Chapter 24: Gatekeeper's wife?

Shen Wanqing looked toward the servant hiding behind the corner of the wall and sneered. "Hiding your head and skulking around... what kind of rat-like behavior is this?"

The servant realized he had been discovered, stepped out from the shadows, and cupped his hands respectfully.

"Azure Sun City, the Lu Family. By order of Young Master Hao, I am here to look after my sister-in-law."

"The Lu Family?" Shen Wanqing sized him up.

"Sister-in-law? Wasn't that trash kicked out of the Lu Family years ago?"

The servant opened his mouth, but no good answer came to him. Shen Wanrong leaned toward her sister and whispered, "Could they be trying to find that trash through her?"

Shen Wanqing sneered before turning her attention back to Shen Yuyan. "Ugly freak, has your man caused trouble?"

Shen Yuyan said nothing, she simply stood there with her head lowered, her fingers quietly tightening around the bundle on her back.

Shen Wanqing turned back toward the servant, her voice suddenly turning cold. "Go back and tell your young master that if he wants to find that trash, he should go look for him directly. Stop following this ugly girl around. The Shen Family's people are not for your Lu Family to harass."

The servant's expression shifted slightly. "Miss Shen, we are under Young Master Hao's orders..."

"I don't care whose orders they are." Shen Wanqing's voice could have cut glass. "Tell Lu Hao he'd better not provoke the Shen Family, or he should be worried about leaving this city with his legs still attached. Now get lost!"

The servant hesitated. The Lu Family and the Shen Family were roughly equal in power within Azure Sun City, and the current patriarch Shen Zhenghai was notoriously protective of his own. His temper alone was enough to make a servant think twice.

Even after his death, his reputation was still enough to make an ordinary servant think twice before crossing the Shen Family. If this matter escalated, Young Master Hao might not be able to protect him.

The servant finally cupped his hands. "Understood."

He turned and hurried away.

Only after his figure disappeared around the corner did Shen Yuyan quietly breathe out. At least that problem was gone.

But before she could say anything, Shen Wanqing suddenly reached out, grabbed her sleeve, and yanked her toward herself. "You ugly thing..."

Her eyes narrowed. "You led them here on purpose so we'd chase them off for you, didn't you?"

Shen Yuyan remained silent.

Shen Wanrong smiled beside her. It wasn't a kind smile.

"But that's fine. Even if you hadn't come to us, we were planning to find you anyway." Her smile disappeared.

"Speak. Where did you hide the thing Grandmother left you? We searched the entire Shen residence top to bottom and couldn't find it."

Shen Yuyan shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen it."

Shen Wanqing's expression darkened. "Still lying?"

She stepped forward and pinched Shen Yuyan's arm hard enough to leave a bruise. "Grandmother doted on you the most when she was alive. Ever since she passed, no one in the Shen Family has seen it. If it's not with you, then who?"

"I don't know. I really don't know."

Shen Yuyan could only keep shaking her head. She genuinely didn't know what they were talking about. But Shen Wanqing and Shen Wanrong had never cared whether she was telling the truth.

Shen Wanrong suddenly grabbed her chin, her knuckles digging painfully into Shen Yuyan's skin until her face twisted. "Ugly thing, you'd better pray we find it ourselves..."

Her voice was cold. "Otherwise, next time, you won't walk away."

She shoved Shen Yuyan backward, as she stumbled and fell heavily onto the cobblestones, her bundle came loose. The embroidery scattered across the ground.

Copper coins rolled into the cracks between the stones, and the half-eaten flatbread landed directly in the dirt.

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Shen Yuyan froze for a moment. She stared at the scattered embroidery. Those pieces had taken her days and nights to complete.

They were the result of countless hours spent sitting beneath a dim lamp, carefully guiding the needle through every thread because she wanted to earn a little more money for their household.

Now they were lying in the dirt.

Shen Wanqing and Shen Wanrong didn't even spare them a glance. They simply stepped over the embroidery and walked away.

After they were gone, Shen Yuyan remained kneeling on the ground for a while. Then she slowly reached for the first piece of embroidery.

She picked them up carefully, brushing away the dirt as gently as she could, afraid that even a little more pressure might damage the delicate threads.

She gathered the scattered copper coins one by one and finally picked up the flatbread.

She brushed the dirt from it and placed it back into the bundle.

She had been bullied by those two for her entire life, so she was used to it.

At least she had shaken the Lu Family's tail; that was what mattered. As for the humiliation, she would swallow it, just as she always had. And as for the thing Grandmother had left her...

Shen Yuyan quietly tied the bundle back together, slung it over her shoulder, lowered her head, and walked away.

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By the time she reached the entrance of the Iron Mountain Escort Agency, the afternoon sun was already hanging high in the sky. Inside the courtyard, the escort warriors were in the middle of their practice, blades flashing beneath the sunlight.

Someone noticed her first and paused. "Who's that at the gate?"

"Wearing a veil... isn't that the ugly girl from the Shen Family?"

"The gatekeeper's wife?"

The whispers weren't quiet enough.

Shen Yuyan lowered her head even further and tightened her grip around the bundle until her knuckles turned white. She had heard those words her entire life.

Ugly.

Freak.

Monster.

She should have been numb to them by now, but somehow...

She wasn't, every time she heard them, a tiny part of her still hurt.

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At that moment, Lu Xuan was sweeping the courtyard when he heard the murmurs.

He looked up and immediately saw Shen Yuyan standing alone outside the gate, her bundle clutched tightly against her chest and her head bowed so low that she seemed to be trying to disappear into herself.

His hand stopped moving.

Something was wrong.... very wrong.

He did not ask her what had happened, because he did not need to.

The moment he saw her like that, the faint smile on his face vanished.

He dropped the broom where he stood and walked straight toward her, neither hurried nor slow, after a few strides, he reached her and gently took her hand.

"What happened?"

Shen Yuyan looked up in surprise. She had not expected him to take her hand... not here, with dozens of eyes watching them, and certainly not in front of all those people who had spent so long calling her ugly.

Her eyes trembled slightly, but Lu Xuan did not care about any of them.

He raised his other hand and gently smoothed the stray hairs beside her ear, tucking them behind it. His movements were light and natural, as though he had done this a thousand times and would do so a thousand more.

The courtyard gradually fell silent.

Every whisper died mid-sentence, as though someone had suddenly seized the entire courtyard by the throat.

Xiao Lin, who had been about to call out a greeting, opened his mouth but found that he had nothing to say.

Old Guo spat on the ground, wanting to say something but swallowing his words instead.

Even Ye Qingyi paused.

Shen Yuyan's eyes were red, but she did not cry.

Lu Xuan said nothing, he simply held her hand and led her into the gatehouse.

The door closed behind them, leaving the courtyard silent.