Chapter 599: Chapter 597: The Transmigrated Woman Who Self-Destructed 18 Times (Part 28)
At night, everyone gathered in the room.
Ah Chen mentioned Tao Lan and An Lin, saying that she had already left them at Jingyue Temple and had handed their portraits to Shen Zheng’an.
Although she didn’t care whose people they were, these people might use her to target Shen Zheng’an and Jiang Zhi, so it was better to give them a heads-up.
The portraits were given, and the rest was up to them to handle.
"Tao Lan should be someone close to Shen Nanqiao," Shen Zheng’an said after glancing at the portrait, immediately confirming. Because he suspected something was wrong with Shen Zhengjie, he had arranged for someone to keep a close watch on Shen Zhengjie since returning to the capital. Naturally, he would not overlook Shen Nanqiao, especially since the relationship between the siblings had grown exceedingly close, differing from the past.
Moreover, he also suspected that among those who harmed him was Shen Nanqiao.
Though these two siblings appeared normal on the surface, upon comparing their past behaviors, one could detect something was amiss. Furthermore, since Shen Jun often compared him with Shen Zhengjie to undermine him, naturally he paid more attention to Shen Zhengjie than others, allowing him to notice such peculiarity more swiftly.
"Why is she targeting Miss Chu?" Jiang Zhi inquired, perplexed, "Shen Nanqiao shouldn’t know that it’s you who arranged for Miss Chu to stay at that residence, should she?"
People outside all thought it was arranged by him, neither he nor Shen Zheng’an had any intention of clarifying.
Since Ah Chen moved there, Shen Zheng’an had not visited again, so no one knew about the reasonably good relationship between him and Ah Chen.
"I don’t know," Shen Zheng’an responded. "If Shen Nanqiao knew, Shen Zhengjie would also suspect that I have hidden power, but I don’t feel I’ve been discovered." He paused suddenly, "There’s another reason."
"Shen Nanqiao had people approach Miss Chu because of you, Your Highness." He didn’t keep them guessing, showing a look as if to say, associating with someone of your status naturally invites trouble.
Jiang Zhi: ...
The thought wasn’t wrong, but they were discussing serious matters, could the topic not veer so off course? How could he deviate like that?
Talking about returning, considering Shen Zheng’an’s current situation, could entanglement with Miss Chu really be without trouble?
Shen Zheng’an noticed Jiang Zhi’s gaze and sighed inwardly, feeling somewhat vexed. That was why he refrained from seeking out Miss Chu during the day.
Only once he resolved all the troubles, when Jiang Zhi’s position was stable, would he stop having so many concerns. Even if Miss Chu wasn’t afraid of those troubles, they were troubles nonetheless and would disturb her.
Ah Chen watched them discuss with great interest, without intending to interrupt.
Once they finished, she finally asked, "Is Mr. Shen not going back to the Shen Family? When will this matter be settled?"
"I’ve already arranged with His Highness to visit the Shen Family patriarch tomorrow," Shen Zheng’an replied. Actually, he had privately visited the patriarch beforehand, just to informally communicate; tomorrow was merely to go through the procedures. Were it not for the prior low-key visit, a single trip to select a deceased, unconnected father would still take some time. The prior visit was to prevent troubles halfway.
As he was not a member of the Shen Family now, Shen Jun had also severed father-son ties with him, even if the Marquis Mansion knew tomorrow, they couldn’t stop him. He also brought Jiang Zhi over, making the Marquis Mansion even more afraid to stir up trouble.
Tomorrow should catch them by surprise.
He actually did not quite understand why the Shen Zhengjie siblings plotted against him so severely, doing everything possible to kill him.
There shouldn’t have been such deep enmity between them, right?
As for why the Second Prince and Fourth Prince targeted him, the reasoning didn’t apply to the Shen Zhengjie siblings, even if they had sided with the Fourth Prince due to Shen Nanqiao’s engagement with him.
Upon mentioning this, he noticed something amiss again; it seemed that in the past year or two, Shen Nanqiao no longer pursued the Fourth Prince as before, like she suddenly became shy. Except for meeting at some specific occasions, they merely exchanged greetings from afar, and she no longer tried to coincidentally meet the Fourth Prince privately.
