Chapter - 42

In the study, two Dragonscale Guards stood solemnly and knelt down to greet the leader. They then presented a file that recorded all of Shen Miao Qi's experiences from birth till now.

Yu Pinyan took it and looked at it expressionlessly.

To be able to fall from a wealthy merchant's daughter to a servant, he had already guessed that the Family Shen had met with a great calamity but did not expect that he was the one who pushed the blame.

It turned out that the Family Shen was considered a wealthy family in Ling Nan and the history of Father Shen's rise was quite legendary. He was originally an expert in grave robbing and excavating gold and used the antique business to cover up his shady side business. Later on, Furen Shen gave birth to a son and a daughter. In order to accumulate good fortune for his children, he no longer did the wicked thing of digging up ancestral graves.

Before Shen Miao Qi was ten years old, her life was smooth sailing and she lived a life of luxury. When she was ten years old, she followed Father Shen to Luoyang to deal with antiques and coincidentally met the Crown Prince who was recuperating at the relay station. Shen Miao Qi's offering of medicinal herbs was not successful and she was caught as a spy. Father Shen used seventy to eighty percent of his wealth to redeem her and the family fled back to Ling Nan.

At that time, the one who ordered the arrest was Yu Pinyan himself. From then on, the Shen family started to decline. It was no wonder that Shen Miao Qi still remembered him after four years. When they met, she would shout out 'hatred, revenge' and other words. She was afraid that she would place all the blame on him and would remember and curse him every day and night.

Thinking of this, Yu Pinyan sneered and continued to read.

After returning to Ling Nan, the Family Shen gradually could not make ends meet. In order to not let his children suffer, Father Shen had no choice but to return to his old business. Just at this time, an old customer came to the door and asked him to go to an ancient tomb to steal a gilded Mother Buddha statue buried in the main cave and paid half of the deposit.

Because the reward was very generous, it was just enough to save the Family Shen who was unable to recover. Father Shen was immediately moved and after consulting many documents, he was sure that there was a Buddha statue in the tomb and rushed over that night.

After a narrow escape, Father Shen brought the Buddha statue home and was unconscious for three days and three nights. But in these three days, Shen Miao Qi opened the box containing the Buddha statue out of curiosity and accidentally broke one of the Buddha's hands. Because she often saw Father Shen repairing antiques, she unexpectedly learned how to use transparent glue to glue the Buddha's hand back and put it back into the box.

After Father Shen woke up, he quickly informed that person to come and get the goods. The two of them were so excited that they didn't inspect the items properly before completing the transaction. After the man returned home and carefully examined the statue, he discovered that he had been fooled. Because he had yearned for this Buddha statue for a long time, he hated the Shen Family's father who had ruined his treasure and cheated him of his money. He set up a series of traps, causing the Shen Family's family to be ruined and the Shen Family to be imprisoned.

The last ten percent of the family property was used to atone for his crimes. Shen Fu cried out that he had been wrongly accused and died in front of the prison door. Shen Fu also fell ill and could not recover. As for the Family Shen, those concubines had long stolen the family property and ran away with their concubine children.

Shen Miao Qi also had a Di older brother named Shen Yuanqi. Since then, he shouldered the entire family's livelihood and signed a death contract with a local large family to become a servant. He used the money from selling himself to rent a small house for Mother Shen and his younger sister to live in.

Mother Shen's illness was critical and at the time when she needed someone to take care of her the most, Shen Miao Qi stole the remaining ten taels of silver and ran away. When she went out, she only took a few clothes and a piece of swaddling cloth. It could be assumed that Mother Shen could not endure the guilt in her heart and told her about her past but in exchange, she was so heartless and resolute in her treatment.

Mother Shen could not find the person and could not find the money so she vomited a few mouthfuls of blood and passed away in a few days. The Family Shen brother and sister went their separate ways from then on.

Shen Miao Qi walked towards the capital with her head buried and met a caravan on the way. She spent two taels of silver to ride their carriage but did not expect to be robbed by bandits. The people in the caravan were either dead or injured. Shen Miao Qi hid under the carriage and was about to meet with disaster when she was saved by Zhao An Shun's family who was reporting to the capital.

