Chapter 33: Crematorium (Part 3) Why...why hasn't she come to see...
Shen Changfeng was so angry that his breathing trembled, but he could only rage helplessly. Even if he rode at full speed, the city gates would have been closed by then. Undeterred, he sent a message to his servant, "Say I have matters at the palace these few days and won't be returning home for the time being."
He still had a glimmer of hope in his heart, but it was completely shattered by the news he heard the next day. After hearing that he would not be returning home, Lin Meizhu really packed her luggage and returned home.
After Yan's shift ended, Shen Changfeng strode out of the palace gates, where he happened to encounter several officials in crimson robes. The leader was a short, stout man with dark skin, his eyes a single eye and his nose a single nose. It was none other than Wu Duozhi.
The other two were drinking buddies of Shen Changfeng who had met him a few times, so they naturally stopped him to chat.
One of them asked, "Where are you going in such a hurry, Prince?"
Someone responded, "I think the beautiful lady has an appointment."
Everyone chuckled softly, their eyes knowingly exchanging glances: "How lucky is the prince, enjoying the blessing of having so many wives."
Shao Erlang, who had fallen behind them, was stunned when he heard this. He had once investigated Qin Yan's drowning with Shen Changfeng in Henan Province. He didn't know much else, but one thing was clear: Shen Changfeng wouldn't have done this if he didn't treat Qin Yan as a brother. But what those people had just said was clearly insinuating that Shen Changfeng and Su Qinxue had a complicated relationship.
Shen Changfeng paused, with a half-smile on his face: "What do you mean by happiness?"
The man patted his shoulder and gave him an 'I understand' look: "The county lady is still young. Fortunately, the prince can help her a little, so she won't be alone and helpless."
Shen Changfeng let out a soft "Ah!" in his heart. So that's why. He seemed to have guessed why Lin Meizhu had suddenly become so cold. He suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that she was just angry, and not distancing herself from him for any other reason.
However, the person opposite him clearly misunderstood the meaning of Shen Changfeng's relaxed expression and said sarcastically, "It's just that the county lady is so arrogant. How can she be willing to humble herself? The prince will have troubles in the future."
Shorty Wu shifted his jade ring and said, "How difficult is that? My status as a concubine is lowly, so I can just find a reason to get rid of her."
The others laughed and said, "I heard that the concubine punished the owner of Tianxiang Pavilion last time. I'm afraid she has a bad temper and is difficult to deal with."
Wu the Dwarf had heard that Lin Meizhu was a seductive woman, but he had never had the chance to meet her. Hearing about her aggressive behavior, he became aroused and said with a haughty expression, "What kind of wild horse have I not seen? If the prince is willing, I can do it for her and make sure she is completely obedient."
The other two started to make fun of it, saying, "We also have several beautiful concubines at home. If the prince is willing, he can have them with us for a change."
Shao Erlang couldn't help but feel contempt when he heard this. He knew that some powerful people would secretly exchange concubines for concubines, but Lin Meiju was his legal wife, how could he be humiliated like this?
Shen Changfeng suddenly spoke, his voice unusually calm amidst the laughter, "Do you like my wife?"
Shao Er frowned slowly, about to leave in a huff, but after a moment's thought, he suddenly felt that Shen Changfeng's tone was truly strange: it didn't sound like a question, nor a tease, nor even agreement. He no longer cared about the answer to this question. Instead, it felt a bit like... like... saying "Just you?" with contempt and indifference.
The laughter behind him stopped abruptly. Shao Er couldn't help but look back, and saw Shen Changfeng holding down the head of the official who suggested exchanging the mournful things and smashing it against the wall!
He hit the person to death, once, twice, three times, like hitting a ball, and only stopped when the ball was burst and all the air was lost.
Everyone stood there in a daze.
Shao Er heard the horrible sound of bones breaking from a long distance away. He looked at the man lying limply on the ground. There was a bloody hole as big as a fist on his forehead, with black blood gushing out. His eye bone was broken and sunken deep into the muscles, making the whole body a bloody mess. It was horrible that he died with his eyes open, but there was still a frivolous smile on his lips, as if he was smiling in his grave.
Shen Changfeng raised his hand and wiped it on the man closest to him, leaving behind a hideous bloody handprint, and asked him, "Do you like my wife too?"
The man's eyes slowly moved to Shen Changfeng's face, which was covered with blood spots. He felt that the evil eyes were filled with evil spirits, and he was so scared that he couldn't speak straight.
Shen Changfeng grabbed his neck and lifted him up into the air with one hand. The man's eyes were so bloodshot that they seemed to be popping out of their sockets. He scratched Shen Changfeng's arms with both hands, but the latter remained unmoved and threw him to the ground with a cold face. After a crisp crack, sticky, bright red blood plasma flowed along the cracks in the bricks.
Shen Changfeng stood in a pool of blood and slowly turned around. He twisted his neck lightly, and with a slightly crazy smile, he said with his mouth: "Aren't you going to run yet?"
Wu Aizi had already turned blue with fear, but his dark skin prevented him from seeing it. He trembled and said, "Sir, it was just a joke. Why are you so angry?"
