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

Chapter 499 Relying on Favor (44)

"What?" Yan Zhen looked at him coldly. "Is it strange?"

"You, a woman of the Great Liang, actually married Zhao Yuan, a traitor, you..."

Xie Ying seemed to have never expected that the woman he brought back would become the wife of the rebel king. His face turned pale and then red, looking extremely ugly.

However, due to the restraint of a young master from a prominent family, he couldn't bring himself to say anything unpleasant.

"If I hadn't married Zhao Yuan, I would have been dead long ago," Yan Zhen said coldly. "Even ants cling to life; is it wrong for me to want to live?"

"But you are the sir of the Great Liang!!!" Xie Ying's chest heaved violently, his eyes filled with shock, anger, and disappointment as he looked at Yan Zhen. "How could you marry a rebel just because you didn't want to go on a political marriage!"

Yan Zhen's rebuttal, which was on the tip of her tongue, was met with Xie Ying's angry gaze. Remembering Tan Jinyu who was still in the palace, she abruptly changed her mind.

“I didn’t refuse to go for the marriage alliance.” Yan Zhen’s voice lowered. “Three years ago, when the marriage alliance procession passed through Tingzhou, we met Zhao Yuan, and he abducted me.”

Xie Ying was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and his anger subsided somewhat.

"What exactly happened?" Xie Ying asked. "Since Zhao Yuan kidnapped you, why did you help him manage Tingzhou and watch him lead his troops back to Daliang?"

Yan Zhen sighed: "I was taken to Tingzhou. Zhao Yuan initially wanted to kill me, but I begged and pleaded to be spared. During that time, I was trying to find a way to escape. Either I could go to Beijue to marry and complete the mission entrusted to me by my brother, or I could return to Daliang and come back to your side. But then something happened that made me change my mind."

Xie Ying immediately asked, "What is it?"

Yan Zhen looked up, staring directly at him: "What is it? Lord Xie, don't you know?"

Xie Ying was stunned: "What do you mean?"

"In the second month after I was abducted to Tingzhou, assassins infiltrated the Prince of Zhao's mansion. I thought they were there to rescue me and take me home, but they were there to kill me. If it weren't for Zhao Yuan protecting me, I would have been a pile of bones by now."

Xie Ying frowned: "You assassin who wants to kill you?"

“Yes, after those assassins were captured, they said before they died, ‘Since I have fallen into Zhao Yuan’s hands and become an impure person, I am of no use. The Northern Jurchens will not want a woman who has lost her chastity to go on a marriage alliance, and the Great Liang will not accept me, this disgrace, back. I have no choice but to die to save face for the Great Liang royal family.’” Yan Zhen said, “I found your Xie family’s token on the assassins.”

Xie Ying was shocked: "Impossible! I never sent anyone to kill you, and in the beginning, I had no idea you had fallen into Zhao Yuan's hands, it was back then..."

Xie Ying paused at this point.

He recalled that three years ago he led a group to Yunzhou and Tingzhou to try to find Tan Junzhuo.

But after searching for months without success, when he saw her again, she was standing on a hill and shot herself deadly with an arrow without hesitation.

No wonder she looked at me so coldly back then; she must have thought I wanted to kill her first.

“The token is in Fu Xue’s hands, and I told her to put it away.” Yan Zhen said coldly, “Since then, for three whole years, wave after wave of people have come to assassinate me, once every ten days or half a month. If it weren’t for Zhao Yuan protecting me all along, I wouldn’t be alive to stand here and speak!”

Xie Ying, you know perfectly well what you've done. Now that you're in my hands, I have nothing to say. Do with me as you please!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Ying quickly explained, "Jun Zhuo, I, Xie Ying, swear to heaven that I have never sent anyone to assassinate you! We have known each other for so many years, don't you know what kind of person I am?"

Yan Zhen sneered: "What kind of person are you? If this had been before the marriage alliance, I would have known. But after you pushed me out for the marriage alliance, I can no longer see through you."

Xie Ying: "..."

“My brother abandoned me, you abandoned me, the entire Liang Dynasty abandoned me.” Yan Zhen’s eyes reddened as he spoke. “You didn’t even leave me a way to live, so why can’t I earn a way to live for myself!”

Xie Ying looked at her tears and felt both pain and guilt as he thought of the suffering she had endured over the past three years.

"Jun Zhuo, I didn't send anyone to assassinate you. After news of your disappearance reached Daliang, I led people to search for you everywhere..."

If he had known earlier that she had been kidnapped by Zhao Yuan and was still determined to go home, he should have risked his life to clear up the misunderstanding when he saw her on the hill three years ago.

"Then why did the assassin who killed me have the Xie family's token?" Yan Zhen questioned. "Moreover, who in the entire Great Liang doesn't know that, apart from the royal family, only your Xie family dares to raise assassins!"

Xie Ying was momentarily at a loss for words: "There must be some misunderstanding... but it doesn't matter, Jun Zhuo, come back with me, we..."

"It's too late." Yan Zhen wiped away her tears, her expression returning to its coldness. "I've already married Zhao Yuan and we're husband and wife."

"He forcibly abducted you; how can such a marriage stand..."

"But I've fallen in love with him."

Xie Ying choked, as if a ghostly hand had grabbed his neck.

“When the assassins carrying the Xie family token tried to kill me time and time again, it was Zhao Yuan who saved me. He was even seriously injured for me and almost lost his life.”

When Yan Zhen spoke of Zhao Yuan, her tone softened, "When the person I thought was my closest and dearest pushed me to the brink, it was he who stayed by my side, protected me, and tolerated me. He gave me my life."

Xie Ying slowly clenched his fist into a fist, his knuckles turning white: "So you advised him, helped him manage Tingzhou, farmed and did business, and supported him in fighting wars?"

“Yes,” Yan Zhen said. “I depend on him for my life. If he loses, I won’t be able to live either. So I have to help him win this world.”

"But don't forget, this world belongs to the Tan family! And you also belong to the Tan family!" Xie Ying gritted his teeth. "The throne was won by the Tan family's ancestors through countless hardships and has been passed down for dozens of generations. How can you do such a rebellious thing and face the Tan family's ancestors and the people of Daliang?"

The late emperor loved you so much when he was alive. If he knew in the afterlife that you not only married a rebel but also helped him seize the throne, how heartbroken he would be!

Yan Zhen remained unmoved by Xie Ying's moral blackmail.

"Since you're going to bring up these grand principles, why don't you first think about why Zhao Yuan rebelled?" Yan Zhen said. "Zhao Yuan wasn't someone who coveted power and wealth. He rebelled because he was forced to the brink of despair and had no choice but to rebel!"

"I don't believe you couldn't have seen how debauched and tyrannical our father was during his lifetime, nor how incompetent our elder brother has been since ascending the throne. Since they are unfit to sit on the throne, it would be better to replace him with someone capable of governing the country well."

"You!!!" Xie Ying stared at her in shock, never expecting that such rebellious words would come from the mouth of the once submissive and gentle woman.

After a long silence, Xie Ying couldn't help but say, "Jun Zhuo, you've disappointed me so much!!!"

Yan Zhen looked back at him, his tone sarcastic: "Lord Xie, you are one too."