Chapter 36 Visiting Card

This not only sounds reasonable, but also has a lot of structure.

Unfortunately, the second master is not a good tree, but a vine, who is ambitious and wants to strangle the towering tree and replace it.

Shen Wan just smiled it off.

Ye Caiwei said, "The Emperor trusts my eldest uncle so much. My second uncle was wrong to keep a concubine, but he is dedicated to the affairs of the court. My cousin asked my eldest uncle to plead with the Emperor. We cannot let this matter affect my second uncle's career prospects."

Ye Caiwei's voice was a little anxious. If the Second Master had no hope of promotion because of this incident, the Old Lady and the entire Second House would not like Aunt Mei, especially the Second Lady. The means of torture she would use would probably be beyond their imagination.

Ye Caiwei is not worried because Concubine Mei is kept outside and is taken care of by someone, but once she enters the mansion and is under the watchful eyes of the Second Madam, her life or death will be unpredictable.

Although I have an uncle who is the prefect of Qingzhou as my backer, I am still a concubine after all. If the Second Madam wants to kill Aunt Mei, she has plenty of ways to do it quietly.

Ye Caiwei's eyelids were lightly blue, indicating that she hadn't slept well last night. Shen Wan took in her uneasiness and chuckled, "A single tree cannot make a forest. My cousin knows this, so how could my father not know it? I need you to remind me."

Shen Wan couldn't bear the fact that she had to go through such a long detour to care about Aunt Mei. She would send Ye Caiwei back to the second room as soon as possible so that she could care about her own mother openly.

Three days later, the second master was helped back to the South Courtyard by a servant. In less than half an hour, the news that Concubine Mei had been punished spread.

As soon as the second master returned to the South Courtyard, the second mistress called Aunt Mei to serve him. The maid boiled medicine for the second master, and the second mistress asked Aunt Mei to feed the medicine to the second master. The medicine bowl was very hot, and Aunt Mei couldn't hold it and spilled the medicine. The second mistress was so angry that she punished Aunt Mei to kneel in the yard until the medicine was boiled.

The Second Master knew that the Second Madam was deliberately trying to take advantage of Concubine Mei in front of him. He was in the wrong for having a mistress, and they had been sleeping in the same bed together for almost twenty years. How could the Second Master not know the Second Madam's temper? The more he protected Concubine Mei, the more suffering Concubine Mei would suffer.

The second master now only wants to know how the news of his mistress leaked out. Even the servants who followed him around didn't know about it, so how did outsiders know about it?

The second master was very secretive. He bought two small courtyards next to each other, not far behind the government office where he worked. He would go there to rest when he was tired. The two courtyards faced different directions. The second master never went through the main gate. He would enter his own courtyard and then climb over the wall to find Aunt Mei.

Chen Wan asked Yun Yan to help find out whether the second master had a mistress. Yun Yan knew exactly where the second master had been these days. The second master went to the courtyard every few days, which attracted Yun Yan's attention. However, he was suspicious and did not think it was true. He waited for a few more days until he saw the second master climbing over the wall to find Aunt Mei with his own eyes. Then he sent a pigeon to tell Chen Wan about it.

…

That day, after breakfast, Chen Wan took Hong Xiu to Shou'an Hall to pay their respects to the old lady.

After a quarter of an hour, when she was about to return to Mingyue Garden, a maid came in with a visiting card in her hand and reported, "Madam, the wife of the Marquis of Zhaoping has sent a visiting card into the mansion..."

The laughter in the room stopped abruptly, and everyone's eyes fell on the visiting card in the maid's hand.

Ever since Chen Yu and the Prince of Yongqing fell into the water together two years ago, and the Lady of Zhaoping came to cancel the engagement, although the Dingguo Mansion and the Zhaoping Mansion did not break up, they basically had no contact. If there was any happy event in the Dingguo Mansion, the Zhaoping Mansion would send a steward to deliver a gift, but the Zhaoping Mansion and the Lady of Zhaoping would not come to the mansion in person. When the Zhaoping Mansion held a birthday banquet, the Dingguo Mansion did the same, barely maintaining exchanges between colleagues. After all, Chen Ji and the Zhaoping Mansion were still officials in the same court.

A sudden visiting card...

The old lady was really curious about why the wife of the Marquis of Zhaoping came to the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion.

The Third Madam looked at the Old Madam and said, "When I left the palace yesterday, I heard that the Prince of Zhaoping has been staying at the Huguo Temple these days..."

