Duke Jing's younger sister

Ziyuan's real name is Yao Zhaodi, and her family lives in a village on the outskirts of the city.

It takes about an hour for the carriage to reach Yao's house.

Every time Zi Yuan went home during her vacation, she would walk back, and she didn't know how long the journey would take.

Talking about Ziyuan, Xingping couldn't help it and her eyes turned red again. However, Shen Li looked indifferent with his eyelashes drooping, and no one knew what he was thinking.

The carriage stopped outside a fenced courtyard. Shen Li and Xing Ping approached the courtyard, but saw that there was no white silk or other objects on the door lintel.

Last night, Shen Beiqi asked Yueyang to buy a coffin and sent someone to send her body back to the Yao family.

But why is the courtyard so quiet? There is no sign of any funeral being held.

Just as Shen Li was about to knock on the door, she heard a quarrel coming from the yard.

"I don't agree! My sister died so tragically, it's fine if you don't feel bad, but how can you treat her like this? Are you her mother? Do you have a heart?"

She looked over the fence and saw that the person talking was a boy about thirteen or fourteen years old.

The young man was of decent stature, but rather thin. His coarse cloth clothes were washed to a pale color. At the moment, he had a sullen look on his face, and was pulling hard at a woman's sleeve.

The woman looked to be under 40, and her facial features revealed a shrewd and calculating look. When she heard the young man's words, a hint of sarcasm appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"What you said is true. Your sister is also my flesh and blood. How can I not love her?"

The woman pretended to be sad and frowned tightly, but there was not a single tear in her eyes. Shen Li guessed that this should be Ziyuan's mother, Zhao.

Zhao wiped her dry cheeks with a handkerchief and cried in an extremely sad tone,

"My son, don't you know that your tuition, your writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone were all earned by your sister? Now that she is dead, if you don't arrange a ghost marriage for her to earn some money, how can you continue to study in this school in the future?"

"you dare!"

The boy stamped his feet anxiously, his little face flushed with anger.

"Do you think I didn't see it last night? The people from the Shen family gave you so much silver, how come it's not enough for my studies? My sister has a miserable life. She has worked hard for this family for ten years, but in the end, before her body is even cold, you still have to lie on her and suck her blood. You are so shameless to marry her to an old bachelor in his sixties!"

Zhao was anxious now, hesitating and saying,

"What do you know, little kid? The money of the Shen family... is to be kept for buying good farmland, marrying a wife and having children! Besides, your sister is an unmarried girl. If she is not worthy of a ghost marriage, she will just be a wandering ghost, and even the King of Hell won't accept her!"

"Stop being so pretentious. You just want to give the money to Wang Liu to gamble again!"

The boy's tone of voice did not sound like that of a son talking to his mother, but rather like that of a mature and steady father teaching his unfilial daughter a lesson.

Shen Li looked at him twice more unconsciously. His clear features were somewhat similar to Zi Yuan's.

"Over the years, you have filled the Wang family's hole. Have they ever said they want to marry you as a concubine? Stop dreaming!"

Wang Liu is a widower from a neighboring village. His wife has been dead for five or six years.

Wang Liu was an uneducated man, but he was more handsome than the average man. He relied on his face to make a living by hanging around with various widows.

Zhao loves Wang Liu, but she doesn't know that he just treats her as a fool.

Every time after the passionate love, he would find various ways to ask for money. However, Zhao's husband died early and she had been a widow for many years, so she just fell for Wang Liu's sweet words.

Now, she has become someone who gives money and people when asked for. If someone wants her life, she would be happy to chop off their head and send it to Wang Liu happily.

The young man's words were sharp, and he showed no respect for his mother at all. However, judging from this scene, Zhao was indeed not worthy of respect.

After listening to the play for long enough, Shen Li had a general understanding of the situation of Ziyuan's family.

Only by seeing the real scene can one know how much sadness and pain were contained in Zi Yuan's few light words.

She patted the fence twice, and the wooden frame made a few soft sounds, interrupting the quarrel between the two people in the yard.

The boy turned his gaze and looked her up and down, then asked in a cold voice, "Who are you?"

Xing Ping said, "This is Miss Shen San, the master your sister has been serving."

The boy got even angrier when he heard this, "What are you doing here? Are you here to see our family make a fool of themselves?"

Xing Ping said with a "tsk". "Little kid, why are you so harsh? Is it wrong for us girls to come and see you?"

"You don't have to pretend to be kind. If you were really that kind, how could my sister have died!" the boy retorted.

Xing Ping wanted to say something, but was stopped by Shen Li. Shen Li took a step forward and looked at the boy across the fence, "What's your name?"

"What does it have to do with you!"

Shen Li smiled and said, "It has nothing to do with me, but I promised your sister that I would protect you in this life, so I came to find you."

"You'll protect me?" The young man laughed and sneered, "How? Are you going to protect me like you protect my sister?"

After hearing his insinuations, Shen Li was not annoyed, and continued to speak slowly,

"You have every right to hate me, but you should hate those who made your sister unable to live, right? Could it be that you only have the courage to hate me, but not the courage to avenge her?"

The young man took two steps closer and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know who they are?"

"Just because I don't know now doesn't mean I'll never know in the future. I'll keep looking into it!"

Shen Li looked at the young man with clean eyebrows and eyes, and after a moment of silence, he said lightly, "Do you want to come with me or avenge your sister? The choice is in your hands. I will not force you."

Zhao heard something unusual. It turned out that this young lady from the Shen family came specially to take her and her son back to the Shen Mansion?

Oh my God, this is terrible!

I heard that the Duke's Mansion was renovated like a magnificent palace, and the Shen family is even richer, so any few items like cups and teacups can be sold for a good price!

Zhao was so delighted that she felt as if she saw a lot of money waving at her.

She immediately came forward, greeted Shen Li with a smile, and then pushed her son, gritted her teeth and persuaded in a very low voice,

"I'll let you stay at the Duke's Mansion for free, and you don't even have to serve anyone. It's such a good thing, why are you still hesitating? Hurry up and agree..."

After that, she smiled at Shen Li flatteringly, "Miss Shen San, right? Then when are we leaving? Are we leaving today?"

Shen Li chuckled, "I'm afraid Madam Yao has misunderstood."

Zhao was stunned. Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?

She was about to ask further questions when she heard the girl's gentle voice again.

"I only said that I would take your son back to the Shen Mansion, but I didn't say that I would take you back with me!"