Volume One, Chapter 14: The Suicide of Lady Zhao.
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Chu Yuning wanted to retort but found no words; he turned his face away, refusing to look at Concubine Zhao. It wasn’t that he was speechless—it was that he scorned to speak with a woman who had stooped to becoming a wife or concubine! Seeing Chu Yuning’s defiance, Concubine Zhao grew weary of arguing further.
Accompanying her was the matriarch of the Zhao family. She gazed at Zhao, lying half-dead on the ground, silent for a long moment before finally stepping forward and saying, “Though a woman marries into her husband’s family, Chu Dahe is already dead, and your Chu family refuses to accept her. She is still my daughter; now she shall return to the Zhao family.”
With those words, the Zhao family lifted Zhao’s body from the ancestral hall. Chunhua and Qiuyue followed behind, tearful and sorrowful. Just as they had arrived in a storm, they departed with the same swift urgency, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Shen Yuan learned of this the next day. Hearing that Zhao and the village official were not yet dead, Nurse Liu felt some regret but more so unease. Cutting the weeds without removing the roots only lets them grow again; if Zhao and the official survived, they would surely retaliate against Shen Yuan with even greater ferocity.
After all, it was Shen Yuan who had caught the two in their illicit affair, and they hated her—perhaps wished they could eliminate her completely.
Listening to Nurse Liu’s worries, Shen Yuan smiled faintly. “Auntie, do you really think the Zhao family came to save Zhao?”
Nurse Liu was surprised, not understanding what Shen Yuan meant.
Shen Yuan said softly, “Zhao’s return to the Zhao family won’t last many days. As for Uncle Li, with such a big incident at home, Aunt Tian should have come back to care for the dying man!”
As Shen Yuan predicted, Zhao hanged herself just three days after returning to the Zhao family.
Whether it was truly suicide no one cared to verify.
Zhao’s body was brought back to the Chu household by the Zhao family. Chu Yuning reported a bereavement leave to the academy and hung a white mourning cloth at home, never leaving Zhao’s coffin day or night. Rumor had it he didn’t eat a grain, fainting from exhaustion multiple times.
Once a person dies, their faults fade with time.
The villagers gradually forgot Zhao’s affair and even praised her suicide as an act of fierce resolve, placing a chastity memorial plaque beside her spirit tablet.
Shen Yuan saw that wooden plaque and felt only irony.
A plaque engraved with the word “Chastity” was regarded as the highest honor and praise for a woman.
Chu Yuning, wiping the chastity plaque, noticed Shen Yuan’s gaze. Looking up toward the door, he saw her and put down what he was holding.
Originally, Shen Yuan had intended to visit the neighboring Li family, but seeing Chu Yuning had spotted her, she stepped inside the Chu home.
Since she was passing by, she decided to burn some spirit money for Zhao.
A few days ago, Zhao had hoped to burn paper offerings at her own grave; now, the roles were reversed—it was Shen Yuan’s turn to burn two sheets of spirit money.
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“You great villain! I hate you—get out, get out of our house!” Chu Chunhua, wrapped in a coarse cloth, dashed out from the corner, stiffening her neck and butting Shen Yuan with her head.
Chu Yuning instinctively stepped in front of Shen Yuan and was struck in the stomach by Chunhua. He winced in pain, scolding harshly, “What are you doing? Get out!”
“Brother, you’re being mean to me! Wahhh, you’re mean to me because of this wicked woman!” Chunhua burst into tears.
Seeing his sister cry, Chu Yuning hurried to comfort her. “Chunhua, I’m not scolding you. You’re tired—go get some rest! Qiuyue, take your sister back to the room to sleep!”
Obediently, Chu Qiuyue led Chunhua away from the mourning hall.
Though silent, her gaze toward Shen Yuan was dark and hostile.
After Chunhua and Qiuyue left, Chu Yuning’s eyes returned to Shen Yuan. He wanted to say that after all these days, she finally came to show concern for him, but what slipped out was, “Are you here to mock me?”
