Chapter 145:
The door was knocked on again.
The two inside seemed oblivious, silently confronting each other.
Lu Ziyan was silent for a long time, until Xie Wanning grew impatient from waiting, before he said, “You’re really not angry with him at all?”
Without waiting for her to speak, he continued, “Are you really going back with him?”
He had asked this question several times, and Xie Wanning’s impatience was nearly at its limit.
“This is a matter between him and me. Whether I’m angry or not is my business too. You don’t need to teach me what to do.”
“I’m not as clever or scheming or good at deceiving as you two, but I’m a person, and I can think for myself.”
“Whether I’m angry or how I should be angry, I’ll decide for myself.”
With that, she sneered and questioned, “Are you really planning to keep acting shamelessly?”
Lu Ziyan said nothing, merely lowering his gaze to lock his eyes on her face, his gaze profound and focused.
Xie Wanning felt both annoyed and disgusted, turning her head to avoid his line of sight, and then he just watched her profile like that.
After an unknown amount of time, when he spoke again, his voice was slightly hoarse.
“The second time…” he said, “This is the second time I’m allowing you to leave with another man, and also the last time. I swear it.”
Xie Wanning was practically amused to anger by this man’s shamelessness.
Clearly, he had forcibly abducted her here, and her husband had only come to rescue her, yet in his mouth, it was as if he had suffered a great loss and an immense grievance.
How could she know that Lu Ziyan felt more than just aggrieved? Deciding to let her go back and continue being with another man was, for him, even more painful than having his heart dug out and lungs clawed.
The familiar wrenching pain spread from his heart, hurting him until his eyes reddened again, but even so, he couldn’t bear to blink, still staring fixedly at her.
“You probably don’t know yet that today I’ve already restored my true identity and been enfeoffed as King Zhenbei.”
Xie Wanning was somewhat stunned, and then her shoulder tightened as her whole body was once again pulled into his arms.
“Next year I’ll go to the Northern Frontier Battlefield. When I return victorious to the capital, the position of Crown Prince will also be mine.”
Lu Ziyan buried his face in the hollow of her neck, his lips lightly kissing her earlobe, slowly saying, “At most one year. The days without you by my side, I can endure at most one more year. After one year, if he still dares to keep enticing you, I’ll chop him into minced meat and feed him to the dogs.”
His voice was ruthless, his killing intent seemingly seeping into his bone and blood. Xie Wanning stiffened all over, greatly alarmed in her heart.
Apart from these few times of shamelessly acting rogue, this man always followed through on his words. If he said he’d chop Pei Yuqing into minced meat and feed him to the dogs, when the time came, he wouldn’t even consider another way to deal with him.
The young lady in his arms was badly frightened, yet Lu Ziyan didn’t comfort her in time. He himself was also filled with hatred at this ‘one year’ deadline, his teeth stained with blood.
In their past life, they had been married for less than two years, and now, he had to tolerate her continuing to be with another man for a year.
Any man with a shred of pride couldn’t bear to watch his own wife be intimate with another, necks entwined like lovebirds.
Let alone Lu Ziyan, who wanted to flay and debone anyone who so much as looked at Xie Wanning twice.
But what could he do?
This young lady was dead set on leaving with another man, and his arrangements hadn’t yet reached the point where he could disregard the accusations of thousands or make enemies of ten thousand…
With his current strength, he couldn’t force her to stay.
He did want to just spear that sickly person dead on the spot, but he still had his reason, and reason told him no, at least not now.
“Will you still allow him to touch you?”
The cold voice came from beside her ear, making Xie Wanning’s spine chill and her hairs stand on end.
“Forget it, no need to say anything.” Probably knowing she couldn’t say anything pleasant, Lu Ziyan chuckled lowly. One hand gripped her waist, and the lips kissing her earlobe slowly slid down to the side of her neck, nipping a piece of soft flesh…
“Don’t do this!” Xie Wanning hurriedly turned her head to dodge, reaching out to cover that spot.
Lu Ziyan stopped his movements and said leisurely, “Then I’ll give you two choices: either let me leave a few marks on you, or kiss me.”
With that, he tilted his head toward her and smiled lightly. “You’ve never taken the initiative to kiss me.”
The sourness in his words was crystal clear to Xie Wanning. Her teeth ached from it, and she gritted her teeth, saying, “What if I choose neither? Are you going to force it again?”
At these words, the room fell silent once more.
Under the dim candlelight, Lu Ziyan buried his face in the hollow of her neck, motionless, and didn’t start gnawing as he had said.
