Chapter 175 He bit her lips hard.

Jiang Zhi and Lu Yuan stepped into the small earthen house.

The house was extremely poor and abandoned. After Xianglian left, no one came to occupy it, and it remained vacant, which shows how dilapidated it was.

The place had been thoroughly searched by the Imperial Guards, so Jiang Zhi naturally couldn't find anything new.

"You and Li Yuanhu have known each other for a long time?" Lu Yuan suddenly asked her.

Jiang Zhi rummaged under the wooden bed and could only smell a musty, rotten odor. "Yes, I used to ask him for help when I needed it."

"Is that so?" Lu Yuan sneered. "Li Yuanhu is not someone you can afford to mess with. You must have paid a high price to get him to help you, right?"

If it weren't for my presence earlier, Li Yuanhu would never have greeted me with such a smile and answered all my questions.

It would be strange if they didn't skin her alive.

Jiang Zhi paused, her hand stilling on the scroll. Feeling a little guilty, she didn't dare look at him and mumbled, "It's alright."

To everyone's surprise, Lu Yuan smiled and said, "Indeed, it's alright. After all, she's my woman. Li Yuanhu is wary of her, so he has to give me face no matter what."

He guessed it.

Jiang Zhi knew inwardly that something was wrong.

But then she thought, so much time has passed, and she's helping him investigate the case now, how could he possibly hold such a small matter against her?

So he simply stopped trying to hide it, saying, "At that time, I was all alone with no help, so I could only act in the name of Lord Lu."

She smiled ingratiatingly at Lu Yuan, "I believe Lord Lu wouldn't be so petty as to mind."

Lu Yuan stepped forward with a cold face, looking down at her.

He was tall, almost reaching the roof of the small mud house, with broad shoulders and back like a sturdy pine tree supporting the sky, easily casting Jiang Zhi's entire body in shadow.

So it turns out she'd been using him all along.

Why can't I mind?

Jiang Zhi was already half-squatting by the bed, and when Lu Yuan leaned down, she involuntarily leaned back until her back was against the edge of the bed.

“Li Yuanhu won’t go around spreading rumors. Lord Lu, as a man, aren’t you afraid of damaging your reputation? This is a last resort for me.”

The two were so close that Jiang Zhi found it hard to breathe.

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes. "A helpless move? Now that Li Yuanhu thinks I'm married to you, how am I supposed to explain this to him if I fall in love with someone else in the future?"

"You've ruined my reputation, shouldn't you take responsibility for that?"

Jiang Zhi stared blankly at him.

The more Lu Yuan spoke, the more it sounded like she had seduced him and then abandoned him.

She swallowed nervously, "Then what does Lord Lu want?"

Lu Yuan's breath drew closer to her, his eyes churning like a turbulent sea. "Since you've claimed to be my woman time and time again, I should at least make that claim official."

His eyes were so sharp it seemed he wanted to tear Jiang Zhi apart from head to toe. His emotions shifted several times, and before she could react, he bit her lip hard.

Jiang Zhi cried out in shock, but as soon as she opened her mouth, the taste of blood mixed with his scent, intertwining with her like vines climbing in.

Lu Yuan just stared at her, his movements fierce and tinged with venting his anger.

Jiang Zhi reached out to push, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree; it didn't budge.

He was like a mountain that suddenly crashed down, carrying the force of thunder, leaving her breathless and unable to move.

Her back ached from the hard edge of the bed, forcing her to lean back.

"Ugh... let go..."

"I won't let go." He knelt on the ground, one hand gripping the back of her head tightly, almost as if he were embedding her into his body. His eyes were cold and fierce, like a beast facing its prey.

Jiang Zhi felt a tingling sensation on her scalp and difficulty breathing.

Just then, a teeth-grinding "squeak" came from behind.

Jiang Zhi realized something and patted his shoulder.

However, Lu Yuan's mind was consumed by jealousy, and his usual vigilance and quick reflexes were thrown to the back of his mind.

When he finally pulled away, there was a "crack" sound, and the wooden bed behind Jiang Zhi cracked!

Lu Yuan's pupils contracted sharply. He quickly turned around while holding Jiang Zhi, and then his back slammed heavily to the ground with a thud.

The expected pain did not come. When Jiang Zhi opened her eyes, she found herself lying on Lu Yuan.

"Are you alright..." Lu Yuan began to speak.

With a sharp "smack," he received a slap across the face.

Jiang Zhi straightened up, her hair slightly disheveled, and there was still a suspicious glint of saliva on the corner of her lips.

She stared at him intently, her chest heaving violently.

She tried to get off him, but he held her waist. She was sore and weak that she couldn't even lift her feet. She struggled for a long time but couldn't get down.

This caused Lu Yuan's breathing to become even heavier.

"If Madam Shen makes any further moves, things won't be as simple as they were just now." The threatening tone in his words was self-evident.

"You know I'm Madam Shen!" Jiang Zhi gritted her teeth and fiercely wiped the water from the corners of her lips with her sleeve.

Even if he was angry that she had used him and wanted to teach her a lesson, he didn't mean to.

How can we use this method?

Lu Yuan calmed down, his face still numb and itchy from her soft, boneless slap, and he even felt a little unsatisfied.

Madam Shen?

So what?

Lu Yuan, a former member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, was already treacherous and ruthless, with a notorious reputation. Adding another charge of stealing another man's wife wouldn't be a big deal.

However, it's best to keep these secret thoughts to yourself, so as not to frighten her.

"Let's leave it at that that Madam Shen used me," he said, releasing his grip on her waist. "I will not pursue this further."

Jiang Zhi almost laughed out of anger.

Just as I was about to scold him a few more times, I suddenly heard a rustling sound.

She frowned and looked in the direction of the sound, and saw several large gray rats darting out from under the collapsed bed, their bodies close to the ground as they moved quickly toward her.

Her eyes widened and she screamed suddenly, completely forgetting what had just happened. She scrambled onto Lu Yuan with both hands and feet.

"Quick, quick, quick! There are mice!!"

She got goosebumps all over her body, and her voice was trembling.

In her past life, in Yan Wenkang's backyard, he knew she was afraid of mice, so to punish her, he often locked her in the woodshed and let the mice bite her.

This has caused her to have a phobia of seeing these things now.

Lu Yuan supported her slender waist with one hand and glanced down at her.

They were just a few little creatures that had been frightened and run away.

Lu Yuan kicked them away casually, and the rats scurried around his feet again, seemingly without any clue.

Jiang Zhi's voice changed tone, "Ah—hurry up and chase them away!"

She wished she could bury herself in Lu Yuan's arms, with him supporting her waist so that her toes couldn't even touch the ground, and her thighs could only wrap around his strong, slender waist.

"So scared?" Lu Yuan tightened his grip on her hand and noticed that she was trembling all over.