Rebirth of Poisoned Empress, by 颜若优雅

Chapter 85

Zhonglin Manor.

"Tsk, tsk... as expected of the marquis. She sure has a temper. I wonder if Sun Jing truly gained control of the back courtyard affairs, would she be as infuriated as she was now as well?" It was still raining outside. Shen Liang, who had nothing to do, was leaning lazily against the window as the details of Liu Shuhan's fit was relayed to him.

"When you said so yesterday, I didn't believe you. But it seems like now that the eldest Auntie indeed has some tricks up her sleeves." Otherwise, how was it possible for the marquis to stay over night in her courtyard until morning court?

Qi Yue displayed an impressed thumbs-up and couldn't help but inquire: "Liangliang, were you the one who taught her everything?"

"No. I only presented her an opportunity. As to how and whether she would take advantage of it, everything would depend on her. Yue Ge, do not underestimate the women in the back courtyards. The conflicts, conspiracies, and struggles they engage themselves in do not in any way lose to the intensity of what the men and officials engage themselves in for court." Shaking his head, Shen Liang gave a light smile. 

Yesterday, he had only told Sun Jing to kneel before the Murong Manor and beg for the linens. He would naturally come up with a way for Sun Jing to derive the linen. As long as she treated herself harsh enough, then it would only be natural for her to win over some of Shen Ruiting's favor. Afterwards, gaining control over courtyard affairs then was only a matter of determination. The news was then spread throughout the manor by the Nether Guards ordered by Shen Liang. That was the extent of it.

"If the eldest Auntie only derived the marquis's care for an entire night due to her illness, why is the madame get so angry?" Qi Xuan, who was tossing the child high up in the air to play with him, turned his head to look at Shen Liang curiously. It wasn't anything new that the marquis had three or four concubines in his back courtyard anyways. In fact, they were even arranged and personally accepted in by Liu Shuhan herself. Her current anger made no sense.

"It's not strange at all. Throughout these years, who dared to fight over the marquis's favor with her? Despite everything, she was already accustomed to being in complete domination of the back courtyard. How is it possible for her to accept the eldest Auntie materializing out of nowhere to suddenly compete with her now? In addition, right at the time when she was about to take back her authority, no less," Fu Ying, rather than Shen Liang responded to his inquiry. In terms of the struggles of back courtyards, he had always been more experienced and saw things through more clearly than others.

"Uncle Fu is right. But that is not the crucial point. In actuality, Liu Shuhan has affection and love for Shen Ruiting. Her love is distorted and reaches the point of psychotic. Even if it's only for a little bit, she cannot tolerate anyone else gaining Shen Ruiting's attention and favor," Shen Liang added with a light smile. The day Liu Shuhan stormed into Zhonglin Courtyard to question him so aggressively, Shen Liang had more or less sensed that Liu Shuhan was not apathetic towards Shen Ruiting. Quite contrarily, her love for Shen Ruiting sunk deep and reached an almost perverted degree.

"I understand. All of the marquis love has already been given to the deceased madame. The only thing they could fight for from him is his attention. For the eldest Auntie to make the marquis stay overnight, it is tantamount to having derived his attention for an entire night. That's the only reason she's in so much fury." Hearing this, realization dawned on Qi Yue and Qi Xuan. 

Shen Liang gave a cold laugh: "But could that even consider love? Doesn't it only serve to insult such a word?" With his words, Shen Liang hoisted himself onto the bay window. He tilted his head to look at the heavy rain that strewn beads of pearls down from the sky. Fu Ying and the others looked at his side profile as they all decided to put an end to the topic. Only little Shen You called out and begged Shen Liang for a hug.