Chapter 107 Between a man and a child, she chose the man.

Footsteps could be heard outside.

Pei Yuan suddenly sat up, his bloodshot eyes showing no signs of sleepiness.

This startled the absent-minded Shen Chu, who then realized that the sun was already setting in the west.

Sun Yan knocked on the door and entered. "Your Highness, Chen has confessed and committed suicide. These are the testimonies of everyone in the Changning Marquis's residence."

"Hmm." Pei Yuan took it and glanced at it. "Immediately have someone send it to the palace for Father Emperor."

Sun Yan accepted the order and left.

Shen Chu stood up. "Your Highness, I'd better go to the prison and wait for His Majesty's decree."

Whether it's Chen Shi, Shen Yan, or the steward of the Marquis's mansion, they are all people from the Marquis of Changning's mansion.

His Majesty should send someone soon to announce the outcome of the Marquis's case. If he sees that she is not in prison but in Pei Yuan's office, it may arouse His Majesty's suspicion.

Pei Yuan smiled nonchalantly, "What? Worried that I'll get into trouble?"

Shen Chu paused for a moment, then said, “No, I am more worried about being suspected by Your Majesty.”

Pei Yuan's smile vanished instantly, and he scoffed, "Since you're so eager to go to jail, then go ahead. Be careful you don't throw up the whole fish head with chopped chili peppers you're eating."

As soon as Chen Chu recalled the bloody smell of the dungeon, his stomach began to churn again.

But she wouldn't back down, so she looked at Pei Yuan with a smile and mimicked his manner, saying, "What? Is Your Highness worried that my health can't handle it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, his chin started to hurt slightly.

Pei Yuan put away the jade fan with satisfaction. "If you keep talking to me like this, I'll knock your jaw off."

Shen Chu rubbed her chin. "You think you can take advantage of me because I don't have a weapon?"

She can bite if she gets angry.

Shen Chu snorted, turned and left, forgetting even to say goodbye.

Pei Yuan watched his departing figure and said, "How rude! He's getting more and more disrespectful."

Jinbao muttered to himself, "I think it's all His Highness's fault that Lord Shen is behaving this way."

Pei Yuan narrowed his peach blossom eyes. "What do you think? Do I need your opinion?"

Jinbao chuckled, "Whatever Your Highness thinks is what it is."

Pei Yuan snorted, lay back down on the soft couch, touched the purse in his arms, and prepared to take another nap.

Just before going to sleep, a thought crossed his mind: When did he start indulging Chen Chu?

It was clearly that guy who took advantage of the situation.

-----

Apart from Shen Yan, who is awaiting judgment, Marquis Changning, Old Madam Shen, and Shen Qingshuang are all currently locked in the same cell.

When Shen Chu entered, Shen Qing Shuang let out a scream and cowered in the corner, trembling.

Even Madam Shen's face turned pale, thinking that the Flying Eagle Guards had come to question her again.

God knows how many times they were questioned by the Flying Eagle Guards that day. Although they weren't tortured, the Flying Eagle Guards' cold questioning and the screams coming from the cell next door almost drove them to a mental breakdown.

When they saw that it was Shen Chu who came in, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

On the contrary, although Aunt Qiao looked a little flustered, her clothes were neat and her hair was in perfect condition, so she didn't seem to have been frightened.

"Achu, how are you? Were you tortured?"

Upon seeing Chen Chu enter, Aunt Qiao rushed over and nervously looked Chen Chu up and down.

Shen Chu shook her head and gently patted her back. "I'm fine. I was a victim in those things, not a participant. The Flying Eagle Guards were just asking me a routine question."

Only after confirming that Shen Chu was not injured did Aunt Qiao relax, and tears welled up in her eyes as she held Shen Chu's hand.

“Ah Chu, I’m sorry. I never imagined that the fortune-telling back then was all a conspiracy by the Chen family. If I had thought it through more and persisted a little longer, you wouldn’t have suffered in the Taoist temple for seventeen years.”

Aunt Qiao recalled the scenes of being bullied that Shen Chu had described, and her heart ached with regret and pain. She raised her hand and slapped herself hard twice.

"I was too selfish. Because of that damned cursed star, I was afraid of implicating the Marquis. For seventeen years, I didn't even visit you once."

I was so foolish. I thought that sending you money and clothes for all four seasons every month was enough to take good care of you, but I forgot that you were just a child who needed to be cared for and loved.

I don't deserve to be a mother. I'm so sorry, Chu, I.....

Aunt Qiao regretted her words more and more, and slapped herself twice more, instantly swelling her delicate and beautiful face.

