NOVPUBShen Roujia frowned, “Grandfather? Hasn’t it been years since we’ve had any contact with him?”
Shen Hexuan shook his head and, with some difficulty, sat up. “After Mother passed away, I reconnected with Grandfather’s family. They’ve been laying the groundwork for us in Huizhou. Now that our identities have been exposed, we still don’t know how this happened.”
Shen Roujia was stunned. “The main family didn’t know we were here...”
Shen Hexuan explained, “I’ve been keeping it from you all these years. I wanted to protect you both. The main family had no idea we had come to the capital.”
Upon hearing this, Shen Roujia finally realized just how much Shen Hexuan had silently sacrificed.
With her head bowed, Shen Roujia said, “Elder Brother, if there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll do everything in my power.”
Shen Roujia didn’t know how to respond to all of this, but it was clear that someone was trying to bring down the Shen family from behind the scenes.
Shen Hexuan’s rising influence had attracted attention, and many saw him as an unyielding obstacle.
But now, with the Shen family standing firmly alongside the Crown Prince, many were feeling threatened.
If the Gu family and the Shen family were to form an alliance through marriage, the Crown Prince would have both of the kingdom’s most talented civil and military officials under his control.
As Shen Roujia thought of this, she felt a pang of emptiness in her heart. Shen Hexuan’s ambition to reach the pinnacle meant he had buried his past grievances deep within himself.
He wanted to avenge their parents by standing tall and condemning those who had wronged them from the highest place possible.
His goals extended far beyond personal revenge; he wanted to challenge the status quo, to change people’s perceptions, especially regarding merchants who had always been looked down upon.
In this way, he could find inner peace.
Shen Roujia had never truly understood Shen Hexuan before. It was said that a parent’s love for their child makes them think far ahead, but Shen Hexuan had taken on all of this alone.
He had shielded his sisters, bearing all the pain and hatred by himself.
