Chapter 161: with translation of chapter title

When Yan Zheng heard the commotion and rushed over, he saw Xiao Jingyuan standing in front of Pei Zhi, while Pei Zhi had been stabbed in the abdomen, half‑kneeling on the ground, his white robes stained with blood.

Yan Zheng's face changed drastically. How could someone die just after I left for a moment?!

"Lord Xiao, what exactly happened?" Yan Zheng asked.

Xiao Jingyuan gave Pei Zhi a cold, expressionless glance: "Ask him yourself."

Yan Zheng said in surprise: "Could it be... you......"

"I would like to." Xiao Jingyuan rubbed his finger on the scabbard, snorted coldly, "It's just a pity that some people like to use self‑harm as a ploy to gain sympathy."

Yan Zheng froze: "Self, self‑harm?"

Xiao Jingyuan did not explain, his gaze fell again on Pei Zhi's pale face, and he said: "To be obsessed with another's wife and then use such despicable means to force her—I have not cut you into ten thousand pieces on the spot, which is already lenient."

Pei Zhi weakly lifted his face, forcing a sneering smile: "If it weren't for my kindness back then, you wouldn't have anything today."

Before his words finished, he coughed violently, spraying blood onto the ground, a shocking sight.

Seeing this, Yan Zheng's heart tightened; without bothering to investigate who had wounded whom, he turned and shouted toward the darkness: "Someone! Come quickly!"

His shout instantly alerted the nearby patrolling guards.

A few people came, saw the scene before them, and were all stunned.

The manor's guards were strict; how could Junior Tutor Pei have been stabbed out of the blue? Perhaps an assassin had sneaked in.

Yan Zheng supported the swaying Pei Zhi and bellowed: "What are you all standing around for? Quickly call a physician!!"

Pei Zhi is a Junior Tutor of the current court, high‑ranking and powerful; if he truly died mysteriously in this manor, not only would he be unable to clear his name, but even the emperor and crown prince would fly into a rage and pursue responsibility—no one could bear that.

The West Courtyard was in utter chaos.

Pei Zhi was carefully helped by two guards into a nearby room; Yan Zheng followed closely, and upon entering saw the physician rushing in with his medicine case, panting, and quickly made way: "Quick! See how the Junior Tutor is!"

Not long after, servant women came out carrying basins of bloody water, one after another, sending them outside, making the guards outside tremble with fear.

Fortunately, half an hour later the physician wiped his sweat and came out, saying to Yan Zheng: "General Yan, rest assured—the Junior Tutor's wound is deep but missed vital organs; he merely fainted from excessive blood loss and will wake after a few days of proper rest, not life‑threatening."

Only then did Yan Zheng relax, about to order guards to watch the door, when he saw Xiao Jingyuan still standing outside the courtyard, unbeknownst when he had remained.

Xiao Jingyuan had not yet left; hearing the physician say Pei Zhi would not die, he then prepared to step away.

At that moment, Qing Yun came running from the end of the corridor, face anxious, seeing Xiao Jingyuan he cried out urgently: "Young Master! Something's wrong! Fourth Miss has suddenly fainted in her room!"

Xiao Jingyuan's expression shifted slightly; he glanced at the people inside the room, and his eyes turned cold in an instant.

What came to mind was the last time, in front of the Duke's mansion, Pei Zhi's threatening words: "If I die, she must die as well."

If that was not merely an empty threat but actually true...

Xiao Jingyuan set his face and strode away.

Having just finished treating Pei Zhi, the physician hurried on without pause toward the East Courtyard.

In the East Courtyard's room, Shen Shuangning lay on the bed, her complexion pale.

After taking her pulse, the physician hesitated and said: "Young Master, rest assured—Fourth Miss's pulse is irregular but nothing serious. Perhaps… perhaps she was frightened, her spirit unsettled, and combined with recent mental strain, she fainted momentarily."

The physician prescribed a calming and qi‑tonifying decoction and then left.

Xiao Jingyuan sat beside the bed, holding her slightly cool hand, his fingertips lightly rubbing her knuckles, unknown what he was thinking.

Her sleeping face was uneasy, brows slightly furrowed, as if still haunted by the earlier fright; he leaned over, gently smoothing the crease between her brows with his fingertip, a motion so tender it seemed almost unreal.

Not long after, light footsteps sounded outside the door; Qing Yun whispered a report: "Young Master, the Duchess and the Eldest Young Master Shen have arrived."

Shen Xiuci still had bandages on his arm, the arrow wound he suffered when the manor was attacked a few days earlier.

"How is Ningning?" Lady Liu entered and went straight to the bedside; seeing Shen Shuangning lying there pale‑faced, her eyes instantly reddened: "She was fine—how did she just faint?"

Shen Xiuci also frowned, his gaze on Shen Shuangning's face: "What did the physician say?"

