"Aque," Chen Luo pulled Chen Que aside and whispered in his ear, "Your Highness has not eaten yet, so you may not be happy. You must be careful later."

Shen nodded, and then asked in sign language: "Why is your highness unhappy?"

Chen Luo lowered his eyebrows slightly, not daring to meet his gaze: "I'm not sure either..."

Shen Que held the food tray in one hand and squeezed his shoulder with the other hand as a comforting gesture.

He was about to turn around and go in, but Shen Luo suddenly grabbed his wrist again and opened his mouth silently: "Maybe it's because of you."

Shen was stunned.

Before he could react, he saw Shen Luo continue to lip-read: "In short, no matter what you see or encounter in there, you must stay calm."

Shen Luo was usually a carefree person, but it was rare for him to look at him so seriously, which made Shen feel inexplicably frightened.

He has always been law-abiding and cautious. He would not dare to do anything that the prince would not allow, even in his dreams. Even if the prince allowed it, he would try his best not to do it.

If you think about it carefully, he has no father or mother and is all alone. There will be no relatives who would do anything bad behind his back. He has done nothing wrong in the official business entrusted to him by the prince recently.

Could it be that... the prince discovered his secret?

No, he kept it hidden for so many years and didn’t tell anyone about it, not even Chen Luo knew about it.

This time it was Shen Luo's turn to pat his back. Shen finally breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged a glance with Shen Luo, then lowered his head and stepped in.

There was warm incense burning in the hall, a faint scent of sandalwood overpowering the scent of wintersweet, but Shen still keenly sniffed out some unusual smells.

It seemed to smell like rust...blood.

It was not an appearance, it was blood, he saw it.

A woman was lying on the brick floor in the hall, her back facing up in a pool of blood, her low bun was disheveled, and she was wearing a lotus-colored short jacket. In her hand she was tightly clutching a plain silver hairpin, the tip of which had been sharpened to a very sharp point.

The tyrant died.

This morning she was smiling and wishing herself a happy birthday, but as she spoke she was breathing out, exhaling puffs of white mist.

Red cheeks from the cold, rouged lips, heat, laughter, such a vibrant life.

Shen's heart seemed to be covered with a layer of fog. It didn't hurt, but he was in a trance.

He lowered his gaze and steadily placed the bowl of vegetarian chicken noodle soup on the table, then opened the dust-proof silk cover on it.

The people at the table took a look at that side of the noodles and saw that the soup was clear with just a few drops of oil, and a white egg with the yolk removed lying on the plain noodles.

"You are always careful," Xie Shiguan smiled, "and you still remember that I don't eat egg yolks."

Shen tried hard to control his gaze from looking down the hall, but the death of the woman downstairs was still clearly reflected in his mind.

The prince's eyes swept over his eyebrows, and then suddenly ordered: "Sit down."

Shen was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood and knelt down beside the table.

"Eat the noodles."

Shen Que finally raised his head slightly and said in sign language: "But this is prepared for you."

Xie Shiguan said nothing, just stared into his eyes.

In just that moment, Shen Que hastily looked away, then obediently took out a pair of bamboo chopsticks from the bag he carried with him, knelt upright and started to eat the bowl of noodles.

Being stared at by the prince while eating noodles, Shen felt that all the hairs on his body stood up, his heart was beating fast, and some sweat seemed to have seeped out of his forehead.

Shen Que originally thought that the prince would say something, but in fact, he said nothing, just stared at him silently.

Just when Shen Que thought Xie Shiguan would remain silent, he suddenly spoke again: "Do you know this man?"

His sudden sound caused Shen Que's wrist to tremble slightly, and some noodle soup spilled on the table.

Xie Shiguan frowned slightly, then knocked over the bowl of noodles with a fan. The porcelain white bowl broke into several pieces of different sizes on the ground, and most of the noodle soup spilled on Shen Que's robe.

Shen Que immediately bowed his head and lowered his eyebrows, gesturing quickly: "Your Highness, calm down!"

Shen Luo, who was standing outside the palace, was startled when he heard the noise and quickly whispered inside: "Your Highness?"

"Shut up."

The prince lowered his head and lifted his chin with his folded fan: "Answer this prince's question, Shen Que."

Shen Qie immediately replied: "I recognize her."

"She is... a maid in the outer mansion. I met her by chance three years ago, and we are just casual friends now. But she used to be a solid person and acted cautiously, which I also saw." When Shen said this, he suddenly found it difficult to control himself and couldn't help asking, "Your Highness, what crime did she commit?"

