Chapter 19: Protecting Him

Chapter 19: Protecting Him

Shen Yichen wasn't the only one who went pale with fright—the guards from the Minister's residence looked on with wary, uneasy eyes.

They'd seen what this man was capable of with their own eyes that day.

Cheng Yi's face was cold, impossible to read, but those deep, dark eyes swept over them, and a chill ran down their spines for no reason they could name, making them instinctively back up two steps.

But letting their master's son be taken away like that meant they couldn't just wash their hands of it.

They were just about to step forward...

"Get lost."

Cheng Yi spat out a single cold word.

The men turned tail and fled back into the residence without a backward glance.

They'd done all they could. The rest was up to the Lord.

Luckily, Wang Shuci didn't get angry when he heard. Instead, he let out a low chuckle, saying that the one who'd come to deal with the little bastard had finally shown up.

With too many prying eyes and ears around, Cheng Yi had just wanted to pull Shen Yichen aside somewhere private to talk, not expecting to scare him half to death.

Looking at the man, whose face had gone completely pale, Cheng Yi couldn't help feeling a little helpless.

It had to be those demonizing rumors that had wrecked his reputation.

Was he really that terrifying in this guy's eyes?

What he didn't know was that the quieter Cheng Yi got, the more suffocating those dark eyes became.

Shen Yichen pressed his lips together, wanting to pull free but not daring to make a move. All he could do was grit his teeth and let the man keep holding his wrist.

Chuliu, standing off to the side, was shaking like a leaf, but his master only had him. He absolutely couldn't abandon his master.

In a panic, he burst into tears and was about to drop to his knees to beg for mercy.

Wei Xiao was quick—he blocked him with the hilt of his sword and shoved him aside.

"What are you doing? My master wants a private word with yours—can't you take a hint?"

Chuliu was hurt and confused.

But by then, his master was already being dragged off by that dark-faced little demon, so all he could do was sniffle and trail far behind with Wei Xiao.

Cheng Yi took the man to a restaurant, headed straight up to a private room on the second floor, ordered a few of the house specialties, and only then turned to look at Shen Yichen.

By now, the shifty, guilty look in his eyes had been replaced by curiosity, as if he couldn't figure out what Cheng Yi was up to at all.

It wasn't a last meal, was it?

Cheng Yi looked up and caught his gaze head-on.

Shen Yichen's eyes darted away like they'd been burned.

Cheng Yi was at a loss.

"Am I really that scary?"

But in his past life, this guy had been bolder than anyone—not afraid of him, the bloodthirsty demon, and not afraid of the corpses littering the mass grave either.

Shen Yichen coughed guiltily and insisted stubbornly, "Who said that? You're not that scary."

Stubborn as ever with his words.

"Besides, I haven't done anything. Why would I be afraid of you? In broad daylight, you're not gonna chop my head off and kick it around like a ball, are you?"

Rumors really did a number on him.

Cheng Yi was speechless for a moment, then a smile crept into his eyes despite himself.

He laughed at how the man in front of him was protesting too much.

"You really didn't do anything?"

"I heard that yesterday, Young Master Shen climbed the wall to dump slop water and outsmarted his nasty stepfather. I bet the whole capital knows about it by now."

The moment Cheng Yi said that, Shen Yichen's face burned with embarrassment.

He wished he could reach over and cover the man's mouth, but Cheng Yi wasn't letting him off the hook.

"I also heard you hacked your stepbrother's hair into a total mess?"

There was no way ordinary people could know that—especially since Wang Shuci had been keeping it under lock and key.

If it had been anyone else standing in front of him, Shen Yichen would've flashed a smug smile and owned up to it without hesitation.

Yeah, he did it. So what?

But the person before him was Cheng Yi—his future husband.

Shen Yichen felt nothing but shame and mortification. He should have been confident and unapologetic, yet an inexplicable hesitation rose in his heart.

He feared Cheng Yi would think him crude and malicious; feared he would despise his ruthless methods; feared he would, like the rest of the world, see him as willful, eccentric, cold-hearted—an ungrateful wretch...

Just imagining it made his chest ache with bitterness.

Shen Yichen hadn't even realized how much he cared about Cheng Yi's opinion and attitude toward him.

