37 years old, I became a harem concubine

"That's what they say?"

Chen Fangyue lowered his eyes, condescendingly looking down at Wu Shi and Qingzi who were kneeling on the ground.

Wu's face was full of tears: "It's about the wife, how dare the slaves lie." His forehead hit the ground with a bang, Wu's heart broke, "Please save the wife, the master, those people are vicious, and I'm afraid the wife's life will be lost if it's too late .”

Chun Equinox looked determined: "Ma'am, what nonsense are you talking about? I can see it very clearly. There are only two men, one with a beard and one with small eyes. I also heard them say that they want to talk to their wife—"

"Since you saw your wife being kidnapped, why didn't you call for help? The monks in the temple are all skilled in martial arts. As long as you speak out, how could those two people you mentioned take my wife away so smoothly!"

Wu looked at the spring equinox with resentment: "My wife's life and death are unknown, and you are still here to slander his innocence, what kind of heart are you at ease!"

Yan Shi gritted her teeth, and slapped Chun Equinox's face with a slap: "If you don't take this damned girl down, sell her right away, she's full of bad water."

Each room has its own people, as soon as Yan Shi spoke, a few servants from the second room came up and cut Chun Equinox's hands behind their backs and pressed them to the ground.

Seeing that she was about to open her mouth to yell nonsense again, Yan quickly said, "Shut her mouth."

Yan Shi stepped forward: "Father, I'd better tell Dali Temple as soon as possible, and let them get the man quickly."

"My wife is not in good health, what can I do if I get bumped."

Under the candlelight, Chen Fangyue's face was dark and unclear.

After a while, he ordered the old servant: "Take two people to Dali Temple and let them search for the whereabouts of the villain."

"Yes."

There are people in the room, some are anxious, some have nothing to do with themselves, and some are gloating.

And Shen Huan stayed up all night, tossing and turning until dawn.

He seldom stayed up late, his head was in a daze, and he sat on the bed and called out in a daze: "What time is it?"

Sleeping on the outer couch, in case the young man he called someone in the middle of the night bowed in: "Mrs. Hui, it's the beginning of time."

"Madam is getting up?"

"En." Shen Huan rubbed her eyes, got out of bed with her soft shoes, and said to the young man after washing, "Please tell your master, my house is gone."

He wasn't there all night, and he didn't know what happened to Haruko and Nanny.

He regretted that he didn't let the people in this courtyard send a message back last night, they must have been in fear all night.

But last night he was very wary of the people in this yard, afraid that they might have connections with the people who kidnapped him, and he didn't want to involve Nanny and Qingzi in it.

Seeing his eagerness, the young man handed him a clean handkerchief to wipe his hands and said, "The little one has already had the sedan chair ready, and the wife needs some breakfast before leaving."

Shen Huan shook her head and declined his kindness: "No, let's go."

"That's it, madam, come with me."

Following the boy out of the house, Shen Huan looked at the courtyard in the morning light.

The cloisters are twists and turns, the vegetation is deep, and in the early morning mist, the white walls and black tiles from the south look extraordinarily cool and pleasant.

Shen Huan looked at the golden veil hanging around the gazebo, the interesting Taihu Lake stones in the lake, and the well-stacked rockery, and was particularly curious about the wealth of the owner of the courtyard.

To be able to buy such a large house in the capital, and to make it look like this, is not something that can be described simply as wealth.

Can't help but think of what the boy said, his master is doing the biggest business in the world.

Could it be?

Is he really as rich as Shen Wansan?

Shen Huan is a southerner, and she has not adapted to the food and living here after coming to the capital, and she likes this southern-style house very much.

It took half a cup of tea before Shen Huan came out of the house that occupied half a street.

There are already people coming and going on the street outside, and hawkers are carrying fresh vegetables or eating and selling.

Suddenly seeing Shen Huan coming out of the house, they all stared straight away.

But soon, Shen Huan lowered her head and entered the sedan chair, and the deep green curtain was tightly blocked, not even the corner of the silk clothes leaked.

The strong bearer carried the sedan chair through the increasingly crowded streets, and came to the Shangshu Mansion. When the gatekeeper saw a soft sedan chair stopped outside the mansion, he thought it was someone from a certain family who came to visit. When Miao saw Shen Huan coming out of the sedan chair, she was surprised.

"Mrs!"

