Within Shen manor, the people were panic-stricken. The old master had been arrested and his fate was unknown. If they had learned anything from the past, it was that often when officials made a mistake, the official's family members and servants would often get dragged along and end up becoming a criminal by association.
The old master Shen did not have any children, nor did anyone know much about this second young master of the Shen family. He could be said to be the most mysterious person on the block.
It was said that the ancestors of the Shen family were originally doctors of the imperial city, but gained recognition after saving the emperor long ago. They had been granted a position within the palace and a title that passed down to their descendants.
In this current generation, it seems that the knowledge had all been lost, the only descendant of the Shen family was an old man who did not have wife nor child. He also seemed to have no family that would come to visit him and now that such a large event had happened, it seemed that any family and next of kin he had would not dare to show themselves or proclaim themselves as his next of kin in fear of getting dragged in the mud.
To be honest, this second young master of the Shen family had always been a mystery.
He was born as the second child of the main wife. His father never really had any concubines anyway, and he grew up with his older brother studying the art of medicine. The Shen family was one of the smallest families because any families of the same status would take in a few concubines and have more children. The Shen family manor was largely populated by servants.
At a young age, second master Shen showed great interests in medicine, often coming up with new ideas that were passed off as "absurd" in his father's eyes. He ran away from home when he was sixteen and only returned after everyone in his family had died, to take up the hereditary position left in his family.
As for where he had gone during those years he ran away, it was never known.
In all his years, he had never gotten married, nor fathered children, it seemed that he would soon die under the command of the emperor, leaving the Shen family with no descendants to continue the lineage of the Shen family.
The legacy of the Shen family would soon be lost to the dust of the wind.
~
The large Shen manor was a quiet one, it had always been silent, as there had not been the sound of children's laughter, footsteps running, or the sound of concubines chattering for more than half a century.
But, today was an exception.
The servants within Shen manor were busy packing up their belongings, preparing to escape. Some were packing up as many valuables as they could find, so they would be able to live their lives free of worry.
"There may be riches in the old master's quarters." One servant by the name of Da brazenly suggested.
All the servants were dazed as they heard those words. The old master's quarters within the forbidden ground was a mysterious place.
The most secretive within the manor.
It was also the only rule within the manor. The old master would most likely forgive a servant for any mistake, but when the forbidden ground is involved. There was no amount of begging that could give them his forgiveness.
There was once a servant who accidentally walked in a couple of steps within the forbidden ground. She was new and the other servants never told her of the only rule. Perhaps they wanted to experiment and see what would happen if someone walked into the forbidden ground.
She was never heard from again.
Most suspected the old master had murdered her to keep her mouth shut of some deep, dark secret that laid within the forbidden ground.
After all, aside from spending time within his study, or out for three to seven months 'traveling', who knows what he was up to, he would spend time within the so-called forbidden part of the manor, sometimes he would be there for long periods of time.
Some servants have tried to check up upon that place but found it to be completely shrouded in darkness and secrecy.
Whatever he was doing there did not require light.
"The old master never lets anyone go there, it is forbidden." Lian, a maid said, trying to stop those ideas in its tracks.
"Who cares about rules at a time like this?" Zhong, a male servant questioned her.
"Yea! I say we go!" Another servant, Zan yelled. They were itching to find any valuables that may lay in the place where they had never been allowed to enter before. Perhaps they will get lucky and find some priceless treasures.
"You can't go, maybe old master has a reason to forbid us from going there." Housekeeper Jiang, who was fully loyal to the old master said in protest against forcibly going to the old master's designated forbidden ground.
"Ohhh… I'm so scared, the old master might have kept a tiger in there and didn't want it to eat us!" Zhong mocked, as he walked toward the gate that sealed the entrance to the forbidden ground, with Da and Zan tailing behind.
While the rest of the servants agreed that there must be a reason why they were not allowed to enter that place.