TRBDM -Chapter 197 Shen Tianci Imprisoned

“What’s all this noise?”

The moment Xie Sheng stepped through the door, he saw utter chaos: cold dishes scattered across the floor, shattered porcelain bowls, and in the center stood a disheveled, resentful woman.

Normally, whenever Xie Sheng raised his voice even slightly, Shen Zhizhi would shrink to the side, too afraid to move, terrified of angering him.

But today, Shen Zhizhi had endured a full day of mistreatment. She had had enough.

If she kept it in any longer, she might explode on the spot.

“Heh heh—” Shen Zhizhi suddenly laughed. “Husband, you finally decided to come back.”

She walked up to Xie Sheng and sniffed him. “Reeking all over… which woman’s bed did you crawl out from?”

“What nonsense are you talking about!” Xie Sheng fumed, pointing at her as he scolded. “Look at you now—how are you any different from a street-corner shrew?”

But Shen Zhizhi didn’t get angry; she laughed instead.

“Heh, even a street-corner shrew is cleaner than the women in the Flower Alley.”

“You—” Xie Sheng choked on his words.

A man going to Flower Alley for entertainment was perfectly normal. Moreover, he had only gone to drink, hadn’t touched any woman.

Xie Sheng had always looked down on the women of Flower Alley, thinking them dirty.

But he liked the intoxicating, lavish atmosphere there, and after work each day, he would always have a small drink.

Is that really something worth making a fuss over?

The Shen Zhizhi in front of him felt unfamiliar.

Where had the gentle, occasionally coquettish Shen Zhizhi gone?

“What? Did I hit the mark?” Shen Zhizhi tilted her head, teeth gritted, and said through clenched teeth, “You dare do it but not admit it?”

Xie Sheng didn’t want to say another word. He swung his long sleeves. “Impossible to reason with!”

“Don’t go.”

Shen Zhizhi grabbed him, suddenly bursting into tears. “Husband, don’t go. I was just too angry… please forgive me, okay?”

Xie Sheng looked at the two-sided, unpredictable Shen Zhizhi before him, and disgust rose from deep within.

She had not only become a shrew but also seemed insane.

With disgust, Xie Sheng raised his hand and pulled her away. “Someone, fetch a doctor for the lady. She’s not in her right mind and needs medication.”

“Husband, I’m fine. Really, I’m fine. I’m normal; I don’t need medicine!” Shen Zhizhi clutched her belly and shook her head violently. “The child is six months along. Four more months and they’ll be born safely. I won’t take medicine—it would affect the baby.”

The word child finally touched Xie Sheng.

He glanced at Shen Zhizhi’s belly but ultimately didn’t insist on bringing a doctor.

However, the last bit of feeling he had left for her vanished completely that night.

He violently shook off her hand and strode away.

“Ugh… ugh…”

Shen Zhizhi covered her mouth and cried.

She had ruined everything.

Kneeling on the ground, her tears were spent, her strength exhausted, yet she still couldn’t erase the resentment and injustice in her heart.

How had she ended up like this? At the beginning, she had been personally chosen by Wei Zhaorong as the head wife in the marquis’s household, loved by her husband, and even the Shen family had welcomed her warmly.

Now, she had lost everything.

Shen Zhizhi cried almost the entire night, her eyes swelling like peaches.

The next day, she received another piece of terrible news.

“Madam, something’s wrong. Young Master Shen has been taken away by the authorities.”

Shen Zhizhi, her eyes red and swollen, opened them a slit. “What? Quick, take me to see him.”

She hurriedly washed her face, didn’t even have time to drink, and boarded a carriage to rush to the Shen household.

After selling off the Shen family’s old residence, the family had moved into a very small house, not even a nameplate on the door.

Shen Zhizhi felt her heart sink, a bitter, desolate pain twisting in her chest.

“Father, Mother.”

Shen Zhizhi entered the room.

“Zhizhi, you’re here.” Mother Shen came out from inside and grabbed Zhizhi’s wrist.

Her grip was strong, so Zhizhi felt a sharp pain, but she endured it without making a sound.

“Mother, what happened to Tianci? Why was he arrested?”

Mother Shen was already flustered and spoke anxiously: “Last night, Tianci broke into a shop and took the silver from the shopkeeper’s counter.”

Zhizhi’s heart sank the moment she heard this.

Tianci had actually gone and stolen money.

“And then?” Zhizhi pressed for details.

“Then… the shop’s employees caught him on the spot. They reported it immediately, and with the evidence, the authorities arrested him.”

Zhizhi felt like her head was spinning. “Tianci is really foolish… how could he commit theft?”

Mother Shen wouldn’t tolerate anyone criticizing Tianci. She glared at Zhizhi: “If you hadn’t failed to send money these past few months, Tianci wouldn’t have ended up on this path.”

Zhizhi didn’t deny her mother’s words, but now was not the time to argue.

“Mother, let’s put that aside for now. The most urgent thing is to get Tianci released.”

“Of course I know that. Your father and I have been thinking for a long time. We borrowed from relatives and friends and managed to gather a hundred taels, but it takes two hundred taels to redeem him.”

In the end, it all came down to money.

This was a real problem for Zhizhi.

She was completely penniless at the moment.

She couldn’t touch any of the Xie family’s silver, and all her personal savings and jewelry had already been given to the Shen household.

Two hundred taels was an astronomical sum to her.

Father Shen came out of the room as well.

“Zhizhi, why don’t you ask your husband, Mr. Xie, to provide a hundred taels to save Tianci?”

“Yes, last time when the family was divided, the second branch received fifteen thousand taels. A hundred taels is just pocket change for the Xie family, but for Tianci… it’s his life.”

The elderly couple spoke in unison, leaving Zhizhi caught between them.

Life at the Xie household had been tough for her, but she had never complained in front of her parents-in-law.

Besides, she had just argued with Xie Sheng last night; there was no way he would help.

“Zhizhi, speak up!”

“Yes, do you not want to help? Do you want to watch Tianci die with your own eyes?”

Seeing that she still didn’t respond, her mother pushed her hard, making her stumble.

“If you didn’t come to save Tianci, why did you come back at all? Come on, hurry up.”

Zhizhi steadied herself in a panic and said anxiously, “Mother, I’m more worried than anyone about Tianci being arrested, but you have to give me time to think of a solution.”

The moment the couple heard she had a plan, they stopped scolding her.

“Quick, go inside and think it over. It’s too hot standing out here.”

After standing under the sun for a long while, Zhizhi finally went inside.

The Shen household could no longer afford servants; only the old nanny who had always been with them remained.

The old nanny poured Zhizhi a cup of tea, which she almost spat out after one sip.

The tea leaves were terrible, and there was even a musty smell.

She put down the cup and didn’t drink any more.

“Zhizhi, what exactly is this plan of yours?”

Her father was impatient. Every day Tianci stayed in prison felt like an eternity, and he wished he could bring his son home immediately.

Zhizhi thought it through. Since she couldn’t come up with the money, there was only one last option: go to the shop and plead for leniency. If the shopkeeper agreed, even one hundred taels could secure Tianci’s release.

The elderly couple immediately understood—yes, go apologize and beg for mercy to lower the ransom.

Her father stood up at once: “Let’s go. Right now.”