Zhu Boyan's wife gave birth to Zhu Yan and passed away not long after. Because of his wife's early death, Zhu Boyan doted on Zhu Yan, which fostered Zhu Yan's arrogant and self-righteous attitude.
Zhu Boyan's harsh rebuke made Zhu Yan very embarrassed. He believed that it was all the original owner's fault, so he had just humiliated the original owner to vent his anger before leaving feeling relieved.
The original owner had no way of telling anyone about what happened in her boudoir, and could only silently endure the humiliation with tears in her eyes.
When Zhu Boyan saw his son return to the original owner's room, he thought he was very obedient. He was pleased and felt that he had treated the original owner well. He then asked the Shi family for a large sum of money.
The Zhu family had previously extorted money from the Shi family, and with this latest extortion, Zhu Boyan's army expanded by half a division. Zhu Yan had been away from home for a long time, and after returning, he had been staying at home. To prevent his son from becoming addicted to the pleasures of the world, Zhu Boyan brought him to the army, hoping to train him to become a capable man.
Unfortunately, Zhu Yan was not suited for military campaigns. During a close encounter with the Liu family, the two strategists assigned to him by Zhu Boyan repeatedly advised him to be cautious, but Zhu Yan thought they were cowardly and incompetent and insisted on his own way. Two entire regiments of troops were wiped out by the Liu family's army, leaving only a hundred or so men. Even he himself almost did not escape.
Those several thousand men were elites carefully cultivated by Zhu Boyan, but they were all squandered by his son, and the newly expanded strength was reduced to its original state. In order to give an explanation to the army, Zhu Boyan severely reprimanded Zhu Yan in front of the Zhu family army's high command and dismissed him from his post as punishment.
Zhu Yan was criticized and lost his military post. He returned home dejected. The original owner wanted to do her duty as a wife to comfort him, but she didn't expect to hear Wang Yuan happily running to tell Zhu Yan that she was pregnant. The original owner was depressed and left dejectedly without even entering the house.
Two days later, Zhu Boyan returned from the army. Zhu Yan proposed to promote Wang Yuan to the rank of secondary wife because she was pregnant. Zhu Boyan was furious and dug up Wang Yuan's past as a singer. He declared that as long as he lived, the Zhu family could not have such a lowly master.
Zhu Yan was so scolded that he couldn't lift his head. When the original owner found out, although he felt something was wrong, he also breathed a sigh of relief.
Two days later, Zhu Yan suddenly changed his cold attitude and started to show concern for the original owner. Wang Yuan was no longer as arrogant as before, and even came to talk to the original owner, with a hint of flattery in her words.
The original owner didn't want to pay attention to her, but since they were all family, she didn't want things to get too awkward, so she just went along with it.
A few days later, Wang Yuan came over with a food box, saying that Zhu Yan felt sorry for his father and specially cooked ginseng soup, but knowing that he was still angry, she wanted to ask the original owner of this body to act as a peacemaker and help deliver it.
Zhu Yan's changes in the past few days had puzzled the original owner, but Wang Yuan's words cleared her up. In order to ease the relationship between the father and son, the original owner gladly sent it over.
Zhu Boyan was also pleased to hear the original owner's words and drank the ginseng soup.
To the original owner's surprise, Zhu Boyan suffered from severe abdominal pain shortly after drinking the drink, followed by bleeding from all seven orifices, and collapsed and died.
The original owner panicked and was about to call for help when Wang Yuan and Zhu Yan appeared. Wang Yuan pointed at the original owner and accused her of murder, and also falsely accused the Shi family of instigating it.
The original owner wanted to explain, but Zhu Yan didn't give her a chance. He immediately shot her. As she fell to the ground, she heard Zhu Yan order the soldiers in the courtyard to search the Shi family's property. Watching the soldiers walk out with murderous expressions, the original owner swallowed her last breath with resentment and bitterness.
After absorbing the memories, Shi Lan rubbed her aching and throbbing temples, exhaled, and looked up to see Zhu Yan with a flushed face, seemingly lost in a dream. Shi Lan turned her head away in disgust.
Although the original owner didn't explicitly say it, Shi Lan could clearly see that Zhu Boyan's death was the work of those two bastards, Zhu Yan and Wang Yuan, and the original owner was nothing more than a scapegoat they pushed out.
It's laughable that Zhu Boyan cherished Zhu Yan like the apple of his eye since childhood, but after being scolded a few times, he held a grudge and, together with Wang Yuan, viciously murdered his own father.
Wang Yuan was equally vicious. As a lowly singer, her position as a concubine was already the limit, but she was far from satisfied.
When Zhu Boyan refused to grant her the status of a secondary wife, she instigated Zhu Yan to kill him, while also framing the original owner of the body who had been silently enduring the situation.
Zhu Yan had always coveted the Shi family's wealth, and taking advantage of her wishes, he ruthlessly slaughtered the original owner's entire family.
As the night deepened, Shi Lan squinted at the flickering candlelight and gave a cold smile.
After a quick wash, Shi Lan left behind her clean white undergarments, kicked Zhu Yan, who was sleeping like a log, to the edge of the bed, and leisurely found a comfortable position to begin her cultivation.
A few hours later, the sound of servants moving around came from outside. Shi Lan got up, dressed herself, came to the bedside, and slapped Zhu Yan across the face.
Zhu Yan opened her eyes groggily, looked at Shi Lan who was wearing a loose-fitting blouse and had a cool expression, and asked in a daze, "What time is it?"
Shi Lan glanced at the wall clock and said calmly, "It's past seven."
Zhu Yan rolled over and got out of bed, grabbed the clothes from the foot of the bed and put them on, saying sarcastically, "Truly worthy of being a lady from a prominent family. It's so hard to see you show even a little skin except in bed."
Shi Lan smiled faintly, turned her head and picked up the coat hanging on the rack, draped it over his shoulder, and said in a sarcastic tone, "Of course, I'm not a busker, why would I need to be so flamboyant?"
Zhu Yan was speechless for a moment, his hand holding the belt paused, and he was about to scold her when he saw Shi Lan ignoring him and opening the door on her own, instructing the servants to attend to him.
Without an audience, the words that welled up in Zhu Yan's throat felt like a bone stuck in his throat, impossible to swallow or spit out, making him feel very uncomfortable.
Shi Lan, however, casually soaked the handkerchief and walked over slowly. "Here, wipe your face."
Shi Lan smiled and looked at him with tender eyes, as if she wasn't the one who had just made those sarcastic remarks.
Zhu Yan moved his lips, glanced at the servants who were standing still and watching him obediently, and could only glare at her. He angrily grabbed a handkerchief, wiped his face haphazardly, and then threw it back.
Shi Lan deftly caught the handkerchief, which was fluttering in the breeze, with a flick of her wrist and handed it to a servant who was waiting nearby.
Zhu Yan pouted in dissatisfaction, fastened his cufflinks, and strode out without looking back. He could faintly hear someone outside asking him where he was going, and his answer was that he was going to Xianglan Garden.
Xianglan Garden was the courtyard where Wang Yuan lived. When Shi Lan heard this, she narrowed her eyes slightly. To avoid revealing her secret, she lowered her head to hide the coldness in her eyes.
A maidservant cautiously approached and handed her a warm handkerchief. "Young mistress, were you alright last night?"
The little girl stared at Shi Lan with her round eyes, looking at her nervously.
Shi Lan turned to look at her. In her memory, she was the maid who had served the original owner since childhood, named Tan Yue.
"I'm fine," Shi Lan smiled slightly, placing a warm handkerchief over her face and gently wiping it.
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