She willingly sold herself to the young miss of the Zhao family as a slave with the idea of going to the capital together.

She originally thought that she could finally sit back and relax but did not expect that Zhao An Shun would offend the higher-ups because he was too upright and the promotion that he worked hard for eight years was awarded to another colleague.

Zhao An Shun who received the letter from the higher-ups could only turn back halfway and continue to be the magistrate of Yun Zhou. Shen Miao Qi not only did not go near the capital but went further and further away. At this time, she was already scared witless by the bandits and did not dare to go on the road alone. She could only stay in the Zhao family and wait for an opportunity.

This wait lasted for four years.

Because Zhao An Shun had always been working in a remote and bitter place like Yun Zhou, he did not have any connections with the major powers in the capital. Those few hundred catties of charcoal had already been transported to the monastery half a month ago and the Zhao family was still on the road at that time. Shen Miao Qi just happened to add charcoal to the fire when the Crown Princess appeared. In fact, there were thirty to forty people who added charcoal to the fire that day and only Shen Miao Qi was the most unlucky.

Closing the file, Yu Pinyan did not speak for a long time.

The two Dragonscale Guards silently presented a piece of swaddling cloth. Since they had already investigated Shen Miao Qi's experience, they naturally knew that Shen Furen and Hou Furen had given birth in the same cave. Following that, Shen Furen covered his tracks and returned to Ling Nan and avoided doing business with the influential officials in the capital. The two of them had already guessed some things and when they saw this piece of swaddling cloth and associated it with the words that Shen Miao Qi shouted in prison, everything became clear. No matter how rich and powerful the Family Shen was, they would not be able to get the tribute from the palace.

The Dragonscale Guard was the most powerful knife in the Emperor's hands and held many secrets that the officials could not reveal to outsiders. If their mouth was not secure, they would not live long.

Yu Pinyan dared to let them investigate so naturally he was not afraid of them knowing. He took the swaddling cloth and looked at it before throwing it to the side.

One of the Dragonscale Guard saw that his mood was not good and hesitated for a moment before reminding, "Leader, this Shen Yuanqi is this year's top scorer, Shen Yuanqi. The family that he sold himself to was far-sighted and originally wanted him to be the study boy of the Di son. After seeing that he was a genius, they had an idea. Not only did they remove his slave status, they also adopted him to study so that he would have more help in the future. This year he was indeed the top scorer and recently he has been inquiring about Shen Miao Qi and Second Young Miss. Do you want to … "

He used his hand as a knife and slashed at his neck. Since this kind of thing happened, it was natural to silence him to protect the reputation of the Marquis Household. If Shen Yuanqi were to come to their door and cause trouble, wouldn't the Marquis Household become a joke? The Second Young Miss who was protected by Master Hou would be the first to be harmed …

Yu Pinyan pondered for a moment before waving his hand, "I have my own plans. Don't act blindly without thinking. You may leave. "

The two of them did not dare to disobey and bowed before leaving the study.

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Shen Miao Qi was transferred from the dungeon of the White Cloud Taoist Temple to the dungeon of the Dragonscale Guard. The place was spacious but the scene was even more frightening. The Dragonscale Guard did not avoid people during the interrogation. Instead, they liked to tie the prisoners up to watch the interrogation.

They either skinned the skin and scraped the bones, gouged out the eyes, or cut the tongue … Shen Miao Qi was so frightened that she fainted several times that day. Sometimes she even suspected that she was no longer in the human world but was in the 18 layers of hell.

She heard the prisoners in the dungeon mention that the handsome youth who interrogated her that day was the leader of the Dragonscale Guard. His methods were a hundred times more cruel than these people. That year, the rebel Prince Yu was captured alive by him. After he was brought back to the capital, he was personally executed under the instructions of the Emperor. He cut a total of three thousand six hundred times before Prince Yu breathed his last. His ability to kill was evident.

The enemy that she cursed in her heart tens of thousands of times was actually so powerful and ruthless. Shen Miao Qi knew that she was afraid and desperately prayed that her family would find her soon.

As if a lifetime had passed, it was actually only 24 shichen (1 shichen = 2 hours). When the prison door was opened again, Shen Miao Qi felt as if it was a lifetime ago.