Fortunately, he was skilled at pretense. Over the years, he had wrapped himself in an armor covered in thorns, making himself appear impenetrable—anyone trying to glimpse his true heart would be wasting their time.

"I did shave it," Shen Yichen collected himself, lifting his chin slightly with a cold smirk. "That old poison dared to scheme against me, so of course I had to retaliate."

"Shen Qinglan is that old poison's precious treasure—using him as the target was the perfect choice."

After years of wits and battles, Shen Yichen had long since pinpointed the old poison's Achilles' heel: that useless Shen Qinglan.

"What, do you think I went too far?"

Shen Yichen's demeanor at this moment was somewhat arrogant and unreasonable, but no one knew how tightly his palm was clenched inside his sleeve, how his heart was inexplicably anxious—afraid of hearing an answer he didn't want.

Yet he heard Cheng Yi say seriously:

"No. You did very well."

Shen Yichen was momentarily stunned, then a faint, subtle light quietly burst forth in his eyes.

"When you're bullied, you should fight back."

"Not only that, but your handling of the aftermath was thorough as well—not only did you get your revenge, but you also cleverly exposed the enemy's ugly face to the public."

"Most importantly, you also protected yourself—this wasn't reckless madness without preparation."

Shen Yichen was completely stunned.

He hadn't expected Cheng Yi to give such sincere praise—not a hint of perfunctory dismissal, or any hint of disgust or blame.

He asked, somewhat dazed, "So you didn't come today... to settle the score with me?"

Cheng Yi looked puzzled. "Settle what score?"

"You don't think I'm embarrassing? You don't think I'm crude? You don't blame me... for using you?"

He had told those people to seek out Cheng Yi if anything went wrong—this was him borrowing Cheng Yi's influence.

If something happened to him and Cheng Yi refused to help, that would make Cheng Yi seem heartless and unmanly, forcing him, for the sake of his reputation and honor, to seek justice on Shen Yichen's behalf.

That was his scheme.

He didn't know what Cheng Yi truly thought of him, or what his limits of tolerance were, but even if it meant swallowing his pride, he had to hide behind Cheng Yi's banner.

For all these years, he had been alone and helpless in the Minister's residence, with no one else to lean on.

Cheng Yi gently shook his head.

"As I said just now, what you did was flawless. If I had been in your desperate situation, I doubt I could've handled it any better or more thoroughly than you did."

Shen Yichen's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly remembered that day many years ago—the same pair of clear, dark, and bright eyes, staring at him with earnest focus, saying words that shook his heart just the same.

All these years, he had struggled to survive alone in the Minister's residence, pretending to be invulnerable, yet no one had ever sincerely and earnestly acknowledged everything he'd done.

No one had ever been able, like Cheng Yi, to see through his endurance and acknowledge all his struggles and defiance.

Shen Yichen's heart was pounding, his emotions surging out of control.

The grievances he'd bottled up for years suddenly burst out of nowhere, flooding over him in an instant.

Cheng Yi watched his expression change rapidly—those beautiful eyes, big and bright, suddenly turned red at the rims, and a visible sheen of tears welled up in them.

Was he... going to cry?

"You—what's the matter—"

Cheng Yi was completely at a loss, with no idea how to handle this.

In his previous life, though he had been entangled with Xie Yulin for ten years, he'd always stuck to propriety and never crossed the line.

Before Xie Yulin rose to power, Cheng Yi had believed their hearts were in sync—the more he cared, the more reserved and proper he became, keeping all his feelings unspoken.

And after Xie Yulin gained power, they had become emperor and subject. Even the love he'd once declared out loud had to be buried deep in his heart, hidden away, lest anyone find out and criticize them.

After all, everyone said Xie Yulin had sold his body for power, and Xie Yulin hated most of all being credited to Cheng Yi for everything he'd gained—so Cheng Yi naturally kept his distance.

And the Cheng Yi before him now was the ruthless, decisive, cold-blooded Prince Wu'an from ten years later.

So he really had no idea how to handle the situation in front of him.

"Please don't cry—did I say something wrong?"

Cheng Yi floundered, reaching out to wipe his tears but quickly pulling his hand back, afraid of overstepping.

