The capital city was stirred up again with a great sensation as Shen Xin's class returned to the court.

  First and foremost, everyone praised Shen Xin's bravery and martial prowess, winning every battle. This time, he obtained the enemy's surrender letter ahead of schedule. When it was time to return to the capital for a banquet, the emperor would surely reward him again with numerous gifts. However, since Shen Xin already held a first-rank official position, it was truly impossible to promote him further. Everyone speculated that this reward would likely go to Shen Xin's eldest son, Shen Qiu.

  Another thing is that on the day Shen Xin returned to Beijing, it happened to be Old Lady Shen's birthday. However, the ancestral hall was flooded, and Shen Wu's young lady was trapped inside. On that day, the attitude of the Shen family members was cold, and Shen Xin witnessed it with his own eyes. It's likely that there will be no peace within the Shen family in the future.

  These two things spread like wildfire in the capital, some people just smiled when they heard it, while others were like ants on a hot pot, turning around anxiously.

  Shenfu West Wing, in the boudoir, Shen Miao put on her clothes and stood up. Today, Shen Xin and his wife were summoned by the Emperor to enter the palace, but before leaving, they deliberately mobilized the guards from the military to guard the West Wing, almost openly doing it for the Shen family to see, specifically to prevent the Shen family.

  Yesterday, Shen Xin rushed back and went to find a doctor everywhere. Later, Shen Miao rested, so I didn't dare disturb her. In fact, I haven't even talked to Shen Miao yet.

  "Are you feeling a bit better?" Jing Zhen asked with concern. Her gaze fell on the bandage wrapped around Shen Miao's arm, and her eyes stung again. She said: "If I had been a little faster yesterday, Miss wouldn't have had to suffer like this. Now there will be scars..."

  The burn scar is too deep, and the doctor also said that it can only be well taken care of. It's impossible to have no scars at all. All daughters love their appearance, even if there are a few scars on their body, they won't do. Now Shen Miao has been burned, and every time she thinks about it, she feels guilty.

  "It's nothing." Shen Miao looked at her and smiled: "You did well yesterday. You didn't rush in because of anxiety, if you had rushed in, it would have ruined my plans."

  Jing Zhen lowered his head, and later Shen Miao fainted. Shen Xin and his wife were furious. She thought about it again and again, and roughly understood what Shen Miao was thinking in her heart. It was precisely because of this that Jing Zhen felt even more heartache for Shen Miao, and roughly speaking, she had no way out, so she didn't mind putting herself in such danger to let Shen Xin and his wife see the true face of the Shen family.

  A maiden in her boudoir, at this age, should be like the young ladies of other families, playing the piano and writing letters. But Shen Miao's every move was related to her own life and death. Whatever she wanted, she had to plan for herself, as if walking on a knife's edge, where one misstep would lead to eternal damnation.

  "What the young lady says, I will do." Xing Zhen said hesitantly.

  Shen Miao felt relieved in her heart, and Jing Rong was indeed the bravest among the four maids. In the future, there would be more such events, and Jing Rong could be used again. Of course, she also needed to slowly cultivate Gu Yu and the others. She was not Shen Miao, a lady-in-waiting, but Shen Huanghou, the mistress of the six palaces. She must have her own confidantes. In the future, she would face even more dangers than now, and she could get used to it, so these maids also had to learn to get used to it.

  Just then, a bright and cheerful laughter suddenly came from outside: "Sister!"

  Shen Miao turned her head, and saw Shen Qiu walking in from the door. He had taken off his armor from the battlefield, and was only wearing a cyan-colored tunic, which made him look exceptionally handsome and imposing. His wheat-colored skin, when he smiled, showed two dimples that added to his heroic and majestic appearance, but also gave him an air of childishness. He walked closer, carefully examined Shen Miao, before cautiously asking: "Little sister, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"

  Shen Miao suddenly closed her eyes, and memories of her past life flooded in like a tidal wave.

  To be honest, Shen Qiu was a good brother who did his best. At first, no matter how coldly she treated him, he still showed enthusiasm towards her. Later, something happened and Shen Qiu tarnished another girl's reputation, forcing him to marry that girl as his wife. From then on, everything changed. He often made mistakes in military affairs, later fell off a horse and broke his leg, and then the girl had an affair with someone else, causing Shen Qiu to kill the adulterer in anger. However, it turned out that the man was the only son of the Minister of Justice, who issued a warrant for Shen Qiu's arrest. Shen's family spent all their wealth to save Shen Qiu's life, but he still died on a winter morning. His body was found in a pond by someone.

