Chapter 67: Divorce Letter
Pei Zhouwu stepped back and immediately turned around.
To avoid being discovered and causing alarm, he quickened his pace, soon disappearing into the woods where moonlight could not reach.
The stone-paved path wound its way forward; following the original route would lead him out.
But halfway there, he suddenly halted again.
His long eyelashes trembled slightly, and an uncontrollable panic seeped through his pupils. Slowly, he raised a hand to press against his chest, as if trying to suppress the frantic heartbeat threatening to leap from his throat.
That scene just now inexplicably reminded him of the pond in Xiangshan.
And Su Yueying, who had also been soaking in the pond with her shoulders exposed.
During that sweltering summer month, A Ying would go to the pond every night for her Purification Bath. Sometimes she would drag him along; other times, she would soak alone, her silhouette turned away from him…
He suddenly turned back, recalling the figure he had just seen.
“A Ying?”
He didn’t know why, but that figure had reminded him of Su Yueying.
Lost in thought, his feet unconsciously began to move, as if about to stride back toward the Hot Spring.
“Sir, that’s the women’s pool. You can’t go there.”
An anxious male voice came from the direction he had come from, followed by another.
“I know, but I’m really in a hurry to find someone.”
Soon, two men appeared before Pei Zhouwu.
One wore the attire of the inn’s staff, likely an employee.
The other looked refined and scholarly, probably a guest visiting the mountains. But…
When the employee saw Pei Zhouwu, he stared in shock. “You… you’re a man, why are you here? The Hot Springs inside are for women…”
He trailed off mid-sentence.
The employee’s eyes darted back and forth between Pei Zhouwu and the other man, then, as if understanding, he asked the man, “Are you here to find him? You two look so alike—are you brothers?”
The man beside the employee was none other than Shen Yiliang.
“No.”
Shen Yiliang denied it and continued forward.
As he passed Pei Zhouwu, he nodded politely.
If there was shock, the two involved felt it most intensely. Aside from blood relatives, encountering a stranger who bore such a striking resemblance to oneself inevitably drew a few extra glances.
But it was only a few extra glances.
After all, they were strangers; one couldn’t just grab someone and ask for an explanation.
Such things were not uncommon. With so many people in the world, even in Pei Zhouwu’s army, there were often men who looked alike despite not being brothers.
“Hey, you can’t go over there.”
The employee hurried over, his face full of worry, stopping in front of Pei Zhouwu and planting his hands on his hips in frustration.
“Sir, when did you come in? I just had a few extra sips of soup tonight and couldn’t hold it in, so I went to relieve myself. When I came back, I found one after another of you heading to the women’s Hot Spring. How disrespectful!”
“My apologies.”
Pei Zhouwu himself felt it was disrespectful.
“This is my first time at this Hot Spring inn. I didn’t see anyone earlier, so I came looking on my own. It was indeed presumptuous and disrespectful of me.”
He also noticed that the man who had said he was looking for someone was heading in the direction he had just come from.
That area only had one small Hot Spring pool. Most likely, the person he was looking for was the one Pei Zhouwu had just seen…
With this thought, his sense of guilt and disrespect grew even stronger.
What if that woman was the man’s wife?
He had even presumptuously linked that woman to his A Ying, and still harbored the thought of going to see for himself.
“Young master, the men’s hot spring pool is on the other side. Let me take you there. It’s rather unfortunate—there were originally several attendants and maids waiting outside to guide guests, but perhaps they were all busy attending to guests inside. It was our oversight. This way, please, young master.”
…
Shen Yiliang went to Liu Fuying’s hot spring pool area but did not approach, standing with his back turned at a distance and calling down.
“Sister Fuying, are you there?”
“Sister Fuying, it’s Shen Yiliang!”
Even if he hadn’t introduced himself, Liu Fuying would have known it was him.
Sister Fuying.
Only Shen Yiliang would address her that way.
“Madam, this Young Master Shen is truly strange,” Jin Li frowned, showing some displeasure. “Even though you are older than him, you are after all a married woman and the mother of two children. He should respectfully address you as Madam. What’s with this ‘sister’ nonsense? It sounds so improper when others hear it. And besides, this is the women’s hot spring pool. For a man to come looking for you directly—if anyone saw, wouldn’t they say it’s a pri…”
She couldn’t even bring herself to say the rest.
Liu Fuying looked back upward, her expression unreadable, neither worried nor pleased.
“Go and ask him first. He usually isn’t this thoughtless. Perhaps something has happened to Jieling.”
Jin Li huffed angrily, flicking her sleeves and stomping away with heavy steps.
When she returned, her face showed more urgency.
“Madam, it is indeed Young Master Shen’s sister who is in trouble. Young Master Shen said that his sister and A Sheng went to the new shop in the afternoon and hadn’t returned even after nightfall. Earlier, Young Master Shen went looking for them. Not only did he not find them at the shop, but the shop had also been vandalized. His sister and the child are missing.”
Liu Fuying had already come ashore and changed her clothes in the small thatched hut with curtains hanging by the poolside.
“I’ve already asked Young Master Shen to wait outside the mountain, Madam. Should we go help look for his sister?”
“Given my friendship with Jieling, I cannot simply stand by and do nothing.”
Returning to the inn, only Xi Nian and the maid Lü Ping who was taking care of her were there. Lü Ping said that Xiyun had begged the nanny to take him to catch grasshoppers. At that time, the maid, unable to leave Xi Nian, had told Shen Yiliang Liu Fuying’s hot spring pool number, asking him to have a female attendant outside the hot spring deliver a message. Unexpectedly, there happened to be no one on duty outside the hot spring at that moment. In his anxiety, Shen Yiliang rushed in alone.
“Nian Nian, be good and stay here with Sister Lü Ping.”
Liu Fuying crouched in front of Shen Xinian, rubbing her adorable little face.
“Mother needs to go down the mountain for a while and will return later. You must listen to Sister Lü Ping and the nanny, understand?”
“Understood,” Shen Xinian nodded obediently, adding with assurance, “Mother, don’t worry. Nian Nian is the most well-behaved child in the world.”
Liu Fuying smiled and gently poked her small nose.
After standing up, she took Jin Li and headed down the mountain.
Meanwhile, at the General’s Mansion at the foot of the mountain, chaos had erupted once again.
Old Madam Shen had cried all afternoon. After fainting for a long time and waking up, she took a white silk ribbon and was about to hang herself.
Shen Xiunian, who had rushed over upon hearing, felt his head splitting with pain at the sight.
All this is Liu Fuying’s doing!
In the afternoon, she left with the children, leaving only a letter of separation. When Mother saw that letter, she began making a scene, threatening to die.
“Get out of my sight!”
Even as a group of people held her back, the Old Madam still pointed at Shen Xiunian and cursed.
“You heartless wretch, you don’t even care for your own child. You drove A Yin away and still dare to come see me?”
“Mother…”
“Don’t call me mother. All these years, it was A Yin who took care of me with all her heart, not you. From the day you joined the army until now, how many times have you come back to see me? How much time have you spent with me? How much space in your heart is reserved for me? That year when I caught a fever after getting caught in the rain and nearly lost my life, A Yin, pregnant and heavy with child, stayed up night after night caring for me. And you? Search your conscience and ask yourself.”