master
For a moment, his whole body was shaking uncontrollably like a sieve, with a mixture of grief and anger. Suxi stood there, almost unable to move, and let the man walk along the gravel road until he was close to him before he suddenly came to his senses and quickly lowered his head to make way. He was extremely nervous, and the only thing he could see was his own sweat beads dripping onto the ground, and the man's expensive sheepskin boots stopped a foot away, squeaking on the stones.
"Master..."
"You have a very unfamiliar face, maid. Are you new here?"
The familiar male voice carried a strong sense of pressure. Su Xi couldn't help but clench her fists and gritted her teeth as she replied, "Master, I was assigned by the old lady to be the young master's concubine. I'm new here and not familiar with the roads around the mansion. I hope you'll be lenient with me."
"Yunqiu's concubine?"
Shen Pingchang looked at the horrible scar on the girl that extended to her forehead, chuckled knowingly, and then left.
After a while, Suxi looked up angrily at the figure hidden in the depths of the bamboo forest in East Garden, and couldn't help but recall the past.
I remember that when the Su's business just moved from Youyang to Qingzhou, it was still small. That was because the Lin's cloth shop collapsed at that time, and no new business had emerged in Qingzhou for several years. The Su family mainly sold cloth, so my father wanted to take advantage of the good opportunity to start a new business.
These were all her mother's words. She was only two years old at the time. When her father first came to Qingzhou to open his shop, he had given a generous gift to Shen Zhizhou. The two seemed to get along very well. As she grew older, she often saw Shen Zhizhou visiting their home, bringing jugs of fine wine and chatting happily with her father.
The last time Shen Pingchang came to the Su residence was the day before the Su family was exterminated by the government. The guns he held were the evidence that proved his father's serious crime.
Suxi knew that Shen Pingchang recognized her. That was why she had such a hideous scar on her face, which ruined her appearance and also ruined the carefree Suxi of the past.
After regaining his composure, Suxi secretly wiped away the tears on his face, turned around and strode away.
-
The East Garden of the Shen Mansion looked ancient and solemn everywhere, and the dusk was heavy.
Chen Pingchang walked through a lush purple bamboo forest and a pavilion with a Buddhist shrine, turned around a winding corridor painted with dark red lacquer and stepped into the threshold of the main house. He saw that the light in the house was dim, and a deep crimson curtain made the atmosphere in the whole house even more silent. The agarwood burner in the corner exuded a faint fragrance, and the beam of light shining through the top window formed a stream of smoke. In front of the hall, a little maid was kneeling on the ground, holding a copper basin to her chest. An old woman with black hair with silver threads sat at the top with her eyes lowered. Her wrinkled hands slowly reached into the jade-white milk in the copper basin and soaked for a while. Another maid waiting beside her hurried forward and carefully lifted the old lady's hands and wiped them gently. The squatting little girl dared to stand up, but her two hands holding the copper basin could not stop shaking.
"Okay, all of you get out."
"Yes, sir."
Several maids, as if they had been pardoned, quickly ran away. Upon hearing the sound, Old Lady Shen's eyes, half-closed due to sleepiness, suddenly opened wide, and a pair of cloudy eyes suddenly burst into light.
"Pingchang, you didn't even inform me beforehand that you were coming. Otherwise, I could have told them to prepare your breakfast in advance."
Old Madam Shen slowly stood up with the help of her cane and walked over. Her tone was angry, but her expression showed that she could not hide her joy.
"How's it going, Pingchang? Have you finished dealing with the Su family's affairs?"
"Almost. I've been very busy these past few days, and I can finally take a break." Shen Pingchang picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, his expression relaxed. "All the property of the Su family has been shipped to the capital, and the petition has been sent along with it. However, the capital is quite far from Qingzhou, so it will take half a month for the decree to arrive."
"So long?"
"Mother, please wait a minute. You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry!" Shen Pingchang helped Mrs. Shen sit down and added another cup of tea.
"Mother, I've left some of the Su family's things. There are a few rolls of fine brocade fabric in there. Would you like to take a look?"
"This..." Upon hearing this, Mrs. Shen looked around, looking panic-stricken.
"Don't worry, mother. This little bit of money is not even a drop in the bucket compared to the Su family's wealth. He must be well aware of this and won't blame me."
Shen Pingchang said firmly, and only then did Mrs. Shen relax her brows, smiling happily, and stood up, even throwing away her crutches: "Okay, okay, I'll go to the treasury and choose carefully. It just so happens that my eldest brother is about to become an official in the capital, so I'll make him a new set of clothes!"
After leaving the house, the old lady hurriedly called the servants to come forward to support her. Lin came hurriedly from the other end of the corridor. Before she could catch her breath, she bowed and said, "Mother, I slept a little today and greeted you late. I hope you will..."
"It's okay, just remember it next time."
Seeing the old lady being supported by a plump maid who looked like a New Year's doll and leaving, Lin was full of suspicion. As soon as she looked up, she saw Shen Pingchang coming out of the house and hurried forward.
"Master, why is Mother so easy to talk to today? If it were any other day, I'm afraid she would punish me by making me stand in line again."
Lin spoke timidly and in a low voice, but she found that the man in front of her was not as cold as usual. Instead, he was very friendly and cheerful. He even took out a jade hairpin from his sleeve pocket and handed it to her.
"Madam, you have made a great contribution to the Su family's affairs. If you hadn't contacted the old Lin family members who worked for the Su family and secretly took action, this matter would not have been so smooth. This hairpin is very valuable in the Su family business. I think it complements your appearance very well, so I brought it back for you."
