Chapter 25: The Silent Treatment and the Silk Strategy
The atmosphere in the Shen Estate had shifted from the fires of war to the sub-zero temperatures of a domestic cold war. Following Yao'er's explosion, Wei'an decided that if he was going to be treated like a scoundrel, he might as well enjoy the perks.
He began a "Revenge of the Ignored Husband." For three days, he avoided the main wing entirely. He stopped seeking Yao'er's approval and instead spent his hours in the garden pavilion with Lian'er. The courtesan was a master of her craft; she remained perpetually draped across his shoulder or leaning against his knee, her scent of plum blossoms following them everywhere.
Yet, she wasn't just a pretty distraction. While she toyed with his hair, she was whispering the names of every corrupt official in Jianghe City. She was dominant, often pulling the brush from his hand to correct his calligraphy, her eyes flashing with a sharp, predatory intelligence.
"If you want to own the city, Master," she murmured, leaning her chin on his shoulder as he reviewed a map, "you don't hunt the lions. You buy the jackals who feed on their scraps."
The New Manager
Wei'an spent his mornings with the Patriarch, Lord Shen. They sat in the silent study, surrounded by the wreckage of the family's old finances.
"We've stabilized the hemorrhage, Father," Wei'an said, his voice professional and cold. "The reparations from the Count are being funneled directly into the wall repairs and the new 'Shen Express' logistics line. We are safe for now, but safety is just a lack of momentum."
They began listing the war damages, but Wei'an's mind was already on the city. He needed to absorb Jianghe City into the Shen lands legally. If he could become the City Lord, the Shen family wouldn't just be a bankrupt Viscounty; they would be a territorial power.
To mark this new era, Wei'an changed his look. Gone was the messy, "drunken merchant" hair. He now wore a crisp, high topknot held by a silver pin, and robes of pure, stark white—the color of a scholar-official, but with the expensive silk sheen of a merchant king.
The Shadow of the City
In Jianghe City, the situation was decaying. Without a Lord, the officials were no longer governing; they were scavenging.
The City Hall was a hollow shell. Minor officers were seen fleeing at night with crates of public records and silver. Smuggling had tripled, and the streets were ruled by "Protection Gangs." In the shadows, a wealthy merchant family—the House of Yan—was already distributing bribes to the remaining city elders, planning to buy the City Lord title through a rigged election.
The War of the Roses (Shen Estate Version)
Back at the estate, the "Jealousy War" reached a comical peak.
Shen Yao was "accidentally" practicing her spear forms whenever Wei'an and Lian'er walked by. Whoosh! The tip of her blade would whistle inches from Wei'an's new white robes.
"Oh! My apologies, Master," Yao'er would say, her voice dripping with enough sarcasm to poison a well. "I didn't see you there. I was too distracted by the sight of... logistics clinging to your arm."
Lian'er would only giggle, pressing her chest against Wei'an's arm. "Mistress Shen is so energetic! It's no wonder you're so tired at night, Master. You must need so much... soothing."
Yao'er's face would turn purple. She would turn to Shen Mu, who was trying to hide behind a ledger. "Mu! Why is there no budget for a bigger garden? This one is clearly too small for three people and a peacock!"
"I'm just the accountant!" Mu wailed. "Please don't stab the furniture!"
The Midnight Plan
Late that night, Lian'er had fallen asleep in Wei'an's lap as they sat on the porch. He didn't move her. He looked out toward the city, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table.
He was no longer thinking about virginity jokes or petty spites. He was looking at the chaos of the city as a "Distressed Asset" waiting for a buyout.
"The Yan family thinks they can buy the elders," Wei'an whispered to the silent night. "But the elders don't control the city anymore. The hungry people do."
The Hook:
The Main Branch of the Shen family arrived at the city gates the next morning. But they didn't find a desperate, broken family. They found a city on the brink of a riot, and a son-in-law in white robes who looked more like a King than a merchant.
The Head of the Main Branch, an arrogant man named Lord Shen Tai, looked at Wei'an and sneered. "So, this is the merchant who plays at being a noble. Tell me, boy—do you have the keys to the city, or just the keys to a brothel?"
The arrival of the Main Branch was not a family reunion; it was a burial of the Viscounty's pride. Lord Shen Tai, a Marquis-level power and Grand Tutor to the Imperial Court, stood in the center of the Shen Great Hall like a monument of cold marble. At fifty, he possessed the sharp, predatory grace of a man who had survived three decades of palace coups.
"So," Shen Tai began, his voice a cultured drawl that carried the weight of a death sentence. "The fallen branch of my house has been reduced to following the lead of a... petty shopkeeper. Tell me, Li Wei'an, does the smell of copper and unwashed peasants ever truly leave your skin?"
