Su Yue had grown up in Sujiacun. Although she hadn't been back for a long time, she still remembered the general location.
Following the direction in her memory, she found the house in the village. She pushed the door open. Inside, there was only "Su Qian" alone.
Su Yue was so excited that her body trembled. She could finally kill Su Qian, the bastard who had fought with her for the family fortune. "Su Qian, didn't you say Father left a letter? Where is it?"
"Su Qian" had his back to Su Yue and said nothing.
Su Yue sensed something was wrong. She took out a dagger from her bosom and wanted to kill "Su Qian" directly.
The cold light flashed. "Su Qian" instinctively dodged, but it was already a step too late. The dagger stabbed into his right arm. "Are you crazy! I'm your younger brother!"
Hearing this, Su Yue laughed. She pressed hard with both hands, pushing the dagger deeper into "Su Qian"'s right arm. "What younger brother? You're just a bastard who fought with me for the family fortune. Now that your arm is disabled, I'd like to see how you can take the imperial examinations."
Even if she couldn't kill "Su Qian", Su Yue didn't want him to have a good life!
Taking advantage of "Su Qian"'s pain, Su Yue pulled out the dagger and stabbed at his heart. "You die... Su Ming? Why is it you!"
Su Ming covered his arm and shouted, "Help!"
The people lying in ambush outside the house received the signal and quickly rushed in to subdue Su Yue.
"My lord, she wanted to kill me and my younger brother in order to seize the family fortune. Please seek justice for this commoner!" Su Ming looked at Su Yue with disgust and said the prepared words.
The constables from the yamen had also been instructed by Shen Danqing earlier. Like two actors reciting their lines, they quickly determined Su Yue's crime in just a few words.
Su Ming asked worriedly, "My lord, my younger brother is a scholar. Will her actions affect his participation in the imperial examinations?"
The constable glanced at Su Yue and smiled. "You're too polite. Your younger brother is already a scholar at a young age. He's bound to have a bright future. This woman tried to harm a scholar, so her crime should be aggravated!"
"The scholar is the victim and won't be affected."
Su Yue finally realized that she had fallen into a trap. She shouted at Su Ming, "You actually helped Su Qian! You'll regret it!"
"Do you know who I am? I'm your mother..."
The constable thought Su Yue was too noisy. He casually picked up a piece of cloth and stuffed it into her mouth.
Su Ming covered his wound and walked around outside to let the constables and the villagers of Sujiacun see the wound. And the poison in Su Yue's hand also confirmed his accusation.
After catching the culprit, the constables didn't leave in a hurry. Instead, they first questioned the villagers of Sujiacun one by one.
The villagers of Sujiacun vied with each other to tell Su Yue's evil deeds. Su Dazhuang was so excited that he even cried.
Su Ming felt his scalp tingle. "This Su Yue is really vicious. I thought it was bad enough to be bullied by her, but I didn't expect her to bring bandits into the village."
Hearing Su Ming's comment on herself, Su Yue stared at him with wide eyes, her face full of anger.
Seeing this, Su Dazhuang walked up to Su Ming and deliberately asked, "What's wrong with your arm?"
Mentioning this, Su Ming tried to find some humor in his pain. "Su Yue stabbed me. Fortunately, it wasn't my younger brother who was stabbed. Otherwise, the hope of the Su family would be gone."
Su Dazhuang glanced at Su Yue and then asked, "You don't like Su Yue either?"
Su Ming asked in surprise, "You don't like her either? What a coincidence. Let me tell you..."
Rarely meeting someone who could listen to his troubles, Su Ming felt as if he had found a treasure. He started to talk about what Su Yue had done.
Hearing her son say that he hated her, Su Yue was so angry that she wished she could rush up and tell Su Ming that she was his mother.
But her mouth was blocked, so she could only listen helplessly.
Su Dazhuang's mood was the exact opposite. Hearing Su Yue's own son scolding her, he felt extremely comfortable and would chime in from time to time.
Su Ming's eyes lit up. He finally found a bosom friend. The two of them chatted more and more happily.
