Concubine Ruan frowned slightly. “Just set it down for now—”
“Madam, please take the medicine first. It’ll lose its strength if it gets cold. Then all your suffering would be for nothing…”
Wen Yan coaxed her gently.
Concubine Ruan sighed, lifted the bowl to drink, but the moment the medicine reached her lips, the smell made her queasy again.
She suddenly looked up, intending to ask Wen Yan to fetch some candied fruit from the cabinet.
But just as she lifted her head, she caught Wen Yan staring fixedly at her medicine bowl. The moment Wen Yan realized she was being watched, a flicker of panic flashed through her eyes.
Concubine Ruan’s heart lurched. Keeping her expression perfectly neutral, she said,
“Go get me some candied fruit, will you…”
“Alright…”
As soon as Wen Yan left, Concubine Ruan looked at the dark, murky herbal soup and poured it into the potted plant beside her.
She didn’t trust Wen Yan the way she trusted Dousha. It was better to be cautious in all things.
Soon, Wen Yan returned with a small dish of candied fruit. Seeing the empty bowl, she let out an almost imperceptible breath of relief.
That evening, Sheng Mingshu came to have dinner with Concubine Ruan. After the meal, mother and son wanted to have a private talk, and everyone else was dismissed.
Concubine Ruan told Sheng Mingshu about Wen Yan’s strange behavior that afternoon. Every muscle in Sheng Mingshu’s body tensed instantly.
How could Sheng Mingshu not know what was going on in this household? The place was in utter chaos these days!
Take Sheng Mingjian, for instance—he’d ruined… that part of himself.
Or how Sheng Mingjian had sent someone from his courtyard to kill Seventh Sister. Even though Sheng Mingjian refused to admit it to his dying breath, and the man died so there was no proof…
Anyone with half a brain could figure it out.
That’s why, afterward, Seventh Sister had gone to Sheng Mingjian’s courtyard to “raise hell.”
He also knew that Liang Mingcheng, who had been so close to Sheng Mingjian before, had suddenly been turned into a cripple.
His tongue cut out, the tendons in his hands severed…
The Liang family had already been devastated by the fire, and now with Liang Mingcheng suffering such a fate, they’d nearly been driven to begging on the streets…
There were too many undercurrents swirling beneath the surface. Sheng Mingshu was terrified they’d reach his concubine-mother, so he dared not let his guard down for even a moment.
So the next day, Sheng Mingshu didn’t go to the academy. Instead, he had his page boy, Huaishan, retrieve the dregs of the medicine Wen Yan had poured away.
They took the dregs to the physician at Renxin Hall who had originally treated Concubine Ruan for diagnosis. After examining them, the doctor said the dregs were harmless.
Only then did Sheng Mingshu let out a huge sigh of relief. So many things have been happening lately, he thought. Maybe I’m just being too tense…
Of course, he still needed to observe Wen Yan carefully before deciding whether she could be kept on.
His concubine-mother was the person dearest to him in the world. He would never allow anyone to harm her.
——-
“Little Xianjing, has the wound on your neck completely healed now?”
At Haitang Courtyard, Duanmu Rui asked with concern.
Today, on a whim, Duanmu Rui had come to the Sheng residence again to play.
“Many thanks for Your Highness’s concern. It’s completely healed now. And thank you so much for having Sister Yuanyuan come to my rescue that day…”
Huang Xianjing smiled as she expressed her gratitude.
Duanmu Rui waved her hand dismissively. “Enough with all the thanking, it makes us sound like strangers—
“You’ve got quite a bit of courage, actually daring to fight back against that man—”
“To be honest, Your Highness, I only felt the fear after it was all over—”
Huang Xianjing said, a little embarrassed.
“My older cousin has always been timid, but to save me, she was willing to throw her own life away. I will remember this debt of gratitude forever!”
Huang Yaning spoke up solemnly.
Huang Xianjing hurriedly waved her hands, flustered.
“No… no, Cousin, please don’t think that way. I only did what an older cousin should do…”
Huang Yaning’s heart melted with tenderness, and she couldn’t help reaching out to stroke Xianjie’s soft hair.
Duanmu Rui pointed at herself. “And what about me?”
“Your Highness and the heroine Yuanyuan are naturally my benefactors as well!”
