He tricked his amnesiac partner into becoming crippled.

Chapter 230 The Marquis Has No Clever Heart 7

Wen Yan came to see Maodun mainly to discuss cooperation.

Liang Jinglan cannot return to Beijing, at least not in the short term.

The court was in chaos. The old emperor was too old to fight, and the four princes were fighting over food more fiercely than wolves fighting over meat. If Liang Jinglan returned to the capital, he would be badly injured, if not killed.

The best outcome would be for him to relinquish his military power, resign, and return to his hometown. However, he had offended the eldest prince, who was known for his vindictiveness and would never allow him to leave the capital alive.

Wen Yan's eyes were dark, and his knuckles tapped rhythmically on the armrest of the solid wood military chair, almost silently.

Therefore, this battle cannot stop, and this pass cannot be left undefended.

She wanted to ensure that the imperial court had no reason to summon Liang Jinglan back to the capital.

The dungeon was dark; only a sliver of sunlight shone down at midday, and candlelight was needed to see anything inside.

The stench was overwhelming, making one's brain tingle. The smell of dead rats mixed with the rotting smell of scattered human tissue almost made Maodun roll his eyes and vomit.

His face was deathly pale as Wen Yan glanced at him with indifferent eyes.

Her face paled even more, though not as badly as the others standing guard beside her. She was weak, but her aura remained strong.

He smiled slightly at Maodun, who was lying prostrate on the ground covered in blood, and his voice was as cold as a viper's hiss: "Maodun, I am not discussing this with you, but informing you."

"This battle cannot stop, otherwise, tomorrow I'll risk my life to lead my troops north and carve through your entire northern territory. But you know, cough cough cough..."

Her throat tightened, and she suddenly coughed, not violently, which made one suspect it was intentional. After coughing, she smiled gently and said, "I am weak and sickly, so I prefer a gentler approach."

Maodun was very tough, and this toughness became even stronger after Wen Yan told everyone around him to step back.

Holding fast to his belief that he would take someone down with him even if he died, Maodun slowly stood up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, roared, and charged forward.

His eyes were filled with a maniacal laugh, and blood oozed from the corner of his mouth when he grinned.

He's getting closer, almost there. He's going to crush her into mincemeat!

Wen Yan slowly stood up, propped herself up on the chair, spread her five fingers to envelop his iron fist, and, to his shocked expression, reached out her other hand to grab his neck and lift him up.

She looked at him as if he were a disobedient worm, a faint smile playing on her lips, her eyes chillingly cold.

Maodun's toes left the ground, his blood froze, his eyes were so big they looked like they were about to burst, he dared not breathe, every breath he took smelled of dead rats cutting his throat.

A second before he passed out, he was thrown to the ground with a dull thud. He coughed incessantly and looked up to find that Wen Yan was also coughing.

Unlike him, who coughed as if his lungs were about to burst, Wen Yan simply clenched his slender, pale fingers into a fist and pressed it to his lips, coughing in a low voice, laughing as he coughed, until he smashed through the wall...

Bare hands, no blood, knuckles as white and clean as jade.

Maodun's brain went blank for a moment, and his mouth opened so wide that a whole fist could fit inside.

Is this... something a human could do?

The sound of the wall breaking was so loud that it startled Liang Jinglan outside. He broke open the door and rushed in. Wen Yan was sitting calmly on a military chair, while Maodun lay paralyzed on the ground, stunned.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Wen Yan was alright, but then he was a little confused when he saw that the firmly built wall had collapsed: "Brother Yuanjun, what... happened?"

"It's alright. The wall has been in disrepair for years and is a bit loose. Remember to send someone to repair it, Lord Marquis."

After she finished speaking, she coughed again, as if she had been choked by the dust that had fallen on her. Her pale face was flushed red from coughing, and there were small tears under her eyelashes.

Seeing this, Liang Jinglan became anxious and quickly patted her back. He looked around but found no tea, so he decisively tore open her inner clothes, pulled out a piece to cover her nose, and protected her from the drifting smoke and dust.

