Tian Bozhi showed not a shred of respect for the prince. His face was dark with murderous fury. Ma Wenxuan, standing between them, was so startled he quickly stepped forward to block Xiao Jingzhao and hastily said, “Duke, Duke, please—let’s talk this through calmly!”
“How the h*ll do you expect me to talk calmly?!” Tian Bozhi shouted, brushing off Zhou Wang’s and Ma Wenxuan’s attempts to hold him back as he lunged forward. “You killed my son! Xiao Jingzhao, who do you think you are?! What gives you the right to interfere in this case, let alone take someone’s life?!”
Xiao Jingzhao thought this man was utterly ridiculous.
He was of imperial blood. Even if he ranked beneath Xiao Yunting, that was only before Xiao Yunting. And the rest of these people—who the h*ll did they think they were?
He gave a cold laugh and pointed straight at Tian Bozhi’s nose. “And who the h*ll do you think you are?! Tian Bozhi, you’re just a mere duke. Is this how you speak to me? Look at the mess your son caused! How many people did his dogs injure or kill?! Frankly, I went easy on him! If my imperial grandfather were still alive, he’d have slaughtered your son on the spot!”
What a joke.
All he did was beat up Tian Baoci.
And he still thought he’d gone too easy.
Yet Tian Bozhi had the nerve to come charging in here like some mad dog?
Did they really think he was the Empress Dowager too?
Tian Bozhi was completely unhinged now, eyes bloodshot, jabbing a trembling finger at Xiao Jingzhao: “You call that a beating?! That was murder! You killed my son! You killed my son! I’ll go straight to Her Majesty the Empress Dowager!”
Feng Caiwei had originally refused to let Xiuyi take her away, precisely because Duke Chengen had arrived—she was looking forward to a good show.
But she never expected that instead of going after Qi Yuan, he would go straight for Xiao Jingzhao.
And not just confront him—but fall into a full-blown brawl.
Why?
She stood there, stunned. It was unbelievable.
Qi Yuan was the one who competed against Tian Baoci. Qi Yuan was the one who had pushed Tian Baoci to ruin, to the edge of infamy, practically toppling the Chengen Ducal Household itself!
Was Duke Chengen stupid?
Why would he leave Qi Yuan alone and go fight with Xiao Jingzhao?
Xiao Jingzhao was growing more irritable by the second—but he wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Tian Bozhi’s threats.
He shoved the man’s hand away and said icily, “Fine! Go ahead, go cry to the Empress Dowager. Tell her everything—how you supported your son’s obsession with dogs. Tell her exactly how you fed them!”
Qi Yuan had long finished her part in the matter. Seeing Tian Bozhi and Xiao Jingzhao nearly come to blows, her lips curled into a faint smile.
Xiao Jingzhao truly was someone with a conscience.
When disaster struck, he didn’t gloat like Feng Caiwei, praying for the worst and hoping for higher body counts.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t be her ally.
After all, he had played a role in today’s chaos. And if he’d chosen to side with Feng Caiwei, even helping her become the Imperial Grandson Consort-to-be, then he should share in the consequences of her actions.
As for Feng Caiwei, she lowered her gaze slightly and whispered something to Liujin.
Liujin immediately looked terrified as he turned to glance at Qi Yuan.
He knew it—of all the people to cross, you never crossed Miss Qi.
When Miss Qi decided to deal with someone, she never just made things difficult—she made sure they were completely destroyed.
He quickly nodded and rushed off to carry out her orders.
By now, Qi Zhen and the Old Marquis Qi had finally managed to make their way through the crowd and found Qi Yuan. Seeing that she was unharmed, they let out a breath of relief and asked, “Yuan’er, what do we do now?”
“What do we do?” With chaos all around and no one caring who might overhear, Qi Yuan tugged her lips into a smirk. “Tian Baoci is already dead. His dogs are all dead. Since he loved dogs so much, of course he should go be buried with them.”
……
Qi Zhen instantly understood.
Qi Yuan’s goal had never been just a dogfight.
She used the fight to expose all of Tian Baoci’s dirty secrets to the world—then used it as cover to kill him.
She’d never planned on letting Tian Baoci live from the very beginning.
That’s why she’d kept repeating how it was all just a harmless children’s competition. Just a dogfight. No need to alarm the adults. No need to involve the elders.
She wasn’t afraid of the Empress Dowager or Duke Chengen’s household.
She was afraid that once the elders got involved, she wouldn’t be able to cleanly and completely finish the job.
Old Marquis Qi was calmer than his son. He hadn’t forgotten about Feng Caiwei.
Now that they’d dealt with Tian Baoci, what about her?
After all, she had been the one who arranged for Tian Baoci’s dog to attack Shen Jialang. That’s what kicked off this entire chain of events.
She couldn’t just walk away unscathed.
Qi Yuan smiled slightly. “No worries. This is such a huge mess—someone died. The Tian family is definitely going to investigate everyone who was close to Tian Baoci.”
Did Feng Caiwei think she could come out clean?
Once the investigation began, the people she bribed—those who helped incite conflict between the Qi and Tian families—wouldn’t hold up long under pressure. They’d confess everything.
Tsk, tsk.
She looked over toward Feng Caiwei in the distance.
Feng Caiwei was staring back at her, gritting her teeth, radiating murderous hostility, as if she wanted to tear her to pieces.
B*tch!
B*tch!
Why did Qi Yuan get everything good in this world?
Why did she get to walk away unscathed?
Qi Yuan, smiling sweetly, noticed Feng Caiwei’s furious expression and even had the audacity to smile at her—and then gently raised her hand to her neck and gave it a casual flick.
Feng Caiwei was livid.
That b*tch—she knew everything.
She was deliberately mocking her, deliberately provoking her!
Xiuyi quickly grabbed Feng Caiwei and whispered urgently, “My lady, don’t cause a scene! Not now—there are people everywhere. You mustn’t do anything rash!”
Staying hidden quietly for now and slipping away when the time was right—that was the real plan.
This scheme had failed, and so be it. But if anyone dug into what happened—how Feng Caiwei had bribed Tian Baoci’s servant to set his dog on Shen Jialang, leading to the conflict between the Qi and Tian families—then the one the Tians would hate the most wouldn’t be Qi Yuan. It would be Feng Caiwei.
Feng Caiwei understood this perfectly well. But watching Qi Yuan wear that smug little smile still made her want to scream.
Who did she think she was? What gave her the right to mock her?
If only Tian Baoci hadn’t been so stupid! If he’d had a single working brain cell, things never would’ve turned out this way!
Useless!
She slammed a fist against her own thigh and barked at Xiuyi, “We’re leaving!”
Thank the heavens—at least she wanted to leave. Xiuyi quickly agreed and rushed off to make arrangements. They had arrived with Xiao Jingzhao, but from the looks of things, there was no way they’d be leaving with him now.
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