When the maid came to report that the guests had almost arrived, Xiao Yunrou asked Nanny Xu to take Pei Yuanxuan back to rest for a while. She also gave a few instructions because there were so many people in the Marquis' Mansion today. Then she left with Shen and others and went to watch a play on the stage in the garden.
Shen sat on the main seat, Xiao Yunrou sat beside her, next to her sat Zhuang, and further away sat people from the Changning Marquis's Mansion and the Xiao Mansion.
Su had never been used to the Changning Marquis' Mansion, but after all, they were Shen's maternal family and were also related to the Xiao family. Now that they were sitting at the same table, Su was extremely gloomy.
After a while, the stage began to sing, and the song was the most popular in Beijing at that time, The Story of the Western Chamber. There was also laughter and joy in the audience, and Xiao Yunrou also moved to sit next to Su, and the mother and daughter chatted for a while.
"You're already five months pregnant. I just heard from Madam Su that you're still organizing this banquet. Aren't you afraid of tiring yourself and the baby in your belly?"
Su was worried about her daughter, so Xiao Yunrou had to comfort her and let her rest assured. Being able to personally host her son's first birthday banquet was very meaningful to Xiao Yunrou, who had lived a new life. Especially this banquet was extremely grand, which made her feel that the past was just a nightmare, and let her personally experience the fact that her eldest son was still alive.
"If you ask me, this little boy is the lucky star for the Crown Prince's wife. The Crown Prince's wife had been married for two years without any pregnancy. Now that she has this little boy, her luck is really good. She is pregnant before the little boy is even one year old. Isn't this the Crown Prince's wife's lucky star?"
The wife of the Crown Prince of Changning Marquis's Mansion laughed softly and everyone nearby heard it.
"Lucky star? Madam, can you let me hug the young master for a while? Let me get some of his blessings."
The woman who was talking was very young. Although she was dressed like a woman, she looked like someone she had never seen before. Xiao Yunrou thought to herself that she had not had much energy to inquire about the situation of other families in the capital in the past few months. Suddenly, a strange woman appeared, and she could not even call out her name.
Xiao Yunrou was secretly reflecting on herself until the woman who had just spoken spoke again, and then Xiao Yunrou reacted.
"How difficult is that? Madam Su, please go to Derou Garden and bring Xuan'er here."
After the West Chamber Records were finished, Pei Yuanxuan was brought over by Madam Xu and Madam Su. Pei Yuanxuan inherited the looks of Xiao Yunrou and Pei Lingfeng. He was already very good-looking, and today he was dressed festively, looking extremely cute. After this, whether people had seen him or not, they kept praising him. Some ladies wanted to take him home as their own son or grandson.
Pei Yuanxuan just went back to Zhining Garden and took a nap. He is in good spirits now, especially with his dear mother by his side. Pei Yuanxuan is in a good mood and allows others to look at him and pinch his face from time to time.
The garden was full of joy because of Pei Yuanxuan, but the scene in another deserted courtyard was completely different.
In the messy yard lived a somewhat crazy Shen Tang. As she listened to the gongs and drums outside, her heart was filled with twisted hatred. As much as she loved Pei Lingfeng in the past, she hated him now. She hated his ruthlessness and his indifference to her.
Thinking of her current situation, Shen Tang could only sneer. When she was locked up in Haitang Garden at first, life was not that hard. She could still cover herself with a warm and smooth quilt and eat vegetarian food.
But it was because of Shen Qingqing that the Shen family finally didn't want to protect this confused niece anymore, and Shen Tang's life became difficult.
That day, Shen Tang was brought here after being beaten with a stick and thrown on the hard bed. Then a woman kicked her into the room and sneered:
"Mrs. Shen, oh no, Miss Shen, the prince said that since you are the concubine of the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion, you should abide by the rules of the Zhenyuan Marquis's mansion."
The old woman smiled coldly and took away the warm quilt that Shen Tang brought from Haitang Garden. She also said that it was a waste to give such a good thing to Shen Tang. As a concubine, she could just use the quilt that was full of patches and couldn't even cover her body.
