After Rebirth, My Aloof Husband Can Hear My Inner Thoughts [Transmigration & Rebirth] - Chapter 7

A few oleander bushes grew along the corridor of the Zhou residence, their pale pink petals swaying in the breeze, vibrant and beautiful.

The faint floral scent drifted indoors. Seated in a rose chair, Lin Shengshen picked up a teacup and took a small sip.

She finally understood why this matter had been so thoroughly suppressed in her previous life—it was because of the girl’s legal mother, the very woman now smiling obsequiously before her.

The Lin family were rising stars in the court. Though of humble origins, their influence was growing rapidly. As minor officials without strong backing, the Zhou family naturally feared the Lin family’s power.

However, disregarding their daughter’s safety and the truth of her victimization, merely suppressing the information and forcing their daughter to swallow such injustice and suffering—this was hardly the behavior of caring parents.

Suppressing her displeasure, Lin Shengshen feigned hesitation and said, “Since Madam Zhou says the third young lady’s illness was caused by eating something bad, it seems I’ve been presumptuous.”

Seeing Lin Shengshen finally relent, Madam Zhou nodded repeatedly with a smile. “Oh, that’s more like it, Miss Lin. Please, sit and enjoy your tea. The third young lady’s matter is of no great concern.”

Lin Shengshen said dejectedly, “It seems Madam Zhou cannot help me with this matter today.”

At the mention of help, Madam Zhou pricked up her ears and asked, “What kind of help?”

“There’s a thief in my Baoxiang Pavilion who has been selling my fragrances with reduced quality. I’ve been troubled by the lack of evidence to apprehend her. So, when I heard the third young lady might have fallen ill due to Scented Pills, I rushed over in haste.”

“If there’s an issue with the ingredients in the Scented Pills, the user might indeed fall ill.”

Lin Shengshen stood up and said, “I’ve been presumptuous today. I hope Madam Zhou won’t take offense. I’ll take my leave now.”

With that, she turned to leave. Behind her, Madam Zhou sprang up from the rose chair and said, “The third young lady’s illness is rather peculiar. Since you’re already here, why not take a look together?” If she could earn the Lin family’s favor, so much the better!

Lin Shengshen curled her lips slightly and said, “Then please lead the way, Madam Zhou.”

The third young lady of the Zhou family lived in a secluded part of the residence. Lin Shengshen walked until beads of sweat formed on her forehead before they arrived.

The room was dim, and upon entering, it felt somewhat stifling. A faint, pungent, spicy odor lingered in the air—undetectable to those unfamiliar with the art of fragrance, but Lin Shengshen quickly caught the scent.

Coincidentally, the physician had just finished examining the patient and came to the outer room to write a prescription. Lin Shengshen was in no hurry to enter the inner chamber. She sat at the table and asked, “What are the third young lady’s symptoms? What caused them?”

The physician didn’t recognize Lin Shengshen, assuming she was one of the third young lady’s sisters, and replied frankly, “The third young lady was affected by toxic incense. The Scented Pills contained an excessive amount of realgar, causing her skin to become red and swollen after burning the incense overnight.”

“If she continues to burn it, her skin may fester and eventually lead to disfigurement.”

Madam Zhou quickly covered her nose and mouth with a silk handkerchief, glancing sideways at Lin Shengshen to gauge her reaction. Only when she saw Lin Shengshen’s calm expression did she feel relieved.

Lin Shengshen turned to Madam Zhou and said, “The priority now is to move the third young lady to a well-ventilated, brighter room.”

Madam Zhou hesitated, “This… it’s not contagious, is it?”

The physician shook his head. “It’s not contagious.”

Lady Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and instructed the matron behind her, “Go, tidy up the side chamber in my courtyard for the Third Young Lady to stay in.”

After giving the order, Lady Zhou said to Lin Shengshen, “Miss Lin, since you’ve finished looking, let’s go to the front courtyard for tea. We shouldn’t linger here for long.”

What if the illness were transmitted to an honored guest? How could we explain that?

Ignoring her, Lin Shengshen instructed the two maids standing to the side in the room, “It’s warm outside with little wind. Go, help the Third Young Lady sit in the courtyard.”

