Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Old Marchioness, the young lady of the marquis estate, and the cousin miss did not return until close to noon. They had assumed Lu Chenzhou would be out of the estate offering birthday congratulations, but to their surprise, he had put on airs and not gone at all.

The Old Marchioness looked rather displeased, and her words were not pleasant to hear. “Jingnan Marquis Manor is now attached to the Crown Prince. Its future wealth and honor cannot be underestimated. How could you be so negligent toward the Old Marquis’s birthday banquet?”

Lu Chenzhou thought nothing of it. The Crown Prince would be deposed sooner or later. Once the tree fell, the monkeys would scatter. Jingnan Marquis Manor’s glory was only temporary; it was their Dingbei Marquis Estate that had a bright future and a smooth road to official success ahead.

Whether he had offended Marquis Jingnan or not, he did not care. He first had someone escort the Old Marchioness back to her rooms to rest, then merely asked his cousin Liu Wanrou a few questions: whether she was hungry, and whether she had eaten on the mountain.

Liu Wanrou’s eyes and brows were full of tender feeling. She shyly glanced at the cousin before her, who looked as clear and radiant as the moon and breeze, almost like an immortal, then shook her head and said, “I’m not hungry.”

“The vegetarian food at the temple has its own charm. Auntie, Chenyu, and I all ate quite a bit.”

Chenyu was Lu Chenzhou’s full-blooded younger sister, and she had always been close with Liu Wanrou. Hearing Lu Chenzhou and Liu Wanrou speaking, she cut in, “Brother, when will you have some free time? Why don’t you come up the mountain with us and try it? Their firewood-cooked vegetarian meals are delicious.”

“Another day. We’ll go together another day.”

Lu Chenzhou nodded, uncharacteristically not refusing.

He knew Liu Wanrou had feelings for him, and he also knew that his mother had brought Liu Wanrou, who had already come of age, into the estate and had delayed sending her back to the Liu Family because she wanted to match the two of them together.

In the past, he had harbored lofty ambitions and believed romantic entanglements were nothing more than a game played by elegant men of the world. He had never taken marriage to heart, and therefore had never paid much attention to Liu Wanrou. Because of that, his mother had not dared to make decisions about his marriage lightly.

It was only later, after Shen Jin plotted against him and he married Shen Jin as his wife, causing unrest throughout the entire household-discord between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, friction between sister-in-law and sister-in-law-that he regretted not listening to his mother’s arrangements.

Now that he had been given the chance to start over, Lu Chenzhou was willing to accept Liu Wanrou.

Putting aside Liu Wanrou’s appearance and character, her deep bond with his mother and sister alone meant that after they married, there would certainly be no more disgraceful scenes of discord between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law or between sisters-in-law.

With that one sentence from him, Liu Wanrou and Lu Chenyu were both overjoyed. Lu Chenyu especially linked arms with Liu Wanrou, and before they had even left the door, she began taking credit. “See? I told you, Cousin. You’re so beautiful and so well-read and reasonable. How could my brother not like you? This is wonderful. Another day, I’ll have to start calling you Sister-in-law.”

“You’re still so young. Stop talking nonsense.” Liu Wanrou blushed scarlet and covered Lu Chenyu’s mouth as the two gradually walked away.

Listening from inside the room, Lu Chenzhou could not help but laugh. Just then, the man he had sent to Jingnan Marquis Manor to deliver the birthday gift returned. His attendant came in to report, and Lu Chenzhou had him call the man inside.

After asking about the banquet at Jingnan Marquis Manor, he seemed to follow up casually, “Since this Marquis did not go today, did anything unusual happen at Jingnan Marquis Manor’s birthday banquet?”

