Chapter 43 Fury

The moment the carriage came to a stop, he silently stepped forward and scooped her up in his arms, ignoring her struggles and dissatisfaction. Chunzhi watched helplessly as the young lady was carried into the manor by the Marquis of Yan without looking back.

Ji Shu sensed his anger. His expression seemed normal, but his eyes were gloomy.

He was clearly suppressing his anger, like the prelude to a thunderstorm or the eve of a storm.

Pei Yanzhi strode forward without saying a word, but the bulging veins on his forehead seemed to indicate that some extremely intense emotion was surging in his veins.

The moment he stepped into Ji Shu's house, the door slammed shut with a loud bang, shutting out the outside world. Ji Shu was then thrown onto the soft couch.

Pei Yanzhi's face darkened. He pressed his finger against her chin, forcing her to look up, and asked, "You don't want to marry me, do you want to be Xingjian's concubine? Or do you not want either?"

Ji Shu turned her head away, her heart aching with anger at his words. She blurted out, "Yes, I don't want to marry you. The young master is younger than you and better than you in every way. Why would I choose you over a young and handsome man?"

She took a deep breath: "Besides, the Crown Prince also said that he would not make me a concubine."

Once those words were spoken, there was no going back; that was not Ji Shu's original intention at all.

Pei Yanzhi got his answer, sneered, and approached her face step by step, his cool and hot breath hitting her face.

Ji Shu closed her eyes, trying to distance herself from him, but the back of her neck was firmly held in his grasp, preventing her from moving.

"Is that so? Do you think he can just call off this marriage whenever he wants? Or did you want him to see the marks of another man on your body the day you two slept together? I don't mind a woman serving two husbands."

His gaze gradually fell on her belt, then he tapped her chest and moved down to whisper in her ear, "Would it be more fun to serve me during the day and then Xingjian at night?"

A sudden heat spread from my face to my ears. What outrageous words!

Ji Shu was so angry at his words that she almost fainted. She was so ashamed that tears streamed down her face, half from anger and half from humiliation.

Seeing her angry and indignant expression, Pei Yanzhi's anger finally subsided a little.

He rushed back from the border of Chongzhou without stopping for her. Why? Simply because he wanted to see her.

She was even thinking about how to resolve her situation with Xingjian the whole way, but she was thinking about how to distance herself from him.

How could he not be angry or annoyed?

Seeing her tears, however, brought a pang of unbearable pain to my heart.

Ji Shu wiped her cheeks and looked at him calmly: "My lord, don't you think it's ironic? On one hand, you said you wanted to marry me, but now you're acting like this. Do you think I'm so lowly that I can't live without a man?"

Pei Yanzhi didn't know what she was bothered by. Isn't it the proper thing for a woman to follow her husband after marriage?

At her age, she should either be looking for a husband at home or getting married early.

Now that he has already lost his virginity to himself, is he wrong?

Pei Yanzhi looked at her with a deep gaze, his eyes unreadable: "Since that's the case, I hope you won't regret it later."

"I will never regret it. I hope that Marquis Yan will stop bothering me. I don't want to enter the Marquis's mansion. I just want to live a good life with my own hands."

After these words were spoken, the room fell into an even more deathly silence.

He suddenly stood up, without the expected thunderous rage. He simply lowered his eyes and silently looked at her for a moment, but his gaze was as deep as a bottomless, icy pool.

Finally, he let go, turned around, and walked away without looking back.

Pei Yanzhi left, and the room was silent except for Ji Shu's own rapid heartbeat. The intense conflict just now felt like a nightmare.

He returned to the secluded garden and took out the sachet that Ji Shu had given him during the Lantern Festival, playing with it in his hands.

His complexion was dull and unclear.

Seeing that his lord was preoccupied, Lu Changming hesitated for a long time.

He asked, "My lord, Lady Ji's mind is not that of an ordinary woman. Since it is difficult to sway her heart, why not use some means to make her understand that only you, my lord, are her only support?"

Pei Yanzhi remained silent. For the first time in his more than thirty years of life, he had encountered setbacks everywhere and been disliked by others. The feeling was indescribable.

Night fell.

A series of urgent knocks on the door shattered the calm before the storm.

Ji Shu lay on her side on the small couch, her eyes slightly closed. Chunzhi opened the door and saw Chang Wu waiting at the door, whispering something to him.

Chunzhi looked surprised and instructed, "Please invite the person to the main hall, and I will inform the young lady immediately."

Chunzhi quietly entered and whispered to Ji Shu, who had her eyes closed, "Young lady, Changwu just said that the young master has arrived."

Ji Shu suddenly opened her eyes and turned her head. "Why is he here? Did I expose my whereabouts on the way here?"

Chunzhi shook her head, clearly not expecting it either. First came the Marquis of Yan, and now the Crown Prince has arrived; it's truly as if they've all come together.

Pei Xingjian walked all the way to the main hall, absentmindedly drinking his tea. All the way, he couldn't wait to see Ji Shu.

In just the last few days, Pei Xingjian and the Wei family had a complete falling out.

Specifically, it all started after Pei Xingjian and Ji Shu parted ways at Furong Pavilion that day. He went directly to Wei Ziming and asked Wei Heng to be his secondary wife.

Upon hearing this, Wei Ziming flew into a rage and bluntly stated that he was being incredibly insulting. He said that the term "equivalent wife" sounded nice, implying that the wife would receive the same treatment as the principal wife, but in reality, the principal wife was just a concubine.

It's just that the name sounds better.

Pei Xingjian had previously threatened to annul the engagement, but when that failed, he now made Heng'er his secondary wife. This was simply outrageous; did they think the Wei family had no one left?

After these words were spoken, they somehow reached Wei Heng's ears. That night, she attempted suicide by cutting her wrists. If her personal maid hadn't discovered her in time, she would probably have already lost her life.

When Pei Xingjian stepped into the room, the lingering smell of blood and medicine was still present. Wei Heng lay on the bed, her face pale and her eyes closed.

The moment Wei Ziming saw Pei Xingjian enter, a surge of rage rose within him: "What are you doing here? You've already driven my sister to suicide, and the entire Wei family has become a complete laughingstock. Are you satisfied with this outcome?"

He gritted his teeth: "Or do you insist that my sister prove her innocence with her death, so that you can have your way?"

Pei Xingjian stepped back, his eyes slightly red. He hadn't expected Wei Heng to do such a thing, which was tantamount to putting him in an unjust and immoral position.

He could even imagine his father's fury. For his father, Yanzhou was more important than anything else, and the Pei family was like his heart.

He was now essentially stabbing Pei Yanzhi in the heart.

"Brother Ziming, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it this way, I'm so sorry..." he apologized incoherently.

He staggered out and ran to the gate, where he mounted his horse. His only thought at that moment was to find Shu'er.