Chapter 17 - You Have Foresight?

Shen Linghan’s eyes were full of satisfaction and happiness. She had to try very hard not to curl her lips too obviously. On the first day when Shen Ninghua came back, she heard comments from the servants in the mansion. The servants said that Shen Ninghua was more beautiful and dignified than her, and that the title of the first beauty in the capital should be awarded to Shen Ninghua… Hum, without life, how could you compete with me again!

Shen Dong frowned, deep wrinkles appearing in the center of his brows, “Open it!”

Crack! The heavy lid of the box was lifted abruptly.

Shen Linghan clenched her fist and her heart pounded. Shen Ninghua, today you must die!

“Ah!”

A suppressed scream sounded, and Shen Linghan came back to consciousness. She looked at Shen Dong subconsciously, but found that he also had a surprised face.

“What… what is this?”

In the huge box, there was not the body of Nurse Zhou as they thought, but a roll of silk cloth beneath which the shape of books could be vaguely seen.

Shen Ninghua calmly went to the box and said, “Father, wrapped in the silk is an embroidery done by me. It was originally intended to be a gift for you, but apart from greeting grandmother, I have never had a chance to see you. Qing Que and Hong Ling, unfold this and let my father have a look.”

Qing Que kicked away those guards who were holding her up. She and Hong Ling stood on the left and right sides of the embroidery work respectively and spread out the 11-foot-long embroidery. The embroidery depicted a rising sun above the river and revealed a magnificent view in which the surging river, green pines and winding mountain ranges were all shining under the sun. Unless seen with one’s own eyes, it was hard to believe that the picture was actually embroidered using silk thread.

Shen Dong’s heart sank and his mood was a little complicated. Definitely, it took a great deal of efforts to finish such an amazing embroidery. Shen Ninghua’s filial piety was very commendable.

When Qing Que and Hong Ling rolled up the embroidery, Shen Ninghua went on to say, “I copied these 81 volumes of Buddhist scriptures by myself. Grandmother believed in Buddhism, and I had planned to present them to grandmother on her birthday…”

Rather than crying out of grievance, Shen Ninghua uttered those words with a slight trace of depression in her voice. People could not help feeling pity for her because her filial piety was questioned for no reason and was even forced to be made public in such a way.

Seeing the reaction of the crowd, Shen Ninghua secretly curled her lips. The efforts she spent preparing these things proved to be useful. The first lady was very meticulous. Nurse Zhou had done so much dirty stuff for her. Once Nurse Zhou became useless, the first lady wouldn’t let her live in the world.

How could the first lady stand it when she was forced to hand over Shen Ninghua’s mother’s dowry? Nurse Zhou, the abandoned pawn, therefore, was exploited for the last time. It was such a good deal to get rid of Shen Ninghua with the life of a servant.

At this time, Zhao Yunxiang stared at the things in the box. She couldn’t believe her eyes! She had ordered her staff to strangle Nurse Zhou and put her in that box. How could things have gone wrong? Her fierce eyes suddenly turned to Nurse Qin, who was entrusted to arrange everything. She found that Nurse Qin was also in a state of extreme shock.

Compared with Nurse Zhou, Nurse Qin was brought from her own family as part of her dowry and was her most reliable confidant. Nurse Qin had always been careful with her work, and it was unlikely that she could make such a mistake. Then who did this? The first lady’s eyesight secretly swept all over the crowd and finally focused on Shen Ninghua. Could it be her? Was this girl so clever and sophisticated?

“Nurse Qin, you just took people with you to search my yard. Is there any other problem?” Shen Ninghua asked expressionlessly.

Nurse Qin choked and shook her head after a pause. “There’s no problem.” As a matter of fact, “no problem” wasn’t enough to describe her findings. If she hadn’t seen with her own eyes, she would think that nobody was living in the yard. It was she who led people to clean up the Tranquility Courtyard. But now, aside from the addition of clothes and luggage, everything remained the same. Even the positions of the vases and tea sets were unchanged.

Shen Ninghua looked up at Shen Dong and said, “Father, would you clear my name now?”

Shen Dong relaxed his eyebrows and nodded to acknowledge her innocence.

They had spent so much time and effort to design all of these and thought they had everything under control. But in fact no effect had been achieved! At this time, the first lady could still control her emotions, but Shen Linghan had been so infuriated as to have a twisted look.

“Sister, the things in this box are evidence of your filial piety. You could have straightly showed them to us. Why did you come up with all the excuses to cause our misunderstanding?”

“Ah,” Shen Ninghua sneered, “you sound so funny. Today you came to search my yard and I opened the door to welcome you. Tomorrow another person will come to search my yard and I’ll have to show him everything. At any rate, I’m the first daughter of the Shen family. What kind of place do you think my yard is?” At this time, if she didn’t fight back, people would believe she was weak and easy to bully.

Shen Linghan gritted her teeth. “You just had a guilty conscience.”

Shen Ninghua sneered. “Did I have a guilty conscience just because of speaking out for myself? Why were you so sure that there was something wrong in my box? Can it be that you have foresight?”

Shen Linghan was about to say more, but Zhao Yunxiang pulled her back as an indication for her to stop talking. Now they had lost the upper hand. Shen Ninghua had the banner of filial piety in her hand, and anything they said would sound unreasonable and produce more trouble than benefit.

“Father, you have seen my courtyard, and there isn’t any problem. But the crows are still lingering in the sky. Should we examine other places in the mansion?”

Shen Dong was silent. Today they had made a fool of themselves. There was no need to start a new joke with the presence of the fifth Prince and other guests.

Seeing his hesitation, Shen Ninghua took on a colder smile. “Since my yard has been searched, I can set my mind at rest. But other brothers and sisters’ yards haven’t been checked. What if something bad went into their yards and scared them? That’s not good.”

Shen Dong nodded. “Well, madam, arrange someone to search other yards.” Madam Zhao had a sense of propriety. If anything happened, she could deal with it properly. Shen Linghan was the daughter he most cherished. As the first daughter of the Shen family and the niece of the empress, she was also an auspicious sign for being one of the boy-girl twins of the Shen family. In the future, she would surely become an empress. He didn’t want anything bad to happen and destroy his high expectations for her.

When Shen Ninghua heard his arrangements, she understood. Shen Dong had certainly figured out the situation, but he didn’t want to hurt Shen Linghan, the apple of his eye. Letting Madam Zhao search the yard meant they were not going to find anything at all!

Hearing Shen Dong’s instructions, Madam Zhao’s heart was relieved. But when she glanced at Shen Ninghua, a trace of annoyance flashed in her heart. “Yes, master, but the matter in the front yard has not been dealt with properly. Let’s take the fifth Prince and master Chu to the front yard. I will deal with the matter in the back yard.” Although Shen Ninghua had been cleared of the charge of killing Nurse Zhou, there was still the poisoned wine issue. And the poison was absolutely true. She didn’t believe Shen Ninghua could turn the tables!