On the day Shen Xin was released from the palace and returned to the mansion, Shen Miao personally went to the palace gate to pick him up.
The others in the Shen family were naturally unhappy with this outcome, especially Old Madam Shen. She thought that Shen Xin was doomed, but she did not expect him to be spared in the end. However, when she heard from Shen Gui what it meant to have no military power, Old Madam Shen was delighted again.
Shen Xin, without his military power, was no longer on par with Shen Gui and Shen Wan in terms of influence in the imperial court. Old Madam Shen was short-sighted. She didn’t realize that the Shen family was a whole. When the people thought of the Shen family, they first thought of Shen Xin. Once Shen Xin lost his power, the Shen family would no longer be as glorious.
However, Old Madam Shen probably did not care. In her heart, the two people she gave birth to, Shen Gui and Shen Wan, were countless times better than Shen Xin. If not for the fact that the old general was biased back then, Shen Xin would not be where he was today. She would take this opportunity to expel Shen Xin from the Shen family.
However, how the assets should be divided was also another matter worth thinking through.
Shen Miao did not take the assets to heart at all. At this point in time, she had to do as she had previously planned. Without the military power, the Shen family was indeed nothing to be afraid of. If the first branch continued to stay here, given how many enemies they had, the first branch would sooner or later be forced into a desperate situation.
At the end of the day, they still had to retreat.
For some reason, Shen Miao thought of Xie Jingxing’s warning to her that day. The word “retreat” was indeed the only way out for the first branch of the Shen family.
The carriage stopped at the corner of the palace gate to prevent others from seeing it. Shen Miao knew better than anyone what kind of people the royal family were. They wanted to be benevolent on the surface, but secretly, they would still figure out ways to make people who offended them suffer. Now that Shen Xin was bereft of his military power, many people would definitely be happy to see him in such a miserable state.
Shen Miao had suffered a lot in her previous life. She could tolerate humiliation, but she could not tolerate her family being treated like this. She could only park the carriage here and wait for Shen Xin to come out to pick them up.
Just as she was thinking, she heard Mo Qing shout from outside, “Stop!” A strong wind blew in. Shen Miao’s vision blurred, and the curtain of the carriage was lifted. In an instant, there was another person in the spacious carriage.
Gu Yu cried out in shock and her mouth was immediately covered by Jingzhe. Mo Qing said in a panic, “Miss!”
Shen Miao looked at the person opposite her.
On the carriage, the young man was wearing a dark red official robe. His eyes were flirtatious, and his thin lips were slightly curled. Even if he was wearing a dark red official robe, people still could not take their eyes off his face.
“Mo Qing, back off,” Shen Miao reprimanded softly.
“But…” Mo Qing’s voice sounded through the curtain of the carriage. That person was too fast, and he could not stop him in time. Letting a stranger inside the carriage with Shen Miao was by no means appropriate.
“You are not his match,” Shen Miao said calmly to the outside. She looked at Jingzhe and Gu Yu. “You two go out, too. Guard the carriage.”
Jingzhe and Gu Yu had seen Xie Jingxing before and knew that he and Shen Miao were friends, but they were confused about how close they were. The two of them were sometimes enemies, so why would Shen Miao be so friendly to her enemies?
However, with previous experiences, Jingzhe and Gu Yu were not worried about Xie Jingxing hurting Shen Miao. Otherwise, Shen Miao wouldn’t allow Xie Jingxing to be in the carriage. Jingzhe and Gu Yu did not say anything and got out of the carriage.
