Chapter 118 Stolen Silver, Shen Qingtan Crybaby
Shen Shaobai knelt at the edge of the pit, reached in and felt around carefully, confirming that it was a thick wooden board. From the corners, he could tell it was a wooden box.
The wooden box was buried in the stable... Could it be that there is a shameful treasure hidden inside?
He wiped his face with his sleeve and smelled the odor of horse manure. His stomach twisted and he retched.
Shen Shaobai's face turned black. He had never suffered such a punishment since he was a child.
Ever since he discovered that his elder sister had been deliberately married off, when he went to argue with his parents, he was tied up and sent to the Liu family's ancestral home in Guanzhou.
For this reason, the walls of the Liu family's ancestral home were doubled in height to prevent him from climbing over the wall and escaping.
He had gotten to know the mansion well these days, and found that there were guards everywhere in the mansion, so it would be very difficult to escape.
The only unguarded place was the stable, where there was only one groom.
He had gotten information from the groom two days ago and learned that there was a barren mountain outside the stable wall.
Afterwards, he bribed the groom with silver, changed into the groom's clothes at night and went to the stable to dig a passage.
Today, everyone in the mansion was preparing to receive Earl Yongyi, and the surveillance on him was relaxed, so he sneaked over and continued digging the tunnel.
Who knew there would be a major discovery!
Shen Shaobai couldn't suppress his curiosity, picked up the hoe beside him, and continued digging with swift movements.
After a while, a box was dug out.
Next to this box, there are several other boxes.
The wooden box had a lock on it, and Shen Shaobai simply smashed it with a hoe and opened the box.
There were gold ingots neatly arranged inside, and judging from their size, each ingot should be fifty taels.
Shen Shaobai widened his eyes in shock. This... isn't this too much gold?
His eyes were almost blinded by the light.
Then he glanced at the wooden boxes that were exposed in the corners of the pit, dug them all out and opened the lids.
There were six boxes in total, two of which contained gold and the rest contained silver.
Shen Shaobai quickly realized that something was wrong. The Yongyi Marquis's Mansion had long been in decline, and they could only live a decent life relying on the Cheng'en Marquis's Mansion. Where would they get so much gold and silver?
Suddenly, he thought of the stewards and servants in the Liu family's ancestral home, all of whom were arranged by Madam Shen.
So was this gold buried in the Cheng'en Marquis Mansion?
Shen Shaobai didn't know what he was thinking about, and his face turned ugly.
The disaster in Guanzhou was very serious. The government said that it would open the granaries to lend grain to the people, but the grain never reached the people. Instead, it was sold in large quantities to grain shops and sold at a price higher than pork.
When he looked at the boxes of gold and silver in front of him, he knew without even having to think about where these boxes of gold and silver ingots came from.
Shen Shaobai had a sour face and buried the box again.
For the next two days, Shen Shaobai pretended nothing had happened and continued digging the tunnel at night.
——
The steward of the Liu Mansion was looking forward to Uncle Yongyi returning to the ancestral home. Uncle Yongyi was worried about the grain in the granary, so naturally he did not return to the ancestral home. Instead, an unexpected person came.
The steward looked at the man in front of him. He was wearing a green silk pleated shirt and a pair of black boots covered with mud. He looked tired and exhausted. He claimed to be the prince of Cheng'en Marquis's Mansion.
"Where's my third brother?" Shen Shaoheng came here at dawn and dusk, exhausted. He sat down in a nearby chair and said, "Please ask him to come out. My second uncle asked me to bring him something."
"The Marquis has instructed this old servant that Third Master Shen has committed a serious offense and will be put in solitary confinement. No one is allowed to see him during this period. Only if you have the Marquis's token can you see him." The steward said respectfully, "The Marquis asked you to bring something to Third Master Shen. Did he give you the token?"
"What grave sin did my third brother commit that he is locked up here and cannot see anyone? Could it be that you, a wicked slave, are locking him up with malicious intent?"
Chen Shaoheng sneered, "Don't try to use chicken feathers as a token of authority here. I must see my third brother today. If you try to stop me, I will report you to the authorities and accuse you of treason and kidnapping your own master."
The steward remained unmoved and said calmly, "Sir, I am only following orders."
Seeing that this man was adamant and would not budge, Shen Shaoheng was about to signal the servant beside him when he saw a figure appear in the front hall.
