Chapter 10: Another private meeting with candied fruit
As soon as Hou Yufen saw her lying sick on the bed, her eyes turned red before she could say anything.
He Pingzhi did say a few words of concern, but there was no trace of concern in his eyes.
Hou Yufen couldn't help but point out a few words to He Pingzhi, but He Pingzhi just nodded indifferently.
"Aheng, why did you fall into the water for no reason? What happened?" Hou Yufen glanced at He Pingzhi as she said this.
Before Shen Junheng could speak, Liu Xiaodie knelt down in front of Hou Yufen and cried, "Young Madam, please help the young lady! It was the general's new concubine who pushed the young lady into the pond!"
When Liu Xiaodie saw Shen Junheng fall into the pool by himself, she naturally understood Shen Junheng's intention, and of course she had to perform hard now.
"Are you serious?" Hou Yufen's face suddenly darkened.
Zheng Xiaodie was Ah Heng's maid. Not only had she stolen her husband, but now she was even trying to kill her. How despicable! Even a maid could ride on her head and pee on her. Ah Heng's life was too miserable. Thinking of this, Hou Yufen felt extremely distressed and angry.
"I saw it with my own eyes, it can't be false." Liu Xiaodie said firmly.
He Pingzhi showed no expression and said calmly, "Bring Zheng Caiyi here."
"Yes." The two servants took the order and quickly brought Zheng Caiyi up.
Zheng Caiyi had changed into a clean, elegant outfit, her lips slightly pale. She also went into the water, but no one paid her any attention, especially He Pingzhi, who only glanced at her indifferently without even a word of concern.
She was forced to kneel down by the servant. She looked indifferent, as if she was half dead.
As soon as Hou Yufen saw Zheng Caiyi, hatred flashed in her eyes, as if she was the victim. She wished she could kill Zheng Caiyi with a knife.
Hou Yufen asked with a sharp look in her eyes, "Why do you want to harm the daughter of the Minister of the Central Secretariat?"
Zheng Caiyi scoffed, "If she dies, I might be promoted. Isn't that a ready-made excuse?"
Seeing that she had admitted it, Hou Yufen immediately looked up at He Pingzhi and said coldly, "General He, your concubine dared to harm the legitimate daughter of the Shen family. Please give the Shen family an explanation!"
He Pingzhi's expression remained unchanged as he calmly said, "Just beat her to death with sticks."
Zheng Caiyi raised her eyes slightly and glanced at him, smiling bitterly, with an expression that said, "As expected."
Hou Yufen snorted softly but said nothing. He Pingzhi had only called her "equal wife" because he had sought her out for military merit, but it was just a face-saving gesture. Ultimately, she was just a concubine. If she dared to harm the mistress, she deserved to be beaten to death.
After all, this was his new concubine, and she had even heard about her crying out for water seven times on her wedding night. She had thought he would be heartbroken and reluctant to let her go, and would say something nice on her behalf, but she was surprised when he simply said he would beat her to death.
Shen Junheng remembered that the couple she had chosen for Xiao Linghe and He Pingzhi was "Ling Pingzhi". Both of them were the kind of people who were so cruel that they would even castrate themselves to achieve their goals.
Zheng Caiyi was originally a tool used by He Pingzhi to anger Xiao Linghe. Even if he felt a little pity for her, he would not offend the Shen family for her.
Shen Junheng said slowly, "After all, you married her because of your military merits. If you kill her, it will probably displease the emperor. Just expel her from the palace."
Zheng Caiyi was stunned and looked at Shen Junheng. She had anticipated the worst outcome, but she had never expected that the person who spoke up to save her life would be the one who had slandered her.
She felt a little relieved, thinking that being able to leave the general's mansion was not a bad thing.
Hou Yufen sighed heavily and shook her head helplessly: "You are just too kind-hearted!"
He Pingzhi still said indifferently: "I'll leave it to Madam to decide."
He Pingzhi exchanged a few pleasantries and then left on the pretext of having official business to attend to.
