Chapter 42: Injured and I have already said goodbye to him...
When they fought just now, Tan Yin felt that her strength was above her own, and she was definitely no match for Luo Wan. Now that Shadow was dead and the situation was hopeless, it would be impossible for her to kill Shen Zhiyan, so she had to give up.
After Tan Yin left, Luo Wan tried to support Shen Zhiyan again, but he pushed her away forcefully.
Shen Zhiyan's eyes were filled with anger: "What did I say? Did I ask you not to kill people?"
If it were someone else, Luo Wan would definitely argue with him: If I don’t kill him, he will kill me.
But now, the person in front of him was Shen Zhiyan. If there was still someone in the world who could make Luo Wan obey without limit, and give without limit, that person could only be Shen Zhiyan.
Meeting Mrs. Shen and Shen Zhiyan was Luo Wan's only definition of happiness in her childhood. So she wouldn't refute him, but she also couldn't agree with Shen Zhiyan's point of view, so she could only bow her head and remain silent.
Like a kitten that ran around and broke a vase and is now being trained obediently.
Shen Zhiyan said: "Why can't you just listen?"
His voice echoed in the dilapidated temple. Luo Wan lowered her eyelashes, her gaze falling on his bloodstained sleeve.
"I..." She opened her mouth, then pursed her lips. The words of defense rolled around on the tip of her tongue, but she finally swallowed them back.
Seeing her silence, Shen Zhiyan's chest heaved violently, straining against the wound, and he groaned. Luo Wan immediately stepped forward, but was pinned to the spot by his gaze.
"You weren't like this before." His voice was hoarse. "You used to..."
He suddenly stopped talking in the middle of his words. The dusty past was like a blunt knife, which only showed its sharpness at this moment. They should all know that childhood cannot replace the present.
Luo Wan said: "But he wants to kill you."
Shen Zhiyan said, "Then let him kill it."
Luo Wan said stubbornly: "No."
Shen Zhiyan said, "There are too many people in this world who want to kill me. Can you kill them all?"
After a pause, Luo Wan said, "I'll take you to see a doctor."
Shen Zhiyan sneered, "And then what? If you can't cure me, will the doctor also become a corpse?"
These words stabbed into her heart like a knife. Luo Wan raised her head abruptly, but stopped the moment she met his gaze. The pair of eyes that always held a gentle smile were now filled with emotions that she could not understand.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside the dilapidated temple, coming closer and closer. Luo Wan instinctively stood in front of Shen Zhiyan.
"Young Master!"
It was a servant from the Shen Mansion. Luo Wan relaxed her tense nerves a little, but she heard Shen Zhiyan say coldly behind her: "Go away."
The three words came out lightly, and Luo Wan did not move until someone from the Shen residence came in to support him. Only then did she make way as if she had just woken up from a dream.
"Your hand..." She subconsciously wanted to check his injury.
Shen Zhiyan avoided her touch: "Don't bother."
The servants were well-trained and gave him a simple bandage. When they saw the black shadow nailed to the wall, they were all stunned for a moment, looked at Luo Wan warily, and asked in a low voice what had happened.
Shen Zhiyan simply said, "Deal with that person on the wall. Don't leave any trace. Return home."
Luo Wan stood there, watching them walk away. This place had been cleaned up and was as clean as if nothing had happened, as if no one had ever died.
As the news of Shen Zhiyan's injury spread, guests came to visit him one after another, handing in visiting cards and entering the mansion to greet him.
When preparing for the poetry and martial arts conference, everyone in the Shen family knew that she was the young master's guest of honor, and could come and go freely without being informed. But today, she stood under the eaves, and no one let her in.
The maid who had delivered the message hurried back, looking embarrassed: "Miss, the young master said... he doesn't want to see you."
Tang Li was anxious and hurried forward: "Sister, please tell her again, our lady is really worried about Mr. Shen's injury!"
The maid hesitated, not daring to disturb her master again.
Seeing this, Tangli quietly put a silver ingot into her palm and whispered, "Just ask again, okay?"
The maid clenched the silver, sighed, turned around and went back into the mansion.
A fine and dense drizzle began to fall from the sky, and the chill climbed up my back along the pillars. The raindrops flew diagonally, wetting my sleeves.
Tangli rubbed her hands and complained softly, "It's not even the rainy season in the capital yet, why has it been raining all these days..."
Luo Wan stood quietly, his eyes fixed on the stone lion in front of the Shen Mansion, and the rain slid down the lion's mane.
Not long after, the maid came back, looking even more embarrassed, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Luo Wan raised her eyes and said softly, "He still doesn't want to see me, right?"
