Chapter 186: Scars
Zhong Chenghong: “……”
He turned to look at Shang Wan and sighed, “Wanwan, I’ve let you down. It’s only right that you resent me, and I don’t blame you.”
Shang Wan snorted coldly, “Spending the silver I gave you to support your family and chase women, how dare you blame me? Don’t pretend to be a romantic saint here; it’s disgusting to watch.”
Zhong Chenghong’s expression was surprised and pained, “Wanwan, how have you become so sharp-tongued and rude?”
“Don’t call me Wanwan; we’re not close, thanks.” Shang Wan rubbed the goosebumps on her arm, really wanting to kick this shameless guy straight to the afterlife.
Zhong Chenghong looked at Shang Wan with heartache, as if he had deep feelings for her.
Shang Wan felt so disgusted that she stomped on his face, “Stop pretending for this lady!”
Zhong Chenghong struggled weakly under her foot, his cheeks flushing red from inability to breathe, until Lu Chengjing saved him from under Shang Wan’s shoe.
Don’t misunderstand; Lu Chengjing didn’t care about his life or death. He saved him simply because there were still things he hadn’t explained fully; it wouldn’t be worth it for him to die just like that.
He looked at Zhong Chenghong, “How could you become engaged to Marquis Wu’an’s daughter?”
Ever since the wedding night, when the original Shang Wan told Lu Chengjing about the things between her and Zhong Chenghong, Lu Chengjing had secretly investigated Zhong Chenghong’s situation.
The Zhong family was poor, with nothing but a thatched hut and three mu of thin fields. Zhong Chenghong’s father had died early, leaving his widowed mother to struggle raising two sons and one daughter.
Zhong Chenghong’s two uncles had helped the mother and her four children a lot; Zhong Chenghong was able to study because his two uncles provided the money.
Zhong Chenghong used his good looks to gain some advantages; he had deceived quite a few women, and Lu Chengjing had found three just from his investigation.
Zhong Chenghong fabricated different identities and gradually scammed money from different women to support his family, but only Shang Wan knew his true identity.
It wasn’t that Zhong Chenghong was special to Shang Wan; just from what Lu Chengjing had investigated, Shang Wan knew Zhong Chenghong’s true identity purely because he lacked experience at the time. Later, after deceiving more women, Zhong Chenghong started fabricating fake identities.
Lu Chengjing was puzzled in his heart: how could such a morally corrupt scoundrel gain Marquis Wu’an’s appreciation and have his daughter married off to him?
Hearing Lu Chengjing’s question, Zhong Chenghong grimaced, and his face, still marked with shoe prints, suddenly showed a bit of high-spirited pride, as if even his body didn’t hurt as much.
He said: “On the road during my study tour, I happened to save Marquis Wu’an’s life. Marquis Wu’an appreciated me, kept me by his side to go to the capital city together, and let me stay at the Earl’s Mansion, studying at the clan school together with the young master and misses of the Earl’s Mansion. I was fortunate to catch the eye of the Earl’s Mansion Miss, and the miss is willing to marry me.”
“If it were someone else, Marquis Wu’an naturally wouldn’t agree, but I saved his life, so I’m naturally different from others. To be honest with you, I came here mainly to pick up my family to go to the capital city and discuss the wedding at the Earl’s Mansion.”
Killing Shang Wan could have been done by simply hiring someone to make a trip; there was no need for Zhong Chenghong to come personally.
The capital city was so great; if not for needing to pick up his mother, younger brother, and younger sister to go to the capital city together, Zhong Chenghong wouldn’t have returned to this small place, Dongning County.
Neither Shang Wan nor Lu Chengjing were fools, so they naturally heard the implication in Zhong Chenghong’s words.
Zhong Chenghong bringing up at this time that he was about to become engaged to the Earl’s Mansion Miss was nothing more than to tell the two that he had a big shot backing him; they’d better think twice before touching him, or they might anger the Marquis Wu’an’s Mansion and face dire consequences.
