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Edited by Tnyhy

Chapter 65: No Loss (Part 3)

In Cai Yun Yuan

The physician just left, and Shen Qing who had drank the medication to soothe her nerves was asleep.

Even though she had seen it many times but when she saw the bruises on Shen Qing’s body, Ren Wan Yun’s heart could not help but feel a knife being twisted in it. That physician was of her people and naturally would not speak about this, and he had told Ren Wan Yun that the injuries on Shen Qing’s body were too serious and with her unclear sanity, one fear that she would need to rest for quite some time. As to why her sanity was not clear, it was because she was scared to this state.

In that fated night, Ren Wan Yun dared not think of what kind of torture Shen Qing had actually suffered. That night she was staying next to Shen Qing, and could hear Shen Qing’s cries for help but she thought that it was Shen Miao so she did not went up to stop it. At the end her daughter’s life was ruined. As long as she thought about it, Ren Wan Yun’s heart was filled with regret.

Shen Gui took a look at Shen Qing on the bed and seemed to feel that his head ached and he turned to leave.

“Stop there!” Ren Wan Yun stopped him, “Qing-er has now become like this, and you still want to go to that vixen’s courtyard?”

Shen Gui was lecherous and had a few concubines in his backyard. Each one was beautiful and gentle but Ren Wan Yun was powerful as she could settle them appropriately. Even though Shen Gui was lecherous, he knew that only Ren Wan Yun could make his official route go more smoothly, and would not overstep the boundary of what was proper so Ren Wan Yun would not control him. Men were all the same, the concubine courtyard was nothing more than a plaything. Why would she compete with a plaything.

But today, she was being somewhat unusual.

“You better not create trouble without reason.” Shen Gui was somewhat irritated. Today he was rendered speechless by his own niece and at Prince Yu side, he did not know what would the situation be and if he would be angry with him. Thinking about these matters, Shen Gui became more anguish and now after seeing Shen Qing, it was like pouring oil onto fire. His tone was somewhat impatient, “It is useless for me to stay here, it would be better if I am undisturbed so I could think of what to do next.”

“Think, think, think!” Ren Wan Yun changed her usual temper of looking at the bigger picture and screamed, “You only know how to think, think, think! What exactly is Qing-er to your eyes? Now she had become like this and you as a father was not in the least concerned and would not care about it! In your heart, I fear there is no Qing-er at all. In this world, how could there be such a vicious father like you!”

When the words were spoken, even Ren Wan Yun’s two close maids, Lan Xiang and Cai Ju were stunned. Normally Ren Wan Yun would face things calmly, and even when Shen Qing encountered the mishap in Wo Long Temple, she also pushed forward and looked at the overall situation. As for Shen Gui, even though he did not say any harsh words, for Ren Wan Yun being such a rational person to suddenly become a shrew and quarrel with Shen Gui, no one could believe it.

Ren Wan Yun also did not know why she was like that. Seeing Shen Gui like this, Shen Miao’s words that were said in Rong Jing Tang, still echoed in her ears.

When Shen Gui knew that Shen Qing had fallen into a mishap, his first thought was not to go take a look at Shen Qing’s injuries but to discipline Shen Miao. This was by no means what a real father should do. Shen Gui did not even care about his daughter’s life and death. Perhaps Shen Qing was just a valuable thing to Shen Gui, and because she had value so he continued to keep her. Now that there was no value, he was not even willing to give her another look.

Shen Miao’s provocation was insignificant in Rong Jing Tang but after ruminating till now, it finally exploded.

“You shrew!” Shen Gui was often flattered in official circles and when would there be a time where he would be accused and scolded. Even though he was resentful in his heart, he still knew that he could not shed all pretense of cordiality with Ren Wan Yun so he sneered, “You say that I am not a good father but are you a good mother? Qing-er was brought to Wo Long Temple by you and you should have taken proper care of her. You were by her side but still let her fall into a mishap under your eyelids. That night, were you not sleeping next by her room? If you really loved her, then in such a short distance, how did you not discovered that the person who was in trouble was Qing-er?”

When he spoke, Ren Wan Yun was immediately stunned.

The thing that she most regretted and hated was that night in the Northern pavilion. She had obviously heard the cries for help and obviously had the opportunity to save her daughter but a series of factors, let Shen Qing fall into a mishap. Now with Shen Gui stabbing her heart with a knife and putting salt on her wound, it rendered her stunned on the spot.

Shen Gui saw that she did not speak and thus he scoffed and brushed his sleeves and left in a huff. No one knew which concubine’s yard he went towards.

Ren Wan Yun stood blankly for a moment when suddenly her legs softened and she collapsed onto the ground. She held her face and started to cry softly.

Xiang Lan and Cai Ju were both shocked and scared in their heart. The current Ren Wan Yun seemed to have collapsed overnight and was beaten into a hopeless position. There was not any of the previous proudness and arrogance.

The two maids could only step forward to comfort. After crying for some time, Ren Wan Yun wiped her eyes and stood up again. She said, “Bring paper and brush over, I want to write a letter to Yuan-er.”

