Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Coffin

“Young Lord Shen—no.” Sir Gu’s gaze held her. “Eldest young lady of the Shen family. Do you still have anything to say?”

Shen Tang froze where she stood.

For a heartbeat, her thoughts went empty. Her emotions, too.

She had never imagined Sir Gu would be the one to notice first.

But she wasn’t ready to lose yet.

“Eldest young lady of the Shen family?” she forced out. “You think I’m a woman?”

Her voice sharpened. “A woman with a literary heart signature seal? Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?

Even street storytellers wouldn’t dare make up something that absurd.”

Before she built enough strength to stand on her own, a woman with a literary heart—something the world insisted women could not have—was a walking disaster. Whether people treated her as a freak or a bad omen, it would end the same way.

Qi Shan and the others knowing was one thing. She hadn’t even tried that hard to hide it from them.

But Sir Gu? No.

If he truly knew, there was only one solution.

Sir Gu smiled faintly, as if amused, and took another sip of Lanling wine. “Ridiculous?

Before the Thief Star fell, who would have believed literary heart and martial gall could turn words into reality?

In a world this broken, nothing strange is truly strange.”

Shen Tang’s eyes went flat. “Sir Gu. You’re mistaken.”

Sir Gu pointed to the court dancer still sprawled on the floor, struggling to recover. “Do you know why she has only one ear?”

“I don’t care.”

“She tried to harm you during the exile transfer,” Sir Gu said, unhurried. “You went along with it and used word-spirit to slip away cleanly. The constable escort misunderstood and took her for your accomplice.

One person short meant they couldn’t explain it when they reached Xiao City, so they cut off her ear and used it to fill your slot.

That’s why the investigation later came back saying the eldest young lady of the Shen family was dead.”

His fan tapped lightly against his palm. “Now tell me. Am I right, or am I wrong?”

“Nonsense,” Shen Tang said, face unchanged.

Instead of bristling, Sir Gu’s expression softened. “No need to be so guarded. I mean you no harm.

In all my years, you’re the most interesting person I’ve met. If you truly are the eldest young lady of the Shen family, then you and I have no conflict of interest. Why would I harm you?”

Shen Tang’s mouth curled. “Wen xin strategists love to suspect everything. The more clever they think they are, the more drama they invent.

You hear the phrase ‘dowry maid’ and decide I’m the big lady of the Shen family. Why bother with all this?”

Her sword edge pressed lightly to his throat. “Strip me and let the brothel manager decide. This guessing game is boring.”

Sir Gu’s eyes didn’t flicker. “You want to gamble with me?”

“Yes.” Shen Tang’s smile was thin, icy. “But first, I’ll tell you the stake.

If I win, I take your head.”

“And if I win?”

“If you win, then come take my life—if you can.”

She tilted the blade a fraction closer. “But the one with a sword hanging over his neck is sir, not me.”

Then, as if it were casual, she added, “There’s something I don’t understand. Can you answer?”

Sir Gu’s eyelid twitched. “Ask.”

“Your mind reading isn’t word-spirit at all,” Shen Tang said. “It’s your ‘scholar’s dao,’ isn’t it?

Does Weng Zhi know?”

For an instant, Sir Gu’s calm shattered. His face went livid. Red crept along the corners of his eyes like spilled ink.

So she’d hit the truth.

“Before we gamble,” Shen Tang said, “I have an old debt to settle.”

She flung her sword behind her without looking.

The blade sank into the wooden floor with a heavy thud, blocking the court dancer who was trying to crawl away. The mu si ci an had already scattered in terror.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Shen Tang asked.

She approached with a faint smile.

The court dancer scooted back on her hands, shaking. The hate from before—when she’d tried to tear Shen Tang apart—had been crushed into pure fear.

“P-please,” she stammered. “Let me go. I was wrong—”

Shen Tang tilted her head. “You were wrong?”

“Yes—yes, yes!” the woman babbled, nodding fast.

“Apologies after you’ve done the damage stink worse than maggots in a latrine.” Shen Tang’s voice stayed soft, which made it worse. “You’re the dowry maid of the eldest young lady of the Shen family?

Then how did you raise your hand to hurt someone?”

Anger flared over the court dancer’s fear. She shouted, “Why can’t I?

What right do you have to question me? You think you’re some aristocratic clan noble?

You’re not a big lady! You’re just an idiot—some lunatic with no background!”

Her eyes widened, wild. “You use word-spirit… are you actually a man?”

Then she squared her shoulders, as if rage could make her brave. “So what if I’m a dowry maid?

If Lady Shen Da hadn’t married into Madam Gong, I wouldn’t have been dragged down and sold off like trash…”

Her voice cracked. More than a month on the exile road had been a nightmare. Memories came rushing back, and with them, a howl of hatred.

Even in her sleep she’d wanted to sink her teeth into the flesh of the eldest young lady of the Shen family.

The Shen clan was exterminated to the ninth degree. The dead were Shen kin—what did that have to do with a servant like her?

If Lady Shen Da hadn’t married into Madam Gong, she wouldn’t have suffered. So why couldn’t she take revenge?

Besides, she’d only taken revenge on an idiot. Not the real eldest young lady of the Shen family.

Had she done anything wrong?

Shen Tang went still.

Sir Gu, who’d looked ready to win a moment ago, went still too.

The room fell silent except for the court dancer’s ragged breathing.

Shen Tang rubbed her aching temple and let out a long sigh. “Sir… are you still joining that gamble?”

Sir Gu’s mouth flattened. “No.”

“I thought so.” Shen Tang’s voice turned hollow with irritation. “Then forget it.”

Sir Gu stood and pointed at Shen Tang as he asked the court dancer, “If the one you framed during exile was this Young Lord Shen, and he escaped, then where did the real eldest young lady of the Shen family go?”

Shen Tang’s eyes narrowed. Great. Now she was Young Lord Shen again. This scholar changed faces faster than flipping a page.

Sir Gu had followed the male courtesan’s orders and investigated Shen Tang’s identity. He’d kept watch, traced details, and finally come to the pleasure academy himself, enduring a splitting headache as he sifted through the chaos of other people’s thoughts until he dug out what he needed.

Only to find out he’d still misunderstood.

Shen Tang really had been in Madam Gong’s exile convoy, carrying the name of the eldest young lady of the Shen family. She’d also been crossdressed and playing the fool, which made the dowry maid court dancer resent her and take it out on her.

Young Lord Shen seized the opening and slipped away to Xiao City.

The logic fit.

But the court dancer refused to answer the real question.

Shen Tang lifted her blade to the woman’s throat, drawing a thin line of blood. “Speak.”

Under the pressure of Shen Tang’s killing intent, the court dancer finally broke.

The eldest young lady of the Shen family had disappeared before the wedding. No one knew where she went. After that, Shen Tang appeared, and people claimed Lady Shen Da had fallen into the water, struck her head, and become dazed and foolish.

With the wedding date close, the matter was buried.

Outsiders didn’t know, but those who served closely would recognize the truth at a glance.

As for Shen Tang—

The court dancer trembled and whispered, “A coffin…”

Sir Gu frowned. “What?”

“I heard the servant who watches the back courtyard’s side gate say that one night they brought back a strange coffin. The person inside looked sixty or seventy percent like Lady Shen Da. Dress her up, and she’d look exactly the same.”