Pei Manor.
Madam Pei was ill, so Shen Yunshu had been going to Chunxuan Hall more frequently these past few days.
That morning, as usual, Shen Yunshu went to pay her respects to the old madam. She saw that the old madam’s illness weighed heavily on her, her face even more clouded with worry than before. Although the old madam said nothing, Shen Yunshu knew she was anxious about their third son.
Just the day before, the Court of Judicial Review had taken on the case. It wouldn’t be solved quickly, and Shen Yunshu dared not tell the old madam. But the old lady’s mind was as clear as a mirror—how could she not guess?
Seeing that the old madam had been so worried these past few days she barely ate, living on little more than herbal soups, her frail body naturally wouldn’t recover.
If this continued, she feared her health would be completely broken.
Shen Yunshu wanted to consult someone, but among her peers, her eldest brother had not yet returned, so she could only turn to her great uncle.
Great Uncle, too, was deeply worried: “You and Little Seven have both gone missing recently. Now Third Brother is nowhere to be found. I fear the old madam won’t be able to endure it. This matter is better left unsaid to her.”
“But your niece-in-law thinks grandmother has already guessed. She hasn’t eaten well these days,” Shen Yunshu said anxiously. “A sickness of the heart is hard to cure. We have to find a way to ease her mind first.”
“And what do you suggest?”
“I don’t know if Great Uncle can imitate Grandfather’s handwriting and write a letter to grandmother, at least to comfort her and get her to focus on recovering…”
“Third Brother’s handwriting, I can’t mimic, but there’s one person who can…”
“Who?”
“My in-law, your father…”
Shen Yunshu hadn’t seen her third younger sister for several days either, so she planned to return to the Shen Manor and visit her.
Pei Huaian insisted on going with her. Shen Yunshu didn’t stop him—she knew he had been distracted by worries about his father and hadn’t been able to study properly these days. It was better for him to spend more time at Chunxuan Hall, keeping grandmother company.
Shen Yunshu returned to Shen Manor in the afternoon. Her father was still at the yamen and hadn’t come back yet, so she waited for her third sister in the courtyard.
The two sisters chatted, exchanging the news they hadn’t heard in recent days.
Shen Yunshu said to her, “Auntie sent someone to ask you to come back a few days ago, but you didn’t go. That’s quite a loss of face. Grandmother didn’t call me over but asked me to mediate and said she would persuade Auntie to send that Meng family girl back…”
“The other day, Mama Zhang came to invite me too and said they would discuss the matter of taking a concubine later. I know—they’re all just humoring me. I’m just a bit slow-witted, not stupid…”
Shen Yunshu ruffled her sister’s hair, “Who says you’re slow-witted? You just don’t like to use your brain much.”
Shen Youran propped her chin up, “Sister, about this matter, my brain’s almost smoking. I just can’t figure it out…”
“What matter?”
“That young master who isn’t so bad, sister, do you know? His eyes have already been drawn, and they’re exactly the same as Father’s…” Shen Youran described the portrait and the strange resemblance to their father, then shared her speculation. “Sister, I suspect he’s Father’s illegitimate son.”
“That should… not be.” About that young master, when Shen Yunshu had accompanied her sister to cooperate with the Court of Judicial Review investigation before, she had already grown suspicious. The court was ostensibly investigating that gang of bandits, but in truth, they were more focused on that young man. “Do you remember last time at the court, when Lord Xiao asked if you had ever been inside the palace as a child? I suspect that young man is the child of some noble who fell out of favor in the palace…”
“A palace person?” Shen Youran covered her mouth in surprise, whispering, “Could it be Father and some palace lady…”
“You little head!” Shen Yunshu laughed and tapped her forehead. “Don’t think such treasonous thoughts. Father is not that kind of man.”
“Then why did Mother divorce Father back then? Mother was so good—surely Father did something that hurt her.”
“I asked Mother about that too, but she wouldn’t say. Though it seems Father did do something Mother couldn’t accept…” When their parents divorced, Shen Yunshu was six years old, just starting to form memories. At that time, when Father and Mother discussed taking one child away, Shen Yunshu overheard, and also heard Father apologizing repeatedly to Mother.
But at the time, when Father suddenly took her away, she was too shocked to understand exactly what he was apologizing for.
As dusk fell, Shen Tingyu returned from the yamen. Hearing that his eldest daughter had come back, he hurried over to see her without even changing out of his official robe.
“Shu’er, you’re back too?” The eldest daughter was gentle and understanding, but how had she come back home?
“Father, please don’t overthink,” Shen Yunshu welcomed him in. “I’ve come back because of something I need your help with…”
“What is it?”
“My father-in-law might be in trouble…”
Shen Tingyu’s expression changed.
Shen Yunshu explained the matter’s whole story, then took out a few recent letters sent from Quanzhou to clarify her purpose. “Right now grandmother is so worried she’s fallen ill. Great Uncle says Father, if you can imitate Grandfather’s handwriting, could you write a letter to grandmother to reassure her…”
“Writing the letter is no problem, but I’m worried,” Shen Tingyu furrowed his brow, “I sent him a letter a few days ago… sigh…”
Seeing her father’s serious face, Shen Yunshu asked with concern, “Father, have you encountered some difficulty?”
“This matter is not something I can tell you for now. Youran, go prepare the brush and ink.”