Shen Yichen, whose tears were about to spill, suddenly caught sight of this flustered Cheng Yi. His heart trembled, and then he couldn't help but laugh through his tears.

"Don't you dare slander me—this young master hasn't cried in ten years!"

Just then, the waiter brought the dishes up.

Shen Yichen, who was starving, was immediately drawn in by the table full of delicious food.

His life had indeed been miserable—as a kid he often went hungry, and only after swallowing his pride had he managed to fill his stomach. If they refused to feed him, he'd make a scene, pretend to be a ghost at night to scare the father and son, or release snakes into Shen Qinglan's courtyard, throw mice at him...

In short, he raised a fuss until they didn't dare withhold food from him.

But even so, he was still frequently scolded and mistreated—leftover scraps, stale rice from the night before, or locked in the ancestral hall for days on end. But at least he had survived.

Hunger, though, was always his constant companion.

The man in front of him, who'd been pampered and cherished since childhood, had no idea what this table of food meant to Shen Yichen.

Cheng Yi noticed him secretly swallowing, and remembering how light he'd felt when he held him that day, couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.

He first filled a bowl of rice and handed it to him, then said:

"Take it slow."

"Your injuries haven't fully healed, so I ordered some lighter dishes—hope they're to your liking."

Shen Yichen didn't stand on ceremony—being polite would be an insult to his stomach—but he still tried to keep some dignity, so he wouldn't embarrass himself in front of this man.

Only after he was full and content did Shen Yichen look up at Cheng Yi.

"You didn't come all this way just to buy me a meal, did you?"

Cheng Yi pulled a stack of banknotes from his pocket and called in Wei Xiao, who had been waiting outside the door.

"Here's two thousand taels. I know you're handing out grain to the people for the next month. I can't help you openly, but I can do it on the down low."

He shoved the banknotes into the stunned Shen Yichen's hands, then gestured to Wei Xiao.

"This is my personal bodyguard, Wei Xiao. If you ever need anything, you can go to him, and you can also tell him to do things for you."

Then he pointed to the grain shop diagonally across from the restaurant.

"That shop belongs to the Marquis Zhongyong's estate. I've already talked to the manager—you don't need to go anywhere else to buy grain. For the next month, just come to the shop to pick up what you need, and I'll have the manager get it ready in advance."

Shen Yichen was so dazed he forgot to react at all, not even noticing Wei Xiao's salute. He just stared at Cheng Yi, dumbfounded.

"You... why are you being so good to me?"

Cheng Yi naturally couldn't tell him about their past life, so he only said:

"Have you forgotten? The emperor personally arranged our marriage—in half a month, we'll be married."

"Husbands are one. Since you're going to be my husband, it's my duty to protect you."

"But I'm..."

Shen Yichen hadn't even noticed the wedding was half a month away; he just lowered his gaze, his expression dark.

But how could someone as notorious and riddled with faults as I ever be worthy of someone as pure and noble as you?

He thought that between them, it was merely a single move in a chess game between the major powers, and he, a mere pawn, was completely inconsequential.

Cheng Yi could have simply gone through the motions of taking him into the Marquis's residence, and from then on, they would have nothing more to do with each other, never crossing paths again, abandoning him in a corner to rot.

That would have been only natural.

But what was Cheng Yi doing now?

Cheng Yi treated him with such sincerity, yet he didn't even have the courage to voice the doubts in his heart.

"But how could someone like me ever deserve the Little War God, so clear and virtuous, to go to such lengths for me..."

He wanted to make a snide, sarcastic remark as he always did.

A few words from him were always enough to send that father and son into a furious rage, and then they would beat and scold him, while he watched with smug satisfaction as they gnashed their teeth at him, utterly helpless.

Facing someone so ungrateful, he figured the man before him would be no different.

But Cheng Yi's reaction left him dumbfounded on the spot.

So much so that many years later, when he recalled that day, the emotions in his heart would still surge and churn for him, refusing to settle.

==========Author's Note:==========

Notice: Tomorrow marks the start of the VIP chapters. On that day, there will be a 10,000-word update. After that, I'll also strive to update regularly, with occasional bonus chapters. I hope all you lovely readers who enjoy this story will leave comments and subscribe to show your support. Love you all, mwah!