Volume One, Chapter 20: It Was His Son's Momentary Vanity

The recent sensational gossip in the capital had consequences for the Shi family that far exceeded the mere loss of wealth or the accumulation of public criticism.

When Shi Qingchen first introduced those peerless, life-saving medical formulas, the public, despite the exorbitant cost of the medicine, had remained deeply grateful for his benevolence. However, now that the young woman known as Yunxi had brought forth the same formulas and offered them to the common people at a fraction of the price, that gratitude toward Shi Qingchen had curdled instantly into hatred and contempt.

Across the entire capital—in teahouses, restaurants, on the streets, and in the alleys—people were vilifying Shi Qingchen, branding him a thief who had stolen the formulas from Yunxi and condemning him as utterly shameless. Naturally, this public sentiment was being carefully guided by Yunxi’s associates. After all, such a reputation was exactly what a hypocrite deserved.

The dispute over who had stolen whose formulas had been raging in the capital for over ten days, yet neither side had produced any concrete evidence to prove ownership. Nevertheless, the common people, who had truly benefited, had long since tipped the scales of their hearts in favor of Yunxi. They believed that anyone capable of creating so many life-saving remedies must be a noble soul, compassionate toward the suffering of the masses, and certainly not like the Shi family, who had used these formulas to greedily extract exorbitant profits.

Moreover, the price drop at Gu Nanxiao’s ice shop had sparked great dissatisfaction among the capital’s officials and wealthy elite toward the Shi family. They had once thought the ice purchased from the Shi family was a bargain, but now, realizing the cost of production was far lower than they had imagined—to the point where even after slashing prices by half, the shop still turned a profit—they felt a bitter resentment. They had long been jealous of the Shi family’s ice business, and now, feeling as though they had been duped into paying inflated prices for years, they felt like fools who had been needlessly exploited.

Yet, the dissatisfaction of the commoners and the elite was not the most lethal threat. What truly kept the Shi family on edge was the Emperor’s subtle and overt pressure in the imperial court. The Emperor suspected Shi Qingchen of deceiving the throne and had begun to harbor doubts about all the contributions Shi had made: the strategies for governance, the systems for official appointments, and the proposals for legal reform. The Emperor now questioned whether these brilliant statecraft strategies had truly originated from him at all. Furthermore, after Gu Nanxiao—acting in the name of Yunxi—presented a method for refining high-quality iron, the Emperor grew even more suspicious that the Shi family was still harboring other world-changing secrets that they had failed to present to the court.

After the morning session, the Grand Secretary, the head of the Shi family, summoned Shi Qingchen to his study alone. He dismissed all servants and ordered the guards to seal off the courtyard. With eyes burning red with rage, the Grand Secretary stared at Shi Qingchen, raised his hand, and struck him across the face with a heavy slap, roaring, "You useless, illegitimate son! You have never told the truth from the very beginning. You claimed you invented those formulas—if they truly came from your own mind, how could they have leaked to the outside world? And that Yunxi girl who perished in the fire—if she was truly such a peerless genius, why did you not tell me sooner? A woman of such talent should have been protected by us; how could you have allowed her to die in a sea of flames?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Qingchen looked up, stunned by his father’s attitude. A crushing wave of regret flooded his chest, as if threatening to drown him. He realized that his own self-proclaimed protection, his belief that he was securing the best path for Yunxi, had actually been the primary cause of her death. He had never imagined that his father was not as obsessed with pedigree and lineage as he had assumed. It was he himself who had insisted that Yunxi was an orphan of unknown origin who would never be accepted by the family. Had he known better, he never would have subjected Lin Yunxi to the indignity of signing false confessions and indentures before her death—to the point where her final gaze upon him had been filled with nothing but hatred.

Before hearing his father’s words, Shi Qingchen had always believed he was the one who cared for Yunxi the most, only that he had used the wrong methods. He had blamed class divisions, social status, and his father’s rigid conservatism as the true culprits. Now, however, everything was reversed: his father’s conservatism was not so unyielding, status could be transcended, and class gaps could be bridged by talent. The person who had ultimately destroyed Yunxi was none other than himself, acting under the guise of love and long-term planning.

Shi Qingchen could no longer hear what his father was saying; he listened with a numb expression to the reprimands. Only when the Grand Secretary had exhausted his fury and stood panting did Shi Qingchen come to his senses. He slowly knelt on the floor and confessed with earnest desperation, "It was my own vanity, Father. I claimed the credit for another’s work as my own. But I did not intend to deceive you; I only wanted so desperately to earn your approval and affection."

Although the Grand Secretary had already reached his own conclusions, hearing the admission left him feeling as if a massive boulder were lodged in his chest. Looking at the cowering, seemingly useless man kneeling before him, he felt a surge of disappointment, yet unwilling to admit he had misjudged his own son, he asked one last time, "Do those formulas and statecraft strategies—is none of them truly your own work?"

Shi Qingchen’s eyes flickered. He understood that if he told the full truth, he would be utterly forsaken by his father. He steeled himself and continued to lie, "In truth, Father, many of those things were discussed between the young lady and me. Especially those strategies and legal theories—how could a mere woman understand such matters?"

These words finally eased the Grand Secretary’s expression, as he found the excuse entirely plausible. That some stray girl might stumble upon a few unorthodox medical recipes was understandable, but that she could possess such far-reaching insight into state affairs was, in his mind, utterly impossible. It seemed his son still had the potential to be the heir after all; after all, any one of those strategies could easily outshine the current generation of young talents in the capital.

Thinking this, the Grand Secretary let out a long, relieved sigh. He personally helped the kneeling Shi Qingchen to his feet and said with a warning tone, "Do not play such petty tricks again. Matters concerning the family’s future must be laid bare to me; you are never to hide anything again. I have served in the government for decades; my experience is far beyond that of a novice like you. The political world is treacherous, and even the most powerful family can be wiped out in an instant by the Emperor’s wrath. You are the heir I favor most; you must think carefully before every action and put the family’s interests above all else. Do you understand?"

Shi Qingchen avoided his father’s expectant gaze and stood up, leaning on the Grand Secretary’s arm. When he looked up again, his eyes were filled with tears and an expression of filial devotion. With a choked voice, he nodded, "I will take your teachings to heart, Father. I will never keep secrets from you again, and I beg you not to lose faith in me. I will devote the rest of my life to the family, doing everything in my power to ensure our ancestors' legacy continues."

The Grand Secretary nodded in satisfaction, effectively setting aside the matter of Shi Qingchen’s lies for the time being. The father and son then spent nearly an hour discussing the fallout from the formulas and the methods to resolve the crisis before finally emerging from the study together.