The Four Seasons Tea House was packed with guests.

The curfew in Jian'an City was only in effect at 1:15 PM, which was the time when people would come out for a stroll after dinner. The teahouse was crowded, and the waiters carried teapots and weaved through the crowd, serving tea and water to those who came to listen to the storytelling.

The storyteller on stage was reciting the most popular story of the past few days—"The Son Burns His Mother."

He was getting to the most exciting part: "Continuing from where we left off, the scholar came home to find his mother and uncle sleeping in the same bed. He was immediately enraged and pointed at the two men on the bed, cursing them for being shameless!"

"The scholar's mother was filled with remorse and knelt on the ground to apologize to her son. But how could her own son forgive her? He had sworn to pass the imperial examinations and ask his mother to be granted an official title. But what woman in the world could be a titled lady after committing adultery? And what prime minister or grand tutor's mother had ever committed adultery?"

"The scholar could not forgive his own mother for her mistakes. He personally dragged her to the ancestral hall and made her kneel before her father's memorial tablet. The scholar's mother wept uncontrollably, but the scholar brought firewood... A raging fire shot into the sky, engulfing the scholar's mother in the flames. Just then..."

The story ends abruptly here, and the storyteller slams his gavel, "To find out what happens next, listen to the next chapter!"

The audience below the hall, still wanting more, clamored for the storyteller to continue.

"Was the scholar's mother really burned alive? Was the scholar really that heartless? What happened next? Tell us quickly!"

The storyteller raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, but a scholar-like man in a blue robe suddenly rushed in front of him, picked up a stool from the side, and smashed it on the storyteller's head.

With a loud "bang," the wooden stool was smashed into pieces, and the broken pieces of wood fell to the ground, scaring everyone in the teahouse into screaming and running out.

The storyteller was also terrified by this scene, his body trembling like a leaf. "You...who are you? What do you want to do? Let me tell you, hitting people is against the law!"

Chu Yuning threw the chair leg in her hand with a sullen face.

If he hadn't known that hitting someone was illegal, the wooden stool in his hand wouldn't have veered in mid-air and landed on the table in front of the storyteller.

He had just heard the storyteller's words and wanted nothing more than to smash his head open on the spot so he could never speak again. But the thought of paying with one's life for murder forced him to suppress his rage.

Chu Yuning grabbed the storyteller by the collar and threatened, "Where did you hear this story? What gives you the right to make up stories and smear me?"

"You...you are the scholar from that storybook? Is this story really true?" the storyteller exclaimed incredulously.

Chu Yuning denied it: "I didn't! I didn't burn my mother to death! That person wasn't me! This is slander, I'm going to report it to the authorities!"

"You want to report this to the authorities! Hey! The one who should be reporting this is clearly me!"

The teahouse owner rushed over and saw the broken stools scattered all over the floor, as well as the dented table. His heart ached, and he clutched his chest, crying out, "Oh dear! My table! My rosewood table! I bought this table for fifty taels of silver, you must compensate me!"

Fifty taels?

Chu Yuning was stunned. He never expected a table to be so expensive. If he had known, he should have smashed the chair on the storyteller's head and gotten him some medicine; it wouldn't have cost this much!

"You've already tarnished my reputation with baseless accusations, so why should I compensate you for the losses?"

"What evidence do you have to accuse us of slander? Since you say the person in the story isn't you, then what makes you think we're slandering you? Storytellers' stories are fabricated, a mix of truth and fiction. What, is that illegal?"

The shopkeeper, hands on his hips, seeing that Chu Yuning didn't seem like someone who could easily produce fifty taels, immediately called over the waiter to report to the authorities.

There were yamen runners patrolling the streets in the city. Hearing the commotion at the teahouse, they rushed over. When they saw that the person who had been arrested was Chu Yuning, they shouted, "Hey! Isn't this Scholar Chu? Just a few days ago you were going to the magistrate's mansion with Master Sun to compose poems. How did you end up like this today?"

Chu Yuning was twisted by the thugs in the store, his hair was messed up, and he lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Young man, they were in the wrong first. Please give me justice!"

"Who's right and who's wrong will be cleared up once we get to the yamen!" The yamen runner pulled Chu Yuning out.

As Chu Yuning approached the teahouse entrance, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure in the corner. The woman was wearing a light blue traditional Chinese dress and was looking at him expressionlessly, her clear eyes devoid of any emotion.

It's *Cinnamomum camphora*!

What is she doing here?

Could it be that the storyteller spread the stories she told?

Chu Yuning wanted to question Shen Yuan, but the constables didn't give him a chance and dragged him out of the teahouse.

Shen Yuan picked up the covered bowl in front of her, took a sip of tea, and found it truly refreshing and sweet. She stood up and walked over to the storyteller, saying gently, "I'm so sorry to have startled you, sir!"

The innkeeper followed them to the yamen, leaving only the storyteller in charge of the teahouse. He smiled at Shen Yuan and said, "It's alright, it's alright. It's common for us storytellers to get shoe soles thrown at us. We're used to it!"

"By the way, did you write down the later chapters? Write them down and give them to me, and I'll give you some money."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan handed the newly written storybook to the storyteller.

The storyteller paid the money readily.

This little girl's storybook is truly wonderful, but there are too many typos, which is quite a lot of work to correct. However, it is already remarkable that a young woman can read, so he can just correct the typos.

Shen Yuan put away the copper coins and left the teahouse. Originally, she only wanted to use the teahouse to spread Chu Yuning's pretentious behavior and ruin his reputation.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!