Chapter 097 Chapter 97

Yao Niang was confused by her action, but this was a painting she had carefully drawn, how could she let anyone take it away so she rushed over and grabbed her clothes: "What are you doing?"

Han Ruohua seemed to react immediately, and she quickly thought of an excuse for herself: "Cousin Yi once rescued me from the water when I was a child. I also want to take a painting back home to hang as a sacrifice."

"You want it too? What you think is your business, but this is not yours." Yao Niang went straight to snatch it away.

However, she did not expect Han Ruohua to hold the painting so tightly. Yao Niang was afraid that she would damage her painting, so she pried open her fingers one by one. Seeing her white joints, Yao Niang did not care. It was not until she finally took the painting in her own hands that she realized something was wrong.

Shen Linfeng quickly put the two paintings away and said to Yao Niang, "I think these two paintings are very good and don't need to be changed. Now that we have the portraits, the underworld officials won't dare to mess with them casually."

"That's what I thought." Yao Niang suddenly thought of Han Ruohua's secret affair with Shen Bangyan. Could it be because of Shen Linyi? Otherwise, how could it make sense that a girl from a wealthy family would not care about her reputation?

The others naturally saw through it but kept silent. Han Ruohua also recovered as before and said, "My aunt often tells me about my cousin Lin Yi. If my aunt saw it, I don't know how happy she would be."

Yao Niang glanced at her and said, "Third sister-in-law, the Madam is old. Old people are most afraid of extreme joy and sorrow. Don't you know that?"

Today, everyone came to see the paintings, but they found that Yao Niang had such a strong character. She directly pried open her fingers when someone stole her things. The second old man Shen even looked at Shen Linfeng, wondering if Shen Linfeng was dead, but he didn't come out to say anything.

But Shen Linfeng was always like this. Not only did he not try to smooth things over, but he said, "My lady, I am so sorry for you. You are a great benefactor to our Shen family. I don't know how to thank you."

"What are you thanking me for? It's my duty. The Cold Food Festival is coming soon. I can't let my brother starve underground. You are his only biological brother in our eldest family. It's hard for you to have such an intention." Yao Niang said humbly.

Han Ruohua was not angry. Instead, she thought of the portrait she had just seen, as if she had seen her cousin Yi in person.

Mrs. Shen Er thought that she might be able to get someone else to paint a picture of her Bangxing, so she called Shen Bangyan back after returning from the main room.

"Bangyan, please draw a picture for your brother. I also want to offer it during the Cold Food Festival to prevent the evil spirits from deliberately making your brother hungry." Mrs. Shen said.

Shen Bangyan naturally agreed, but he drew several pictures in succession, and Mrs. Shen was more dissatisfied with each one: "This picture you drew doesn't look like your brother at all. Who can tell that it's your brother? The body shape is wrong, and the clothes are not like this."

"Mom, you'd better ask for help from someone else. I was still young when my brother died, and I can't remember many things." Shen Bangyan also studied painting, and he thought he was a good painter, but his mother was never satisfied.

Madam Shen was startled: "Is it possible that I can only beg her?"

Shen Bangyan's mind worked quickly, and he immediately asked, "Are you talking about my sister-in-law?"

Madam Shen nodded: "I think she is the only one left, but I don't want to beg her."

"Why don't you talk to your eldest brother and let him talk to your eldest sister-in-law?" Shen Bangyan suggested.

Mrs. Shen Er thought so too. She thought it was no wonder that she came across Shen Linyi's jade pendant last time. It must be that the couple wanted to paint the picture, so they looked for Shen Linyi's things everywhere. The clothes Shen Linyi wore in the painting were the ones he often wore when he was alive.

Shen Bangyan talked to the second old master Shen about it, and the second old master Shen called Shen Linfeng again. The implication was naturally that he wanted Yao Niang to help paint Shen Bangxing.

"Uncle, everyone with ability has a temper. Even if Commander Liu invites her, she should be rewarded. Besides, whether she is willing or not is not something I can influence." Shen Linfeng said.

Second Master Shen understood: "I will ask your aunt to prepare a generous gift. Bangxing is also a pain for us. If he grows up, he will be as old as you. Let us keep a memory of him. In fact, we don't talk about strange things. We have the same idea as you."

In fact, Shen Linfeng has been thinking that there might be something behind his brother's death, so he wants to test the second wife of Shen, wondering if it is her? Throwing away the jade pendant is the first step, and drawing the likeness is the second step.

But Mrs. Shen's mentality was too stable, and Han Ruhua became even more out of control, causing many people to talk about it.

After hearing what Second Master Shen said, Shen Linfeng said, "My uncle is right. I am afraid that when I grow older, everyone will forget my brother. But she just finished drawing two pictures, which took all her efforts. I will talk to her about this matter later."

When Mr. Shen Er saw that Shen Linfeng agreed, he also nodded.

When he came back, Shen Linfeng said to Yao Niang, "I declined this matter. You should not agree to it in the future."

