Chapter 33: Indifference

  Although the heavy rain had stopped for a while, Shen Jinglun's hair and clothes were still dripping with water. Before the horse came to a stop, he had already leapt off its back and strode towards the gate in big strides.

  He Huan saw him, feeling wronged, heartbroken and resentful. She tried to walk towards him, but the Shen family's servants firmly grasped her arm, so she could only loudly shout: "Shen Jinglu, I want to see Nian Xi..."

  Shen Jinglun didn't stop in his tracks, nor did he spare her a glance. He simply gave a cold order: "Send Miss Biao back to the He residence!"

  Just as Shen Jinglian was about to step inside, He Huan hastily said: "Stop right there! I am Lin Xiyue..."

  "That's enough!" Shen Jinglu finally stopped in his tracks, but still didn't look at He Huan. Instead, he angrily shouted, "Where is the housekeeper? Why are you allowing unrelated people to cause trouble at our doorstep?"

  "Who is irrelevant?" He Huan burst out laughing, she had long forgotten that in other people's eyes, she was He Huan, not Lin Xiyu. At this moment, her mind only had one thought, overnight, her son almost died, and her husband actually said she was an irrelevant person. "How can you treat me like this!" She weakly spat out these words, her vision went black, and her body softened and fell down.

  "What's wrong? What's wrong?" Cao pushed through the crowd and quickly walked towards He Huan, half-kneeling beside her and holding her shoulders. Bai Miao hastily stepped forward and knelt down beside He Huan, bursting into tears with a "wu wu yu yu".

  Earlier, Cao had planned to let Tao persuade He Huan to return home, but Tao said that she no longer had the face to appear in the Shen family and didn't want to get involved in He Huan's affairs. Cao also wanted to wash her hands of it, but couldn't bear her son's pleas, so she could only return with Bai Ji together.

  At this moment, she thought He Huan was just pretending in front of Shen Jinglu, but as soon as she hugged her, she immediately discovered that something was wrong. He Huan was having a high fever, burning very badly.

  "Xuan'er, what's wrong with you?" Cao Shi anxiously shouted at the Shen family crowd: "What have you done to harm my Xuan'er like this!" Seeing Shen Jinglun ignoring her and leaving without looking back, she wailed and complained: "Xiyan and Xuan'er are cousins, Xiyan has been dead for only a few days, do you want to kill Xuan'er too?"

  Shen Zhihua, who rushed to the scene with a stern face, said: "Cao's family, food can be eaten casually, but words cannot be spoken casually. Last night, I have already made it clear to you, please go back home for now, even the carriage is ready..."

  "How dare you say such a thing! Good heavens, look at this, is this something a human being would say? We came to visit Nian Xi in the rain after hearing she was ill, and not only did you refuse us entry, but now Huan'er has lost consciousness because of you. You're clearly bullying others with your power..."

  Cao's voice was high-pitched and indignant, while He Huan lay motionless on the ground. The sight of Bai Miao crying uncontrollably attracted a crowd of onlookers. Cao did have concerns about He Huan, but after worrying, she thought of a practical problem - with He Huan ill, who would pay for her medicine? At this moment, they were in the Shen household, and if not the Shens, then who else could they rely on?

  With the "silver child" as motivation, Cao's family cried out even more desperately, beating their chest and pulling at their own hair until they were hoarse, as if Shen Jinglun had killed her own daughter.

  Qian Daifu was already old, and he feared crowded places the most. When He Huan shouted that she wanted to see Shen Nianxue, he had already turned around, intending to leave the Shen residence through a side door. However, as a doctor, he had a benevolent heart, and seeing He Huan faint, he returned and squatted on the ground to take her pulse. After a while, he said to Shen Zhihua: "Shen Guan Jia, Miss He has caught a chill and suffered a shock, we must administer acupuncture and decoct medicine for her immediately."

  Shen Zhihua had met unreasonable people before, but he had never dealt with a shrewish woman like Cao. Seeing that there were people inside and outside the door, he hastily nodded in agreement: "No matter what, saving lives is important, I'll immediately order someone to prepare a carriage to send Miss Biao to the medical clinic..."

  "It's impossible!" Cao fiercely opposed, saying that she couldn't let the Shen family get away with it.

  She handed He Huan over to Bai Zhi, stood up with her hair disheveled and shouted: "Huan'er is already like this, on the way to the medical hall, it's not just a matter of delaying time, if something happens, can you afford it?" Seeing Shen Zhihua wanting to refute, she cried even louder: "Our family's old master died early, and our eldest sister was the only daughter of the old master. At home, we treated her like a treasure, today she just arrived at your Shen family, and you've made her unconscious..."

