Being given the cold shoulder by Shen Yanqing had already become a daily occurrence, but Ji Zhen still couldn’t pretend that everything was fine.
He stood dejectedly at the door, gazing at the tall, receding figure. After a long while, he forced down the bitterness and quickly followed.
When he returned to the courtyard, a familiar, supple rattan cane was waiting for him. The sight of it made his legs go weak, and he hesitated, not daring to enter the room.
Shen Yanqing stood in the bright candlelight, looking at Ji Zhen, who was clinging to the doorframe. He asked softly, “You dare to do it, but you don’t dare to face the consequences?”
Ji Zhen was the kind of person who couldn’t stand being provoked. Hearing this, he steeled himself and went inside, stopping just three steps away from Shen Yanqing. He timidly glanced at the rattan cane and argued, “I was at Huangyin Tower for less than half an hour before I left. Do I have to be punished for that too? How can you be so…” He racked his brain for a suitable word: “…so vindictive.”
Shen Yanqing’s eyes darkened. His peach blossom eyes should have been full of affection, but they were perpetually as placid as a clear river, making even his beautiful face seem a little cold.
Ji Zhen had been with him day and night for three years, and though he was slow-witted, he knew from this expression that he would “not escape this ordeal” today. He turned to flee.
He had just turned around when Shen Yanqing grabbed the back of his collar. Ji Zhen frantically reached back to grab him, but the other party’s hand was like a copper wall, and no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t break free.
Thinking of how the rattan cane would again leave him with red welts that would take days to fade, he couldn’t help but protest, “Why is it that whenever I see Xiao Moli, you use the family law? You meet with Yi Zhi every day—have I ever used the rattan cane on you?”
Shen Yanqing pulled Ji Zhen toward him with a forceful tug, one arm circling tightly around his slender waist while the other slid beneath his underarm, gripping his cheeks and trapping him entirely in his hold. He looked down at Ji Zhen’s flushed face. “Those are two different matters. You don’t need to confuse them.”
Ji Zhen pouted and turned his head, a wave of jealousy washing over him. “I’m not blind. I clearly saw how you were laughing and talking with Yi Zhi today.”
As Ji Zhen spoke, his breath misted Shen Yanqing’s jawline, warm and moist. His two soft, moving lips were only two inches away, and Shen Yanqing could even catch sight of a faint flash of bright red tongue within.
Shen Yanqing was silent for a moment. His grip on Ji Zhen tightened, and his gaze shifted slightly away from those two alluring, soft lips.
He had always disliked Ji Zhen getting jealous, but for some reason, listening to Ji Zhen’s vinegar-laced words at this moment didn’t feel as irritating as it usually did.
Perhaps having heard it so much, he had simply grown used to it.
Ji Zhen struggled but couldn’t get free, and when he heard no reply from Shen Yanqing, he thought he had hit a nerve. He was about to press his advantage, but then he had a change of heart. If Shen Yanqing was truly left speechless by his words, wouldn’t that just prove that the other party’s relationship with Yi Zhi was questionable?
A mix of emotions, the five flavors of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty, tumbled over in his heart.
Ji Zhen had always been defeated by Shen Yanqing, but after losing countless times, he no longer wished to be crushed completely. Struggling to reclaim a shred of dignity, he muttered, “I don’t care about you and Yi Zhi, so you shouldn’t meddle in me and Xiao Moli…”
Before he could finish, he was pushed onto the round table by Shen Yanqing.
Ji Zhen’s upper body was pressed against the table while his lower body was on the ground. Before he could react, the rattan cane landed on him—this time not on his calves, but on the more hidden, delicate inner thighs. Even through the fabric, the sensation of the cane scraping against his skin brought a burning heat.
“Shen Yanqing!” Ji Zhen thrashed. His neatly tied black hair was half-unravelled from his fierce resistance. He turned his head in humiliation, and upon seeing those indifferent eyes, he choked out, “Don’t… don’t go too far.”
Shen Yanqing said chillingly, “If you didn’t want me to control you, why did you marry me?”