He treated her like a precious white dove brought from Jiangnan. When the dove couldn't adapt to the environment, it would become listless, and if it was hung outside in the cold, it would get sick.

He had a terrible headache, but he was also genuinely fond of the place and busied himself serving it.

The white dove was the most fragile thing in his mind, but Brother Yuanjun seemed to be even more fragile than the white dove.

He needs to pay more attention.

Maodun lay prostrate on the ground, his mind blank. If he wasn't mistaken, that scheming man, who was coughing so hard he was almost fainting, had just smashed through a wall and nearly strangled him...

He used to be so energetic, unlike now, when a gust of wind or a wisp of smoke makes him cough incoherently, with tears welling up in his eyes, just like the prelude to fainting.

Maodun wanted to shout to expose her disguise, but his hoarse throat could only produce some weak sounds.

Liang Jinglan frowned, about to tie the cloak around Wen Yanxue's neck, but worried that the cloak was too heavy and would choke her. Just as she was worrying, she saw Maodun howling over there and shot him a glare.

"Shut up."

Maodun: ...

Waaaaah, I got yelled at again.

Why are people from the Central Plains so unreasonable?

Wen Yan wiped the water droplets from her eyelashes, waved her hand to stop Liang Jinglan from tying her cloak, and walked over to Maodun, squatted down and whispered a few words in his ear. Maodun's expression changed drastically.

"Do you think what I said makes sense?" Wen Yan asked with a smile.

Maodun hesitated, then murmured, "...That makes sense."

"Cooperate?"

"combine."

Maodun's voice was squeezed out of his throat, hoarse and weak. He slumped down on the ground like a wilted eggplant.

He couldn't understand how the man in front of him knew these things.

Secrets concerning the entire Northern Plains royal family.

Liang Jinglan was stunned. How could Maodun agree after Brother Yuanjun only said one sentence?

As expected, my uncle was right; Brother Yuanjun is indeed amazing.

A smile appeared on Liang Jinglan's handsome face. He had a straight nose and thin lips, and his eyes were pure and unadulterated, more dazzling than the brightest star on the frontier.

Wen Yan's heart softened.

He was so good, how could she bear to let him die?

Once outside the dungeon, Liang Jinglan couldn't wait to ask, "Brother Yuanjun, how did you do that?"

Wen Yan smiled, her eyes dark and deep, her gaze towards Liang Jinglan carrying an inexplicable emotion that was far from innocent.

"Everyone has desires, and once desires arise, it is easy to do wrong things. Once these wrong things are discovered by others... it really means handing your life over to someone else."

Liang Jinglan was taken aback, not by Wen Yan's words, but by her gaze. But when he looked closer, it was gone; Wen Yan still had a gentle smile, and there was not a single fault in it.

Did he see it wrong?

That look in his eyes just now was so clear...

Liang Jinglan shook his head, wondering if he had been blown silly by the wind. How could Brother Yuanjun possibly have any possessiveness towards him?

Speaking of the wind, he quickly stepped forward, placing himself slightly in front of Wen Yan, thus blocking the cold wind and completely enveloping her in shadow.

Xuguan is often windy, especially as winter approaches, the wind is even stronger. Although today is a rare sunny day with sunshine, the howling wind brings no warmth at all.

A cold wind blew, and Wen Yan walked for quite a while, shrouded in Liang Jinglan's shadow.

She wasn't short; on the contrary, she was tall and slender, with a face like white jade. She exuded an air of nobility, and always had a smile on her face. Sometimes the smile reached her eyes, and sometimes it was just a smiling facade.

Although Liang Jinglan is not good at understanding people's hearts, he is very sensitive to people's emotions. He can sense who is truly good to him.

For example, my uncle, and Wen Yan.

His uncle was his only relative. The two of them depended on each other for survival, so they were naturally close and would do anything for each other. So what was Wen Yan's motivation?

If you can't figure it out, just don't think about it; it won't hurt you anyway.

"Brother Yuanjun, is there anything you want? You've helped me so much, I don't know what to give you in return."