Shen Chu looked up, suppressing the stinging in her eyes, but did not stop Aunt Qiao's actions.

This is what Aunt Qiao owes to A Chu.

Actually, it's not that Aunt Qiao doesn't miss A-Chu, or that she doesn't love her; it's just that she loves Marquis Changning more.

Bound by the curse of being a lone star, Aunt Qiao chose the man over the child.

Ah Chu, did you see that?

I avenged you!

You are no longer a cursed star; even the Chen family, who harmed you, have come to the underworld to repent.

But you can never come back.

The Marquis of Changning, who had been silent all along, rushed over, grabbed Aunt Qiao's hand, and stopped her from hitting him again.

"Lan'er, please don't be like this, it breaks my heart to see you like this."

"Back then, it was all Chen's fault. We were all deceived by that wicked woman, Chen. It's all Chen's fault."

Shen Chu looked at Marquis Changning, "Can a simple statement that I was deceived make up for the seventeen years of suffering I've endured? Doesn't Father feel even a little bit of guilt?"

Marquis Changning's cheek muscles twitched, and he said in a low voice, "You are my first child. How could your father not love you or value you?"

But the fake master that Chen found spoke with such certainty that even if I feel sorry for you, I have to consider the future of the Marquis's mansion and the lives of the whole family.

"A man's suffering from childhood is nothing. If you hadn't been tempered in the Taoist temple, you might not have achieved what you have today."

Shen Chu laughed in exasperation, "So, does that mean I should thank the Chen family?"

Marquis Changning's expression stiffened slightly.

Aunt Qiao cried with tears streaming down her face, "It's not like that, Lord Marquis. As parents, it's our fault that we failed to protect our child."

We owe Achu so much.

Marquis Changning pursed his lips. "That's not what I meant. We'll make it up to you double for what we owe you. As for that wicked woman, Chen, I won't forgive her either."

Shen Chu closed her eyes tightly, suppressing the stinging sensation in them.

No amount of compensation can bring Ah Chu back.

A mocking smile curled at the corner of her lips. "Chen has already confessed and committed suicide."

"What?" Marquis Changning was stunned for a moment, looking sullen. "That wicked woman got off easy."

Shen Qingshuang, who was in the corner, let out a sorrowful cry and frantically rushed towards the door.

"I want to see my mother, please, I want to see my mother one last time."

"What's all the commotion about?" A Flying Eagle Guard walked over with a fierce look on his face. "His Majesty has decreed that the Marquis of Changning's residence should receive the decree."

Marquis Changning hurriedly pulled back the seemingly deranged Shen Qingshuang, "Are you courting death? Kneel down and accept the imperial decree!"

Shen Qingshuang was forced to kneel on the ground by him, and she was so frightened that she didn't even dare to cry.

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Lady Chen, wife of the Marquis of Changning, instigated her servants to commit murder and arson, frame others... Her crimes are numerous. Since she has confessed her crimes and committed suicide, her body shall be returned to the Marquis of Changning for his own disposal."

The crown prince, Shen Yan, was deceived by his steward and used moldy rice to harm the people. He was punished with fifty strokes of the cane as a warning to others.

The Marquis of Changning is guilty of neglecting his duties in his personal life and failing to properly educate his son. He is hereby suspended from his post as the Director of the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War for one month and fined one year's salary as punishment.

Marquis Changning bowed deeply, his face ashen, and kowtowed in gratitude.

Upon returning to the Marquis's residence from the Flying Eagle Guard, Marquis Changning instructed his servants to carry Shen Yan, who had been flogged and was unconscious, inside.

He then took out paper and pen, wrote a letter of divorce on the spot, and ordered his servants to send Chen's body back to her parents' home.

“Tell the Chen family that such a wicked woman is intolerable to the Shen family, and we will certainly not allow her to be buried in the Shen family ancestral grave.”

Shen Qingshuang cried her heart out, kneeling on the ground and pleading desperately, but she couldn't dissuade Marquis Changning from his plan.

In despair, Shen Qingshuang prepared to send her mother back to the Chen family, but the Chen family sent their butler instead.

The Chen family steward said righteously, "Our master said that such a vicious person is not worthy of being a daughter of the Chen family. Do not send her back to the Chen family, lest she tarnish the Chen family's reputation."

Shen Qingshuang collapsed onto Chen Shi, nearly fainting from crying.

In despair, he suddenly noticed something in the sleeve of Chen's left hand.

Did her mother leave her some message before she died?

Shen Qingshuang rolled up her sleeve and saw a line of writing.