Chapter 2 — When the Green Tea Meets a Dark Lotus

Without sparing even a glance at the pathetic pair kneeling upon the dust, I simply pivoted on my heel and offered a graceful, composed bow to my father, Shen Wanshan, who still stood frozen in utter disbelief.

My esteemed father, a man who had navigated the perilous tides of the commercial empire for half a lifetime, possessed a shrewdness matched by few. Though the upheaval had struck with terrifying suddenness, the sheer contempt etched across Xie Heng’s face toward that vile enchantress had already allowed him to piece together the greater part of the truth. He strode forward immediately, lifting me to my feet, and fixed a murderous glare upon the disgraced household of Xie.

What a magnificent Marquis estate! To dare and humiliate my Shen lineage to such an intolerable degree! If you fail to render a satisfactory explanation this very day, this old man shall personally submit a memorial to the imperial court, impeaching your household for indulging a lowly concubine and plotting the murder of a legitimate wife!

Madame Xie fell into an absolute panic, torn between anguish for her ruined son and sheer terror at the prospect of offending the Shen family, who happened to be the very golden goose that sustained their lavish lifestyle. Abandoning all remaining shreds of dignity, she wailed and shrieked in desperation.

My dear in-laws, calm your wrath! This is nothing more than a grievous misunderstanding! Someone, seize that wretched witch at once! Provided we can secure the antidote, Heng-er’s face may yet be salvaged!

Only then did the surrounding guards snap out of their stupor, surging forward en masse to capture Liu Yiyi. Gritting her teeth, Liu Yiyi yanked a pouch from her bosom, hurling a handful of toxic powder directly into the advancing crowd before leaping over the compound wall to vanish amid the ensuing chaos. The Xie household instantly devolved into a scene of chaotic pandemonium. I observed coldly, my schemes already laid out well in advance. It was far better that Liu Yiyi had managed to escape. If she were apprehended too swiftly, how could the grand drama yet to come be performed to its fullest potential? Upon returning to the Shen estate, I immediately dispatched orders to seal off every single warehouse and commercial vault belonging to the family. In my past life, desperate to cover the financial deficits of Xie Heng, I had secretly plundered my own dowry even before our marriage to bail out the Xie family. This time, I intended to force them to vomit back every single coin, capital and interest combined, down to the very last fraction!

Father, starting today, sever all trade relations with the Xie family. Every single storefront bearing the Shen insignia that has been lent to the Xie name is to be recalled immediately. Furthermore, spread the rumor far and wide: Xie Heng, blinded by illicit passion, provoked a practitioner of poisons from the savage southern borders and is now afflicted with a fatal curse, leaving him with little time left to draw breath.

A flash of heartache crossed my father’s eyes as he looked at me, though it was swiftly overshadowed by profound approval.

My child has truly matured. Your decisive actions bear the very shadow of my own youth. Rest assured, this deep humiliation shall be avenged by my own hands!

Having settled the domestic affairs, I donned a plain set of masculine garments, accompanied by Hong Xiu—a devoted maidservant who had practiced martial arts by my side since childhood—and departed the city for a dilapidated Earth God shrine situated in the western outskirts. Concealed within those crumbling walls were two sharp blades potent enough to pierce Xie Heng’s treacherous heart. The temple was in ruins, its deity statue chipped and weathered. A one-armed giant was currently polishing a massive, pitch-black broadsword, while nearby, a woman in coarse cloth was tending to a medicinal brew. He Feng, once renowned across the martial world under the moniker Ghost Saber, had lost an arm after offending a powerful nemesis. Su Wan-er, an outcast expelled from the Valley of the Medicine King, possessed peerless medical expertise yet had been cast aside for the sake of love. In my previous incarnation, these two individuals had been the mortal enemies of Liu Yiyi, pursuing her relentlessly all the way to the capital. Regrettably, they had been exploited by Xie Heng and perished miserably beneath a storm of chaotic arrows. I stepped into the shrine and tossed down a heavy, gleaming ingot of pure gold.

I require the services of both masters to hunt a fox.

He Feng paused in his polishing, his single functioning eye glinting with chilling menace.

Who are you?

The Shen household, Shen Qingzhu.

I lifted the bamboo hat from my head, staring directly into his piercing gaze.

I wish to capture Liu Yiyi, but I do not require her death. I need her alive, so that I may drag her back to the Xie estate.

At the mere mention of the name Liu Yiyi, the medicinal bowl in Su Wan-er’s grasp slipped from her fingers, shattering against the earth with a sharp, echoing crash, her eyes instantly suffused with unadulterated hatred. He Feng remained silent for a brief moment before scooping up the heavy gold and slipping it into his tunic.

The transaction is established.

The face of Xie Heng was utterly and irrevocably ruined. Despite the Xie family summoning every renowned physician within the capital and even petitioning for imperial physicians from the palace, they remained entirely helpless against the bizarre and tyrannical Red Vermilion poison. The crimson lesions spread as though possessed of a malicious life of their own, gnawing away at his flesh bit by bit and driving him to howl and shriek day and night like a rabid hound. The Xie household still harbored illusions that the Shen family might intervene—after all, the Shen wealth rivaled nations, and perhaps they possessed the elusive antidote. Yet this time, the Shen family’s retribution was mercilessly absolute. Not only had they dissolved the engagement, but they had also delivered a formal debt instrument detailing every single coin Xie Heng had extracted from the Shen coffers over the years, calculating both principal and interest down to the last penny without a single cash spared. Lacking the funds to settle the debt and overwhelmed by public infamy, their former friends and acquaintances now avoided them as though fleeing a plague. Within the span of a mere half-month, the once-glorious Marquis estate showed unmistakable signs of total collapse. Each day, upon listening to the grim reports brought back by my scouts regarding Xie Heng’s wretched plight, a profound sense of exhilaration bloomed within my soul. Until finally, a message arrived from He Feng: Liu Yiyi had been captured. She had attempted to conceal herself within a desolate graveyard outside the city, hoping to cultivate an antidote using her venomous insects, only to fall victim to a backlash from her own brood, leaving her entire body paralyzed and incapable of movement. By the time I arrived at the scene, she was curled atop a rotting wooden coffin, swathed entirely in vibrant, poisonous crawling creatures—though spared from death, she was enduring a torment far worse.