Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

In the main courtyard of the scholar's residence.

"Is my husband asleep in the study again?" Madam Jiang asked the head maid beside her.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I understand, you may leave." Madam Jiang waved her hand, dismissing her maids. She leaned against the bed, lit a lamp, and slowly read a historical record of a previous dynasty.

The next day, at the dining table in the flower hall.

"My lord, you stayed in the study again yesterday. Although you have a lot of official business, you should take care of your health."

"Thank you for your concern, Madam. I was reviewing official documents late yesterday and was afraid of disturbing your rest, so I stayed there. Are you going to the palace to pay your respects to the Imperial Concubine today?"

"Yes, my sister said she hasn't seen me in a long time and wants me to go to the palace to keep her company. Husband, I'll take Luo'er with me to the palace. After all, he's the eldest son of our family, we can't always keep him hidden from outsiders!" Madam Jiang's eyes showed some worry.

“Luo’er grew up in the countryside and is not familiar with palace rules, so it’s best not to take him along to avoid offending the nobles,” Shen Jingheng replied after swallowing all the food in his mouth.

“It’s precisely because he’s spent so much time in the countryside that we need to broaden his horizons. I wonder where Luo’er is living now? It seems she’s not with Grand Tutor Li!” Madam Jiang was already quite tired of playing games with Shen Jingheng every day, but she just couldn’t find Shen Luo’s whereabouts, so she had no choice but to patiently talk to the person opposite her like this.

"Yes, it's not with the Grand Tutor!" Shen Jingheng said calmly, without saying anything more.

"I'm full. I'll go to my study to handle some official business. Please enjoy your meal, Madam." Shen Jingheng put down his bowl of porridge and tried his best to be amiable towards his wife, who was ten years younger than him.

Jiang thoughtfully saw Shen Jingheng out of the courtyard before returning to the house.

Seeing the bowl of porridge that Shen Jingheng had just put down, she suddenly reached out and swept it to the ground. The carved porcelain bowl shattered into several pieces.

"Be careful not to hurt your hand." Jiang's wet nurse took Jiang's hand with concern and examined it carefully, afraid that she might hurt it in the slightest.

"Granny, do you think that child looks a lot like the current emperor?" Madam Jiang asked anxiously, holding the wet nurse's hand, hoping to get a negative answer from her.

“Miss, I have only seen the Emperor a limited number of times and dare not look directly at his face, so I have no idea whether the eldest son resembles the Emperor.”

"I really underestimated my husband. He actually did such a rebellious thing right under my sister's nose," Jiang said bitterly, closing her eyes.

"Alright, get me dressed up. I need to go to the palace to see my sister."

Inside the Qionghua Hall of the Imperial Palace.

Consort Jiang, already in her thirties, sat on the high throne, dressed in a magnificent imperial robe. Even heavy makeup couldn't conceal the dark circles under her eyes.

"Your Majesty, Madam Shen has arrived," a palace servant reported as he entered.

"Please come in quickly." Consort Jiang rose with the help of her female attendant, eager to see her sister as soon as possible.

"This humble woman greets Your Highness the Imperial Concubine. May Your Highness live a thousand years." As soon as Madam Jiang entered the main hall, she knelt down and bowed to the Imperial Concubine.

"Alright, sister, get up quickly. There's no need for such formalities between us sisters." Consort Jiang helped her sister up with both hands.

"You may all leave. Go outside and keep watch. No one is to enter without my permission," Consort Jiang said to the palace servants attending to her in the hall.

"Yes," all the servants in the palace filed out of the main hall. When the last servant left, he closed the hall door behind him.

"Sister, how is it? Still haven't found it?" After the palace doors closed, Consort Jiang anxiously grasped her sister's hand and asked.

Jiang gently shook her head.

"We haven't found him. My men have practically turned the capital upside down, but we still can't find where that little brat is."

"If that's the case, it can only mean that the child is indeed the Emperor's," Consort Jiang said through gritted teeth.

"Shen Jingheng, what audacity! I trusted him so much, and he actually had such a hidden hand. What is he planning? To rebel?"

“Sister, now that things have come to this, he must know that we have discovered the child’s background, which is why he hid him. This is also my fault. If I had discovered his affair with the Emperor earlier, I should have killed him long ago.” Madam Jiang was so angry that she could grind her teeth to powder.

You have to understand, that child used to be under her thumb every day. Countless times, she could have killed him as easily as killing an ant with just a flick of her wrist.

"Hmph, so what if he's hiding a child? Who else can prove it's the Emperor's? When that day comes, my eldest prince will still be the sole heir to the throne." Consort Jiang slammed her hand on the coffee table and said through gritted teeth.

"Sister, you must take good care of the eldest prince. There are still a few princes who are restless. Besides, now is not a good time to turn against Shen Jingheng." Madam Jiang thought for a moment and said to the Consort. She thought of the eldest prince's drowning incident last year. Who knows if it was not the work of the princes from the foreign lands.

You must know that the Emperor only has one son, the eldest prince. If anything happens to him, the Emperor will be left without a son, and will have to choose one of the princes to inherit the great empire.

Hearing her sister's words, Consort Jiang understood her meaning. She regretted her previous ruthless methods; if she had known she would face such a situation, she should have spared two princes to protect her son from disaster. That way, her son wouldn't be being watched by forces from all sides like this.

But it was too late for regrets now. Even if she agreed to let the women in the harem have children, she didn't have that much time for them anymore. Besides, the Emperor's health was only superficially strong; he could collapse at any moment.

The two sisters talked intimately in the palace for a long time. Finally, Jiang had lunch with her sister in the palace before returning to her own residence.

Although she disliked being Mrs. Shen, she had to be patient and act like a dignified Mrs. Shen for the sake of the family's important affairs.

Within ten days, news came back from the search party that they had indeed found him at the recruit camp in Zhongzhou Prefecture. He had lied to the soldiers, saying he was an orphan with no parents or family, and that he had taken a man who came out to buy supplies as his godfather, and was now working as a cook for that man.

Xia Yu was both angry and amused when he heard the news. He never expected his third brother to be a gangster, even using the excuse of his parents' death.

She, as the younger sister, was already furious when she found out about this; if her aunt found out, she would probably be so angry she'd die.

After thinking it over, Xia Yu omitted the long-term excuses and only said in the letter that she had found someone who was working as a cook in the recruit camp and was now safe. She had arranged for someone to take care of him, and so on.

Xia Yu did indeed hire someone to take care of Changyuan, but she said that as long as he didn't die, he could endure any hardship. Did he really think that military campaigns were as simple as described in storybooks if he didn't experience some suffering?

Upon receiving Xia Yu's letter, Wang Shi, who had been on the verge of death in bed, instantly came back to life. Since Xia Xia said she had arranged for someone to take care of Changyuan, she felt relieved.

So she asked someone to write another letter, in which Wang asked Xia Yu if he could give Changyuan a dose of the life-saving medicine he had given her before.

However, when the letter arrived, Xia Yu was receiving Prince Lip's delegation. After reading the letter, she tossed it aside and forgot about it immediately.