wait.”
Just as the poor little nun was about to be unfairly framed, Shen Zhiyi spoke up to stop them.
But the nuns and servants who were dragging people away pretended not to hear. Chen Wanyan was about to speak again when someone stepped in to stop them.
“Hold on. Since this matter is unclear, why not verify it openly in court?”
From within the crowd, a young man in white slowly stepped forward—graceful and refined.
“It’s the son of the Left Chancellor, Young Master Xu Jiangchen!”
Upon hearing his identity, the crowd immediately agreed.
When Shen Ruoyue saw the white-clothed young man, her eyes lit up.
Xu Jiangchen, son of the Left Chancellor, was known for his reputation of “planning from within a tent and winning victories thousands of miles away.” For years, he had kept a low profile and rarely attended noble gatherings, though he was often summoned by the Emperor.
She had not expected him to come today—and to possess such extraordinary bearing.
Her earlier disappointment from the ritual lessened considerably.
“Little nun, don’t be afraid. If you have something to say, you can say it directly.”
Xu Jiangchen’s tone was calm and unhurried. Though not emotional, it carried a strange sense of reassurance that made people instinctively trust him.
Under his calming presence, the little nun miraculously steadied herself.
She stopped sobbing and quickly said:
“Yesterday, around the third quarter of the hour of Yin, Master Kongyi saw that I was tired and told me to rest for an hour. When I returned to the side hall, I happened to see this strong man walking out of the main hall. The one he was speaking to seemed to be…”
Her voice grew softer toward the end, as if she was afraid.
Under the fear of danger and Xu Jiangchen’s encouraging gaze, she forced herself to finish the last words.
“It was… Master Kongwu…”
Although her voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, in the silence of the crowd, those words still clearly reached the nearest listeners—and quickly spread outward.