"I already knew that my husband and I don't believe in ghosts and gods, but you asked me to draw and make up those nonsense stories. It turns out that you were testing the Second Madam. You think too highly of people's conscience. Grandma Qing instigated Grandma Jiang to almost make her have a miscarriage, but she acted as if nothing had happened later. How can people who do bad things feel guilty about the bad things they do? If they were discovered, they would only think that they were just one step behind, or that they had their own difficulties, so it is never wrong to hurt others." Yao Niang had already discovered it.

Others may not be able to see through Grandma Qing's tricks in the harem, but Yao Niang is not stupid.

It was Qingda's grandmother who asked Shao to reconcile with her several times, which was completely fueling the flames. This kind of person is almost the same as Qianniang. This person was a person who liked to dig holes from the beginning when she came in. Suddenly she became like her elder sister-in-law, and she was so attentive for no reason. She must be a thief. The reason why Shao was so jealous was that she had someone bribed Wanggu, so Wanggu naturally told everything.

Shen Linfeng grew up in a big family and thought he knew all the secrets, but he never expected that there were still so many things he didn't know. He became a little discouraged: "Why don't people who have done something wrong feel discouraged or guilty?"

"The Second Madam may not really be the mastermind behind this. Without evidence, many things are hard to say. The most urgent task is to find the two maids who were sent away before. Don't think that servants will never betray their masters." Yao Niang said.

Shen Linfeng nodded: "You mean don't try again?"

"Isn't it? If she can really do such a thing and still eat and sleep well, she won't react even if you try again. The most urgent thing is to investigate her. You are an official. Are you going to make her confess based on your speculation and so-called false conscience in the future?"

Yao Niang's words enlightened Shen Linfeng that it was unlikely to expect Second Madam Shen to self-destruct.

We have to investigate and find evidence. Even if the past events are cleared up, there may be some loopholes. So what if the road is long and difficult?

"Okay, I'll write a letter back to Zhou Sun now." Shen Linfeng said.

Zhou Sun is Mama Zhou's son, and Mama Zhou is Madam Shen's most trusted confidant. Yao Niang looked at him and asked, "Is Zhou Sun your man?"

Shen Linfeng smiled when he heard this: "Yes, although Rong An is my servant, Zhou Xun was once my long-term attendant. Later, I asked him to help manage the rent for the family for two seasons."

"So that's how it is." Yao Niang thought that her grandfather had taught her to be cautious when alone, so why did Shen Linfeng tell her everything?

He even told Yao Niang that he deliberately dropped a jade pendant at Madam Shen's feet using Su Muzha's trick. Yao Niang was stunned: "That's impossible. You were always by my side when Madam Shen left."

"No, I left for a while." Shen Linfeng said with a smile.

Yao Niang shook her head: "Impossible, just go to the inner room and serve tea, it will only take a moment."

Shen Linfeng said: "I have learned the stacking technique, isn't that enough?"

Yao Niang suddenly realized, "No wonder you are so good at polo, it turns out you have even learned the treadmill."

Shen Linfeng said: "People's hearts are far more unpredictable than I thought. Now I'd better let people find the fish that slipped through the net while doing my job well."

"That's right." Yao Niang agreed.

It was also said that Han Ruohua had lost her composure last time, and after returning home she had made up a set of words to cover up the lie, saying everywhere that Shen Linyi had saved her life and she had long wanted to worship her benefactor, and so on, which caused Shen Sanlang to come and ask Shen Linfeng for the painting, but Shen Linfeng naturally ignored him.

Because he had already asked someone to copy the two paintings, and he wanted them to take them home so that Mrs. Shen could have a good look at how handsome Shen Linyi would be when he grew up, and he also wanted Mr. Shen to personally help find the murderer.

Yao Niang asked, "Aren't you afraid that your mother will be sad?"

"So what if I'm sad? My brother is young and should be protected by mother. So what if she doesn't give him a concubine? Or if mother cared more about my brother in everything instead of leaving the family to irrelevant people to manage, maybe everything would be fine. No matter whether those two girls were instigated by others, they were chosen by mother, and she doesn't even know the details. Shouldn't she be sad?" Shen Linfeng even remembered that her mother wanted her to marry Han Ruhua without checking her background at all. She also didn't check the background of Yan Ningxin, who she wanted him to marry before.

Shen Linfeng's words were very loud. Seeing that he was so opinionated, Yao Niang couldn't help but say, "It's good that you think so. Tomorrow is the Cold Food Festival, so let's celebrate it well first."

"Of course. It's time for me to go to bed now. I'm going to sleep first. I have to get up tomorrow morning and give you a big surprise. You might as well look forward to it." After saying this, Shen Linfeng fell asleep without even having time to react to Yao Niang.

Seeing him snoring, Yao Niang complained, "Even the little pig can't sleep as fast as you." But then she thought of Madam Shen he mentioned, and wondered what her mother-in-law would think when she received the two portraits.