Ji Zhen was stunned.
“The Ji family wants to have all the good things in the world. Your elder brother is the sole authority in the imperial court, and you, Ji Zhen, want to act autocratically in the Shen family just like him?” Shen Yanqing slowly moved the rattan cane along Ji Zhen’s inner thigh. “You disregard proper etiquette yet feel so righteous about it. Who is truly going too far?”
Ji Zhen’s quick wit was completely useless against Shen Yanqing. He could tolerate other things, he knew that any hardship from Shen Yanqing was his own doing, but he couldn’t stand a single word of slander against his elder brother.
“This is between you and me. What does my elder brother have anything to do with it?”
Ji Zhen’s fierce protectiveness of Ji Jue was impossible to ignore. Shen Yanqing’s tone grew even colder. “On that day, if it weren’t for Ji Jue’s coercion, there would have never been this…”
The phrase “ill-fated relationship” lingered on his tongue, yet he never let it slip out.
Even so, Ji Zhen could guess Shen Yanqing’s meaning. From the elderly to the young children in the capital, who didn’t know that Scholar Shen was forced into this marriage by the power of the Ji family? Ji Zhen knew very well how much Shen Yanqing hated being forced into marriage, so he didn’t need Shen Yanqing to remind him again.
“Everything was done on my command to my elder brother. His fault is my fault. If blame must be placed, then place it on me. Don’t say bad things about him in front of me.” Ji Zhen’s expression was sincere, and supreme admiration shone from his bright eyes. “My elder brother is the best man in the world. Look across the entire Great Heng Empire; no one can compare to him.”
Ji Jue was exceptionally talented and beautiful and had always doted on him since childhood. No one else, no matter how talented or knowledgeable, could compare.
In Ji Zhen’s heart, only Shen Yanqing could compete with his elder brother, but he would not and did not dare to say this to Shen Yanqing—Shen Yanqing loathed the two of them, and he probably didn’t need Ji Zhen’s high regard at all.
A sharp pain shot through his wrist. Ji Zhen let out a muffled cry, and tears welled up in his eyes from the pain.
Hearing the sound, Shen Yanqing suddenly released his grip.
Ji Zhen flipped over and stood up to face Shen Yanqing. He saw the other party’s cold expression, and as he rubbed his sore and numb wrist, he was already on the verge of tears.
Shen Yanqing casually tossed the rattan cane onto the round table and let out a faint, frigid laugh. “If Ji Jue is so good, wouldn’t it be more perfect for the two of you to spend your lives together?”
Ji Zhen blinked in disbelief. “What did you say?”
Shen Yanqing said with a hint of uncontrollable malice, “Did you truly not understand?”
Ji Zhen was both furious and humiliated, his eyes reddening. “You’re being unreasonable…”
Shen Yanqing composed himself. Stirring up such a big scene tonight was not what he had wanted.
The past was clear, and a hazy blueprint of the future had been sketched out. This was an opportunity. If he could make a clean break, he and Ji Zhen might not end up as enemies.
Shen Yanqing said indifferently, “If you’ve changed your mind, it’s just a letter of divorce.”
This single, casual sentence made Ji Zhen dizzy.
He was struck so hard with shock that he couldn’t respond. Shen Yanqing’s casual tone was like a sharp silver needle stabbing into his heart, the pain forcing his breath to falter. So, for a full three years, Shen Yanqing had continued to keep his distance from him, all the while carrying the intention of divorce in his heart.
He had no doubt that if he nodded at that moment, Shen Yanqing would immediately write the letter of divorce and send him away.
Ji Zhen clenched his hands tightly. Even though he knew his persistence was annoying, he still stubbornly and tremblingly said, “Unless I’m dead, the only name on your marriage certificate, Shen Yanqing, will be Ji Zhen for the rest of your life.”
Shen Yanqing seemed to have expected Ji Zhen’s answer. With his expression unmoved, he quietly observed Ji Zhen for a moment before turning and walking away.
