Chapter 129 - Battle Until Death

Qi Zheng watched as Shen Ziqiao entered the room. He smiled before leaving.

He would be returning to the military camp in a few days and she would be going back to Minyue. Qi Zheng started to feel reluctant to part from Shen Ziqiao, thinking that they wouldn’t be able to meet for a long while in the future.

Hopefully, he could quickly beat the Jin thieves up so that they would be afraid to invade Dazhou’s borders forever.

“Qi Zheng!” He just walked out of the garden when a woman walked over. He took a careful look to see that it was Du Yane.

Unhappiness flickered within Qi Zheng’s deep eyes but he still nodded politely. “Deputy General Du.”

“Qi Zheng, stop being fooled by Shen Ziqiao. That woman is scheming and crafty, nor does she follow the rules. Everyone in the capital knows the type of woman she is. She’s not worthy of you.” Du Yane exclaimed hurriedly when she saw Qi Zheng.

However, she had forgotten that Qi Zheng was from the capital. How could he not know about the rumors?

“Who told you this?” Qi Zheng asked coldly. Who still remembered Shen Ziqiao’s unruliness from the past? Plus, she had left the capital for two years. He had a hunch who would say that.

“Stop being persistent. Shen Ziqiao isn’t worthy of you at all!” Du Yane shouted. “So what if she looks good? Women who can’t conduct themselves are shameless and slutty. You.”

Qi Zheng refused to let people humiliate his sweetheart. He glared at her and shouted, “Shut up! You have no right to criticize my woman!”

Du Yane’s eyes teared up. “I’m doing this for your own good. Shen Ziqiao is just a shameless woman who can’t conduct herself.” “Young Miss Du, I know better than you the type of person Shen Ziqiao is. No matter whether she’s good or bad, she’s the best to me.” Qi Zheng endured his anger. Had Du Yane been a man, he would’ve beaten her up already.

“Are you blind? How can you be interested in a woman like her?” Du Yane exclaimed moodily. Qi Zheng must’ve been in a trance to be hell-bent on being with Shen Ziqiao.

Qi Zheng couldn’t bother to talk to Du Yane. For the past year or so, Du Yane frequently provoked and went against him. A real man doesn’t fight with womenfolk. If Qi Zheng decided to bother with her, who knows how long it’d last?

Seeing that Qi Zheng just left, she stomped on her feet. “Qi Zheng, don’t regret this. If you really marry Shen Ziqiao, careful of being a cuckold in the future.” “Du Yane, I never hit women but I don’t mind killing women.” Qi Zheng paused and stared at Du Yane. His gaze was dark like ink, eluding a cold aura.

There was a murderous glint in Qi Zheng’s eyes. Du Yane was shocked and at a loss for words.

She felt an unprecedented sense of fear.

If she continued to talk, Qi Zheng would definitely kill her! He wasn’t kidding. He’d really kill her!

Du Yane took a few steps in fear.

Qi Zheng turned and left. Sheng Peiyin really put a lot of effort into instigating Du Yane to deal with Shen Ziqiao. It seems like this woman hated Jiao Jiao so much that it was in her bones. He would never give her a second chance to hurt Jiao Jiao.

He returned to the lounge to find that the Ninth Prince and Sheng Peiyin were both not there.

The two lowered their heads and it was unclear what they were saying.

After Sheng Peiyin instigated Du Yane to find Shen Ziqiao, she was incredibly arrogant as if she had seen Shen Ziqiao being beaten up badly by Du Yane. Who knew that she turned to see the Ninth Prince watching her not far.

She hurriedly placed her smile away and walked to the Ninth Prince gracefully. “Ninth Prince, why did you come out?” The Ninth Prince looked at her for a while before asking in a hoarse voice, “Yin’er, just what sort of enmity do you have with Shen Ziqiao?”

“What are you saying? Why did you suddenly ask this?” Sheng Peiyin’s smile froze and she asked stiffly.

“You used the assassins in my residence to chase after Jiao Jiao. You want her to die, no? Although Shen Ziqiao can be annoying, you don’t have to go as far as to kill her. Yin’er, did she do something to you?” The Ninth Prince still didn’t believe that Sheng Peiyin was a sinister person. He’d rather believe that Shen Ziqiao had offended Sheng Peiyin or that she had done something unforgivable to her.

Sheng Peiyin’s expression changed. What did Shen Ziqiao do to her?

Shen Ziqiao had done nothing but everything that she had planned beforehand had changed completely. She had almost followed the same path as her past life. That little bitch was a great imposter. She clearly has memories from her past life like her but she acted like an idiot, purposely getting close and finding an opportunity to scheme her.

How could someone like Shen Ziqiao get the crown prince and Qi Zheng’s protection? Why? Why!

If not for Shen Ziqiao, she should be the one being cherished by everyone!

“Yin’er?” Seeing that she suddenly became silent, the Ninth Prince hastily called her.

Hatred was still in Sheng Peiyin’s eyes. When she met the Ninth Prince’s concerned gaze, she blurted, “I hate her, I want her to die!”

“What did she do?” The Ninth Prince had never seen Sheng Peiyin like this. Her gentle face was mixed with a distorted expression, frightening the gentle Ninth Prince.

