Zhao Chengyu did not ask too many questions or look too closely. He simply and quietly served her dishes and poured tea, his movements gentle and meticulous, with a perfect sense of propriety.
“Try this, it’s a Jiangnan specialty—osmanthus fish soup, mild and not greasy.”
“These crab roe soup dumplings are best eaten while hot.”
His tone was light, his gaze gentle, without the slightest hint of probing, only complete thoughtfulness.
Shen Miao ate in silence, a rare sense of peace stirring within her heart.
Since jumping into the lake, she had lived each day consumed by hatred and schemes, planning every step carefully, restless night after night.
Only now, sitting across from him, listening to the sound of the river and smelling the aroma of the food, did she experience a moment of relaxation without needing to stay on guard.
Zhao Chengyu watched her quietly eating, the warmth in his eyes deepening.
This meal was unusually warm and peaceful, like a ray of warm sunlight quietly falling on Shen Miao’s cold and silent heart.
…
At the same time, a thousand miles away, in the capital.
Jing’an Marquisate, study.
The sky was gloomy, the window paper letting in no light. The atmosphere in the room was as oppressive as the calm before a storm.
Xiao Jingyuan stood before a long desk in dark-colored casual attire, his fingertips gripping a thick stack of secret reports so tightly that his knuckles turned white and his bones protruded.
His ink-black eyes churned with towering rage and malice, the pressure around him so heavy it was suffocating.
At his feet, the shadow guard Ah Er was drenched in cold sweat, prostrate on the ground, not even daring to breathe heavily.
“Worthless! A bunch of worthless fools!”
Xiao Jingyuan suddenly hurled the secret reports in his hand fiercely onto the ground, the papers scattering everywhere. His voice was as cold and sharp as a blade, vibrating painfully in the ears: “I gave you a month! Mobilized all the Marquisate’s covert connections!”
“What have you found?!”
“Only that he appeared out of nowhere in Jiangnan two months ago!”
“Only that he avoided a shipwreck, gambled on a major flood, controlled grain merchants, and opened a clothing shop!”
“Before that—his background, family, teachers, origins, all blank!”
“Not a single trace can be found!”
“Tell me, is this normal?!”
Precisely because nothing could be found, it was extremely abnormal.
And precisely because it was abnormal, this Shen Gongzi was highly suspicious.
Ah Er trembled, burying his head even lower: “Marquis, please calm your anger… That Shen Gongzi truly seems to have appeared out of thin air. Two months ago, there was not a single trace or record of him anywhere in the world, as if… he had sprung from a crack in a stone.”
The more untraceable he was, the more terrifying it became.
Xiao Jingyuan’s chest heaved violently, the inexplicable restlessness and unease in his heart churning wildly.
Shen Miao’s body had still not been found.
No sign of her alive, no trace of her dead.
And now, in Jiangnan, a Shen Gongzi had suddenly emerged—young, holding the secrets of heaven, calculating without error, turning the world upside down…
These two matters constantly entangled in his heart, making him inexplicably uneasy, inexplicably restless, inexplicably—thinking of that face that once looked at him with eyes full of adoration.
But the more he investigated, the thicker the fog became.
This feeling of everything slipping out of his control drove him nearly to fury.
“Keep investigating!” Xiao Jingyuan’s voice was bone-chillingly cold: “Dig three feet into the ground if you must, but find out his background for me!”
“Yes…”
…
Three days later, at the outskirts of the capital, the Li Chancellor’s Mansion flower-viewing banquet.
The garden was ablaze with peonies in full bloom, fragrant breezes wafting through. The capital’s renowned titled ladies and young misses gathered together, their elegant dresses and jeweled hairpins shimmering, laughter and chatter filling the air.
Su Manrou, dressed in a delicate pink gown and adorned with pearls and jade, moved gracefully among the crowd, her smile proper and her demeanor gentle.
Ever since Shen Miao’s “drowning death,” she had become the woman most likely to enter the Jing’an Marquisate in everyone’s eyes, and everyone was willing to flatter and indulge her.
She was chatting and laughing with several noblewomen when her gaze suddenly froze, fixed intently on a certain Lady Yongning Hou not far away.
That lady was draped in a cloud-patterned brocade cloak adorned with interlocking lotus vines.
With just one glance, Su Manrou could no longer look away.
The fabric was top-grade cloud-patterned brocade, shimmering with a delicate, soft glow under the sunlight, and the embroidery was a long-lost technique of double-sided gold weaving.
The pattern was exquisite and lively, the drape just right—both luxurious and understated, breathtakingly beautiful, far surpassing the styles of all the embroidery houses in the capital.
In an instant, Su Manrou’s heart was swept by a storm of shock.
Having grown up in the capital, what kind of splendid attire had she not seen?
But such a stunning, unique, and utterly captivating garment—this was the first time she had ever laid eyes on it.
Suppressing the turmoil in her heart, she quickly stepped forward, her tone tinged with urgency: “Lady Hou, this cloak of yours… is truly too beautiful. I wonder which embroidery house in the capital it came from?”
Seeing her admiration, Lady Yongning Hou revealed a hint of smug satisfaction, gently stroking the cloak as she replied nonchalantly: “This isn’t from the capital. It’s from a newly opened ready-to-wear house in Jiangnan called Nianqing Ge.”
“Right now, it’s incredibly popular in Jiangnan. Even with money, you might not be able to get your hands on it.”
Nianqing Ge.
Su Manrou engraved these three words firmly in her heart.
In all her life, she had never wanted a piece of clothing so desperately.
She must have this cloak.
She would buy out the entire collection of Nianqing Ge!
…
That evening, at the Su residence.
As soon as Su Manrou returned home, she immediately ordered the servants: “Go! Send someone to Jiangnan and buy back all the beautiful ready-to-wear clothes from Nianqing Ge for me! No matter the cost, get them all!”
The maid quickly responded: “Yes, Miss.”
Just then, a maid hurried in from outside, holding a letter in her hand, her expression flustered: “Miss, an urgent letter from the Liu family in Jiangnan, written by Miss Liu herself!”
Liu Rumei? What was her cousin asking of her this time?
Su Manrou took the letter and opened it.
After reading just a few lines, her face instantly turned ashen, her fingers gripping the letter so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
In the letter, Liu Rumei poured out her grievances, embellishing the humiliation she had suffered at Nianqing Ge in Jiangnan—
describing how Shen Gongzi had acted arrogantly and domineeringly, how he had publicly humiliated her, how the Water Transport Guild had bullied her with their influence, how the Liu family’s waterways had been cut off and their businesses sealed, leaving them trapped and miserable in Jiangnan, living a life worse than death.
Every word was filled with extreme grievance.
Every word pointed the finger at Shen Gongzi and Nianqing Ge.
“What a Shen Gongzi! What a Nianqing Ge!”
Su Manrou trembled with rage, throwing the letter violently to the ground, her meticulously made-up face contorted with fury.
She had always been proud and protective of her own. Liu Rumei was her own cousin, and to be so humiliated in Jiangnan—wasn’t that the same as slapping her in the face?
And then she thought of the breathtakingly beautiful cloak she had seen earlier that day…
That Nianqing Ge, which had left her in awe, dared to bully her family like this!
Old grudges and new grievances surged in her heart all at once.
Su Manrou took a deep breath, a flash of ruthlessness in her eyes.
She would not let this go.
She would go to Jiangnan herself.
First, to acquire all the splendid garments from Nianqing Ge.
Second, to avenge her cousin, Liu Rumei!
Third, let that arrogant Shen Gongzi know the consequences of offending Su Manrou!