Chapter 17 "Fairness is eating. Would it be convenient for me to come in and eat with you?"
After Qi Jingxuan left, Shen Mingshan and Shen Yan went to the main house. They dismissed the palace maids and the three of them sat in the room talking quietly.
Shen Yan recounted her conversation with Qi Jingxuan, and both Shen Mingshan and Madam Su frowned upon hearing it.
He didn't do it.
Su Shidao.
Today, she accompanied Shen Yan to the Cheng'an Marquis's residence. When she saw that scene in the front yard, she almost fainted from anger. Afterwards, Qi Jingxuan repeatedly said that he had kidnapped Shen Yan, so Su Shi naturally believed him.
Hearing Shen Yan say that it wasn't Qi Jingxuan who did it, she found it hard to believe.
"It was definitely not done by the prince."
"Shen Yan said."
Shen Mingshan thought for a moment and asked, "Is it possible that Prince Jin is lying? I'm not talking about today's events, but about the conversation between the two of you just now. Could it be that he sensed you were testing him, so he deliberately said those things to make you think he was innocent?"
Although it is unlikely according to Shen Yan's statement, it is still very puzzling that the Prince of Jin, a member of the royal family, would not distance himself from the matter or seek the emperor's help to investigate after such an incident, but instead readily admit it himself.
Shen Yan shook her head and said, "There's no need. The prince has already publicly admitted that he was responsible for what happened today. The news is already everywhere. What's the point of him lying to me to gain my trust?"
After careful consideration, Shen Mingshan nodded: "That's true."
Madam Su said, "But I still don't understand. He is His Majesty's son, and His Majesty seems to favor him the most. If he didn't do this, His Majesty surely wouldn't have wronged him and would have investigated and found out the truth for him. Why would he need to do this?"
Although Shen Mingshan was only a county magistrate before, and only recently entered the capital, he still had some understanding of the intricacies of the imperial court.
"Not necessarily..."
He said.
"His Majesty will indeed stand up for Prince Jin, but the person behind it dares to act in the Marquis of Cheng'an's residence and do so without leaving a trace. They must be no ordinary person. It will probably take some time to find out the truth."
"If anything were to happen to Aci during these days..."
He looked at Shen Yan as he spoke, his eyes filled with worry.
Madam Su suddenly realized, and nervously grasped Shen Yan's hand: "What should we do? Our Aci has nothing to do with this, how... how did she have to be dragged into this?"
A bitter smile appeared on Shen Mingshan's face. He said, "It's all my fault. I'm... too useless."
This is the capital city, right under the emperor's nose. Even if the other party has connections everywhere, they will still have to be cautious.
If a daughter from a prominent family were chosen to frame Prince Jin, the other party would either actively seek a marriage alliance with him or use every means at their disposal to clear their daughter's name.
However, Shen Mingshan was just a sixth-rank lecturer in the Hanlin Academy from a poor family, and he had only recently arrived in the capital. He had no real power base and was therefore easy to take advantage of.
Firstly, his background could be used to incite conflict between the common people and the powerful families, amplifying the Prince of Jin's misdeeds. Secondly, after using him, there would be no need to worry about what trouble he might cause, leaving no worries about the future.
If he were a capable person, the other party probably wouldn't have chosen to target his daughter.
Seeing her father blaming himself, Shen Yan tugged at his sleeve and said, "Father, this afternoon you told me that as long as I act uprightly and honestly, I don't need to care about other people's opinions, nor should I take the blame for things that aren't my own. How can you say such things now?"
"If anyone is truly at fault in this matter, it is the fault of the malicious person behind the scenes. I am not at fault, His Highness Prince Jin is not at fault, and Father, you are not at fault either."
Seeing that his daughter was actually comforting him, Shen Mingshan sighed, stopped talking about these irrelevant things, and began to worry about how to deal with this matter.
Speaking of this, the family of three were somewhat worried.
The opponent left even Prince Jin, a member of the imperial family, helpless, for the time being, forcing him to resort to self-defamation to break the deadlock. What could a small, insignificant family like theirs possibly do?
"We can't really marry our daughter to him, can we?"
Su said with concern.
