Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 114 Why are people so afraid of death?

When Shen Qingzhou arrived at the Grand Commandant's residence, he did not go straight to his room for the first time. Instead, he asked the guard on duty at the gate, "Where is the Grand Commandant?"

The guard quickly pointed towards the study: "The Grand Commandant recently hired a tutor for the Second Young Master, and the Grand Commandant is currently in the study instructing him."

As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Shen Qingzhou, and it was unclear how much courage he had mustered to answer those questions.

Shen Qingzhou glanced indifferently toward the study, then walked over.

A servant who happened to be coming out of the study saw him, paused for a moment, then hurriedly bowed and called out "Young Master," before turning around and running back to report.

In the study, Shen Bo held the few pages of writing that Shen Zhui had written, his brows furrowed in worry.

It's just a jumble of characters; can this even be called a character?
Shen Bo himself passed the imperial examination at a young age, so he naturally possesses excellent handwriting. Therefore, he is certainly qualified to comment on his calligraphy.

Ever since he took those pages of writing, Shen Zhui had been staring at him expectantly. Now, seeing that he hadn't said a word for a while, his face fell: "Is my writing bad? Is it not as good as my older brother's?"

Shen Bo took a long, slow breath, put the paper down, and said, "You started late, but it's okay if you practice hard. Over time, you'll improve."

Shen Qingzhou began writing before he was six years old. Although he was too weak to take the imperial examinations, he could write beautiful running script by the age of eleven or twelve. His regular script was no less than that of any of his peers. How could anyone compare?

Shen Zhui bit her lip, stared at the ground for a moment, then picked up the few pieces of paper on the table, glanced at them, crumpled them into a big ball, and threw them into the waste paper bin.

Then he quickly walked to the bookshelf, glanced around for a moment, pulled out a book of poetry and prose, tucked it under his arm, and hurriedly walked outside.

He bumped right into Shen Qingzhou as soon as he stepped across the threshold.

Shen Qingzhou frowned and waved his hand a few times to brush off the collar of his clothes where he had been bumped.

Shen Zhui shouted, "What are you dusting off? I've never rolled in a latrine before!"

The guard who followed behind almost lost his composure, and a chuckle was abruptly cut off, turning into a hard cough.

Shen Qingzhou glanced at him briefly before going inside.

The moment he appeared, Shen Bo's gaze fell upon him.

It wasn't until Shen Qingzhou walked into the room and stood in front of him, looking at him across the desk, that Shen Bo asked, "What is it?"

After he finished speaking, he looked at the servants at the door.

The servants, not knowing what was going on, quickly coaxed Shen Zhui, who was peering through the doorway, away.

Only the father and son were left in the house.

"Official business." Shen Qingzhou placed the things he had brought on the table. "The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of handing over provisions and pay to Hu Yucheng's army today. You should know about this, right?"

Shen Bo frowned and nodded: "Of course I know."

“I went to the docks. Someone asked me to give these to you.”

Shen Boxian picked up the stubs of the travel documents, then picked up the letter written by Lu Jia. This time, his brows furrowed genuinely.

"Is there any other evidence?"

"No, but I think you should be able to find it if you want."

Shen Qingzhou's gaze fell directly on his father's face.

Shen Bo remained silent for a long time. Then he turned his face away. "The Yan family holds a very important position in the court. Since you don't have solid evidence, your accusations are baseless."

“You are the only Grand Commandant of the current dynasty who can rival the Yan family. I believe you can obtain any evidence you desire.”

"You overestimate me." Shen Bo picked up the book on the table. "I'm just an ordinary person. There are things that others can't do, and I can't do either."

"Of course you can!" Shen Qingzhou's words were firm and resolute, yet tinged with coldness. "You single-handedly protected the Northwest, gained the Emperor's trust, and are now a highly sought-after Grand Commandant, a pillar of strength."

"If you are determined to deal with the Yan family, you can definitely gather immense power to eradicate evil for the court and avenge my mother who deserved to die. You are clearly capable of doing so, so why are you so afraid of death?"

His voice echoed in the room filled with bookshelves, even drifting out of the doors and windows.

Shen Zhui, who had just been coaxed back to his own courtyard, turned around and looked over upon hearing the sound.

Shen Bo remained motionless in the study, still holding his book.

"Who isn't afraid of death?" He looked over. "I've said it before, I'm just a mortal."

Shen Qingzhou looked at him and sneered.

"Of course I know you're just a mortal. The fact that you secretly raised an illegitimate child on the battlefield while your mother was away is enough to prove that you're nothing special."

"The peace and prosperity we enjoy today were achieved by you and your thousands of soldiers. If you think it's nothing special, you can continue to watch the Yan family bring disaster to the country and its people."

"I have delivered the message; the rest is up to you."

After saying that, he didn't say anything more and turned to walk towards the door.

"stop."

"correct."

The father and son spoke almost simultaneously.

Shen Qingzhou turned around, ignoring his father's calls, and said, "Tell that idiot to stay away from me from now on. I don't care how you raise or educate him, but I don't want to see him. He's nobody to me, he has nothing to do with me."

Only after his figure disappeared through the door did Shen Bo turn his gaze away and put the book down.

The hand hidden beneath the book was already covered in blue veins.

He calmly stroked it twice, then picked up the letter and stub from the desk again.

……

Beside the path leading to the East Courtyard, Shen Zhui hid behind a thicket of flowers, watching Shen Qingzhou stride past before slowly peeking out.

Why is he so angry?

He muttered to himself, puzzled. "Who provoked him? Was it just because I bumped into him? It can't be that serious, can it? If anyone's to blame, it's me. Why was he yelling at my father?"

"Second Young Master, let's go back to our room!"

The servant following behind couldn't help but urge him repeatedly. "Don't worry about what the eldest young master is doing. He's always been in charge of this household, so he has his reasons for everything he does."

"I want you to talk more!"

Shen Zhui glared at him.

However, after seeing that Shen Qingzhou had already gone far away, he still returned to his room dejectedly.

On the table was the book of poems and essays written by Shen Qingzhou that he had previously taken from Shen Bo's study.

Although his father had comforted him earlier, he could still tell that his father meant that his handwriting was worse than that of that freak.
He grabbed the poem and text, but after only flipping through a few pages, the sight of the elegant handwriting at the top made him so angry that he started yelling and screaming, clutching his head.

"This is actually his handwriting!"
"He actually wrote this?"

"I'm so angry!"
"It's one thing that he's so good at martial arts, but he can swing such a heavy halberd so easily, and his calligraphy is also so good!"
"He can also write poetry?"

"Will you let me live?"

……