Chapter 116 Chapter 116

The second master Shen never thought that he would be sued so soon after he had done what he thought was perfect. The first thing was that both Mrs. Shen and Wang had lent money at high interest rates, causing dozens of families to be ruined. The second thing was that when the second master Shen was promoted to the position of the Imperial College, his family took over the lawsuit and interfered with the local judicial system. The third thing was even more serious, saying that the second master Shen had bribed the son of Concubine Wu in the palace.

The Shen family actually had a Concubine Chang in the palace, but since Madam Shen and others left the capital, Shen Linfeng's position became low, and Yao Niang did not want to enter the palace, so she had no contact with the palace.

In Yao Niang's opinion, her husband was a Hanlin scholar and was among the best in academics. He had a great chance of being selected as the prince's teacher in the future. However, it would be a taboo to establish good relationships with the princes in advance. After all, the selection of teachers was still up to the emperor.

The people the emperor wanted to choose happened to be those who had no connection with the concubines and princes on a daily basis, so it would be inconvenient to connect them.

The first two things didn't bother Master Shen Er, but the third thing clearly offended him. He immediately went to the eldest son, Shen Linfeng, and said, "Da Lang, please help me. I really didn't bribe the third prince. They slandered me."

"Uncle, don't worry. The Jinyiwei will definitely investigate this matter. If I meet Commander Liu, I will definitely help you." Shen Linfeng was not helping Uncle Shen, but he was afraid that it would escalate into a matter of usurping the throne, and the entire Shen family would be in trouble. However, he was unwilling to act rashly.

After hearing this, Mr. Shen Er recalled that Shen Linfeng and his wife had a close relationship with Commander Liu, and that the two families were close friends, so he felt relieved.

However, Wang's involvement in the lawsuit, writing letters to her relatives in her own name, and lending money at high interest rates were all serious crimes. Shen Linfeng naturally knew that the family would rise and fall together, and he said to Yao Niang, "I suspect the person behind this is Zhou Lingguang."

"But you have no evidence?" Yao Niang said.

Zhou Lingguang was really caught off guard. Yao Niang said, "You have to think about how to get out of this matter first. We are completely unaware of the fact that Second Uncle is secretly in contact with the palace. If you get involved, it would be a conspiracy to seize the throne. I advise you to ask my father for advice on how to get out of this matter."

"Is that so?" Shen Linfeng felt that he had never been selfish.

Yao Niang said, "Think about it yourself. If it was you who encountered this kind of thing, would the second and third wives get involved to save you?"

Shen Linfeng knew, of course, that his second and third uncles were good to him, otherwise his marriage to Yao Niang would not have been so smooth. In addition, his second uncle also helped him with arrangements in the Hanlin Academy.

But these were matters that had nothing to do with personal gain, and there were many people who added to the icing on the cake. He himself also lent money to Shen Linqing and had taken good care of Shen Bangyan.

"Then what do you tell me to do?" Shen Linfeng asked.

Yao Niang glanced at him and said, "You didn't mean to ask me to give you advice so that you can turn the tables and say that I didn't let you take care of your family. I won't be stupid. Anyway, if something happens to you, I will stay in Beijing and won't go back to Wuxing with you to raise the children."

Shen Linfeng always knew that Yao Niang was different from other women. She always kept her word, and his character was not as strong as his wife's, so he asked her. He didn't expect her to say that. Shen Linfeng laughed and said, "You are pregnant, and I know about the rift between the second house and us. How can I really help? I just want to ask you for a solution."

Yao Niang looked into Shen Linfeng's eyes, hugged his arm and said, "In fact, you know in your heart what is the right thing to do. It's just that you are too kind-hearted."

"No, I'm actually not as good as you think." Shen Linfeng felt a little uncomfortable.

After entering officialdom for so many years, he no longer looks like a complete scholar. Only his wife always praises him for his good heart, but he is not like that at all.

Yao Niang shook her head: "No, you are the best person."