After a long while, he took a deep breath, released his hold, stepped back a few paces, and stared fixedly at the stubborn and heartless young lady before him, saying, “Hurry and leave. Don’t make me regret it.”
Xie Wanning was stunned for a moment, then reacted and immediately strode toward the door.
As she passed him, her wrist was gripped again. Thinking he was toying with her once more, Xie Wanning was about to curse him out when her shoulder felt a weight—a thick cloak wrapped around her.
Lu Ziyan fastened the cloak’s ties, helped her put on the hood, carefully covering her from head to toe. Finally, he untied the white jade pendant pressing her skirt from her waist and tied it to himself, then swapped his own ink jade onto her waist.
After all this, he gave her a faint smile and said, “New Year’s gift.”
Every year between them, they exchanged New Year’s gifts without fail all these years.
Xie Wanning gave her jade pendant one last look before turning and quickly leaving.
Lu Ziyan didn’t see her off. In the room where the candlelight wasn’t very bright, he quietly watched her retreating back, standing motionless.
The door opened, and Ming Jian, who had been about to knock again outside, quickly withdrew his hand. Xie Wanning said, “Take me out.”
This was the military camp. She had come a few times in the past few years, but always right by Lu Ziyan’s side, never moving on her own. And now it was night—she didn’t know the way out at all.
Ming Jian glanced back into the room, received the order, and immediately made a hand gesture. “Follow me.”
In the deep winter military camp, there was a sense of icy solemnity. Along the way, they encountered a few patrols on duty; they all saluted Ming Jian with clasped hands and turned a blind eye to the figure wrapped in their commander’s cloak behind him.
They proceeded smoothly all the way out to the outermost sentry post, where Xie Wanning saw a carriage blended into the night in the distance. Then the person beside her said, “There’s one thing this subordinate simply can’t hold back from saying.”
Without waiting for Xie Wanning to speak, Ming Jian continued, “My Young Lord was already a world-famous teenage hero before coming of age, excelling in both civil and military arts, with ambitions reaching the clouds and no height unattainable. Exactly where does he fall short compared to that man from the Pei Family, that you can’t wait to shake him off in such a humiliating way?”
Xie Wanning’s steps faltered slightly, and for a moment, she was actually stumped.
This wasn’t just Ming Jian’s confusion; perhaps everyone in the Capital City who truly understood Lu Ziyan would be baffled by her choice.
In outsiders’ eyes, the wrong Lu Ziyan had done was merely bringing back a concubine.
The affection built over more than a decade of growing up together—how could it be less important than a concubine? A concubine not even worth a lowly one, yet worth her making such a big fuss?
Moreover, after she proposed breaking off the engagement, the Lu Family had made concessions, willing to dismiss the concubine, but she insisted on breaking it off and remarrying another with such finality, leaving no room for maneuver for the two of them.
And the man she married was the heir of Duke Pei’s Mansion, eleven years her senior and notoriously frail…
Although Pei Yuqing was of noble birth, outsiders didn’t know he secretly commanded the Qing Tian Guard, so compared to the young and promising Lu Ziyan with limitless prospects, her actions seemed utterly humiliating to anyone.
Thinking this way, Xie Wanning couldn’t help but want to smile bitterly. She unfastened the cloak and handed it to Ming Jian, thought for a moment, and said, “I have a clear conscience.”
Ming Jian reached out to take it, and his movements paused for an instant at her words.
Xie Wanning glanced at him and said, “You don’t need to feel indignant for your master. I don’t feel I owe him anything.”
With that, she stepped away.
That carriage sunk in the night had somehow drawn near.
The driver was Pei Er. Seeing her approach, he hurriedly lifted the thick carriage curtain.
Xie Wanning looked up, her gaze meeting squarely with the man sitting inside.
Just last night they had done all the intimate things a couple does, and it had only been a day apart, yet in this scene, she inexplicably felt unfamiliar, as if she didn’t recognize the person before her, staring blankly.
In the icy snow, she wasn’t even wearing a cape. Pei Yuqing couldn’t hold back, reached out to circle her waist, and pulled her into the carriage.
The thick curtain fell, hiding the scene inside from view. Ming Jian watched the carriage turn around and slowly depart before turning back to the military camp to report.
………..
Inside the carriage, the brazier burned hot.
As soon as she got in, Xie Wanning struggled free from the hand on her waist and sat across from him, head lowered in silence.
Pei Yuqing glanced at her, lifted his hand to pour a cup of hot tea and pushed it over, but she didn’t reach for it.
For a moment, neither spoke, and the atmosphere sank into an odd silence.
