Chapter 14: Asking Shen Shuwei to give up another position in the Imperial Guard
The next morning, Shen Shuwei and others arrived at the Marquis of Jingning's Mansion.
The banquet had already begun, with elegantly dressed people and laughter everywhere, and it was quite a grand occasion.
Because men and women were seated separately, Shen Shuwei took Shen Zhiyang to the table under the guidance of a maid.
Unexpectedly, the maid brought her to Chu Xinrou directly.
His eyes swept over the female relatives standing around him. Most of them gathered around Chu Xinrou, looking at her with disdain or sarcasm.
Chen Shuwei raised his eyebrows slightly, it seemed that he was well prepared.
Chu Xinrou came forward and held her hand warmly, smiling and saying, "Sister, you are willing to honor me with the banquet. I am very happy."
"I thought my sister asked to leave the house on the day Xinrou returned home because she was angry with Xinrou."
As soon as Chu Xinrou finished speaking, a girl jumped out to join in, "She has occupied your identity for so many years, Xinrou. She shouldn't have apologized to you, so how dare she get angry with you?"
"That's right, Xinrou, you're suffering outside, while she's wearing gold and jade in the Marquis's mansion. I wonder if she feels guilty when she wakes up in the middle of the night."
"That means she's kindhearted and kindhearted, forgiving past grudges and inviting this imposter to the banquet."
The person who spoke looked at Shen Shuwei with disgust, as if he disdained to stand with Shen Shuwei.
Listening to the weird voices around him, Chen Shuwei found it quite funny.
This scene happened once in my previous life.
At that time, Chu Xinrou had just returned home. The old lady and Ji Jinglan were very distressed and asked her to organize a family recognition banquet for Chu Xinrou.
At the time, she knew the treasury didn't have much money, so she planned to keep it simple. Chu Xinrou, upon learning of this, ran to the old lady and burst into tears. This infuriated the old lady, who accused her of being calculating, jealous, and inconsiderate of her younger sister. She pressured her into producing the money so she could hold a grand celebration for the family reunion.
The Marquis's Mansion was not well-off to begin with, not to mention the pile of shops that were losing money and the more than sixty mouths waiting to be fed in the mansion.
Chen Shuwei painstakingly worked for dozens of days to save up several hundred taels of silver to hold a grand family reunion banquet for Chu Xinrou.
As a result, at the family reunion banquet, Chu Xinrou openly and secretly spread the word that she was shameless and took her place, causing a group of young ladies from aristocratic families to ridicule her.
Thinking of her thankless work in her previous life, Shen Shuwei broke away from Chu Xinrou's hand and said, "The dress that Miss Chu is wearing today was earned from the silk shop I once opened. Before it was handed over to me, the shop had been making losses for years and couldn't even sell anything. It was only after I managed it for half a year that it turned a loss into a profit."
Chu Xinrou looked panicked.
Chen Shuwei curled his lips and fell on the ruby hairpin in her hair, "And this hairpin, it was given to me by Princess Hengyang."
She looked around at the women around her, all with varying expressions, and said loudly, "I believe I have done nothing wrong in managing the Marquis's residence over the years. Besides, I didn't take a single thing or a single copper coin with me when I left the mansion, so why should I feel uneasy?"
After Shen Shuwei finished speaking, some smart people thought about how the Jingning Marquis Mansion had been thriving in recent years under Shen Shuwei's management, and inexplicably felt that Chu Xinrou would be able to take advantage of all the benefits left by Shen Shuwei as soon as she returned home, wearing what she earned and using what she left behind.
This feels awkward no matter how you think about it.
"The Jingning Marquis's Mansion wasn't like this ten years ago. Back then, they were so poor that they had to sell their servants."
"Now that you put it that way, I think it's the Jingning Marquisate that's wronged Miss Shen. Everyone in Luojing knows how capable Miss Shen is. She's earned so much money for the Marquisate in just a few years, and she even sent the eldest son of the family to study at the White Deer Academy. And yet Miss Shen wasn't even allowed to take any money with her when she left the mansion."
Listening to the whispers around her, Chu Xinrou's face turned pale and her fingertips dug into her flesh.
That's not the case. It was clearly Chen Shuwei who owed her, so how did it become that their Marquis' Mansion owed Chen Shuwei?
The prosperity of the Marquis' Mansion is also thanks to my mother and elder brother. What does it have to do with Shen Shuwei? Isn't she just enjoying the benefits of the Marquis' Mansion?
They should feel sorry for themselves, why are they all standing up for Shen Shuwei!
She couldn't let these people think that.
Chu Xinrou calmed herself down and forced a smile. "I didn't think of this. If you want my hairpin and clothes, I'll give them to you after the banquet."
"Who wants your things? My second brother and I will buy clothes and jewelry for Third Sister." Shen Zhiyang pursed his lips and retorted unhappily.
