As night deepens, all is quiet.

Everything in the world has fallen into deep sleep.

A rustling sound echoed in her ears, followed by a warm sensation gradually approaching, which startled Shen Ning awake from her sleep.

Opening his eyes, he was met with darkness. Yet, he felt the warm, rapid breath of another on his neck, a hand boldly reaching for his collar...

Shen Ning's eyes turned cold, she raised her hand and accurately gripped the other person's neck. Her icy voice echoed in the night, sending a chill down one's spine: "Who are you?"

The man let out a hurried, muffled groan and then spoke with difficulty, his voice hoarse and tinged with apology and uneasiness. "Ning... Ning'er, it's me. I'm sorry, I—"

Bang!

Shen Ning kicked the man in the mouth with all her might, sending him flying down without hesitation!

"Here comes the person." The cold command held a barely perceptible chill, "Light the lamp."

When the lights in her boudoir flickered to life, Shen Ning saw a young man with gentle features tumbling clumsily to the ground, his face etched with surprise and confusion.

"Big...Big Miss..." The lamplighter trembled and knelt nervously beside him, completely unprepared for this scene. "Qin... Qin young master, how could you be here?"

"Get out." Qin Yanshu gritted his teeth and commanded, then stood up from the ground. His throat ached from being pinched, making his voice sound different.

Shi looked at Qin Yan's book, then turned his head to look at Shen Ning. Without waiting for Shen Ning to speak, he silently bowed his head and walked out.

"Qin Yan Shu, what are you trying to do?" Shen Ning's eyes were as cold as frost. "The Qin family's young master, known in the capital for being 'gentle and refined,' has actually learned to be a flower thief?"

Qin Yan's face flashed with embarrassment, then he frowned slightly: "Why do you have to speak so harshly? We are already an engaged couple—"

"If my memory serves me right, the Qin family had already broken off their engagement yesterday."

"That was my mother's meaning." Qin Yanshu walked to the edge of the bed and sat down, with guilt in his eyes. He reached out to Shen Ning's face, "Ning'er, you know I like you, but... it's just that you lost your innocence. My mother insisted on breaking the engagement, and I couldn't help it..."

Shen Ning grabbed his unrestrained hand, her eyes mocking: "So you snuck into my bedroom in the middle of the night, wanting to make things happen and force your mother to oppose it?"

Qin Yan's lowered his head, avoiding her gaze. Whether it was guilt or embarrassment, he stammered, "Although... although a legitimate wife is unsuitable, I will give you the title of a noble concubine, Ning'er. Believe me, I will treat you well and never despise you for being violated by bandits..."

"Let me be your concubine." Shen Ning smiled coldly, her eyes full of mockery. "Qin Yanshu, do you deserve it?"

Qin Yan's face changed, and with a surge of anger, he suddenly grabbed Shen Ning's shoulders: "Shen Ning, other men can, but I can't? Your innocence is lost, what are you pretending to be pure for? Don't forget, we were originally an unmarried couple—"

Slap!

Shen Ning's eyes were cold and sharp. She slapped Qin Yanshu across the face with a forceful palm, then leaped from the bed in one swift motion. Taking advantage of Qin Yanshu's stunned silence, she kicked him hard in the chest!

Qin Yan's whole person flew out like a kite with a broken string.

Bang!

Qin Yan's book fell to the ground again, harder than the first time. It was so hard that he saw stars and his bones felt like they were dislocated. The pain was excruciating.

Shen Ning, with her arms crossed, looked down upon Qin Yan's embarrassed state as he wrote.

A son who prides himself on his noble family, a young master considered gentle and refined by the young masters of the imperial city, tonight at this very moment, is so utterly shameless and vulgar.

Is it midnight trespassing into someone's bedroom like a flower thief?

Shen Ning's face turned cold, and she stepped on the back of his hand with one foot, crushing it viciously.

"Ah!" Qin Yanshu cried out in pain, his hand twitching uncontrollably from the agony, his face paling. "My hand... my hand..."

"What's going on?" At that moment, a clatter of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside: "What's the quiet for?"

What happened?

Shen Ning raised her eyes and looked, her heart stirring slightly.

A group of people rushed in, each with their hair neatly combed. There was no sign that they had just woken up from a dream.

