Chapter 4: Pei Yuan Investigates After Mistakenly Drinking Contraceptive Soup

"With your stomach full of sour fluids, what's the point of drinking tonic soup? It will only make things worse."

He tilted his head back and drank the whole bowl of soup.

Chen Chu...

That was her contraceptive soup.

"vomit."

Pei Yuan frowned and swallowed it, his face full of disgust. "What is this crap? It tastes awful."

Chen Chu...

If I weren't afraid of my identity being exposed, I really wanted to ask him how the contraceptive soup tasted.

There was a knock on the door. "Is Young Master Shen here? We adults have a few questions to ask."

"Oh? The Sixth Prince is here too. Our master said he would visit him later."

He was from the Jingzhao Prefecture.

Shen Chu subconsciously looked up at Pei Yuan, her heart leaping into her throat.

Will this guy expose him to the Jingzhao Prefecture?

Pei Yuan tucked the jade fan back into his waistband, glanced at her indifferently, and left with his hands behind his back.

Shen Chu was terrified by his gaze.

The sixth prince, Pei Yuan, is a libertine and capricious man who acts solely on his own whims. It is unclear what he intends to do with his own weakness.

After dealing with the questions from the Prefect of Jingzhao, Shen Chu spent half a day in suspense, only to receive a notice that everyone could go home.

She breathed a sigh of relief, but a sense of unease also settled over her.

Pei Yuan didn't expose her this time, he must have other plans.

She was somewhat absent-minded on the way back.

Aunt Qiao whispered, "Chunxing just went to your father's study a few more times, and then Chen handed her over to Zhao Er to be killed. Chen is getting more and more ruthless."

"Who knows what trouble might arise after we get back home? You'd better be careful."

"Yes, Auntie should also be careful."

Aunt Qiao didn't take it seriously. "We've been fighting for over a decade. With the Marquis protecting me, she wouldn't dare do anything to me."

Shen Chu frowned slightly. That was before. Now that she had returned to the capital and become the top scholar, she had disrupted the balance between Madam Chen and Aunt Qiao.

She wanted to say a few more words of advice, but seeing Aunt Qiao's expression that her husband would definitely protect her, she ultimately said nothing.

Sometimes reality is more sobering than persuasion.

As soon as the carriage entered the Marquis's residence, the old lady's maidservant blocked the way and asked her and Aunt Qiao to come over.

In the Songshou Hall where the old lady lived, a man sat imposingly at the head of the table, his pale green brocade robe drawing considerable attention.

Her eyelids twitched involuntarily. What was this guy doing at her house?

The old lady said with a smile, "His Highness the Sixth Prince has been sleeping poorly lately, so he came to ask if we have any good remedies to calm his nerves."

"Does anyone have a good remedy for calming the nerves? If you have any prepared medicine, that would be even better; bring it to His Highness immediately."

It turns out they were asking for a calming remedy.

Shen Chu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized what was happening.

No, the purse she carried close to her body contained tranquilizers.

Where is her purse?

She touched her collar but couldn't find the string holding the purse, and her heart tightened.

Her purse is gone!

The purse contained not only tranquilizers, but also something vital to her life.

If it were found by someone, there would be endless trouble.

"Young Master Shen doesn't look too good. What's he thinking about?"

When Shen Chu came to her senses, she saw Pei Yuan staring at her with a probing and unsettling look in his eyes, which made her feel uneasy.

She tugged at the corner of her mouth, "I'm trying to come up with a calming medicine for His Highness."

“Speaking of calming medicine, I happen to have one here, and I also have it on hand.” Madam Chen interrupted Chen Chu with a smile, and ordered someone to bring out two purses.

Pei Yuan took the purse without even glancing at it, thanked him, and left.

Shen Chu was immediately puzzled. Had she guessed wrong?

Did Pei Yuan not find her purse?

Wasn't he trying to find out the woman's identity from last night by using the prescription for the tranquilizer inside?

"You wicked child, kneel down!" The old lady suddenly shouted at Chen Chu, and a teacup was thrown straight at him.

Chen Chu easily dodged the teacup by moving to the left and knelt on the ground.

Madam Shen was very satisfied with her kneeling attitude and was about to scold her when she looked up and saw that Shen Chu had already stood up as if no one else was there.

"You wretched child, who told you to get up?"

Shen Chu looked completely innocent. "Grandmother only said to kneel down, she didn't say you couldn't get up."

"you!"

Madam Shen was so angry that she suffered a heart attack.

That's how wicked people are; they wear a bright smile on their face while saying things that infuriate people.

“Your mother kindly took you to worship Buddha, hoping that Buddha could purify the evil spirits on you, but who knew that it would cause someone's death, it's all your fault.”