“Tap, tap, tap—!”
Wu Aizi was forced to retreat step by step, looking up and pointing at the person who came: "Do you know who I belong to? Let me go! Let me go... I was wrong! Wrong..."
Amidst the shrill cries, Shao Er heard the sound of bones breaking, very similar to the sound he made when he was a child eating chicken wings and used both hands to twist the connection between the middle wing and the tip of the wing to break - of course, this sound was obviously much louder.
Shao Er was dumbfounded and thought to himself, he is crazy, crazy, he must be crazy!
It's strange to say, there are usually Jinwu Guards and Jinyi Guards patrolling the palace roads, but today there was such a commotion but no one was seen.
Shao Er didn't remember whether he called for help or not. Maybe he did, maybe not. He only remembered that he wanted to run, but his feet seemed to be stuck in a swamp and he couldn't pull out no matter how hard he tried.
The murderer walked to the auspicious jar and washed his hands slowly, then walked towards the only witness while wiping his face with a handkerchief.
Shen Changfeng saw Shao Er leaning against the wall, his face pale as he slowly raised three fingers, his eyes firm and unwavering: "I only love my wife."
Shen Changfeng sneered and said to him, "Sir Shao, I'm afraid you have to go back to the imperial prison with me."
Shao Er: Who killed someone?
Before leaving, Shen Changfeng glanced back, his gaze fixed on the towering plaque on the city wall. The playful mask on his face peeled away, and the careless smile on the corners of his lips solidified into a sinister coldness—the look of an eagle watching a wolf! Shao Er shuddered suddenly, feeling as if a jackal had bitten the back of his neck. He followed Shen Changfeng's gaze and saw the three characters written on the plaque hanging high above the palace gate: Zuo Shunmen!
Shao Er's breathing stagnated, and he felt that he had only truly gotten to know Shen Changfeng today. As early as the few days he worked with Shen Changfeng, Shao Er realized that he was not as useless as the rumors said. But today, it seemed that Shen Changfeng was not just a fool, he was actually too smart!
Since the founding of the dynasty, Zuoshunmen has always been a sensitive place for political conflicts. Throughout the dynasties, loyal ministers have denounced treacherous villains here. There was even a case where civil and military ministers joined forces to beat to death eunuchs who controlled the government and caused defeat on the front line. In order to calm the public anger, the people in power at the time did not hold the perpetrators accountable.
Shao Er made up his mind: Shen Changfeng's choice of this location for the uprising was no accident! He must have a backup plan!
Shen Changfeng does have a backup plan.
Two months ago, he met a colleague who had worked with Wu Aizi in Zhejiang. The colleague thought that he was good friends with Wu Aizi and treated him as one of his own. After drinking, he said a few more words and mentioned a compensation.
Shen Changfeng was already alert. After several attempts to inquire, he secretly investigated and soon found out the whole story.
Five years ago, Wu Duozhi was ordered to fight against Japanese pirates. In order to underreport losses and cover up command errors, he lied about the number of casualties to evade responsibility. Not only that, he served in Zhejiang for more than ten years and used the names of deceased soldiers to collect military pay and embezzle pensions.
The Eighth Prince's party had been keeping silent all this time, but when they received the intelligence from Shen Changfeng, they were very excited: Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing!
Then the wind came.
He'd endured it long enough and didn't want to pretend anymore. He could crush those who were criticizing his wife, and while everyone was paying attention, he could casually throw out evidence of Wu Aizi's crimes and overthrow the Third Prince's faction, killing two birds with one stone. People would condemn him, but then they would also regard him as a hero who had rid the people of a scourge.
Shen Changfeng was indeed a man of great foresight. He accurately predicted the direction of public opinion and the turmoil in the court, but there was a slight deviation in his plan, and this deviation was caused by Lin Meiju.
He originally thought that she believed the rumors outside and thought that he and Su Qinxue were having an affair, so she deliberately gave him a hard time.
He and Su Qinxue were childhood sweethearts, and the Chen and Su families had thought of an alliance a long time ago. Now that Qin Yan had passed away, he had been visiting the Qin family for two or three months because of investigating the case and attending the funeral. More importantly, his image in the outside world was that of a promiscuous man. He asked himself if he had a clear conscience, but he didn't know that rumors were flying all over the place. The most outrageous rumor was that Su Qinxue was pregnant with his child.
After realizing this, Shen Changfeng was no longer anxious. People need to be coaxed, but there are not many opportunities to kill Wu Aizi and others in a logical way. He almost did not hesitate to take action.
Lin Meizhu knew that she would be extremely worried after being imprisoned, so why would she act like a child and be jealous?
Besides, couldn't he just explain it when she came? Although he felt there was no need to explain.
So he waited patiently for her in the imperial prison.
On the first day, no one came.
The next day, no one came.
On the third day, still no one came.
…
On the sixth day, the jailer working in the imperial prison was an old hand. Seeing that his superiors had not yet issued an order to deal with Shen Changfeng, he vaguely sensed a change in the wind direction and bought some good wine and food to improve Shen Changfeng's diet. However, he was scared away by the black-faced Shen Changfeng.