As for Su Yue, she was so angry that her eyes rolled back and she fainted on the spot.
...
Before dawn the next day, Su Qian received the news from the yamen that Su Yue had suffered a stroke from anger.
The moment he heard the news, he suspected that there was something wrong with his ears. "Wait, did you say Su Yue had a stroke?"
The constable who came to deliver the news nodded. "That's right. Our lord invited a doctor to check. It's said to be caused by excessive anger."
Su Qian couldn't figure it out. How could Su Yue have a stroke out of the blue?
But for him, it might be a good thing.
Su Qian simply packed up his things. He put the clay figurine that Shen Baozhu had made a few days ago in the yard to dry in the sun, and then rushed out of the princess mansion.
He still hadn't made the porcelain he had promised Shen Baozhu. He had to hurry back to the workshop to start the kiln and make porcelain.
Before leaving, Su Qian didn't forget to write a letter to inform Shen Heqing and told him in the letter to take good care of the clay figurine in the yard.
When the letter was delivered to Shen Heqing, he had already washed up and was holding a book, reviewing it under the wall.
Shen Heqing opened the letter and skimmed through it. Then he felt relieved. He put the letter aside and continued to review when he heard the voice of Princess Jingning. "Go back to the room first. I have something important to discuss with you."
Inside the room.
Princess Jingning was sitting at the table. Seeing that he was still holding the book in his hand, she felt a bit distressed. "You should study moderately. You can't study so rigidly. You studied hard every day in the school before. Now that you're back home, you can relax a bit. Don't force yourself."
"Mother, I have Baozhu accompanying me at home. I don't feel tired at all." Shen Heqing said sincerely.
Seeing that Shen Heqing really didn't feel tired, Princess Jingning didn't persuade him any more. Instead, she put the sugar water she had brought on the table. "The antidote for your previous poisoning wasn't given by Imperial Physician Liu. It was the magic medicine that Baozhu got from the immortal."
"The magic medicine can make people energetic and focused. This sugar water is the diluted magic medicine. Drink it when you're thirsty while studying. Alternate it with tea."
"I've already ordered someone to look for flower tea that tastes bitter but not astringent. In the future, you can alternate among flower tea, regular tea, and sugar water, so that Shen Yunfeng won't succeed in his schemes again."
Different from his sister, Shen Heqing didn't like sweet food. But hearing Princess Jingning's last words, he could only obediently agree.
Princess Jingning added, "His Majesty has already agreed to my divorce from Shen Yunfeng, but I declined on the grounds that you haven't taken the imperial examinations yet. If Shen Yunfeng comes to look for you again, try to calm him down first, so as to prevent him from doing something desperate and hurting Baozhu."
Shen Heqing was puzzled. "Mother, why did you decline? You should divorce him immediately and cut your losses!"
"What about Baozhu? Haiyan is still in the army. What will happen when he comes back? And what about your marriage?" Princess Jingning asked three questions in a row, leaving Shen Heqing speechless.
Knowing that Shen Heqing was innocent and couldn't think of so many things, Princess Jingning patiently explained, "Do you still remember the drawing I asked you to copy last time? As long as the Ministry of Works successfully makes it, your grandfather will surely win the battle and return home before your imperial examinations."
"More than a decade ago, your grandfather used his military merits to win me the honor of being a princess. Before the war with the Xiangyun Kingdom, he voluntarily proposed to His Majesty that if this war is won, his military merits will be used to win the title of princess for Baozhu."
"You and Haiyan are men. If Baozhu has the title of princess, do you think the Shen family will be willing to let you go?"
Shen Heqing shook his head firmly. Any sensible person in the Shen family wouldn't let them go.
"So mother first asked for the grace of divorce and will strive to make more contributions to take you all away."
Shen Heqing's eyes were slightly red. This matter sounded easy but was extremely difficult to achieve. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Mother, why don't we ask Baozhu to ask the immortal..."
"No." Princess Jingning denied this method. "The immortal has already shown great kindness by helping us. We can't be greedy and rely on the immortal for everything."