The number of onlookers at the Shen household’s gate grew, packed so tightly water couldn’t seep through. The Shen family didn’t show their faces, but Zhou Yi was about to smash the coffin.
Zhou Yi suppressed his dark expression and looked at the State Preceptor, saying, “Why would the State Preceptor be here?”
“I heard the Young General was gravely injured within three to five days of returning to the capital. Probably just bad luck. I calculated with my fingers that a coffin wards off misfortune, so I specially sent a congratulatory gift. Has the Prince Consort also come to give a gift?” Anu leaned against the coffin, her gaze falling on the furious Zhou Yi.
The young man seemed on the verge of losing his reason. His eyes were venomous, fixed rigidly on the State Preceptor. All his efforts over these years had been in vain.
He ground his teeth in hatred, yet maintained a composed exterior. “The Legitimate Princess is dead. Does the State Preceptor not know?”
“She died, and you’ve become a widower, so you come to the Shen Manor to cause trouble?” Anu raised an eyebrow. “A beautiful Fox Demon appeared outside the city. I should send you over to her; she would certainly be delighted.”
When kindness and concession can no longer serve as your protective shell, the blade in your hand becomes the best protection.
Over a decade of stability in Nanqian rested entirely on the Shen family. But now? The Shen family, father and sons dead, their only youngest daughter fought bitterly for three years to reclaim lost territory, and what end has she met?
Resentment and hatred will fill this world.
She pursed her lips into a smile, grinning at Prince Consort Zhou, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Zhou Yi met Anu’s gaze, ignoring her provocative words. His eyes were dark and ominous. “Shen Sheng is the sole survivor. I want to ask her questions.”
“The sole survivor…” Anu chewed on the phrase, then asked in feigned surprise: “Are you sure she’s a survivor? If you come looking for her and, by chance, anger her to death, won’t the Shen family skin you alive?”
The man was dead, so they bullied the widow and orphans. But of Shen Sheng’s several sisters-in-law, besides Zhu Fan who knew no martial arts, which one was a weak, gentle woman?
If angered, Zhou Yi wouldn’t just lose a layer of skin.
Zhou Yi’s face showed a trace of anguish. “The Princess is dead. Can I not even ask a question?”
“Why the Princess died, Prince Consort Zhou, do you not know?”
Zhou Yi’s expression shifted slightly. How did the Princess die?
The Princess had gone to kill Shen Sheng, bringing over a hundred men, all elite soldiers. It was impossible for her to have been countered and killed.
Now the Princess was dead and Shen Sheng was alive. That meant the murderer was Shen Sheng.
If not Shen Sheng, who else could he seek?
Zhou Yi pressed his lips into a thin line and lowered his voice: “Why does the State Preceptor help Shen Sheng?”
“I help her? Which eye of yours saw me helping her?” Anu sneered. Her eyes were still cold, innately detached and heartless.
Zhou Yi felt a chill under her gaze. “What do you mean by blocking my way in?”
“Go on in then. I’m not stopping you.”
Zhou Yi felt a sense of dread, turned around, and left. He would come another day.
Anu looked down at the hired mourners and said with displeasure: “Why did you stop crying? Keep crying.”
At her words, another wave of mournful sobbing arose.
Leaning against the coffin, Anu thought for a moment. Ordinary funerals seemed to have suona horns too. She took out some coins, found a person. “Go find some suona players to come play.”
Let the blowing and beating add some liveliness.
When the palace eunuch came looking for someone and saw the scene at the gate, he was so frightened he didn’t dare make a sound. He turned back to report to His Majesty.
General Shen was teetering on the brink of death and could not enter the palace to report to His Majesty.
The people within Shen Manor never once came out.
They played until midnight, and the crowd dispersed.
Inside the manor, Shen Sheng also woke up. After a deep sleep, she felt refreshed and clear-headed. Zhou Ying sat to the side sighing. “We shouldn’t have arranged this marriage back then.”
The person directly involved, Madam Shen, hugged her hand warmer and said nothing. The original host’s affairs had nothing to do with her.
Zhou Yi was an excellent scoundrel in gentlemen’s clothing. He had a face as fair as jade. It was normal for an ordinary person to be moved.
