In the carriage.
Shen Heqing felt that Shen Baozhu was acting strangely. No, to be precise, extremely strangely!
He lowered his head and asked, "Baozhu, what's wrong with you?"
Shen Baozhu looked up blankly. "Nothing's wrong."
"Then could you move a bit to the side? Big brother is about to be squeezed into a meat patty!" Shen Heqing's tone was tinged with helplessness.
Shen Baozhu was still in a daze. "Huh? Why would big brother turn into a meat patty? Are meat patties delicious?"
Out of sheer helplessness, Shen Heqing reached out and pushed Shen Baozhu to the side. "If a certain little girl doesn't move, big brother will really be squeezed into a meat patty by her."
"Also, meat patties aren't delicious."
Shen Baozhu nodded thoughtfully and then asked, "Big brother, why did grandmother call cousin Bai Xinrou? Isn't cousin's surname Xie?"
Shen Heqing was taken aback. What on earth was this all about?
Thankfully, Shen Heqing still remembered the name Bai Xinrou, and he quickly understood what Shen Baozhu meant.
The Bai Xinrou who had harmed him was now in the Shen Mansion, chatting with his grandmother.
Shen Heqing felt rather conflicted. He pressed on, "Baozhu, when did you hear grandmother call cousin Bai Xinrou? Can you tell big brother?"
"It was when big brother went to find grandfather! Baozhu was sleeping in the room. Grandmother woke me up, and I heard her talking to cousin. Grandmother called cousin Bai Xinrou, and she also mentioned mother..."
Although Shen Baozhu didn't understand the conversation, she could repeat it word for word. The only problem was that she only remembered the words but not who had said them.
The more Shen Heqing listened, the more shocked he became. Even though it was the height of summer, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, his whole body turning cold.
He had thought that although Shen Yunfeng was an unkind father, he still had his grandfather and grandmother. Now it seemed that he had been delusional.
None of the people in the Shen Mansion were good!
He didn't believe that his grandfather, who had once been a prime minister, was unaware of this. The only explanation was that he and the old lady of the Shen family were fully aware of Bai Xinrou's existence and even tacitly approved of it!
"Big brother, big brother!" Shen Baozhu called out a few times, rousing Shen Heqing from his icy reverie.
Shen Heqing said with difficulty, "Baozhu, big brother has a question for you. What were you doing when we had dinner yesterday?"
The question was so simple that Shen Baozhu answered without hesitation, "Baozhu was having dinner!"
"I'm not asking you that... Do you know who the woman who had dinner with us was?" Shen Heqing rephrased the question.
Shen Baozhu blinked her eyes. "Cousin!"
Shen Heqing frowned and tried to ask for the third time. "What I mean is, did you notice that the cousin who had dinner with us yesterday was also called Xie Xiner?"
"The one from yesterday was the real cousin, and the one who talked to grandmother today is a fake..."
Shen Heqing rambled on, but Shen Baozhu was completely confused. "Is the new cousin a bad guy?"
Facing Shen Baozhu's confused look, Shen Heqing finally gave up. "Forget it. You'd better go back to the mansion and ask mother. Big brother can't teach you."
[The cousin who talked to grandmother today is a bad guy, and the cousin who had dinner yesterday is a good guy.]
[The bad guy stole the good guy's identity. Mother found out and drove the bad guy away.]
Shen Heqing's long and complicated words were simplified into two sentences. Shen Baozhu suddenly understood.
She even extrapolated and figured out what had happened today. The bad guy had gone to grandmother to complain, and grandmother had even spoken ill of mother with the bad guy.
Shen Baozhu clenched her fists angrily. "The bad guy stole someone else's identity. She's so bad!"
"Grandmother spoke ill of mother with the bad guy. She's bad too!"
"I'm going to tell mother!"
The little girl was fuming with anger and couldn't wait to tell her mother right away.
As soon as the carriage stopped, she rushed out first. Shen Heqing couldn't even catch up with her.
...
In the main courtyard.
The first person to notice Shen Baozhu's figure was Hong Shen.
At first, she saw a small figure. When she realized that it was Shen Baozhu, her heart skipped a beat.