Before Shen Tang could get angry, the woman left? When the door was opened again, Shen Tang raised his eyes and was blinded by the sunlight. Then, everything went dark in front of him, as if he was covered by something. The smell of that thing almost made Shen Tang vomit.
Shen Tang took the thing off her head and saw that it was a quilt! However, the quilt was not damaged at all, but there were puddings of different sizes. She didn't know who had covered the quilt before or what it was used for, but it gave off a particularly strange smell.
At that moment, Shen Tang used all her strength to throw the quilt to the ground, fearing that the strange smell on the quilt would be transferred to her body and make her stink.
After doing all this, Shen Tang was already sweating profusely, and she was really exhausted. At night, Shen Tang finally tasted the pain of not having a quilt. The room she was in didn't get much sunlight, and even in broad daylight, it felt cold and gloomy. At night, it was really deadly.
Without the protection of the Shen family and being exiled to the deserted courtyard by Pei Lingfeng, everyone knew that Shen Tang was doomed. The deserted courtyard would not provide her with charcoal fire. It was fine when the weather was warmer, but if it was winter, she could only curl up on the bed to keep her body temperature, so that she could survive until the next day and ask the maid for a new quilt.
It can be imagined that without the protection of the Shen family and the Marquis' Mansion being under the management of Xiao Yunrou, it would be a fool's dream to have someone help Shen Tang. She is no longer the niece of the wife of the Marquis of Zhenyuan or the favorite concubine of the Marquis of Zhenyuan (as she thinks she is), and she can still make demands on the mother-in-law.
The next day, not to mention the quilt, even the meal Shen Tang had was very shabby. He only served a bowl of white rice with a few chopsticks of vegetables on it!
Shen Tang had never eaten such a meal before, so he naturally didn't want to eat it and just threw the meal away.
As you can imagine, Shen Tang was cold and hungry that night. There was no one to help change the bandages on the wounds from being beaten with a stick. She almost thought she would not survive the night.
By the third day, Shen Tang had become smart and was willing to eat the plain rice given by the mother-in-law. Even at night, he was willing to cover himself with the stinky quilt.
Shen Tang originally thought that Shen had made the decision in a rage, but it had been several months and she was still living a life worse than death in this deserted courtyard.
This time, Shen Tang finally believed it. She was completely abandoned and hated, and she would never be able to leave the deserted courtyard for the rest of her life.
But she was unwilling to accept it. How could she accept it? She still had a son! Yes, a son!! As long as she kept her son by her side, she didn't believe that she couldn't return to her original position!
Shen Tang now even ate rotten food, hadn't taken a bath for many days, and didn't even have a change of clothes. She had dishevelled hair and looked like a madman, but she endured it all. In order to win back her son and return to her high position, she endured this little bit of suffering!
The deserted courtyard was usually closely guarded by two maids and two maids, so that even a bird passing by could be spotted. But the more this happened, the more lively and cheerful it seemed outside.
It was noon at this time, and Pei Yuanxuan caught Zhou and the meal had already started. A middle-aged maid came over carrying a food box, followed by two little maids who were also carrying food boxes.
As soon as she saw them, one of the guards came over and said with a smile:
"Madame Chen, you came really early today. It seems that it is not even time for dinner yet."
"Today is a good day for our young master. When I came here, I heard that the young master grabbed a pen and a sword. This is a good sign of being proficient in both civil and military affairs! Look, the Marquis was so happy that he rewarded everyone in the Marquis's mansion with a month's salary."
Hearing that there was a reward, the gatekeeper was very happy and praised Pei Yuanxuan. She pointed to the house behind her with her finger and said with a slightly disdainful tone:
"She is too arrogant and too weak to bear such a great blessing, yet she is still fighting for it. Isn't this harming herself? She used to bully the Madam, but what about now? The Second Young Master is someone else's son, and she is abandoned by the Crown Prince. The Madam doesn't care about her either, so she has long been trapped in this deserted courtyard..."
Perhaps thinking that it was unlucky to talk about death today, the maid stopped talking. But Shen Tang heard her words clearly, and in anger, a series of muffled "bang bang bang" sounds came from the room. The maids were used to it and ignored them.
