Upon hearing her elder brother's voice, Shen Zhiyi stiffened slightly, put down the medicine bowl, and hurriedly stood up, saying, "Brother."
Shen Jingchuan simply nodded. "I heard from the maid that you haven't had dinner yet, so I've had some food prepared for you. You may leave now."
The meaning is clear:
Get her out of there!
Shen Zhiyi dared not disobey her brother, and only gave Xiao Zhongxuan a deep look before leaving the room.
Just as Shen Jingchuan was about to pick up the bowl of medicine, Xiao Zhongxuan beat him to it, saying, "Young Master, I can do it myself. I wouldn't dare trouble you."
"Didn't you say your hands were weak just now? You have strength now?" Shen Jingchuan looked at him with a low laugh.
"..."
Xiao Zhongxuan smiled sullenly and drank the medicine in one gulp.
"Was Song Ruoying's incident an accident, or was it deliberate?" Shen Jingchuan tapped his fingers lightly on the table, staring intently at him.
His gaze was straight and sharp, like a blade, as if he wanted to dissect him and see him clean.
Xiao Zhongxuan remained calm, but before he could speak, Shen Jingchuan continued, "My sister has been unlucky in love and has already been hurt once by a man. If you continue to scheme against her and have ulterior motives, I will not let you off the hook."
"I have absolutely no ill intentions towards her."
"Is that so?" Shen Jingchuan poured himself a cup of tea.
"But I do have ulterior motives towards her."
"You're quite direct," Shen Jingchuan said, taking a sip of tea. "Tell me, what exactly are your feelings for her?"
Does love count?
Shen Jingchuan was drinking water when he almost choked.
This kid,
Why so direct?
Xiao Zhongxuan only smiled, his face weak and pale. "Young Master, if I have harmed her, you may do as you please."
"You have no father or mother?"
"Um."
"If my younger sister is truly interested in you, would you be willing to marry into the Duke's family?"
...
Shen Zhiyi was eating, but worried that her elder brother would make things difficult for Xiao Zhongxuan, so she didn't really enjoy her food. It wasn't until Shen Jingchuan returned and glanced at the almost untouched food on the table that he sat down to keep her company. "Eat properly. I didn't make things difficult for him."
She nodded in agreement, and had just taken a sip of porridge when she heard her brother say quietly:
“I asked him, and he said he was willing to marry into the family.”
"Cough—" Shen Zhiyi choked and hurriedly picked up a handkerchief, covering her mouth and coughing violently.
Shen Jingchuan patted her back gently, "Why are you still like a child? You can still choke after eating."
"Brother, I'm with him..."
“You’re worried about him,” Shen Jingchuan interrupted her.
Shen Zhiyi was stunned.
"You rode across half the capital to save him. I heard you two even rode together, so intimately. I doubt you ever did that when you were with Song Yuxiu."
She believed back then that he became infertile because he saved her from falling off a horse.
From then on, she rarely rode a horse.
Song Yuxiu had to pretend to be a gentleman, and her mother-in-law, Chen, always instilled in her that as the young mistress of the Marquis's mansion, she should be dignified and proper and never imitate the behavior of a brothel owner. Even after marriage, the two rarely showed any affection.
“If you think Xiao Zhongxuan is good, then just let him marry into the Duke’s family. If he makes you unhappy, just keep writing divorce papers and divorce him. The initiative is in your hands, and since you’ll be living in your own home, he can’t bully you.”
"Brother, I didn't think that much about it..."
"Do you really intend to maintain this ambiguous relationship with him?"
"I……"
"You're going to keep him as a male concubine?" Shen Jingchuan frowned.
"elder brother?"
"It's not impossible, as long as you're happy."
"..."
Shen Zhiyi was practically going crazy.
What is my brother thinking?
"Brother, instead of worrying about my affairs, why don't you use this time to find me a sister-in-law so that our parents won't keep nagging?"
Shen Jingchuan frowned and urged her to finish her meal quickly.
His thinking was simple: his younger sister must have experienced something terrible in the Song family. Xiao Zhongxuan was gentle and considerate, and although he was used to playing the victim, his sister seemed to fall for his act.
With him around, my sister's expressions and demeanor were much more vibrant than before.
Keeping him is not an option.
I've been in Beijing recently, so I can keep an eye on him.
If he, like Song Yuxiu, dares to bully his own sister, he has ways to deal with him.
"Brother, I'm serious, do you want to find me a sister-in-law?" Shen Zhiyi looked at her older brother mischievously.
“I spend most of my time on the frontier and rarely return to Beijing. I don’t want other people’s precious daughters to suffer with me and endure the pain of separation from their families, nor do I want her to be alone with someone who may never return.”
Shen Zhiyi was silent for a moment, then said, "Perhaps... someone is willing to wait for you and suffer with you?"
Who are you talking about?
Shen Jingchuan was too perceptive; he knew that his younger sister must have someone in mind for her to say such things.
Shen Zhiyi just kept her head down and said, "I was just saying."
"Did you do what happened to Song Ruoying?" Shen Jingchuan had already heard about the trouble that had happened to the Song family on his way here.
"She brought it on herself."
Because she was an only child with no sisters at home, her younger sister was very kind to her after she got married. What could have happened that made her look at the Song family with such coldness and hatred?
Shen Jingchuan didn't ask much
**
On the way back to the Duke's mansion, Xiao Zhongxuan suddenly felt feverish.
Upon returning to the manor, the physician of the Zhai family examined his pulse and, while writing a prescription, asked, "Miss, has he been poisoned?"
Poisoning?
Does this refer to the poison administered by Song Ruoying?
Shen Zhiyi simply nodded, and Physician Zhai didn't ask any further questions.
Shen Jingchuan glanced at him a few more times:
This kid is really weak. He got sick just from soaking in cold water for a little while in the summer.
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