482 Prince Rui’s Neighbor (1)
With Shen Xin and his family returning to the capital with such fanfare and Shen Miao stealing the show at the royal banquet, while everyone was discussing, they also paid attention to the original mighty General’s Mansion.
The mighty general was no longer around, so naturally the plaque with Mighty General written on it was taken off and replaced with the Shen family. Back then, when Shen Xin was demoted and left the capital, not only did the Shen family not provide him with help, but they also proposed to split up at the critical moment to make things harder for Shen Xin. Now that Shen Xin was invited back by the Emperor Wen Hui, no matter what Emperor Wen Hui was up to, outsiders looked at the Shen family with schadenfreude. As for the Shen family, they couldn’t only swallow the bitter fruit.
In Rongjing Hall, Old Madam Shen sat on the couch decorated by the fur Shen Xin brought up from the northwest long ago. Because it had been too long, it looked a little worn off. Every year when Shen Xin returned to the capital, he would bring Old Madam Shen some animal skins he hunted from the northwest. Those were good things that could not even be bought with money in the capital. Now that Shen Xin no longer gave her animal skins, Old Madam Shen could only use old ones.
Rongjing Hall was no longer as exquisite and luxurious as before. Even the decorations were much fewer. Back then, because Shen Xin was constantly rewarded by the emperor, the entire Shen family lived a comfortable life. Now that Shen Xin was gone, their life was a little difficult.
“The third branch is getting more and more unreasonable recently.” Old Madam Shen took a sip of ginseng tea and said with a frown, “It’s almost winter. Yesterday, I asked Chen Ruoqiu to find a tailor to make a fur cloak for me. She hesitated and wouldn’t agree. I guess she pocketed all the money.”
The maid behind her carefully rubbed Old Madam Shen’s shoulders and lowered her head without saying a word. Now, Old Madam Shen was getting more and more temperamental. Ever since Shen Yuanbai died of smallpox a year ago, Old Madam Shen had often lost her temper.
Shen Yuanbai’s sudden death was a pain the entire Shen family could not get over until now. A year ago, many people were infected with smallpox. Although they managed to control it in the end and stopped the spread of the epidemic, some people still died in the end. Unfortunately, Shen Yuanbai was one of them.
In the second branch of the Shen family, Shen Gui originally had two sons. Shen Yuan died under the executioner’s knife. Originally, they still had Shen Yuanbai to pass down the bloodline. After Shen Yuanbai died, Shen Gui went crazy and Ren Wanyun hung herself in the courtyard with a belt. After Ren Wanyun died, Shen Gui began to take in concubines. However, there was no news of anyone getting pregnant for a year and a half. Later, Old Madam Shen finally felt that something was wrong and asked a doctor to take a look at Shen Gui. The doctor said that Shen Gui had taken an infertility pill. It was impossible for him to have any children in this life.
Old Madam Shen fainted after hearing that, and Shen Gui was also dumbfounded. He investigated and found that the deceased Ren Wanyun was the one who drugged him just so she could make sure Shen Yuanbai could remain to be the legitimate child and the rightful heir. However, no one expected that Shen Yuanba would die of smallpox. Since Ren Wanyun was already dead, Shen Gui naturally couldn’t do anything to her. In the second branch, Shen Dongling became the only child Shen Gui had.
Ever since Shen Gui found out that he would die without an heir, he did not have the spirit to climb up the official ladder anymore. There was no one to inherit his position. What was the point of getting more power?
It was impossible for the second branch to have another son, so Old Madam Shen could only pin her hope on the third branch, Shen Wan. Shen Wan didn’t take an infertility pill, but he was only loyal to Chen Ruoqiu. Even the two concubines that Old Madam Shen gave to Shen Wan in the early years were all neglected.