My wife has a secret

Chapter 137 Shen Mansion
When the three Star Gods of Heavenly Power slowly ascended from the bottom of the altar wearing their iconic attire, the fox-faced woman at the top suddenly stood up, squinted her eyes and whispered, "Where is the Man of Heaven's Fate?"

The saint's voice was tender and pleasant, but this casual question was like a question, exploding in the heads of the three star gods.

The three men lined up below the two Chunsheng envoys, bowed their bodies, and were extremely humble.

"Saintess, Yang Xianning, the head of the Yang family in Huangling Pass, intervened in this matter."

Tianji Star Lord calmly stated the main reason for the failure, while the Saint Lady calmly cast her gaze at Kaiyang Star Lord who was in the center of the three people and continued to repeat the previous question.

"Kaiyang, I want to ask you where is your destiny man?"

The petite Kaiyang Star Lord suddenly realized that as the omniscient and omnipotent saint who was the incarnation of a god, she must be well aware of the whole picture of what happened today.

Therefore, his crazy behavior today undoubtedly affected the tasks and plans assigned by the Holy Church.

"Lady Saint, Kaiyang admits his mistake."

Faced with the invisible sense of oppression emanating from the Saint Girl, Kaiyang Xingjun trembled all over and fell to his knees.

The memories from his childhood till now made him unable to erase the fear of the Holy Church in his heart. Even though he is now a Star Lord, they still face extremely harsh rewards and punishments.

"Ah……"

The pretty saint snorted softly, turned around and looked at the endless darkness and countless blurry figures below the altar.

Her skin was fair and smooth, and she was extremely beautiful. Just standing there she was an extremely attractive sight.

"Fortunately, today's altar is not prepared for the destined person, otherwise you would have become the sinner of the Holy Church for thousands of years... Although the death penalty can be avoided, the living crime cannot be escaped, and you don't have to return to the East China Sea in the future."

Kaiyang Star Lord was slightly stunned. Before he had time to think, he heard the arrangements made by the Saint Maiden.

"The two envoys Chunsheng have volunteered to be the guides for the Man of Heaven's Mandate. During this heavenly sacrifice, you and the two envoys will return to the Immortal List and return to the throne of God."

For a long time, the Four Seasons Envoys and Star Gods of the White Lotus Sect have had their own jurisdictions.

But the appearance of the divine oracle disrupted the peaceful life of the missionaries over the years.

This time he was summoned to the capital and assigned by the Saint to serve under the Envoy of Spring. Kaiyang Star Lord vaguely realized something.

"Kaiyang... I obey your orders."

The Saint continued in a melodious voice, "According to the Holy Religion's calendar of previous years, there can only be one Spring Envoy among the Four Seasons Envoys, so today the two of you should each bring a Star Lord to decide who is the true Holy Envoy in the capital."

"Yes."

The two Chunsheng envoys looked at each other and nodded slightly, agreeing to this matter in unison.

"As a reward, the surviving Spring Envoy will serve as the guide for the Man of Destiny."

……

Shen House.

The Shen family, which was previously bustling with people, with thousands of people eager to come and see, was now deserted.

Even though Shen Nianyan was still nominally the prime minister, he was implicated in the rebellion and had been relegated to his home without work, with little to do except fishing and writing in his mansion.

Even the neighbors across the street from the Shen family moved out after the incident, and the whole family moved to other houses in the capital.

So when the servants of the Shen Mansion were cleaning up the small amount of snow that had fallen at the door yesterday, they had no idea that there would be a well-dressed, young man standing there, waiting for them to come into the mansion and report.

"you are?"

"Xu Qing."

Although the Shen family and the Xu family are relatives, and the young lady who is treated like a jewel in the mansion is also Xu Qing's legal wife, since Shen Shuangxu married into the Xu family, the old lady of the Xu family and Xu Qing have never set foot here.

Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, the servant did not connect Xu Qing with the young master of the Xu family recently.

It was not until his gaze moved downwards and he suddenly saw the Peony family crest on the jade pendant hanging on Xu Qing's waist that his eyes widened and he realized that the young man in front of him was his own son-in-law.

"Xu...Mr. Xu."

The servant was trembling with fear. After all, his aunt had already controlled everything in the capital. How could the Shen family, with an uncertain future, afford to offend such a big shot?

Although Xu Qing had traveled through time, he had experienced the events of the Xu and Nie Mansions over the past few days and was familiar with the rules of the ancient aristocratic families.

He took the initiative to take care of the servant's emotions and duties, and said calmly: "Go into the mansion and report quickly. I can't stay long today and I have to leave."

