Meanwhile not too far from the Old Shen Residence.
Stood the recently built new residence in which the second branch lived.
The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the courtyard.
Shen Yiyi sat by the window, a cup of tea cooling in her hands. Her face was calm, composed — the same mask she wore in public. But her eyes were sharp, watching the garden gates, waiting.
Shortly after a servant came running in breathlessly.
"Young Miss"
"Young Miss, the news from the palace. Young Master Lan has confessed to everything. And now he and his family have been put under house arrest."
Shen Yiyi did not move but a sweet smile blossomed on her face.
Her fingers finally lightened slightly around the cup, but her expression looking gentler under the sun's rays.
"I see," she said quietly.
"You may go now."
"Yes, My lady"
The servant bowed and retreated.
Shen Yiyi set down the cup and allowed herself a slow, measured breath.
Finally...I knew that young master would come in handy
Luckily no one suspected anything and those candles where properly handled
Its seems that mother was right though I should be careful from now on
She let the relief settle — brief, controlled, private. Then she pushed it aside.
Though I do wonder, what sort of tricks does that orphan has under her sleeves to have escaped again?
Shen Yiyi's hands slightly clenched.
Her eyes grew colder as she remembered how her well thought out plan ended up.
How could it have failed?
---
On the other side of the New Shen residence
The door slid open without warning.
Shen An stepped inside, his face flushed, his robes slightly disheveled. He had been out drinking — again his feet stumbled with every step remembering the anxiety he felt yesterday when his mother pulled him away.
His older brother Shen Ren had just come back that morning and so his complexion was a bit pale looking travelworn. He sat on the couch in the outer room slowly sipping a cup from the looks of it he seemed to have been waiting for a while now.
Feeling a bit dizzy, Shen An stumbled forward almost hitting into a priced vase his mother had gifted him for his sixteenth birthday.
"Nothing happened yesterday"
"I heard?" he asked, not bothering with greetings.
"Looks like it." His Older brother Shen Ren stepped forward his hands crossed over his chest.
Putting his cup down Shen Ren stepped forward glancing at his brother with a frown his nose slightly scrunching from the sharp smell of wine emitting from his younger brother.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" he asked
But it seemed Shen An didn't seem to be bothered at all as he crossed the room and dropped into the seat across from him. His eyes were sharp, despite the wine.
"It's... none of your business.... Go back to where... to where you came from and leave me alone."
"And..... shouldn't you still be in the battlefield... playing golden retriever like you always do."
"Or..."
Shen An laughed — short, humorless. "Or have they finally kicked you out."
Shen Ren's hands clenched.
"You're not in your right senses, An'er"
Shen An seemed unbothered as he reached for the cup in front of him and drained it in one swallow.
"Spare me the lecture, brother."
"And leave. My head hurts and I feel dizzy."
"Just looking at you.... is making my headache ten times worse"
Shen Ren sighed deeply
"Alright take a good rest, we'll talk about all of this later."
Shen Ren reached out to his brother whose face immediately contorted in disgust as he slapped his hand that had reached for him.
Shen Ren froze for a bit glancing down at his hand his thought unreadable.
He knew he had caused this himself the day he left to join the army but he couldn't change anything now
Then with an almost robotic movement he pulled back like nothing happened and walked out of his brother's quarters.
Meanwhile inside the room
Shen An downed the rest of the tea clicking the cup down heavily. Before tossing it as far away as he could.
He gritted his teeth in irritation his eyes slightly reddened and a bit drowsy.
That little...he knows it was her.
She's always been petty he knows it but everyone around him including his cousin believed her lies.
His chest heaved heavily. Then he leaned forward crossing his hands.
She obviously knew he liked their cousin Shen Miao, but she still tried to do something this despicable.
To his Shen Miao
He liked his lips thinking about her glad that those useless people around her at least got to her on time.
He was never the type to take on secondhand goods anyway.
She met his gaze without flinching.
He slightly tilted his head and eventually fell to the back of the chair with a laugh that turned everyone who heard it pale.
The guards standing outside the door froze lowering their heads immediately not wanting to be victims to whatever was coming next.
Since his sister doesn't want to play fair his more than willing to indulge her.
After all a little dose of the same medicine won't hurt will it