bestfiction Chapter 137 Canglan Ferry (7)
Chapter 137 Canglan Ferry (7)
While haphazardly wiping the man's face, she took the opportunity to pinch his cheeks twice, trying to see if he was wearing a disguise mask.
After she finished sculpting it, she was certain that it was a real face.
When she put her hand down, the man's face darkened even more. He suddenly grabbed Yan Zhen's hand and pressed it to the ground, then reached for his sword, pretending to chop off her restless claws.
Yan Zhen was startled and frantically pulled his arm out like pulling up a radish: "Great hero, spare my life! I was wrong, I was wrong!"
The man ignored him, his sword flashed, and he raised it high—
"I'll take you to find Pei Wangzhou!!!"
As soon as he said this, the man decisively sheathed his sword and lifted Yan Zhen up from the ground: "Let's go."
Yan Zhen: "..."
On the way back to Biyue Residence, Yan Zhen walked ahead, occasionally glancing at the people behind him out of the corner of his eye.
The man put the mask back on and followed her closely.
"Great hero, what is your relationship with Pei Wangzhou?"
The man didn't answer.
"Are you here to take Pei Wangzhou back to the capital?"
"..."
"You look so much like him, are you his brother?"
These words seemed to touch a nerve with the man, who pressed his sword sheath against Yan Zhen's lower back: "Say one more word, and I'll kill you right now!"
Yan Zhen pouted.
At the same time, he realized that his previous guess was correct.
This person didn't come to take Pei Wangzhou back; it seemed more like he came to prevent him from ever returning.
As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend; perhaps she could cooperate with a man.
As soon as this thought popped into Yan Zhen's head, a bold idea immediately came to mind.
She stopped and turned to look at the man: "You're here to kill Pei Wangzhou, aren't you?"
The man's eyes turned cold, and he was about to draw his sword.
Yan Zhen quickly grabbed his hand, pushed the half-drawn sword back into place, and said with a grin, "Hero, please calm down. I'm not saying this to stop you; on the contrary, I want to help you."
The man looked at her suspiciously: "Help me?"
"Yes, you want Pei Wangzhou dead, don't you? I want him dead too."
"Why?"
"Before I answer your question, you have to answer a few of mine."
After considering for a moment, the man said, "Go ahead."
"Are you a member of the Pei family?"
"……Correct."
"You've come to kill Pei Wangzhou?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a grudge against Pei Wangzhou, or against the Pei family?"
"All."
Yan Zhen snapped his fingers: "Then let's cooperate. I'll help you kill Pei Wangzhou, and you'll help me get into the Duke of Dingguo's mansion."
The man narrowed his eyes: "Why do you want to enter the Duke of Dingguo's mansion?"
Yan Zhen had already prepared an excuse and blurted out, "Of course it's for the immense wealth of the Duke's mansion, which is a prestigious family with a history of over a hundred years."
Upon hearing this, the man let out a disdainful sneer.
Yan Zhen knew he was laughing at her for only seeing the prosperous facade of the Duke's mansion, unaware that it was already hollow and rotten inside. She didn't care, and just looked up at him: "Just tell me if you want to cooperate with me or not."
The man didn't agree immediately, but instead asked, "How do you want to cooperate?"
“I will kill Pei Wangzhou, you will pretend to be him, and I will pretend to be your concubine whom you keep outside. We will go back to the Duke’s mansion together. Then you can settle your grievances and take revenge, and I will make some money to spend.”
The man was stunned; his astonishment was written all over his face.
This time he remained silent for a long time before saying, "I only look similar to Pei Wangzhou, but we are completely different. People around him can tell the difference at a glance."
“You don’t need to worry about that. I know plastic surgery and can make your face look exactly like Pei Wangzhou’s,” Yan Zhen said. “In addition, I will give you three months to closely imitate Pei Wangzhou’s demeanor and mannerisms. As long as you can imitate him 70% of the time, plus the same face, even if the people in the Duke’s Mansion suspect something, they can’t do anything to you if they can’t find any evidence.”