The first wife's life was peaceful and quiet. Firstly, it was because Shen Linfeng's family had never sent anything to Concubine Chang and the empresses. Secondly, they had a good relationship with the Liu family. Yan Yingqi was his father-in-law, so naturally he would not be affected.

Besides, Concubine Chang in the palace has a very good relationship with the first wife, so with her around, the first wife will not be affected.

Second Master Shen was impeached and could no longer go to the government office. Second Madam Shen and Wang were like frightened birds. This was a blow that Second Madam Shen had never experienced before. Since she married Second Master Shen, Second Master Shen was extremely knowledgeable. Although she was angry with Madam Shen, she also boasted that she could play Madam Shen around.

It just so happened that Shen Bangyan went to Lujiang Mansion and was not at home at all.

Mr. Shen II complained to Mrs. Shen II: "Why would you lend money at high interest? Normally you would say you were collecting rent, but lending money at high interest is not something that people would punish, but if it is discovered, both you and I will be in big trouble."

"I'm just thinking about you, old man. How can your salary be enough to support your family? The new daughter-in-law has brought so many people as a dowry, and the rent money for the entire mansion is not enough for one month's food expenses." Mrs. Shen was also very good at making excuses.

She would not regret at all that what she did was wrong, she just felt that she was unlucky and was caught.

"You guys have killed me." Old Master Shen shook his head.

Mrs. Shen Er started talking about her daughter-in-law instead: "I never thought that Brother Yan's daughter-in-law would take over the lawsuit."

Wang also felt that she was unlucky. She felt that what she did was very secretive. She didn't even tell Shen Bangyan and only hired her trusted people. She didn't expect that this matter would be spread out.

"Who on earth informed on this? No one knows about this. Anyone in the capital with a little extra money would do it secretly. I think our family must have offended someone." Wang said as she packed up her things.

Chunluo recalled that Zezhi once wanted to climb into bed and was sold out. She was the one who asked someone to sell her out. Zezhi told her that Wang was so cruel and would not be good to her in the future. She once heard that when the Ma family was confiscated, they gave all the money to the servants and ran away.

And now that the Shen family is in trouble, the master seems to have never thought about her. Is she going to be sold again?

No matter how loyal a servant is, he still has to consider his own situation.

"Chunluo, take out this money and deposit it in the bank for me. If nothing happens in the future, I can take it out. If something happens, it will be a way out in the future." Wang and Shen Bangyan did not have a deep relationship. Their daughter was raised by her parents-in-law. She was the daughter of Marquis Xinning. Her mother and sister loved her. When the time came, she would just take her daughter home. The one from the Lan family did the same.

Chunluo nodded: "I will go over now."

"Well, after you take care of these things, I will go back to my parents' home as well." Wang was very worried.

But in the end they were still calm. The Shen family was prosperous and even Kechen had people from the Shen family. Also, their in-laws were all either rich or noble. At most they would just return to Wu Xing's hometown and nothing serious would happen.

But that's how the officialdom is. If you don't step down, others can't step up, especially since the Shen family holds several official positions, including the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, the vice minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, and Shen Linfeng's position as a Hanlin.

When Shen Linfeng came to the Yan family, he was not panicking at all. It was hard for him to be affected. This was not because of any other reason, but because he was actually a trusted son of the Prime Minister Zhao family. Even his father-in-law would ask him to pass on the message when he wanted to reach an agreement with the Prime Minister.

The Yan family's gate was always crowded with people, many of whom were waiting to see Yan Yingqi, and these people paid a lot of money to the Yan family. Look at Lian Da, who used to rush to the gate, now he is the second in command, and many officials are still fawning on him.

As the son-in-law of the Yan family, he came directly without any notice. Yan Yingqi seemed to have expected him to come and asked him to sit down: "Are you here to talk about Xiang?"

Shen Linfeng immediately shook his head at the directness of the question: "I was thinking about the recent events in our house, and I need to ask my father-in-law how to solve them."

Yan Yingqi glanced at Shen Linfeng and said, "It's just a tiger that will cause trouble."