Shen Chu raised an eyebrow slightly.

After she was born, Ms. Chen consulted a master who said that she was destined to be a lone star and would clash with her relatives.

When she was born, the old lady first inexplicably knocked out her teeth, then broke her leg, and then a series of accidents, big and small, happened in the family.

Madam Shen was terrified and immediately ordered Marquis Changning to send her to the Taoist temple in her hometown of Huzhou, and forbade anyone to visit her, saying that she was afraid of being tainted by evil spirits.

For seventeen years, only Aunt Qiao would send people to the Taoist temple every now and then to deliver clothes and money; no one in the Marquis's mansion had ever cared about her.

Clearly, they are now linking the Jingguo Temple incident with evil energy again.

Madam Chen covered her face and wept, “My daughter-in-law was interrogated by the people from the Jingzhao Prefecture for half a day. They almost suspected that our Marquis’s Mansion had abused and killed a loyal servant.”

Fortunately, the Jingzhao Prefecture eventually found out that Chunxing, unable to bear Zhao Er's humiliation, stabbed him, and Zhao Er, in a fit of rage, killed Chunxing.

These are all sordid affairs among servants; I doubt anyone would implicate our Marquis's residence.

Madam Shen snorted coldly, "Nonsense, Chunxing and Zhao Er have been your servants for many years. Why did they have to have an accident now of all times?"

Ultimately, it was the malevolent aura emanating from that wretched child that caused the trouble. I knew that his return would bring disaster to the entire Marquis's mansion.

Shen Chu was shocked. "So that's how it is. Please, Grandmother, give me a copy of the family division document as soon as possible. I will leave the Marquis's mansion with my aunt immediately."

Old Madam Shen choked, "You unfilial child... Why bring up the issue of dividing the family property when our parents are still alive? Besides, I, your grandmother, am still here."

A mocking glint flashed in Shen Chu's eyes.

The son born to the stepmother was neither good at literature nor martial arts, and the Marquis of Changning was counting on her, the top scholar, to bring glory to the family. How could he bear to drive him out of the house?

Moreover, the entire Marquis's mansion is supported by Aunt Qiao's business.

"You are still a descendant of the Shen family. If you are unfilial, your grandmother cannot be unkind." Old Madam Shen sneered. "Zhang Mama, bring it up."

An old woman brought in a bowl of dark, murky soup.

"This is a talisman soup for exorcising evil spirits that your mother obtained from the abbot of Jingguo Temple. The abbot said that if you drink this soup and then kneel in the ancestral hall for three days, the evil spirits on your body will be expelled."

If you have any filial piety and still care about your family, quickly drink the soup and go kneel in the ancestral hall.

Shen Chu took the soup bowl, looked up and smiled at Old Madam Shen.

"The talisman soup is useless against the evil energy on me, let's separate."

With a slight tilt of her wrist, she poured out a bowl of soup, which flowed onto the bright red woven carpet beneath her feet.

"How dare you disobey your elders!"

Shen Chu smiled faintly, "I wouldn't dare."

"You unfilial brat, you say you wouldn't dare, yet you still poured out the talisman soup."

"Oh, I didn't hold it steady, it spilled."

"You!" Old Madam Shen was so angry that her face turned pale.

Chen took out two more yellowed talismans from her bosom. "Fortunately, the abbot saw my sincerity and asked for a few more."

"Aunt Zhang, go and make another bowl."

In the blink of an eye, a bowl of dark soup was placed in front of Shen Chu.

Madam Shen said with a dark face, "Zhang Mama, feed the eldest young master the drink, lest he spill it again due to his shaky hands."

"yes."

What if I don't drink it?

Madam Shen sneered, "For the sake of the entire Marquis's mansion, you have no choice but to drink."

Shen Chu stood still, a chill creeping onto her smile.

"Grandmother, you'd better think this through. I've been allergic to things like talisman water since I was a child. Even a small sip could keep me out of bed for days."

If I kneel in the ancestral hall for another three days, I might lose my life.

"I'm being selected for officialdom in ten days. I wonder what His Majesty's opinion will be of the newly appointed top scholar if word gets out that his grandmother forced him to drink talismanic water, causing him to faint at home and preventing him from entering the palace to report for duty?"

Madam Shen's expression changed slightly; she was hesitant to act rashly.

As the top scholar personally selected by His Majesty, he was usually to enter the Hanlin Academy, and Hanlin scholars were required to enter the palace at any time.

A sinister glint flashed in Madam Chen's eyes as she whispered a few words to Old Madam Shen.

Madam Shen looked at Shen Chu and suddenly revealed a strange smile.