Seeing that the figure was about to pass by her, Hong Shen quickly grabbed Shen Baozhu's clothes, lifted her up, bent down, and caught her firmly in her arms.
Shen Baozhu couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow! Aunt Hong Shen is so amazing!"
"Little princess, don't run in such a hurry. You might fall." Afraid that Shen Baozhu would continue to run, Hong Shen held her tightly in her arms.
As Hong Shen had expected, Shen Baozhu still wanted to run.
She grabbed Hong Shen's sleeve and said angrily, "Aunt Hong Shen, please let Baozhu down. Baozhu has something very important to tell mother."
The little girl, who usually spoke with a cute lisp, was now clenching her fists, looking extremely angry.
Hong Shen couldn't help but laugh. "Little princess, you're so cute. What serious business do you have?"
"The bad guy spoke ill of mother. I'm going to tell mother!" The more Shen Baozhu thought about it, the angrier she got. "Grandmother is also bad. She even helped the bad guy!"
Hearing that the old lady of the Shen family was involved, Hong Shen's expression changed slightly. "Is that so? That's really bad. Who is the bad guy?"
Shen Baozhu thought for a moment. "Bai Xinrou, the fake cousin."
Hong Shen's face became completely serious. She nodded in agreement. "This is indeed serious business. We have to tell the princess right away!"
"Right... Flying?" Shen Baozhu was nodding vigorously when suddenly she felt weightless. She instinctively hugged Hong Shen tightly.
The distance that was originally dozens of steps away was quickly covered as Hong Shen tapped her toes and used her lightness kung fu. In no time, they were in front of the window of the study in the main courtyard. To save time, Hong Shen simply placed Shen Baozhu into the room through the window.
From the moment Hong Shen tiptoed to the moment Shen Baozhu appeared in the study, the whole process took less than ten seconds. It was so fast that Shen Baozhu didn't even have time to react.
Hearing the noise, Princess Jingning looked towards the window and saw this scene.
She put down the pen in her hand and asked in surprise, "Baozhu, why are you back? Didn't Heqing take you to the workshop outside the city?"
Her mother's voice brought Shen Baozhu back to her senses. She first looked up at Hong Shen, who was still standing outside the window, and then took out the thumb-sized shadow stone from her body.
Shen Baozhu introduced it, "Mother, the bad guy and grandmother spoke ill of you. I recorded it all in here!"
Princess Jingning quickly thought of the treasure bestowed by the immortal. Her eyes swept over the shadow stone and then landed on Hong Shen.
Hong Shen understood and said with a smile, "Little princess is really fond of joking. It's just an ordinary black stone. How could it record things?"
Then, Hong Shen used the excuse of looking for someone and took all the maids serving in the study and the main courtyard out.
After everyone left, Princess Jingning walked up to Shen Baozhu, picked her up, and held her in her arms. "Baozhu, is this shadow stone the treasure given to you by the immortal?"
"Uh-huh. Big brother took Baozhu to see grandmother. Baozhu was eating pastries in the room."
"After eating the pastries, Baozhu went to sleep. Then I heard someone arguing, so I went over to listen..."
After simply recounting what had happened, Shen Baozhu was extremely angry. "Grandmother is bad! She spoke ill of mother with the bad guy!"
Shen Baozhu didn't forget to infuse spiritual energy into the shadow stone. The voices of the old lady of the Shen family and Bai Xinrou filled the entire study.
As the shadow stone played, Princess Jingning's expression remained calm, but the aura around her turned cold.
She gently patted Shen Baozhu's back and comforted her, "Don't be angry. Thank you, Baozhu, for telling mother."
"But Baozhu has to remember that the next time the immortal gives you a treasure, you should tell mother in private. If others know you have a treasure, bad guys might come to catch you."
Shen Baozhu nodded vaguely.
After giving instructions to Shen Baozhu, Princess Jingning walked to the window and called out, "Zi Wan!"
A moment later, Zi Wan appeared at the window. Princess Jingning instructed her, "You take the token of the general's mansion, bring Cui Liu and the evidence to the yamen, and make sure they arrest Bai Xinrou and bring her to justice."