This was not Xu Qing's excuse, but he had to go to the outskirts of Beijing today to deal with the matters of Falun Temple. However, on the way there, he suddenly had an idea and wanted to make a detour to the Shen Mansion to meet Shen Shuangxu first.

According to the rules set by Aunt Queen Mother, he could only meet his wife after dealing with the matter of thunder and fire.

But now the Queen Mother should be busy with the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven and worrying about the government affairs in the court, so I can take advantage of this gap to do what I want.

Anyway, the Queen Mother won't blame him.

"Yes Yes!"

The servant quickly turned around and crawled to the mansion on his knees to report.

Xu Qing's arrival almost ignited the long-dormant atmosphere in the Shen Mansion, allowing these frightened servants to see new hope.

After all, the rumors outside were becoming more and more rampant. They were all stateless untouchables who had signed indentures and there was no way they could abandon their employers and run away secretly.

Not long after, the person who came to the front hall to greet them was not the servant, but Mingzhu, who was tall and had a strong waist.

When the other party saw Xu Qing, a hint of surprise flashed in the bottom of his pupils.

"With your noble status as young master, why didn't you send someone to inform us in advance?"

When Mingzhu asked the question, her eyes were secretly looking elsewhere.

According to her observation, at the end of her sight, at the corner of the street, there seemed to be a secret sentry who was specifically protecting Xu Qing's safety.

Mingzhu was very familiar with those people's style of doing things and knew that this was the unique work of Chengxuanfang.

"Chengxuanfang..."

"It's my Chengxuanfang now."

Although there have been many rumors in the market in recent days, and Mingzhu, who was gathering information for the young lady, had also heard some of the rumors, she was still surprised by this matter.

Chengxuanfang is the eyes and ears of the Empress Dowager and the most powerful intelligence agency of Da Qi. The Empress Dowager removed the young lady's position and power and handed it over to Xu Qing, which seems like the dog is abandoned after the rabbit has died.

"lead the way."

Xu Qing gave orders directly and asked Mingzhu to lead the way for him in the Shen Mansion.

But Mingzhu frowned and said reluctantly: "Miss has not been in good health recently and needs to rest, so..."

"So I should go in. After all, I am her husband in name only."

Xu Qing said simply, and then ignored Mingzhu in front of the door, walked around the big guy, and went straight in. Things are different now, and Mingzhu did not dare to do anything too extreme due to Xu Qing's current status.

In the past, anyone who dared to be disrespectful to the young lady or say something that would displease her would be thrown out of the house by Mingzhu.

……

However, what Xu Qing didn't expect was that the structure of the Shen Mansion was very simple.

The residence of this civil official and chief minister consisted of a front hall and a backyard. Although the interior area was spacious, the pavilions, waterside terraces and furnishings in the house were not as good as those of the Lu Mansion in Suzhou, Jiangnan.

Thanks to this, Xu Qing was able to move freely in the entire mansion and quickly found the garden where Shen Shuangxu lived.

The gate of the garden was closed, as if no outsiders were welcome.

The servants in the Shen residence knew about Xu Qing's identity in advance, and when they saw him throwing the pearl behind him at the door, they all backed away from him and dared not approach him.

Finally, Mingzhu came over from behind and said to him, "Sir, to be honest... Mingzhu stopped you outside the mansion just now because the young lady imprisoned herself in the room and even the master couldn't persuade her."

Xu Qing knew the knot in Shen Shuangxu's heart a few days ago, so he simply straightened his clothes, pushed open the garden gate and walked in.

But Shen Shuangxu was completely different from the melancholy and unhappy look he had expected. This icy woman with snow-white cheeks, cherry lips, and dark eyebrows, who seemed otherworldly, was standing beside a tree in the garden, trimming the messy branches.

The other party thought it was Mingzhu who came in and didn't say much.

But after seeing clearly that the person coming was Xu Qing, she raised her head slightly and stared at him for a while with her clear and lively eyes.

"Why...are you here?"

Shen Shuangxu's voice trembled slightly, and he was a little confused about Xu Qing's appearance.

Although she did not understand the final situation in the capital, she knew the empress dowager's character very well.

The Shen family, having lost the trust of the queen mother, would no longer be valued by the queen mother. Moreover, her relationship with Xu Qing was not harmonious, and her cold personality was not pleasing to the eye.

According to Shen Shuangxu's guess, after this palace coup, she would have no choice but to stay in the mansion, live out her life alone, and watch the future unfold with the blooming and withering of flowers.

After all, Chengxuanfang involves too many military secrets, and the empress dowager would never let someone like her go, so imprisoning herself in the garden was a disguised compromise and show of weakness.

"Come and see you."