“Otherwise?” Shen Yuan looked up at Chu Yuning, a trace of mockery playing on her lips.
His eyes darkened. What had he been hoping for? Ridiculous! Shen Yuan had ruined his family—he would never forgive her so easily!
“My mother said she has repaid the money she owed you. Since that’s so, we have no ties. I’ll walk my path to the heavens, you take your lonely bridge! We have a wide road ahead, each to our own side!”
Shen Yuan picked up a sheet of spirit money from the table, casually folded it, and tossed it into the fire basin before replying,
“There’s no need for us to walk separate paths—because we will never be on the same road again.”
With that, Shen Yuan turned and left the mourning hall.
In this life, her engagement to Chu Yuning was null and void. She would no longer pour her heart and soul into funding his studies, nor would she denounce him for breaking their betrothal and marrying a princess. She would have no further entanglements with him. She would walk her own path and watch with her own eyes as Chu Yuning spent every day unhappy and thwarted.
After leaving the Chu household, Shen Yuan went to the neighboring Li family.
She gently knocked on the courtyard door and called, “Little Tiger, it’s me, Ayan!”
No sooner had she spoken than the door opened. A chubby little boy dashed out and threw himself into Shen Yuan’s arms. “Sister Ayan! Wonderful, I can finally come play with you!”
“Long time no see, Little Tiger!” Shen Yuan patted his head and pulled out a wrapped malt sugar from her pocket. “I bought this last time I went to town. Try it!”
“Thank you, Sister Ayan!” Little Tiger accepted the candy joyfully.
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“You little glutton, how many sweets have you eaten?” Aunt Tian came out from the house, her lovely face lined with worry, looking exhausted. Seeing Shen Yuan, she said shyly, “My husband’s scandal has tarnished your child’s eyes. It’s a hardship that you still come to see me.”
Shen Yuan smiled. “In my heart, he is him, and you are you. Even as husband and wife, they can’t be conflated.”
Shen Yuan said this because Aunt Tian was truly a good person.
In the past, when the village official took medicine from her house without paying or on credit, Aunt Tian secretly brought silver coins to Shen Yuan’s home. Whether Shen Yuan accepted or not, she insisted on giving.
Moreover, whenever she returned from town with treats for the two Chu sisters, she sometimes brought something for Little Tiger to try. Upon learning this, Aunt Tian immediately gave her freshly laid eggs from the chicken coop, refusing to accept treats without reciprocation, saying that mutual exchange was the true spirit of neighbors.
For this, Aunt Tian was scolded by the village official, who said she was foolish and naive, unlike the clever and wise Concubine Zhao.
Clever and wise?
More accurately, she was stingy and selfish!
Over the years, Shen Yuan had bought countless things for Zhao and her two daughters. Not a single egg from their chickens had she ever seen. Zhao only thought of taking, sucking Shen Yuan’s blood like a vampire.
It was laughable that the stingy and selfish were called clever and wise, while the grateful and considerate were branded foolish and brainless!
Aunt Tian invited Shen Yuan into the house.
Lying on the bed, the village official saw Shen Yuan and struggled to raise himself, muttering curses unclear from his smoke-damaged throat.
His agitation almost caused him to choke and faint, but Aunt Tian quickly ran over, pried open his mouth to give him a few sips of water, and rubbed his back until he caught his breath.
After they left the room, Shen Yuan asked, “Aunt Tian, now that Uncle Li is like this, what are your plans?”
“I have no plans. As long as he’s alive, I’ll keep taking care of him,” she replied succinctly.
Though brief, Shen Yuan heard the bitterness and helplessness behind her words.
How could a woman not hate her husband for his affair? But as a wife and due to the whispers of society, she endured everything.
In a low voice, Shen Yuan said, “Uncle Li’s lungs were scalded by the fire and now suffer from a chronic cough. Without you, I’m afraid he won’t last long.”