Chapter 44 Let’s See How You Defend Yourself!

Everyone in the hall felt quite sorry when they saw Shen Ninghua’s performance. Shen Ninghua was just a fourteen-year-old girl. It was already difficult for her to remain calm after seeing her birth mother’s courtyard destroyed.

Madam Zhao wiped her tears with a handkerchief. Her heart was filled with rejoice, but her face was full of sadness. “Ninghua, calm down. I’m sorry that your birth mother’s courtyard was burned down. You can take me as your mother in the future, and I will definitely love you just like your own mother. Don’t talk about leaving the Shen family to make you father sad anymore.”

Shen Ninghua’s eyes were full of tears, but her back was straight. “Mother, are you saying that you will treat and love me as your own child?”

Madam Zhao nodded. “Of course. I was busy managing the huge Shen family’s backyard and neglected you momentarily. I’m very sorry for that. But I will definitely take all your affairs into careful consideration in the future.”

“Then, mother, you told me that my birth mother’s courtyard had been tidied up. Is this true?”

Madam Zhao felt a little strange, but she thought the courtyard had been destroyed, and it was impossible for Shen Ninghua to find any evidence. Therefore, she answered, “Of course, it’s true.”

“Then everything my birth mother left behind was there?”

Madam Zhao frowned as if she was deeply grieved. “They are all there. Ninghua, are you suspecting that I embezzled your birth mother’s things?”

Shen Ninghua looked at her coldly and said in an icy voice, “I’m not suspecting now. I’m definitely sure of that! Mother, there was a fire outside, but it was Chunhua Courtyard that actually caught fire!”

“What?” Madam Zhao’s body suddenly trembled. Chunhua Courtyard was her own courtyard! However, she wasn’t in the mood of mourning her loss. She was only afraid that her reputation would be ruined.

Shen Ninghua wiped away her tears and looked up at Shen Dong. “Father, I’ve already asked Qing Que to carry all of my mother’s dowry into the yard. Please go and take a look.”

Shen Dong’s face darkened. He gritted his teeth and coldly glanced at Madam Zhao. Then, he strode towards the door, determined to see what Madam Zhao had done.

Outside the main hall, a hundred dowry boxes were neatly placed on the ground. Although they looked a little old, they were made of fine Huanghuali wood and red sandalwood. The styles were also exceptionally exquisite, and many of them were obviously of the fashion adopted at the imperial palace.

Shen Ninghua walked into the courtyard and gently stroked the dusty boxes with her fingers. She couldn’t stop her tears. “Father, these boxes are covered in dust. Many of them have spider webs on them. It looks like they haven’t been cleaned for at least three months.”

Shen Dong’s eyelids twitched. He longed to slap Madam Zhao in the face on the spot. This woman acted compliantly in front of him but did the exact opposite behind him!

Shen Linghan supported Madam Zhao. She bit her lips and trembled, “Mother, this matter…”

Madam Zhao clenched her fist so hard that she broke her fingernails. However, she couldn’t find any reason to refute. What she said before now became a slap in her own face.

Shen Ninghua suddenly opened a box and looked straight at Shen Dong. Her tone was grievous and indignant, “It’s not a big deal if you just didn’t clean it… But why are most of these boxes empty?”

Qing Que and Hong Ling stepped forward and opened the box wide with a clang. They overturned the box on the ground so that everyone could see the inside clearly. They kept opening the boxes, and clanging sounds continuously rang out. Of the one hundred dowry boxes, fifty-six were empty. The remaining boxes contained more or less things, but the things altogether could only fill up no more than thirty boxes.

“Father, my birth mother passed away early. Even if she didn’t accompany you as long as my current mother, you should still have some feelings for her. How could you bear to see her dowry given away?”

“Miss.” Bai Ruo stepped forward to support Shen Ninghua and wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

Shen Ninghua cried so sadly that many sentimental ladies had tears in their eyes.

“Using the dowry of the deceased mistress. This is way too disgraceful.”

