Chapter 129: Prince Rui’s Neighbour (Part 1)
Shen Xin and wife returned to the capital with great fanfare, and Shen Miao even stole the limelight in the Ming Qi’s tribute banquet in front of the entire court of civil and military officials, and at the same time when discussion were made in succession, the attention was turned to the original Formidable General residence.
Since the Formidable General is no longer there, the previously General residence had taken off the plaque and changed it to Shen residence. Initially when Shen Xin was demoted and left the capital, the Shen family not only did not send charcoal during the snowy weather, they actually brought out the separation from the family and wanted to draw a clear line between them and Shen Xin. Now that Shen Xin was once again highly regarded by Emperor Wen Hui, no matter what intention the Emperor had, others took joy and delight at the calamity that the Shen family had and as for the Shen family themselves, they could only swallow the bitter fruit down.
Within Rong Jing Tang, Old Shen Furen was sitting at the couch on the main area, and on the couch the fur that Shen Xin gave was still there. It was a wolf skin that was hunted in the Northwestern region and due to the long usage, it was worn out till one side was somewhat flat. In the past when Shen Xin returned to the capital every year, he would always gift Old Shen Furen some hide that he had hunted, and they were all good stuff that could not be bought in the Ding capital. Now that Shen Xin no longer gifted any hide, Old Shen Furen could only use the old stuff from the past.
Moreover Rong Jing Tang was no longer as exquisite and luxurious as the past, that even the decorations were lesser than before. Shen Xin originally was rewarded by the Emperor continuously and even the Shen residence was comfortably well off, but now without Shen Xin’s financial assistance and Chen Rou Qiu holding the power of managing the household, the days past were like one pulling on lapels that exposes the elbows (aka over-extended and unable to make ends meet).
“Number Three’s family is becoming overboarding these days.” Old Shen Furen drank a sip of ginseng tea and the skin on her face seemed be all wrinkled up, “Now that the winter is coming, yesterday I told her to find the tailor to make a cloak for me, she also pushed and pulled. The money all fall into her own pocket.”
The maid behind carefully rubbed Old Shen Furen shoulders and lowered her head without speaking. Currently Old Shen Furen was getting more temperamental, ever since one year ago when Shen Yuan Bo died a premature dead due to smallpox, Old Shen Furen would often lose her temper.
Shen Yuan Bo’s premature death was currently the unspeakable pain of the Shen family. One year ago, there was an intermittent number of people contracting smallpox, and even though it was contained at the end and the epidemic did not have a greater impact, there were still some deaths and unfortunately, Shen Yuan Bo was one of them.
In the Second household of the Shen family, Shen Gui originally had two sons and after Shen Yuan died under the executioner’s blade, Shen Yuan Bo was to be relied upon but once Shen Yuan Bo died Shen Gui almost went crazy, and Ren Wan Yun used her waist cloth to hung herself to death in her courtyard after Shen Yuan Bo’s death. After Ren Wan Yun’s death, Shen Gui started to bring in more concubines but after about a year, there were no movements. Finally Old Shen Furen finally felt something was not right and got a physician to take a look at Shen Gui. The physician said that Shen Gui had taken medication to end offspring and had destroyed the roots for having children, and would not be able to have another child in this lifetime.
After Old Shen Furen heard this, she fainted and Shen Gui was stunned silly. After much investigating from Shen Gui, it all landed on the dead Ren Wan Yun. She had drugged Shen Gui with the medication to end offspring, and her motive was to secure Shen Yuan Bo’s Di son position, but who knew that Shen Yuan Bo’s life would be this short. Ren Wan Yun was dead and naturally Shen Gui could not do anything more to her so now in the Second household, Shen Gui was only left with one child, Shen Dong Ling. As the tide rises, Shen Dong Ling was like the boat that float and Wan YiLiang had taken on a new lease of life, and became the only person that had a child with Shen Gui.