When it came to staying composed, probably no one could match Pei Yuqing, and Xie Wanning was no exception.
In the oppressive quiet, she held back again and again, but the depression in her heart was truly unbearable, so she spoke first: “Don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”
Pei Yuqing said, “You caught a chill today. Drink the ginseng tea first.”
“…” Xie Wanning truly admired him a bit. She lifted her hand to uncover the teacup lid, glanced at it, and took a sip.
Pei Yuqing naturally saw this series of actions and said, “What did Lu Ziyan say to you?”
Xie Wanning smiled. “I thought you’d ask what he did to me.”
At these words, Pei Yuqing’s eyelid suddenly lifted, staring straight at her, meeting her slightly provocative smile.
His gaze darkened, and just as Xie Wanning thought he would revert to that impassive, unperturbed demeanor, the man opposite leaned forward and grasped her wrist.
Three fingers pressed directly onto her pulse.
Xie Wanning didn’t resist, letting him take her pulse, and asked curiously like a child, “Can you tell what he did to me this way?”
She was angry.
Even without her raising her voice or showing anger on her face, how could Pei Yuqing fail to see it.
He glanced at her, then lowered his eyes again to carefully take her pulse.
After a long while, he withdrew his hand and said, “Don’t believe a word he says… Him abducting you to the military camp was beyond my expectations.”
Lu Ziyan abducting her to the military camp was to let her see Liu Manrou’s fate with her own eyes—that was a past life entanglement; of course he couldn’t have anticipated it.
Xie Wanning smiled. “So in your expectations, no matter what he did to me, it would only happen in the back courtyard of Puxian Temple, right?”
“Wanwan…”
“Answer me!” Xie Wanning dropped her smile, interrupting him, and asked directly, “Did you deliberately let him see the bite marks on your neck and shoulder to lure him to come find me and verify everything?”
The usually composed and reserved man showed a trace of anxiety under such pressing.
He moved his lips, silent for a moment, before saying, “I did want him to know that we’ve consummated, so he’d give up sooner. Moreover, Puxian Temple is a sacred Buddhist ground…”
“Absurd! A madman like Lu Ziyan—would he care about sacred or not? Are you gambling with me?” Xie Wanning sneered. “If his anger overtook him and he did something irreparable to hurt me, would that suit your plans?”
“Wanwan!” Pei Yuqing’s expression changed, his voice unconsciously turning cold. “I’ve never thought that way! You’re my wife—how could I…”
He paused, then said, “You had four dead warriors secretly protecting you, and Puxian Temple was full of pilgrims. If he acted improperly toward you, it would surely cause a commotion… You would be fine.”
“Causing a commotion to draw a crowd to watch—that’s your real plan, isn’t it?” Xie Wanning was surprised at her own sharpness; perhaps it came from spending time with clever people.
She thought for a long time, sorting through today’s events simply, and let out another cold laugh. “And those four dead warriors? They weren’t taken out by Ming Jian alone, were they?”
Lu Ziyan had only brought Ming Jian with him.
Could Ming Jian have taken on four dead warriors single-handedly without anyone in Puxian Temple hearing a thing?
This question was answered in Pei Yuqing’s silence.
Xie Wanning was speechless for a moment.
She only knew that Ming Feng and Ming Jian were retainers of the Lu Family, trained personally by Lu Ziyan, following him devotedly with unswerving loyalty, but she hadn’t realized their martial power was this high.
The dead warriors trained by prominent families were fearless death blades, yet Ming Jian had silently dealt with four of them.
And he was just a subordinate under Lu Ziyan, yet possessed martial power not inferior to a frontier general.
Who would dare imagine such a thing?
Clearly, Pei Yuqing hadn’t anticipated this either—a miscalculation.
In his plan, everything could be resolved within Puxian Temple.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the imperial prince who had just returned to the clan attempting to bully a minister’s wife in a sacred Buddhist ground…
And with her protected by dead warriors, she wouldn’t be humiliated, preserving her reputation while suppressing Lu Ziyan’s arrogance.
Such a reckless, morally deficient imperial prince—even a meritorious legitimate one—wouldn’t win the support of the officials.
He wasn’t as magnanimous as Lu Ziyan had said; to execute a scheme, he let his own wife be truly taken by force.
Thinking of this, the surging anger and stabbing pain of betrayal in Xie Wanning’s heart finally eased somewhat.
But it was true that he had used her to scheme against Lu Ziyan. Even giving her four dead warriors to avoid humiliation—what did it matter…
If it had succeeded, she would still become the talk of the town at the eye of the storm in the Capital City.