After clearing out the prisoners in the prison, Yu Pinyan slowly walked to the side of the young girl who was curled up in a ball. He did not help her up and did not say a word of concern. He did not ask about what happened to her in the previous 24 shichen. He only bent down slightly and looked at her extremely dirty face.

This face was enough like the Lin Clan and could not arouse any trace of tender affection from him. Even though this person was his blood related younger sister, she was only a stranger in his heart. His sympathy had long since been worn away by one bloody massacre after another.

Shen Miao Qi struggled for a long time before she crawled up under his oppressive power. She went on her knees to grab his clothes and shouted, "Daren, I am wrongly accused. The premature birth of the Crown Princess really has nothing to do with me. I am not a servant girl but a young lady from the Marquis Household. Begging Daren to help me find my family. In the future, I will definitely repay Daren's benevolence! "

Yu Pinyan looked at the red robe that had a few black fingerprints on it and frowned as he took a step back. Seeing that she was about to kowtow to him after she finished speaking, he stretched out his foot to stop her forehead that was about to touch the ground.

"Don't kneel in front of me. I am your elder brother. Your surname is Yu and you are Marquis Yongle's Di daughter who was lost for 14 years. " He slowly narrated each word and there was no excitement or joy of finding a family member on his face. It was cold as if he was talking about an unimportant matter.

Shen Miao Qi raised her head and looked at him blankly. It took her a long time to digest these words. The person who had caused her to be imprisoned twice was actually the family member that she had been searching for for four years, her elder brother? She simply did not know what kind of expression she should make.

She felt that she should laugh a few times to express the joy in her heart or cry bitterly to show the grievances that she had suffered in these few hours. But when she met the young man's dark and cold eyes, she could only quickly lower her head and ask in a trembling voice, "You, you are really my elder brother?"

Yu Pinyan did not answer and beckoned for two Dragonscale Guards to come over and ordered, "Take her down and clean her up."

The two people complied and carried Shen Miao Qi who had weak legs out of the prison cell.

Two shichen later, Shen Miao Qi was wearing a green and grey robe as she sat in a rickety carriage. Yu Pinyan was holding a spring embroidered knife as he sat opposite her with his eyes closed.

Shen Miao Qi's heart had a bad guess as she stammered, "Elder Brother, why did you make me wear this black robe?" Could it be that he did not intend to acknowledge me and instead wanted to force me to become a monk because I was in prison and lost his face? That's right, he was so cold-blooded and heartless, what could he not do?

The hatred in Shen Miao Qi's heart that had just subsided started to churn violently again.

Yu Pinyan was twenty years old and had already killed people like scything flax. He was very sensitive to people's malice and suddenly opened his eyes to look at her.

Shen Miao Qi was frightened and quickly lowered her head to grab her clothes as blue veins popped out on the back of her hand. The more she interacted with him, the more she feared this elder brother. Other than indifference, there was no other emotion in his eyes. It was as if she was not his blood related younger sister but an insignificant stranger.

A deathly silence spread in the carriage and after half a quarter of an hour, Yu Pinyan slowly opened his mouth, "You and Xiang 'er are twins. Because your eight characters are weak, I am afraid that you will die at any time. I had no choice but to send you to Shui Yue Nunnery to be fostered. You will only be brought back to the Marquis Household after you are fourteen years old. You must remember these words. "

Whether Shen Miao Qi loved or hated him, it did not matter to him. It was just another mouth to eat.

It was originally to protect his reputation. Also, if he brought her back so hastily and people knew about her past as a servant, she would not have the face to see people in the future. Shen Miao Qi obediently nodded her head and secretly remembered the two words' Xiang 'er'.

When this Xiang 'er was mentioned, she clearly saw a trace of softness in Yu Pinyan's cold eyes. That person must be the daughter of the Family Shen who took over the nest of the magpie? After fourteen years of living together, did they really have some feelings for each other? She had snatched away her noble identity and enjoyed the glory and wealth that should have belonged to her. And she suffered for her for fourteen years and still did not get any pity from her elder brother. Why did the Heavens not open their eyes?

Thinking of this, her chest surged with strong unwillingness and resentment.