At first, Second Master Shen knew that Zhou Lingguang had come to Beijing, but he did nothing. He only cried out for injustice when Zhou Lingguang started to fight back. Second Master Shen was a person who liked to do dirty work behind the scenes. The person who really showed up was First Master Shen, but First Master Shen was quite decisive. Once Gong Cifu backed off, he backed off, unless Zhou Lingguang still wanted to continue to cause trouble for Shen Linfeng.

Having said that, this son-in-law is definitely not the kind-hearted, pushy man that his daughter describes him as, as if her husband is the kindest person in the world.

Shen Linfeng is a completely different person internally and externally. He is quite resourceful externally and has great appeal among his peers. He is not only good at writing, but the first assistant trusts him as a person and the second assistant also appreciates his writing style.

He is a very sensible official. Apart from the Yan Ningxin scandal, he has almost no scandals.

Shen Linfeng understood immediately. His second uncle was indeed like that. He had already told him about Zhou Lingguang's matter, but he acted as if he knew nothing about it. His father retired cleanly and gave up his official position to protect himself.

"You're right. Actually, I came to you today just to seek peace of mind." Shen Linfeng shook his head.

Yan Yingqi said: "This matter is big, but not small either. Your second uncle has someone he trusts, so he can definitely find a way to solve it."

In fact, Yan Yingqi already knew from Xie what Madam Shen Er had done, so how could he possibly help? Madam Shen Er had a good relationship with Assistant Prime Minister Zhao, so it was not impossible for him to follow Assistant Prime Minister Zhao's path.

Here Shen Linfeng still had to put forward the conditions, but Shen Linfeng made his attitude clear without even mentioning them.

沈臨風颔首，但他怕回去早了之後，人家說他不盡力，所以他在顏家待到晚上，還吃了一頓飯。解氏一個勁兒給他夾菜，沈臨風對解氏也跟對自己親娘一樣，還道：“窈娘現在懷孕都經常說要補骨髓，早上起來喝豆漿加一湯匙黑芝麻、一小湯匙大塊的紅糖還有一湯匙的莜麥。我原先學疊踏的時候，喝這個關節一點兒也不會響。”

解氏打量了沈臨風一眼，的确非常精神，神采奕奕，她呆呆的道：“那我可要親自試試了。”

“岳母，我家裏打了好些黑芝麻，和那些糖塊，到時候我一并讓人送來。”沈臨風笑道。

顏應祁心想以往景昭和自己倒是很說的來，只可惜他在彭澤，沈臨風和解氏更像母子似的，二人很說的來，性格也很像，一個外表看起來溫柔，其實內心很倔強，一個外表看着潇灑溫柔，可內心也偏執。

兩人特別專注在一些小事情上，如果是他女兒，肯定也不這樣。

沈臨風晚上從顏家回去時，窈娘正好在院子裏散步，見他回來，夫妻二人相視一笑，一切盡在不言重。

哪裏知曉沈臨風前腳剛到，後腳沈二老爺夫妻就過來了，窈娘只好道：“我先回去了，你自己好生應付。”

沈臨風微微點頭。

扶着顧媽媽的手進去，窈娘問起：“三房的人不知道怎麽樣呢？”

顧媽媽冷笑：“三房的人問的多，其餘什麽忙都幫不上。”

“哪裏就真的幫不上了，我記得江二嫂嫂的舅舅是小九卿啊，以前天天吹牛，就數她和二房走的最近了，現在袖手旁觀起來了。”窈娘嗤之以鼻。

顧媽媽扶着窈娘坐下卸下釵環：“看您說的，這錦上添花的多，雪中送炭的有幾個啊。要我說也是大夫人之前把她們都慣壞了……”

“說這些再也無益。她們是平日總躲在別人後面捅刀子，得罪人的事情已經做慣了，我公公是早就看明白了，夫君又出仕，他退的幹幹靜靜的。二叔當時卻逡巡，又不敢真的對周陵光下手，現在被人報複回來，也是他們家自己作孽。我都不知道她們要這麽多錢做什麽？”窈娘搖頭。

