Quick Transmigration: Why did you provoke him? He's love-struck!

Chapter 161 Canglan Ferry (31)

The "bone-drop kinship test" incident caused a great uproar, and finally ended with Yan Jinhe being punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall.

Xu personally escorted Yan Jinhe to the ancestral hall. Xu, who had always relied on this daughter-in-law, lost her temper with Yan Jinhe for the first time in the ancestral hall and said many unpleasant things.

Even Pei Yuanhong, who had always been polite to Yan Jinhe out of respect for Grand Tutor Yan, didn't give Yan Jinhe a good look. He stripped her of her power to manage the household and ordered her to kneel in the ancestral hall before confining her to Jinxiu Garden—all of this was told to Yan Zhen by Jianxue.

Back in the Bamboo Garden, Yan Zhen sat on the chaise lounge by the window, while Jian Xue was applying medicine and massaging her knees, which were bruised from kneeling.

Yan Zhen was not surprised after hearing this.

By questioning whether someone's son was a fake first, and then digging up their ancestral graves, Yan Jinhe's actions have seriously offended the Duke's Mansion. It's normal for the Pei family to hold a grudge against her.

Given the situation, any rational person would agree to a divorce, to stay as far away from the Pei family as possible, and to never interfere with each other again.

But Yan Jinhe was clearly not a normal person. She was too proud and could not tolerate the slightest provocation or humiliation. So when I provoked her slightly in the main hall, she jumped into the trap and insisted on staying in the Duke's mansion to prove herself.

It's good that she stays in the Duke's mansion. If she doesn't stay, how am I supposed to kill her?

Yan Zhen was mentally planning his next move.

Yan Jinhe suffered such a huge loss, and given her personality, she will definitely not let it go. Sooner or later, she will take action again.

Previously, she was only thinking about how to kill herself; now, she would add Pei Ji to that plan.

She and Pei Ji would both be targets she was determined to kill.

Should we wait for her to make a move and counter it accordingly, or should we strike first and cripple her before she can make a move?

Yan Zhen was caught in a dilemma.

Yan Jinhe has a powerful family. Now that I have completely broken ties with her, if something happens to her at this critical juncture, anyone with a brain will realize that I am behind it.

The target is too big and the targeting is too strong. If the Yan family investigates afterward, the Duke's Mansion may not be able to protect itself.

You must avenge your enemies, but you can't let yourself get hurt in the process.

Yan Zhen was brainstorming when Pei Ji walked in.

Jianxue quickly stood up and bowed: "Your Highness."

Pei Ji waved for Jianxue to leave, and once only he and Yan Zhen remained in the room, he said, "I'm going out tonight."

There is a curfew in the capital, and people are not allowed to move around in the city at night. Yan Zhen had a feeling that he was going to do something big.

"Investigating the case?"

"Correct."

Yan Zhen glanced at his knees: "Can't we go in a couple of days?"

In Yan Zhen's mind, secret operations are always accompanied by risks. He had been kneeling in the main hall for so long today, and given his injuries, it was best to avoid high-risk activities.

“The other side is very cunning. The people I sent spent a long time staking out their patterns of action. If we miss tonight, we’ll have to wait another half month.”

Hearing this, Yan Zhen stopped trying to persuade him: "Okay, then be careful."

After nightfall, Pei Ji changed into a night outfit and climbed over the wall out of the Duke's mansion.

Yan Zhen then dismissed the maid and turned off the lights, creating the illusion that he and Pei Ji had retired early.

It was past midnight, and the clapper had sounded past midnight, but Pei Ji still hadn't returned.

With Pei Ji on her mind, Yan Zhen couldn't sleep, and she had a bad feeling that Pei Ji's investigation wasn't going so smoothly.

He had previously revealed that the people involved in the missing girl case were not simple.

Ultimately, Pei Ji was just a nineteen-year-old boy. In modern times, he would be a naive and foolish college student just entering university. In ancient times, he was not yet twenty.

