Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Land at the feet of the Son of Heaven was worth its weight in gold.

The Xue Family had once had some foundation in the capital, but when Vice Minister Xue died of illness, Xue Huaicong was still young, and his mother was also in poor health. From then on, the Xue Family’s circumstances declined sharply. Unable to support so many expenses, Xue Huaicong moved with his mother into a rented house in a commoners’ lane.

After Shen Jin married him, she naturally lived with her husband there as well.

At first, Xue Huaicong had worried that she would not be used to it. To his surprise, Shen Jin did not care much for external comforts. On the contrary, she was quite good at finding contentment in her circumstances, and she kept the small house neat and orderly, filled with birdsong and the fragrance of flowers.

When Xue Huaicong hurried home, he saw Shen Jin and the maid who had accompanied her as part of her dowry standing beneath the eaves, watering the flowers.

He stepped forward and took the watering can from the maid, watering the flowers as he spoke with Shen Jin.

First, he asked after his mother. Upon learning that she had just taken her medicine and gone to rest, Xue Huaicong nodded and said with a smile, “Mother is terribly afraid of bitter medicine. Usually, it takes coaxing her three or four times before she’ll drink it. It must have been quite a bother. Next time she needs medicine, you can simply wait until I return.”

Shen Jin smiled. It was only feeding someone medicine; she could manage that much.

Besides, ever since she had married into the Xue Family, Lady Xue’s health had improved considerably. There was not much that required Shen Jin to wear herself out.

Nor was Lady Xue like Shen Jin’s previous mother-in-law, the Old Marchioness. Just looking at her face, one could tell she was kind and gentle.

Moreover, back then, Shen Jin had not looked down on the Xue Family for having fallen on hard times and had resolutely married Xue Huaicong. Lady Xue was grateful for it and treated her very warmly. When she was well enough to move about, she would even lend Shen Jin a hand with needlework.

If anything, it was Xue Huaicong who mattered more. He had only just passed the provincial examination and received an assignment before the Emperor. The most important thing right now was for him to perform his duties well. If household matters could avoid troubling him, then they should.

Speaking of his duties, Xue Huaicong suddenly remembered something. “Tomorrow is a day off. I should have taken you and Mother to the outskirts for the day as promised, but unfortunately, Lord Censor-in-Chief said he will be holding a banquet at his residence tomorrow. He even sent someone specifically to inform me. It seems I’ll have to break my promise tomorrow.”

Xue Huaicong was currently assigned to the Censorate, and the Imperial Censor-in-Chief was his immediate superior. Since his superior had personally invited him, he naturally could not refuse.

However, ever since Shen Jin had married into the Xue Family, she had been busy managing the household and caring for her mother-in-law, and it had been a long time since she had heard any news from outside. She asked Xue Huaicong, “Where does Lord Censor-in-Chief plan to host the guests? Is he inviting only you, or will all your colleagues be going?”

Xue Huaicong said, “The previous Imperial Censor-in-Chief was transferred elsewhere. The current Imperial Censor-in-Chief has only just taken office, and he is none other than the Emperor’s present favorite, Marquis Dingbei. Since he said he is holding a banquet at home, it must be at Dingguo Duke Manor. I doubt he is inviting only me.”

Marquis Dingbei?

For an instant, Shen Jin was dazed. It had been a very long time since she last heard news of this man, and a very long time since she had kept him in her thoughts.

She had not expected that after all these twists and turns, he would actually become her husband’s immediate superior.

But she remembered that Marquis Dingbei, Lu Chenzhou, had never served as Imperial Censor-in-Chief. At most, he had once served as Deputy Commander of the Palace Guard.

So she asked Xue Huaicong, “At Marquis Dingbei’s age, can he really become Imperial Censor-in-Chief?”

Xue Huaicong smiled. “Others judge people by appearances. Since when did you start judging people by age? Marquis Dingbei may be young, but he is extremely steady in his conduct. In last year’s Deposed Crown Prince affair and this year’s Factional Strife Case, Marquis Pingxi and the others were all involved to some degree. Only Marquis Dingbei kept himself clean and remained true to his principles. How could the Emperor not value such a man? For someone like him to serve as Imperial Censor-in-Chief is only fitting.”

Lu Chenzhou, keeping himself clean and remaining true to his principles?

Shen Jin had been husband and wife with him for an entire lifetime. She understood better than anyone that those eight words would suit anyone-anyone except Lu Chenzhou.

He was the best at currying favor and maneuvering his way through officialdom. Back then, it was only because the Old Marquis of the Dingbei Marquis Estate had died early, and Lu Chenzhou feared the Dingbei Marquis Estate would be bullied, that he had made no small number of arrangements from top to bottom.

Although he had not been implicated in the Deposed Crown Prince case, she knew that was because Lu Chenzhou had been the first to align himself with Prince Lang, allowing him to narrowly escape disaster.

As for how Prince Lang was later discovered to harbor rebellious intentions, and how Marquis Dingbei then abandoned Prince Lang and turned to Prince Jin, that went without saying.

For such a person to become Imperial Censor-in-Chief made Shen Jin break out in a cold sweat on Xue Huaicong’s behalf. She tugged at his sleeve and warned him, “If your superior invites you to a banquet, it would be improper not to go. But once you are there, you must remember: do not say anything you should not say, and do not do anything you should not do. Especially when it concerns the palace, you must be very, very careful.”