貪就罷了，平日躲事躲慣了，現在正該讓她們吃吃苦頭。

豈不聞清大奶奶正擔心自己被二房出賣，一個勁兒的撺掇二房找大房幫忙，她還有個威脅是楚姨娘在這個月誕下一子，那孩子生的很好，丈夫對楚姨娘原本就不一般，現在更是捧的她不知道自己是誰了？

可惜如今她年歲已大，家世敗落，無力抗衡了。

正想着，又見邵氏過來了，她擡眸：“這麽晚了，二弟妹過來可是有事？”

“能有什麽事情，還不是二房的事情？也不知道此事會不會出什麽大亂子，我真是擔心的很。”邵氏還沒想到沈家會出現這種情況。

清大奶奶搖頭：“我們也無能為力啊。”

邵氏則道：“我也覺得，聽說還涉及到奪嫡了……”

“這我就不知道了。”清大奶奶連說都不敢說這個話題了。

如此邵氏也知道自己商量不出什麽，想起三弟妹韓氏也是個一問搖頭三不知的人，更加不想去了。

她還能稍微和沈臨江說說二房的事情，沈臨江道：“這事兒不是寫信告訴爹了嗎？我們幾個白身也管不了朝堂的事情啊。不過，我很好奇到底是誰這麽大的膽子，竟然搜集了二叔這麽多的事情。”

“不是說是禦史臺彈劾的嗎？”邵氏道。

“這些都只是臺前的人。”沈臨江道。

正在大家驚惶不安時，沈二老爺之罪很快就下來了，二房之前放印子錢全部推到下人身上，沈二老爺卻沒有參與過，只落了個不察之罪，但是要拿兩萬兩銀子賠償。

沈二老爺本人賄賂三皇子身邊的太監，有私通內闱之嫌疑，罷官不說還永不錄用，甚至子孫後代也不許科舉，這已經是皇上看在沈家的面子和常貴妃的面子上開恩了。

宮門抄很快就拿出來了，窈娘扶着肚子在二房這邊，見沈二夫人一言不發坐在一旁，王氏懷裏的嬰孩似乎察覺到氣氛不好，正哇哇哇的哭。

其實窈娘覺得皇上已經是很開恩了，大抵是沈二老爺也專門去說項了。

“一場空，什麽都是一場空。”沈二夫人絕望的看了窈娘一眼。

窈娘卻道：“二嬸，你們馬上就要回家去了，到家就一切都好了。”

她很清楚沈二夫人回去之後，等着她的還有沈老爺夫妻，她們一直在等一個契機，沒想到這個契機終于等到了。

沈二老爺曾經不管到哪裏都光鮮亮麗，如今一行人回去，卻是灰溜溜的。

最後送他們出城的人居然是沈臨風，沈臨風對沈二老爺道：“邦彥那裏我也去信了，就讓他也返回吳興。”

“臨風，我的事情你放心，不會牽連到你，還要多謝你這些日子奔走。”沈二老爺含笑。

沈臨風道：“叔父這是說哪裏話，皇上對叔父已經手下留情了，盼叔父回鄉之後，記挂皇上君恩，多為鄉裏做好事，切勿有怨怼。”

沈二老爺如今失意，見沈臨風這般冠冕堂皇，不禁道：“我不過是看着三皇子身邊的人是我在內書房教過的小太監，因此打點一番，卻給我扣那樣的帽子，我如今已經是百口莫辯了。臨風，你之所以還能這般，還是你現下官卑位小啊。”

沈臨風抿抿唇，沒再說話了，沈二老爺倏地放下簾子，他一直看他們出城了，才往不遠處看了看，他很清楚肯定有錦衣衛守着，自己順便表表忠心。只不過二叔也太焦躁了些，自己一失意就對官場抨擊，對皇上也頗多怨怼。

真是給他機會也不中用啊！

沈臨風回來時，窈娘還抱怨：“平日和她們二房那麽好的人都不去送，偏偏你去送，真是個軟爛心腸的人。”