Even if today's events were not the fault of the Prince of Jin, it is clear that his daughter was implicated because of him.
Putting aside the fact that Prince Jin himself has a bad reputation, this one incident alone is enough to make Lady Su unwilling to marry Shen Yan to him.
The two hadn't even met Shen Yan before she was implicated. If they were to actually get together in the future, and the person behind it all tried to harm Prince Jin again, wouldn't her daughter be even more vulnerable?
The three of them couldn't think of a solution for the time being, so Shen Mingshan could only say, "Let's talk about it when I go to the palace to see His Majesty tomorrow."
Madam Su nodded: "You must make it clear to His Majesty that this matter has nothing to do with our Aci. Our Shen family has never coveted the position of Princess Consort of Jin."
Shen Mingshan nodded, turned around and went out to prepare dinner. When he got to the kitchen, he found that several palace maids were already busy inside.
Unable to get involved, he didn't step forward and turned away.
The family and Physician Zhou sat around the table for a meal. The Shen family did not have the rule of not speaking while eating or sleeping. At the table, Shen Mingshan asked Physician Zhou a lot of questions about pregnancy care and protection.
Physician Zhou knew that Shen Mingshan only had one daughter, Shen Yan, and that this pregnancy in Madam Su's womb was hard-won and would be highly valued, so he answered very seriously.
The atmosphere at the dinner table was very pleasant, and the group ate and chatted. Suddenly, a palace maid walked in and whispered, "Lord Shen, the Prince has arrived and is at the door."
Shen Mingshan paused, his hand holding chopsticks still, and his expression immediately darkened: "Why is he here again?"
The palace maid didn't know how to respond, so she just stood to the side with her eyes lowered.
Helpless, Shen Mingshan put down his chopsticks, said to the people at the table, "You guys eat first, I'll go take a look," and then got up and went out.
After leaving the palace, Qi Jingxuan did not return to the Prince of Jin's residence, but instead went to the Shen family again.
This time, he didn't knock; instead, he plopped down on the door. If it weren't for a nosy neighbor making a few teasing remarks that were overheard by the palace maids in the courtyard, no one in the Shen family would have noticed yet.
Shen Mingshan opened the door and saw Qi Jingxuan sitting in front of his house, and a vein throbbed on his forehead.
"What brings Your Highness here again?"
He asked.
Qi Jingxuan chuckled and said, "It's nothing, I just came to sit for a while."
He was actually worried that something might happen to Shen Yan in the middle of the night, so he wanted to come and keep watch over her himself. But he figured the Shen family wouldn't let him in anymore, so he simply sat there.
He had already made up his mind. It was springtime now, and although the evenings were still a bit chilly, he wouldn't get sick as long as he was bundled up warmly. In the days that followed, he would wait day and night in front of the Shen family's gate, trying to win over Shen Mingshan with his sincerity until he married Shen Yan into the family.
Shen Mingshan said in a deep voice, "This is my front door. Your Highness sitting here might cause misunderstandings. Please leave."
He was about to close the door when he said that.
Qi Jingxuan smelled the aroma of food through the crack in the open door. Remembering that he hadn't eaten dinner yet, he casually asked, "Are you eating? Would it be convenient for me to come in and eat with you?"
"inconvenient."
Chenming Mountain said, and then closed the courtyard gate.
After learning that the Prince of Jin had also been framed, he no longer disliked him as much as before, but he certainly couldn't let him in for a meal.
It wasn't that he was reluctant to part with the meal, but rather that Qi Jingxuan had just come in and spoken to him. If he were invited to join them for a meal now, and he refused when the topic of marriage came up later, others might think that the Shen family was playing hard to get, pretending to be friendly while simultaneously refusing to get close to Prince Jin.
He didn't want to cause his daughter any trouble, so naturally he didn't let Qi Jingxuan come in for dinner.
As the courtyard gate closed, the aroma of the food was largely shut out. Qi Jingxuan rubbed his stomach, sat down on the ground, took out an egg from his pocket, cracked it on the ground, peeled it, and ate it bite by bite. While eating, he ordered the imperial guards following him: "Go and buy me some food. I'm hungry."