“That’s right. No wonder Ninghua kept saying that she wanted to go to the country villa. See, what a wretched situation has such a good girl been forced into!”

“That’s right, this kind of has actually happened in the dignified Prime Minister’s family. This is really puzzling.”

“Didn’t Madam Zhao just say that all of Madam Xia’s dowry was there? She even let the eldest Miss Shen go and see it, and I even believed her words. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, it would be hard to believe that the truth is like this.”

All kinds of discussions intermittently ran into Shen Dong’s ears. His eyes turned black from anger and he longed to slap Madam Zhao to the ground. This ignorant woman really landed him in serious trouble! He could even imagine how contemptuously and disdainfully the other officials would be looking at him the next day when he went to court.

Did the Shen family lack the dowry? Although Madam Zhao repeatedly said that she respected Madam Xia, she secretly embezzled Xia’s dowry. She had a honeyed tongue but a heart of gall. Were her previous tenderness and kindness just a playact in front of him?

Thinking of this, Shen Dong became even more uncomfortable. He endured the discomfort and saluted Baili Jinchuan and Baili Jinze. “Your Highness, we have searched all the courtyards of the Shen family. We haven’t found out who did what to the illuminating pearl. This matter needs to be investigated in the long term. Please allow me to take care of the family affairs first…”

Before Shen Dong could finish speaking, Baili Jinchuan said, “Lord Shen, you are right. This matter needs to be investigated in the long run. It’s not convenient for us to participate in your family affairs. The banquet is almost over, so we’ll take our leave first.”

“Thank you, Your Highnesses, for your understanding. Please allow me to see you off.”

Baili Jinchuan nodded and looked at Shen Ninghua. “Eldest Miss Shen, my father likes the war manual very much. He even said that he would like to see you one day. You can get prepared for that.”

Shen Ninghua was shocked. The emperor wanted to see her?

“Yes, thank you, Your Highness, for your notice.”

“Yes, Miss Shen, take care. I’ll pay a visit another day. See you.”

Seeing Baili Jinchuan’s attitude, everyone admired Shen Ninghua’s good fortune in their hearts. They became increasingly cautious with their words that were addressed to her almost unanimously to comfort her.

After today’s incident in the Shen family, Madam Zhao’s reputation was totally ruined. It was uncertain who would triumph in the family in the future. They just needed to wait and see.

After everyone left, Madam Zhao trembled and fell to the ground. Shen Linghan cried out in surprise, “Mother!”

Nurse Qin hurriedly helped Madam Zhao up to sit on the chair. “Master, please fetch a doctor for Madam first. She looks not well.”

Shen Dong abruptly turned around and said with cold eyes, “Fetch a doctor? Isn’t it embarrassing enough? The dignified Prime Minister’s wife actually embezzled the deceased wife’s dowry? What a shameless woman!”

Shen Dong’s words made Shen Linghan’s face turn pale. “Father, the matter hasn’t been investigated clearly. Perhaps mother didn’t know about the loss of the dowry. Mother has been married to you for so many years. She has wholeheartedly managed the Shen family. You may not recognize her credit, but you cannot deny her hard work. Please pity her and fetch a doctor for her.”

Shen Dong’s eyes twitched continuously. Madam Zhao had embarrassed him so much that he wished he could strangle her with his own hands.

Shen Xuanye walked out and knelt in front of Shen Dong. “Father, I’m able to grow up thanks to the grace of you and mother, and I cannot repay your grace even with my life. Now that my mother has made a mistake, I’d like to receive the punishment on her behalf. Father, please punish me instead.”

Shen Ninghua stood still and couldn’t stop laughing coldly in her heart. She didn’t believe that Shen Xuanye really cared about Madam Zhao. He was just forced by the current situation to put on an act. After all, he still hadn’t had control over the Shen family, so he wouldn’t give up on the First Lady, much less the Zhao family behind the First Lady.