"Oh, Third Brother, you finally showed up." The anger on Shen Shaoheng's face dissipated, and he put on a smile: "I was still wondering in my heart, could it be that the mountains are high and the waters are far away, and the master and mistress of the mansion are all in the capital. The servant in your mansion has turned over and become the master, and dares not take the young master seriously."
The steward's face changed, and he was about to stop Shen Shaobai from meeting Shen Shaoheng.
Shen Shaobai's almond-shaped eyes lazily opened their lids and looked at the steward coldly: "Why, you don't allow me to leave the house, not even to meet guests?"
The steward was about to speak when he was interrupted by Shen Shaoheng: "Third brother, when I came to Guanzhou, the emperor sent an imperial envoy to convey the imperial edict. If you are controlled by this cunning slave, I happen to know the imperial envoy, so I will ask him to make the decision for you."
After a pause, he continued, "Such arrogant servants have always reaped a lot of benefits from the mansion, right?"
The steward's face changed.
Shen Shaobai's patience ran out, and he shouted, "Get out of here!"
The steward has dirty hands. Shen Shaoheng said before that he was not afraid of reporting to the police, because the officials of Guanzhou have a close relationship with Marquis Cheng'en.
Now that an imperial envoy had come to the capital, and Shen Shaoheng spoke of the imperial envoy in a very familiar tone, he did not dare to confront him head-on, so he had to swallow his anger and retreat, thinking about writing a letter to Marquis Cheng'en.
:=
When Shen Shaobai saw the steward leave, he led Shen Shaoheng to the courtyard where he lived.
As soon as the door closed, he couldn't wait to ask, "Brother, how is Big Sister?"
He usually doesn't listen to Shen Qingtan, likes to go against her, and always makes her angry.
But that was just a joke between siblings, he didn't really want to make her suffer.
She and Zhao Jue had been engaged since childhood, and she had started embroidering her dowry a few years ago. She must have been looking forward to marrying Zhao Jue, but when she got married, her parents actually changed her groom.
How sad must she be that she can't marry the person she loves?
He went to question his parents, but they said that they owed Shen Mingzhu too much, and it would be too cruel to marry her to a sickly man and let her become a widow.
They treated Shen Qingtan like a treasure, and she lived a life of ease and comfort in the Marquis's mansion, never suffering the slightest hardship. As an elder sister, she should be humble and yield to her younger sister.
Shen Shaobai felt that they were simply unreasonable. If they felt they owed Shen Mingzhu, why didn't they find a good marriage for her in the first place?
Why do you have to compete with Shen Qingtan?
He planned to go to the Duke's Mansion to find Shen Qingtan, but was kidnapped and thrown here.
Shen Shaobai said irritably, "Big sister is very spoiled. I can make her cry over the smallest things. After such a big injustice, won't she become a little crybaby?"
Shen Shaoheng thought that Shen Qingtan was living a very comfortable life.
In the past, when she was made to cry by Shen Shaobai, she didn't really cry, but just cried on purpose in front of Shen Shaobai to force him to bow his head and give in.
Shen Shaoheng saw through it but didn't say anything. Instead, he put on a sympathetic look and sighed, "My eldest sister's life is really hard. It hasn't been long since she got married, and her eldest brother-in-law has fallen ill twice."
"Mrs. Zhao Er wanted to snatch the dowry that Second Aunt prepared for her. She is alone in the Duke's Mansion with no one to rely on and no one to make the decision for her."
Shen Shaoheng frowned as he recounted Shen Qingtan's experiences one by one: "When she returned home, she was wrongly accused of murder by her second sister. When she attended the birthday banquet for the wife of the Earl of Yongyi, her second sister accused her of having a questionable birthday gift. Now that her second sister is pregnant, she publicly urged her eldest sister to have a baby as soon as possible. Everyone knows that her eldest brother-in-law is infertile. Isn't this deliberately exposing her scars?"
At the end of his speech, Shen Shaoheng sighed again: "I was shocked when I saw my elder sister the other day. She looked like a completely different person."
She is completely different from the innocent and kind girl she was before she got married. She is now as cunning as a beehive.
From Shen Shaoheng's few words, Shen Shaobai imagined that Shen Qingtan had become an isolated and helpless punching bag, hiding in the quilt all day wiping tears, becoming haggard and skinny.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
