Quick, female general, I traveled through time to save my father

Chapter 352: The Mother of the Bomen Raises Her Stepson 19

Just like now, Sirong delivered these secret letters to Shen Shigen.

He looked through it once as if to give Sirong some face.

Just think of these as Sirong collecting useless evidence based on hearsay, trying to compete with Concubine Liu for her favor.

These are all women's little thoughts.

Shen Shigen casually threw the secret letters into the charcoal brazier. The flames curled up and the corners of the paper curled up into ash. He patted Sirong's shoulder, and his tone was a bit perfunctory and comforting:

"Madam, why do you bother with Liu? She is just a concubine. You are the mistress of our Shen family."

"My Lord, you misunderstood. I didn't mean that. But this Concubine Liu is indeed suspicious."

"You're overthinking it. She's just the daughter of a small family. What kind of abilities can she have?"

"But……"

"What's the point of that? If you put it that way, I'd still say you're suspicious! Don't overthink it. The hierarchy of elders and juniors is clear to a husband, and no one can shake your position."

"No……"

"When I'm done with my work these few days, I'll go to your yard. Don't worry."

Sirong dug her nails into her palms, but a gentle smile remained on her face.

She looked at Shen Shigen's face, which was full of "I understand women", and wanted to put the teacup on his forehead. This is really, and you are still worried. I am worried about you, my uncle.

"Master is right. Aunt Liu is indeed well-behaved. It is I who am stingy."

"Then I will take my leave first. Please be busy."

Seeing Sirong leave, Shen Shigen felt that he was too considerate.

He not only appeased his wife, but also did not let Concubine Liu suffer any grievances. He even promised to "go to her yard in a few days." He was a master of keeping things balanced and maintained peace in the backyard.

It would have been even more perfect if we ignored the way Sirong rolled her eyes when she turned around.

But these are not the point. It's because he is so charming that it is normal for women to be jealous.

Sirong returned to the backyard, the fatigue between her brows still there, and her fingertips unconsciously stroked the dark lines on her cuffs.

Shen Junyao put down the teacup in his hand, his eyes lingering on her slightly furrowed brows for a moment, and then he understood. "Father doesn't believe it?"

Sirong gave a bitter laugh and tapped her fingertips lightly on the table. "When did he ever believe it?"

Shen Junyao's eyes darkened slightly, but his voice was very steady: "Don't worry, mother. I will take care of it."

He stood up, his sleeves brushing against the corner of the table, bringing up a whiff of calming sandalwood.

"As for Concubine Liu, my son will have someone keep a close eye on her. If she really dares to have any ideas..."

Before he finished speaking, a fallen leaf floated into the teacup from outside the window. Shen Junyao lowered his eyes, flicked it lightly with his fingertips, and the leaf sank to the bottom of the tea, leaving no trace.

"Then let her disappear quietly."

Sirong tapped the teacup with her fingertips, her eyes narrowed slightly: "They have been very well behaved these days."

Shen Junyao raised the corners of his lips slightly, but there was no smile in his eyes: "The more peaceful you are, the more careful you should be. A snake that doesn't come out of its hole is just waiting for its prey to let down its guard."

He raised his hand to pour tea, the sound of water running clear. "Don't worry, mother. I have already laid a hidden line. If they don't move, we will wait. If they move..."

As the tea smoke curled up, he tapped the table with his fingertips: "Just follow this line and find the hand behind the back."

"Alright, let's just wait and see. By the way, the master said he wants you to try this year. What do you think?"

Sirong remembered another thing, which was Shen Junyao's imperial examination.

According to the original plot, Shen Junyao's scientific expedition will be five years later.

At that time, Shen Junyao was isolated and helpless, without a famous teacher to teach him or a great scholar to guide him. He couldn't even get a bowl of hot soup when he entered the examination hall. He relied entirely on his natural talent of photographic memory to forge a path through the bitter study.

But this life is different, since Sirong came here.

Sirong tried her best to provide Shen Junyao with good teachers, well-known scholars, and rare books, and also provided him with spiritual guidance and verification in general affairs.

Shen Junyao's horizons are no longer limited to the small world of the backyard.

He was a gifted child, and with a delicate mind, his abilities and ambitions were naturally recognized by his teacher after he opened up his mind.

"The teacher praised you yesterday." Sirong tapped the edge of the tea bowl with her fingertips. "He said that your article 'On the Imperial Grain and Salt Administration' was so insightful that even the old Minister of Revenue might not have been able to write it."

Shen Junyao filled the teapot with tea. His wrist, exposed from his sleeve, had the lean lines of a young man. "It was the mother who taught her son to see far ahead." The tea poured out like the Milky Way falling into the cup. "After seeing the mighty rivers, I realized that pond in the backyard is nothing but a joke."

"So do you want to try it this year?"

"It's okay to end up like that. My son isn't that anxious."

Sirong was thoughtful when she heard this.

"There's no rush." ​​She smiled faintly, her gaze fixed on the deepening dusk outside the window. "The court may seem calm now, but undercurrents are still surging. A few more years of calm might not be a bad thing."

Shen Junyao lowered his eyes, a faint smile forming at the corner of his lips: "Is the mother worried that her son will show off too much?"

Sirong paused her fingertips slightly and turned the teacup in a circle in her palm.

Why would her Yao'er need to hide his edge? This child was born with an innate restraint. Just like the way he poured tea at this moment, his movements were smooth and flowing, with a certain amount of blank space, making it impossible to fathom his depth.

What she really cared about was the meeting with the heroine two years later.

The first time was at the entrance of an alley in late spring, during a light rain. The young man stopped to watch the girl take off her apricot-colored cloak and wrap it around a kitten that had fallen into the water. The second time was in a used bookshop on Suzaku Street, where a copy of "Shui Jing Zhu" suddenly caused two parallel destinies to intersect.

In the curling tea smoke, Sirong seemed to see the chess game of succession gradually stained with blood.

"Mother?"

Shen Junyao's voice brought her back to reality. The young man was wiping the water droplets that had splashed from her wrist with a white handkerchief. The candlelight flowed through the hands holding the pen, so clean that it made her heart tremble.

"No problem." She looked at Shen Junyao's slender fingers, the calluses on his knuckles from years of holding a pen. "It just suddenly occurred to me...I should make you a new cloak."

With Sirong's intervention in this life, I wonder what choice Shen Junyao will make.

Now he has a mother who treats him like her own son and a sister who protected him during his childhood.

Those who had bullied him in the past also relied on their own abilities to get the justice they deserved.

Will you still cling to the only trace of sweetness among a hundred kinds of suffering?

Would he still sacrifice everything for that little bit of warmth?

Outside the window, bamboo shadows swayed, and Shen Junyao suddenly whispered, "My son has been reading Guiguzi recently, and he found the four words 'want to expand but actually retract' quite interesting." When he raised his eyes, the light in his eyes was restrained, like a sword that had not been unsheathed.

Sirong's breathing was slightly stagnant.

"Don't worry, mother." The young man pushed the warm tea in front of her, the tea leaves in the cup stretching like swords. "My son knows his limits."