The young man barging into Ganlin Courtyard with people in tow was none other than the son of Liu Yiniang, the third young master of Fuchang Bo’s Mansion, Shen Chun.

Back in the day, Liu Yiniang had her freedom bought by Fuchang Bo and was kept in a private villa. She bore him two children—her firstborn being Shen Chun, and three years later, another boy.

That second son was the only biological son under Fuchang Bo’s roof, and Fuchang Bo was absolutely overjoyed. He named the child Shen Song, and from then on, doted on Liu Yiniang and her two sons even more.

Although Shen Chun was born a ge’er, because he was the firstborn, he was also ridiculously pampered. What’s more, Fuchang Bo grew up in a prestigious household, and had always secretly admired the sweet closeness between regular husband and wife. Liu Yiniang saw right through that and knew just how to play the game—she always pandered to him with coy affection and taught her children to be clingy and act spoiled in front of him. Up until five years ago when the mother and her two sons were brought into the main household, Shen Chun had only ever been raised as a pampered noble ge’er by Liu Yiniang’s side. He never got the proper etiquette training fit for a bo’s noble child.

Even after moving into the private estate, Liu Yiniang never cut ties with her old acquaintances—former friends and madams from her brothel days—and still treated Yuchun Tower, where she came from, like half her maternal home. Whenever Fuchang Bo wasn’t around, she’d often invite them over for chitchat and companionship. Shen Chun, growing up listening to their talk and soaking in their behavior, picked up more than a few bad habits—but in front of Fuchang Bo, he knew enough to play innocent.

In Fuchang Bo’s doting eyes, this was naturally just his ge’er being innocent and carefree, with a straightforward personality. If he did anything wrong, it must’ve been unintentional. But in the eyes of everyone else, Shen Chun was just an arrogant, rude, and domineering brat.

Just the other day, Fuchang Bo even submitted a petition to the Ministry of Rites to have Shen Song, the younger son born of Liu Yiniang, named the shizi. With his full-blood younger brother being the future master of the bo’s household, Shen Chun looked down on his eldest brother even more.

Now, seeing Shen Tang daring to stop him, Shen Chun glared viciously and snapped, “What the hell are you? You think you can block me? Wanna see if I dare?”

With that, he ordered the servants around him to take action—he was going to barge in and take things by force. “Teach this sharp-tongued slave and filthy maid a good lesson!”

Shen Tang casually grabbed a broom nearby and, with a clever bit of force, sent two hefty old maids crashing to the ground. He sneered coldly, “I’m from Da Gongzi’s courtyard, so of course everything I do is for Da Gongzi’s sake. First, you wouldn’t let us go find a physician, and now you’re trying to steal the medicine. You’re clearly trying to kill Da Gongzi! You trying to murder our gongzi to steal Furen’s dowry for yourself?”

Everyone Shen Chun brought with him turned pale. Of course they knew San Gongzi was aiming for exactly that—but they hadn’t expected this little servant to be so brazen as to say it out loud like this!

Shen Chun was livid and about to curse him out, but Shen Tang kept going: “I’m telling you, dream on! Before Furen passed, she had her maternal family seal up her dowry. It’s all waiting for our Da Gongzi’s wedding day to be sent along as part of his trousseau. But Furen also said, if anything unfortunate happens to Da Gongzi…”

Shen Tang sneered at Shen Chun. “Then the dowry will all be taken back by her family at Sheng Guogong Mansion, not a single coin will be left to Fuchang Bo’s Mansion. You lot won’t even get a whiff of it! If you kill our Da Gongzi, you get nothing! And do you think Sheng Guogong Mansion will let you off the hook?”

Shen Chun’s face couldn’t hide a thing—he turned green and pale at once. He wasn’t really afraid of Sheng Guogong Mansion—after all, it was just a title with no power now. The old Sheng Guogong had fallen out of favor with the emperor and died without his son’s inheritance being approved. Now, all they had left was a powerless heir keeping up appearances. The whole household had shut its doors and become the laughingstock of the capital. Fuchang Bo was long disgusted with that in-law branch.

That’s why they’d dared to bully and even try to kill Da Gongzi so brazenly.

If Sheng Guogong Mansion did try to stir up trouble, his father would definitely protect him!

But—he really hadn’t known that if his big brother died, the dowry would go straight back to the maternal family. Then all the schemes he and his mother had made would fall apart! His mother was still anxiously waiting to get her hands on some money—what now?

Even Zhan Er and the others looked at Shen Tang in shock, clearly unaware of this too.

Shen Chun blustered, “You’re lying! What kind of respectable family would ever send the dowry back? Impossible!”

Shen Tang grinned. “So you admit you were plotting to kill Da Gongzi and snatch the dowry?”

Shen Chun: “…”

His eyes turned vicious and his face twisted with rage. “This evil servant is trying to kill my elder brother! I caught him in the act! Someone drag him out and beat him to death!”

