Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Unlucky Fellow

"Yan Yuanqing, explain to me what’s going on here! Why are you coming out of Yuruo’s room?"

Though Yan Yuanqing had left early in the morning with utmost caution, he had not expected to be caught red-handed by his omnipresent mother-in-law.

Beside him, Shi Yuruo kept her head bowed, daring not to utter a word.

Yan Yuanqing was embarrassed, as if he had been caught in an illicit affair.

But then he pondered—he and Shi Yuruo were husband and wife, merely sharing a bed for one night. Why should he feel guilty?

Something about this seemed off.

"Mom, please listen to me!"

"Enough! Yuruo, what’s wrong with you? Didn’t I tell you to hurry up and divorce this man? Instead, you let him climb into your bed!

Are you trying to drive me mad?"

Ji Chunyan was nearly beside herself with rage.

She had guarded against Yan Yuanqing every day, yet with one lapse, he had succeeded.

"Mom, it’s not what you think. Nothing happened between us."

"Nothing happened? He came out of your room! You two, a man and a woman, alone together all night—do you expect me to believe nothing happened?"

Shi Yuruo’s cheeks flushed crimson, and she could only remain silent.

Just then, a faint, weak voice sounded from the corner of the hallway.

"Help—help me!"

"Who's speaking?"

Ji Chunyan was startled. Only three people lived in the house, so who was this, and judging by the voice, it was a man.

Yan Yuanqing slapped his forehead; he had just realized he’d forgotten something, or rather, someone.

"Mom, please wait a moment. I need to take care of something, or there may be a life at stake."

Yan Yuanqing hurried to the corner of the corridor, curiously regarding the man in black whom he had immobilized the previous night.

Remarkably, the man had managed to remain standing, injured as he was, through the entire night, even slowly moving to the other side of the corridor.

Such willpower was indeed formidable.

"You, with such determination, why choose this path? You’re lucky it was me you encountered—anyone else, and I needn’t explain what your fate would have been."

The man in black nodded faintly, his eyes full of pleading.

His body was immobilized, yet the prolonged standing, coupled with the mental and physical exhaustion and pain from maintaining one pose, was real and grueling.

Yan Yuanqing raised a hand and released the pressure point control.

In the next instant, the man collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

A shriek pierced the air.

"Who is he? Why is he in our home? What’s your relationship with him?"

Ji Chunyan instinctively lumped Yan Yuanqing and the man in black together.

"Mom, something happened last night. That’s why I had Yuanqing stay in my room to protect me. Please calm down—I’ll explain everything."

"Yuanqing, go handle your business. I’ll take care of things here."

Yan Yuanqing nodded gently, unable to spare himself at the moment.

He glanced at the man in black at his feet, grabbed his collar, and dragged him toward a vacant room in the house.

Meanwhile, the head of the Shi family, Shi Tianhe, had made thorough preparations to visit the Fan family and agree to Fan Yongfeng’s recent request for an alliance.

"Master, I’ve checked today’s fortune. It doesn’t seem auspicious for forming an alliance. Perhaps we should choose a better day before concluding the pact."

Shi Chengren commented earnestly by his side.

He smiled, and his words seemed for the benefit of the family.

Yet, if Yan Yuanqing were present, he would immediately sense the falseness in that smile.

And he would know that Shi Chengren was merely finding excuses to delay Shi Tianhe’s move toward forming the alliance.