The guard at the gate ran over: "Ma'am, why are you back? These people are..."

Seeing the surprise on their faces, Shen Huan said: "Yesterday I met a thief. Fortunately, people passing by rescued me. This is a servant of his family who specially sent me back."

"That's great," the servant said with joy on his face, "My little one immediately asked someone to go to Lingyun Mountain to tell the master that Manager Liang came in a hurry last night, and he went to Dali Temple to report the case without taking a sip of water. The people in Dali Temple are busy One night, I just came to the mansion."

This person has a certain fate with Shen Huan. He was originally the younger brother of Shen Huan's dowry maid.

After the maid was allocated to Zhuangzi to take care of affairs, Shen Huan saw that he was too young to do anything, so she asked him to guard the gate.

This kid also knows kindness, and Shen Huan is very attentive when she goes in and out on weekdays, carrying things, opening the curtains, and sending some fresh gadgets to Wu Shi and Qingzi.

In the eyes of the people in the mansion, he is on Shen Huan's side, and he has been followed by others.

So he was happy that Shen Huan was fine, so he called the Master and ran to Lingyun Mountain.

Shen Huan didn't sleep well all night, and fell asleep when she returned to Minghui Hall.

In a daze, he seemed to be dreaming about what happened last night. He was being carried drowsily, and his stomach was churning because of the bones, but the drug in the pickled vegetables was very strong, and he felt a little bit sick all over his body. I couldn't even raise my strength, and even my tongue was a little numb.

He was then lowered to the ground and held again a short while later.

"Mrs……"

"Mrs……"

A familiar voice came from far away, and Shen Huan was awakened suddenly, and saw the nanny's red and swollen eyes and hair that seemed to have turned white overnight.

His mouth was dry: "Nurse."

Wu's heart was about to break, and she grabbed his hand: "You should scare the slaves to death, just come back, just come back."

Only then did Shen Huan realize that not only the nanny was in the house, but everyone from the third room was there.

Chen Fangyue stood by the bed and asked him, "Tell me what happened yesterday in detail."

Shen Huan felt that the nanny tightened her hand tightly.

He held the nanny back and looked at Chen Fangyue: "Last night, after I came back from a walk, I met the maids around Jia who brought me a vegetarian meal. There was a portion of pickled vegetables brought by them. The nanny and I ate a piece each." Pickled fine vegetables, Chinese herbal medicine and fainted."

Chen Fangyue's voice was calm and calm: "You mean, you and Mrs. Wu both ate pickled vegetables laced with drugs."

The nanny's hand was stronger, and her fingers trembled slightly.

Shen Huan's eyelashes trembled, and the words swirled in her throat, but she still nodded: "Yes, I have taken them all, but I have been weak and sick since I was a child, and I took more medicine than food. When I was a baby, the nanny specially took the medicine prescribed by the doctor for me, and used the milk to cure the medicine."

"I was weaned late, and my nanny took medicine all the year round like me, and she was resistant to the medicine, so when I was taken away, my nanny and I were still somewhat conscious."

The nanny's sweaty palms suddenly relaxed.

There seemed to be something loose in Chen Fangyue's eyes, and he continued to ask: "After you were taken away, where did they hide you, and why did they send you back?"

"The person who kidnapped me didn't take me away. I was rescued by a businessman. He took me back to the city and ordered someone to send me back to the mansion early this morning."

"Where does the merchant live?"

"East Avenue, a house with a southern garden."

Shen Huan sat on the bed, she didn't look hurt.

Chen Fangyue saw that he was still a little sleepy, so when he left, he called all the people from the third room away, and told them not to bother him to rest.

The Minghui Hall, which was so full, was suddenly empty, and the nanny was covered in cold sweat, grabbing Shen Huan to look up and down, touching here and there.

The nanny couldn't hold back her tears, and hugged him tightly in her arms: "If something really happens to you, how will the slaves live."

Shen Huan is 37 this year, and more than half of her life has passed. Since he was born and opened his eyes, the nanny has been with him, feeding him, dressing him, and playing with him.

He had heard from his mother that the nanny was originally the only daughter of a small wealthy family in the local area, and she was treated badly by others. After she gave birth, her husband seized the family property and drove her and the newborn child out of the house, and the child contracted the cold and went away.

His mother felt sorry for her, and invited her to work in the mansion. It happened that his mother had no milk for him, so she made her his wet nurse.

