Liu Shi swayed, nearly losing her balance. Tears instantly welled up in her eyes.
Shen Mingxuan’s face also turned pale. He clenched his fists tightly, yet not a single word came out.
In the end, they had been abandoned.
The old marquis had barely passed away, and before his body had even grown cold, their legitimate mother had already been eager to drive their branch out of the Marquis’s Manor, leaving them not the slightest bit of dignity.
Shen Jingzhi closed his eyes, painfully recalling his stepmother’s words.
Seated in the place of honor, Madam Xu had looked down at the kneeling Shen Jingzhi as though he were an ant. Her tone had been indifferent and heartless, devoid of even a shred of affection.
“Jingzhi, your father is gone, and you know the rules of the Marquis’s Manor.”
Lifting her teacup, she gently blew away the floating tea leaves. Her voice was calm, yet every word pierced the heart.
“You are a son born of a concubine. You are already an adult with a family of your own. It is only proper that you establish a separate household and live independently. You cannot remain in the Marquis’s Manor forever, eating its food and using its resources.”
Shen Jingzhi’s body shook violently. His face instantly turned deathly pale, and his lips trembled, yet he could not utter a single word in protest.
What was meant to come had finally arrived.
Madam Xu did not even spare him a glance as she continued coldly,
“I won’t treat you unfairly. There is an old estate north of the city. It’s not large—only a dozen or so mu of poor farmland and six rooms, enough to shelter your family of four. The Marquis’s Manor has fulfilled its duty of raising you over these years, and that obligation ends here. From now on, whether you live or die has nothing to do with this manor.”
With those words, all ties between them and the Marquis’s Manor were completely severed.
No family property.
No shops.
No silver.
Only an old, dilapidated estate in the remote northern outskirts of the city.
This was not a division of the family at all.
It was expulsion—discarding them like worn-out shoes.
Seeing that Shen Jingzhi did not dare resist, a trace of disdain flashed through Madam Xu’s eyes. She waved her hand as though shooing away a fly.
“In three days, you will move out. You are not permitted to take a single item belonging to the Marquis’s Manor. You may only take your own clothing. And from now on, do not use the name of the Yongning Marquis’s Manor outside, lest you tarnish its reputation.”
After saying that, she did not spare them another glance and coldly ordered,
“You may leave.”
“And… where are we being sent? Will we be given any land or shops?” Liu Shi had asked, clinging to her last sliver of hope.
Shen Jingzhi shook his head and let out a bitter laugh.
“The northern outskirts. A remote old estate. Aside from that, there is nothing else. No farmland, no silver, no servants. Only that dilapidated estate… that will be our home from now on.”
The northern outskirts?
Everyone in the capital knew what kind of place that was.
It was desolate and remote, filled mostly with wasteland and poor residents. The terrain was low and damp, and the houses were old and run-down.
Compared to the prosperous and lively Marquis’s Manor, it was the difference between heaven and mud.
This was not dividing the family.
It was kicking them aside and leaving them to fend for themselves.
Unable to hold back any longer, Liu Shi covered her face and quietly sobbed.
“How can they do this…? We are still blood of the Marquis’s Manor. How can they be so heartless…?”
Shen Jingzhi’s heart was also filled with grievance and anger, but he had lived under oppression in the manor for decades. By nature timid and weak, he simply did not dare to resist.
All he could do was let out a long sigh, his eyes reddening.
“It has come to this. Resistance is useless. The Old Madam has made up her mind. In three days, we will move out.”
The courtyard was filled with despair and gloom.
The sounds of crying and sighing intertwined.
Only Shen Weiwan remained standing quietly to one side, her hands hanging at her sides slowly curling into fists.
No land?
No silver?
Only an old estate in the northern outskirts?
Just as she had expected.
She had never underestimated her legitimate grandmother’s stinginess and ruthlessness.
But so what?
If there was no land, she could cultivate it.
If there was no money, she could earn it.
If there was no one to rely on, then she herself would become their support.
She had waited for this day for a full ten years.
Ten years of endurance and ten years of preparation.
What she had hidden away were not merely her savings, but also a mind filled with skills sufficient to establish herself in this world.
Shen Weiwan raised her head and looked at her tearful mother, her dejected father, and her resentful elder brother before slowly speaking.
Her voice was not loud, yet it rang clearly throughout the entire courtyard, silencing all the sobs and sighs.
“Father, Mother, Brother, you don’t need to be sad.”
All three looked at her simultaneously, their eyes full of astonishment.
In such a desperate situation, they had never expected that the first person to calm down would be this ten-year-old girl.
Meeting their gazes, Shen Weiwan’s eyes shone brightly.
There was not the slightest trace of fear in them—only composure and certainty.
“The estate in the north may be remote, but it will be ours. From now on, we won’t need to look at anyone’s expressions in the Marquis’s Manor, nor will we have to endure any more grievances.”
“If we have no money, we can earn it. If we have no property, we can acquire it. If we have no support, then our family will become one another’s strongest support.”
“When we leave in three days, we will not cry, we will not make a scene, and we will not beg humbly. We will pack our things and walk out with our heads held high.”
“Today, the Marquis’s Manor discards us like worn-out shoes. One day, through our own efforts, we will live lives worthy of respect.”
Her words, each one firm as stone, struck everyone’s hearts.
Shen Jingzhi was stunned.
Looking at his frail yet astonishingly composed daughter, the despair and dejection in his heart inexplicably faded.
Liu Shi’s sobs gradually ceased.
She looked at her daughter. Though only a child, her gaze was more resolute than that of many grown men.
As for Shen Mingxuan, the resentment and grievance in his eyes slowly transformed into an unyielding determination.
That’s right.
So what if they had been driven out of the Marquis’s Manor?
They had hands and feet, a father and a mother, and their family was still together.
As long as they were alive, there was hope.
Seeing her family gradually calm down, Shen Weiwan quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
She knew that from this moment onward, this family would have to be supported by her.
Turning around, she looked out at the deepening night.
The Marquis’s Manor was still brightly lit, and faint cries of mourning drifted through the air.
Those belonged to the legitimate branch—their grief and their dignity.
As for her family, they were about to bid farewell to this cage and step into that desolate land that no one thought well of.
Yet Shen Weiwan felt no fear.
Only burning anticipation.
Her road to survival began here.
She would rely neither on love nor on dependence.
Only on herself.
On her wisdom.
On her own two hands.
Three days later, they would leave the manor.
That cold estate in the northern outskirts would become the place where Shen Weiwan would rise.
The old marquis’s funeral rites had not even passed the first seven days. White mourning banners still fluttered in the wind when Madam Xu could no longer wait and drove Shen Jingzhi’s family out of the Marquis’s Manor.
Her reason sounded perfectly proper:
An illegitimate son who had already come of age should establish his own household and no longer consume the manor’s resources.
But everyone in the manor knew the truth.
This was merely a purge—expelling the most powerless and unsupported branch from the family altogether.
The day they were to leave was set for the twenty-first day of the third month.
The night before, Liu Shi did not sleep at all.
She sat by the lamp, wiping away her tears as she packed their belongings one item at a time.
After searching through everything, she found only a few old clothes covered in patches and several thin quilts that had been washed until they had faded white.
Their trunks were almost empty.
They did not even possess a single decent furnishing.