But this time, Ji Zhen didn’t have the courage to follow. He simply stared blankly as Shen Yanqing vanished into the night, then collapsed onto a hexagonal stool, his body drained and feeble.
Shen Yanqing walked a few steps, then heard Ji An, who had entered the room, whisper, “Young Master, don’t cry…”
He paused, looked up at the moon, and sighed silently.
He didn’t know if he was lamenting his marriage with Ji Zhen or his own constant indecisiveness.
Shen Yanqing once had a genuine intent to kill Ji Zhen.
On the third day of Ji Zhen’s hunger strike, he tried to persuade him but failed. The next day, he received a letter with only the word “eliminate.”
Beneath the seemingly calm surface of the imperial court, a fierce undercurrent surged. The emperor was suspicious and, to balance the power of the court, had allowed the Crown Prince and the Third Prince to openly contend for many years. With their forces evenly matched, the Great Heng Empire was bound to face a tidal wave one day.
To outsiders, the Shen family upheld the principle of moderation, never meddling in factional conflicts, yet Shen Yanqing had already received offers of support from both the Crown Prince and the Third Prince even before he had passed the imperial examination.
After careful consideration, Shen Yanqing secretly sent a letter to the Third Prince Mansion, becoming a hidden pawn in his faction.
Old General Wang Meng, a founding official, held five hundred thousand elite soldiers. If Shen Yanqing were to marry his great-granddaughter, the Wang family would come under the Third Prince’s influence, giving him a significant advantage in the future contest for the throne.
It was a done deal, but no one expected a Ji Zhen to suddenly appear.
Shen Yanqing threw the burning rice paper and the envelope into a porcelain basin. The charred ashes were carried away by the wind blowing through the window crack.
Ji Zhong was the Senior Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, and Ji Jue was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. The father and son held high positions of power in the court. With their help, the Crown Prince was like a tiger with wings. If Wang Meng also joined the Crown Prince’s faction, it would be a devastating blow to the Third Prince.
In this situation, the most urgent task was to nip Ji Zhen in the bud.
But Shen Yanqing didn’t want to take such a risk for nothing. If Ji Zhen was assassinated right after he forced the Shen family into marriage, no matter how cleanly it was done, the Ji family would never let the Shen family off, preferring to kill the wrong person than to let an enemy go.
The arrow on the long street was a warning to Ji Zhen. Shen Yanqing hoped he would retreat in the face of difficulty, but Ji Zhen was more stubborn than he imagined, even refusing to give up after being so frightened he was bedridden with illness.
After the first attempt failed, he planned a second one. This time, there had to be some bloodshed to make Ji Zhen come to his senses. If it truly came to the point of a complete annihilation, he would at most feel a bit of regret for Ji Zhen, whom he had only met a few times.
But before he could act, Wang Meng had already secretly pledged allegiance to the Third Prince.
The Ji family knew the Wang and Shen families intended to form an alliance but still interfered, which was a great insult to the Wang family.
In truth, no matter the process—whether Shen Yanqing married Wang Meng’s great-granddaughter or Ji Zhen unintentionally cemented the Wang family’s loyalty to the Third Prince—the outcome was the same.
Shen Yanqing could no longer remain hidden, but since the Wang family had already pledged allegiance, he decided to turn the situation to his advantage and marry Ji Zhen, remaining a hidden pawn for the Third Prince.
Everyone said that the Shen family was forced into this marriage by the Ji family’s influence, but only Shen Yanqing understood the truth: Ji Zhen was merely a facade, a protective shield for him. He appeared to be at a disadvantage, but he secretly used this opportunity to act more conveniently.
The Crown Prince’s faction was wary of his identity as the Ji family’s son-in-law and did not dare to cause trouble for him. The Third Prince’s faction feared he might be persuaded by the Ji family to defect and did not dare to court him. To the outside world, he remained an impartial and uncorrupted scholar.
It couldn’t have been better.
It would have been flawless if the assassination on the long street had not been discovered by Ji Jue.
The author has something to do:
Lord Shen, you’ve got a black heart.