The maids exchanged hesitant glances.

Hearing this, the physician glanced at Lin Shengshen and nodded, saying, “This young lady is right. The Third Young Lady’s room is stuffy, and there is still a lingering scent of realgar. It would be better to go outside for some fresh air.”

Once everyone was seated in the courtyard, the Third Young Lady, named Zhou Qiong, was dressed in green, with delicate features and a somewhat frail figure. Her cheeks were swollen and red, and her wrists beneath her sleeves were speckled with red spots.

She was the young woman Lin Shengshen had glimpsed from the carriage the day before.

Sitting across from her, Lin Shengshen stared intently at her face for a moment before suddenly snapping back to reality, forcing an unnatural smile.

She forced herself to look away and asked the physician, “Can she recover completely?”

The physician replied, “Yes… but the required herbs are expensive, and I’m not sure…”

Seeing the physician glance in her direction, Lady Zhou hesitated and said, “We must treat her.”

Lin Shengshen shook her head and said to Peilan behind her, “All the expenses and herbs needed for the Third Young Lady’s treatment will be paid from my account.”

Zhou Qiong struggled to rise and bow, but Lin Shengshen pressed her back down.

“Thank you for saving my life, Miss.”

Lin Shengshen avoided looking at her, shifting her gaze elsewhere as she helped her sit properly. “I am the owner of the shop where you bought the Scented Pills yesterday.”

Zhou Qiong’s expression stiffened.

Lin Shengshen said seriously, “You must answer my next questions truthfully.”

Zhou Qiong glanced at her red, swollen skin, her expression complicated, but under Lin Shengshen’s firm gaze, she nodded.

“Peilan, go inside and bring out all the remaining summer-repelling incense beads and any unburned incense.”

A moment later, Peilan placed a box of Scented Pills and a white porcelain ruyi incense burner on the table.

Lin Shengshen picked up an unused Scented Pill and sniffed it. The scent was clear and slightly pungent, mixed with the fragrance of high-quality roses—

The formula of this Scented Pill was normal, with only a tiny amount of realgar. How could it have caused Zhou Qiong’s poisoning?

Lady Zhou, Zhou Qiong, and all the maids held their breaths, unsure what Miss Lin intended to do next.

They watched as Lin Shengshen relaxed her brows and set down the Scented Pill, then picked up the incense burner to smell it. Instantly, her delicate, distant-mountain-like brows furrowed.

She opened the lid and smelled it again, then dabbed a bit of the incense ash with her finger and sniffed it carefully.

Lin Shengshen’s expression sharpened. The incense burner clearly carried the scent of an excessive amount of burned realgar—pungent and acrid.

“Third Young Lady, has this incense burner been used to burn any other incense?”

Startled by Lin Shengshen’s sharp gaze, Zhou Qiong answered truthfully, “No.”

A young maid nearby said, “The Third Young Lady dislikes other scents and only burns clear, heat-dispersing incense when the weather grows warmer. Yesterday, after buying these summer-repelling Scented Pills from Baoxiang Pavilion, she burned them and nothing else.”

Lin Shengshen kept her eyes fixed on the young maid’s face and said, “If you dare lie, don’t blame me for resorting to measures.”

Seeing this, Madam Zhou immediately shot the young maid a stern look and said, “Kneel down at once! How dare you speak so carelessly before our honored guest? Think carefully before you answer.”

The young maid was on the verge of tears from anxiety. Lin Shengshen said, “You may remain standing while answering.”

“This servant wouldn’t dare lie. This incense burner is brand new—how could it have burned any other incense?”

Zhou Qiong hurriedly interjected, “Mother, Lingbi is still young and inexperienced. Please don’t frighten her.”

Then she turned to Lin Shengshen and said, “Miss Lin, as Lingbi said, this incense burner was newly replaced yesterday and hasn’t burned any other incense.”

She rose and bowed, hoping to minimize the incident and protect Lingbi. “It must be that my weak constitution clashes with the Scented Pills, and I’ve ended up troubling you, Miss Lin.”

Her demeanor was both sincere and humble.