Xiao Jingyuan said: "He said she was frightened, plus recent mental exhaustion causing qi deficiency and fainting, nothing serious."

Lady Liu walked to the bedside, looking at Shen Shuangning's noticeably thin cheeks, feeling distressed and sighing: "She's lost so much weight in just a few days; when we get back we must nourish her well."

The Duke of Rong, Shen Lang, still had to return to the capital for official duties and would soon go back to Zhending; this morning he first took Shen Er and left early.

Shen Xiuci stayed at the manor to recuperate from his wounds, while Lady Liu helped Lady Liu Yu manage the manor.

News of the West Courtyard was deliberately suppressed; outsiders knew nothing of the inner situation.

Because both Shen Shuangning and Pei Zhi remained unconscious, the two parties could only continue to linger in River Pavilion County for two more days.

On the day Pei Zhi woke up, he saw Xiao Jingyuan.

As if not surprised, Pei Zhi courteously invited him to sit and have tea.

Xiao Jingyuan then lifted his robe and sat opposite him, speaking in a low voice: "I have a question for you."

Pei Zhi's clear, handsome visage, now tinged with illness from his wounds, at those words he signaled with his eyes for the attendants to withdraw.

The door was gently closed, leaving only the two of them inside.

Xiao Jingyuan looked at Pei Zhi, noticing that the scars on his face had faded considerably—hardly noticeable unless examined closely—but his complexion remained pallid, making the obsession in his eyes all the clearer.

"It is said that during the last spring hunt I was gravely wounded, and you rescued me," Xiao Jingyuan began.

Pei Zhi gave a faint smile: "Young Master, if you wish to repay the debt of saving your life, you might as well give her to me."

Xiao Jingyuan frowned, his tone displeased: "She is my wife, the only person I wish to protect in this life—not something to be casually bartered."

"Wife?" Pei Zhi sneered, "You haven't even married—how is she your wife?"

Xiao Jingyuan ignored that remark, merely saying lightly: "I've heard that the people of Cangji Mountain are famed as divine physicians; in your previous life, you had someone secretly contact me, claiming they could cure her cold poison, correct?"

Xiao Jingyuan's thin lips uttered a name coldly: "Xie Yan."

The smile on Pei Zhi's lips froze instantly, then faded bit by bit; the pretense in his eyes fell away completely, revealing the cunning and obstinacy belonging to Xie Yan.

Xiao Jingyuan said: "Later, you took her from my side, claiming you had a way to revive her; I believed you and gave you my full support, yet you secretly arranged a yin marriage with her behind my back. Xie Yan, you should know I cannot tolerate you."

As Xiao Jingyuan spoke, his tone was level, yet the pressing aura did not diminish at all, pressing down like a mountain, making Pei Zhi feel somewhat breathless.

He seemed to fall back into that winter when the wind and snow were about to arrive—

Before the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the white jade steps were dusted with a thin frost; the civil and military officials below shrank their necks and trembled, not from the cold, but from the sight of that figure stepping slowly forward through the wind and snow.

At that time, the frontier passes sounded an alarm, the court was in turmoil, the emperor was seriously ill, and the crown prince was detained. Empress Wang, citing that 'the state cannot go a day without a ruler,' hung the bamboo screen and supervised the state, holding power in her hands.

Xiao Jingyuan had just returned from the battlefield, the bloodstains on his armor not yet dry, his gaze cold and sharp as a blade; a single glance silenced the officials.

He had just stepped through the palace gate when he was stopped by the Empress's people in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Empress Wang sat composedly on the phoenix seat beside the Dragon Throne, holding a scroll of bright‑yellow imperial edict, and with a light gesture stripped the Prince of Yan of his military authority.

Xiao Jingyuan uttered not a word of complaint, stepped forward and received the edict.

His military authority taken away, he was like a tiger stripped of its claws. Everyone thought the Prince of Yan's mansion was a grasshopper after autumn, unable to jump for more than a few days.

But turning his head, the Eldest Princess handed the Xuan Iron Token to Xiao Jingyuan.

That token could command the army that had lain hidden in the martial world for many years—a force no one had seen but that everyone deeply feared, the Xuan Iron Army.

Although the Prince of Yan's mansion had been stripped of its power, Xiao Jingyuan, holding the Xuan Iron Token, still inspired dread.

Xie Yan envied and resented him, yet did not dislike him, for only a hero like Xiao Jingyuan was worthy of being his opponent.

Now that his identity had been exposed, Pei Zhi saw no need to pretend any longer, narrowed his eyes, and said, 'I have not deceived you; she truly has returned to life. She stands alive before you—is that not a fact?'

'What does it matter if it is a yin marriage? If I had not done so, her soul would have long scattered. Xiao Jingyuan, my love for her is no less than yours; I would sacrifice my life to keep her alive.'