Pihanjin

The only one who can protect me

After Mu Fulan entered, she spoke to Mu mama who greeted her, and then went back to the room.

The maid knew that she had the habit of changing clothes when she came back from going out, so she quickly prepared a set of clothes without any instructions.

Mu Fulan went to the screen beside the bed. With the help of the maid, she took off her outer clothes was left with her inner clothes.

The soft red coloured fabric was tightly wrapped around her body, leaving only a white back and two arms exposed. She wore a moon-white skirt, her figure extremely slender.

She was a little absent-minded with her head bowed down showing her fair and delicate neck. She was deep in her own thoughts and stretched her arms to put on her clothes.

One of her arms was just tucked into the sleeve when the door was suddenly pushed open.

She turned around and saw Xie Changgeng enter directly.

He was not expecting her to be changing her clothes. The moment he saw her, his footsteps stopped abruptly by the screen.

The maids hurriedly went to greet him.

He did not continue to step in, nor retreat, but stopped there and ordered people to go out.

Seeing that he was upset, the maids looked at Mu Fulan. She did not object, so they bowed and retreated.

Mu Fulan turned, with her back to him, put on her clothes, covered the side and fastened her belt.

He was trying his best to restrain his emotions, but his face was stiff, his eyes were dark, and there were dark waves in his eyes.

She was all too familiar with Xie Changgeng. This look of his, others can not see, but she knows it at a glance.

He is very angry now.

Something bad must have happened.

With her back to him, she quickly went over in her mind what might have triggered such anger in him.

Had her meeting with Zhang Ban during the day been leaked?

Or did he learn of the existence of Xi’er who calls her mother?

If it were these two things, it was indeed possible to provoke such anger from him.

But she quickly dismissed it.

She did these two things very carefully, even if there were mistakes, they would never be noticed by him so quickly.

But if it’s something else, what could it be?

When she finished fastening her belt, she slowly turned towards him.

The two stood opposite each other, only a few steps apart.

She quietly raised her eyes and looked at him. Just as she was about to ask, Xie Changgeng had already opened his mouth to say, “Mu shi, if you want to divorce, then your wish will be fulfilled!”

“I will immediately give you the papers so as not to hinder the relationship between you and your partner. How dare you do things in broad daylight, in full view of the public!”

After he finished speaking, he threw a piece of paper that looked like letter at her, turned and left. His figure disappeared quickly along with the sound of his footsteps.

The paper fell to the ground at her feet.

Mu Fulan was startled and bent down to pick it up.

It was indeed a letter, a letter to her. The letter was not addressed to her, but a quick glance at its contents showed that it came from Zhao Xitai, the son of Qi wang.

Zhao Xitai said that he remembered the past and had many thoughts after seeing her at Huguo Temple and he had trouble sleeping. Just last night, he overheard the conversation between his father, Qi wang and his men. He learned that Empress Liu was only temporarily staying away from Changsha but she would definitely take action in the future.

He said he was very worried about her current condition. Xie Changgeng is a bandit, a lowly person with no shame. Now that he has become Empress Liu’s weapon, a villain who has gained power, will sooner or later abandon her and cannot be relied on.

Zhao Xitai also said that if she encounters difficulties in the future, she must let him know. No matter what, he will do his best to help her.

After Mu Fulan read the letter she understood.

The person who came and claimed to be delivering a letter from Qi wangfei was actually sent by Zhao Xitai.

Before sending a letter with such content, Zhao Xitai should have repeatedly told instructed him to avoid Xie Changgeng and hand deliver it to her.

No wonder that man didn’t dare to take out the letter when he saw that Xie Changgeng had retuned and immediately ran away.

Mu Fulan did not have time to think about how this letter ended up in Xie Changgeng’s hands.

Holding the letter, she stood there lost in thought.

Although she already has Zhang Ban’s assistance, she is not entirely sure whether the matter can be successfully solved with Zhang Ban’s power alone like the last crisis in Changsha.

The matter this time was different from the last, with the variable of Xie Changgeng in the middle.

He is her husband and Empress Liu wants to hold herself hostage. No matter the reason, she will definitely mention it in front of him for his opinion.

Though this matter was of great importance to her, a matter of safety and even life and death. For Xie Changgeng, it was nothing and he has no direct interest.

Based on intuition, Mu Fulan concluded that Cao Jin was Xie Changgeng’s person. With this spy in the palace, if Zhang Ban were to speak for her, it can not be hidden from Xie Changgeng. If he turns a blind eye, Zhang Ban should be able to accomplish his task, and she can also get out smoothly.

But if he is dissatisfied with her, or even resentful and deliberately obstructs it, even if Zhang Ban comes forward to help her, it would not be effective.

