Chapter 166:
This time Pei Yuqing leaving the capital city, encountering danger is practically certain; it all depends on his own methods of coping.
He is not some mediocre person, but no matter how brilliant and talented he is, he is not impervious to weapons.
In her past life, Ji Chengfeng was that intelligent, yet he was still secretly plotted against and died from the plague.
Xie Wanning had suspected whether this matter involved Lu Ziyan’s handiwork, but since the palace banquet, she had not seen that man again, except for that entirely black eagle that would occasionally fly to the window, with a bamboo tube hanging from its neck, probably containing a sealed letter; otherwise, he had not taken the initiative to appear before her.
Yun Jin is extremely intelligent and even knows to appear when there are no others around; even so, Xie Wanning had never taken down the bamboo tube.
Her affection toward Lu Ziyan was extremely complicated; she had loved and hated him, been annoyed and weary of him, and now when she thought of him, only that fierce phrase “chop into minced meat and feed to the dogs” would occasionally echo in her ears.
The two men were secretly vying against each other, and she had some inkling of it, but as long as they did not bring it before her, she would pretend not to know and would not deliberately inquire.
Lu Ziyan was already unstoppable at the imperial court, and Pei Yuqing leaving the capital at this time—whether it was because of her that caused Lu Ziyan to make a move—she dared not think deeply about it.
She was merely a madam of the inner residence and could not do much; she only wanted to live her little life safely and steadily, but even such a wish seemed to be a luxury.
Even though they had not met for several months, Xie Wanning was very clear that Lu Ziyan would not let her go.
The previous her had been afraid to face the future conflict squarely, but after Pei Yuqing left, in her idle moments, she would always let her thoughts run wild, and many ideas became unstoppable once they started.
She thought that as long as Lu Ziyan did not die, the choices placed before her seemed to be only two.
Either firmly choose Pei Yuqing, disregarding the Pei and Xie families, and live and die together with him.
Or she divorces Pei Yuqing, fulfilling Lu Ziyan’s obsession; he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he was willing to let everyone else go.
But she was unwilling to make either of these two choices!
She could not disregard her family’s safety, nor could she walk the old path of her past life again.
But Lu Ziyan would force her; he would not let her go.
The current calm was all temporary; who knew what he was plotting!
The sense that a storm was coming left Xie Wanning sleepless day and night these past days.
She could not find a way to break the situation.
After Pei Yuqing left the capital, Yun Jin came more and more frequently, changing from once every few days to almost every day.
After all, it was the beloved pet of her childhood sweetheart and former fiancé; Xie Wanning had basically watched Yun Jin grow up and had fed it many times, so it was of course not unfamiliar with her.
She did not know what orders it had received from its master these few times; several times it landed on the windowsill, and seeing that she would not pay attention to it, it no longer left feeling aggrieved as before, but flapped its wings to attract her attention.
Once it was even caught red-handed by Er Qing.
As Xie Wanning’s personal maidservant who had grown up with her since childhood, Er Qing naturally recognized Lu Ziyan’s beloved pet.
She had long known that Lu Ziyan was not dead set on giving up on her young lady, so seeing Yun Jin come did not surprise Er Qing; she only said anxiously, “This isn’t a solution either, young lady. Do you have any plans?”
Although she had already married, privately Er Qing still did not change her form of address.
There was nothing between mistress and servant that could not be said; hearing this, Xie Wanning smiled bitterly, “To have a clean break with him, I hastily married into another family, yet he still refuses to give up. What plans could there be?”
