Zhang Xingjian felt a tightness in his chest, then blood gushed out of his mouth.
He shouted in a low voice, twisted his body hard, and fell from the eaves where he landed half kneeling on the ground.
Zhang Xingjian was so angry that he felt a burning rage all over. He had been punched by Li Ye publically and hung on the eaves like a piece of dried meat. Zhang Xingjian wished he could dig a hole to hide in.
"Li Ye! You"re looking for death!" Zhang Xingjian, who had never been so disgraced, lost his mind. He gave a roar and was about to rush at Li Ye.
However, before he could stand up, he found a dark form in front of him.
Li Ye was standing in front of him.
Just as Zhang Xingjian started to raise his right leg, he felt a sudden sharp pain on his right knee. Before he could get up, he was thrown back sharply where he fell to the ground again!
Li Ye, who had suddenly appeared in front of Zhang Xingjian, kicked him in the knee of his right leg.
"I"ll kill you!" Zhang Xingjian snarled as he jumped up from the ground, throwing himself at Li Ye again!
Unexpectedly, as he jumped up he was punched in the stomach by Li Ye. Then he flew backward again and hit the porch!
This time, Li Ye did not give Zhang Xingjian the chance to get angry. He followed Zhang Xingjian and when he hit the gallery, Li Ye grabbed his neck and pressed him against it.
Zhang Xingjian struggled desperately to break away from Li Ye"s grip but found that it was in vain. The strength in Li Ye"s hands was great.
"If you dare to move, I"ll break your neck." Li Ye said coldly.
"You would dare?!" Zhang Xingjian yelled.
"Try it." Li Ye responded without expression.
Zhang Xingjian didn"t dare to try.
The officials and police in the courtyard watched the scene as it unfolded in front of them and they were all stunned.
They were shocked. First, they were shocked at Li Ye"s strength. He should have been defeated by Zhang Xingjian quickly. Second, they shocked because Li Ye had dared to attack Zhang Xingjian who is the younger brother of Xu Shaomu"s wife. He hit him so fiercely!
And he had no mercy!
w.a.n.g Li was shocked. He looked at Li Ye and his hands were trembling. He knew he had misread Li Ye before. He didn"t realize that Li Ye had such strength. People in the Chang"an City only knew that Li Ye had achieved Qi-refining within one day and reached a Level 3 of Qi-refining when he took part in the a.s.sessment to become an official. But, who knew he had such amazing fighting power?
w.a.n.g Li knew he had misjudged Li Ye, but he didn"t feel embarra.s.sed. Instead, he wanted to laugh happily because he had made up his mind to follow Li Ye. Li Ye was so strong, which proved that he had followed the right person and had a bright future.
"Vice Magistrate Li, stop!"
"Vice Magistrate Li, what are you doing? We"re colleagues. You can speak your opinion, why fight?"
"The Vice Magistrate is the subordinate of the Magistrate. You treat him like that. Don"t you want to stay in the Chang"an Office? Let him go! "
"Let him go! Quickly!"
Those officers and police were all Zhang Xingjian"s men. After being shocked, they immediately gathered around and shouted at Li Ye as if they were ready to attack at any time. Many people were anxious, just like a dog guarding their master.
At this time, w.a.n.g Li resolutely rushed to Li Ye, and stood with him. w.a.n.g Li scolded the crowd, "What do you want to do? Back off!"
Li Ye glanced at w.a.n.g Li and ignored the officers and police. Instead, he looked at Zhang Xingjian and sneered, "Now, do you still plan to take him away?"
Zhang Xingjian was being held by his throat, he was breathless, and his face was quickly turned red and purple. He looked at Li Ye"s cold eyes, and he could not speak without straining. "You... how dare you attack me? How dare you hurt me? You"re so mercilessly, have you ever thought about your future?!"
Li Ye sneered at him, "You decided to start this, but deliberately slowed down. You just tried to force me back. Unlike you, I won"t leave room for my opponent once I attack. Just like you experienced. You don"t even know the att.i.tude of your enemy. How could you fight with me?"
Zhang Xingjian gradually felt it becoming more difficult to breathe. When Li Ye had pinched his neck, he hadn"t forgotten to penetrate Spiritual Qi into his body and suppress the mobilization of his Spiritual Qi. Currently, Zhang Xingjian looked like he was dying.
"You... You..." Zhang Xingjian opened his mouth and tried to say something. But, when he saw Li Ye"s cold eyes and felt Li Ye"s tremendous strength, he couldn"t say anything.
Those who surrounded Li Ye saw that Zhang Xingjian was under the control of Li Ye, so they did not dare to fight. Every time they shouted, Li Ye would increase the strength of his hold on Zhang Xingjian. Soon, they were too afraid to speak anymore and they shut up, one after the other.
"Let me go... let me go... Vice Magistrate Li, let me go." Before long, Zhang Xingjian, who was gradually losing his ability to see, began to beg for mercy. He knew that if he did not admit defeat, he might really die. He considered himself to be arrogant but did not expect Li Ye to be more domineering than him. "You can take Li Yao away... I give up."
Li Ye loosened his hands and Zhang Xingjian knelt on the ground at once. He covered his neck and gasped.
"Take Li Yao back to the prison." Li Ye turned around and ordered w.a.n.g Li.
"Yes!" w.a.n.g Li answered loudly.
Li Yao, who stood against the pillar, thought that Zhang Xingjian was going to be his savior when he first saw him. He also knew that Zhang Xingjian had a bad att.i.tude towards Li Ye, which made him feel happy. But, before he could celebrate, his savior had been suppressed by Li Ye. So, at this time, he was about to cry.
