Your Highness, your wife has had her virginity mark applied and married someone else.

The mention of "Spring Snow" sent chills down Shen Mingshu's spine.

She turned around and saw Wei Ziye with a cold smile on his lips, walking towards the two of them step by step.

Zhou Yuansheng belatedly realized that he had been gossiping with Shen Mingshu, his neck flushed red, and he quickly clasped his hands in greeting.

"Wei Shizi An."

Logically speaking, since Wei Ziye is still a teacher at the academy, Shen Mingshu, as the supervisor, has no need to bow to him.

However, Wei Ziye was unreasonable.

Shen Mingshu, feeling it was inappropriate, also cupped her hands and addressed him, "Young Master Wei."

Wei Ziye stared at Shen Mingshu's regretful, clenched-teeth face, his deep voice sinister: "This young master has come to request leave. The Supervisor should be available, right?"

Although Zhou Yuansheng felt it was disloyal to abandon Shen Mingshu at this moment, he really had no reason to stay any longer.

"Then... Brother Yin, shall you go ahead with your work?"

Shen Mingshu exchanged a glance with him, then resignedly cupped her hands in farewell: "Brother Zhou, take care."

After exchanging pleasantries, Wei Ziye scoffed, "You're really into being a man, aren't you? Even someone like Zhou Yuansheng is starting to call you brother. Next, are you perhaps planning to climb the ranks to the Hanlin Academy?"

Faced with his understated sarcasm, Shen Mingshu's expression remained calm: "People strive for higher positions, isn't that true of Prince Wei as well?"

"Don't compare yourself to me, the young master." Wei Ziye approached Shen Mingshu, coldly looking down at her: "That's beneath you."

Shen Mingshu laughed in exasperation: "If you feel it's beneath you, why did you personally come to ask for leave, Prince Wei? Your excuse is so clumsy; aren't you embarrassed the moment you uttered it?"

Wei Ziye's gaze fell on the invitation in her hand: "Now that you know why I've come here, there's no need for me to take any action, is there?"

"..."

Their eyes met, and just as Wei Ziye reached out, Shen Mingshu had already hidden the invitation behind her back.

Wei Ziye's eyes narrowed dangerously: "Shen Yangjue is dead. I advise you to stay away from the Shen family."

In Wei Ziye's eyes, with Shen Yangjue dead, the Shen family and Shen Mingshu no longer had much of a grudge.

Because she is using the Zhang family's name, her actions are very likely to involve Zhang Yu.

That's why he came here specifically.

Unfortunately, he's going to be disappointed again.

Shen Mingshu: "Are you aware that Shen Qingliang wants to be transferred to a government position in the capital?"

Wei Ziye: "What's it to you?"

"What a coincidence, I want my cousin to choose that position." Seeing Wei Ziye frown, Shen Mingshu added with a smile, "It's another cousin, Zhang Xuzhi."

"..."

"Of course, the capable rise to the top, and my mother only asks him to act within his capabilities, but I'm different." Shen Mingshu tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrows: "I know how to make him crush Shen Qingliang."

Whether it was Shen Mingshu's calling him "Mother" that made Wei Ziye's heart skip a beat, or it was the vivid cunning on her face, he didn't know.

He suddenly fell silent, staring intently at her, his eyes deep and dark, his gaze slowly falling on her neck.

Thinking of the two previous life-or-death crises, Shen Mingshu immediately became alert and quickly retreated behind Chunxue.

"Even if you tear up this invitation today, Mother will still let me in. I advise you not to waste your time here."

Looking at the hostility and wariness in Shen Mingshu's eyes, Wei Ziye's fingertips seemed to still retain the warmth of Shen Mingshu's skin. After slightly curling up, he looked away.

"You can go, but you must stay by my side."

Shen Mingshu frowned in resistance: "Why should I?"

Wei Ziye raised an eyebrow slightly: "Because I'm your older brother."

"..."

……

The Shen family of the capital is a force to be reckoned with—that's how the common people describe them.

Because whenever they felt ashamed of what had happened to the Shen family and thought that the Shen family would slink away from the capital, the Shen family would always manage to climb back into the ranks of the noble families in various ways.

The first time was more than ten years ago, when the God of War Shen Nian fell and the Shen family was put into hiding. Everyone thought that the Shen family was about to fall from grace, but then the Shen family produced a disciple named Shen Yangjue, a divine doctor.

That year, the Lu family was not even worthy of being associated with the Shen family.

The second time was three years ago.

Shen Yangjue, a disciple of the legendary healer, became a heartless quack who used living people as test subjects for medicine.

Shen Fu, the second young lady of the Shen family, took strong drugs and served five men at once, and was caught in bed with them.

Shen Mingshu, the fifth young lady of the Shen family, jumped into the river to force a marriage with the Wei family. She was ungrateful and tried to climb the social ladder, but was eventually driven out of the capital.

It was thought that this time, the Shen family's reputation would be completely shattered, the women would be known for their promiscuity, and no sister in the family would dare to marry. The Shen family was finished.

Unexpectedly, three years later, on Old Madam Shen's birthday, not only the Wei family came, but also the Lu family.

Although only juniors came, at least they made a good impression.

Now, even those who had kept their distance and didn't want to come even after receiving an invitation all brought gifts and came to inquire about the matter.

Shen Mingshu lifted the curtain and could see the words "Shen Mansion" from afar through the crowd.

Amidst the bustling crowd below, it was heard that the head of the second branch of the Shen family had fallen ill, and the eldest son was too busy with his career to return to the capital.

At this moment, only the main branch of the Shen family remained, with Shen Qingliang greeting the guests.

That smiling face was the very face that Shen Mingshu hated most.

After her father died in battle, he would point at her mother's nose and call her a "jinx," and he would allow his aunt to cut up her winter cotton-padded clothes and call her a good-for-nothing who only eats rice and loses money.

She even instigated Old Madam Shen to marry her off to a widower who had beaten his wife to death, just to get a dowry and continue to maintain the superficial prosperity of the Shen family!

Wei Ziye believes that her feud with the Shen family is over and says that she has implicated innocent people, but who in the entire Shen family is innocent?

The first wife's greed and the second wife's silent support—who is innocent?

Now that things have come to this, Shen Mingshu feels that no amount of revenge is enough!

It's disgusting to let this hollow, rotten family continue to exist!

Her fingertips dug fiercely into her palms. In that instant, Shen Mingshu finally couldn't control her resentment towards the Shen family, and her emotions spilled out.

Wei Ziye seemed to sense something and turned to look at her carriage.

Just as Wei Yuan was about to get out of the car, he heard Lu Youyou's disgusted voice.

"The Shen family is truly shameless. They dare to send us invitations from such a lowly family, and they don't even bother to clean up the street in front of their house before holding a banquet."

Lu Yanzhi tapped her head with his fan, somewhat helplessly: "This is a street for the common people. How can the Shen family monopolize it? Give them some face later, since they've already accepted the invitation."

Unusually, Lu Yanzhi did not blame Lu Youyou for scolding the Shen family. Anyway, Shen Mingshu is now called Yin Mingzhu.

"Who dares to speak ill of the Lu family now?" Lu Youyou muttered irritably.

Upon seeing the two, Shen Qingliang disregarded the customers he was dealing with and immediately stepped forward to greet them with a fake smile.

"Yan Zhiyou is here! Come on in, your aunt knew you were coming and prepared your favorite pastries."

"..."