  At that time, Shen Miao had already married Fu Xiu Yi. It was the critical moment of seizing the position of the crown prince. She heard this bad news and hurried back to the mansion, only to see Shen Qiu's corpse which had already started to swell up and deform.

  Even though she was not close to Shen Qiu, they were after all of the same blood. She was heartbroken and in great pain over this, fell seriously ill, yet Fu Xiuyi had Shen Xin go on a campaign at that time.

  That winter day's icy sunlight, the wet and lifeless body outside the pond, Shen Qiu's pale and distorted face, and the young man's somewhat flattering smile merged together, like a sharp sword, making her unable to breathe.

  Shen Miao suddenly bent down and covered her chest, panting heavily.

  "Sister!" Shen Qiu was startled and quickly helped her up, shouting outwards: "Go call the doctor! Quick! My sister is unwell!"

  One hand grasped Shen Qiu's arm, he turned his head and saw Shen Miao standing up with his hand, saying to the back: "No need, just a little tired."

  "My sister's body has not fully recovered yet, it's better to ask a doctor to take a look." Shen Qiu shook his head, with a tone of concern.

  "I'm fine." Shen Miao said to the hesitant Jing Rong: "You all go down now."

  Her tone was firm and calm, which also stunned Shen Qiu for a moment.

  "Sister, what's wrong with you?" Shen Qiu asked. As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a bit regretful that he had spoken too heavily. He was used to facing iron-blooded men in the army and had forgotten to be gentle with young girls. So he slowed down his tone and said: "Yesterday when I came back, I saw you trapped in the fire, Father and Mother were scared to death. Sister, how did you end up in the ancestral hall? Were you locked up?"

  Shen Miao shook her head and smiled at him: "It's been a year since we last met, big brother, are you doing well?"

  "Huh?" Shen Qiu, a carefree and reckless person, scratched his head and laughed: "I'm doing alright, the army is like that. I've made some small achievements, when the emperor rewards me, you can choose what you like." After finishing speaking, he seemed to think of something and exclaimed with joy: "Right! Father hunted a fire mouse before and had its skin made into a cloak. I'll have someone bring it over for you later. That cloak is impervious to knives and guns, and resistant to water and fire... if you had that cloak yesterday, you wouldn't have gotten burned..."

  Before the words had fallen, Shen Qiu was already frozen in place. Shen Miao stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Shen Qiu's and resting her head on his chest.

  Even if they were biological siblings, after all, they weren't children anymore. Shen Qiu felt a bit awkward for a moment, but also somewhat delighted. It had been a long time since Shen Miao was this close to him, and he suddenly felt a little honored.He was slightly happy at first, but then his heart sank as he thought that with Shen Miao's temperament, she wouldn't be so affectionate today unless she had suffered a great grievance.

  He hastily asked: "Sister, has someone bullied you? If so, just tell me and I'll beat him half to death..."

  He spoke with righteous indignation, but Shen Miao couldn't help but want to laugh. Madame Meng had an older brother who was extremely intelligent and had helped Fu Xiu Yi make plans in the previous dynasty. It's possible that he had contributed to Fu Xiu Yi's favor towards Madame Meng. Shen Miao herself had once envied her, but by then, Shen Qiu had already died.

  She seems to have not tasted the flavor of having a strong backing for a very, very long time. Life is accustomed to one person fighting alone, dividing one person into countless individuals, so she was defeated by Mrs. Yuan in her previous life, perhaps also losing due to being outnumbered and outmatched.

  The feeling of being protected by someone now is so good it's almost unreal.

  She slowly loosened her grip and lifted her head to meet Shen Qiu's concerned gaze.

  "Sister..." Shen Qiu was also stunned. The girl in front of him had bright eyes and white teeth, and when she looked at him, her gaze no longer held the impatience and annoyance of the past, but instead a deep sadness. This feeling made him feel somewhat alienated, and he carefully examined the girl in front of him. Not having seen her for a year, Shen Miao had lost a lot of weight, and her originally round face now showed a pointed chin, making her look more slender than before. Her delicate features were even more pronounced. The naive and tender innocence that once was could no longer be found, and when she looked at him, there was a hint of faint comfort and a quiet desolation that only she knew.