The maid nodded and whispered, "The master said... that the young lady doesn't need to come anymore."
Luo Wan was silent for a moment, tightened his fingertips slightly, and then slowly loosened them.
"Okay." She finally spoke, her voice so calm that no emotion could be heard. "Please tell him a message. I've already said goodbye to him."
After saying that, she turned and walked into the rain, and Tangli hurriedly followed.
"Miss Chi! Please stay!"
A soft female voice came from behind him. Luo Wan paused and looked back.
Liu Shuyi came over holding an umbrella, her steps light and her eyes gentle. Behind her followed two maids, each holding an oil-paper umbrella.
She came closer, handed over the umbrella, and said in a gentle voice: "The rain is getting heavy. If you don't mind, Miss Chi, please take this umbrella."
Tangli quickly took the umbrella and thanked him, "Thank you, ma'am!"
Liu Shuyi smiled slightly, her eyes gently falling on Luo Wan's face, as if with deep meaning. She said, "I heard that you saved Zhiyan. Although I don't know what happened between you that caused him to refuse to see you now. He is not the kind of ungrateful person. I think there may really be some misunderstanding. If you have anything to say to him, I can convey it on your behalf."
Luo Wan said: "Thank you very much, there is no misunderstanding, and I don't have anything to say."
Because she is the kind of person that Shen Zhiyan hates the most, with blood on her hands.
The two of them left. Tang Li, holding an umbrella, followed closely behind Luo Wan. She couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Miss, you clearly had a lot to say to Master Shen before you came. Why... did you only say goodbye in the end?"
Luo Wan didn't stop and said, "If he doesn't want to listen, why should I say anything?"
Tang Li was still puzzled: "But Master Shen treated you so well before, why did you suddenly change?"
Luo Wan said: "It's not that he suddenly changed, it's that he finally saw my true face."
Tang Li was surprised: "What? He, he knows your identity? Then will it be..."
Her voice was low and filled with panic: "Will they expose us? Can our plan still succeed?"
Luo Wan's expression remained unchanged, and he simply asked, "Did Kikyo bring the person here?"
Tangli nodded quickly: "I'm already waiting."
Luo Wan said: "Go directly to the Dali Temple."
*
The main hall of Dali Temple.
Luo Wan stood in the hall in a plain dress, while Platycodon knelt beside her, holding a black lacquered wooden box in her hands, her fingertips turning white from the force.
The Dali Temple Minister seemed to have heard something extremely ridiculous: "You want to report your concubine?"
Luo Wan said, "I want to accuse Feng of three serious crimes. First, she bribed the imperial physician Xu Xuan to prepare a chronic poison, which she mixed into my mother's pregnancy-maintaining medicine every day. Second, she bribed Ye's personal nanny to trick my mother into drinking it. Third..." She suddenly turned around and opened the wooden box in Jie Geng's hand, "She secretly hid my biological mother's dead fetus and made it into an offering to her spirit!"
On the gold brocade in the box, there was a purple-black fetal corpse curled up as big as a forearm. The temple secretary stepped forward to take a look and stepped back in shock.
"Inhumane! Inhumane! Summon the Feng family! Summon the Feng family!"
"Ridiculous!" Feng Yuyun rushed in, holding the maid's hand, without waiting to be summoned. "This slut is clearly holding a grudge against me for betraying her. She bribed the doctor to frame me!"
Jie Geng stared at Feng Yuyun intently, gritting his teeth and saying, "Doctor Xu has already confessed that you instructed him to tamper with the prescription. What else do you have to say?!"
Feng Yuyun glared coldly at Xu Xuan, who was kneeling beside her, and said through gritted teeth, "How can you believe this one-sided statement?"
"What about this?" Kikyo stood up, holding the wooden box, and approached Feng Yuyun. "You must recognize this, right? You've kept it secret for so many years. I thought you were so kind and benevolent, asking a Taoist priest to pray for the reincarnation of your wife and the young master. No wonder you wouldn't let us see the young master's body again after that. It's because you had already mummified him to satisfy your desires!"
Feng Yuyun pushed Ju Geng away and said, "How ridiculous! How can you prove that this is Ye's son?!"
Luo Wan caught the staggering Platycodon and said, "When Doctor Xu was in charge of the clinic before, every expenditure on medicinal materials was recorded in the book. As long as we check the prescription, your sophistry will be exposed."
Feng Yuyun sneered at Luo Wan and said, "Chi Wanwan, you're just a merchant's daughter. How dare you give me orders? Do you think you can touch me with these so-called 'evidence'?"
Luo Wan's eyes were cold and gloomy. Before he could speak, there was a commotion outside the hall.
"Pass on Duke Gu's order!"
