assassination
Qin Lingfeng suddenly stood up.
He paced back and forth in the study for a moment, then ordered in a deep voice, "Investigate further! I need to know everything about Jiang Manyan in the Song family, the more detailed the better! Especially everything related to Song Guansui!"
"Also, send more people to closely monitor all suspicious individuals coming from the central area who may be connected to the Song family. We must not allow them to approach the core area of Jinxi Town!"
His voice was cold, carrying an undeniable protectiveness.
Learning about Jiang Manyan's past did not deter him; instead, it made his feelings even stronger and more resolute.
His slow-moving cigarettes, once unprotected and bullied by everyone, are now protected by him. No one can touch them now!
The Song family? Song Guansui? If they dare to extend their reach here… A cold, sharp glint flashed in Qin Lingfeng’s eyes.
He now understood even more why Jiang Manyan was so wary of the "Qin family".
They were also more eager to break the ice between them caused by misunderstandings and pressure.
He had to let him know that he was different from the Song family and those corrupt nobles in the central district.
However, how should one bring it up? Should one directly admit that one already knows about his past? Would that touch upon his painful memories and make him even more reluctant to leave?
Qin Lingfeng fell into a new period of contemplation and struggle. Knowing the secret brought even more complex problems.
_ _ _
While Qin Zhao and Qin Rui's public antics were certainly annoying, Jiang Manyan didn't really take them seriously.
He focused more on dealing with potential threats from the Song or Liu families in the central district, and on accelerating the construction of Jincheng.
However, he underestimated the ruthlessness and decisiveness of the Qin family elders. For these old-fashioned nobles who were used to controlling everything, the best way to deal with a "variable" that could not be controlled by the family and might even affect the heir was to completely eliminate it.
On a dark and windy night, several shadowy figures sneaked into the increasingly heavily guarded core area of Jinxi Town like ghosts.
They were highly skilled, well-trained, and worked in perfect coordination, avoiding both overt and covert checkpoints, and heading straight for the Jiang residence with a clear objective.
These people were the true sharp blades dispatched by the Qin family elders to carry out the kill order.
Jiang Manyan was reviewing the city wall construction plans in her study, the candlelight flickering.
Suddenly, a very slight rustling of tiles came from outside the window, along with a muffled groan—the sound of his hidden guards being instantly dealt with!
The sense of crisis pierced his very bones like an ice pick! He abruptly blew out the candle and nimbly rolled under the desk.
Almost simultaneously, several loud crashes rang out as the window shattered and several poisoned crossbow bolts accurately struck the spot where he had just been sitting!
Immediately afterwards, the door was violently kicked open, and three assassins in black pounced in like ghosts, their blades flashing, heading straight for the desk where he was hiding!
Jiang Manyan's heart trembled violently. These people's skills and decisiveness were far beyond those of ordinary assassins! He drew his short blade and dodged with all his might. He was agile and could barely keep up, but his physical condition was ultimately too poor. After a few exchanges, he clearly felt his strength waning, just as he was about to prepare for a desperate fight—
"clang--!"
A deafening clang of metal clashing rang out!
A figure in black, like lightning tearing through the night, burst through the window with astonishing speed. His long sword, carrying immense force, forcefully deflected a fatal blow that was about to touch Jiang Manyan's throat!
It's Qin Lingfeng!
What is he doing here?! Shouldn't he be at the Qin family's villa outside town?!
Jiang Manyan's mind went blank. She could only see Qin Lingfeng's tall, resolute back standing firmly in front of her, instantly entangled in a fierce battle with the assassins.
The sword light was like a waterfall, each move a desperate struggle, and he actually managed to block the combined attack of three top masters all by himself!
"Go!" Qin Lingfeng roared without turning his head, his voice filled with a tearing, panting sound due to the extreme power that erupted in an instant.
He had clearly come at a breakneck speed, and was still out of breath.
But the assassins were clearly well-trained. One of them used a suicide attack to hold Qin Lingfeng back, while the other two bypassed him like venomous snakes and pounced on Jiang Manyan again.
Qin Lingfeng's eyes were bloodshot with rage. In order to protect him, he had no choice but to risk his life and take the blow from the attacker on his back.
At the same time, he stabbed his heart with a backhand sword, thus managing to escape and intercept him!
Blood gushed out from his shoulder instantly!
In the chaos, a sharp, cold light pierced straight towards Jiang Manyan's heart! The angle was tricky, and the speed was extremely fast!
Qin Lingfeng didn't have time to completely block. Without the slightest hesitation, he suddenly shielded Jiang Manyan behind him and used his chest to meet the poisoned dagger!
At the same time, his longsword was thrust out at an incredible angle, precisely slicing open the assassin's throat!
"Pfft—!"
The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh was dull and suffocating.
The poisoned dagger was almost completely embedded in Qin Lingfeng's lower left chest, just a hair's breadth away from his heart!
Time seemed to freeze at that moment. Qin Lingfeng's body suddenly stiffened, and all his movements instantly became rigid.
Blood gushed out of the terrible wound like a spring, instantly staining his black robes red and splashing all over Jiang Manyan's face and body.
Seeing that the opportunity was rare, the other assassins launched an even more urgent attack!
"Qin Lingfeng—!"
Jiang Manyan let out a heart-wrenching scream, as if her heart had been crushed in an instant, and she was completely engulfed by immense fear and despair!
With his last ounce of strength, Qin Lingfeng turned around and hugged Jiang Manyan, using his severely injured body as a final shield.
He managed to deflect another slash, but at the cost of another deep, bone-revealing wound on his waist!
He finally couldn't hold on any longer and fell heavily forward, shielding Jiang Manyan tightly beneath him.
"……Walk……"
He uttered the last barely audible syllable, and warm blood continued to gush from his mouth, dripping onto Jiang Manyan's neck.