The man had been about to leave, but when he heard the question, he hurriedly stopped and replied, “The birthday banquet was arranged single-handedly by the Madam of the Marquis of Jingnan. It was said to be extremely extravagant, and all the guests who went found it a great novelty. If the Marquis is asking whether there was anything else unusual, there truly was one unexpected incident. The daughter of the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial fell into the water at Jingnan Marquis Manor. While she was changing clothes, the Hereditary Prince of Jingnan Hou accidentally barged into the room. That young lady caused a fuss, saying she wanted to end her life, but the Madam of the Marquis of Jingnan stopped her. I estimate the two households will likely form a marriage alliance.”

The Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial was a fifth-rank official. The current holder of that post was an official surnamed Lin. In other words, the daughter of the Lin Family had fallen into the water and been seen by the Hereditary Prince of Jingnan Hou?

Why did this pattern sound so familiar?

Lu Chenzhou thought back to what had happened between him and Shen Jin in those days. Had it not been because Shen Jin fell into the water before Marquis Jingnan’s birthday banquet, while his clothes were dirtied by a maid from the marquis manor, and the two of them mistakenly entered the same room one after the other, ultimately creating a wretched marriage fate?

How had the person who fell into the water become Miss Lin in the blink of an eye?

“Aside from the daughter of the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, did any other young ladies fall into the water?” he asked with a frown.

The man shook his head. “I didn’t hear of anyone else. The wife of the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial heard that Miss Lin had fallen into the water and had even had her body seen, and she fainted from anger on the spot. It gave all the ladies present quite a fright.”

“Did you hear whether the daughter of Shen Zhan, Assistant Director at the Ministry of Revenue, went to offer birthday congratulations?”

Shen Zhan, Assistant Director at the Ministry of Revenue, was the eldest son of the Wuxing Shen Clan. In the early years after the dynasty was founded, the Wuxing Shen Clan had produced many capable men of aspiration and had once been famous throughout the capital.

Later, the family’s younger generation grew into idle, pleasure-seeking youths with no thought for advancement, so each generation became worse than the last. By Shen Zhan’s generation, the highest official post worth mentioning was merely that of a fifth-rank assistant director.

The man handled affairs for Lu Chenzhou and spent years moving about the capital. He knew the officials in the city like the back of his hand. Hearing Lu Chenzhou ask about Shen Zhan, he found it strange that his master had started caring about a minor fifth-rank official, but his expression remained respectful as he replied, “First Miss Shen and Second Miss Shen married far away one after the other last year. Fourth Miss Shen has not yet come of age. Originally, Madam Shen (eldest branch) was going to bring Third Miss Shen, but I heard that halfway there, Third Miss Shen developed abdominal pain and vomited all over the ground. Madam Shen (eldest branch) then had someone send Third Miss Shen back.”

So, Shen Jin had not gone to Jingnan Marquis Manor to offer birthday congratulations?

Lu Chenzhou idly tapped the writing desk and unconsciously sighed, “What a pity.” He had waited until now precisely to hear of her humiliation, only to end up waiting for nothing.

Still, there truly were no shortage of women in this world eager to climb onto power and wealth. Without Shen Jin, another Miss Lin had actually popped up and used the very same method to marry into a high-ranking marquis household.

Who knew whether, after Shen Jin returned home, she regretted that her stomachache had come at such an inconvenient time, making her miss the chance to hook herself a fine husband from a marquis household at the birthday banquet?

“Miss, do you feel any better after taking the medicine?”

In the Shen Mansion, Shen Jin lay sickly on the bed. Although her personal maid had just fed her medicine, her face was still frighteningly pale.

She truly had not expected that the tiny bit of saffron she had picked out of the sachet would have such a powerful medicinal effect. If it did not act up, then fine, but once it did, the pain was simply enough to kill a person.

Fortunately, her painstaking effort had not been in vain. Trading one mouthful of saffron for a hopeless marriage was worth it.

Otherwise, if she had really followed her eldest aunt to Jingnan Marquis Manor and been schemed against again into marrying Lu Chenzhou, then this life of hers would have been lived in vain all over again.