As Lin Shengshen watched the figure before her overlap with that scene from her past life, a sharp pain pierced her heart. She forced a smile to conceal it.

Madam Zhou also sensed that this wasn’t as simple as Lin Shengshen wanting to catch a thief—it seemed more like a thorough investigation. She quickly added, “It’s all my daughter’s fault for being so ignorant, Miss Lin—”

“It’s not her fault—it’s the incense. The realgar in the Scented Pills isn’t excessive, but there’s clearly an overdose of realgar in the incense burner. That’s the issue.”

Lin Shengshen scanned the room, her gaze briefly passing over each maid before settling on the incense burner. “If it’s not the person burning the incense, then it must be this incense burner…”

She poured all the incense ashes onto the table and carefully examined them again, finding no traces beyond the excessive realgar.

Removing a hairpin from her hair, Lin Shengshen meticulously sifted through the ashes, leaving no detail unchecked. Suddenly, amidst the grayish-white ashes, she uncovered a speck of reddish-yellow powder.

Lin Shengshen observed its color against the sunlight, then leaned closer to smell it—

It was unburned realgar powder.

“How could there be loose realgar powder inside the incense burner? The Scented Pills are properly processed—they wouldn’t shed powder like this,” Peilan exclaimed in surprise.

Having been with Lin Shengshen for some time, she had some knowledge of incense.

Everyone exchanged puzzled glances, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Madam Zhou hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over. “It must be some dishonest maid who sprinkled realgar into the incense burner to frame Third Young Lady. Guards! Take these maids away and interrogate them under severe—”

“Wait!” Lin Shengshen pondered for a moment, then her eyes lit up as she picked up the incense burner again. “If it’s not the people, then the problem must lie within this incense burner.”

She turned the incense burner upside down and gently tapped its base with the tip of her hairpin. When she moved the burner away, scattered reddish-yellow powder could be seen falling onto the table.

Holding it up to the light and peering inside, she noticed a small crack along the inner wall. After being inverted and tapped, a tiny amount of realgar powder now lay scattered around the crack.

Without careful inspection against the light, it would have gone completely unnoticed.

They had suspected the Scented Pills and the servants, but never imagined the incense burner itself held a hidden mechanism!

Everyone was astonished—why would the poisoner go to such meticulous lengths?

“Third Young Lady, you said this incense burner was newly acquired yesterday. Where did you buy it from?”

Zhou Qiong, who had been stunned, snapped back to reality and slowly replied as she recalled, “I didn’t buy this incense burner—it was a gift from the incense shop.”

“A gift? Baoxiang Pavilion has never dealt in incense burners, let alone given them as gifts to customers,” Lin Shengshen said.

Zhou Qiong shook her head. “Yesterday when I left Baoxiang, the proprietor from the perfumery across the street called me over… I had already purchased Scented Pills and had no extra silver, so I didn’t want to go. But the proprietor said business had been poor and they were planning new approaches. He asked me to take this incense burner back to use with the newly purchased heat-relief Scented Pills…”

“He said the white porcelain was elegant and the burner’s intricate design would allow incense smoke to linger inside before slowly drifting out, making the fragrance long-lasting. He told me to try it, and if it worked well, I could buy from him in the future…”

Before she could finish, Zhou Qiong suddenly understood everything. Her face paled with terror as she looked helplessly at Lin Shengshen.

The proprietor of Xiangyunhad secretly hidden realgar inside the incense burner before giving it to Zhou Qiong, who had purchased heat-relief Scented Pills.

The heat-relief Scented Pills contained realgar, so those unfamiliar with incense arts wouldn’t notice the increasingly pungent spicy scent when burned—until the odor became acrid and skin turned red and swollen…

Even if they noticed, they wouldn’t suspect the incense burner secretly contained realgar, only blaming the Scented Pills for the problem.

Lin Shengshen said, “That perfumery is called Xiangyun.” It showed Xiangyun’s business was extremely poor—the young lady who had visited and taken away an incense burner didn’t even remember its name.

With the truth revealed, Lin Shengshen stood and ordered Peilan to secure the incense burner. “Third Young Lady, the cause is now clear. What do you plan to do next?”