The imperial guards exchanged a helpless glance.
Other people have easy and lucrative jobs, but they're stuck following this tyrant around everywhere, and now they're even paying for his meals. I wonder if His Majesty will reimburse them for these expenses when we talk to him later.
………………
Qi Jingxuan said he would guard the Shen family's door, and he actually slept there all night.
The alley was narrow, and placing a bed there would block the way, which was definitely not suitable. So Qi Jingxuan had a thick straw mat laid out on the ground, and then brought his pillow and bedding from the Prince's Mansion to make it soft and comfortable, and then he slept there.
The next morning, people in Yangliu Hutong saw a row of men sleeping in front of the Shen family's house. One of them, who was sleeping in the bedding, was Prince Jin. Several people who were squatting or sitting in the corner next to him were the Imperial Guards from the previous day, and two others were servants who had come to the Prince's mansion last night to deliver things. They hadn't gone back after arriving and stayed here to serve Qi Jingxuan.
They had no bedding and had to take turns keeping watch to protect Qi Jingxuan's safety. They had clearly not slept well all night, and now they had stubble on their chins, looking quite disheveled.
Qi Jingxuan was better, but not by much.
He had been pampered since childhood, and even when he went out, he was always surrounded by luxury cars, fine horses, beaded curtains, and soft couches. When had he ever experienced such "rough weather"?
Although there was a thick mattress on the ground and a quilt, my head, which was exposed, still felt chilly at night. In the end, I simply covered myself completely with the quilt, leaving only a crack for my nostrils to breathe.
That's not the worst part. The worst part is that mosquitoes have already started appearing. He woke up with several itchy and unsightly bumps on his face.
With a face full of pimples and a messy head of hair, Qi Jingxuan sat at the entrance of the Shen family's house, his eyes vacant and his expression blank. For the first time, he deeply appreciated how comfortable his bed in the Prince's mansion was.
He stood there stunned for a while before asking the servant beside him, "What time is it?"
The servant replied, "Your Highness, it is Chenshi (7-9 AM). Lord Shen has already gone to court."
The Shen family was poor and couldn't afford to rent a house in a good location. This Yangliu Hutong was not close to the palace, so if they wanted to attend the morning court session on time, they had to get up early and hire a carriage at the street corner, otherwise they would definitely miss it.
Qi Jingxuan scratched his head, said "Oh," and got up to wash up. He looked around before realizing that he was in front of the Shen family's house and his toiletries were not there.
He sighed and ordered someone to fetch it for him from the Prince's residence, along with a change of clothes.
The servants had assumed he wouldn't be able to stay all night, so they only took bedding and other necessities last night, leaving out toiletries. Seeing him still reluctant to leave after feeding mosquitoes all night, they couldn't help but advise, "Your Highness, why don't you go back to the palace first? Otherwise, where will you change into your clothes when they arrive?"
The Shen family certainly wouldn't let him in; he couldn't very well strip naked and change clothes in the street, could he?
Qi Jingxuan curled his lip and waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Just find a family nearby and borrow their house. As long as you pay enough money, someone will definitely be willing."
Seeing his insistence, the servants had no choice but to send someone to the Prince's mansion to fetch his things.
Qi Jingxuan sat in front of the Shen family's house for a while longer, then felt hungry. Just as he was about to ask someone to buy him breakfast, he saw that the alley was bustling with activity, and people at the alley entrance were craning their necks to look out.
He stood there, looking around curiously for a few moments, and casually asked, "What happened?"
When the servants heard him asking, they quickly went out of the alley to inquire, but what they found shocked them, and they hurriedly ran back.
"Your Highness, something terrible has happened! There are poor scholars causing trouble on the Imperial Street. They say... they say they want to seek justice for the Shen family."
Qi Jingxuan's heart skipped a beat, realizing he'd forgotten all about this while busy proposing to Shen Yan.
If those people were to clash with the Imperial Guards and someone were to die, that would be the end of it.
Even if Shen Yan agrees to marry him, this matter will be difficult to resolve.
Qi Jingxuan could no longer sit still. He jumped up from the ground and rushed towards the alley entrance like a firecracker.
A note from the author:
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