Translator – Xiao He Lian
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Chapter 71.2
“Before the incident at Yunyang Marquis’ Mansion, you drank and talked with my brother until dawn. You took the Shen family’s seal at that time, right?” Shen Lan said with a smile, “You forged the loan documents and gave them to Jin’s moneylending Shop, right?”
Xie Cheng said: “You are totally an unreasonable woman!”
“I thought you just wanted to join Prince Teng, but I didn’t expect that the Xu family was behind you.”
“I don’t understand a word you say.”
“Don’t pretend.” Shen Lan stood up, smiling with tears in her eyes, “Last year, on October 9th, the day before the Shen family paid back their debt, you were drinking with Xu Wei, the eldest son of the Xu family and Prince Teng in the Golden Tower. I was next door and heard you talking. I saw it all clearly.”
Xie Cheng looked at her with gritted teeth, “How dare you!”
“You three were laughing and discussing how to enjoy my niece’s body together! You are her uncle! Are you still human?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Yan’s body stiffened.
“Don’t talk nonsense here!” said Xie Cheng
“Am I talking nonsense? If Shen Zhen hadn’t run away, she would have fallen into your hands long ago! You can use her to threaten Yunyang Maquis and you can also have fun with her at will. Those eight thousand copper coins are really worth it!”
“Shen Lan, if you dare to go out and tell others what you just said, I guarantee you won’t live till tomorrow night.” Xie Cheng raised his hand and slapped her, whispering, “Wake up, I have more than one son, Ge’er. Confess your crime, so that when you get out, you will still have a son to show your filial piety to.”
With that Suning Bo turned and left.
Shen Lan covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
After a while, Lu Yan walked in, sat down and said: “I advise you not to believe what he said.” Lu Yan took the opportunity to put some medicine in the tea in front of her.
Shen Lan’s pupils shrank slightly and she looked up and down, “There are solid bricks all around here, how could your Excellency…” She threatened Lord Xie only to get him to save her, she didn’t really want to bring down the Xie family.
Lu Yan ignored her trepidation and spoke harshly, “As the saying goes, once a child loses his biological mother, his father will be as cold and uncaring to the child as his stepmother .. Waiting for Madam to come out of prison? I don’t know if Xie Peng1(Ge’er is the nickname of Shen Lan’s child) will live to see that day.”
He paused and then said, “Of course, there is another possibility. Even if Madam stood in front of Xie Peng, he would not recognize her.”
Shen Lan secretly clenched her hands on her knees.
Lu Yan has always been good at attacking the minds of people. He talked about the title of Xie family and then Xie Peng’s life, eventually it made Shen Lan completely stunned.
“What does your Excellency want to know?”
“Where is Shen Wenqi’s official seal?” Lu Yan asked.
Shen Lan was silent. There is no official seal, it is long gone.”
Lu Yan knocked on the table nonchalantly, looking like he was determined to fight her to the end.
Shen Lan drank the tea and after an hour, her expression turned dazed.
“Where is Shen Wenqi’s official seal?” Lu Yan asked again.
Shen Lan opened her mouth and whispered, “Buried in the wine cellar of Lishan Villa…”
After Lu Yan took up his pen to record, he continued, “On October 9th last year, Prince Teng , Earl of Suning and the eldest son of the Xu family met at the Golden Tower. What did they say in the Golden Tower?”
Shen Lan’s eyes gradually became blurred, as if she was recalling that scene. Then, she repeated the conversation between the men in a low voice…
What she said was all about the pleasure the three men had in playing with women.
Lu Yan listened to these words that couldn’t be dirtier, his thin lips pursed tightly and his whole body seemed to fall into the deep sea… suffocating him.
As she was talking, Shen Lan’s head hit the table with a bang and she fell into a deep sleep.
Lu Yan returned to the office, his face gloomy like a grim reaper. Seeing this, Sun Xu couldn’t help but raise his eyes and asked, “What’s wrong with you, Lord Lu? Is there any problem?”
“Lord Sun.” Lu Yan’s Adam’s apple rolled as he spoke word by word, “Keep an eye on Madam Xie and don’t allow anyone to visit her. I think someone might want to kill her.”
Sun Xu’s eyes were solemn, “Is it that serious?”
“Yes.”