  Shen Zhihua's face turned green with rage at her words, and he pointed to two maids, intending to order them to "escort" Cao Shi onto the carriage and send her to the medical clinic by force. Just then, the Lin family's second house's carriage stopped outside the gate, and he hastily changed his tone: "You attend to Miss Biao and Aunt Cao in the small flower hall, and take good care of them in the house." After that, he bowed to Doctor Qian again, politely asking him to treat He Huan, and this farce finally came to an end.

  Outside the Shen family gate, Xie San kept watching from a distance until the crowd dispersed and Lin Guqing, Lin Mengyan and others entered the Shen family gate. He then instructed Chang'an: "You go back to the yamen and let Captain Lin tell Lord Lü that the matter of the He family will be left at that, I don't want to pursue it any further."

  "Third Master, didn't you say that we should teach He Xiaojie a lesson and let her know that people can't be ungrateful?"

  Xie San pursed his lips tightly and said after a long while: "The main matter is urgent, don't branch out again."

  Chang'an looked at Xie San and then gazed at the Shen family's gate, indignantly saying: "Third Master, you've been taken in by her again. In my opinion, she fainted on purpose, colluding with her aunt to put on a show, aiming to cling onto the Shen family..."

  "If it's fake, how can you deceive the doctor? It seems that she is not only cruel to others but also ruthless to herself." Xie San's mouth corner flashed a sneer. Before this, he had been thinking about how she cheated silver from He Sanfang, and why she would frame him for the sake of silver, now he understood, she designed all this to curry favor with Shen Jinglun.

  Everyone has the right to pursue happiness. It is nothing wrong for a woman to pin her future on getting married, but he should put his energy into proper things.

  Thinking this way, Xie San's anger towards He Huan subsided, and he turned to Chang An with a serious expression: "For now, we need to figure out whether Shen Nianxi is truly ill or just pretending. You should only inform Lin the captain and not interfere with the He family's affairs anymore. Please ask him to discreetly find someone to ask the doctor who took Shen Nianxi's pulse for more information. The more detailed the better. Also, send the news of Shen Nianxi's illness to Qing Song Guan in the name of Lin's second house."

  Chang'an nodded and hastily left. Xie San stood thoughtfully staring at the Shen family gate, slowly curling up the corners of his mouth.

  At the same time, Shen Jinglin was walking quickly on the stone path in the garden. He had already wrung out his hair and changed into clean clothes, and was heading towards the Weilan courtyard.

  Unlike the hustle and bustle elsewhere, the Weilan Courtyard was quiet and resplendent, with a riot of colorful flowers throughout the courtyard, competing in beauty under the morning light; The green bamboo at the foot of the wall was tender and lush, and after being washed by the rain, it looked even more vibrant. The maid responsible for sweeping saw Shen Jinglun and hurried forward to pay her respects.

  Shen Jinglun nodded and stepped up onto the steps, where a maid waiting by the door had already lifted the curtain for him.

  "Grandma, I'm apologizing to you. It's my fault for not handling things properly, which disturbed your peace." Shen Jinglin bowed to the elderly lady with a face full of wrinkles.

  The old man smiled, his face full of wrinkles, his eyes curved like a crescent moon, but his pupils were unfocused. He trembled as he stretched out his hand towards the source of the sound. Shen Jinglun hastily grasped his fingers.

  "Good boy, sit here." The old man patted the spot beside him.

  Shen Jinglun sat beside the old man, explaining in a low voice: "Grandmother, my son arranged for the sick child to impersonate Nianxi, just wanting to find someone with ulterior motives, but didn't expect to make such a big commotion..."

  "My grandmother is old and doesn't like to hear these things, now that I have my great-grandchildren with me every day, I'm content. By the way, you haven't seen Nianxi for a while, have you? Go give him a hug quietly, this child is so well-behaved, he doesn't cry or make a fuss, whoever holds him just smiles...just like you when you were little..." The old lady chattered on, her thin fingers tightly grasping Shen Jinglu, her eyebrows and eyes full of joy.

  Shen Jinglun chatted with her grandmother for a while before being led into the inner room by the maid.

  In the spacious room, two wet nurses sat in front of the window doing needlework, while Zi Lan silently guarded the cradle. In the cradle, Shen Nianxi held up his chubby little hands and waved them wildly in the air, his bright black eyes rolling around, and his two small legs kicked one after another under the thin quilt, playing very happily.