On the seventh day, Liang Bowen, the Prince's Junior Tutor and neighbor of Shen Changfeng, said to his students who had come to visit him, "Knowing people is like looking at jade; if you are covered in dust, you will be clinging to stone for the rest of your life! If you are shortsighted and make friends with idiots, you will end up in trouble. Don't blame the world for its fickleness!"
Some time ago, he had written a letter to the emperor to scold him for disagreeing with the opening of the special examination. The emperor was so angry that he imprisoned him. However, Liang Bowen was inspired in prison and wrote most of his military book. After being released from prison, he refused to leave.
But soon Liang Bowen didn't dare to say anything, because Shen Changfeng smashed the door thirty-six times during his morning, afternoon and evening exercises. He was afraid of being hurt by mistake, so he silently hugged the quilt sent by his family, drank the wine and food given by his students, and wrote furiously with the brush given by the emperor. Then every night before going to bed, he sighed: "When will this kind of life end!" and then snored like thunder.
Shen Changfeng's annoyance rose rapidly in the center of the thunder.
On the eighth day, still no one came.
On the ninth day, no one came.
…
The entire imperial prison was shrouded in a terrible air pressure. All the jailers and prisoners spoke and moved cautiously, for fear that one of them would accidentally become the fuse of a black thunder and blow the imperial prison upside down.
At the same time, those who were eager to watch the fun were secretly betting on who would be the first to visit Shen Changfeng. Later, the bet became whether anyone would go to visit Shen Changfeng.
Finally, one midnight, some unscrupulous people in a corner of the Imperial Prison cheered secretly: Shen Changfeng gloriously broke the record and became the first person in the Imperial Prison who had no visitors for fifteen consecutive days!
From that day on, when people mentioned Shen Changfeng, they would add a vivid prefix to him: the prince who had been in jail for fifteen consecutive days and no one asked about him.
Shen Changfeng never thought that one day he would become a laughing stock after dinner.
He was initially puzzled, then worried. Had his case implicated the palace? Then came disbelief. He'd learned from the jailer that nothing had happened at the palace, so why hadn't they come? Finally, anger filled his chest. Resentment and rage filled his chest.
Why?! Why hadn't anyone come to see him? Were all the Shen family members extinct? Where was Lin Meizhu? As his wife, even if she couldn't come due to something, she could have sent a message through someone else. But she did nothing, ignored him. Why?... Why... Why hadn't she come yet?
Every time the door rang, every time someone came, Shen Changfeng couldn't help but look up, but every time he was disappointed. Not her, not her, not her.
He had grown up surrounded by wealth and luxury, and the greatest suffering he had endured was probably the punishment of being a filial son under the beatings of his father, and the constant indifference of Li Jieyi. He didn't dwell on the wind and moon or feel sorry for himself; it was all part of the plan; even if tortured, he wouldn't grumble. But now, living in this room full of filth was worse than death.
But what is even more painful is the emptiness that comes after repeated disappointments.
For the first time, he experienced the feeling of being abandoned by the whole world.
No one remembered, no one cared, he even had an illusion that he might die suddenly for many days and no one would notice.
He thought he really had a home, but found out that it might just be his imagination.
She doesn't seem to care that much about herself.
Shen Changfeng didn't have many close friends to begin with, and one had just died. Naturally, his fair-weather friends wouldn't come, and his potential allies hadn't yet emerged. Shen Zhongda, having heard the news while out in the capital, rushed back to the capital, only to find Shen Changfeng had already been released. But Li Jieyi? Li Jieyi would probably ask the emperor to keep him locked up for a few more days. There was a reason the rest of the Shen family hadn't come. Steward Shen hadn't returned to the capital yet, and the others, seeing Lin Meizhu's busy schedule, assumed she was managing Shen Changfeng's connections, so they weren't worried.
Shao Er was startled when he saw Shen Changfeng. In just half a month, Shen Changfeng had lost more than two inches of his figure, his eyes still clear and sharp, but lacking their former spirit. As the firelight passed over his jaw, he could glimpse the dark stubble growing like thorns. He completely melted into the shadows, his whole body radiating dejection and resentment, a gloomy and oppressive air terrifying.
Shao Er originally came to deliver some documents, but when he saw Shen Zhongda's miserable appearance, he thought that they were colleagues after all and that he had received favors from Shen Zhongda in the past, so he went back to the duty room, got some clean clothes, and brought some simple food to him.
Without saying a word, Shen Changfeng put the cake into his mouth with tea and chewed it mechanically.
Seeing his expressionless face, Shao Er suddenly asked, "What do you think of this cake?"
Shen Changfeng: "Average."
Shao Er was choked and asked again: "How is it normal?"
"It is too sweet."
"Besides that?"
"Nothing special."
"Why don't you take a closer look?"
Shen Changfeng thought he was being long-winded, but he still glanced impatiently at the petal-shaped pastry in his hand. What was he looking at? Shao Er met his calm eyes and suddenly sighed: "I finally know why she refused to come."
The torch hanging on the wall illuminated half of Shen Changfeng's face. He suddenly stood up and stopped Shao Er, saying hurriedly: "This was done by my wife, right?"
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