The Third Madam wanted to talk about this yesterday, but the Third House was born out of wedlock and was used to being cautious. When the Lady of the Marquis of Zhaoping came to break off the engagement, Shen Yu had to marry the Prince of the Marquis of Yongqing and was almost killed. Although Shen Ji and Yun Shi didn't say anything, it was impossible for them not to have some resentment in their hearts. Whether the Prince of the Marquis of Zhaoping married a divorced woman or spent his whole life with the ancient Buddha has nothing to do with the Dingguo Mansion.

The Third Madam was afraid that if she told the Old Madam she would be scolded, and she thought that the news would eventually reach the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, so she endured it and kept silent.

At this moment, the wife of the Marquis of Zhaoping sent a visiting card, and everyone was puzzled about it. She said this to help everyone clear up their doubts, and no one would blame her.

"Send the visiting card back."

The old lady picked up the teacup with a cold attitude.

No one responded, and the maidservant left without even glancing at the visiting card.

Chen Wan didn't say anything. The Prince of Zhaoping was a good person, and she believed that if her elder sister married him, he would treat her well. However, there was more than just the Prince of Zhaoping in the Zhaoping Mansion. The Lady of Zhaoping had broken off the engagement, causing her elder sister to suffer so much. To greet someone warmly as soon as they came to the door would only make them look down on her even more.

The fourth lady said, "That Taoist priest outside the Huguo Temple is really powerful. Did Sister-in-law calculate it for Yu'er last time?"

Yun shook his head.

It wasn’t counted for Chen Yu.

Firstly, she was afraid that the calculation would be wrong, so she didn't dare to do it. Secondly, she calculated Shen Wan first. At that time, Yun was so focused on the fact that Shen Wan was worried about her life if she didn't marry that she didn't care about Shen Yu.

The old lady said, "Both the Duke of Zheng's son and the Marquis of Guide's son are good, but it's a pity that they are not destined to be with Wan'er. Although three months is not a short time, it's better to hurry up and settle the marriage sooner so that we can feel at ease sooner."

Yun Shi wanted to settle Shen Wan's marriage as soon as possible, but unfortunately no one came to propose marriage in the past few days, so there was no point in her being anxious.

In her heart, Chen Wan dragged out those who threatened the Taoist priest and betrayed her and questioned them, whipping their corpses to vent her anger.

Feeling depressed, Chen Wan did not go back to Mingyue Garden directly, but instead enjoyed the breeze by the lake.

"Sister is in a bad mood?"

Shen Li's voice suddenly came.

Shen Wan turned around and saw her eldest brother walking towards her. Shen Wan said, "Brother is back."

Chen Wan didn't trust Hong Xiu and sent her away, "I'm going to talk to my brother for a while, go and bring some tea."

After Hongxiu left, Chen Li leaned in and said, "Sister, tell me honestly, brother, was it you who sent the Taoist priest who stopped the Marquis Guide's son from getting engaged?"

Shen Li left the capital for work, firstly because Shen Ji had given him instructions, and secondly because he was afraid that if he stayed in the mansion, Shen Wan would insist that he go and ruin the engagement.

He felt that the marriage would definitely be settled after he left.

Who would have thought that the marriage would not take place even when he was away, and a Taoist priest showed up to mess things up. His intuition told him that this was related to Shen Wan.

It would be fine if the Taoist priest wasn't mentioned, but as soon as Chen Wan was mentioned, she became furious, "If that Taoist priest was my man, would he have cheated me like this?"

Chen Li thought about it and it made sense. It was impossible for the same Taoist priest to help his sister ruin her marriage and then say that she had to get married within three months, otherwise her life would be in danger.

Chen Li said, "So you are troubled by what the Taoist said?"

Shen Wan said nothing and agreed.

Chen Li smiled and said, "If my sister wants to get married, it won't take three months. One month is enough. In two days, I will call the young men from the aristocratic families in Kyoto to come to the mansion. You can choose carefully."

Shen Wan, “…”

Seeing Shen Li's serious look, Shen Wan was really worried that he would do such a thing, and hurriedly stopped him, "Brother, don't do anything stupid."

Shen Li said, "This time I'm not doing anything reckless. I'm following orders."

Shen Wan frowned.

Chen Li smiled and said, "My father asked me to do this. He told you to choose someone you like. As long as the person has decent character and is not from the royal family, he will agree to the marriage."