She sent Danruo to fetch the writing tools, but Danruo returned with news: “Master, Eldest Miss, Third Miss, just now the gatekeeper sent word—”
“Hm?”
“Who’s here?”
Still puzzled, the two sisters saw Shen Tingyu set down his brush and stride quickly towards the front hall.
Shen Yunshu pulled her sister along, following behind.
Their father walked very fast. Hand in hand, the sisters jogged after him to the flower hall in the front courtyard.
The sky was dim, and the flower hall was lit by glazed lamps. As they approached, they saw two figures inside.
Shen Youran’s eyes couldn’t see clearly, only vaguely noting that one person was seated while the other stood. The standing figure looked broad-shouldered and stocky.
When Shen Tingyu reached the stone steps at the entrance of the flower hall, the seated man stood up and came forward, “Brother Tingyu!”
“Brother Yuanzhou!” The two men, both over fifty, looked quite moved.
Shen Yunshu was puzzled: hadn’t these two been estranged for many years? They had only just barely reconciled before the marriage—when did they become so warm?
“Brother Yuanzhou, I was just telling Shu’er that you had been missing for many days. We were worried…”
“It’s a long story; I’ll tell you later,” Pei Yuanzhou eagerly took his hand and led him inside. “Brother Tingyu, I brought someone back. You definitely won’t guess who…”
Shen Youran and her sister entered together and saw the broad-shouldered man was only wearing a half-fur coat, which made him appear more burly.
The fur coat looked very familiar.
Shen Youran froze in place. When the man turned around, she was so shocked she nearly lost her balance.
“It’s you?”
It was that young master from the bandit hideout—seemed to be called Brother Lu.
The man’s gaze avoided her.
In the next moment, he hugged her father tightly.
Shen Youran heard her father’s choked voice, “Son! My good son! You’re really alive…”
The two sisters looked at each other in astonishment. Shen Youran couldn’t help but ask Third Uncle Pei, “Third Uncle, is my father really an illegitimate child?”
“Illegitimate child?” Pei Yuanzhou laughed. “He is your second older brother.”
“How is that possible?” Although she rarely saw her second brother, she still remembered his appearance. “My second brother doesn’t look like him at all.”
She and her second brother were a dragon and phoenix twin pair, but strangely, unlike other dragon and phoenix twins who often resemble each other, they looked nothing alike.
But she never doubted it—after all, they came from the same mother’s womb; it couldn’t be wrong.
She hadn’t expected a second brother to suddenly show up today, and that he was a bandit.
Shen Youran couldn’t accept it. “How did this happen?”
The two elders calmed down, sent away the servants attending to the courtyard, closed the flower hall doors, and then solemnly began to explain everything to the three children.
“This matter goes back thirteen years, to when His Majesty deposed the Crown Prince…”
Thirteen years ago, Shen Tingyu was still a clerk at the Ministry of Revenue. Pei Yuanzhou had not abandoned literature for commerce; both were aides to the former Crown Prince.
The former Crown Prince’s wet nurse had been bribed and fabricated baseless accusations, accusing the prince of plotting rebellion. Before overwhelming evidence and witnesses, the prince was helpless, and the emperor deposed the heir apparent, demoting him to Prince of Qi and imprisoning him in a royal estate on the outskirts of the capital.
Fortunately, before the former Crown Prince fell completely into ruin, with his last strength, he saved Shen Tingyu and Pei Yuanzhou, protecting them from being implicated.
Half a year later, a great fire suddenly broke out in the royal estate, burying the deposed prince and his wife, along with everyone there, in the flames.
“It was a group of assassins who set the fire first, then murdered everyone,” Shen Tingyu recalled with grief. “When I arrived with men, I barely managed to rescue His Highness’s two-year-old son and hid him at our own estate. At that time, Changyu and Youran were also there. When the assassins came looking, they mistakenly took Changyu, who was also two years old…”
No wonder, in Shen Youran’s memories, her second brother had been very close with her, but suddenly fell ill at age two and refused to see anyone, then was sent by their father to Quanzhou to “recover.”
“So the second brother studying in Quanzhou is actually the orphaned son of the former Crown Prince?”
“No,” Shen Yunshu replied. “The one studying in Quanzhou is not the former Crown Prince’s orphan.”
When Shen Yunshu heard her father recount that fire, her heart sank. She recalled Pei Huaian’s nightmares after a fire he experienced.
She also remembered that when she tried to match her third younger sister with Pei Huaian in marriage, her father had refused, saying bluntly:
Your third sister… isn’t worthy of Pei Huaian.
But at the time, by family background, appearance, and temperament, the two were perfectly matched. She could find no reason why her third sister wouldn’t be suitable for Pei Huaian…
Thinking further, she remembered how her confused grandfather had said the youngest grandchild liked pomegranates, but Pei Huaian said he didn’t like them at all.
She had also heard Pei Huaian tell an amusing story about the wedding night—that he came home late because grandfather had taken him away to study, and that grandfather had once been a tutor to the Crown Prince.
Shen Yunshu looked at Third Uncle Pei, her voice trembling slightly. “The one studying in Quanzhou isn’t Second Brother, but your son…”
Pei Yuanzhou nodded.
“And the seventh young master of the Pei family is the true orphan of the former Crown Prince…”