After drinking a bowl of ginseng soup, Shen Sheng’s gaze fell on the pair of children on the daybed. She furrowed her brows. “Has the State Preceptor not come?”
“She exchanged a few words with Prince Consort Zhou at the gate. Prince Consort Zhou was angered away, and she also left. She didn’t come in,” Zhou Ying explained.
Following Shen Sheng’s question, Zhou Ying’s gaze grew solemn. “Ah Sheng, these two children, are you keeping them?”
“Why would I keep them? They are the State Preceptor’s daughters. They have no relation to my Shen family,” Shen Sheng said, surprised. The Shen family couldn’t just take daughters someone else had raised.
Raising children wasn’t easy. The Shen family couldn’t do such a thing.
Zhou Ying looked at her as if she were hopeless. “I trust your eldest brother’s character. It has nothing to do with him.”
“It’s just a coincidence of resemblance. You’re overthinking it.” Shen Sheng waved her hand dismissively. “Eldest Sister-in-law, don’t let your thoughts run wild.”
Zhou Ying countered: “I could also acknowledge them. The rumors about you in the capital are very unfavorable. If I acknowledge them, you become their Aunt. They would have no connection to Zhou Yi, and the matter between you and Princess Anle would also be unrelated to you. Do you understand?”
Princess Anle died without explanation. Everyone would suspect Shen Sheng. How could the Emperor let her go?
The best plan now was to let a dead person take the blame.
Shen Sheng sighed and looked at Buyan and Buyu. “You two should go rest.”
Jiang Buyan shook her head. “Don’t you feel very comfortable all over?”
Shen Sheng didn’t understand.
Jiang Buyu continued: “You were clearly injured. Why do you feel no pain?”
That one sentence alerted Shen Sheng. She looked down at the tiny wounds on her wrist. Her fair hands were covered in small cuts, but she felt absolutely nothing.
Jiang Buyan stared at her. “Because you have my mother’s blood on you. My mother’s blood can save people.”
“You’re mistaken,” Jiang Buyu objected to Jiang Buyan. “It’s not what you said. It’s because she was afflicted with the Lovesickness Gu.”
This sentence alerted Madam Shen. She looked at the two children. “You two talk too much. No wonder you’re named Buyan and Buyu [T/N: meaning ‘not speaking’ and ‘not talking’]. Go back to sleep.”
Jiang Buyan fell silent, looking coldly at Madam Shen.
Jiang Buyu sighed and pulled Jiang Buyan towards the neighboring room to sleep.
After the two little ones left, Madam Shen fell silent again. What she wanted to say, Zhou Ying wouldn’t believe.
She would say: Buyan and Buyu are the daughters of Shen Sheng and Jiang Wan. Jiang Wan came from a thousand years ago.
Zhou Ying would doubt her sanity.
Zhou Ying breathed a sigh of relief and comforted her younger sister-in-law: “Then it’s settled. I’ll discuss it with the State Preceptor tomorrow. The State Preceptor is busy daily and has no time to care for the children. Send them to Shen Manor. I will treat them as my own daughters. They will be legitimate daughters of the Shen family.”
Shen Sheng opened her mouth to speak. Actually, she wanted to say, these two children didn’t need caring for. They were shrewd enough already.
As the hour grew late, Madam Shen and Zhou Ying returned to rest. Shen Sheng lay on the bed feeling depressed.
After her brush with death, she felt no pain anywhere in her body.
She got up and looked at her hands. Just what was the Lovesickness Gu?
As she puzzled in frustration, footsteps sounded outside the door. She immediately became alert.
With a creak, a draft of wind slipped in, followed by two little figures wrapped in blankets. Shen Sheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Not sleeping? Why are you running over here in the middle of the night?”
“General Shen, I have something to tell you,” Jiang Buyu said in an old-fashioned, mature manner.
Meanwhile, Jiang Buyan dropped her blanket and slipped under Shen Sheng’s covers like a gust of wind. Feeling the warmth, she didn’t forget to call to her sister still on the floor: “Come up quickly! She’s already warmed it up.”