The man fell silent again, seemingly engaged in a fierce internal struggle.
After a long pause, he seemed to have finally made up his mind: "Okay."
Yan Zhen led the man along a shortcut, going around from the back mountain to the bamboo building behind Biyue Residence.
Along the way, she told Pei Wangzhou about his current state of being blind and lame.
“I fed him a blinding poison, and now he can’t see. He lives alone in a bamboo house, which is rarely visited. During the day, you will hide in the bamboo house and observe and imitate his every move. At night, you will rest in the cave behind the mountain. When the time is right, I will kill him, and then you will appear in front of people as Pei Wangzhou.”
After Yan Zhen finished speaking, she noticed that the man was staring at her.
"What are you looking at me for?"
"Do you have a grudge against Pei Wangzhou?"
Yan Zhen did not answer.
The man's sharp eyes seemed to see right through her: "If you only want money, wouldn't it be better to cure him, leave the valley with him, and ask for payment for saving his life? Why take the risk of poisoning him?"
"If you say so, then so be it." Yan Zhen gave a vague answer, changing the subject and asking, "By the way, my name is Jiang Li, what's your name?"
"Pei Ji".
Which ji?
"The '忌' in '忌日' (the anniversary of death)."
Yan Zhen: "..."
What grudge did the person who named him have against him to give him such an unlucky name?
After exchanging basic information, the two quietly entered the bamboo house.
As soon as he entered, Pei Ji concealed his footsteps, even his breathing became barely audible.
"Young Master Pei, I'm back," Yan Zhen called out.
Hearing the commotion, Pei Wangzhou groped his way out of the inner room.
The moment he appeared, Yan Zhen clearly noticed that Pei Ji's breathing had become disordered.
She turned her head and saw him staring intently at Pei Wangzhou, his eyes red, his hand on the hilt of his sword, as if he had the urge to draw his sword and kill Pei Wangzhou at any moment.
Yan Zhen subtly moved to the side, blocking his view, while speaking to Pei Wangzhou.
"Young Master Pei, are you feeling better today?"
Pei Wangzhou's smile was somewhat forced: "My leg doesn't hurt as badly as it did yesterday, so I suppose the new medicine that Miss Jiang gave me is working."
"That's good."
After exchanging a few words with Pei Wangzhou, Yan Zhen used the excuse of drying medicinal herbs to pull Pei Ji out of the bamboo house.
“I don’t know what deep-seated hatred you have for Pei Wangzhou, but since you have agreed to cooperate with me, you cannot impulsively kill him.”
Pei Ji took several deep breaths, trying his best to suppress the anger in his heart: "I know."
Knowing is one thing, doing is another.
Given the hostility Pei Ji had shown towards Pei Wangzhou just now, Yan Zhen was genuinely worried that Pei Ji might impulsively tear Pei Wangzhou to pieces while he was away.
She hadn't tormented Pei Wangzhou enough yet; she couldn't let him die like this.
Pei Ji said, "I will do it."
"Swear it." Yan Zhen's eyes darted around. "If you can't, I'll make sure you never get your revenge for the rest of your life."
Pei Ji was furious: "You're truly vicious!"
Yan Zhen thought to herself that these words had indeed hit his sore spot. She calmly replied, "Just tell me whether you'll do it or not."
Pei Ji glared at her for a long time before reluctantly raising his hand to swear.
Having received his verbal assurance, Yan Zhen turned around and picked out a few herbs from the bamboo basket drying outside the bamboo house, along with a clay pot for decocting medicine, and handed them to Pei Ji.
Pei Ji frowned: "What are you doing?"
"Boil three bowls of water down to one bowl, apply it to your face once a day, and after seven days I will perform plastic surgery on you to transform you into Pei Wangzhou."