158: Chapter 158 A Toad Wants to Eat Swan Meat

At this moment, in Chen Shanzhi's line of sight, there was only Ouyang Wanqing's face, so close at hand, flushed with an alluring blush from fright and shyness.

As well as those two extremely moist lips, like ripe cherries.

Chen Shanzhi's heart skipped a beat unhelpfully.

An impulse drove him to slowly lower his head as if possessed, moving closer to those red lips.

Ouyang Wanqing also clearly felt Chen Shanzhi's somewhat hurried breath hitting her face.

Under this warm breath, goosebumps began to rise on her body.

Ouyang Wanqing's eyes, like autumn waters, widened slightly, and her long eyelashes trembled like a startled butterfly.

Her mind went blank at this moment as Chen Shanzhi's face approached.

In her nervousness, Ouyang Wanqing's beautiful eyes instantly closed, leaving only her eyelashes trembling gently.

However, Ouyang Wanqing's delicate hands had no intention of pushing the man away.

Instead, she somewhat nervously gripped Chen Shanzhi's clothes, looking as if she were ready to be taken.

Just as their lips were about to meet!

"Hmph!"

An extremely majestic cold snort suddenly rang out from outside the pavilion!

Like a bolt from the blue, it instantly shattered the ambiguous atmosphere between the two.

Ouyang Wanqing felt as if she had been struck by lightning; her beautiful eyes flew open, and she violently broke free from Chen Shanzhi's embrace.

Her pretty face instantly turned as red as a ripe apple, the flush spreading all the way to her neck.

Chen Shanzhi also jolted and stood up straight somewhat awkwardly.

Both turned their heads at the same time to look in the direction the sound had come from.

With one look, their faces instantly turned deathly pale.

On the path outside the pavilion, Chancellor Ouyang was walking over slowly with his hands behind his back, his old face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

His eagle-like gaze stared fixedly at Chen Shanzhi, as if he wanted to pierce a hole right through him.

"Fa... Father..." Ouyang Wanqing's voice trembled with fear as she lowered her head guiltily, her hands nervously twisting the corner of her clothes.

"Chan... Chancellor." Chen Shanzhi's scalp also tingled as he hurriedly gave a respectful bow as a Junior.

Then he explained somewhat hesitantly, "My... my Younger Female Cousin almost fell just now, so... so I supported her for a moment."

Ouyang Wanqing also nodded hurriedly and echoed, "Luc... luckily my older male cousin was here, otherwise Wanqing might have fallen and bruised her face."

Chancellor Ouyang did not speak, walking up to the two of them.

Beside him, Ouyang Wanqing quickly came forward to grab Chancellor Ouyang's sleeve and said coquettishly:

"Why isn't Father handling official business today? How do you have time to come to the back garden? Is it because you missed Wanqing?"

Chancellor Ouyang ignored Ouyang Wanqing.

He coldly sized Chen Shanzhi up for a long time before saying in a flat but distant tone:

"Chen San, return to your mansion first.

I have some family matters to discuss with Wanqing."

The order for him to leave was extremely obvious and blunt.

Chen Shanzhi's heart sank.

He knew that the scene between them just now had likely been seen clearly.

"Yes, this Junior takes his leave."

Chen Shanzhi didn't dare say more and nodded obediently.

Under the cold guidance of the Prime Ministers Mansion's steward, Chen Shanzhi left the Prime Ministers Mansion, looking back every three steps.

The moment he stepped over the threshold, he had a faint premonition that he and Ouyang Wanqing had been completely separated by a thick, invisible wall.

...

As it turned out, Chen Shanzhi's premonition was extremely accurate.

From that day on, the gates of the Prime Ministers Mansion were completely closed to him.

Every time he went to find Ouyang Wanqing, he was blocked by the gatekeeper with some high-sounding reasons.

"The Young Miss is practicing her Needlework."

"The Young Miss has caught a slight cold."

"The Young Miss has accompanied the Madam to offer incense."

Since they couldn't meet, Chen Shanzhi couldn't even get a letter into the Prime Ministers Mansion.

A month later, a sudden piece of bad news completely shattered Chen Shanzhi's last shred of hope.

His father, a Capital Official who was highly valued by Chancellor Ouyang and had a promising future.

Was actually severely impeached by the Censors over a trivial matter.

Without giving his father any room to maneuver, the Imperial Decree was quickly issued.

Chen Shanzhi's father was stripped of all rank and directly demoted to the remote and bitter frontier to serve as a minor official of the Ninth Rank Secondary.

He was given a three-day limit to leave the capital immediately, without delay!

Everything happened so fast that Chen Shanzhi could only follow his father, leaving the extremely prosperous capital in a dilapidated carriage.

Before leaving, he looked back longingly in the direction of the Prime Ministers Mansion.

That grand vermilion gate remained tightly shut.

...

The road to the frontier was extremely long and difficult.

Half a month later.

The convoy entered a deep mountain canyon far from any village or inn.

"Kill!!!"

Without any warning!

Accompanied by the shrill sound of whistling air, dozens of cold arrows shot down from the cliffs on both sides with precision!

"Bandits! Protect the Master!" the guards shouted in terror.

But it was all too late.

A group of extremely capable men in black, exuding a strong scent of blood, pounced from the forest like fierce wolves.

Amidst the flash of blades and swords, these men in black carried out a brutal massacre.

Before Chen Shanzhi's father could even say a word, his head was tragically severed by a blade.

"Father!"

Chen Shanzhi's eyes were blood-red as he roared in despair.

He frantically tried to rush forward, but a cold blade had already accurately pierced through his chest.

"Pfft!"

Blood erupted violently, instantly draining all the strength from his body.

Chen Shanzhi fell painfully into a pool of blood, his vision beginning to blur rapidly.

At the last moment before his consciousness faded.

He clearly heard the conversation between the two men in black who were wiping the blood from their blades.

"Damn, finally finished them off.

This kid is just a demoted failure; is he really worth us Death Soldiers taking action ourselves?"

"What the hell do you know!"

The other man in black sneered disdainfully and whispered:

"I heard it's because this kid was pestering her so shamelessly that Young Miss Ouyang refused to agree to marry the First Prince no matter what!"

"The Chancellor was absolutely furious, which is why he drove their whole family out of the capital.

He had us finish them off halfway to pull them up by the roots and, in passing, put an end to Young Miss Ouyang's unrealistic fantasies."

"Hmph, a toad lusting after swan meat. He should've taken a look at himself in a pool of piss first; making me come to this mountain gully in such cold weather..."

As the voices gradually faded, a look of unbelievable shock flashed in Chen Shanzhi's fading eyes, followed by a surge of rage.

Original... so that's how it was.

"Qinger..."

Chen Shanzhi moved his lips with difficulty, but could not make a sound.

The world fell completely into darkness.

After an unknown amount of time, a crisp and pleasant voice reached Chen Shanzhi's ears.

"Chen San, we agreed to play hide-and-seek and you were supposed to find me. Why did you fall asleep?"