Hou Yufen sat beside the bed and talked to her about many private things. Shen Junheng originally wanted Liu Xiaodie to take some of these things to the Shen Mansion, but since Hou Yufen was here, she quietly told her and asked her to tell her adoptive father on her behalf.
Although Hou Yufen was surprised, she didn't ask any more questions and just nodded.
It was almost dark when Hou Yufen reluctantly left.
"Miss, I have followed your instructions and given Zheng Caiyi fifty taels of silver and plenty of medicine. I've also assigned someone to watch over her secretly." After Hou Yufen left, Liu Xiaodie came to the bedside and whispered, "I don't understand. If Miss wanted to honor her, why did she kick her out of the house? If she disliked her, why did she give her silver and assign someone to watch over her?"
Shen Junheng said thoughtfully: "She didn't really hurt me, so I naturally can't really hurt her."
Liu Xiaodie seemed to understand but not quite.
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"Shen Junheng, Shen Junheng..." That night, Xiao Lingyu appeared beside her bed again, looked at her, and woke her up gently with concern.
Shen Junheng rubbed his sleepy eyes: "Why are you here again?"
"You are sick, how can I not come." Xiao Lingyu slowly moved her body to sit up slightly, placed the soft pillow behind her, then reached out and gently touched her forehead with the back of his hand. After confirming that she did not have a fever, his brows relaxed a little.
"Isn't that doctor Bai Ri your man? Why did you come all this way? Are you free?" Shen Junheng's face relaxed and he said softly, "I'm thirsty."
Maybe it was because she was sick, but when she saw him this time, her defenses seemed to loosen.
"How can you feel at ease if I don't come?" Xiao Lingyu said, pouring a glass of water, handing it to her, looking at her deeply, the concern and heartache in his eyes almost overflowing.
Seeing that he was about to feed herself some water, she quickly took the cup and drank it herself.
She could accept Liu Xiaodie serving her with peace of mind because it was her duty and she paid her monthly wages.
As for Xiao Lingyu, he still needs to maintain a certain sense of boundaries.
Xiao Lingyu asked: "Why did you fall into the water?"
Shen Junheng looked at him and smiled slightly: "To frame Zheng Caiyi."
"Didn't you say you don't like He Pingzhi?"
"Zheng Caiyi is my personal maid. I just don't like her stepping on me to climb up. It has nothing to do with He Pingzhi."
"She's just a maid. There are a hundred ways to deal with her. Is it worth it to risk your own body?"
"Okay, I admit I was admiring my own beauty by the pool when I accidentally sprained my ankle!" Shen Junheng rolled his eyes at him unhappily. "Are you interrogating a prisoner?"
Xiao Lingyu didn't seem easy to fool, so Shen Junheng simply said something nonsensical and let him figure it out on his own.
Xiao Lingyu chuckled, made a gesture to keep quiet, and stopped asking questions. He took out a bright white ceramic jar from his sleeve pocket. The sweet smell escaping from the jar attracted Shen Junheng's attention.
"What is this?" Shen Junheng couldn't help but ask, "It smells really good."
Xiao Lingyu couldn't help but frown when he heard this. "How come you are so sick that even your sense of smell is not sharp anymore? This is your favorite Jin Yu Zang Gan."
"Gold and jade hide sweetness?" Shen Junheng showed a look of joy, although she still didn't know what it was.
Seeing him open the lid of the jar, Shen Junheng was afraid that he would feed the food into her mouth again, so she quickly snatched the jar in her hand. Seeing that it was filled with amber-like honey, she took a grain and put it into her mouth.
The candied fruit had a chewy but not hard texture, a rich fruit aroma, and was sweet and flavorful. It was much more delicious than the plums she had eaten when she had nothing to do in her previous life.
"So sweet." Shen Junheng squinted his eyes because of the delicious taste and couldn't help but eat another one.
Xiao Lingyu shook his head in amusement, and with a doting look in his eyes, he closed the pottery jar. "The medicine that Doctor Chen prescribed is a bit bitter. These candied fruits are for you to eat while you take the medicine."
Shen Junheng searched the original owner's memory and found that the original owner really didn't like bitterness and especially liked this candied fruit.
Xiao Lingyu really cares about the original owner.
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