Shen Tang tapped her fingers lightly on the tea table, her eyes half closed as she pondered.
"Did you really see it with your own eyes?" As she spoke, she took another piece of silver from her sleeve and pushed it over, her expression sincere. "Sigh, big brother, you don't know this, but my parents have only one daughter. They've worked their whole lives to build up our family's grain shop, but with no son to inherit it, the elders of our clan covet it and want to force my parents to adopt one of their grandsons. Tell me, what kind of sense does that make? Why should the family business go to outsiders to eat the orphanage instead of their own daughter? The elders have even brought clan members to our door to pressure us. I really need to make this deal happen, so I can show them..."
The tea drinker was a man.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with what the elders had done.
He didn't say it aloud, but his face revealed what he really thought.
Before he could speak, Shen Tang brought herself into it, her pretty face full of anger and indignation as she gritted her teeth and said, "The Sovereign is a woman now. If we follow the elders' wishes, does that mean the Sovereign should adopt a younger brother and abdicate to him too?"
The tea drinker's face changed as soon as he heard that. He hurriedly waved his hands. "You mustn't speak recklessly about the Sage! Do you have a death wish?"
His reaction was a little too intense.
Shen Tang asked, puzzled, "I've heard the Sovereign is gentle and kind. How could she take someone's life over a couple of words? Besides, I haven't said a single disrespectful thing."