Zhou Qiong hesitated. “What to do? I certainly dare not use this incense burner anymore. Since I suffered no serious harm, let’s just drop the matter.”

Madam Zhou nodded approvingly. “That’s wise. Yunjing is filled with important people—one misstep could offend someone we can’t afford to cross. I think it’s best to let this end here.”

Zhou Qiong bowed her head. “Mother is right.”

“In that case, I’ll take the incense burner. Now that this is resolved, any conflict between Baoxiang Lou and Xiangyun Lou has nothing to do with your Zhou family.”

Lin Shengshen rose with a cold laugh to leave, but Zhou Qiong called out, “Miss Lin!”

“Don’t worry—the promised consultation fee and medicinal ingredients will be delivered shortly.” Lin Shengshen didn’t pause her steps.

Zhou Qiong murmured, “It’s not about that.”

Lin Shengshen turned back. “What is it then?”

Zhou Qiong broke away from Madam Zhou and approached. “Miss Lin, thank you. If you hadn’t discovered the hidden mechanism in the incense burner, my condition would have recurred until my skin festered.”

Then she whispered, “I’m insignificant and dare not accompany you to testify… I…”

Lin Shengshen knew the Zhou family rules were always strict, especially with Madam Zhou controlling everything. Whether in her past life or now, Third Young Lady Zhou remained cautious and timid…

She smiled understandingly. “Focus on recovering. Leave this matter to me.”

After a pause, Lin Shengshen hesitated before adding quietly, “But… living under others’ thumbs and watching their moods isn’t sustainable. No matter what, you must learn to assert yourself.”

Long after Lin Shengshen had gone, with Madam Zhou hurrying after her with apologetic smiles, Zhou Qiong remained standing there, lost in thought.

The spring breeze swept through, carrying the garden’s floral scents, yet none seemed as refreshing and comforting as the gentle sweetness that lingered around Miss Lin.

As the carriage moved slowly forward, Peilan fanned gently, watching Lin Shengshen who had closed her eyes to rest since boarding and hadn’t spoken another word.

She whispered, “Miss, you must be tired today. Why not return to the residence first? Matters of Baoxiang Tower can wait until tomorrow.”

Lin Shengshen slowly opened her eyes. “I’m not tired.” Only her heart felt weary.

“Baidou, come into the carriage.”

After murmuring a few words in Baidou’s ear, Lin Shengshen sent her off, and Baidou hurried away.

“Light some agarwood. I’ll rest for a while. Wake me when we arrive.”

Rocked by the carriage’s motion, Lin Shengshen drifted into sleep.

In her dream, everything was tinged with a grayish-yellow haze. She was still in the carriage, the incense burner emitting a chilly fragrance, but even colder was Xie Zhizhou sitting beside her.

Lin Shengshen had been crying for a long time, her eyes red and swollen, sobbing intermittently, yet the person next to her never once glanced her way.

After a long silence, a slender hand offered a handkerchief.

Lin Shengshen’s heart eased slightly as she quickly accepted it. However, before she could wipe her tears twice, she heard the cold voice beside her.

“The matter of taking in the Third Miss Zhou was proposed by the elders. I never agreed to it. She is modest and respectful, never overstepping boundaries. You shouldn’t be so jealous.”

“I didn’t…”

“Before she’s even entered the Xie residence, you disfigured her. And just now at Minister Wu’s banquet, you caused such a disgraceful scene.”

“I didn’t.”

Xie Zhizhou didn’t listen further. He stopped the carriage, dismounted, and rode back on horseback alone.

Unwilling to share the carriage with her.

At that time, Lin Shengshen felt her heart was breaking, as if she were dying.

Xie Zhizhou didn’t love her—she accepted that.

But he misunderstood her without any investigation, gave her no chance to explain, and trampled her sincere heart underfoot…

“Miss, we’ve arrived.”

Lin Shengshen jolted awake abruptly. The warm, mellow scent of agarwood blended with silk tree flowers enveloped her layers, unlike the piercing cold fragrance of before.

Smoothing her dress, Lin Shengshen stood up and stretched, casting her troubled thoughts aside.

“Let’s go, let’s see what Xiangyun Tower has to offer!”