"Thank you for your consideration, Master." Lin smiled shyly, her joy evident in her expression. Just as she was about to take off the golden hairpin on her head and replace it with the cool and clear emerald green jade hairpin, the male voice in her ear, which had just been gentle, suddenly became cold again.
"But Madam, are you still able to contact that old friend from the Lin family?"
Her movements paused for a moment, and Lin tightly grasped the jade hairpin in her hand. She asked timidly, "Master, is there anything else you want him to do?"
"It's nothing," Shen Pingchang stroked his temples calmly, "it's just that Su Bingwen's daughter is missing."
“Gone!!”
Lin screamed in surprise, but when she met Shen Pingchang's displeased gaze, she hurriedly covered her mouth.
"What's all the fuss? What kind of trouble can a yellow-haired girl cause? Do you want me to search the entire Qingzhou for her?" Shen Pingchang scolded, paused, and clicked his tongue impatiently, "Well, you tell that guy to get a woman at random, whether it's a prostitute from a brothel or a beggar's girl, it doesn't matter, it's just a matter of handing over the case. When he comes to the mansion to collect the reward, the two of them will die together, so as to avoid any bad words from outside. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Master. I will go find him today..."
After receiving a satisfactory answer, Shen Pingchang seemed unwilling to stay any longer and hurriedly left with his hands behind his back, not noticing that Lin, who was standing blankly in the corridor, had already been sweating profusely, and her body, wrapped in luxurious brocade, was trembling like a sieve.
-
Qingzhou is mostly sunny in autumn and rarely rains, but the mornings are filled with heavy dew. The bluestone roads on the ground are covered with a layer of wet moisture early in the morning. After being stepped on by the people in the mansion and exposed to the scorching sun, they are completely black in less than half a day, and no trace of the underlying color can be seen.
It was almost noon when she returned to the West Garden, feeling restless and depressed. Su Xi stepped through the archway and saw a familiar-looking servant entering the courtyard just in front of her. She hurriedly trotted after him.
"Hey, big brother, wait a minute!"
Su Xi stood in front of the servant, panting. The other party also looked at him with his eyes lowered, his expression was very intriguing.
"Brother, are you here to deliver lunch?"
The servant froze, looking at her like she was a fool, as if asking, "What else? Are you blind?"
"Why don't you just give me the lunch box, brother? I can just take it in."
Upon hearing this, the servant directly stuffed the red-painted food box into her hands, as if he was not worried at all that she would steal food. However, the inexplicable expression on his face only got worse, which made Suxi very uncomfortable.
"Brother, I am a little ugly, but you don't have to look at me like that, right?"
"You girl, you really have some skills." The servant sneered, "This young master usually gets angry at the slightest provocation and doesn't let anyone serve him, but you were able to ask him to have sex with you on the first day you came, and you even got your period. I'm really curious, how did you guys... when he was like that?"
Only then did Suxi realize the meaning of the servant's expression, and her face suddenly flushed. Taking advantage of the servant's inattention, she took off running. Still unused to living in the side room, Suxi subconsciously pushed open the main door and hid behind it, panting rapidly. She heard the gentle sound of wooden wheels, and then she looked in surprise at Shen Yunqiu, who slowly emerged from behind the screen. He, too, looked puzzled, as if deeply puzzled.
"You didn't leave?"
"Leave? Why leave?"
Su Xi was stunned, then he remembered what Shen Yunqiu said yesterday.
"Oh, I saw you sweeping the outside this morning and thought you had left the Shen Mansion."
Is that so? The young master in this life seemed to be eager for her to leave.
Su Xi tried his best to ignore the loneliness rising in his heart, but when he looked up, he always felt that the boy's deep black eyes did not show disgust, but rather a hint of secret joy.
Is it an illusion? Probably.
After all, he didn't seem to be the Shen Yunqiu who was extremely lenient to her in his previous life.
Suxi scratched his head, his gaze moved downward, and was subconsciously attracted by the particularly conspicuous bright red spot on the man's bloodless fingers.
This is······
Thinking of the servant's reaction, Suxi felt her heart skip a beat. She looked up again, trying desperately to find any familiarity in the man across from her, but alas, she failed. It was the same face, the same handsome features, yet something felt different. It was this indefinable difference that transformed the gentle and dignified young man into a complete stranger.
"Hey, why are you looking at me like that? It's creepy."
Shen Yunqiu really couldn't get used to such strange looks. Just as he opened his mouth, he saw the girl suddenly look away, trembling all over, like a frightened rabbit.
The goose bumps on his body had just disappeared, and Shen Yunqiu followed the girl who stood up woodenly. He saw her carrying a food box to the table, opening the lid and placing the dishes on the table one by one. She carefully wiped the tableware in the box with a handkerchief and placed them on the hill-shaped chopstick holder on the table.
"Hey, I think you'd better leave." Shen Yunqiu noticed the girl paused to pack up her lunch box, then spoke.
"This morning I thought you were gone, so I casually fabricated the illusion of blood on the handkerchief to fool Grandmother. Otherwise, if they found out, you might not even be able to escape Qingzhou City. But if you don't leave, and this gets out, with the character of the servants in the Shen Mansion, there will be a lot of gossip in the future."
"I'm not leaving."
"Why don't you leave? You little girl, aren't you afraid of what others will say?"
"I won't leave."
Suxi said firmly, and packed up the lunch box with a bang as if in a fit of anger.
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