Fu Zhen awoke to the sll of herbs.
She stared blankly at the top of the tent for a mont, then sat up suddenly. When her gaze t the person sitting by the window, she froze and sat on the edge of the bed.
"You’re awake?"
Every word in that sentence had the languid and lazy tone of a hunter facing their caged prey.
Light stread in from the window behind him, casting a halo on the ground. He was bathed in the beam, his contours sharp and crisp, his indistinct features adding to his depth.
Just as arrogant as when he was a child!
The room had only one door and one window, with the window behind him and the door to his right, and Fu Zhen was indeed like a turtle in a jar—no, no, no, she wasn’t a turtle, at least a trapped "beast"!
She lay back on the bed, staring at the tent top for a while, then turned and propped herself up on one elbow, blatantly watching him.
The more she looked, the more incredible it seed.
She clearly rembered that when he was a child, he was chubby and adorably dumb, with soft, rosy cheeks that were delightful to squeeze. Who would have thought he would grow so tall and fierce, and increasingly ill-mannered, always pretending to play cat-and-mouse!
The Pei family’s eldest brother and sister-in-law were also quite amiable and kindhearted, one was cheerful and upright, the other gentle and benevolent. How did they raise their son to be such a fierce god?
Earlier, when she blacked out, she thought she was going to confess her fate under his sword today. Unexpectedly, after waking up, she was still forced to reminisce with him.
Pei Zhan adopted the posture of interrogating a military criminal, simply to save trouble, scaring her into compliance early so it would be more convenient to ask questions.
But she was neither afraid nor embarrassed, supporting her head with her hand and looking him up and down—
The Pei Family and the Fu Family both lived in Yuji Square, even on the sa alley. He wasn’t interested in other families in the neighborhood, but the forr owner of the Fu Residence was the famous minister of the forr dynasty, Fu Ziyu. Naturally, he had been curious about the successors of the Fu Residence.
He knew that the Fu Family had married the daughter of the famous rchant Ning Pochi. Although Ning Pochi was not an official, as a forr Imperial rchant, he was once quite powerful. In the early years, there was unrest in the Northwest and the national treasury was empty. It was Mr. Ning who provided a large sum of silver to support the frontier.
Since she was the eldest Miss of the Fu family, she must be the granddaughter of Ning Pochi.
All other unreasonable things can be disregarded, but why would the weak granddaughter of the Ning Family have an interest in the Liang Family?
"If you don’t speak up, I’ll have to ask your father to explain in court about your night-ti peeping deeds."
Pei Zhan lowered his voice by another notch, then turned sideways to take a sip of tea.
Killing intent rose around him like smoke.
In the past, even the most cunning enemies would weigh the situation after seeing this. Pei Zhan always knew how to handle matters.
Liang Ning had seen such scenes many tis before!
First, the Liang Family had plenty of people as fiercely intent as him, her father, her brother, her nephews, and those generals in the Northwest, she had dealt with many like them.
Moreover, she was Liang Ning, the Aunt of his family friends, his elder! No matter how tall he grew, he was still her nephew.
When she pinched his chubby face as a child, he was also visibly displeased, but she pinched anyway! And after pinching, she even kneaded it in her palm like dough!
Such conduct!
The more he acted like this, the more she unabashedly scrutinized his chest, his abdon, his waistline.
As her eyes gradually adjusted to the indoor light, she could now see him clearly from head to toe.
More than a dozen years without seeing, the young man had undergone quite the transformation.
Aside from his no-longer-babyish features, the child who used to wear cloth robes and had his hair tied in a top knot now wore a simply styled yet extrely well-crafted brocade robe and shoes.
The stitching was undoubtedly the product of the most famous embroidery workshop, the headpiece wasn’t flashy, but the jade was exceptionally gentle in texture.
His long, slender hands were gently clenched, with knuckles distinct like bamboo joints. There were a few scars on the right hand holding the cup, no doubt left by years of battles. Alas, it’s not easy for anyone.
That said, his manners might lack a bit, but he’s grown quite pleasing to the eye, gathering all the good traits of his parents.
What a pity!
If Liang Ning were still alive, she’d now be twenty-two. Calculating by that, he’d be around twenty, and ordinary people’s children would be running everywhere by now, aning he would probably have married a niece, and have little grandnephews.
If it were soone else, Fu Zhen might tease a bit, but with a married man, it was inappropriate, that would not only be improper but also disrespectful for her age!
Under his knife-like gaze, Fu Zhen cleared her throat, withdrew her hand, and sat up straight.
"What you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Clearly, it was you chasing down the street until I had nowhere left to run, causing my old ailnt to flare up, nearly dying, which would prevent from fulfilling filial duties to my parents.
"Now that I finally wake up, instead of apologizing to , you scare and question . Is it fitting to treat a weak lady this way? Aren’t you just bullying with power?"
She did know how to falsely accuse and reverse black and white!
When Liang Ning was a kid, she was the bully of the capital city. No other young lady of the sa age in the Military General Mansion had her status, and those younger didn’t have her seniority. She led the children from various families to play in the streets all the ti, and she was the leader. Whoever caused trouble needed her to claim responsibility!
But with so many followers, how could she take all the bla for the mischief caused? Couldn’t take the beating until her butt was swollen, right?
Had to find a way to argue, naturally?
Young Cheng Chili from the Cheng family—yes! The sa fat one who blocked her at the teahouse door earlier!
Cheng Chili studied in the sa class with Pei Zhan, one day he didn’t finish his howork, so he secretly tore Pei Zhan’s howork to hand in as his own to the teacher.
Pei Zhan was infuriated and confronted Cheng Chili, who hastily sought her backing. Firstly—it was certainly Cheng Chili’s fault, but Pei Zhan had ripped his book too!
Torn his book and wanting to report to the teacher, of course, she would support Cheng Chili, who regularly brought her tea and behaved sensibly!
That ti, with her nimble tongue, she managed to smooth things over with the teacher.
Pei Zhan, for so reason, ended up wailing with anger and ran to find his elder brother.
Now that Liang Ning was dead, it seed Cheng Chili had followed Pei Zhan. If he hadn’t happened to block the door today, would she have been chased to near exhaustion?
Well, since she and Pei Zhan had already reconnected, she’d find a day to catch up with Cheng Chili too.
"You fulfilling filial duties?"
Opposite her, Pei Zhan glanced sidelong at her and then burst out laughing.
Earlier, while the doctor treated her, he had questioned her two guards.
This questioning made him recall that the skulduggery in the rear mountain of Baihe Temple a few days ago was also instigated by the Fu Family.
At the ti he was too far away to see the person who kicked over Fu Jun clearly, but later he thought, could it have been her?
Zhang Yang and the others hemd and hawed, but that was as good as confirming it.
In other words, a frail young lady who had nearly entered the ghost gate several tis, now lay unconscious here due to his chase over a street, yet was capable enough at midnight to climb the big tree in front of the Minister General Mansion to peep, and during the day unhesitatingly kicked over her vigorous father.
However she learned martial arts with such a frail fra lets not even debate.
But to say she wants to be filial after striking her father in public?
Isn’t she embarrassed?
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