"If you kill me, you'll never find the jade pendant again." Bai Zheng looked up, her voice calmer than ever.
The masked man was taken aback upon hearing this. His hand that was reaching out for Bai Zheng froze. Then he saw Bai Zheng looking at him mockingly.
"You should know that the people of the Marquis of Dingyuan are looking for me now. This rockery is not big. Even if I'm weak, I can still throw the jade pendant outside.
Do you think they'll find it? If they do, how are you going to get it back?
Are you going to anger the marquis with my corpse, or hold me hostage and exchange my life for it?"
When Bai Zheng realized the masked man's obsession with the jade pendant, she remembered Feng Jingyang's determination to get it in the hall just now.
There must be a secret behind this jade pendant.
Just because she thought of this, Bai Zheng regarded the jade pendant as her amulet.
But Bai Zheng knew better that it would be easier for this masked man to take the jade pendant from her than to crush an ant.
Since she was going to die anyway, she might as well take a gamble.
Sure enough, after hearing her words, the masked man narrowed his eyes and sized her up from head to toe, obviously weighing whether Bai Zheng was worth trading for the jade pendant with Feng Linyuan.
"By the way," Bai Zheng tidied up the messy hair beside her forehead and smiled. "I just remembered that there's a lake on one side outside the rockery. If I throw the jade pendant into the lake, you can go out and look for it now, and you won't have to face the marquis."
"Of course," Bai Zheng took a few steps forward and smiled at the masked man who was exuding cold air without restraint. "This is just one possibility. So you still have to spare my life. After all, if the jade pendant finally falls into the marquis's hands, leaving a way out today will make things easier to negotiate in the future, right?"
"Hahaha..." After hearing Bai Zheng's threat, the masked man suddenly burst into a wild laugh.
Bai Zheng looked at him warily, full of suspicion.
As the masked man's laughter faded away, in the distance came the panicked footsteps and screams: "Something's wrong! Something's happened!"
Bai Zheng was shocked. She saw the masked man in front of her looking at her coldly, his eyes full of mockery.
"You're incredibly stupid!"
He threw out this sentence but didn't attack Bai Zheng. Instead, he turned around and left on his own.
But this sentence stirred up a huge wave in Bai Zheng's heart.
Incredibly stupid? Why did he say this? Could their goal not be the jade pendant?
What had she miscalculated?
Bai Zheng looked thoughtfully at the masked man's retreating back and stood still as the footsteps became clearer and clearer.
Suddenly, a big hand covered Bai Zheng's forehead. The fingers gently rubbed the bloodstains scratched during the fight just now.
"Zheng'er, you're injured."
That voice was as gentle as usual, full of pity.
Bai Zheng turned her head slightly and saw that the man in front of her, because he had come in a hurry, had a rare look of panic on his usually calm and gentle face. She couldn't help but relax her eyebrows and smile gently: "You're here."
Feng Linyuan nodded, his tone full of guilt: "I'm late."
"I'm fine," Bai Zheng raised her eyebrows and smiled. Then she tilted her chin towards the back of the rockery where the earth - shattering cries were coming from. "What's going on over there?"
Feng Linyuan's gaze followed the cries and turned to the back of the rockery. The gentleness in his eyes faded, replaced by ice - coldness.
"Zheng Yan is dead."
"What!" Bai Zheng suddenly turned her head. The pendant of the white jade hairpin hit her face suddenly, bringing a burst of coldness.
Zheng Yan was dead? How could this be!
"Let's go and have a look!" Bai Zheng said without hesitation.
Now that Zheng Yan had an accident so close to Bai Zheng, it was very likely that the blame would be shifted onto her.
So this was their real goal?
"Aren't you afraid, Zheng'er?" Feng Linyuan frowned. "I'll handle this matter for you. You don't need to go to that kind of place."
Seeing Bai Zheng getting into trouble again and again right under his nose today, Feng Linyuan felt extremely guilty. At the same time, he was extremely angry at the person behind the scenes.
He knew very well what Bai Zheng would face if she went there.
So he didn't want Bai Zheng to go.
Bai Zheng knew what he was thinking. Her heart softened, and her tone softened too: "Exposing your strength too early is not good for the overall situation. If we can solve this matter with the least cost, we don't need to go to great lengths."
Feng Linyuan frowned tightly.
Bai Zheng couldn't help but reach out and stroke his eyebrows, smiling: "I know you care about me, but you also know that I'm not a canary in a cage."
Feng Linyuan looked at this stubborn woman in front of him. After a long while, he sighed softly and said, "I'll go with you."
The two looked at each other and smiled, then followed the heart - rending cries and walked out of the rockery.
Although there was a certain distance, Bai Zheng could still clearly smell the faint smell of blood in the air.
Not far away, there was a large crowd surrounding the flowerbed. Many people were still rushing here one after another.
Everyone looked more panicked than ever.
Then, the Princess of Pingyang stumbled over. She didn't care about her manners at all. She directly pushed through the crowd and finally saw the person lying in the garden.
Bai Zheng looked over.
The person was wearing a light blue dress. Her face was pale, her eyes were closed tightly, and her face was full of pain. It was clearly Zheng Yan.
Just now, this young girl was still angrily sneering at Bai Zheng. She was so alive and enthusiastic because of Feng Jingyang's performance on the stage.
But now, she was lying on the ground, obviously dead.
A large amount of fresh blood was gushing out of her chest, almost covering her entire upper body. She was still tightly holding a dagger in her hand, as if she had just fought with someone.
Judging from the degree of blood coagulation, she should have been stabbed not long ago.
"Yan'er, Yan'er, wake up, my dear child."
The Princess of Pingyang squatted down, looking at Zheng Yan's body. Her outstretched hands trembled slightly, not knowing where to put them.
Her face gradually turned pale, but her eye - circles became redder and redder.
"Where's the imperial physician! Do you want to make my Yan'er suffer to death!" she suddenly roared angrily.
Soon, upon hearing the news, Feng Linche, Concubine Zhao, Concubine Yi, and all the princes rushed over.
At the same time, the Marquis of Gaochang dragged an imperial physician through the dense crowd and also came in front of Zheng Yan.
"Marquis, our Yan'er she—" The Princess of Pingyang collapsed into the arms of the Marquis of Gaochang, her tears streaming down.
The Marquis of Gaochang pursed his lips tightly, hugged the princess, but his eyes were firmly fixed on the imperial physician who was examining.
But almost everyone knew that Zheng Yan was already dead.
Sure enough, after a brief examination, the imperial physician walked up to Feng Linche with a pale face and whispered: "Your Majesty, Miss Zheng, Miss Zheng is already dead..."
"You're talking nonsense!" The Princess of Pingyang roared in a rage. She rushed forward and grabbed the imperial physician, her voice trembling. "Yan'er can definitely be saved. Go and save her, go and save her!"
The Marquis of Gaochang's eyes were red. He stepped forward and hugged the princess who was constantly begging the imperial physician and Feng Linche to save her daughter.
"I beg you all. Yan'er is most afraid of pain. Please save her, Your Majesty, please save her..."
Bai Zheng watched this scene from afar, her heart filled with sorrow. Although Zheng Yan had never shown her a good face every time they met, Bai Zheng could never bring herself to hate her.
After all, she was just a poor girl whose infatuation had been misplaced.
She collected her emotions and scanned everyone present.