Everyone looked back and saw a man holding a token. Luo Wan found him familiar. He was the Gu family retainer and a member of the prince's party whom she had met at the palace banquet.
Upon seeing this, the Temple Secretary quickly stood up to greet him: "Why did Lord Zhang come here in person? What does Duke Gu want to tell you?"
Zhang Dudao said, "I heard that Madam Feng was falsely accused today, so Duke Gu specifically sent me to take a look to prevent some people from... taking advantage of their power to bully others."
Although he did not mention anyone by name, the meaning of his words was directly directed at Luo Wan.
Seeing her backer approach, Feng Yuyun immediately put on a look of grievance: "Master Zhang, please understand! I don't know who ordered them to accuse me of murdering Ye, and they even fabricated evidence to frame me!"
Zhang Du nodded, then turned to look at the Temple Secretary and said, "There's insufficient evidence in this case. If we rush into a verdict, I'm afraid it wouldn't be appropriate, right?"
Cold sweat broke out on the Temple Secretary's forehead as he weighed the pros and cons in his mind. On one side was the testimony of the merchant's daughter and several maids, and on the other was the pressure from the prince's party. He hesitated for a moment, and finally whispered, "Master Zhang is right. This case requires further investigation. Why not..."
"Sir!" Kikyo took a step forward anxiously, "The evidence is irrefutable, how can..."
"How dare you!" Zhang Du interrupted harshly, "You are not allowed to make noise in this court!"
Luo Wan said, "Master Zhang has such great authority that he even interferes with the Dali Temple's trials?"
Zhang Du said with a half-smile, "Miss Chi, you are wrong. I am only following the orders of Duke Gu to ensure fairness."
Luo Wan scoffed. "Fairness? If Duke Gu really cared about fairness, why didn't he investigate the truth behind Ye's death? Why didn't he ask why Feng secretly hid the stillborn baby and why she colluded with Xu Xuan?"
Zhang Du said, "Miss Chi, be careful with your words."
Luo Wan stopped looking at him and turned to face the Temple Secretary. His voice was clear: "If you abuse your power today and bend the law, and the truth comes out one day, I wonder if Duke Gu will protect you?"
Gu came forward to protect Feng Yuyun only because he was afraid that Feng Yuyun would go to jail and implicate Chi Jingan, thus revealing Gu's activities.
The temple secretary's expression suddenly changed, and he did not dare to make any rash judgment for a moment.
Zhang Du said, "Miss Chi is very sharp-tongued, but unfortunately, some things cannot be decided by your words. You need to recognize your own identity."
He raised his hand and waved, and two guards immediately brought up a middle-aged woman. The woman knelt on the ground, her voice trembling, "That day, that day, I passed by the Temple of the God of War and saw two girls fighting in front of the temple. Later, one of them returned to the temple and actually killed the man in black..."
Zhang Du pointed at Luo Wan and said, "Look up, is that her?"
The woman raised her head in panic, and her pupils shrank when her eyes met Luo Wan's face: "Yes...it's this girl!"
Zhang Du said, "A few days ago, Master Shen of the Prime Minister's Mansion was assassinated. It's said that he was with Miss Chi of the Chi Mansion at the time. I'm wondering how Chi Wanwan, who has been frail and sickly since childhood, could suddenly become a martial arts master."
Zhang Du pointed at Luo Wan and spoke word by word, "She! She's not Chi Wanwan at all. She's an assassin impersonating her, trying to frame Madam Feng!"
Luo Wan said, "Master Zhang, isn't it ridiculous to conclude that I'm not Chi Wanwan based on just one person's words? You clearly saw me at the palace banquet, and all the officials in the court know I'm Chi Wanwan. You're making such a hasty conclusion. Why not ask the person involved, Master Shen, if I've ever fought anyone else?"
Zhang Dudao said, "Everyone in the capital knows that you are his favorite student. How can he testify for you?"
Luo Wan said: "Master Zhang, what you mean is that Master Shen will not distinguish right from wrong and protect me?"
Zhang Du swung his sleeves. "Fine words and flattery! Anyway, this matter will eventually be heard by the Dali Temple. As for the outcome... no matter what it is, it won't be what you want."
"Yeah?"
Suddenly, a cold and distant voice came from outside the hall.
Luo Wan was slightly startled. She was familiar with this voice. It was Jiang Cichen.
But when she turned around, she hardly recognized him.
Jiang Cichen was dressed in a dark brocade robe. His face was pale, the color drained from his lips, but his eyes remained as deep and cold as a icy pond. His figure was as straight as a pine tree, and each step he took seemed ordinary, but Luo Wan knew he was holding on for dear life.
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