Shen Yuan was the eldest son of the Second household and Ren Wan Yun’s eldest son. Today he was appointed in Liu Zhou and once his term in office was completed, he would return to Ding capital as an official.

If one were to say in all three household, Shen Yue was the proudest, in the Second household, Shen Yuan Bo was the youngest and Shen Qing was after all not qualified but Shen Yuan was however unique. At a young age, he was able to achieve a scholarly honour and he did a good job that even Shen Gui would be amiable in front of this son.

“Since father is unreliable, then there is older brother.” Ren Wan Yun looked at Shen Qing who was sleeping and said with clenched teeth, “Yuan-er doted you his younger sister the most. Shen Miao, that little slut, this time I want you to pay for your actions and live a lifetime full of regrets!”

Xiang Lan quickly ran to get paper and brush. Ren Wan Yun sighed heavily and spoke to Cai Ju who was at her side, “Are those girls still there?”

“The four maids and Gui Momo are all in the woodshed. Furen want to feed them the mute medication or directly…”

These few maids naturally witnessed Shen Qing fall into a mishap. There were Shen Qing’s maids, Yan Mei and Shui Bi, and Shen Yue’s maids, Qing Luan and Huang Ying, and also Gui Momo.

“Feed Shen Yue’s maids the mute medicine and hand them back to Qui Shui Yuan, let Chen Rou Qiu handle them herself. Qing-er’s two maids…” Ren Wan Yun said viciously, “Sell them to the ninth ranked brothel. Would not it be letting them off lightly if they were to die just like that? Since the protectors did not do their jobs, naturally the sins are not forgivable.”

Cai Ju could not help but break into a cold sweat. A brothel and a Hua Lou (a place where courtesans worked at, direct translation: Flower Building) were different. The ladies in a Hua Lou could choose to sell their skills or sell their body, but the ladies in a brothel all did business of flesh. Moreover the ninth ranked brothel was the lowest of all because the guest were all the rudest and coarse lowest people and because of being the lowest ranked people, they would not care about the fairer gender and would even be brutal. Those females would need to receive customers nonstop, be it day or night. The money they receive were not their own and was directly given to the Mama. If there came one day where they become infected by venereal diseases, they would not have any medication to take and will be thrown out in a mat and freeze to death, hungry to death or even bitten to death by dogs. These were all common scenarios.

Therefore those people who were sold to the ninth ranked brothels were all servants that had committed heinous mistakes or else it would be due to their owner’s hatred. Yan Mei and Shui Bi followed Shen Qing since young and after all these years, if there was no credit there was also hard work. Who knew that their fate would be as such.

“This servant noted. That Gui Momo…” Cai Ju probed. Gui Momo had already cast her lot with them and was regarded as Cai Yun Yuan’s people.

“Gui Momo…” Ren Wan Yun sneered with her head lowered, “That night what exactly happened, I do not know. But now to think about it, there is still a need to meet Gui Momo since she was the one that know the ins and outs of it.”

*****

The abandoned woodshed was filled with a rotting odour, it had been raining for the past few days that even some mushrooms grew on the floor. If it was as per normal, it would be quiet but in the current darkness, it seemed somewhat strange.

This woodshed had been used to lock up countless number of people and those were ones who had committed a mistake in the Shen residence. There were masters and servants before but these people would not meet a good ending because after being locked here for a while, they would disappear from the Shen residence quietly, without a noise, as if they had not existed in the world before.

At this moment in the woodshed there were some strange voices and there seemed to be someone struggling, and their legs had kicked onto something before suppressing their cries.

Placing the lanterns in their hands aside so that light would shine the woodshed up. The dim yellow light, it made the woodshed to look even more eerie. Two larger sized old women were holding the two maids by their neck and pouring some stuff from the bottle down into the maid’s throat.

The two maids kept struggling but unfortunately their weak and small bodies seemed to be like a small chicken in the old women’s hands. Those women clenched the maid’s chins closed so they would be unable to vomit the thing out of their mouth. No one knew how much time had passed but the two maids finally stopped struggling and clutched their painful neck.

“Drag them out.” One of the old women ordered the servant behind her and two more servants came in to drag the two maids out.

“These two…” The old woman pointed at the other two maids, “Will also be dragged out. But Furen has specially mentioned to take great care of them as they would be sold to that kind of place. If you are willing, then do it according to your wishes.”

When the two servants heard it, their eyes exposed a coveting look. When one looked at the two maids again, there was only despair on their faces.

The two old women saw that everything was almost cleaned up, so they got up and headed out.

“Did Furen… Furen mention about what to do with this old servant?” In a dark corner, a silhouette suddenly rushed out and hugged the legs of one of the old women, “What about this old servant?”

That person was not someone else but Gui Momo.

“Momo must not be impatient,” That old woman pulled Gui Momo’s hand away from her legs and spoke eccentrically, “Furen places an importance to Momo and would definitely arrange completely for Momo. Just wait for it.”

Finishing, she left without turning back.

The room suddenly fell into darkness again and Gui Momo shrank to the corner, looking extremely fearful.

No one was willing to die. She wanted to continue living.