As for picking up his family to the capital city, it was also to warn the two not to get ideas about his life; if he didn’t return on time, Marquis Wu’an’s Mansion might notice something wrong and send people to look for him, and then the ones in trouble would be Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing.
Shang Wan coldly watched Zhong Chenghong’s expression and felt that the credibility of what he had just said was over seventy percent.
She tsked lightly and suspiciously scanned Zhong Chenghong’s whole body, “With such a big backer, why didn’t you mention it when you were getting beaten just now?”
“The marriage proposal hasn’t been made yet; spreading it out would harm the miss’s reputation.” Zhong Chenghong spoke righteously.
Hearing this, Shang Wan spat several times in her heart; who knows, that Earl’s Mansion Miss might have been coaxed by Zhong Chenghong’s sweet talk just like the original host.
She pretended to sigh helplessly, “Alas, we little commoners wouldn’t dare oppose Marquis Wu’an’s Mansion.”
Was this fear?
Joy surged uncontrollably in Zhong Chenghong’s heart; he smugly tugged at his lips, but it pulled at the wound on his face, immediately making him grimace in pain.
He hissed coldly for a while, looking at the two with a hoarse voice: “Send me to the medical hall to treat my wounds, pretend you don’t know about the hiring of killers, and I won’t hold your offense against me, how about that?”
Zhong Chenghong thought he had made a huge concession.
Did he not want to kill Shang Wan and Lu Chengjing?
He did! Not only did he want to kill them, he wanted to grind their bones and scatter their ashes!
But now he had neither helpers nor martial power, only a backer far away in the capital city. As the saying goes, distant water can’t quench immediate thirst; if Shang Wan was determined to get revenge on him, continuing to resist would only lead to one death.
His good days were just around the corner; how could he bear to die?
A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years; once he became the son-in-law of Marquis Wu’an’s Mansion, getting revenge on the two would be a matter of minutes.
Even without knowing Zhong Chenghong’s little schemes, just from what he had done, Shang Wan knew this guy was probably up to no good.
Leaving a person like this around was a disaster waiting to happen.
Her eyelashes drooped, a cold glint flashed in her eyes, and dozens of methods to kill and silence without leaving traces instantly flashed through her mind.
“Marquis Wu’an traveling should have guards attending him; you don’t know martial arts, so how could you save Marquis Wu’an’s life?” Lu Chengjing looked at Zhong Chenghong, his eyes full of scrutiny.
Zhong Chenghong didn’t hide it, “On the way back to the capital city while Lord was on official business, he was chased by assassins. I risked my life and drew away the pursuers for Lord. The guards arrived in time and dealt with the assassins, allowing me to keep my life.”
“If you don’t believe me, you can check the wound on my back.”
Hearing this, Lu Chengjing squatted down, flipped the man over, lifted his clothes, and checked.
On the youth’s fair skin on his back, there was indeed a fleshy pink scar like a centipede, crawling from the left shoulder to the right waist, almost spanning the entire back.
The scar was raised, looking especially ferocious and terrifying on the thin back. Just looking at the scar showed how severely its owner was injured at the time.
Lu Chengjing nodded to Shang Wan; this scar raised the credibility of Zhong Chenghong’s earlier words to eighty percent.
Zhong Chenghong started shouting: “My whole body hurts badly; hurry and send me to the medical hall.”
“No rush; answer my last question, and I’ll send you to the medical hall right away.” Zhong Chenghong’s unusual behavior earlier suddenly reminded Shang Wan of something, and she wanted to confirm it with him personally.
Zhong Chenghong stared at her warily with both eyes, “What question?”
“You and I…” Shang Wan squatted down and looked straight into the youth’s eyes, “Did we really have marital relations?”
Although the original host’s memories had gaps, the memories about pregnancy, plus Lu Chengjing’s personal testimony, suggested that something had indeed happened between the original host and Zhong Chenghong, and Shang Wan had always thought so.
But Zhong Chenghong’s series of reactions just now suddenly made Shang Wan not so sure.