“She fooled me! She fooled me!” Sheng Peiyin exclaimed fiercely, “I hate her.

The Ninth Prince was unbelievably shocked. Sheng Peiyin’s hatred was built upon her jealousy towards Shen Ziqiao.

Was she really as what His Highness crown prince had said? She was jealous of Shen Ziqiao for saving the little imperial grandson, jealous that she was favored by the empress and the princess consort? Was that why she wanted to kill Shen Ziqiao?

“Yin’er, how can you be so narrow-minded?” The Ninth Prince reprimanded.

This was the first time Sheng Peiyin was reprimanded by the Ninth Prince. Even more, she thought that Shen Ziqiao, that bitch, was trouble. “This is who I am. Are you interested in Shen Ziqiao as well now? Haha, unfortunately, that bitch doesn’t like you anymore.”

The Ninth Prince reached over, wanting to stop her. “Yin’er!” “Get lost! I don’t need you.” Sheng Peiyin waved his hands off and ran away.

Hiss. The injury behind the Ninth Prince hasn’t healed yet. After being pushed by Sheng Peiyin, the injury behind his back got torn open and he almost couldn’t stand still.

Sheng Peiyin was in a rage so she didn’t notice his difference. She already ran out and disappeared in the night.

Although shocked by Sheng Peiyin’s change, he still loved her deeply. How could the Ninth Prince allow her to go outside in the middle of the night. He immediately ordered people to find her.

They looked for a while but they weren’t able to find her. In the end, the crown prince was startled.

The crown prince exclaimed unhappily, “This isn’t the capital. How can you walk around casually? Have someone look for her!”

If it weren’t for the Ninth Prince, the crown prince would be too lazy to bother with this.

Even until the next morning, they still hadn’t found Sheng Peiyin. When she ran out last night, the city gates were already closed so there was no way Sheng Peiyin could’ve lift the city. She must still be inside.

The Ninth Prince was anxious. If the crown prince didn’t stop him, he would’ve gone out to look for her without attending to his injury.

Shen Ziqiao didn’t wake up until late morning and it was then that she heard about Sheng Peiyin. However, she wasn’t anxious. “Sheng Peiyin possesses remarkable abilities. She’d be fine. Maybe she’d be back in a while.”

Hong Ying murmured softly, “Best if she didn’t come back.” This wish was a little unrealistic. Sheng Peiyin was the female lead! The spotlight was always on her!

As expected, they found Sheng Peiyin in the afternoon. She didn’t say anything about her whereabouts. She just hugged the Ninth Prince and weeped as if the people around her were the ones that bullied her when they spent the night looking for her.

The crown prince had everyone go back to rest with a dark face. He looked at Sheng Peiyin disgustingly.

“This is the northwest. It’s not where you, Sheng Peiyin, can go wherever you want. Don’t think that you can do whatever you want just because the Ninth Royal Uncle is protecting you. Just this once. If this happens again, I’ll make sure you regret showing your face here.”

Sheng Peiyin felt humiliated and ashamed for being reprimanded by the man she deeply loved. Her tears started falling down faster.

The Ninth Prince said, “Your Highness, this is all my fault…” “Ninth Royal Uncle, even if it’s you, you can’t let her run around.” The crown prince stated sternly.

“This prince understands.” The Ninth Prince replied.

In the next few days, Sheng Peiyin had become quiet as expected. Even that Du Yane hadn’t appeared in front of Shen Ziqiao’s face. She followed Qi Zheng and went on a mad stroll around Gaonan City. Afterwards, he needed to return to the military camp.

Meanwhile, she also needed to return to Minyue.

No matter how much they were reluctant to part, they had to go.

“You have to take care. Come back safely.” Shen Ziqiao was reluctant to see Qi Zheng leaving Gaonan City. She kept on holding onto his hands, not caring for Shen Xiao and Shen Zikai’s gazes.

Qi Zheng smiled and nodded. “I’ll be sure to come back safely and marry you.”

Shen Ziqiao’s face flushed and she harshly glared at him.

After sending the others away, she heard that Dazhou and the Jin thieves start fighting again, not long later. It was unclear how the Jin people found out about Dazhou’s deployment. Not only did Du Ji’s army almost suffer a complete wipeout, he also got shot by an arrow. If Shen Xiao hadn’t detected something wrong and led soldiers to assist them, the army would have suffered more losses.

Pan Lize immediately postponed his work and headed back after hearing the news. There was a traitor in Dazhou! The person who betrayed Du Ji must be the same person as the one that leaked the caravan’s whereabouts.

When the emperor far in the imperial capital found out that Dazhou suffered a defeat again, he was burning with fury. He announced a decree for the crown prince to find the traitor.

After several losses, Jin people had won again. They had drank and celebrated on the wasteland rampantly. The singing was loud and almost spread to every soldier in Dazhou’s military camps. Each one of them was burning with fury and wanted to shred the Jin thieves to pieces.  

At this time, the Jin thieves snatched women and abused children from Dazhou...

Shen Zikai and Qi Zheng stood shoulder to shoulder on the training grounds of the military camp, glancing at the wasteland in silence.

Not long after Du Ji was saved, he died despite receiving medical help.