Xu is empathy, Xu is born to love the child, the nanny took good care of him, raised him in her arms, and married him.

He and the nanny are like two entwined trees, neither can be separated from the other.

Shen Huan circled the nanny and patted her on the back: "I'm fine, I don't even have any skin injuries, you, just pretend that I went outside to rest for the night, don't think about anything."

"Madam, I will never leave you a step in the future."

Haruko was also crying.

She felt very guilty, and felt that if she hadn't gone to get some fast food by herself, her wife would not have been taken away.

One old and one young cry, it is really fatal.

Shen Huan quickly diverted their attention: "Where is the bowl of pickled vegetables that have been drugged?"

"It was taken away by Dali Temple, and it was said that people should identify what kind of medicine was inside, and find out the whereabouts of the kidnappers from the medicine."

"What did Dali Temple find out from the people in the mansion?"

"No……"

"That's strange. The pickled vegetables were delivered by Jia's servant girl. If no one in the middle did the medicine, when would they do it?"

This is also where Shen Huan feels puzzled.

He has been thinking about this question since he woke up, and with Dali Temple's methods, nothing unusual was found, so where did the medicine come from.

He said to Qingzi: "Go and call Jia Shi, I have something to ask her."

"Yes."

The nanny sat on the round stool beside the bed: "Madam is suspicious, is the medicine given by the people in the house? Someone is working with the kidnappers outside?"

Shen Huan nodded.

"It takes only three or four days for pickled vegetables to be eaten. After this time, the crispness will be lost and the aftertaste will be dry."

"So the person who prescribed the medicine should have known early on that I was going to Putuo Temple and made sufficient preparations."

The nanny understood a little bit: "Putuo Temple's fast meals are all cooked by the temple. If the person who prescribes the medicine wants to do something during the fast meal, he can only wait for the fast meal to arrive at the Buddhist temple where we live. Otherwise, there is no way to be sure which fast meal will be ours." .”

Thinking that it was actually someone from the house who wanted to harm Shen Huan, the nanny gritted her teeth with hatred, and told about the vernal equinox of the maid next to Yan Shi last night: "In my wife's opinion, this vernal equinox..."

"I don't know yet, we'll talk about it when we meet Jia Shi."

Jia Shi came quickly, saluted him very politely and stood in front of the bed.

Shen Huan asked Qingzi to bring a stool over: "Sit down and talk."

Jia's face was haggard: "Daughter-in-law, I'm sorry Madam, if I hadn't given you that bowl of pickled vegetables, Madam wouldn't have been surprised."

Shen Huan stroked the quilt: "Where did you get that bowl of pickled vegetables?"

"It's a woman in my room. She is good at cooking. She often cooks some food and sends it to my room. I tasted the pickled vegetables. I thought it was good, so I asked someone to give it to my wife to taste. Who knows..."

Jiashi wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.

"Where is that woman now?"

"On my side, I'll send for her."

As soon as Jia Shi finished speaking, the maid next to her suddenly ran in from outside and whispered in her ear.

Shen Huan saw that her expression was obviously wrong, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Jia Shi: "Ma'am, Mrs. Hong is dead..."

"what!"

Shen Huan brought her nanny Qingzi and Jia Shi to the servant's room on Jia Shi's side. The maids and servants gathered around to watch the excitement saw the master come and hurriedly dispersed, revealing that she was lying on the bed with her eyes wide open, in a dead state. The terrifying Mrs. Hong and a short maid who was crying on Mrs. Hong's body.

Shen Huan took a look, and saw Mrs. Hong's half-white hair, bloodshot eyes, and oily foam at the corners of her mouth.

He died from taking medicine.

He asked Jia Shi in a calm voice: "Who else is there around Mrs. Hong?"

Jia frowned: "Her son and daughter-in-law are the children of our family. In the past two years, they secretly put loan sharks outside. They were investigated by the government and sentenced to death. Only one granddaughter is left."

That is, the little maid crying on her corpse.

Usury is also usury, borrowing one tael of silver and repaying three taels of silver, the interest rate is scary, and often the borrower makes a lot of interest, and even goes bankrupt to repay it.

The government has strict control over loan sharks, but they can't stop people who want money and don't want their lives, and operate secretly in the dark.

In the past few years, Shen Huan had heard that usury was rampant, and there were many big families involved, and the prison cells of the government office could hardly hold these people.

