Chapter 49 Provocation

  The corpse with a faint smile on its face fell softly to the ground, pouncing at Peng Yinnian's feet. Its right hand was placed on the toe of Peng Yinnian's official boots, forcing him to retreat several steps, as if he couldn't wait to avoid the filth. The clothes on the corpse were very clean, and only a little blood oozed out from the wound on its neck, seeping onto the brick floor and forming a thin stream. Apart from this, there was no sign of decay or pollution on the entire body.

  Peng Yin's face was extremely calm, and he retreated quickly, but this detail did not escape the eyes of the two people on the public platform. Li Peinan didn't look at anyone, only staring at Peng Yin's face, coldly saying: "Is this Peng's method?" Min An's heart moved, unknowingly walking forward, squatting down to touch Huan Xiao's neck with a smile. To outsiders, it seemed like he was examining Huan Xiao's wound, but in reality, after hearing the word "ice" that Huan Xiao had passed on before his death, he had already thought of re-examining the body.

  Facing Li Peinan's questioning, Peng Yinxin quickly adjusted his pace and retreated two steps, raising his hand to Li Peinan: "If it weren't for the prince's interference in the case investigation, delaying the process, the witness wouldn't have been forced to seek death. This official suspects that the twists and turns in between must be the prince's tactics, how can he shift the blame to this official?"

  Li Peinan glanced at Min An, seeing that he didn't get up, and guessed that he might have discovered something. The imperial guards in the courtyard were slowly approaching, seemingly preparing to rush up and fight. Li Peinan made a decision in an instant, pointing his hand outward, and Lü Qun understood, immediately leading fifty guards to line up in front of the rolling curtain, blocking the approach of the imperial guards.

  Such an arrangement can both restrain Peng Yinxin in the main hall and exert a deterrent effect, while also buying some time for Min'an's inspection.

  Min An examined Huan Xiao's corpse, her face still warm to the touch, but her neck was icy cold, and the skin exposed at the base of her throat was also freezing. Min An couldn't help but think about what Huan Xiao had said about "ice", could it be that she meant cold?

  The guard saw Min An crouching in front of the corpse, looking thoughtful, and intentionally wanting to maintain Peng Yin's dignity, so he took the opportunity to scold: "Onlookers retreat quickly! The corpse is also evidence, how can it be casually turned over!"

  Min An had already touched Han Xiang's wrist and calf, feeling the coldness of her skin, which only added to his doubts. He still needed some time to clear up the connections in his mind. The guard officer shouted at him, interrupting his thoughts, and before he could even stand up to apologize, the officer's foot had already kicked him over.

  Li Peinan, who had been watching Peng Yin's new reaction, flashed past with his sword raised, the cold and fierce sword shadow was comparable to the snow, the icy wind whizzed by, and the guard officer who kicked him was already on the ground, if he hadn't retreated quickly, his entire right leg would have been cut off.

  At the same time, Fei Yi, standing in front of the public case, moved swiftly and grabbed Min An's collar, pulling him over. Min An struggled to maintain his posture under Fei Yi's grip, and when he looked up, he only saw the guard clutching his leg and biting his teeth as he fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Li Peinan was already standing between Min An and Peng Yinyin, blocking his line of sight with a cold back.

  Peng Yin's face turned cold as he said, "Does the Crown Prince really want to use force to coerce the imperial envoy? This is a public hall, not a place for violence! No matter how powerful the Crown Prince may be, his power cannot surpass the Emperor's decree! If the Crown Prince dares to kill me today, it would be considered treason and rebellion, punishable by death!"

  Before Peng Yin's words were finished, Li Peinan had already raised his sword and chopped down, the other guard standing beside him hastily held up his scabbard to block it, not even having time to draw out his military saber. A dull thud sounded, the scabbard was cut in two, the intense force shook the guard's wrist, causing blood to spurt from his mouth, his right hand hanging down at his side trembling uncontrollably.

  Li Peinan's first strike was blocked, but his body didn't stop, and he swung his sword down for the second time. Peng Yinxin took advantage of the moment when the guard officer blocked Li Peinan's attack to grab the imperial sword bestowed by the young emperor. Seeing Li Peinan approaching, he held up the sword to counterattack. A powerful force came crashing forward, causing Peng Yinxin to stumble and retreat several steps until his body was pressed against the desk. At this moment, the imperial sword snapped in two with a "clang" sound. If Li Peinan had taken another step forward, swinging his sword down for the third time, no one would have been able to save Peng Yinxin's life.