Shen Tang pressed his lips together and gripped the broom tightly. Looks like there’s no avoiding a real fight today… His current body was too lowly in status—starting a brawl outright would bring him more trouble. He quickly calculated in his head: the capital was still under lockdown. Whether it was a coup or something else, Fuchang Bo and Liu Yiniang definitely wouldn’t be back anytime soon. As long as he could last three more days, and the system fixed its bug and sent him back to Da Gongzi’s body, everything would be fine.

…Please let the lockdown last more than three days.

Take out the leader and the rest will fall apart—he didn’t need to beat everyone in the courtyard, just get the jump on Shen Chun and beat him half to death. Then Shen Chun’s people would be too busy saving their master to bother with anything else. He could crawl out through the dog hole and hide in the outer yard or wherever. If worse came to worst, he could sneak into Shen Song’s room and beat up that future shizi too—hehehe, let’s see who still has time to mess with Ganlin Courtyard then!

Shen Tang weighed the broom in his hand, recalling two hundred years of sword cultivation. He wondered just how much of that this Xiao Die’s body could manage to unleash.

Just as the standoff between the two sides was about to explode, Zhan Er suddenly ran forward and stood protectively in front of Shen Tang, tears welling up in her eyes. She pointed a trembling finger at Shen Chun and cried out, “You want to kill Da Gongzi and steal Furen’s dowry? You’ll get what’s coming to you!”

Shen Tang was surprised to see Zhan Er step in front of him, and then noticed many other servants loyal to Da Gongzi or the late Furen rushing over too. They formed a human wall in front of him, yelling along with Zhan Er at the top of their lungs until their voices merged into a unified cry:

“You want to kill Da Gongzi and steal Furen’s dowry? You’ll get what’s coming to you!!”

These loyal servants, having decided to go all in, screamed until their voices rang through multiple courtyards. Those who heard it looked over in shock and whispered among themselves.

Shen Tang didn’t strike right away—instead, he silently observed everyone in the courtyard. Who was shouting with righteous fury, who was half-assing it, and who wasn’t shouting at all and kept glancing around… he remembered them all. These would be his arms and legs in the future.

Shen Chun was completely thrown off. “You’re all rebelling! Shut up! Shut up, I said! Stop shouting!”

But his people had already been intimidated by the sheer momentum of Ganlin Courtyard. A middle-aged ge’er leaned over and whispered nervously, “San Gongzi, maybe we should just let it go today… If people outside hear this shouting, it might get ugly.”

After all, shady deeds are only shady if done in secret!

But Shen Chun was livid. He didn’t have much depth or cunning—he’d only been coasting on Fuchang Bo’s favor. He shouted, “What’s there to be afraid of? So what if they hear? Who dares meddle in our bo’s household affairs? Since we’ve started this today, we might as well finish it—cut the weeds and dig up the roots…” His snake-like gaze swept over Shen Tang, Zhan Er, and the others. “Kill every last one of these defiant slaves!”

The middle-aged ge’er silently cursed him. Seriously, born of a courtesan—couldn’t even act like a proper noble. No manners, no sense of propriety or consequences.

Big, rich households looked like fortresses, but everyone talked. Now that Ganlin Courtyard had started yelling like this, the gossipmongers in the outer yards would spread it in two or three days tops. Then the entire capital would be laughing at them. Anyone with a shred of pride would be utterly humiliated.

But Liu Yiniang’s family clearly didn’t understand such things.

Like they say: the shameless are invincible.

Seeing Shen Chun so determined, the ge’er gave up trying to persuade him. He had to survive under Liu Yiniang now—living under shameless people was already hard enough, no need to make it worse for himself.

Right then, someone suddenly shot out from inside the room like a gust of wind. All anyone saw was a flash of white before they even registered who it was—and then came a loud slap.

Shen Chun was smacked to the ground.

Just as Shen Tang had predicted—Shen Chun’s people instantly abandoned their confrontation and scrambled to help him, shouting “San Gongzi!” in panic.

Shen Chun roared, “Who!? Which lowlife dares strike me—I’ll tear you into a thous—”

But when he looked up, he saw his big brother—who was supposedly unconscious with fever—now standing before him in just his inner robe, hair disheveled, eyes blazing like a vengeful ghost.

Though he normally wasn’t afraid of his sickly elder brother, in that moment, seeing him so pale with fever-reddened cheeks and hollow eyes, like a paper effigy ghost, Shen Chun couldn’t help but feel chills all over.

Even Zhan Er and the rest of Ganlin Courtyard were wide-eyed with tears. “Gongzi!”

Servants born into a feudal world often had deeply ingrained thinking. Just now, cursing Shen Chun had already taken all the courage they could muster. But seeing their master alive and well—it was like they suddenly had a backbone again. If Gongzi gave the word, they might just find the guts to do something even crazier.

Shen Tang was just as surprised. He studied the person in front of him carefully. This wasn’t Xiao Die, and earlier they’d shown no reaction to the commotion in Ganlin Courtyard. That meant… this probably wasn’t the original Da Gongzi either. Most likely, some wandering spirit had accidentally taken over the body.