Yan Zhen was lost in thought for a while when he suddenly heard the sound of tiles being stepped on from above. Judging from the noise, it seemed that someone was quickly passing by on the roof.

She immediately pulled the blanket up and sat up.

The next moment, the back window of the house was pried open, and a black figure jumped in. When he landed, he stumbled and almost fell.

He quickly braced himself with his sword to steady himself.

Yan Zhen recognized Pei Ji from his figure and realized that he might be injured. She immediately lifted the curtain, got out of bed, and ran out.

Before even getting close to Pei Ji, Yan Zhen smelled a strong odor of blood. She asked in a low voice, "Are you injured?"

Pei Ji didn't rush to answer. He turned around and closed the window before taking off his face mask.

The face beneath the veil was deathly pale, even the lips had lost their color.

Yan Zhen's gaze slid down to his chest, where it was already soaked in blood.

She frowned and helped Pei Ji to sit down in the inner room. Just as she was about to take off his night clothes to treat his wounds, she heard the faint sound of tiles being stepped on again from above.

Both of them tensed up immediately. Pei Ji stood up and shielded Yan Zhen behind him, staring at the roof with a wary expression.

"They're catching up with us."

Yan Zhen felt a sudden alarm bell ringing in his mind, and his thoughts raced.

Those people were doing shady things, and after discovering that Pei Ji was investigating, they didn't dare to pursue him openly. They could only sneak over to try and silence him.

She asked Pei Ji in a low voice, "Do you know how many people are after you?"

“Many,” Pei Ji said. “At least thirty to fifty people.”

As he fled from that place, he turned around in a hurry and saw a dark mass of people chasing after him, like rats coming out of their holes.

Yan Zhen: "..."

They might be able to fight back against three or five people, but against thirty or fifty, they might as well just choose a comfortable position and lie down to die.

“But they don’t know who I am,” Pei Ji added. “This area around the Duke’s mansion is mostly occupied by the residences of noble families. I took a detour back and deliberately left bloodstains in several places to confuse them. They can only search slowly now. If we keep quiet and avoid the search, we will be safe.”

"..." Yan Zhen really wanted to complain. The strong smell of blood in the room was almost making her vomit. As soon as those people entered the room, his identity would be exposed immediately.

If we prevent them from entering the house, we will also be exposed.

Yan Zhen made a quick decision: "Quickly, shout for help to attract the guards, then they won't dare to continue searching!"

Pei Ji refused: "This matter is related to the Yan family. If it alarms the Duke's Mansion, my injuries cannot be hidden. If Yan Jinhe finds out, we will all die sooner or later."

Yan Zhen: "..."

It seems like no matter what I do, it's a dead end.

While Yan Zhen was still pondering what to do, the assassins responsible for searching the Duke's mansion had already infiltrated the Bamboo Garden. Yan Zhen could even hear the subtle sounds of them quietly opening the side room where the maid lived next door to search.

"They'll find this room next," Pei Ji drew his sword, watching the door warily, ready for a desperate battle.

Hearing the increasingly loud search noises, Yan Zhen suddenly glanced at Pei Ji, who was blocking her way—as long as she could stop the assassins from entering the house and avoid the search, that would be fine.

Thinking of this, she suddenly patted Pei Ji on the shoulder and, as he turned around, reached out and pulled off his night clothes from the upper body.

Pei Ji was taken aback.

Meeting his astonished gaze, Yan Zhen pushed him, who was shirtless, down onto the chaise lounge by the window and lit the candles in the room.

Then she leaned over and straddled his waist and abdomen, pulling her undergarment halfway down in front of him, leaving it hanging precariously on her arm, revealing her snow-white, slender neck and long hair that cascaded down her back like a waterfall.

The candlelight inside cast their silhouettes clearly onto the window. Yan Zhen, in this "woman on top" position, pressed her hands against his firm chest, swaying her body back and forth while moaning wantonly.