“Hmph.”
Seeing the two men lunge at him, Li Feng could not help but let out a cold snort. He had only been showing some respect to the Hongmen earlier, but since these two black-clothed men did not know what was good for them, he had no reason to remain polite.
Without a second thought, he struck out fiercely with a single palm.
Bang, bang!
The two black-clothed men had not even got close to Li Feng before they were sent flying by his palm strike and crashed heavily onto the ground.
“How is this possible?” The two black-clothed men scrambled to their feet, staring at Li Feng in disbelief. They had never imagined that their combined attack would fail to withstand even one move from him.
“Who on earth are you?” the black-clothed man who had remained silent until now asked in a grave voice.
“Li Feng, what happened here?” Before Li Feng could answer, a voice came from the other side of the rockery, and Zhu Yuanyang walked over.
“So your name is Li Feng.” The black-clothed man firmly committed the name to memory.
“Zhu Yuanyang.” A cold glint flashed across Li Feng’s eyes. Her timing was far too convenient.
“Ah, this… this is Chen Haotian. What on earth happened? Young Master Feng, how did Chen Haotian end up dead?” Zhu Yuanyang saw Chen Haotian lying in a pool of blood and put on an expression of shock.
“What do you think?” Li Feng replied flatly, looking at her. At this moment he finally understood what people meant by a vicious and treacherous heart. Zhu Yuanyang’s face was full of anger, indignation, and grief, yet deep in her eyes Li Feng could see a trace of cold calculation.
Arranged marriages among wealthy families were perfectly normal. Take him and Hu Yuanyuan, for instance. Before he had transmigrated, the original Li Feng had been a complete good-for-nothing, yet no matter how much Hu Yuanyuan disliked him, she had never intended to harm him. Zhu Yuanyang, however, had not hesitated to murder Chen Haotian just to achieve her own goals. The difference between the two women was staggering.
“Surely this isn’t some kind of revenge killing?” Zhu Yuanyang said, then turned to the two black-clothed men. “You’re Chen Haotian’s bodyguards, aren’t you? How could you fail to protect him properly? Now that he’s dead, can you bear the responsibility?”
“Eldest Miss Zhu.” The two bodyguards knew who she was. Hearing her words, they lowered their heads in shame.
“Do you know who killed Chen Haotian?” Zhu Yuanyang asked gravely.
“It was him.” The two men pointed at Li Feng.
“Li Feng? Impossible. He’s my guest. Why would he kill Chen Haotian?” Zhu Yuanyang shook her head without hesitation.
Watching this performance, Li Feng felt genuine admiration. If she had not said that, the two bodyguards might have started suspecting her instead. By speaking this way, who would ever imagine she was framing him?
People used to call Zhu Yuanyang the second Wu Zetian, and Li Feng had thought that was an exaggeration. Now, however, he realised she surpassed even Wu Zetian.
“Eldest Miss Zhu, when we arrived, the young master had just died. The only people present were Li Feng and this man.” One of the bodyguards pointed at the already-dead Xu Shaohua and continued heavily, “Apart from those two, no one else could have killed the young master.”
“Xu Shaohua? How could it be him?” Zhu Yuanyang looked astonished.
“Eldest Miss Zhu, you know him?” The bodyguard was taken aback.
“Of course. He’s one of my subordinates. I never imagined he would be the one who murdered Chen Haotian. That’s impossible. He already knew Chen Haotian was my fiancé. There’s no way he would kill him. The two of them actually got along quite well. Not long ago, Chen Haotian even gave him a lot of valuable gifts.” Zhu Yuanyang spoke with utter incredulity.
“What? Eldest Miss Zhu, are you telling the truth?” The bodyguard froze, then turned his icy gaze onto Li Feng. “In that case, the person who killed the young master must be this Li Feng.”
He had already experienced Li Feng’s strength firsthand. This man’s martial skill was extraordinary, nothing like Xu Shaohua, who had been completely helpless against them. Chen Haotian himself had possessed considerable ability; someone like Xu Shaohua could never have killed him. Li Feng, however, definitely had the power to do so.
Moreover, when they had examined Chen Haotian’s wounds earlier, they had found a clear palm print. There was no need to guess whose hand had left it.
“But that can’t be right. Li Feng is my guest. Why would he kill Chen Haotian?” Zhu Yuanyang appeared to think for a moment, then shook her head.
The more she insisted, the more convinced the two bodyguards became that Li Feng was guilty. In their view, she was only defending him because he was her guest and she did not know what had actually happened.
“What’s going on here?” At that moment, Ying Suyan, Fu Yanxiong, and a group of other rich young men walked over.
“Why are there dead bodies?” Ying Suyan’s gaze landed on the corpses of Xu Shaohua and Chen Haotian. Shock flickered in her eyes. Of course she recognised them, but she had never expected both to be dead.
