Shen Xingwan did not kneel down, but she held the umbrella in her hand on Du Qifeng's head, and soon her whole body was soaked by the rain.
"Old madam, Miss Xingwan is staying with you in the rain." Nanny Zhang said with a sigh.
The old lady, who had also been awake almost all night, took a sip of strong tea to refresh herself and said, "Let them come in."
The door finally opens.
Bai He personally put a thick cloak on Shen Xingwan, "The old lady lets you in."
Entering the warm side room of the old lady, the temperature difference was so great that Shen Xingwan couldn't help but shiver.
"Bai He takes people down to change into clean clothes, freshen up and then bring them back."
When the old lady spoke, Shen Xingwan and Du Qifeng both obeyed quietly, not in a hurry.
"You are also stubborn, your mouth is frozen." Grandma Zhang couldn't help but said, "I'll have someone make two cups of ginger tea."
Soon, the two of them put on clean clothes and came back and sat on the chairs.
Mrs. Shen was the first to speak, "You have asked the wrong person. I have not cared about things for a long time."
"If the old lady is willing to take action, everyone will respect you three points." Du Qifeng said.
The old lady looked at him sharply, "Why should I take action for a girl I don't know?"
Du Qifeng looked at the old lady with hot eyes, "The old lady once guarded a city that was destined to die. She saved the old, weak, sick and disabled who had been abandoned in the city. She also once fought against the powerful for her friends."
"I believe Madam is passionate and compassionate. Mingyue was still so young and she did nothing wrong. She just lost her life in such a muddle. Please have mercy on me, Madam!"
The old lady was in a daze for a moment. To her, these things seemed so far away that they happened in a previous life.
The old lady looked at Du Qifeng with complicated eyes, "Master Du's words are very touching. If it had been many years ago, maybe I would have been moved."
At that time, she was passionate, persistent and responsible.
The eldest daughter of the Xie family of Qingliu Shi family, she has a pure heart and insists on fairness and justice.
The old lady looked at the young man in front of her and pointed to her white hair, "You should all know how to get white hair."
Of course you know. First, the old lady was almost devastated by the loss of her husband. On the night when the news of the death of the former prince and his only son came, as a mother and aunt, she lost both of them at the same time.
His hair turned white overnight, and he fled to the south of the Yangtze River from then on, not caring about worldly affairs.
The old lady sighed leisurely and said to Du Qifeng, "The blood has gone cold. Xie Pingning back then has died in the years."
Xie Pingning is the name of the old lady, a name given by the late emperor himself.
Du Qifeng was a smart man and quickly understood what the old lady meant. Looking at her white hair, he didn't say much after all.
This most prominent noblewoman of the previous generation has not let anyone down in her life, but she still has not escaped the vortex of power.
In the prosperous capital and the supreme imperial power, what was left to her was a cold tombstone, in which her close relatives were buried.
Although disappointed, Du Qifeng could not say harsh words to the gray-haired old lady.
Du Qifeng stood up and said, "It's the junior who is disturbing me."
He said goodbye politely, he was going back to see the bright moon, and he wanted her to go well on the last journey.
The old lady tilted her head and looked at Shen Xingwan who had not spoken since she came in. She lowered her head and didn't know what she was thinking, "Are you disappointed?"
She has become no different from those people now, calculating people's hearts, winning at every step, cold-blooded and heartless.
Shen Xingwan raised his eyes, his eyes were clean and penetrating, "I'm not disappointed, but my heart is cold."
"Because I didn't take action?"
"No, it's because of fear." Shen Xingwan said in an ethereal voice, "I'm afraid that in the whirlpool of power, one day I will change beyond recognition."
The old lady's eyes narrowed, and her voice sounded with a hint of murderous decisiveness.
"Now that you have stepped in, you must move forward bravely and meet gods and kill gods and ghosts!"
"Go back and bring an umbrella."
Watching Shen Xingwan's back disappear into the rain, Mrs. Shen sat on the chair and twirled the prayer beads in her hand. She was the old lady who devoted herself to the Buddha and had no desires or pursuits.
It seems that the conversation just now was just an illusion.
"What do you think the girl will choose to do?" Nanny Zhang said softly.
The old lady closed her eyes and said, "Just watch, you can choose whatever you want."
She will not take action. No matter what Shen Xingwan chooses or how he gets into trouble, she will grow up and handle it by herself.
Only then would she be qualified to enter the game.
The old lady's last words before she fell into sleep were, "I'm old and can't afford the trouble anymore."
She will not easily invest her feelings in anyone. She is afraid that someone with white hair will give someone with black hair another chance...
She couldn't afford it, and Shen Xingwan had to prove to her that he was strong enough.
This is a test and the path Shen Xingwan must take.
When Shen Xingwan rushed to the door, Du Mingyue had already been placed in the coffin, and the Shen family just opened the side door to let them out.
Yes, a mere merchant's daughter, even if she dies, is not worthy of opening the front door of the Shen family.
It was just dawn and there were very few people on the road.
Everyone in the Du family walked away with Du Mingyue's coffin dressed in mourning, followed by Shen Xingwan and Qi Zhiwei.
Before leaving, Du Qifeng raised his head and glanced at the Shen family gate, "This is the so-called power. I have never felt it was so important."
Although he was born into a family of merchants, he was educated by a famous teacher since he was a child. He lacked everything. In addition, he had a gentle personality and was an excellent businessman in dealing with things.
It can be said that in the past almost twenty years of his life, he has always had a smooth life, and he has never regretted his inferiority complex at birth.
Now, he felt deeply powerless.
Shen Xingwan said coldly, "Ming Yue's death will not be in vain."
Things you have done will always leave traces. Even if the old lady doesn't take action, she won't just let it go.
Du Qifeng said softly, "Don't mess around, you can't let anything happen again."
He is nearly seven or eight years older than Shen Xingwan and Du Mingyue, and he has always indulged and pampered them.
But today, he found himself so incompetent and useless.
After Shen Xingwan sent Du Mingyue back to the Du family, he didn't stay long and hurried back to the Shen Mansion.
As soon as he returned to the study, he saw Fu Jingchao lying asleep in the study. Shen Xingwan kicked him over and said, "Wake up."
"Be gentle, I'm still a patient." Fu Jingchao yawned.
Shen Xingwan had no time to talk to him and looked at him eagerly, "Let me ask you, how many people in this world are qualified to use ambergris?"
Fu Jingchao's expression suddenly became serious, "What do you mean by asking like that?"
Shen Xingwan narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "There is a faint smell of ambergris in the old lady's room."
An ordinary person would never notice it, and the old lady also lit other incense in the room at that time.
But whether in her previous life or in this life, she often dealt with all kinds of incense and was particularly sensitive to this aspect.
★The Jiangnan part is coming to an end, which of course does not mean that this book is going to end. What follows is the Shengjing part, the real battlefield of the heroine.
The Jiangnan part is more about foreshadowing and the growth of the heroine, as well as the emergence of some main characters in the heroine's camp to form a complete chain of influence.
It is a long, slow-burning novel about developing a heroine.
