Chapter 165 Zhi'er and I have already gone through the wedding ceremony.

The middle-aged man rushed over and slapped him hard across the face, saying, "I'll deal with you when we get back!"

"Lord Shen, my son is young and doesn't know what's good for him. This is all a misunderstanding. Please be lenient." The middle-aged man bowed and begged for mercy.

Shen Ci'an simply shook his head. "These are Lord Lu's men. Please forgive me for being powerless to help. Since the rare book is not on Master Qian's person, there is nothing more for us to discuss. Farewell."

After saying that, he took Jiang Zhi and prepared to leave.

"Master Shen, Master Shen, stay..."

At this moment, Feng Shaoyuan, who had been silent all along, spoke up, "Zhi'er, so your fiancé is not Lord Lu, but this Imperial Envoy Lord Shen?"

“Zhi’er?” Shen Ci’an stopped in his tracks upon hearing this address, calmly looking at Feng Shaoyuan. “Who are you? What happened to make you think Lu Yuan is her fiancé?”

"My name is Feng Shaoyuan, and I am Zhi'er's cousin. As for what happened—"

Feng Shaoyuan glanced at Jiang Zhi and smiled knowingly, "It's just a little misunderstanding between me and Zhi'er, nothing to mention."

Shen Ci'an's clear gaze also turned cold.

cousin?

He was very sensitive to those two words.

The identity of his cousin was far too dangerous for him.

Judging from their familiar demeanor, the two had clearly known each other for a long time, and perhaps they were childhood sweethearts before the Feng family left Beijing.

The thought sent alarm bells through his mind, and he stepped forward, standing between Jiang Zhi and Feng Shaoyuan to block their view.

"So it's you, brother-in-law, from Shen Ci'an," he said with a faint smile. "My wife and I will be getting married soon. If you have time, please come to the capital to attend the wedding banquet."

Feng Shaoyuan sensed his obvious hostility and snorted inwardly.

I just thought Lu Yuan, that martial artist, was no good, but now this Shen Ci'an is even more absurd.

She flaunted her status as his fiancé. If she hadn't left the capital when she was young, with the relationship between the Jiang and Feng families, what chance would she have against Shen Ci'an?

“I will naturally attend the wedding banquet, after all, Zhi’er and I have already exchanged vows,” he smiled with narrowed eyes, the beauty mark at the corner of his eye becoming more and more obvious. “Now that we are getting married, my cousin will definitely prepare a grand gift.”

Have you gone through the wedding ceremony?

Shen Ci'an and Lu Yuan were both stunned, their icy gazes fixed on Jiang Zhi.

Jiang Zhi was also startled by Feng Shaoyuan's words and waved her hands repeatedly, "It was just playing house when we were little, it can't be taken seriously."

Why does my cousin Shaoyuan always blurt out everything?

On the surface, Shen Ci'an appeared calm, but in his heart, he had already classified Feng Shaoyuan as a dangerous person.

He subtly led Jiang Zhi further away from Feng Shaoyuan, saying, "That's perfect, brother-in-law can come and see the real wedding ceremony between her and me."

“I remember when Zhi’er was little, she loved sweets. Her aunt was afraid that Zhi’er would get bad teeth from eating too much, so she always kept her from eating too much. Every time we went out to play, she would always make me secretly bring a lot of candy,” Feng Shaoyuan said nonchalantly, looking at Shen Ci’an with a half-smile. “I wonder if she has changed this bad habit now?”

Shen Ci'an's face was already very ugly.

He had no interest in hearing about their childhood, and simply snorted, "I will take care of the young lady from now on; there's no need for her brother-in-law to worry."

“That would be best,” Feng Shaoyuan winked at Jiang Zhi. “If your husband treats you badly after you get married, you can come to Fuli to find your grandmother and me. No matter what outsiders say, we are the blood relatives.”

Shen Ci'an's eyes darkened. "Don't worry, I won't give Miss that chance."

The two were evenly matched, neither willing to back down.

Only the wealthy man, Mr. Qian, finally couldn't hold back any longer and weakly said, "Um... Lord Shen, could you please release my son first? We became friends after our fight, it's fate, what a coincidence."

He never imagined that the imperial envoy, Lord Shen, who was far away in the capital, would actually be Feng Shaoyuan's cousin-in-law.

If he had known this would happen, he would never have let Qian Wenrui steal that rare book; he would have been too busy currying favor with Feng Shaoyuan.

Now look what's happened, everything's been messed up.

Before Shen Ci'an could even retract his cold and stern expression, he said, "I have already made it very clear that these are Lord Lu's subordinates, and are not within my jurisdiction. I ask Lord Lu to make the decision."

When he lowered his eyes to face Jiang Zhi, his furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and the coldness around him subsided considerably. "Miss, let's go back first."

Jiang Zhi nodded and bid farewell to Feng Shaoyuan, "Cousin Shaoyuan, I will send someone to deliver the invitations. If Grandmother and Uncle and Aunt are available, please invite them to the banquet in Kyoto as well. Please remember to give them my regards."

Even so, Jiang Zhi knew that probably only Feng Shaoyuan would come.

After all, if so many members of the Feng family were to set foot in Kyoto, the city would likely be in turmoil.

Feng Shaoyuan nodded. "Okay, I will. Take care on your journey."

Jiang Zhi thought for a moment, then walked to Lu Yuan's side and whispered, "Lord Lu, I have a favor to ask."

"Speak," Lu Yuan said coldly, but when he saw her coming, his tense jawline relaxed considerably.

"I would appreciate it if Lord Lu could keep an eye on the Feng family while he works under Fu Li. I'm afraid Qian Wenrui will hold a grudge," she said worriedly.

Lu Yuan glanced at her and said, "Why don't we just kill her to prevent future troubles?"

Upon hearing this, Master Qian turned pale with fright. "No, no, no, absolutely not! I guarantee that our Qian family will always treat the Feng family with utmost respect and will never have any disrespectful thoughts."

He would think that anyone else was just trying to scare him, but the person in front of him was the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who was in charge of the imperial prison.

They could be convicted and their families wiped out with a mere fabricated charge; how could they dare to act recklessly?

Jiang Zhi knew that Lu Yuan was just trying to scare the Qian family.

Although he appears cold and ruthless, he is not the type to kill indiscriminately.

“Master Qian has made such a guarantee, but he can be spared the death penalty, though he can’t escape punishment,” Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow. “Take him back and lock him up for a few days to ‘keep a close eye on’ him. As for these yamen runners, you can deal with them as well.”

The Imperial Guard immediately obeyed, "Your subordinate obeys!"

Feng Shaoyuan escorted Jiang Zhi all the way to the ship before bidding them farewell.

As Shen Ci'an watched the boat sail away, Jiang Zhi was still gazing at the shore from the stern, feeling quite uneasy. "Is Miss reluctant to leave Fuli?"

“Yes,” Jiang Zhi sighed, “I haven’t seen my maternal grandmother and the others for many years. Now they are so close, yet we still can’t meet.”

Shen Ci'an let her rest her head on his shoulder, "After we return to the capital and get married, I'll find some time to take you to Fuli again so you can personally visit your maternal grandmother's family."

"Okay." Jiang Zhi remained worried.

It seems there are many things waiting for her in Kyoto.