Shen Zhengjie, too, now held a minor post, diligently carrying out his duties. Initially, there wasn’t much use for him on the Fourth Prince’s side, and he seemed genuinely to think he wasn’t needed. He didn’t deliberately cozy up, but if the Fourth Prince thought of him, he wouldn’t refuse, which was not much of a mistake. It was like this openly and similarly behind the scenes; given his current status, there wasn’t any need to hide.
These siblings truly seemed rather strange.
"What have you thought of?" Jiang Zhi asked.
Shen Zheng’an said, "Shen Zhengjie and Shen Nanqiao have been behaving somewhat oddly the past year or two, compared to what I originally understood about them, they wouldn’t be this indifferent connected with the Fourth Prince."
He was already speaking politely.
According to the siblings’ original personalities, they would have enthusiastically boarded the Fourth Prince’s ship long ago, one dreaming of assisting the Fourth Prince achieve great success, becoming a powerful minister, the other dreaming of one day becoming Empress.
Therefore, being plotted against to the point of almost losing his life, Shen Zheng’an couldn’t quite figure it out and occasionally questioned his existence.
Jiang Zhi frowned slightly, suddenly recalling his dream filled with prophecies.
He had a feeling that were he to act foolishly, indecisively, he might not have been able to return from that deserted island.
"Did you say they acted differently than in the past few years?" Jiang Zhi murmured, "In such situations, it’s often a result of a significant change."
"But nothing happened during this period, so it’s not for that reason."
"Then could there be another possibility, that they had dreams prophesying some outside event?" Jiang Zhi finally voiced this thought.
Ah Chen was slightly taken aback; she hadn’t deliberately reminded them, because now Shen Zheng’an was prepared, he wouldn’t be easily plotted against by the siblings, even if they were reborn and knew the future.
To remind would make it too easy.
These two were aiming for high positions, one aspiring to be a court official, and the future held myriad situations for them, so as long as it wasn’t a life-threatening matter, she generally didn’t intervene. The more experiences they had, the more favorable for their growth.
However, the plot god had given Jiang Zhi a prophetic dream, so it was natural for him to think of this.
Shen Zheng’an, having read many varied works, indeed recalled future prophecy dreams mentioned in some mythical stories, and being prompted by Jiang Zhi now, he suddenly realized.
"This seems to make sense," he said.
Then he continued, "I know what they’re up to now!"
Hmm?
This left Jiang Zhi puzzled.
"If they’ve truly been informed about the future, judging by their behavior over the past year or two, it’s highly possible they intend to abandon the Fourth Prince’s ship in favor of boarding Yours," Shen Zheng’an stated knowingly; after encountering Miss Chu, Jiang Zhi was destined to be the next Emperor of the Yang Dynasty.
If Shen Zhengjie and his sibling received a future hint, choosing Jiang Zhi was quite sensible, wasn’t it?
But why would they want to get rid of him? Even if he chose Jiang Zhi, there wasn’t much animosity with Shen Zhengjie and his sister.
Could there be some unresolvable enmity between them?
Shen Zheng’an thought of another point, could there really be a problem with his mother’s death? Was someone from the Marquis Mansion responsible for harming his mother?
If that were the case, he certainly wouldn’t spare the Marquis Mansion, and he would definitely pursue the matter to the end, causing trouble for all those involved.
Assuming nothing happened to him previously, and the Shen Zhengjie siblings didn’t act abnormally, he would definitely investigate why his father disliked him, to uncover the reason, and perhaps find something out.
Shen Zheng’an just felt enlightened, as though everything had an explanation now.
Of course, he still didn’t know the exact answer now.
Ah Chen casually sipped her tea when suddenly she heard Shen Zheng’an say, "It also explains why Shen Nanqiao arranged for people around Miss Chu."
Was this fate’s will? Did he have no chance?
She looked up to see his face filled with gloom.
Ah Chen: ...
Jiang Zhi fell into silence. According to the dream’s hint, he seemed to indeed have a fate intertwined with Miss Chu, but, in reality, he was acutely aware that such a fate couldn’t exist with the current Miss Chu.
In general, Shen Zheng’an’s speculation wasn’t incorrect.