"Anyway, you guys better keep a close eye on her. Today is the young master's birthday, don't let this crazy woman get away. If anything goes wrong, no one will be able to save you."
"Don't worry, we will be careful."
The old woman responded. After Nanny Chen left, the old woman opened Shen Tang's meal and saw the rare smell of meat inside. She smiled sarcastically and took them out. She put the leftovers she had eaten into the food box and passed it to Shen Tang.
The light in the room was extremely dim, and fine dust particles could be seen floating in the light. The furnishings were in a mess. A woman with disheveled hair and tattered clothes was sitting at the head of the bed, looking sinisterly at the old woman who came in.
The old woman didn't care, but Shen Tang could see clearly the disgust and ridicule in her eyes. She took out the noodles from the food box and put them on the ground. After a careful look, she said in a mocking tone, "Oh, it was my carelessness that spilled all the longevity noodles. It's troublesome for me to walk back and forth. Today, the young master Zhou Suihou Mansion is hosting a banquet, and the kitchen is also very busy. You just have to make do with it."
After saying that, he conveniently placed the leftovers on the table and said in a condescending tone, "I'll clean it up later."
Shen Tang looked at the porcelain bowl that had long gone cold, and muttered to himself, "Shou Noodles, Birthday, Young Master?"
Shen Tang seemed to suddenly wake up, and his originally confused eyes suddenly became clear, "How come the son of that bastard is not dead? How is it possible? He was clearly poisoned to death by me!!"
Shen Tang stood up suddenly and kicked away all the bowls, spoons and other items in front of her. The wooden utensils flew out and the food stained the entire floor.
Why did Shen Tang insist that Pei Yuanxuan was poisoned to death by her? It was because of the dreams she had when she was crazy and half asleep in the past few months.
In her dream, Pei Yuanxuan was killed by her before he turned 18, but she didn't expect that this would lead to a more lonely life. After Pei Yuanxuan's death, Pei Lingfeng wanted a legitimate son even more, and used extremely tough means to sever her Shen'er record and change it to Xiao Yunrou's name, and even declared that except for the legitimate son born by Xiao Yunrou, illegitimate sons were not qualified to inherit the Marquisate.
But even if everything she did was useless, she had killed one person after all. As long as Xiao Yunrou could no longer give birth, her son would definitely inherit the Marquis's Mansion. She wanted to make sure that Xiao Yunrou, who had taken away her position as the legal wife, would not have a good death!
She did it in her dream, but why did everything change after she woke up?
Shen Tang was smashing the few remaining ornaments in the room like a madman. The maid outside didn't care when she heard him, but she felt more and more disdainful in her heart.
"How long do we have to watch over this crazy woman? The other sisters are enjoying a good life, but we two have to watch over this crazy woman every day without any benefits."
The other old woman also agreed with this and became increasingly impatient with Shen Tang in the room.
"Who knows? Don't talk about her. It's bad luck!"
The bright sunshine drove away the chill left over from early spring, heralding the arrival of spring, but this sunshine was the last one Shen Tang saw. The secret guards sent by Pei Lingfeng to keep an eye on her heard everything she said, and although he didn't understand why she said the young master was poisoned, he still faithfully reported everything to Pei Lingfeng.
At this time, Pei Lingfeng was still entertaining guests in the front yard. When he heard this, his eyes narrowed and a hint of ruthlessness flashed across his eyes. However, this was still the first birthday banquet for his eldest son that he had been looking forward to, and there must not be any mistakes.
"After midnight, let her die suddenly."
It is not appropriate to shed blood today, otherwise, with Pei Lingfeng's personality, he will eliminate anyone who threatens Xiao Yunrou and her son as soon as possible. Originally, Shen Tang was kept, thinking that he could find evidence of her collusion with the Zhong family. Now he thinks that there is no chance in this life. The Zhong family will not want a woman who can't do anything in the deserted courtyard to be their spy.
In this case, Shen Tang somehow thought of his past life. Such a hidden danger must not be left behind, so he should just disappear from this world...