---
Commander Shen's expression darkened at the suggestion. He looked at Shen Yulan, whose eyes shimmered with fresh tears, and then back at Shen Yuhan, whose gaze held no desperation, no fear — only calculated patience.
He didn't like this version of his eldest daughter. She used to be loud, unreasonable, easily angered — easy to control. But now she was too calm. Too sharp. Too… dangerous.
He opened his mouth to lash out but before he could speak, the heavy curtains were pushed aside.
"Master," Steward Liu entered with a bow, his breath slightly rushed, "the young masters of the Lin and Qi families are here. They say they heard the two misses fell into the pond and wish to see if they are well."
Shen Yulan's delicate face lit up with just the right amount of restrained joy. "Young Master Lin came?"
But Shen Yuhan tilted her head slightly, just enough to hide her mocking smile.
Ah yes. Lin Zhixuan. Her supposed childhood sweetheart and fiance. The one who had fallen in love with 'kind and gentle' Shen Yulan and hated Shen Yuhan for always bulling and harming his 'gentle goddess'.
He was supposed to arrive just in time to witness her fragility. To see how the tyrant eldest sister had reduced the weak and frail younger sister to tears.
Shen Yuhan straightened her back, her lips curled into a smile as she waited to meet the gentle and scholarly young master of the Lin Family - to see how he was going to seek justice for his unrequited love, from his own fiancee.
"Let them in," Commander Shen waved his hand, then straightened his robes.
Moments later, two young men entered, their elegant outer robes still dusted with snow.
Lin Zhixuan stood at the front, tall and noble-looking, with sharp features and a hint of arrogance.
Qi Yanzhou trailed behind, yawning slightly, as if he would rather be anywhere else than witnessing the meaningless fight between the two sisters of the Shen household.
Qi Yanzhou glanced at the brazier, then at the soaked floor. "Quite the storm. Outside and inside." He muttered under his breath - just audible enough for the elegant man beside him.
Lin Zhixuan shook his head on his friend's comment before stepping forward to greet the master of the house.
"Uncle Shen. Madam Shen"
Both men greeted Commander Shen and Madam Su one after another, then their gaze roamed across the Hall.
The moment Lin Zhixuan's eyes landed on Shen Yulan, his steps quickened. "Yulan-Second Miss Shen, are you hurt?" He corrected himself mid-sentence, as if realising how inappropriate it was for a young man to call a young lady by her first name in front of others.
"I'm fine," Shen Yulan said softly, lowering her gaze with perfect shyness, her soaked robes accentuating her fragile appearance.
"I only fell into the pond by accident. I fear… elder sister may have misunderstood me."
Shen Yuhan watched this act play out like a theatergoer bored of the performance.
"I see," Lin Zhixuan said, turning toward Shen Yuhan now. His tone shifted - colder, filled with anger - as if the tenderness in his gaze moments before had been nothing but an illusion for others to see.
"So the rumors were true. You lost your temper again, Shen Yuhan?"
She didn't answer.
Instead, she looked him up and down once — an assassin's glance — and then let out a low chuckle.
In the book, she had once cried for this man.
What a waste of tears.
Her slender eyes flashed with a momentarily disdain.
"Lin gongzi, do you always judge matters based on tears?" Shen Yuhan snapped, no longer bothering to hide her impatience. "Were you there when the incident happened? Did you saw me pushing Shen Yulan into the cold pond with your own two eyes?"
Her voice cracked through the heavy air like a whip.
Lin Zhixuan's expression stiffened, disbelief flickering across his features.
Even Shen Yulan looked momentarily stunned.
It was the first time they had heard Shen Yuhan raise her voice at Lin Zhixuan - the man she had once admired, followed around like a puppy and sacrificed her shame and dignity for.
Now, she stared him down as though he were nothing but a mildly offensive extra in her play.
By the time Lin Zhixuan and others gathered their thoughts, Shen Yuhan had already risen to her feet, gracefully brushing the dust from her sleeves.
"If there's nothing else," she said coolly, "I'll be returning to my courtyard. I've spent long enough kneeling for a crime I didn't commit."
She didn't wait for permission and turned to walk out of the ancestral hall, her soaked robes trailing behind her like a shadow.
But she only had barely taken two steps when a thunderous roar rang out behind her.
"Stop right there!"
Commander Shen's voice cracked like thunder through the ancestral hall. A heartbeat later, an expensive porcelain teacup shattered at her feet.
"Who gave you the permission to leave before apologizing to your sister?" he barked, his face twisted in rage.
It seemed he didn't care who was right and who was wrong in this matter.
He didn't care for justice. He only cared for obedience - he just wanted Shen Yuhan to lower her head and beg for mercy.
Seeing the blatant favouritism from her so called father in front of her, a sharp pain bloomed in Shen Yuhan's chest, stabbing deeper than she expected.
If she was not wrong this pain came from the consciousness of the original host of this body. A ghost of the girl who once lived in this body.
Thinking about all the pain Shen Zhirui had caused that little innocent girl, Shen Yuhan's gaze turned icy, and her expression become unreadable.
Behind her, Shen Yulan whimpered, her voice weak and trembling.
"Father, it's okay. I don't blame Sister, really... Even though I feel hurt the way Sister had treated me earlier, I think... I think I deserve it. If its makes Sister feel better, I'm willing to endure a few more punishment from Sister."