When Shen Yelan was brought inside, there was no one actually there to greet her. Not even the servants bothered to greet her, but they did steal a look in her direction when they saw her, thinking no one noticed.
"Is that really her?"
"I never imagined she could return as a cripple,"
"I heard she is illiterate, too."
"She has really become a waste."
"This is what you call karma. She used to cause so much trouble for Young Miss."
"But I must say, she is really beautiful."
"What's the use of beauty if you are a waste?"
Butler Wang heard them talking, but he did not stop them. Instead, he glanced at Shen Yelan to see her reaction, but was unfortunately disappointed. Shen Yelan sat in the wheelchair unbothered as if she had not heard anything at all.
"Old Master is resting right now. The doctors have advised not to disturb him unless absolutely necessary. Master Shen is at work and Madam had a prior engagement with some ladies for afternoon tea. Young Master and Young Miss have gone out with friends." Butler Wang paused, then added, "They will be back for dinner, so you can meet them at that time."
He watched her carefully, waiting for some kind of reaction. When there was none, he was momentarily surprised. Most people would be hurt or at least annoyed by such a cold reception.
He cleared his throat and turned to one of the maids standing nearby. "Show her to her room."
The maid stepped forward. She looked to be in her early twenties with plain, unmemorable features and dark hair pulled back in a simple bun. But unlike her plain face, her eyes were dark and beautiful, which created an odd contrast with the rest of her appearance.
"Yes, Butler Wang," she said.
Then, before Aunt Wen could even process what was happening, the maid moved behind the wheelchair. She grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and began pushing it toward the elevator.
"Wait, I should-" Aunt Wen took a step forward, but was stopped by the hand of Butler Wang. "Please stay here for a moment. I have something to discuss with you."
Aunt Wen opened her mouth to say something, but then she caught Shen Yelan's eye and closed her mouth.
Once Shen Yelan was out of their sight, Butler Wang took out a cheque from his pocket and held it out for her. "The Shen family has been aware of your services for all these years. This is a token of appreciation for all your hard work."
"What do you mean, Butler Wang? I am Young Miss's personal maid," Aunt Wen frowned.
"You don't need to worry about her anymore. There are enough people to look after her. You've done your duty, and now you can rest." Buter Wang told her.
Aunt Wen was not stupid. She was being dismissed. In this entire household, she was the only one who still cared about Shen Yelan, a common knowledge everyone knew. The other few people had either left or changed sides. Now that Shen Yelan was back, they were getting rid of her last bit of support, rendering her completely alone in this cold, hostile place.
She opened her mouth to retort, but then her phone chimed. It was a text message from Shen Yelan.
[Go back to my place. I will visit you later.]
There was an address under it.
Seeing the message, Aunt Wen realized that Shen Yelan already anticipated that they were going to dismiss her. Her heart immediately calmed down. She took the cheque from Butler Wang.
"Please take care of Young Miss," she said and turned around, leaving.
Burtler Wang stared at her disappearing figure in surprise. He did not expect her to agree without arguing. Everyone knew how much this woman cared about Shen Yelan. But she'd just... left?
He stared at her retreating figure until she disappeared through the gate. Then he shook his head and turned away.
He had more important things to worry about than that jinx.
.
.
On the second floor, a figure stood behind the curtain, watching Aunt Li walk through the gate and get into a taxi that seemed to be already waiting for her. An empty wheelchair was left at the side of the room behind her.
The car pulled away and disappeared down the street. Only then did Shen Yelan step back.
The young maid who'd brought her upstairs was still in the room, stepped forward, hugging her arm coquettishly, "Boss, I missed you so much."
"Mm," Shen Yelan pulled her hand away.
Sun Lili didn't seem bothered by the rejection at all. Instead, she immediately moved to pour a glass of water, "Boss, you must be tired. Here, drink some water first. I will massage your shoulders."
Shen Yelan took the glass while Sun Lili moved behind her and began to massage her shoulders as if she had done this a hundred times before.
"How is everything here?" Shen Yelan asked.
Sun Lili had started working at the Shen estate just over a year ago. Her face was quite ordinary, and she usually stayed quiet, so no one usually paid much attention to her. No one could have thought that this unremarkable person had been planted there by Shen Yelan herself.
Sun Lili immediately began reporting everything in detail.
"Old Master Shen's health has been deteriorating with each passing day. According to the doctors' assessments, he likely won't survive more than a month. Shen Chengwei is preparing to take over the patriarch's position and has been very active in the public eye lately. He has attended charity galas and made large donations to various causes. They were all done in Old Master Shen's name to create the image of a filial son preparing to carry on his father's legacy."
The way she said "Shen Chengwei" instead of "Master Shen" made her lack of respect abundantly clear.
"Feng Xin has also made several high-profile donations to orphanages and organized a charity auction that's being covered by all the major society magazines. I've looked into the organizations they've been donating to. Two of the primary recipients are shell organizations linked to the Feng family, though those connections are kept hidden."
Sun Lili's expression was openly disgusted when she said this. She'd never imagined that rich people could be this shameless.
"And the siblings?" Shen Yelan asked, swirling the water in her glass absently.
"Shen Wanwan is holding a piano concert next week. All proceeds will supposedly go to charity. They've invited a renowned international pianist as a special guest performer. My guess is that they're using the opportunity to boost her public image and establish her as a cultured, talented young lady of the Shen family."
"As for Shen Wei, he mostly just follows others around and spends money. He's not involved much, but he shows up to events to smile for cameras."
The corner of Shen Yelan's curved into a barely perceptible smile. "It seems like they have too much money at hand these days. That won't do. I must help them to spend it."
She pulled out her phone and began typing a message.
"Have you looked into the Old Man's illness like I asked you to?" She asked without looking up from her phone.
In the past few years, Shen Yelan had been occupied with other matters to care about the Shen family. Though she was planning to return, a reason why she'd sent Sun Lili to infiltrate here, she was not expecting to return this soon.
Usually, she would just ask for monthly reports on the family's activities. The last time she'd checked in, Old Master Shen had been in perfect health for his age. So when Sun Lili had contacted her a week ago with urgent news about his sudden illness, Shen Yelan couldn't help but get suspicious. The old man was obsessed with his health. He had regular checkups and kept a strict diet.
"I managed to get a blood sample and samples of all his medications and sent them to the lab. The reports arrived this morning."
Shen Yelan handed her a tablet that she had produced from somewhere.
Shen Yelan took it from her and read the report. Sure enough, her suspicions were proved correct.
He was poisoned.
It was a slow poison that was slowly administered in his body over the years. This was the type of poison that would not affect the body immediately but would slowly corrode the internal organs without causing obvious symptoms until the damage was too extensive to reverse. By the time you figured out what was wrong, you were already dying.
But the thing was, this type of poison could easily be detected by a simple blood test. For it to remain undetected for so long meant someone had planned for this very carefully.
"This is good too," Shen Yelan said, handing the tablet back to her. "I won't need to waste much energy before they destroy this family themselves."
Sun Lili, who heard her, did not react. She'd worked for Shen Yelan long enough to know that her boss wasn't a good person. But then again, Sun Lili wasn't a saint either. Only she knew what they had to do to survive in this world.
She was already aware of what this family had done to Shen Yelan and heard of the thoughts they had about her. Shen Yelan was here to make them pay for everything they had done to her, and she was more than happy to help her.