The soul switch had happened after the drowning incident. It wasn’t impossible that someone had previously died in that lake—a water ghost lingering there. So, now that ghost had accidentally taken over Da Gongzi’s body?

But what Shen Tang hadn’t expected was that this ghost would actually take a stand.

Then again, it made sense. If Shen Chun had really managed to kill Da Gongzi, the body would die, and the ghost would have no vessel to cling to, returning to a wandering state. After finally getting a second chance at life, of course the ghost would step up to protect itself.

So at the moment, they were… temporary allies.

Shen Tang looked over and saw the ghost squatting down, staring at Shen Chun for a long while. Then his lips curled into a cold smile.

“Young ones who don’t respect their elders… illegitimate branches who try to eliminate the rightful heir… a courtesan trying to steal the wife’s dowry… Tsk. Well, well. What a fine household Fuchang Bo’s Mansion is.”

Shen Chun, who’d still had some fear in him, immediately leapt up like he’d been scalded when he heard the word “courtesan.”

“You dare insult my mo—AH!”

Another slap sent him tumbling back to the ground.

The ghost wiped his hand with a look of disgust and sneered, “Just speaking the truth.” Then he turned his icy gaze to the servants helping Shen Chun. “What? Are you planning to rise up too? To have slaves kill their master?”

That was a serious crime. Everyone instinctively flinched and took a half-step back. If Da Gongzi had still been unconscious and Shen Chun had finished him off without anyone noticing, they might’ve gotten away with it. But now that Da Gongzi had clearly woken up and caught them red-handed, if they kept going, they’d definitely be punished when things settled down.

Even if Fuchang Bo refused to punish his beloved San Gongzi, he would still need someone to take the fall. Wouldn’t the servants be the first to suffer?

And while Sheng Guogong Mansion had fallen, a dying camel is still bigger than a horse. They were not people that servants like them could afford to provoke. Many of the servants glanced toward Shen Chun… They didn’t trust that Liu Yiniang’s side would really protect them.

A cold wind blew through the courtyard. The ghost, still frail from illness, coughed twice and swayed a little.

At some point, Zhan Er had run inside to grab a cloak. She quickly draped it over him and scolded softly, “Why’d you come out without even a coat, Gongzi?”

The medicine had just arrived from the small kitchen. A little maid handed it over, and the ghost tilted his head back and drank it all in one go. Then he casually smashed the bowl on the ground and picked up a sharp shard of porcelain.

Shen Chun, now sporting two swollen cheeks like a pig’s head from the slaps, instinctively cowered as the ghost stepped forward with the shard.

Someone, trembling, clutched at Shen Chun’s sleeve and tried to drag him back, whispering in panic, “Da Gongzi, please reconsider! San Gongzi is still young and didn’t know any better. He offended you, but if anything happens to him… it’ll be hard to explain to Liu Yiniang when she returns!”

But the ghost didn’t even look at them. He crouched down, grabbed Shen Chun’s chin in one hand, and held the porcelain shard up to his bloated face with the other.

“I know exactly what you people were planning…”

He hadn’t been unconscious in the back room—he’d heard most of what had happened and figured out the gist.

While Fuchang Bo was away and no one was managing the household, the servants would “accidentally” let Da Gongzi drown and die from his injuries. Even if Fuchang Bo suspected something, he’d never truly punish his own sons. At most, he’d yell a bit and throw a few scapegoats out to smooth things over.

This kind of shady scheme wasn’t rare in big households. Every one of them had people who died mysteriously. The difference was, most families still cared about appearances—they’d at least do the dirty work cleanly.

But this brat in front of him? His tricks were laughably crude. He didn’t even bother to cover it up properly.

It had been a long time since someone had dared act so outrageously in front of him.

The ghost’s face grew dark, a sinister aura spreading.

“The plan itself wasn’t bad. But—if you can do it, why can’t I?”

The sharp shard scraped lightly across Shen Chun’s cheek. He trembled, his tears flowing freely, but he was too terrified to make a sound.

The ghost looked at the tear- and snot-covered face in front of him with disdain. He patted Shen Chun’s face with the shard and stood up. 

Then he coldly ordered, “Someone! Strip San Gongzi’s outer robe and throw him into the lake. Let him soak for the time it takes to brew a pot of tea. Before Fuchang Bo returns, no one is allowed to call a physician for him—or give him any ‘mysterious’ medicine. Wasn’t Fuchang Bo planning to spend the night with Liu Yiniang at the villa? If I find out anyone dares interrupt his romantic mood—I will personally break their legs!”

Shen Chun’s eyes widened in horror.

It was only now he realized—what had made it so easy to bully his big brother before was that his big brother cared about dignity.

But once Da Gongzi threw that dignity aside… he had no way to fight back.

For a moment, everyone—Ganlin Courtyard’s people and Shen Chun’s group alike—was completely stunned by the ghost’s command.

Only Shen Tang looked absolutely delighted and responded with a loud, “Yes!”