Severing ties with family to marry the young marshal, his whole family chases me to the crematorium.

"Young Marshal, two groups of soldiers in the camp have started fighting for some unknown reason, and some people have already been injured."

Upon hearing this, Si Jingnian stood up abruptly and walked out with a gloomy face.

Shen Qingyao sensed something was wrong and got up to follow Si Jingnian as they ran toward the scene of the incident.

The closer she got to the noisy place, the more tightly Shen Qingyao frowned, and the faster she quickened her pace.

Upon reaching the center of the encirclement, they saw that more than twenty people were already tied up, but they were still struggling desperately. The ropes had already cut their hands raw, leaving bloody marks, but they seemed oblivious to it.

The twenty-odd people struggled and screamed incessantly, looking like wild beasts that had been tied up.

Shen Qingyao looked at them with a solemn expression, took out several talismans from her cloth bag with one hand, and quickly made hand seals with the other.

His fingers spun so fast that only a blur remained, leaving the others watching in awe.

At the same time, Shen Qingyao muttered incantations, and a mysterious power invisible to others floated from her mouth to her fingertips.

"The Eight Trigrams of Heaven and Earth, the Big Dipper and the Heavenly Gang, drive away demons and monsters, vanquish evil without a trace, so be it! By imperial decree!"

Shen Qingyao leaped into the middle, and with a command, the talisman in her hand flew out and headed straight for the foreheads of the twenty-odd soldiers.

The blinking talisman was simultaneously affixed to the foreheads of more than twenty soldiers. The soldiers, who had just been struggling and shouting, instantly fell silent, their heads hanging down as if they had lost their breath.

The crowd, who had just been skeptical, were now so shocked by Shen Qingyao that their mouths were agape, and they were speechless for a long time.

"She...she...she seems to really have some skills."

"Yes! It seems they have quite a lot of skill!"

Did she hear what we just said?

"do not know……"

However, Shen Qingyao paid no attention to their shocked gazes; her expression remained very solemn.

"Take them away, burn the talismans on their foreheads to ashes and make them drink it."

Following Shen Qingyao's instructions, Si Jingnian nodded in agreement, and the twenty-odd soldiers were carried away, limp as mud.

"Si Jingnian, I need cinnabar, yellow paper, chicken blood, and incense."

Si Jingnian noted them down one by one and immediately sent Ye Liangchen out to buy them himself.

Seeing Shen Qingyao's furrowed brows, Si Jingnian felt a vague unease; he knew the situation was probably not going to be easy to resolve.

"Ah Yao, is this a very difficult situation? Can you handle it? Don't overexert yourself."

Upon hearing Si Jingnian's words, Shen Qingyao's brows relaxed slightly, and she shook her head with a smile.

"Don't worry, I won't be reckless. This matter is indeed quite tricky, but I think I can handle it."

Seeing that Shen Qingyao looked serious and didn't seem to be joking, Si Jingnian finally felt a little relieved.

"You've helped me again, how can I thank you enough?"

Upon hearing Si Jingnian's words, Shen Qingyao stopped in her tracks and appeared to be deep in thought.

"You and your mother have given me a lot of money, so I'm not short of money. Besides, I've been well taken care of at the Marshal's Mansion, so I don't seem to lack anything. If you really want to thank me, why don't you promote me when I set up my fortune-telling stall?"

Shen Qingyao said half-jokingly, with a smile on her face.

"Are you going to set up a fortune-telling stall?"

Si Jingnian was somewhat surprised and raised his voice slightly when he asked the question. Shen Qingyao gave him a quiet glance.

"I do have that plan. I need to find something to do, otherwise I'll be too bored."

“You can learn to play cards with Mom, chat with the ladies from different families about jewelry and such, or if you like reading, you can go and read.”

The mere thought of Shen Qingyao setting up a small stall on the street and hanging a fortune-telling flag filled Si Jingnian with resistance.

His wife, Si Jingnian's wife, the dignified wife of a young marshal, running a fortune-telling stall on the roadside—if this got out in the South City, Si Jingnian would be misunderstood and cursed to death.

However, Shen Qingyao rejected his suggestion without even thinking about it, her face full of disdain.

“Gambling is no good! I won’t learn it. I don’t like talking about jewelry with those ladies either; I don’t like being in groups. As for reading… well, forget about it. The only books I like to read are those from our Taiqing Temple. I can’t see the others; they give me a headache.”

Upon hearing Shen Qingyao's words, Si Jingnian looked at her with a hint of mockery.

The Shen Qingyao he knew was indeed not very suitable for these tasks; she had her own hobbies and opinions.

"Forget about setting up a stall, but I can arrange a storefront for you. Even if it's fortune telling, we have to go for the high-end route."

Si Jingnian didn't tell Shen Qingyao that he was worried about being scorned by everyone in the entire South City.

He was accused of mistreating his wife, making the wife of a young marshal set up a fortune-telling stall on the main street.

Although arranging a fortune-telling shop for her would also likely result in her being scolded, it's at least better than having Shen Qingyao set up a stall on the main street.

Asking Shen Qingyao to set up a stall on the main street is something he would never agree to, not to mention his mother would absolutely never agree to it.

"Is this too extravagant? To open a store just for fortune telling? This is no ordinary business; it's very likely to lose money."

Shen Qingyao stared wide-eyed at Si Jingnian with some surprise, her eyes seemingly implying that Si Jingnian's brain was filled with mush.

"So what if you lose money? I didn't expect you to make a lot of money anyway. As long as you find something you love to do, that's all that matters."

Si Jingnian's words made Shen Qingyao look away unnaturally, and an unknown emotion stirred within her.

"I...I'll go get ready first; there's going to be a fierce battle tonight!"

After saying those words, Shen Qingyao ran away without looking back, and her retreating figure hinted at a sense of panic.

Si Jingnian looked at Shen Qingyao's back, his eyes softening, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, with a faint smile.

As night grew darker, at the spot where the soldiers had just fought, an altar was lit with incense and candles, and was covered with various talismans and offerings.

Shen Qingyao drew talismans quickly with a pen, her expression unusually solemn, her eyes full of seriousness.

Si Jingnian stood quietly to the side, keeping a close eye on the surrounding movements.

Several major generals and Ye Liangchen stood not far away, each holding a talisman in their hand, their expressions showing a hint of fear.

As night fell, the sound of a woman singing opera appeared out of nowhere, coming from all directions.

Si Jingnian frowned, raised his hand to look at his watch, and the hands were pointing exactly at twelve o'clock.

Shen Qingyao's eyes sharpened the moment she looked up. She grabbed the talisman drawn on the table with one hand and picked up the copper coin sword with the other, ready for battle.