Overwhelmed with grief and indignation, Shen Xiwei disregarded social hierarchy and rushed to Shen Chang to question him: "My aunt endured ten months of pregnancy for Father, eagerly anticipating the arrival of this child, but Father, because of a few words from others, personally killed this child!"
Shen Chang's pupils dilated, and he raised his hand to slap her, his tone filled with rage: "You unfilial daughter, how dare you speak to your father like that? Have I been too lenient with you all this time!"
Shen Xiwei covered her face in disbelief, tears welling in her eyes: "Did my daughter say something wrong?"
"Shut up!"
Shen Tangning had no interest in watching this farce any longer, and helped Madam Shen out of the Jingzhao Prefecture: "I'll take my mother back."
In the carriage, Madam Shen was lost in thought: "Only today have I truly seen your father for who he is. He is selfish, cold-hearted, and only cares about profit. How could I have married him in the first place?"
Shen Tangning pursed her lips slightly, took her hand, and said gently, "It's not too late to see things clearly now. Mother said before that she wanted to divorce Father..."
Madam Shen's gaze turned cold: "Of course it wasn't just talk. Otherwise, how do you think he died without an heir?"
Shen Tangning was slightly startled, and asked tentatively with her eyes, "Mother means, Father?"
Madam Shen smiled, but it was tinged with coldness: "Since you've made up your mind to divorce him, I can't just do nothing. I can certainly walk away, and you're already married, but Aci is still his son, and his blood flows in his veins."
If she leaves the Shen family, given Aunt Fang's temperament and shrewdness, she worries that Aci will suffer.
Shen Tangning suddenly realized: "So Mother had already made plans?"
“The concubine Wei in the manor has a sickly younger brother. I treat her brother's illness, so naturally she has to listen to me in everything.” Madam Shen’s eyes flashed with a mocking light. “Making Shen Chang childless is easy enough.”
She used to be too lazy to care, which is why she let Aunt Fang cause trouble.
But these two people really shouldn't have provoked her again and again.
Since Shen Chang had no descendants, Shen Ci was his only son. As someone who valued the continuation of the family line, he would never allow anything to happen to Shen Ci.
Shen Tangning smiled and said, "But Mother has overlooked one thing: what if Aunt Fang's baby is a boy?"
Madam Shen looked up at her, a faint smile playing on her lips: "I originally planned to kill the mother and leave the child, so that Fang would die in childbirth... I didn't expect you to act ahead of time."
She paused, a complex look appearing in her eyes.
She still retained a sliver of compassion, thinking that the harm should not befall the child.
After Aunt Fang passed away, she took the child to her knees and raised him. If he was a law-abiding child, she was willing to give him a way out.
Meeting her gaze, Shen Tangning remained calm: "Does Mother think I'm too ruthless?"
"Silly child." Madam Shen held her fingertips, her eyes moistening. "I was afraid of dirtying your hands and causing unnecessary bloodshed. I am no longer young, and if I receive my retribution one day, I will die without regret. But you have a long road ahead of you..."
Shen Tangning raised her fingertips to touch her lips, resting her head on her shoulder: "Nonsense, Mother will live to be a hundred."
She doesn't believe in divine justice or inevitable retribution, so naturally she's not afraid of any retribution.
She was afraid that her closest people would become estranged from her.
Madam Shen gently stroked her head, her expression softening: "Then I hope my daughter, Aning, will live to be a hundred years old."
Shen Tangning obediently agreed. In front of her mother, she lowered her eyes and behaved meekly, like a naive girl.
Unfortunately, such simplicity is merely superficial.
"Having lost her bargaining chip, I imagine the Fang family will have to keep a low profile from now on." Madam Shen frowned. "It's just a pity that it won't be so easy for her to divorce your father based on this alone."
With a slight lift of her eyelashes, Shen Tangning blinked her dark eyes twice: "This is nothing."
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