Lu Yan sat down, picked up his pen again, wrote a petition, folded it, and put it in his pocket.
At dusk, Yang Zong prepared the carriage. Lu Yan bent down and went in, whispering, “When can Shen Hong enter the capital?”
“They are currently at the post station outside the capital. They will be able to enter the capital as early as tomorrow morning.”
“Then let him enter tomorrow morning, there’s no time to waste.” Lu Yan turned the white jade ring on his hand and said, “Send this paper to the East Palace and tell His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that the person he asked me to find can enter the capital tomorrow.”
Yang Zong bowed and responded.
——
The temperature tonight is a little hotter than usual. The night wind is swirling and sluggish, the leaves are rustling and the birds are flapping their wings and fleeing in all directions.
Shen Zhen sat in the pavilion, with her eyes lowered and her chin in her hand, thinking about what Lu Yan had said that morning.
Where would he take her tonight?
Tang Yue and Mo Yue were acting mysterious today…it was really weird.
As the sky gradually darkened, Lu Yan walked through the courtyard in a hurry. He came to her side and asked, “Where is your veil?”
“Here.” Shen Zhen took the veil from the round stool beside her.
Lu Yan nodded, then said to Tang Yue: “Have you packed everything?”
Tang Yue nodded, “Yes.”
Shen Zhen frowned and looked at the two of them.
Lu Yan turned around and ruffled her soft hair. “Let’s go first. I’ll talk to you when we get there.”
The carriage jolted and sped along, making a rumbling sound, crossing Zhuque Street and heading south, entering Baoning street and stopping in front of a house without a plaque.
Shen Zhen was feeling uneasy all the way. Seeing the empty house with no one in it, she suddenly felt a chill running from her fingertips to her heart.
Passing through the corridor, Lu Yan took her into the house, lit the lamp, and whispered, “Sit down.”
Shen Zhen looked around. Although the outside of the house was a bit desolate, everything inside the house, including the bed, screen, dressing table, desk, incense burner, etc., had obviously been tidied up not long ago…
Thinking about Tang Yue’s actions today.
The little girl’s back was stiff and she was sweating. She seemed to have guessed why he brought her here in the middle of the night. Was he going to let her go?
Lu Yan looked at her clear and bright eyes and couldn’t help but wonder, if he hadn’t paid back the eight thousand strings of cash for her and let her be abducted by Prince Teng, would she still be alive?
The man took a deep breath, his thoughts in a mess and his throat full of bitterness.
The candlelight flickered as their eyes met. Shen Zhen looked at his speechless expression and became more certain of what he was thinking.
“If you have something to say, just say it directly.” Shen Zhen said softly.
“I sent someone to bring your brother back from Yangzhou, along with your nanny and maid.”
Hong’er.
As soon as he finished speaking, it was as if a huge rock that had been hanging on Shen Zhen’s heart for months suddenly fell down with a “clang” and sank to the bottom of the sea. She no longer had to worry about others discovering that she had become the mistress of a wealthy and powerful man.
She should be at ease and content, right?
Shen Zhen looked at the man sitting in front of the rosewood screen and suddenly felt that he was familiar yet unfamiliar.
Lu Yan took out the mahogany box, put it in her hand and said, “Inside it are the title deeds of this house, two shops in the West Market and a box of gold. I am worried about you living here by yourself with your brother, so remember to buy two more maids.”
Shen Zhen said nothing, but just looked into his eyes quietly, her fingers gradually clenched.
“You like the food cooked by Fang momo, so I’ll keep her here with you.” Lu Yan said softly, “If you have any difficulties, you can always use the pigeon to pass on a message to me, okay?”
Lu Yan pointed at the carrier pigeon placed on the low couch.
Suddenly a gust of night wind blew and the window screens in the room fluttered wildly.
His voice rolled back and forth in her ears, gradually turning into a buzzing sound, and she couldn’t bear it anymore.
Lu Yan frowned, took a deep breath, and was thinking about how to start his next words when he suddenly felt a pain in his heart.
Shen Zhen lowered her eyes and said in a hoarse voice: “I don’t want your money, nor do I want your pigeons.”
T/N – Did Shen Zhen just said keep you freaking pigeons??!! to Lu Yan!! 😱😱