  Shen Miao sighed inwardly, Shen Qiu had a kind of innocence close to that of a young boy, this innocence made his temperament very precious. Sincere and full of vitality, it's hard to imagine that such a person would end up drowning in the pond. At first, people said Shen Qiu killed himself because he felt his reputation was tarnished, but now thinking about it, with Shen Qiu's perseverance, how could he kill himself just because of others' gossip? As for the one who started it all, her so-called sister-in-law, at first she forced Shen Qiu to marry her under the pretext of climbing into bed, now it seems that it might not be someone else's conspiracy.

  "Sister, why are you staring at me all the time." Shen Qiu was puzzled: "Is there something on my face?" He felt that the current Shen Miao was strange, not as stubborn and cold-blooded as before. The new Shen Miao made Shen Qiu feel unfamiliar, as if he was facing a different little girl.

  "Big brother, why didn't you go to the palace today?" Shen Miao asked softly.

  "Your Majesty only summoned Father and Mother." Shen Qiu smiled and said, "I naturally wouldn't go with them. Little sister, you still haven't told me what happened yesterday, how did you get trapped in the fire at the ancestral hall?"

  He was preoccupied with this matter and also worried about Shen Miao's injury, determined to get to the bottom of it.

  "What I say, will big brother believe?" Shen Miao smiled slightly: "If he won't believe even if I say it, then there's no need to say it."

  "How can I not believe?" Shen Qiu heard this and hastily grabbed Shen Miao's arm: "You are my sister, if I don't believe you, who will I believe?"

  "I can tell big brother about this, but big brother must promise me one thing: he cannot tell father and mother about what you and I said today. If he does, I will never speak to him again."

  "Why can't you tell Father and Mother?" Shen Qiu was somewhat perplexed, but then suddenly realized: "Could this matter be related to the Crown Prince?" The letter from Dingjing City in the northwest had also mentioned that Shen Miao had a special affection for Fu Xiuyi. However, Shen Miao was after all a lady in the boudoir, and didn't know about the struggle for the throne among the princes, or how officials should not get involved too early, lest they die early. Yet Shen Miao remained steadfastly devoted to Fu Xiuyi, while Shen Xin and the others were far away in the northwest, anxious but helpless, hoping that Shen Miao would come to her senses and no longer love Fu Xiuyi.

  "It has nothing to do with him." Shen Miao couldn't help but cry and laugh in her heart, how could Shen Qiu think of this. She said: "Before you returned, Second Aunt took us three Shen family young ladies to Wolong Temple to burn incense, that day I swapped rooms with my elder sister, my elder sister was framed by a bad person, Second Aunt's family thought my elder sister was taking the fall for me, I was the one who started it all, I refused to admit my mistake, so I was punished to copy Buddhist scriptures under house arrest."

  Shen Qiu heard this and first broke out in a cold sweat, thinking it was fortunate that nothing had happened to Shen Qing. But then he became extremely angry - what did this have to do with Shen Miao? Why should Shen Miao be confined?

  "This is clearly a case of sophistry!" Shen Qiu said angrily. He had no good feelings towards Shen Qing, only because Shen Qing relied on having Shen Yuan as his older brother, and often didn't put Shen Qiu in his eyes, and had even ridiculed Shen Qiu for being an illiterate martial artist.

  "What's more," Shen Miao continued, "it just so happens that the Imperial Secretary Wei's family came to our house to propose a marriage, and they chose me. The Huang family of the Ministry of Works also came to propose a marriage, and they chose my older sister."

  Shen Qiu was shocked: "Propose a marriage?" They had received letters from the Shen family before, but they had never mentioned anything about Shen Miao's personal affairs. This was too absurd, how could parents not inform their children about their own marriage? The way the Shen family did things was really too much.

  "Wei family's young master Wei Qian is a talented and handsome young man, while Huang family's young master Huang De Xing is a homosexual. My aunt wanted to marry me off to one of them, but I refused, saying that I wouldn't get married even if the engagement was arranged. If it were, I would run away or resist the marriage. So they locked me up in the ancestral hall, and those guards you saw yesterday weren't there to put out the fire, but to keep an eye on me so I couldn't escape."