“若非我這般，娘子也不可能喜歡我啊。”沈臨風笑道。

窈娘又皺眉：“我擔心周陵光可能要對付你，你且小心些才好。”

沈臨風點頭：“放心吧，我不會讓他對付我的。對了，不日，我可能要升為侍講了。”

“真的嗎？這可是好消息啊，你現在才二十四歲，就已經是侍講了，自古夫榮妻貴，我跟芙姐兒還有肚子裏的孩子也覺得萬分榮耀。”窈娘笑道。

沈臨風摟着窈娘：“二嬸這一回去，我爹娘不會放過她的。邦彥也一輩子不會有出頭之日，真是多行不義必自斃。”

二房這樣大的事情過後，沈臨風不僅沒受牽連，反而還榮升侍講。

大家越發贊嘆吳興沈氏人才輩出，即便是皇上也要給他們幾分面子，窈娘和沈臨風把沈臨羿的畫像挂在祠堂，又相視一笑。

沈臨風暗自對着畫中的沈臨羿道：“大哥，你的大仇已經得報了，你放心去投胎吧。”

窈娘看了沈臨風一眼，又覺得很奇怪：“你說二叔賄賂三皇子身邊的內侍，這些實屬機密，可能身邊的人都不可能會知道，周陵光怎麽可能會知曉呢？”

沈臨風眼睛閃了閃。

**

沈二夫人一路随着沈二老爺奔波回去，她還從未這麽狼狽過，因此她在路上還抱怨沈臨風：“他若是真的肯下力，就讓顏家還有趙家，甚至劉指揮使都替您說這是誤會。咱們怎麽可能受這些無妄之災？”

沈二老爺呵斥道：“好了，你也少說幾句。”

所謂貧賤夫妻百事哀，沈家二房的老爺夫人當然是沒有到貧賤的地步，可是二老爺官位丢了，子孫後代都不許入仕，自家的邦彥永無出頭之日，沈二夫人怎麽能不怪。

她甚至還道：“他當初剛進翰林院的時候，老爺對他比自己的兒子還親近，現在怎麽樣呢？人家話說的漂亮，幫忙卻不下力氣。我們現在回去，還得看大哥大嫂的臉色。一輩子我對大嫂都伏低做小，現在老了，還得搖尾乞憐。”

沈二夫人就是不服氣，韓氏有什麽啊？沒腦子，蠢笨如豬，心思也不善良，可就是命比她好點，除此之外什麽都不是。

比起她來，王氏就怨氣更重了，她沒想到自己才嫁過來不過四年多，公爹居然遭受此等大罪，丈夫一輩子也沒有任何出息了，她還得捆綁上沈家二房這條已經下沉的船。

“春蘿，我得找個機會和離出去。”王氏道。

春蘿道：“可是侯爺和夫人那邊——”

王氏原本聽她娘的話，事事以夫為天，現在自己真的落難了，娘家卻沒人幫忙，反而趁火打劫把她的嫁妝假意保管之名拿了一大半走了。

可見什麽賢良名聲，全都是假的。

“我們伺機而動，天無絕人之路。”王氏道，說完，她又看向春蘿道：“春蘿，我有個忙想讓你幫。”

春蘿立馬道：“您別折煞我了，不知道是何事？”

Wang smiled and said, "When we came here just now, the county magistrate of Wuxing didn't know what was going on in the capital, and he met us at the post house. I heard that he has no son. You are young and beautiful, and there are not many people in our house who are as pretty as you. If you go to serve him, I will personally arrange your marriage and prepare your dowry. I just hope you can help me get a divorce."

Chunluo stood on the ground in a daze.

Several people were complaining when they got home. After getting off the carriage, Mrs. Shen wanted to find Mrs. Shen to cry to, but she didn't expect to see Mr. and Mrs. Shen when she saw them. The couple looked at her viciously.

"Brother, sister-in-law, what are you doing..."

Madam Shen could no longer hold back and rushed forward: "Bi, you killed my brother Yi. I have waited so long for you."