She spoke with such solemnity that even Xue Huaicong did not quite dare to tease her anymore. Instead, he clasped her hand in return and said, “I will remember everything you said, my lady. Tomorrow’s banquet-I will go and come straight back. I certainly won’t linger too long at the marquis estate. If you grow bored at home, go on ahead to the outskirts with Mother. Once I’m back, I’ll come fetch you both.”

“Mm.” Shen Jin nodded. Though she said nothing more aloud, unease still lingered faintly in her heart.

She kept feeling that after returning to three years ago, some things were no longer the same as what she had experienced before. She no longer dared to predict too much of what would happen in the future-just as she had never expected Lu Chenzhou to become a favorite before the emperor and rise to the post of Imperial Censor-in-Chief.

Early the next morning, she saw Xue Huaicong off. Only after reminding him again and again did she watch as he mounted a mare and headed in the direction of Dingguo Duke Manor.

Outside Dingguo Duke Manor, a young servant had already received Lu Chenzhou’s instructions and was waiting beneath the eaves of the corridor. The moment he saw Xue Huaicong arrive, he hurriedly invited him inside.

Seeing the servant act with such urgency, Xue Huaicong assumed he had arrived late. He followed the servant in haste to the flower hall where the banquet was being held, but when he looked up, he saw that Lu Chenzhou was the only person seated there.

He froze for a moment. Once he came back to himself, he quickly bowed and paid his respects to Lu Chenzhou.

From the instant Xue Huaicong entered, Lu Chenzhou’s eyes had remained fixed on him without so much as a blink.

His bearing was proper, his manners measured. He was tall and slender, with clear brows and bright eyes-a face that truly suited a young scholar who had placed third in the palace examination.

If a man like this had not already been engaged, then after passing the spring metropolitan examination, every noble and powerful household would surely have tried to seize him beneath the posted rankings and make him their son-in-law. Yet he had long since had an engagement-and the one he was promised to was Shen Jin.

At that thought, Lu Chenzhou’s expression turned less than pleasant. He waved casually for Xue Huaicong to sit, then ordered the wine and dishes to be served. “Today is a day off. The officials of the Censorate had originally agreed to go out together to stroll through a garden and drink to their hearts’ content, but I have no patience for traveling far, so I did not go. I heard you did not go either, so I called you here to chat about ordinary matters. I hear you have just reached your twentieth year. I am only a few years older than you. If you do not mind, today there is no need to treat me as the Imperial Censor-in-Chief. Simply think of me as an elder brother. Please, sit.”

That was what he said, but how could Xue Huaicong truly dare to regard him as an elder brother? After thanking him, he leaned forward slightly and took a seat opposite Lu Chenzhou.

Lu Chenzhou filled a cup of wine and passed it to him. After watching Xue Huaicong receive it with both hands, he exchanged a few casual remarks with him about household matters.

A moment later, he asked, as though unintentionally, “When I saw you at the Censorate that day, I was even considering arranging a marriage for you. I did not expect you to have already wed last year. May I ask whose daughter you married?”

Xue Huaicong said, “I would not dare trouble Your Excellency. The woman I married is the third young lady of Lord Shen Zhan’s household. Lord Shen serves as a Ministry of Revenue assistant department director.”

“Oh?” Lu Chenzhou raised his brows slightly. “I have served in court alongside Lord Shen for two or three years now. He has one son and two daughters. But according to the ranking of the Shen Family sisters, his daughter is not the third.”

Xue Huaicong smiled at that. “Your Excellency is correct. My wife is not Lord Shen’s biological daughter. She was adopted into Lord Shen’s branch of the family.”

“Then how is it that I heard you and Lord Shen’s daughter had been promised to each other since childhood? Aside from Shen Zhan, the second and third sons of the Shen Family are not in the capital, while your Xue Family has been settled here since your ancestors’ generation.”

Xue Huaicong had not expected him to know the Shen Family and the Xue Family so clearly. Though he did not know what Lu Chenzhou intended, he still answered frankly, “Yes. My wife did not grow up in the capital when she was young. She grew up in Gusu. Only after her parents passed away several years ago did my father-in-law bring her to the capital. The child betrothal originally arranged for me was not with my wife, but with the fourth young lady in Lord Shen’s household.”

Lu Chenzhou pressed his lips together. As expected, his guess had been right. The one originally engaged to Xue Huaicong should have been Shen Si.

Xue Yi had once been Vice Minister of Revenue, while Shen Zhan was an assistant department director in the Ministry of Revenue. It made perfect sense for two families like that to arrange a child betrothal.

As for Shen Jin…

Lu Chenzhou lowered his eyes and thought for a moment. Shen Jin had lost both parents when she was young. After coming to the capital, she could only rely on Shen Zhan and his wife for her livelihood.

He had met that Madam Shen before. She was short-sighted and acted without any sense of propriety. If Vice Minister Xue were still alive, she would surely have been delighted by the marriage between Xue Huaicong and Shen Si.

But now that Vice Minister Xue was gone and the Xue Family was no longer what it once was, it was entirely possible that, for the sake of her own daughter, she had replaced her with Shen Jin and married Shen Jin into the Xue Family in her stead.

Shen Jin must have been furious, he thought.