She and Chu Xinrou did not have a good relationship. When she was at home, Chu Xinrou often used the excuse that she suffered from heart disease and was in poor health, so she would pick out the clothes and jewelry for herself and only give her the old ones she didn't want anymore.
If it weren't for the fact that her second and eldest brothers cared about her and gave her some support in private, Shen Zhiyang would have fallen out with Chu Xinrou long ago.
Chu Xinrou looked at Shen Zhiyang who was protecting Shen Shuwei, and her heart ached slightly. She could hardly maintain the smile on her face.
That's her sister, and she has been her sister for sixteen years. Instead of speaking up for herself, she helps Shen Shuwei to choke her!
Chu Xinrou felt more and more that this couldn't go on, so she brought up Chu Yunlan's story and said, "I heard that sister saved the Duke of Kangping a few days ago, and the Duke gave sister a place in the Imperial Guard?"
When Shen Shuwei heard this, he knew what Chu Xinrou was going to say, and smiled slightly and said, "Yes."
Chu Xinrou was delighted to see Chen Shuwei admit it in public, and hurriedly said, "Big brother has always loved me. After I left the house, big brother kept talking to me, worried that I would suffer outside."
"Now that my eldest brother has reached the age of starting a family and building a career, and he and I have a deep brotherly bond, I might as well give him this spot."
"You—are you shameless?" Shen Zhiyang was furious. The spot clearly belonged to his second brother, but Chu Xinrou was trying to snatch it away. "The person was saved by his third sister and second brother, so the spot should naturally go to his second brother. Why should it be given to the Chu family?"
Chu Xinrou smiled gently, "Sister has been raised by the Marquis' Mansion for sixteen years. Not only is she loved by my eldest brother, but my mother and grandmother also dote on her. It's just a place in the Imperial Guards. Since my sister saved the prince's life, it should be easy for him to give her another place."
She brought up the Marquis's upbringing to make it so that Shen Shuwei could not argue. If she refused to give him this position, Shen Shuwei would be unfilial.
Just for this reason, Chen Shuwei would be scolded to death by the women present.
"Big brother loves you?" Chen Shuwei chuckled as if he had heard a joke. "The day I broke off relations and left the house, Master Chu was eager for me to leave immediately. I've been home for so many days and no one has come to visit me."
Chu Xinrou's expression remained unchanged as she gently advised, "But the kindness of raising you cannot be faked. Sister, if you leave the Marquis' Mansion, will you no longer acknowledge the kindness they have shown you over the years?"
"If you think like this, you will be called ungrateful and heartless."
Chen Shuwei's face turned stern, and he looked directly at Chu Xinrou, "If I get any benefits in the future, will you keep asking for more from me under the banner of gratitude for raising me? If I don't give it to you, then I'm ungrateful?"
"Speaking of which, my second brother was Miss Chu's brother in the past. Miss Chu always asks me to be considerate of Mr. Chu, so why doesn't Miss Chu pity my second brother?"
"My second brother is seriously injured at home, and it's not clear that Miss Chu would come to visit out of consideration for the brother-sister relationship. But now she is bringing up issues between me and Master Chu."
Chen Shuwei directly pulled off the fig leaf in front of everyone. This was tantamount to scolding Chu Xinrou and the Houfu family behind her for sucking her blood like leeches.
He also took the opportunity to scold Chu Xinrou for being hypocritical. She said that she had a deep brotherly love, but in fact, she didn't even go to visit her brother when he was seriously injured.
"The Marquis's actions are a bit excessive. Miss Shen has done enough for the Marquis's Mansion over the years. It doesn't make sense for her to ask for favors from others after leaving the Marquis' Mansion."
"And Miss Shen also said that this was an opportunity that her second brother had obtained at the cost of his life. She didn't go to visit and instead asked others to give it up. I wouldn't give it to her in her place."
Hearing the slander around her, Yan Yan became anxious and cursed without thinking: "The Marquis' Mansion has raised you for so many years, so what's wrong with you giving a quota to your elder brother? Is it necessary to be so petty and slander Xinrou!"
"If you ask me, the Marquis' Mansion has been supporting you for so many years in vain, and they can't even afford to return you a place!"
Chu Xinrou's body was shaking, her face pale and tears welling up as she said, "Yan'er, don't say anything. It's my fault. I'm not feeling well and have been recuperating in the Marquis' Mansion recently. I didn't know that my second brother was seriously injured. If I had known, I would have come to visit him."
"Sister, are you still jealous of me for taking your place? If that's the case, I'm willing to kneel down and apologize to you. I only ask that you don't hurt your relationship with Big Brother because of me."
As she spoke, Chu Xinrou actually wanted to kneel down to Chen Shuwei.
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