This Mrs. Hong's son and daughter-in-law don't know how much usury they put, even their lives were put in it.

Shen Huan withdrew from the servant's room, and the most important clue of Mrs. Hong was completely cut off from her.

When someone died in the mansion, there was a lot of discussion among the servants.

Mrs. Hong was in such a horrible state of death, the servants dared not walk alone these two days, they walked together in twos and threes with a companion.

And I don't know what happened, Mrs. Hong's death was unknowingly linked to Shen Huan.

"Have you heard that Mrs. Hong was drugged to death by the thief who kidnapped his wife? The thief is so skilled in martial arts that ordinary people can't help it. Even Dali Temple can't catch him."

"You are so courageous, you are not afraid that the thief will attack you."

"What am I afraid of? He only strikes at those who delay his affairs."

"What's the matter, what's the secret here?"

"My wife stayed with that kidnapper all night..."

In a few days, Shen Huan was kidnapped by the kidnappers, and she stayed with the kidnappers all night, and the words of the second wife's servant girl Chun Equinox spread everywhere.

Not only in the mansion, but also when the wives go out to meet and socialize, and the juniors go out to have fun, they will be asked about it.

After all, she is the wife of the Minister of the Ministry of Officials. At the age of 37, it is hard not to be shocked by such news.

The wives and the juniors don't want to go out anymore, and those who have a bad mouth in the house will be severely punished if they are grabbed.

But the atmosphere in the mansion is getting tense.

Someone came in, shaking the candle flame.

Shen Huan sat on the kang and turned to look at Chen Fangyue.

Suddenly, Chen Fangyue slapped him on the face, he was so strong that Shen Huan's face was numb.

He never made a move to Shen Huan, and the nanny and Qingzi quickly stood in front of him after realizing it.

Shen Huan asked them to step aside: "What do you mean?"

"It's because I indulged you too much that made you ungrateful and shameless."

"Drag them both out!"

Chen Fangyue gave an order, Manager Liang waved, and a few servants came in and dragged the nanny and Qingzi out.

Shen Huan just stretched out his hand to pull them, but Chen Fangyue had already firmly held his hand and pressed him on the kang.

But Shen Huan is not a woman, and his strength is no longer what he can hold down when he is old and frail. Realizing this, the anger in Chen Fangyue's heart burned straight to the top of his head.

He called Guanshi Liang and asked him to hold down Shen Huan.

"Chen Fangyue——"

Shen Huan's voice trembled a little.

"You let me go!"

"Chen Fangyue, have you forgotten what you said to my parents?!"

This was the fourth person in Chen's house who saw Shen Huan's strange body besides Nanny and Qingzi. Shen Huan saw it and saw the look in his eyes.

Like watching a monster.

Shen Huan moved from Minghuitang to Xiaofotang, except for Nanny and Qingzi, she didn't bring anyone with her.

……

The weather is getting colder and colder, and charcoal fires are used in the house.

Mrs. Wu hung up a bucket of water to starch and wash clothes.

Suddenly, Shen Huan squatted down beside her and scrubbed the clothes.

Wu snatched it over and said, "Take a rest, it's finally getting better, don't leave the root cause of the disease."

Shen Huan tugged at her clothes: "I lie down every day, my bones are soft, just let me move around."

Mrs. Wu is old, so how could she snatch him away? Watching him scrub and wash his clothes, he knew in his heart that he didn't want to work alone, so he found an excuse to help her.

Shen Huan has never done any work since she was a child, and her hands turned red after being in the water for a short while.

Wu said to him: "When Qingzi brings this month's routine, let's buy more charcoal, heat hot water to wash clothes, and exercise as long as you want."

Just as she was talking, Haruko came back with muddy water all over her dress and nothing on her hands.

Shen Huan and Wu stood up: "What's wrong?"

"Ma'am, the public said that they dare not give things without the master's order."

"What about the money sent by Baocui Tower and Nishang Pavilion this month?" This is his dowry, and no one in the house has the right to talk about it.

"They didn't give it either, saying that it was temporarily stored in the public house, and they wanted the master to speak."

What Qingzi didn't say was that when she went out, all the maids and servants, who were usually older and younger, gathered in front of him and blatantly asked about the old lady and the kidnappers, stabbing him with open and secret words.

The steward in the management office raised his nose and eyes to the sky, and he barely said the words get out.