Volume One, Chapter 18: I’ll Shout You All to Death!

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Xiulian married well, and as her mother, she could share in the blessings, while Hongye could be promoted by the Chen family—what a wonderful thing. Dowry must be given, and plenty of it.

At noon, after Shen Yubai received the meal, he waited for his mother to come eat with him. Yet, by the time of Wei hour (1:00 p.m.), no one had arrived.

Shen Yubai’s eyes darkened with turmoil.

He sent the meal back to Su Jin, along with all the silver coins, and wrote a note explaining the situation before leaving the house.

Though he knew the Shen family would not dare enter his room, it was better to be cautious.

Not long after, by the main house, he heard Mrs. Zheng ordering his mother around.

One moment she was thirsty, another her legs were numb and needed pounding, then her head ached and demanded massage.

After each request came a scolding, such as "Haven’t you eaten? So weak," or "Are you trying to kill me with your pressing?"

Following these was Mrs. Luo’s soft apologies.

Shen Yubai sneered coldly.

The mere sound of the scolding did not resemble someone truly ill.

He coughed twice beneath the window anxiously, “Grandma is so seriously ill; can her grandson come in to see her?”

“Don’t come in!” came a piercing scream from Shen Xiulian.

Shen Yubai moved to the window and pressed his fist to his lips, coughing several times in succession. “Your grandson is ill and cannot fulfill his filial duties before Grandma; he is overcome with guilt.”

Mrs. Zheng and Shen Xiulian, seeing Shen Yubai cough by the window, turned pale with fright.

And Shen Yubai’s coughing would not stop.

Mrs. Luo, disregarding everything else, rushed to the window filled with worry. “Why are you coughing so badly? You were clearly better, how did it become like this?” Her voice quivered with tears.

Shen Yubai squeezed Mrs. Luo’s hand but leaned on the window coughing.

Mrs. Luo was then sent away by Mrs. Zheng.

“Mother will help you back to rest, then prepare your medicine.”

Mrs. Luo offered a clumsy comfort to Shen Yubai, but inside was utterly flustered.

Shen Yubai wanted to tell his mother he was fine, but caught a shadow flicker in the east wing and fell silent.

Only after closing the door upon returning to his room did he say, “Mother, I am fine.”

Seeing he no longer coughed, Mrs. Luo quickly shut the window and repeated the matter.

Shen Xiulian called Mrs. Luo in and demanded all the money, but she explained she had none. Mrs. Zheng clutched her chest, crying out in pain, tormenting her for two full hours.

“Your father’s salary while in office was only seven shi of rice per month. After our expenses and social obligations, all was sent back to the family home—there was no extra money. But your grandmother does not believe this; she thinks I’m hiding money.”

Mrs. Luo’s heart was full of sorrow.

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Widowed, with a sick son, suspicion from her in-laws weighed heavily.

Shen Shouxin died in office, a martyr, and the court granted compensation and funeral expenses.

A large sum of silver was brought back to the Shen family and handed over to Old Shen.

The Shen family used this money to build their sturdy brick and tile house; the rest was tightly held by Mrs. Zheng.

Yet it was precisely this money that made Mrs. Zheng believe officialdom was lucrative and that Mrs. Luo must be hoarding a great deal more.

No matter Mrs. Luo’s pleas, the in-laws refused to believe her.

Shen Yubai’s illness worsened, reliant solely on Mrs. Luo’s care; none of the others dared approach his side.

Under the care of the other two daughters-in-law, Mrs. Zheng recovered that very afternoon.

While Mrs. Luo went to prepare medicine, Shen Yubai confided the situation to Su Jin.

Su Jin laughed angrily, “If your mother had money, she would have sent you to the county medical clinic long ago.”

Shen Yubai smiled faintly.

Even outsiders could see the truth; only family remained blind.

“Are you going to keep feigning illness like this? Can your throat endure it?”

“After coughing so long, it’s a bit sore.”

“Wait here; I’ll bring you something good.”

After leaving this note, Su Jin disappeared.

Shen Yubai continued copying history books at the kang table.

He had finished copying the book yesterday and was now annotating it.

After last night’s ordeal, Shen Yubai realized Su Jin struggled with these history texts, so clear annotations would help keep her from falling asleep after just a few pages.

At dusk, something resembling a snail appeared.

He picked it up and examined it; the snail shell had many neatly arranged holes, and a note was attached to its antenna.

“Press down.”

Following the instruction, Shen Yubai pressed firmly. Instantly, the room echoed with a man’s cough—sometimes rapid and continuous, sometimes just a couple of coughs now and then.

He stared at the snail in amazement.

Quickly setting it aside, he picked up his pen and wrote an inquiry: “What is this?”

“It’s a Bluetooth speaker. I specially bought it at a store. The sound quality is excellent. With this, you don’t have to fake coughing anymore.”

“Why does it cough?”

“I downloaded a coughing audio clip; it will cough on command until the battery dies. Oh, and when it stops coughing, that means the battery is dead. You can send it back, and I’ll recharge it for you.”

A flicker of wonder passed through Shen Yubai’s eyes.

The future was truly enticing, with such marvelous devices.

He stared at the speaker for the length of a burning incense stick before setting it down.

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Accompanied by the coughing sound, he continued annotating the history book.

From that day on, the coughing noise never ceased—day and night—it disturbed every member of the Shen household’s rest.

The Shen family grew listless and secretly blamed Mrs. Zheng.

Especially Old Shen.

He believed Mrs. Zheng’s torment of Mrs. Luo had angered Shen Yubai, worsening his condition.

Regardless, Shen Yubai was still the Shen family’s grandson, so Mrs. Zheng dared not say anything too harsh, only muttering quietly, “How long can such coughing last?” and the like.

From then on, no one in the Shen family dared approach Shen Yubai’s room.

Not even withholding food from the third branch’s meals.

Su Jin was overjoyed upon hearing the news from Shen Yubai and even bought a frog-shaped speaker from the store as a replacement.

“Bullies who torment orphans and widows, we’ll drive you mad with noise!”

During this time, Su Jin visited the antique shop to see Old Du twice more.

But after she left, two figures emerged from the shadows.

“I wasn’t wrong, right? She often comes to this antique shop.”

Wang Qiqi spoke ingratiatingly to Liu Lei.

Liu Lei scanned the shop—an antiquated, elegant décor with wooden lattices interspersed with thick glass, faintly revealing items on the shelves.

“Do you know why she comes here?”

Wang Qiqi didn’t know, of course.

Since moving out of Su Jin’s dormitory, Liu Lei refused to meet her at all.

She had returned to living with only two thousand yuan a month for expenses.

As for designer bags and clothes, those were no longer within reach.

To regain Liu Lei’s trust, she had followed Su Jin for three days straight and finally found this place.

Seeing Su Jin about to leave school today, she quickly called Liu Lei out.

The opportunity had arrived; she would not let it slip away.

“I don’t dare go in and alert her. I want to wait until you come in with me. But this antique shop must be suspicious. Think about it—antiques are terribly expensive. How could Su Jin afford them? I suspect someone here is supporting her!”

A gleam of hope flashed through Liu Lei’s eyes.

If Su Jin were truly being kept, making a scandal would utterly ruin her reputation at school, let alone attending symposiums.

Wang Qiqi stayed outside while Liu Lei stepped into the antique shop alone.