His gaze quickly became unfocused, and he completely lost consciousness.
"Qin Lingfeng! Qin Lingfeng..."
Jiang Manyan collapsed, holding his limp, rapidly cooling body, futilely trying to cover the horrific wound that was gushing blood, only to find it was completely useless.
The sheer volume and speed of the blood loss made it impossible to doubt that life was rapidly slipping away.
Jiang Zhong and his guards finally broke through the obstacles and arrived, engaging in a fierce battle with the remaining assassins.
But Jiang Manyan could neither hear nor see anything.
In his world, all that remained was Qin Lingfeng's pale, lifeless face and the blood that seemed to flow endlessly.
The doctors were urgently summoned, and they all gasped when they saw the wound.
The treatment process was long and arduous; basins of bloody water were brought out one after another, and everyone's faces were solemn.
Jiang Manyan stood motionless by the bedside, like a puppet whose soul had been taken away, her face even more pale than that of the unconscious Qin Lingfeng.
For five whole days, Qin Lingfeng struggled repeatedly on the verge of high fever, excruciating pain, and death.
Each time her breath weakened, it felt like a slow, agonizing torture to Jiang Manyan's heart.
He stayed up all night, without changing his clothes, holding Qin Lingfeng's cold hand, whispering threats, pleas, and commands in his ear again and again...
They tried everything they could to pull him back from the brink of death.
On the fifth night, Qin Lingfeng's breathing finally stabilized a little. Although he was still unconscious, he was at least temporarily out of the most dangerous stage.
Jiang Manyan knelt by the bed, utterly exhausted, staring at Qin Lingfeng's profile, still unconscious but showing a faint glimmer of life. The strength she had been maintaining for the past five days completely crumbled.
Overwhelmed by immense fear and a torrent of emotions, he was devastated.
Life is but a grand play. He once thought he had seen through the pretense on the stage, so he wrapped himself up tightly and refused to believe anymore.
But they forgot that in the lives of people offstage, there might truly be genuine friendships where one would entrust their life to another.
Just because of the hardships he had endured, he cruelly pushed away the real person in front of him who loved and protected him with his life.
Isn't this a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater? A display of sheer stupidity and cowardice?
He recalled Qin Lingfeng's clumsy attempts to please him, the confused and hurt look in his eyes because of his aloofness, and how Qin Lingfeng still secretly worked hard for the development of Jincheng even though he misunderstood him...
In the end, he did not hesitate to use his body to shield himself from the fatal poisoned knife, bleeding almost to death.
Tears welled up silently.
He suddenly wanted to take a gamble. A high-stakes gamble.
I'm betting that this young master, born into a top-tier aristocratic family and who should treat human life as worthless, has a genuine affection for me that transcends interests and family responsibilities, a affection that I'd risk my life for.
I'm betting I won't misjudge this time. I'm betting that perhaps they can forge a completely new path, one different from the shadows of the past.
Even if you lose, the worst outcome is simply returning to square one, or perhaps utter ruin. But if you win…
He might then truly possess this warmth, as intense as the blazing sun and as profound as life itself, instead of forever living in an icy abyss of suspicion and defensiveness.
Jiang Manyan slowly leaned down and gently pressed her cheek against Qin Lingfeng's still icy hand, her scalding tears soaking his skin.
It seemed as if it was trying to warm that cold body with its own heat.
"Qin Lingfeng,"
His voice was so hoarse it was almost broken, yet it carried a do-or-die, almost pious determination.
"You'd better survive... If you survive, I'll take a gamble... I'll bet my life, my trust, my future, and the future of so many people in the three towns... on you."
Outside the window, the night remained deep.
But inside the house, there was a heart that had been frozen for a long time.
However, due to a tragic near-death experience involving someone risking their life to protect another, he finally melted completely and made a desperate gamble with everything he had.
Only such a close and complete loss could make him dare to give such complete trust.
For Jiang Manyan, the seven days that Qin Lingfeng was seriously injured and unconscious were a long and cruel ordeal.
He abandoned all political affairs, entrusting all matters to Jiang Zhong and several capable subordinates to handle temporarily, while he himself stayed by his sickbed like a rooted tree, never leaving his side.
The once shrewd and decisive leader Jiang is gone, replaced by an empty shell, his soul drained by fear and despair.
His eyes were sunken, his face was ashen, and his lips were cracked and peeling from the burning. Only when he was wiping Qin Lingfeng's body, changing his dressings and feeding him medicine would a faint light appear in his eyes.
The wound, which was only millimeters away from the heart, was terrifying. Every time the dressing was changed, it felt like walking through the gates of hell again.
Bloody pus, high fever, repeated comas... The doctors shook their heads and sighed time and time again, and Jiang Manyan's heart was crushed time and time again.
He barely slept, stubbornly holding Qin Lingfeng's cold hand, whispering in his ear again and again, from initial threats and commands to later pleading, and finally, only broken murmurs and scalding tears remained.
What Jiang Manyan didn't know was...
The Qin family's major commotion eventually attracted the attention of the Song family's informants in the central district.
A portrait of "Jiang the Benevolent" was quietly sent into the deepest, darkest room of the Moon-Viewing Pavilion. The dim candlelight cast the shadow of a man wearing a silver mask on the wall. Although he sat quietly at the table, the oppressive aura emanating from him made the air almost stagnant.
His slender fingers gently traced the eyebrows and eyes of the young man in the painting, the movement as tender as if he were touching a lost treasure that had been found again. However, the bluish-white color of his knuckles due to the force revealed the turbulent emotions within him.
Beneath the mask, the eyes were as dark as an abyss, containing both the fervor of something lost and regained, and the icy rage of someone who had been completely deceived and was waiting to be unleashed.
...
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