From Shen Jiancong's grandmother to his parents and siblings, almost the entire family arrived at this rather small boudoir.

At this late hour when everyone should be asleep, they arrived with such speed.

"Shen Ning." The elderly matriarch of the Shen family walked in, leaning on her cane, her face stern and cold. "What is going on here?"

"Brother-in-law?" Shen Jia's second daughter, Shen Yan, looked at Qin Yanshu lying on the ground, her expression shocked. "Brother-in-law, what's wrong with you?"

Shen Jia's eldest brother, Shen Shi'an, changed slightly in face and quickly helped Qin Yanshu up. "Are you alright?"

"Shen Ning," Shen family head Shen Yunlin coldly looked at his son, "What on earth is going on?"

Shen Ning looked at the family in front of her without any emotion, a strong sarcasm in her eyes: "In the dead of night, Young Master Qin appears in my room, shouldn't your father ask what he wants to do? How can you come and question me?"

"Bold!" Shen Yunlin's face turned cold, "Your innocence is lost, according to the rules you should commit suicide to preserve your family's face. Yan Shuchen, considering our past relationship, doesn't want to pursue it further and promises to take you as a concubine. You are ungrateful and dare to be with him?"

Mrs. Shen said unhappily, "Qing'er, quickly go and apologize to Young Master Qin. He has liked you for a long time, he won't hold it against you."

“Big sister,” Shen Jia’s second sister walked over and persuaded in a gentle voice, “Your brother-in-law truly likes you. Qin’s mother originally wanted to break off the engagement, saying that the Qin family is a noble house and would never accept a woman with a tarnished reputation. Your brother-in-law couldn’t go against his mother, but he really couldn’t bear to part with you, so he came up with this plan. Big sister, just…just agree to him.”

Shen Ning stared coldly, her eyes emitting a chill that made people's hearts tremble.

Shen Yan was looked at until her heart skipped a beat, and she involuntarily took a step back. She spoke in a grievance-filled voice: "I... I was also doing this for Big Sister's sake. Even if you don't want to, there's no need to look at me like that."

Shen Ning's eyes flashed with understanding as she looked at her father. "So, his behavior tonight was tacitly approved by you?"

The Shen family is a prominent family of officials after all. How could Qin Yanshu have possibly bypassed the heavy defenses and so easily infiltrated the boudoir without their tacit approval?

Shen Yunlin avoided her gaze and said coldly, "Yan Shu won't hurt you."

Well.

He kept saying that he had been defiled by thieves, and in the dead of night, he snuck into her bedroom and committed an indecent act against her. He even did so with an air of indifference and gratitude.

He won't hurt you?

That's really a joke.

Shen Ning retracted her hands at her sides, her voice as cold as the winter solstice: "I will never be a concubine to Qin Yan Shu."

"Shen Ning!" Shen Shian's eyes flashed with disgust. "You refuse to be a concubine, thinking someone else would be willing to marry you as a legitimate wife? Don't dream! This time you have disgraced the Shen family. If it weren't for your mother's filial piety and waiting for you, all that awaits you is a white silk ribbon!"

A murderous glint flashed in Shen Ning's eyes, but she suppressed the killing intent surging within her: "Get out of here!"

"Shen Ning, you are being audacious!" Shen Yunlin's face darkened as he angrily put on the airs of a patriarch, "I give you three days to consider, will you marry Qin Yanshu as his concubine or commit suicide by white silk? The choice is yours!"

“There’s no room for three days' worth of discussion.” Mrs. Shen, the matriarch, pounded her cane heavily, her expression grim and terrifying. “As the legitimate daughter, to have one’s innocence violated is a great disgrace to the Shen family. It’s already an honor that Yanshu is willing to accept you as a concubine despite past grievances, yet you dare defy him? Bring him here!”

Two strong grandmothers walked in from outside and listened attentively.

"Tie the Miss up. Arrange for a sedan chair to be sent to the Qin family tomorrow morning at daybreak." Madam Shen commanded coldly, "If she dares to resist, kill her!"

Madam Shen's eyes were complex, a mixture of reluctance, disgust, and a hint of detachment. In the end, she only said: "Ning'er, it's best to listen to your grandmother and father. Yan Shu is a good place for you to be. He will protect you. Think about it carefully."