Shen Sheng: “…” They really know how to take advantage.
Jiang Buyu swiftly climbed onto the bed, making it creak loudly. Shen Sheng helplessly covered her face. “Don’t you need to sleep?”
“General Shen, I think we should talk clearly,” Jiang Buyan spoke up.
The tiny child’s face was scrunched up like a steamed bun, full of worry.
Shen Sheng was tired and lay down resignedly.
The three of them lay side by side like this, all staring up at the roof together.
Jiang Buyan continued: “It wasn’t easy for us to find you. We searched for a very, very long time. General Shen, let me tell you, you should look more into the ancient texts of the South River. We share a blood relation with you.”
“Stop, don’t say any more. You can stay as long as you want. If your mother doesn’t come to get you, you can stay until you marry.” Shen Sheng covered Jiang Buyan’s chattering mouth. She understood the logic.
Women could give birth to children, but what did that have to do with her?
It was beyond words.
She slept until daylight. The children who pretended to be mature during the night, upon waking and seeing Zhuzhu, were almost ecstatic with excitement, playing wildly.
The coffin at the entrance remained parked. No one dared move it.
The Capital Magistrate and the Ministry of Justice jointly investigated Princess Anle’s murder. When the investigators saw the coffin placed at the entrance, they were reminded of the incident where the Five Tigers of the Shen family died in battle.
No one went inside to find Shen Sheng.
The Ministry of Justice discovered that the men in black were all Jinwu Guards who had stripped off their outer garments. The Jinwu Guards were the Emperor’s personal troops, dispatched by the Emperor himself.
For a moment, the implications were thought-provoking.
The scene suggested the Jinwu Guards had disguised themselves as assassins to kill Princess Anle. The Shen family had tried their utmost to rescue her. In the end, the Shen family guards were killed, the Princess was murdered, and the Young General Shen’s fate was unknown.
The investigation dragged on for three to five days. Shen Sheng’s body finally ‘improved’ enough for her to enter the palace and meet the Emperor.
The corridor was empty. The solemn palace lacked its usual aura of deadly peril.
Anu stood before the vermilion steps of the main hall. Under the sunlight, her features were delicate and clear, her red lips thin and detached.
Shen Sheng remembered the Lovesickness Gu and proactively walked up to her. “Anu.”
Anu didn’t pay her any attention. Instead, she reached out a fingertip and tapped Shen Sheng’s forehead. Tsk, tsk, tsk, even her hatred had vanished.
Hatred only existed for a fleeting moment.
Sunlight fell on the girl’s profile. Her eyes were a field of limpid clarity.
Anu suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the steps.
The two arrived at the Cinnabar Peak Palace. Heat swirled, and the intense light reflected off the girl’s flower-like cheeks, causing her face to flush red from the heat.
Anu placed her hand on Shen Sheng’s shoulder. “Didn’t you want to know the origins of Buyan and Buyu?”
“What do I do?” Shen Sheng felt the flames close to her body but sensed no pain.
“Jump into the cauldron, and you will see,” Anu faced the raging fire. “Only by witnessing it yourself will you believe it.”
Shen Sheng was afraid and silently retreated two steps. “I would die.”
“You already died long ago. Your current body is half God, half human,” Anu sneered.
A plume of fire suddenly shot towards Shen Sheng, landing on her body.
Shen Sheng wanted to flee, but she suddenly realized she felt nothing at all, not even heat.
What kind of fire was this?
“This is a Cauldron forged from the final wisp of Divine Soul of all the Gods. It won’t harm you, because you share the same source of Divine Power,” Anu rarely spoke of matters concerning the God of the South River. “No matter how much I say, it’s better for you to see for yourself.”
“Why don’t you go back and save it yourself?” Shen Sheng was stunned by the revelation.
“I… cannot go back.” Anu shook her head, a look of regret on her face. “It’s not something you can return to just because you want to. I hope you will go back and save the South River. Your life and my life are already intertwined. As long as I live, you will not die. If you return to a thousand years ago, even if you were to die there, you would simply return here.”
Shen Sheng furrowed her brow, feeling as though she’d had a nightmare. She turned and fled.