Xie Shiguan sneered when he heard this: "You mean, I can't tell right from wrong and I made a mistake against such a prudent and good person like her?"

Shen was so frightened that he was sweating all over and had to kowtow.

"She is just a maidservant who has signed a contract. If I want to beat her or kill her, you should not interfere."

When Shen got anxious, he gestured very quickly. Xie Shi didn't quite understand what he was doing, so he held his chin and looked at his panicked look.

When he stopped gesturing, Xie Shiguan continued leisurely, "We are just casual friends, but you gave her a silver hairpin and she gave you a scent sachet. You are like this in front of others, but behind the scenes, you may have become husband and wife."

"The silver hairpin is a birthday gift. I also gave Chen Luo a jade pendant and a sword tassel, but they were just gifts to friends and I didn't think of anything else. As for the sachet, I didn't accept it..."

Xie Shiguan laughed and asked, "If you didn't mean it, why would she, a woman, shamelessly give you the scent bag?"

Shen didn't know how to explain it for a moment.

The prince has always been eloquent, but he was speechless. He moved his fingers, but he didn't know how to prove his innocence.

"Maybe..." Shen said slowly, "Maybe it's a misunderstanding."

"Yeah?"

Shen lowered his head again.

"After disposing of the body," Xie Shiguan frowned slightly, "it smells foul."

"Yes." Shen responded immediately, but did not stand up immediately.

He knew he shouldn't ask, but he asked anyway: "Is it because I was too close to Zhen'er that Your Highness...is that..."

Shen Que was only halfway through his gesture when Xie Shiguan interrupted him: "You shouldn't talk too much."

The voice was cold, like the frost on the branches outside the palace.

He knew he shouldn't ask any more questions, so he walked over to the body of Zhener and tucked the body away for her with ease.

After Chen Que left with Zhen'er on his back, Xie Shiguan called Chen Luo over.

"What do you want, Your Highness?" Shen Luo leaned over and listened.

"Wait for Chen Que to come back from burying the body," Xie Shiguan said calmly, "Kill him. Considering his many years of service to me, leave his body intact and bury him properly."

Shen Luo was startled at first, then nodded and said, "Yes."

Xie Shiguan paused, then continued: "Remember to handle it cleanly and make it look like the Miao family's work."

"As you command."

The words came out of his mouth, but Shen Luo felt that his voice was shaking unconsciously.

At dusk.

It gets dark early in winter. After sunset, a slight breeze blows and a few snowflakes float down from the sky.

According to the usual rules, the body of Xier should be stripped of clothes, scratched, and thrown into a mass grave. However, Chen thought about it and was reluctant to do so, so he bought a thin coffin for Xier and did not dare to erect a tombstone. He just buried her hastily in the suburbs.

Shen stood quietly in front of the small grave.

He didn't have many friends in the palace, and the only people he could think of at this moment were Chen Luo and Ze'er.

Apart from these two, most people thought he was boring, simply because he was a mute and had a hidden illness. In his heart, he envied Shen Luo's popularity and envied them for being able to talk to others, but he himself did not dare to do so.

After standing for a long while, Shen Que finally took out a sachet from his sleeve. He had picked it up when he was collecting the body of Zhen'er. It was made of very ordinary material, with an embroidery of Butterfly Love Flower on it. The embroidery was not sophisticated, just like its owner, an ordinary girl.

He thought of Zhener again.

This morning, Shen Que planned to go to the training ground to practice sword as usual.

On the way to the parade ground, you have to pass a pavilion in the middle of a lake. This lake is called "Jade Mirror" and it is a warm water lake. Even in the coldest months of winter, there is no ice on the lake.

Chen saw a figure from afar. He was wearing a lotus-colored short jacket and a silver hairpin on his black bun. He had his hands behind his back and his head down, fiddling with something on the snow.

A faint smile appeared on Shen Que's face, and then he quietly walked behind her.

Before he could pat her on the back, Xi'er turned around as if she had sensed something. She immediately smiled, her small eyes narrowed into slits, and she gestured to him while speaking: "Why are you standing behind me quietly? Did I accidentally offend you some day? Do you want to scare me on purpose?"

Shen smiled and gestured, "It's so cold, what are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"It's so cold, but I feel so hot," said Xi'er, her cheeks flushed, half jokingly, "Don't you get up so early too?"

"I'm used to it." Shen Que said.

He was a dull man who didn't notice that she had put on rouge on her face. He guessed that she had a fever due to a cold, so he kindly advised her, "Your face is strangely red today. You should ask Aunt Yun for leave and rest for half a day."

