"So, did that Pugongying really die of drowning?" Shen Jiaojiao reached out, pinched a peanut, popped it into her mouth, and looked curious.
Shen Mingzhu glanced at her.
"Of course not."
In fact, Pu Ying had never drowned at all, from start to finish.
Faking a fall into the water was simply a scheming ploy of hers.
If someone exposed her, she could always claim she was rescued the moment she fell, and her fainting was merely due to shock.
And if no one exposed her, wouldn't that work out even better?
At the very least, when Shen Mingzhu looked at her back then, there wasn't a single droplet of water on the woman's face, and her makeup hadn't even run.
Yet, as it turned out, some people's eyes were mere ornaments!
On their wedding night, Xiao Yi and Shen Mingzhu stayed awake the entire night.
Because Xiao Yi harbored misunderstandings about Shen Mingzhu, he was unwilling to share a bed with her.
Indeed, Shen Mingzhu had never expected that the incident with Pu Ying would have such a massive impact on Xiao Yi.
Pu Ying's drowning had absolutely nothing to do with her. Yet now, with no living witnesses to verify the truth, she didn't even have a chance to defend herself.
That being the case, things had reached this point, and Shen Mingzhu no longer cared.
She was already thoroughly disappointed with Xiao Yi's character, and figured they wouldn't have much contact in the future either.
Now she was also the legitimate young madam of the Duke Xiao Manor; barring some monstrous crime, Xiao Yi had no grounds to divorce her.
Likewise, for the sake of her own dignity, Shen Mingzhu would not choose to seek an amicable separation from him either.
However, Shen Mingzhu had no intention of letting herself be inexplicably smeared with dirty water, so the very next day, she began investigating Pu Ying's death.
"The strange thing is, Pu Ying's maid also vanished into thin air."
Shen Jiaojiao almost spat out a mouthful of tea.
"No way? You're the young madam of the Duke Xiao Manor, and the legitimate daughter of the Jian'an Marquis Manor to boot, and you couldn't even track down two little maids?"
"Indeed, I couldn't find her. Only the physician who took her pulse when she first fell into the water was still around."
"And what did he say?"
"Perhaps out of a returning conscience, or perhaps simply being timid and afraid of trouble, he told the truth. He said that Lady Pu had merely caught a chill and was in no serious condition."
"Then what did he say in the beginning?"
Shen Mingzhu recalled Xiao Yi's explanation. "He said that the young lady had fallen into the water, caught a chill, and suffered a terrible shock, and would likely need careful recuperation for quite some time."
Shen Jiaojiao rolled her eyes. "You mean someone had bribed him beforehand to make her condition sound much worse?"
Shen Mingzhu nodded.
"Well, look at you getting hoodwinked by someone else for a change!" Shen Jiaojiao laughed with malicious glee.
Shen Mingzhu's face darkened. "That's only happened this once."
"Go on, tell me, were there really no further clues at all? Did you attend Pu Ying's funeral?"
"Of course not."
What status did Pu Ying hold? Just an ordinary girl with no background whatsoever; they weren't even acquaintances, so how could she possibly attend her funeral?
Shen Jiaojiao found this rather bizarre. "Did anyone actually hold a funeral for her?"
"Yes. Her maid set up a cenotaph for her."
"Why a cenotaph?"
"Because her maid claimed she threw herself into the river to commit suicide, and her body was never recovered."
Shen Jiaojiao frowned. "That makes it feel even stranger."
"Didn't you just say she passed away because she failed to recuperate properly after falling into the water? How did it suddenly turn into throwing herself in a river?"
"The former was the story told to the outside world, while the latter was what the maid told Xiao Yi."
"Tsk, they even have to keep different versions? What, did she expect to resurrect if she told Xiao Yi that?"
Shen Mingzhu curved the corners of her lips.
"Still, how come I feel like she isn't even dead? When you trace it all back, her maid is the only person who actually saw her die—and that was at a cenotaph. The more I think about it, the more I smell a scam."
Shen Mingzhu poured herself a cup of tea. "You think I hadn't considered that?"
Yet the person genuinely had vanished into thin air.
"So you and Xiao Yi ended up harboring resentment toward each other?" Shen Jiaojiao's tone rose slightly.