  Shen Qiu's expression changed with Shen Miao's words, and finally he slammed his fist on the table. The smile on his face had long since disappeared, and his eyes looking at Shen Miao were slightly red: "Sister, is what you said true?"

  "I naturally don't need to deceive you." Shen Miao said: "Even that big fire, came out of nowhere, I suspected..." She smiled slightly: "After all, I'm dead, and Eldest Sister Yi is married, it's even more proper."

  "How dare you!" Shen Qiu shouted in anger and turned to leave. He was pulled back by Shen Miao, who asked: "Big brother, where are you going?"

  "I'll go reason with them," said Shen Qiu, "whoever dares to touch you will pay in blood!"

  She looked at him calmly and asked: "How do you plan to reason, where is the evidence? Are you going to scold them all or kill them all?"

  The sarcasm in her tone made Shen Qiu slightly sober, he turned his head and looked at Shen Miao, frowning and asked: "Sister, what do you mean?"

  "Big brother, why don't you think about it? Why am I unwilling to tell Father and Mother?" Shen Miao said calmly: "Father and Mother are both straightforward people, and Father is easily impulsive. It's easy for him to stand up for me, but what about the consequences? The Shen family is a prominent family in Ming Qi, with many eyes watching. If Father stands up for me today, tomorrow the imperial historian can write a memorial to impeach Father." Her lips curled up: "This world is just like that, where the majority has the power, whoever has more people will have the reason. The Shen family has three branches, and the first branch treats the second and third branches poorly, with an old woman in charge. Do you think we can really be in the right?"

  Shen Qiu was startled by Shen Miao's words, and what surprised him even more was the expression on Shen Miao's face as she spoke. The calm analysis, with a hint of ruthlessness that cut to the heart of the matter, made him glance at her sideways. This didn't sound like something Shen Miao, at her age, could say. Which young lady from a boudoir could give such an icy evaluation of worldly affairs? He hesitated for a moment: "Sister..."

  Shen Miao took a glance and knew what Shen Qiu was thinking. Shen Qiu was too straightforward, to be honest the entire Shen family's main house was too straightforward, but in this harsh world, good people never had good endings.

  She said: "Big brother wants to ask why I've become like this now." Shen Miao lowered her eyelids: "Because that's just how it is."

  "After going through so many things, no one can remain unchanged. Big brother, I am not the me of the past, and you are not the you of the past. Now, I only ask one question: after hearing my words, do you hate them?"

  Shen Qiu was taken aback for a moment, looked at Shen Miao and slowly gritted his teeth: "Hate."

  "Why hate?"

  "How could they treat you like this?"

  Shen Miao shook her head: "What you should hate is not this."

  Shen Qiu was astonished, he suddenly discovered that his sister now spoke in a way that made him more and more incomprehensible, but somehow felt that Shen Miao's words were very reasonable.

  "What you should resent is that we gave our true and sincere hearts, but in return, we got fake emotions that are even worse than those of sworn enemies. For their own sake, they can take our lives, this is not just harming strangers, it has already become a blood feud, and between family members, it's even more sinful."

  Shen Miao gazed at Shen Qiu, her eyes flickering with a hint of sadness. If only she could protect the young man before her, letting him spend his life charging into battle, becoming a hero revered by all. But she was afraid, afraid that one day, the scene by the pond would replay itself, and she could only build a wall around Shen Qiu's heart now. It's easier to remember hatred than love; love is what hurts the most.

  "What does your sister want to say?" Shen Qiu finally said.

  Shen Miao let out a breath of relief. Shen Qiu wasn't truly foolish. Once she figured it out, some things became much easier.

  "I hate them, and Big Brother wants to avenge me. If Father and Mother take action, they can't kill all of them." Shen Miao said: "I want to deal with them personally, but I need Big Brother's help." Shen Xin and Luo Xueyan have no evidence on their hands, if the second house is killed, according to the Ming Qi law, it will be a crime of harming one's own flesh and blood. Shen Xin would do such a thing for her, she can bet her life, but doesn't want to see Shen Xin and his wife take risks.

  Death is the easiest thing. If one can escape unscathed, then it's the people being ground by the dull knife who feel the pain. Moreover, behind her bait, the big fish has yet to take the hook.

  "What does your sister want?" Shen Qiu asked.

  "No rush, there's plenty of time, let's take it slow."