At that moment, the sound of a folding fan tapping against the stone slabs could be heard from outside the moonlit door. The Seventh Prince, Xiao Yu, entered, waving a folded jade fan. His moon-white robe was stained with a few specks of mud, evidently having just returned from the streets. He sat down at the stone table, his eyes glancing over the lychee shells in front of Shen Weiwan, a playful smile playing on his lips. "Miss Shen has a refined taste. What street anecdotes are you listening to in the mansion again?"
Shen Weiwan stood up and bowed, pretending to be stupid: "Your Highness is joking, it's just eating some fruit."
Xiao Yu raised an eyebrow and pointed outside the courtyard. "Just now in Zhuque Alley, I saw a lame young man being chased by a group of beggars, who were shouting 'Duanxiu'. That scene—" he dragged out his words, "looked like Miss Shen's usual tactic of 'killing with a borrowed knife'."
Shen Weiwan blinked and tilted her head innocently: "What are you talking about, Your Highness? I just saw that Master Li hadn't gone out for a long time, so I asked the beggars to help 'invite' him out for some fresh air."
"Oh?" Xiao Yu took the candy cake offered by the eunuch, "I wonder what 'breathing fee' Master Li owes Miss Shen?"
"Of course..." Shen Weiwan picked up a piece of sugar cake and smiled cunningly, "I owe the 'laughing debt' to the people of the whole capital. Isn't it the fairest deal to repay it with reputation?"
Xiao Yu looked at the gleam in her eyes and suddenly felt that this girl was more interesting than any other piece on the chessboard. "You always seem to come up with some 'fair' ways." He paused and lowered his voice. "I heard that Liu gave the storeroom key to Madam Zhou this morning?"
"Hmm." Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows and licked the icing off her fingertips with the tip of her tongue, "Just waiting for His Highness's 'East Wind'."
[Li Mansion's Desperate Situation: Coffin and Despair]
When Li Xiu tumbled back to the Li Mansion, his body smeared with mud, and his hair was tangled with grass scraps and a rotten vegetable leaf. As he reached the door, he saw the housekeeper come out with a mournful face, holding a waxed letter in his hand: "Sir, someone from the Ministry of Personnel's residence said... they will no longer have any dealings with our family..."
"Get out!" Li Xiu kicked the housekeeper aside and limped into the courtyard, only to see his mother, Wang, squatting in the courtyard, scattering paper money. The white paper scraps flew all over the yard. "Son! Our family is finished!" Wang cried even harder when she saw him. "Your father's disciples have all cut off contact. The neighbor, Wang Po, said she wants to build a 'chastity arch' for our family, so that future generations can see the 'glory' of the gay family!"
"Chastity Arch?" Li Xiu was so angry that he trembled all over and coughed up blood foam. "It's the Broken Sleeve Arch!" He rushed into the study, grabbed the Duan inkstone on the table and smashed it to the ground, stone chips flying: "Chen Weiwan! I will cut you into pieces--!"
At this moment, the servant rushed in, his face as pale as paper: "Sir! It's bad! Outside... outside, someone is bringing in a coffin!"
Li Xiu stumbled to the doorway, where he saw a thin, white-skinned coffin parked before the gate. On the lid, inscribed in cinnabar ink, were eight large characters: "The Coffin of Mr. Li of Qingbai Tower." The two sedan chair bearers carrying the coffin left a message: "Miss Shen said to prepare it for Mr. Li in advance, in case he dies on the street and no one comes to collect his body!"
The onlookers burst into laughter, and someone shouted, "Mr. Li, go in and lie down! See if it fits you!" Li Xiu looked at the coffin and heard the naughty children on the wall singing a new piece: "The gay man with the broken sleeve is going to die, and a banquet is being held in Qingbai Tower--" His eyes went dark, and he fainted and fell into the mud puddle at the door.
[The Seventh Prince's Study: Interesting Prey]
In the study of the Seventh Prince's Mansion, Xiao Yu listened to the guard's report and couldn't help but slam the jade chess piece in his hand onto the chessboard. "Chen Weiwan even sent the coffin?" He played with a pearl and silver hairpin that Shen Weiwan had dropped last time. "That's pretty cruel."
"Your Highness," the guard replied with a stifled laugh, "Li Xiu has fainted. The imperial physician said it was from a heart attack caused by anxiety. Miss Shen even had the plaque of Qingbai Tower painted on the coffin."
Xiao Yu laughed so loudly that the parrot on the perch fluttered its wings. "Interesting! Really interesting!" He stood up and walked to the window, looking at the curling smoke from the general's mansion. "Tell the secret guards to keep a close eye on Li Xiu and don't let him die. I'm still waiting to see how Chen Weiwan will handle his 'afterlife'."
The Protagonist's Abacus: Account Books and the Hongmen Banquet
In the evening, Chen Weiwan looked at the coffin bill Chuntao brought back, a cold smile curling her lips. The bill clearly stated: one thin-skinned coffin, three cents for the cinnabar inscription, and five cents for the sedan chair bearer's errands. Li Xiu's social demise was merely an appetizer; the real main course was Liu's turn.
"Chun Tao," she put down the bills and ran her fingertips across the rosewood table, "Where are the account books sorted out by the old housekeeper?"
"Here it is, young lady!" Chuntao hurriedly presented a stack of account books wrapped in blue cloth. The words "zhongkui" on the cover had been polished to a shine. "Every piece of brocade and every piece of jade that Liu sold is recorded here. Even the gold and jade hairpin she secretly pawned for Madam is recorded!"
Shen Weiwan flipped open the account book, the candlelight reflecting the cold glint in her eyes. Every number on it was like a needle, piercing the wounds she had frozen to death in her previous life. Liu, you have withheld the family income for three years and embezzled the general's family property. This account should be settled. She looked up at the direction of the Seventh Prince's Mansion outside the window, and remembering Xiao Yu's playful eyes, her heart suddenly moved - what was the intention of this Seventh Prince's repeated help?
But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. She closed the account book and instructed Chuntao, "Tell the kitchen to start preparing at dawn tomorrow. I'm inviting my aunt to Qinghui Court for a 'good' breakfast. Remember to have them make her favorite crystal pork elbow, and pair it with... the jar of aged Huadiao tea she secretly sold is recorded in the account book."
"Yes!" Chuntao's eyes lit up, she turned around and ran out, her skirt creating a gust of wind as it swept across the threshold.
Shen Weiwan walked to the dressing mirror and looked at her fifteen-year-old self. A face once filled with innocence now held only a cold, smug look. "Liu, Shen Ruorou, I will recoup every penny you owe me, with interest. Just like Li Xiu's fate, your retribution has only just begun."
As the night deepened, Wang's shrill cries could be heard from the Li Mansion, while the Qinghui Courtyard in the General's Mansion was brightly lit. Shen Weiwan sat at her desk, spreading out Liu's account books and checking them word by word. A storm against the Liu family was quietly gathering, and Li Xiu's social death was but the last, insignificant cicada chirp before the storm arrived.
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