"My lord, my good sir, put down your sword and I will let you leave."
"Shut up. Say one more word and I'll kill you." At the brink of death, the man yelled furiously.
Feng Jin couldn't help but roll her eyes. For the sake of her own life, she suppressed her anger and said, "I am the young madam of the manor. Ling Mohan cares about me deeply. Why don't you take me hostage and leave?"
The man's gaze fell on Feng Jin with confusion. It was the first time he had seen someone voluntarily offer to be a hostage.
Indeed, the world was full of strange things.
"My lord, everyone outside wants to capture you. Your only way to survive is to take me hostage and leave before they find this place. You know, if you don't kill me, I will absolutely act as your hostage."
Feng Jin persuaded him earnestly, but the man in black remained unmoved, suppressing the urge to erupt in curses. "Everything I'm doing is to survive. You have a sword in your hand, and my life is in your grip. What can I, a weak woman, do to turn the tables?"
"If you dare to play any tricks, I'll kill you with this sword." The man in black was persuaded. He placed the sword at Feng Jin's neck and dragged her out as a hostage.
As soon as they stepped out, a large number of guards surrounded them.
Feng Jin's eyes tightened. The guards appeared so quickly; it seemed someone had arranged for them to be ambushed here.
The only person she could think of was Ling Mohan.
Had he foreseen the assassin's arrival at this location, or had he always harbored doubts about her, suspecting her of colluding with the assassin?
"The entire Ling manor, inside and out, is a net. You cannot escape. Surrender now."
A familiar voice rang out, and Ling Mohan emerged from behind the crowd.
Feng Jin stared coldly at the man opposite her. As expected, everything had been orchestrated by him.
Guards had been lying in wait all along. If they hadn't come out, the guards would have swarmed them, and she would likely be dead by now, cut down by a flurry of blades.
This man had been suspecting her all along.
The man in black immediately realized he had been tricked. He vented his anger on Feng Jin, who was closest to him, raising his sword to strike her.
At the critical moment, the sharp sword was snapped in front of Feng Jin. In an instant, the man in black lost his strength and collapsed to the ground, unable to move. He was then apprehended by the guards and taken away.
Ling Mohan rushed to Feng Jin's side, pulling her into his embrace. His agitated heart finally began to calm.
"Why didn't you dodge just now! If I had been a moment slower, that sword would have struck you."
In such a perilous situation, any delay on his part would have led to unimaginable consequences.
Feng Jin looked at Ling Mohan with icy eyes and said in a calm, distant tone, "Why would that sword have landed on me? The young general is a master strategist. Didn't he already know the assassin would enter my room? He had countless guards stationed here, and the assassin merely walked into a trap."
As her words fell, the silver needle in Feng Jin's hand also dropped to the ground. What a waste of her painstaking efforts to poison the assassin, delay him, and wait for the poison to take effect.
Her little stratagems were completely insignificant compared to Ling Mohan's.
From beginning to end, her every move had been within Ling Mohan's calculations. She was the most ridiculous fool.
"Feng Jin... I... I was just worried..."
"Worried that I was in league with the assassin, or worried that I entered the Ling manor on someone's orders to get close to you..."
Under her barrage of questions, Ling Mohan felt a pang of guilt. Undeniably, ever since Feng Jin married into the Ling manor and saved him, he had been secretly investigating her.
He hadn't been without suspicion regarding this assassin incident.
However, stationing guards here was purely out of concern for Feng Jin's safety, nothing more.
"I was just worried the assassin would harm you."
"Shut up. The situation has reached this point, General. Why pretend to be insincere? Dare you say you've never doubted me, never investigated me, never had secret guards tailing me!"
Feng Jin had long suspected him but had been deceiving herself, clinging to the hope that Ling Mohan would have a change of heart.
"I know nothing about your identity. The moment you entered the Ling manor, you cured my illness. I..."
"So you suspect that I'm an enemy spy, specifically planted by your side."
Feng Jin's heart turned completely cold, feeling that her sincere efforts over the past few days had been wasted.
"Ling Mohan, I solemnly tell you, I am not a spy planted by anyone. I am just Feng Jin. I have no ulterior motive in approaching you. It was the Feng family who forced me to marry you. As I said before, once your legs are healed, we will divorce."
"I will not divorce you..."
Upon hearing the word "divorce," Ling Mohan's heart ached twice. A baseless sense of bitterness welled up within him.
It felt as though a piece of his heart had been gouged out.
"You don't get to decide that," Feng Jin said, her eyes full of resolve. "The law stipulates that either party can propose a divorce if their feelings have deteriorated."
She absolutely would not live with a man who suspected her.
Besides, she now had wealth and influence, and she didn't need a man.
"For this life and the next, I will not divorce you," Ling Mohan said in a low voice.
His heart was already churning like a stormy sea. He had grown accustomed to Feng Jin's presence by his side and could not bear the thought of her not being there.
"This is not for you to decide. Whether you agree or disagree, I will divorce you."
Before marrying into the Ling manor, she had already decided to divorce him.
Curing his body of the chilling curse was merely to ensure that Ling Mohan, out of gratitude for saving his life, would readily agree to her divorce.
But now, she regretted it. She shouldn't have saved Ling Mohan back then; she should have just let him live a little longer and then die.
That way, it wouldn't seem as though her destiny was too harsh, causing Ling Mohan's demise.
Actually, being a widow wasn't so bad.
Compared to a woman who had been divorced, there wasn't much difference.
Ling Mohan's face turned ashen, and he said sternly, "Lu Shi, escort the young madam back to her room. Without my permission, the young madam is not allowed to step out of the manor. Otherwise, she will face family discipline."
"Your subordinate obeys." Lu Shi walked to Feng Jin with a troubled expression. "Young madam, please return to your room first."
Feng Jin ignored Ling Mohan and went straight back to her room.
"Young madam, do you really want to divorce the young general?"
Cai Qing asked worriedly. Why the sudden desire for a divorce? She could see that the young general harbored feelings for the young madam.
"Of course. I have long thought about divorcing him. I should have proposed it long ago, but I was delayed by various matters."
Divorce was a matter of time anyway. Since it was already a foregone conclusion, why bother about whether it happened sooner or later?
"Young madam..."
"Don't worry, Cai Qing. If you want to leave with me, when I leave the Ling manor, I will help you redeem your freedom, and you can follow me."
As long as Cai Qing was willing, she would find a way to take Cai Qing with her.