Chapter 134: Burning the Ancestral Hall (1)
The east courtyard of the general's mansion was naturally very lively, with guests coming and going, some wishing birthdays, some giving gifts, and the place was already full of joy before the banquet even started.
Mrs. Shen always pretended to be generous in front of outsiders, and whenever a young lady came forward to wish her a happy birthday, she would always give her some expensive gifts. Seeing this, the smiles on the ladies' faces became more sincere, but Ren Wanyun secretly gritted her teeth.
Ren Wanyun was in charge of the public treasury's funds, and she was responsible for managing the affairs of the Third House. The more the old lady squandered, the less she could pocket. Furthermore, Shen Gui also had to deal with official affairs on a daily basis. As a result, I'm afraid that money will be tight in the coming days.
While this area was bustling with activity, the other side was not. The ancestral hall in the southwest corner of the Shen Mansion was deserted at the moment. Outside the courtyard gate, there were actually some people dressed as guards standing. An ancestral hall naturally didn't need such a large gathering. The reason for this was that these people were responsible for keeping an eye on Shen Miao, preventing her from escaping.
The ancestral hall was a cold and gloomy place, never seeing the sun for months and years. It was winter, and the moment I walked in, I felt a stinging chill. The air was filled with the scent of incense ash, and the incense burning in front of the incense niche still curled upwards, making the cold tablets seem like they were floating in the clouds.
"Miss," Guyu rubbed his hands, "Today is the old lady's birthday, but they deliberately locked you up here. This is really too much of a bully!"
Not to mention asking Shen Miao to leave, he didn’t even say a word to greet someone who came. He simply treated Shen Miao as a servant who had made a mistake.
“What’s the rush?” Shen Miao stood in front of the window. Outside the window were trees with withered branches and leaves. In the winter, the bare branches looked particularly bleak.
"How can the young lady not be anxious?" Gu Yu, who had been holding it in for so many days, finally couldn't help but say, "They locked the young lady up here, clearly forcing her to marry. By the time the master and the mistress come back, the young lady will have already married into the Huang family. Even if the master and the mistress will protect the young lady, her life will be ruined!"
Jingzhe had been fiddling with the charcoal brazier on the ground. In the cold ancestral hall, only this charcoal brazier could emit a bit of warmth. A small couch was set up in the inner room. Shen Miao shook her head and said, "Take a few quilts from this room and dry them outside for an hour."
“Girl!” Gu Yu stamped her feet, somewhat annoyed by Shen Miao’s nonchalant attitude. But after being swept by Shen Miao’s gaze, she was speechless. She could only suppress her anger and carry the quilt out of the room, drying it outside to dry as Shen Miao had instructed.
"It's a rare day of good weather today." Shen Miao looked out the window. The sunlight couldn't reach the ancestral hall, but only the courtyard. She couldn't leave the courtyard of the ancestral hall, but she didn't want to leave the ancestral hall either.
"Young lady," Jingzhe finally stopped fiddling with the charcoal in the basin, "will the master and mistress really come back today?"
Shen Miao told Jingzhe that there was nothing to worry about, as Shen Xin and his wife would return to Dingjing on Old Madam Shen's birthday. This was absurd, as no messenger had come to inform Shen Xin of his return today, and it was still some time before the Lunar New Year. Shen Miao spent her days confined to the ancestral hall, so how could she have gotten such news? But facing Shen Miao, Jingzhe couldn't bring herself to ask the questions in her heart. She had discovered a certain grace in her young lady that she hadn't seen before. One thing was that her words always convinced people without any conditions.
Shen Miao said, “Wait a moment, and then find a way to entangle those guards outside and make them stay away from this courtyard. After all, they won’t leave directly, but it’s better to keep them farther away.”
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