The room went silent. Shen Yao's hand drifted to the hilt of her sword, her knuckles white with suppressed fury. Commander Sang's eyes narrowed, his hand twitching toward his spear. They all expected the "Scoundrel MC" to snap, to make a joke, or to roar in defense of his honor.
Instead, Wei'an tilted his head, a pleasant, almost vacant smile stretching across his lips. "The smell of copper is the smell of a full stomach, My Lord. But I apologize if my presence offends your refined senses. If you'll excuse me, I have inventory to check."
He bowed—a perfect, humble merchant's bow—and walked out without another word.
Outside the hall, Shen Yao stood frozen. She was furious that her husband had been insulted, but even more enraged that he hadn't fought back. Why didn't you shout? she thought, her eyes burning. You fought a Count with rotting cows, but you let this old man spit on you?
Wei'an, however, was already miles away. His smile had vanished the second he turned the corner. He knew Shen Tai wasn't there for the family. He knew the Grand Tutor was secretly aligned with the Imperial Regent—a man planning a coup to seize the throne and declare the "Su Family" (the Main Branch's mother-line) independent from the King's rule.
"He doesn't care about us," Wei'an whispered to the shadows. "He wants the Silver Mine to fund a rebellion. I don't need to shout at him. I need to bankrupt him."
Chapter 27: The Predator's Price
Wei'an knew the Shen family was still crippling. The reparations were a band-aid on a severed limb. If he didn't secure Jianghe City now, the Main Branch would swallow the Viscounty whole once their coup began.
He needed a private army—not just the 800 house guards, but a force of ruthless professionals who didn't care about noble blood. He also needed grain to pacify the starving city elders and enough liquid silver to bribe the remaining city gatekeepers.
"Thirty thousand silver taels," Wei'an muttered, looking at a map of the city's underworld. "The Grey-Vulture Gang. It's a suicidal loan. If I don't win the City Lordship in thirty days, they'll take my head and the Shen title as interest."
While Wei'an was deep in the dark math of desperation, a different kind of plotting was happening in the residential wing.
Shen Yao and Shen Mu were huddled together. Yao'er was pacing like a caged tiger. "He's slipping away, Mu! He spends all day with that... that cat from the pavilion, and he won't even look at me after the Main Branch insulted him! I need to secure him. I need to take his 'first time' before she claws it out of him!"
"Yao'er, tying your husband to the bed is technically a crime in three provinces," Shen Mu said, rubbing his temples. "It's a bad idea. A very, very messy idea."
"I don't care! I need it now more than anything! He offered himself once, and I slapped him. Now I want it, and he's acting like a saint in white robes!"
Back in his study, Wei'an was too exhausted to notice the domestic coup being planned. He sat at his desk, the weight of the 30,000-silver loan weighing on his soul. Lian'er was there, draped over the back of his chair like a silk shadow. She saw his eyes flutter shut and gently eased him back.
"This man," she whispered, her fingers tracing his jawline as he fell into a deep, stressed sleep. "He drives me crazy. He made me desire him, and now he treats me like a business partner."
She pulled his head into her lap, cradling his hair with an almost maternal possessiveness. "Sleep, my Master. While you dream of silver and cities, I will do whatever I want with you." She leaned down, her lips brushing his forehead, her eyes reflecting a dangerous, obsessive devotion.
Chapter 28: The Burning City
While the Shen Estate was a storm of jealousy and secret loans, Jianghe City was a vision of hell.
The House of Yan, a rival merchant family, had made their move. They had hired their own private militia of 200 mercenaries and were currently attempting to seize the City Hall. But they had underestimated the desperation of the city's remaining police officers and the stubbornness of the poor.
"Bribes aren't enough!" the Yan family head screamed as a brick shattered his carriage window. "The elders signed the decree, why won't the people move?!"
The support of the corrupt elders was worthless when the streets were on fire. The city was a chaotic vacuum, waiting for someone with enough iron and enough grain to impose order.
In the background, far more dangerous gears were turning. The Main Branch head, Lord Shen Tai, sat in his temporary villa, reading a coded scroll from the Capital. He didn't care for the city's chaos. He was watching the Imperial Regent's progress.
"Let the merchant boy play in the mud," Shen Tai sneered, tossing the scroll into the fire. "Once the King falls and the Regent takes the throne, the Su family will rise. The Viscounty, the mine, and this entire city will be nothing more than a footnote in our new Empire."
He looked out the window at the distant smoke of the city. He didn't see people; he saw a resource.
But what he didn't see was the "Merchant Boy" in white robes, currently waking up in a courtesan's lap with a 30,000-silver debt and a plan to burn the Yan family's army before sunrise.
Next Chapter Hook:
Wei'an signs the contract with the Grey-Vultures, but there's a catch: they want a "human collateral." Meanwhile, Shen Yao's plan to "capture" Wei'an for a night goes horribly wrong when she accidentally intercepts the Grey-Vulture mercenaries instead of her husband.