"Pretty much." They found the sight of each other repulsive.
Xiao Yi thought she was as venomous as a serpent or scorpion. She thought Xiao Yi was utterly foolish.
"And to think when you both returned to your maiden home, you put on such a loving display!" Even now, remembering that scene made Shen Jiaojiao feel a little sour inside.
Putting on a loving display of marital harmony served two purposes: first, to keep their parents from worrying, and second, to prevent malicious rivals from exploiting any openings.
This was practically the only shred of tacit understanding between Shen Mingzhu and Xiao Yi.
"Even so, surely the two of you wouldn't let your relationship fall apart entirely over an outsider, would you?"
Shen Mingzhu thought for a moment and replied, "Pretty much."
The meager affection between them had long since shattered into dust on the day Pu Ying fell into the water. After marriage, they grew to loathe the sight of one another, didn't even live in the same courtyard, and the number of times they crossed paths could be counted on one hand.
"So, has Pu Ying truly never shown her face ever since?"
"At least, I have never laid eyes on this person again." Shen Mingzhu nodded.
"How bizarre. Could she really be dead?"
Shen Jiaojiao found it quite hard to believe.
"Madam Xiao grew progressively sicker afterward, and the estate physician said it was due to pent-up melancholy in her heart."
Shen Jiaojiao didn't even have time to crack melon seeds anymore. "What do you mean?"
"At first, I thought it was because of the situation between Xiao Yi and me. After all, while outsiders might not perceive the trouble between us, Madam Xiao lived under the same roof, so naturally she had some insight into our lives, yet found it awkward to interfere, which must have caused her pent-up distress."
"Wasn't that the reason, then?"
Shen Mingzhu nodded, then shook her head.
"Yes, and no."
"Madam Xiao's illness struck fiercely and violently; within a mere half year, her health completely collapsed."
Shen Jiaojiao remembered this.
The frequency of Shen Mingzhu returning to her maiden home began to dwindle precisely when Madam Xiao fell ill.
And that exact period was when she herself had forged a close emotional bond with Madam Shen.
It was precisely because Shen Mingzhu returned to the Marquis Manor less and less that her relationship with her mother grew better and better.
By the time Shen Mingzhu finally handled everything and returned home, her mother's heart had completely leaned toward her.
So during that time, Shen Jiaojiao was overflowing with joy, wishing Shen Mingzhu would never come back at all!
"Before Madam Xiao passed away, she told me that she had failed me."
"Why?"
"She said she bore half the responsibility for the Pu Ying affair."
When Pu Ying had previously proclaimed herself to be a distant niece of the Duke Xiao Manor to outsiders, Madam Xiao simply chose to ignore it.
In this cutthroat capital city where every inch of land was worth a fortune, the girl possessed a modicum of good looks; if waving the banner of the Duke Xiao Manor could keep her safe, it could also be seen as accumulating merit for the Xiao family.
Instead, this only fueled Pu Ying's ambitions.
When people inquired whether this girl would be made the young madam of the Duke Xiao Manor, Madam Xiao's immediate reaction was: absolutely not.
And it was utterly out of the question.
The candidate she had in mind for a daughter-in-law was a noble young lady endowed with both learning and virtue—preferably someone like Shen Mingzhu.
Even if she heard that Yi'er showed the girl a degree of care, that still wouldn't do.
Yet that outing for the spring excursion made Madam Xiao realize that Pu Ying was far from a well-behaved girl.
Upon returning, hearing that the girl had fallen into the water, Madam Xiao sent some items over to offer comfort while delivering a warning.
To her surprise, the wretched girl dared not admit to being warned; instead, she told Yi'er that Mingzhu had sought her out to threaten and intimidate her.
And her own foolish, blockheaded son actually believed it!
Only then did Madam Xiao realize this girl was no simple character.
Fearing that her son and future daughter-in-law would develop further friction over an outsider, Madam Xiao intended to step in and handle the matter personally.
"What did Madam Xiao do to her?"
Madam Xiao hadn't actually done anything to her.
Or rather, before Madam Xiao even began to do anything to her, the news of the other woman's tragic demise had already spread.
"Her maid told Madam Xiao that her mistress could not bear such humiliation and had thrown herself into the river to commit suicide."