Huang Yaning replied, amused.
Duanmu Rui blinked again. “Your Fourth Brother was fighting for you that day too, you know—
“I heard that when your Eldest Brother came knocking, he was right there at the front, blocking people for you…
“Your Fourth Brother treats you pretty well, doesn’t he—”
Huang Yaning nodded. Sheng Mingshu truly was good to her, very much living up to the role of an older brother.
Sheng Mingli was like a brother to her too.
It was just those three…
Thinking of those three, her heart filled with indescribable complexity.
Last time, she’d knocked out two of Sheng Mingbo’s front teeth. He’d been busy ever since looking for someone skilled enough to fix them.
She heard he’d now had two gold teeth fitted. Except now, whenever he opened his mouth in the sunlight, those two teeth glittered dazzlingly, practically blinding.
Sheng Mingbo found his two gold teeth an eyesore no matter how he looked at them. He’d been shutting himself in his courtyard day after day.
Apparently, he’d also been throwing tantrums at the slightest provocation. Life wasn’t easy for him.
Huang Yaning thought he deserved every bit of it!
Meanwhile, beside them, Duanmu Rui had already started chatting with Huang Xianjing about Sheng Mingshu.
Huang Xianjing, Sheng Mingshu, and Sheng Mingli had been tutored together as children, and shared a very good relationship.
As they talked, the conversation flowed more and more freely.
When Huang Yaning snapped back to the conversation, the more she watched, the more something seemed off.
Because whenever Sheng Mingshu’s name came up, the princess’s eyes sparkled and a faint pink flush crept across her cheeks…
After all, Huang Yaning had lived a past life. The way the princess looked was exactly how a young girl looked when she was in the first bloom of love.
Could it be that the princess… liked Sheng Mingshu?
Huang Yaning froze for a moment, and then it felt like a firework had exploded inside her brain.
Think of the immense power of the Eldest Princess’s household! The princess was the Eldest Princess’s beloved daughter, and deeply adored by the Emperor himself!
Sheng Mingshu, for his part, had handsome features, outstanding character, and real talent for scholarship.
Huang Yaning thought Sheng Mingshu was exceptionally outstanding!
But from a worldly standpoint, the concubine-born son of a fifth-rank official was nowhere near worthy of the princess…
And another thing—if the princess truly liked Sheng Mingshu, and the Eldest Princess found out, would she think the Sheng family had deliberately schemed to seduce the princess?
Would the Eldest Princess’s anger extend to Minmin?
Huang Yaning felt a throbbing pain begin in her temples.
What on earth is all this…
In truth, Huang Yaning’s guess was almost spot on.
Duanmu Rui had, indeed, started to develop feelings for Sheng Mingshu…
Before, Duanmu Rui had known about the Sheng family’s young masters. The three legitimate sons harbored hatred for her dear friend.
It was the two concubine-born sons, instead, who got along well with her good friend.
She naturally felt a degree of goodwill toward anyone her dear friend liked.
Then, at the Third Princess’s birthday banquet, when Little Seven was targeted, the first man from the Sheng family to step forward most resolutely to defend Little Seven had been Sheng Mingshu.
A concubine’s son, summoning the courage to protect his younger sister before so many powerful nobles.
It was in that moment that Duanmu Rui truly began to take notice of Sheng Mingshu.
She thought that even though Sheng Mingshu was somewhat slender, his bearing was upright, and he had a real sense of responsibility.
And Sheng Mingshu was good-looking—the kind that grew more and more handsome the longer you looked. His temperament was somewhat…
How should she put it? Something about him felt ethereal and untainted, refreshing to the soul just to look at him.
And then there was that time not long ago, when Little Seven was unconscious and nearly met with disaster.
Sheng Mingshu, a mere scholar, reacted even faster than she did. And despite being a frail bookworm, he charged forward without fear of death to protect his younger sister…
He was kicked away afterward, and she was the one who caught him…
Before, the type of man Duanmu Rui admired had been great generals—the kind of larger-than-life heroes.
She’d always thought that only valiant men were worth marrying.
She had never imagined she’d one day be interested in a delicate scholar.
But thinking it over later—a man who, seeing his little sister in mortal danger, would disregard his own safety and rush to save her…
That was a valiant man indeed.