A few days ago, while she was thinking about how to use Zhang Ban, she was also thinking about how to solve this variable.

She did not expect Xie Changgeng to speak for herself in front of Empress Liu. As long as he doesn’t obstruct Zhang Ban when he helps her solve her problem.

In the days when she first returned, she was driven by her grief and hatred, and all she wanted was to detach herself from him as soon as possible and never see him again in this life.

But as the situation continued to change, she slowly began to realise something. Considering his current status and the status of Changsha, many things she wanted to do were actually impossible to bypass him completely.

Blind hostility and thoughts of never meeting again in this life will not solve the problem.

She needs to re-establish her relationship with him.

This was extremely difficult for her, but she has to face it and accept it.

On the way back from seeing Zhang Ban today, she was still thinking about how to break the deadlock with him. To her surprise, something like this happened.

It looks bad, and it makes things worse. His dissatisfaction with her was probably at its peak due to this letter. Just now even agreed to a divorce.

But on the other hand, isn’t this a good opportunity?

Mu Fulan thought for a moment and quickly made up her mind.

She promised Xi’er, who had just returned to her side, to go back to be with him as soon as possible.

She must not be detained here.

…

It has been many years since he murdered for his fathers sake in anger and desperation. No matter what, Xie Changgeng has never been so angry to the point of losing control of his emotions this much.

It was not because of what was said about himself in the letter. If he cared about these things, he wouldn’t be able to sit in this position today.

What made him angry was the strong hostility along with the repeated betrayal and humiliation that Mu shi had cast on him.

It is nothing more than a marriage contract that was made with to benefit both parties. Since she had married him against her will in accordance with her father’s order, it is not surprising that she had been unchaste before marriage.

Now that she is in the capital and all eyes are on her, but she doesn’t know how to restrain herself. Only one night after meeting at Huguo Temple, she seduced Zhao Xitai to write her such a secret letter. Although there are no explicit words, there was sentiment between the lines. This, so far, was without scruple.

When Xie Changgeng arrived at his study, he picked up a pen and wrote a letter to divorce his wife.

After writing the last word, his five fingers holding the pen exerted force, and with a slight “click”, the tough wooden ebony pen in his hand was broken into two pieces.

He threw aside the broken pen, got up and walked to the window. He pushed it open and looked outside. After a while, his expression relaxed.

He returned to the table and was about to send to her what he had written when he heard two knocks on the door.

He raised his eyes and saw that the door was pushed open, and a figure stood outside the door.

Mu shi surprisingly came on her own. She stepped over the threshold, and walked towards him.

He pushed the paper towards her and walked away.

“Xie Lang, stay!” A voice called from behind.

He didn’t seem to hear it.

Mu Fulan chased after him.

Xie Changgeng stopped and watched coldly as she came to block his path, and said, “Mu shi, I have already written down what you want. From now on, you’re on your own.”

He made a move to leave again, but his sleeve was held back.

He stopped and looked at the hand that was holding his sleeve in surprise. Then a look of disgust appeared on his face.

Mu Fulan let go of her hand. She did not look at the not dried ink piece of paper on the table, but looked into his eyes and said, “Will you listen to me first? I’m afraid you have misunderstood. I don’t have any relationship with Qi shizi, except that he met in the palace as children. I have never had any contact with him all these years. Yesterday’s meeting between us at Huguo Temple was just a coincidence. Yes. As for the letter just now, I know nothing about it.”

“This is the capital. No matter how ignorant I am, I would not dare to have an affair with others. Even if I disregard your face, would I dismiss Changsha’s face?”

Xie Changgeng frowned. In response, he only tidied up the sleeves that she had just held.     

Mu Fulan looked at him and said softly, “You are leaving soon. The Empress Dowager called me into the palace this morning and asked me about my plans. You never mentioned anything to me. I was actually very flustered…”

Her voice became smaller and smaller, her eyes slowly lowered, and she quietly stood in front of him, motionless.

After a while, Xie Changgeng finally spoke.

“Mu shi, I went to Yuecheng to pick you up that day. Didn’t you insist on breaking away from me? Now I will fulfil your wish. I will go to Hexi, and you can go back to Changsha.”

Mu Fulan said, “The Empress Dowager had regarded Changsha as hostile. Since she summoned me to the capital, how could she let me go back so easily after you leave? The words she asked me this morning were just a test. Others may not know, could it be that Xie lang is unaware too?”

Xie Changgeng said blankly, “What’s so difficult about this? If I’m gone, isn’t there a still Qi shizi? He will help you.”

“He doesn’t have the ability. No one can help me.”

She shook her head.

“Xie Lang, now I know that in this world, the only person who can protect me is you.”

Mu Fulan slowly raised a pair of beautiful eyes and stared at Xie Changgeng opposite.