Li Ye had been so overbearing.
Li Yao hadn"t expected Li Ye to be so overbearing!
Zhang Xingjian stood up from the ground and stared at Li Ye, who had been surrounded by people. "Vice Magistrate Li, you are so ruthless, you will find it hard to work in the Chang"an Office in the future!"
Li Ye didn"t even look at him before leaving, with his hand clasped behind his back. "Today, it was you who started first. There are so many witnesses, you can hardly reverse the truth. As to the future..." Li Ye sneered. "You"d better think about when you can defeat me. Don"t shout at me unless you can beat me."
After that, Li Ye left the courtyard.
Zhang Xingjian stared at Li Ye"s back. His resentment reached its boiling point. He looked around and suddenly punched and kicked his subordinates. "Rubbish! I was in danger, but you didn"t rescue me. If I had a dog, it would have at least barked for me!"
The subordinate who had been beaten fell to the ground covering his head with his arms but he dared not answer back. In his mind, he slandered, "Rescue you? How can we rescue you? You can"t deal with him, not to mention us. Besides, even if we want to rescue you, we have to have time. You were subdued by him before we could respond... We didn"t have time."
Lu Yan came out of Wei Baoheng"s manor. His sad and painful face disappeared the moment he got into the carriage. Instead, he smiled happily and was in a good mood. He told the driver to increase their speed and left quickly.
Only then at Wei Baoheng"s manor, the other side told him the news of Kang Chengxun"s death. As the most important ally of Wei Baoheng"s in the Imperial Court, Lu Yan expressed great sympathy for his loss of his right-hand man. He said that he would find the murderer and bring him to justice.
But, only Lu Yan knew that when he had heard the news, he was very happy.
Lu Yan did not return to his home. After changing to a simple carriage, he quietly came to a secluded mansion on Fortune and Peace Lane, where his beauty was hidden.
As one of the countable important ministers of the imperial dynasty, there was no doubt that Lu Yan was in a high-ranking position and had great power. But, even though he was an important minister, he still couldn"t avoid a shrew. In addition, his wife was the daughter of a n.o.ble family in Helong.
Relying on the support of her family, the woman who came from a n.o.ble family, would not allow her husband to favor concubines in the manor because this would damage her own interests. So, Lu Yan could only hide his beauty in this unknown place.
Lu Yan always came to see his beauty secretly and his shrew had never found out, which was also a great pride for Lu Yan.
An hour later, Lu Yan who was in a good mood had been impatient to have s.e.x with his beauty. Afterward, he left the bed and sat at the table, drinking tea. Even then, the smile on his face had not disappeared.
Beauty sat on Lu Yan"s leg and nestled beside him. Her face was still flushed and her long wet hair draped on her white shoulders. Lu Yan was in a good mood, beauty and he had had wonderful s.e.x just now. She was extremely satisfied at the moment, and could not help asking, "What makes you so happy today?"
This was a secret place, and Lu Yan was not worried about someone overhearing. "Kang Chengxun was a.s.sa.s.sinated in Luoyang."
"Kang Chengxun? Didn"t he interact with you quite frequently? Why are you so happy that he"s dead?" The beauty didn"t understand.
Lu Yan laughed. "Kang Chengxun is Wei Baoheng"s subordinate, his right-hand man... His right-hand men have all died one after another within months. Wei Baoheng"s feathers were badly damaged!"
"Aren"t you with Wei Baoheng? If his feathers have been damaged, aren"t you influenced too?" Beauty was more confused and widened her good-looking water bright eyes.
"A woman is a woman. You have long hair but short knowledge." Lu Yan pinched the little face of the beauty and became happier. "Although I allied with Wei Baoheng, there is only one prime minister in the Imperial Court. And, there is only one minister who really holds the greatest power. Am I worse than Wei Baoheng? Why can"t I be the minister with the greatest power?"
The beauty finally understood. She opened her mouth wide and covered her chest, asking, "Are you going to replace Wei Baoheng as the ruling prime minister?"
Lu Yan chuckled and said, "It"s Wei Baoheng"s bad luck that he lost Li Guanshu and Kang Chengxun in succession. My power is far inferior to his, so I let him be the leader. Now, things are getting better, and I have the chance."
The beauty was also happy, holding Lu Yan"s neck and saying, "If you become the ruling prime minister and have great power, you needn"t listen to your wife. At that time, you can also take me to your manor so that I won"t be idle all day here."
Lu Yan was a little shocked. Taking her home was impossible. Lu Yan treated her well, but that was all. The relationship between them couldn"t go further. He didn"t intend to offend his wife. After all, his wife"s family background was also his help in the court. But, he would not say that. "Of course."
Then Lu Yan sighed softly. "Although Wei Baoheng lost his right-hand men, his power is still huge and I can"t defeat him. So, I can"t show my ideas rashly. Besides, His Majesty trusts in him very much... If I really want to be the ruling prime minister, I have to draw up some significant allies."
The beauty said without thinking much, "You just go ahead."
Lu Yan said with a bitter smile, "It"s not so easy. There are clear divides among different parties. Any powerful official is a leaf of a bigger tree. To pull up a person, we have to face the whole tree. And, this also involves the distribution of power. There are many difficulties..."
At this point, the excitement on Lu Yan"s face disappeared. On the road of a power struggle, there were countless barriers with every step.
At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded, "Duke Lu wants to replace Wei Baoheng. I"m not very helpful, but I"m willing to try."
Lu Yan stood up suddenly. "Who?!"
A man opened the door and walked in.
"Prince An?!"