Shen Dong sighed silently. He looked at Shen Ninghua apologetically and ordered the servants, “Go and invite a doctor over. There’s no need to bother Doctor Zhang.”

Zhang Nian was recommended by Doctor Chen. Shen Dong didn’t want his family skeleton to be made public, so he’d better not use Zhang Nian.

Shen Ninghua looked at Madam Zhao indifferently. Madam Zhao really fainted, but she woke up when Shen Xuanye pleaded mercy for her.

“Master.” Madam Zhao opened her eyes and said weakly, “It’s all my fault. I didn’t look into the matter carefully and made such a big mistake in handling the dowry of Ninghua’s mother. I have nothing to say. Please punish me.” Madam Zhao felt stuffy, but she didn’t get to think about that. She had been too scared and forgotten about the Zhao family behind her. As long as the empress was still the empress, as long as the Zhao family didn’t collapse, Shen Dong wouldn’t dare to give up on her. And now, even if everyone knew that she had embezzled Madam Xia’s things, she absolutely couldn’t admit it.

“So you know that you are wrong? Zhao, can’t the Shen family feed you anymore so that you used the things of a dead person?” Old Lady Xiao walked out with a crutch, supported by Xue Zhu from the side.

Shen Dong hurriedly went up to her, “Mother, why did you come out?”

Old Lady Xiao sneered, “If I didn’t come out, the Shen family is about to collapse. As a wife of the Shen family, she did such stupid things to embarrass the whole family. How can I face the old master underground when I die?”

Shen Dong was ashamed and his face darkened.

Old Lady Xiao looked at Madam Zhao and Shen Linghan with disgust. Her eyes were filled with hatred, longing to tear them to pieces in her heart. This pair of black-hearted mother and daughter dared to plot against her. She lost her fingers!

“Mother, please don’t be angry.” Madam Zhao knelt on the ground, crying so sadly that she couldn’t straighten her back.

Shen Linghan and Shen Xuanye knelt beside Madam Zhao, one on the left and one on the right, pleading for Madam Zhao.

“Grandmother, I didn’t know that there was something wrong with that pearl. Otherwise, I wouldn’t dare to offer it to you as a birthday gift.”

“You dare not? There’s nothing you dare not do! Ninghua is your own sister, yet you framed her up. Today, you dared to murder your grandmother. Maybe tomorrow, you will murder your father as well.” Old Lady Xiao sneered.

“Grandmother, I would rather die than do that.” Shen Linghan abruptly pulled the hairpin off her hair and pressed the sharp hairpin hilt against her throat. “Grandmother, if you don’t believe me, I can die today to prove my innocence.”

Old Lady Xiao looked at Shen Linghan coldly with sarcasm in her eyes, wishing that Shen Linghan could stab her throat so that she didn’t have to see this granddaughter in the future. “Are you threatening me and your father?”

Shen Linghan kowtowed heavily and her forehead turned red because of the impact, “Grandmother, father, I’m not threatening you. I just don’t know how to prove my innocence. I don’t know why the pearl I bought contained poison, and it also implicated the embezzlement of my first mother’s dowry. Since I can’t find any evidence to prove my innocence, I can only prove it with my life.” As she spoke, she exerted more strength and the hairpin cut a wound in her delicate neck. Blood instantly flew out.

Shen Ninghua walked up and looked down at Shen Linghan. She took out something wrapped in water-proof paper from her sleeve and said, “Younger sister, you know what it is, right?”

Shen Linghan was suddenly stunned. The water-proof paper contained the corner of a handkerchief. That handkerchief must have been corroded by something. Only a corner with the pattern of an embroidered flower was left, along with the character “Han”, the last character in her name, beside the orchid. This handkerchief was hers!

Shen Ninghua looked at Shen Dong and said, “Father, I didn’t bring it up because there were so many people a moment ago. This piece of handkerchief was found in my birth mother’s courtyard.”

“Madam Zhao! Shen Linghan!”