Hearing Shen Jing's words, Su Yourong's face immediately flushed.
"Don't be silly!"
Su Yourong gave him a coquettish look. "Don't you dislike the maids in the manor serving you when you bathe and change? Then it can only be me, can't it?"
Shen Jing's lips curved. "If you come, it's like a lamb entering a tiger's mouth!"
"What lamb entering a tiger's mouth?"
Su Yourong's face grew redder. She stepped forward and gently patted Shen Jing's back, then couldn't help but say, "If you want to talk about a lamb entering a tiger's mouth, it's you, the lamb, entering my tiger's mouth!"
"If you say that, I won't be happy!"
Shen Jing turned around, grabbed Su Yourong's hand, and said aggressively, "This lord will make you see today who is the lamb entering the tiger's mouth!"
Su Yourong symbolically struggled a couple of times and chided, "Don't move yet, let me see if you have any injuries on you!"
With that, Su Yourong avoided Shen Jing's aggressive gaze and began to check him.
Shen Jing didn't know if she was genuinely checking or using it to hide her shyness.
While Su Yourong was checking his body, Shen Jing temporarily cast aside the distracting thoughts in his mind and asked, "In the days I was away, did anyone cause trouble for you?"
"No."
Su Yourong shook her head and smiled. "You were still on the front lines helping the imperial army quell the rebellion. Our family doesn't participate in any political affairs, so no fool would possibly cause us trouble at this time! But..."
At this point, Su Yourong looked up, a brilliant smile on her face.
"But what?"
Shen Jing asked, puzzled.
"Someone opened a gambling table on your life and death..."
Su Yourong's smile deepened as she recounted the story of the gambling houses opening tables.
"Wait..."
Before she finished, Shen Jing suddenly raised his hand to stop her. "Many people bet I would die?"
"Isn't that right!"
Su Yourong smiled sweetly. "Now those people must be regretting it terribly!"
"No wonder!"
Shen Jing suddenly understood and said with a wry smile, "I was wondering why so many people in the city looked at me strangely today! It turns out they all wished me dead..."
That wasn't envy at all!
It was pure hatred!
Hate that he didn't die, making them lose money!
"It's alright! We also bet!"
Su Yourong chuckled. "We bet a full one hundred thousand taels of silver! According to the one-to-three odds, Hengyun Gambling House owes us four hundred thousand taels of silver..."
Speaking of this, Su Yourong secretly regretted it again.
If Hengyun Gambling House hadn't closed the table when she rushed there, it would have been great.
Isn't this much faster than painstakingly earning silver?
Shen Jing was surprised, then burst out laughing, "Then shouldn't I quickly bathe and change so I can go collect the winnings?"
"If you go now, the gambling house definitely won't acknowledge it!"
Su Yourong pursed her lips and smiled. "To collect the winnings, you'll have to wait until the imperial court has bestowed its rewards upon you!"
After all, she had bet on Shen Jing returning alive and performing meritorious service for the imperial court.
They needed the imperial court to acknowledge Shen Jing's merits before they could collect the winnings!
"That's true!"
Shen Jing smiled. "Speaking of which, didn't His Majesty bet? He's always complaining about being poor; this is a great opportunity to pick up silver for free! If I were him, I'd bet all the silver in the national treasury!"
"What are you thinking! Who would accept a bet using silver from the national treasury?"
Su Yourong rolled her eyes at him. "However, I estimate that His Majesty probably did bet, and Princess Qinghe probably did too! It's just that it's inconvenient for them to come forward, so they let Prince Wuping's heir bet for them..."
She had figured it out later.
Within Ye Xian's two hundred thousand taels of silver, there must have been contributions from others.
No matter how much of a fop Ye Xian was, he certainly wouldn't bet a full two hundred thousand taels of silver.
"Probably!"
Shen Jing nodded in agreement, secretly thinking to himself whether he should ask them for a share of the profits later.
Afterward, Su Yourong told Shen Jing about what Ye Xian had secretly told her.
Learning that the owner behind Hengyun Gambling House was the Second Prince, Shen Jing wasn't intimidated. "If a prince opens a gambling house and still wants to renege, as long as he isn't afraid of things blowing up, we certainly aren't!"
"Mother said the same thing."
Su Yourong nodded with a smile.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore."
Shen Jing said, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh, by the way, do you know about Duke Qi's deceased wife?"
Hmm?
Su Yourong's eyelids twitched. "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
Shen Jing smiled. "Just a little curious..."
With that, Shen Jing recounted how Prince Ji had ordered people to publicly curse Pei Ji for his 'dirty shoes' affair.
"A dignified prince, not even sparing the dead, truly shameless!"
Su Yourong cursed Prince Ji a few times, her face full of disdain, before telling Shen Jing about Pei Ji's deceased wife.
This was many years ago.
At that time, Pei Ji was not yet the Minister of War; he was merely a general leading troops on the northern border.
In an accident, Lady Pei fell into the hands of the Oirat people.
At that time, Oirat led a large army to besiege the city Pei Ji was guarding. To force Pei Ji to leave the city, the Oirat people repeatedly raped Lady Pei outside the city Pei Ji was defending, in full view of everyone.
But Pei Ji was isolated and helpless, and his forces were at an absolute disadvantage. If he left the city to rescue Lady Pei, the city would inevitably fall.
For the sake of the greater good, Pei Ji suppressed the grief in his heart and ordered his men to defend the city to the death.
Lady Pei was outside the city, and in full view of everyone, she was raped by countless Oirat people for two whole days.
Seeing that Pei Ji still refused to come out for a decisive battle, the Oirat people even sent the tortured and dying Lady Pei back to Pei Ji, using this to humiliate him.
However, Lady Pei was ashamed to face Pei Ji. Just as Pei Ji sent people to escort her into the city, she used her last breath to snatch a weapon from a rescue worker and commit suicide.
This incident became an eternal pain in Pei Ji's heart.
Pei Ji felt ashamed towards Lady Pei. Even though Lady Pei had been gone for many years, the position of his main wife was always reserved for her. Only a concubine, whom Lady Pei had helped him take when she was still alive, had remained by his side.
Shen Jing suddenly understood, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
No wonder Prince Ji's simple phrase "dirty shoes" made Pei Ji, the Minister of War, directly lose his composure.
"If that's the case, Prince Ji is indeed too low-class!"
Shen Jing joined in cursing Prince Ji.
"Who says he isn't?"
Su Yourong nodded in deep agreement, then leaned into Shen Jing's ear, her breath like orchids, and whispered, "Life is too short, I don't want to wait until our wedding..."
Hearing Su Yourong's words, Shen Jing couldn't help but tremble.
Before Shen Jing could recover, Su Yourong slowly raised her jade hand and, under Shen Jing's burning gaze, slowly unbuttoned her clothes.
As Su Yourong's clothes gradually came off, Shen Jing felt a ball of fire burning wildly in his lower abdomen.
Finally, Su Yourong suppressed the shyness in her heart and took off all her clothes.
In an instant, Su Yourong's beautiful figure was completely revealed before Shen Jing.
Her skin was whiter than snow.
Her proud figure was like an overturned jade bowl.
Just as Shen Jing's heart was howling like a wolf, a "thump-thump" knock suddenly sounded from outside.
Hearing the knock, Su Yourong, like a thief, quickly picked up her fallen clothes and hid behind the bathtub.
"Young Master, The Eldest Princess and Princess Qinghe have arrived at the manor..."
Jin'er's voice came from outside the door.
"I..."
Shen Jing's face twitched violently, almost directly cursing Ye Li's ancestors for eighteen generations...