Xu Qing said calmly: "My grandmother sent me a message yesterday, saying that the courtyard of Xu's house in Suzhou is now empty, and asked us to finish dealing with the affairs in the capital and go back to live there early."

Shen Shuangxu calmed down and responded in a calm tone: "The Queen Mother probably doesn't want you to see me at this time."

"How did you know?"

Seeing that Shen Shuangxu did not respond to his words, but instead told him about the Queen Mother's actions, Xu Qing felt a little curious.

This woman was locked in a high-walled house, how could she know what the Queen Mother was thinking?

Shen Shuangxu faced Xu Qing, the skin on her chest exposed half of her pink neck. The skin on her neck was as if covered with milk and honey, so white that it was difficult to look at, and it was slightly shiny under the sunlight.

Although Xu Qing often heard people talk about the existence of cold white skin in his previous life, this was the first time he saw it in real life.

"Shuang Xu's dismissal means that all matters in the capital are settled, and the power should be returned to the control of the Queen Mother or the Xu family. You came to the Shen family to see me. Regardless of whether our conversation is related to Chengxuanfang or not, it will make other bystanders think that Chengxuanfang is still under the control of the Shen family."

Xu Qing sat on the stone bench in the yard and thought for a moment, gradually figuring out the actions and intentions of Aunt Queen Mother these days.

After waking up from the palace, Lianhua Jun used a very poor excuse to hint to him that he must first win the heart of Qin Shuying, the fourth wife, before he could meet the next lady in the capital.

The fourth wife, Qin, was actually a bodyguard specially recruited by the Empress Dowager Aunt for herself.

Later, Qin Shuying, who was controlled by the golden silkworm love Gu in the palace, was allowed to go to Nie Mansion to look for Lu Wanhe only after ensuring that he was protected by experts.

After he left the Nie Mansion, the poems he left behind became famous in the literary world. I guess this was also due to the secret instructions of the Empress Dowager.

After these poems cleared his image of some rumors, he was granted Chengxuanfang and the right to investigate the Tianlei Gunhuo case.

There was no doubt that he could handle the case any way he wanted.

The Queen Mother's aunt's intention was probably to use the title of solving the case to further enhance her own prestige, so as to prepare for his future inheritance of power and ascending to the throne of the Eastern Palace.

After all, these things are linked together, and although they seem to have nothing to do with each other on the surface, they are actually paving the way for themselves.

"I see."

"While not many people know about it now, you can go back as soon as possible and handle the case at hand."

Shen Shuangxu sighed and prepared to finish the chores at hand and go back to the house.

She just thought that the current meeting was just a joke that Xu Qing had suggested on a whim, without considering the consequences at all.

Or maybe the other party's sympathy was aroused, and he wanted to witness with his own eyes his miserable plight of being under house arrest.

“Shen Shuangxu, actually my coming here has nothing to do with Chengxuanfang and my aunt’s thoughts.”

In response to Xu Qing's words, Shen Shuangxu tightened the front of his coat, put his tools in order, and then lowered his head and walked slowly, as if he didn't notice.

She didn't think Xu Qing was telling the truth at all, nor did she think that he could say anything to impress her.

Because the two are not of the same kind. What she longs for is a long-term stable and prosperous era with peace in the world, not the current chaotic court and world full of disputes and intrigues.

Just as she was about to open the door and enter the room, Xu Qing's voice came from behind her.

"I want to know the truth behind the thunder and fire."

Shen Shuangxu stopped moving and looked up slowly, stunned for a moment.

Maybe it was because of the cold weather, but Shen Shuangxu shivered. Her delicate body trembling slightly in the cold wind made her look even more fragile, and her slender and plump back looked indescribably lonely.

"You...what do you mean by this?"

Shen Shuangxu didn't understand the meaning of Xu Qing's words. If it was not for Chengxuanfang and sympathy, why would Xu Qing visit him because of the Tianlei Gunhuo case?

She had also heard about that bizarre rumor in the mansion.

Although she guessed that there were many doubts about this matter, and it was probably a rumor and trap created by humans, this matter was no longer her case, so she naturally could not interfere in it.

"Don't worry."

Xu Qing took off his coat, walked to Shen Shuangxu's side, and carefully put it on her shoulders.

Shen Shuangxu was stunned again when he felt the warmth. He subconsciously pulled Xu Qing's coat tightly and said softly, "Thank you."

"It's okay, we are already a couple."

Xu Qing smiled slightly, his expression and attitude were extremely gentle, like a caring husband who was worried about his wife.

"There are many strange things about the Tianlei Gunhuo case. I didn't plan to come to see you, but the words of the fourth room Qin reminded me."

(End of this chapter)