  Peng's face turned pale as he leaned back against the desk, his heart racing like a drum. At this moment, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall the counter-strategy that Zhu had given him. Li didn't press further, instead pointing his sword at the ground and flashing a hint of a smile on his lips, asking: "Has Lord Peng's memory improved? In Chu State, I am the law."

  The imperial guards rushed to the front of the hall, and with a loud shout from Li Qun, the guards drew their swords in unison. With the tip of the sword pointing outward, even if it was not his clothes, they pulled Min An behind him, and from his waistband, he drew out a soft sword, shaking it in the wind, revealing a frosty autumn blade.

  At the moment of drawing swords and bows, a group of internal officials hiding behind the warm pavilion screen pushed out the chief clerk. The chief clerk stumbled and appeared in front of the crowd in the public hall. He was stunned, looked at the situation that would trigger at any moment, followed the usual practice of officialdom, and began to mediate.

  The chief clerk rushed to the front of the public case, bowed repeatedly to Li Peinan, who was holding a sword, and said: "The young master must not do this, Peng is an official appointed by the imperial court. If he dies in the public hall, it will bring disaster to the people of Qingquan County..."

  Mentioning the common people, this sentence suddenly awakened Min An, who was deep in thought. He stretched his head out from behind the clothes and called out to Li Peinan's back: "Young master, I have something to say!"

  Li Peinan didn't turn around but knew who Min An was calling out to. "Speak."

  "Come here."

  Li Peinan really put away his sword and left, making Min An's idea of "getting rid of the young master" come true, avoiding a bloody disaster that was about to happen in front of everyone. Fei Yi stood still, her face still calm, but she was surprised in her heart, wondering how the young master could listen to Min An's words.

  The outsider did not know that Li Peinan was willing to withdraw his hand and no longer intimidate Peng Yinxin, because he realized that his step-by-step provocation and humiliation could not force Peng Yinxin to call the Forbidden Army into the public hall to protect him. This deviated from his plan to create a disturbance and then take advantage of it to kill Peng Yinxin. As he said to Fei Yi, killing a third-grade official like Peng Yinxin was easy, but killing an imperial envoy appointed by the court would be somewhat difficult, because the crime of treason could shake his position with his father, especially when his father was not yet fully prepared.

  If he took a step back, the Imperial Guard would have charged in, and regardless of whether Peng Yin Xiu had given the order or not, he could have accused Peng Yin Xiu of colliding with the nobility and turned to fight him. With fewer men, he could still occupy a reasonable excuse for "self-defense in a weak position".

  This was Li Peinan's plan. He carefully observed Peng Yinxin, unexpectedly discovering that in his panic, Peng Yinxin had grown a brain and hesitated to give the order for the troops to rush into the hall and fight.

  He sank into thought for a moment, and suddenly realized that Peng Yin was also waiting in secret for him to issue the order to fight, to seize the reason of self-defense on the public platform. He could be provocative, but he couldn't kill the imperial envoy first, so taking advantage of Min An's shout, he put away his sword and walked back, preparing to launch another round of provocation.

  Fei Yi saw Li Peinan walking back, still blocking Min An's path. Min An stepped forward on his own and said to Li Peinan, who had a calm expression: "Young master really wants to talk about reason, but in the public hall, how can you rely on brute force to kill people?"

  Li Peinan smiled: "Then what do you want?"

  Min An said in a low voice, "Isn't Lord Peng always saying that he wants to follow the law and reason to try the case? Let's listen to him this time and find evidence of flaws in the law to make it impossible for him to convict Second Master."

  Li Peinan said lightly: "Alright."

  Min An turned his head and looked at Fei Yi: "What does Second Master think?"

  Fei Yi was in a state of mind where he wouldn't worry even if he had killed someone, and seeing Li Peinan's quick responses, he naturally wouldn't fall behind. "I'm listening."

  Min An couldn't help but scratch his head: "Today these two young masters are quite easy to talk to."

  Li Peinan and Fei Yu exchanged a glance, then turned their faces away from each other, without saying a word.

  The author has something to say: I'm still not fully recovered from illness, so today's updates are a bit less than usual. Extremely sorry about that! Tomorrow will definitely try to update more. :)

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  Thank you for the hand grenade (*^__^*)

  Thank you, Zhu Er Duo, Hu Hu Mi Mi, Duo Chuan, En Na, Rong Ma Ma, Xiao Bai, Mu Jin Hua Kai De Di Lei.