Zhen'er was stunned, raised her head and touched her cheek, but she was not annoyed, instead she smiled even more happily.

"You are such a fool, this is the rouge I put on."

Chen looked at her and smiled. He liked people like Zhener, who had an ordinary appearance, no status or background, and was as "ordinary" as him, but she had a buoyant vitality.

Over the years, apart from Chen Luo, the only person in this mansion who could be close to him was this girl.

The two looked at each other in silence for a while, but Chen was like a fool, not noticing the ambiguous atmosphere that was rising between them.

Finally, Xier sighed softly, and then took out a brand new sachet from her sleeve: "I saw that the one you used before was very old, so I took the time to make a new one for you. It is stuffed with osmanthus flowers that I dried in the autumn, and I also added a few plum blossoms..."

As she spoke, she was about to take off the sachet from Shen Que's waist.

It was only then that Shen finally realized something and hurriedly took a step back.

His mind was in a mess, he didn't dare to look into her eyes, he only dared to look at her shoulder - he was not young anymore, seeing that the guards he worked with were gradually getting married and having partners, Shen sometimes envied them.

He had lustful thoughts about the prince that he dared not express aloud, but these thoughts could only rot in his heart. There was absolutely no possibility for him and the prince to be together. This dirty thought was already a defilement. If he spoke out and confessed it, he would have to kill himself to apologize.

After much thought, he decided that Zhen'er was of low social status and plain appearance, and was the most suitable maid for him in the mansion.

Besides, the girl, Zhen'er, is a sweet and honest girl. She never looks down on him just because he is a mute and is warm to others. If he stays with her, he will surely not be lonely in the future.

It's a pity that Shen Que's love for Zhen'er is only that of a sister and a friend. She is such a good girl, but she is not only mute, but also has an unspeakable defect.

He couldn't delay Zhener.

Chen Que took this step back, and Zhener understood. Her eyes turned red, thinking that her self-esteem was hurt and her heart was hurt.

Afterwards, the two faces, one red and one white, looked at each other in silence. By the time Chen Que reacted, Zhen'er had already run away.

But in just one day, everything has changed.

Chen felt a dull pain in his heart, then he opened the sachet and poured the dried flowers and spices inside in front of Zhener's grave. He then burned the remaining sachet along with a handful of paper money.

The author has something to say:

[The next book is in advance "A Bloody Sister-in-law Literature" (I racked my brains and called it this for now). Please collect it. The copy is as follows~]

The next time I saw Yu Yan was at his brother's funeral. He was holding a black umbrella in one hand and stroking the black and white portrait on the tombstone with the other. A tear quietly slid down his fair face.

A distant cousin of the Chao family teased him: "You're so good, kid. Your brother is gone, and you're the only one left in the Chao family. You can have whatever you want in the future."

But he didn't know that Chao Yi didn't want anything at the moment and just wanted to lick away the tear from his sister-in-law's cheek.

Yu Yan is the rose he keeps in his heart.

In the previous life, Chao Yi fell in love with her as soon as they met, and was almost unable to extricate himself from this immoral relationship.

But he didn't know how deep the hatred Yu Yan had for him was. What he thought was love was just Yu Yan's deliberate seduction and trap.

In just three years, Yu Yan deceived him and brought him to the point of ruin and disgrace. He lost his power and everything he had.

What really pushed Chao Yi into the abyss of despair was a report he accidentally found in Yu Yan's bag, which clearly stated that Yu Yan was six weeks pregnant.

He took the report to Yu Yan, but Yu Yan just glanced at it and said calmly: "It was aborted."

It turns out that Yu Yan really doesn't love him.

Chao Yi was reborn. When he opened his eyes, he was back at his brother's funeral and saw again the noble young master who had haunted him and whom he hated so much.

His nominal sister-in-law.

Mixed with love and hate, Chao Yi wanted to strangle his delicate neck, but he couldn't bear to do so.

So he had no choice but to desire her like crazy, and he smashed the jeweled cufflinks his brother gave to Yu Yan, even though they meant a lot to Yu Yan.

Then, in front of his brother's spirit tablet, in the ancestral hall, in his brother and Yu Yan's former wedding room...

"Do you regret it?" he asked.

"This house is mine," he smiled, "and you are mine too, Yanyan."

Note:

1. It's really bloody (really, in the previous life, he was the victim and in the next life, he was the attacker, anyway, they are all very annoying.

2. Twins give birth to a child.