Her eyes settled on Li Feng. Could he have killed Xu Shaohua and Chen Haotian this time?
She immediately dismissed the thought. She did not believe Li Feng would kill them. Xu Shaohua was just a nobody, insignificant. Chen Haotian, however, was different: he was the young master of the Hongmen. No matter how bold Li Feng might be, he would not kill him. Doing so offered him no benefit. His conflict with Chen Haotian had only been over Zhu Yuanyang, a matter of jealousy, not some irreconcilable grudge.
If Li Feng had been unaware of Chen Haotian’s status as the Hongmen young master, perhaps he might have killed him. But he had already learned the truth from her own mouth, so clearly he would not be so reckless.
Then how had Chen Haotian died?
Ying Suyan involuntarily glanced at Zhu Yuanyang beside her, horror flashing through her eyes.
With Ying Suyan’s intelligence, she instantly understood what had happened. She was stunned by Zhu Yuanyang’s ruthlessness. All because Li Feng had slapped her, she had set up this elaborate scheme to pin the murder of the Hongmen young master on him.
Now that Xu Shaohua, the one who had brought Li Feng to the rockery, was dead, Li Feng had no way to prove his innocence.
A cold smile curved Ying Suyan’s lips. This was exactly what she wanted. Li Feng had taken advantage of her earlier and threatened her; now the Hongmen would teach him a lesson on her behalf.
Still, remembering that he held compromising material on her, she chose to stay silent and watch. Besides, Zhu Yuanyang was already involved in today’s affair; there was no need for her to interfere.
“Li Feng, you didn’t kill Xu Shaohua and Chen Haotian, did you?” Fu Yanxiong did not share Ying Suyan’s complicated thoughts. He glanced at Li Feng and said incredulously, “Li Feng, what kind of deep hatred did you have with Chen Haotian that you would kill him like this? Don’t you know murder is against the law?”
Murder is against the law.
Li Feng gave a cold laugh. For Fu Yanxiong to say something like that was truly shameless. How many people had died by Fu Yanxiong’s own hands?
“Li Feng, do you have any idea who Chen Haotian was? You actually dared to kill him?” Fu Yanxiong was secretly ecstatic. He had been wondering how to get revenge on Li Feng, yet here Li Feng had gone and killed Chen Haotian, the young master of the Hongmen. Once the Hongmen learned of this, how could they possibly let him go?
At this moment, Fu Yanxiong felt heaven itself was helping him at the most critical time.
“Young Master Fu, you can eat whatever rubbish you like, but you can’t say whatever rubbish you like. You claim I killed Chen Haotian. Did you see it with your own eyes?” Li Feng stared coldly at Fu Yanxiong. Rage burned inside him. He had been plotted against plenty of times, whether by Qin Feng on multiple occasions or by Fu Yanxiong and the Emperor Pavilion, yet none of those incidents had made him this angry.
“I didn’t see it, but who else here was capable of killing Chen Haotian besides you?” Fu Yanxiong sneered.
“Are you saying no one else could possibly have done it? Fu Yanxiong, you really are an idiot.” Li Feng laughed coldly and looked at him. “Fu Yanxiong, if you keep your mouth shut, no one will think you’re mute. If you dare say one more word, don’t blame me for being rude.”
“What? Li Feng, are you threatening me?” Fu Yanxiong’s expression darkened.
“Threatening you? You may interpret it that way.” Li Feng gave another cold laugh.
“You…” Fu Yanxiong glared at him furiously, gnashing his teeth. “Li Feng, you will regret this.”
Li Feng merely snorted in disdain. Compared to Zhu Yuanyang’s schemes, Fu Yanxiong was nothing more than a clown. He could not even be bothered to waste any thought on him.
Li Feng turned his gaze to the two black-clothed men. “I’ve already said I didn’t kill Chen Haotian. Believe me or not, that’s up to you, and it has nothing to do with me. But if you want to cause trouble for me, then don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”
“Hah, you killed our young master and still dare deny it. You really are arrogant.” One of the black-clothed men snorted coldly, his eyes icy as he stared at Li Feng.
With that, he turned to Zhu Yuanyang and asked, “Eldest Miss Zhu, you wouldn’t mind if we took him down, would you?”
“This is my villa, and Li Feng is my guest. I believe it’s highly unlikely he killed Chen Haotian, so I hope you won’t start a fight here.” Zhu Yuanyang’s tone was solemn.
Her meaning was crystal clear: she was telling the two bodyguards that she thought it very unlikely Li Feng was the killer, but not impossible. This was her villa, so she hoped they would give her face and not touch Li Feng inside it. Once he left her villa, however, it would be their business entirely; they could do whatever they wanted, and it would have nothing to do with her.
A shrewd glint passed through the bodyguards’ eyes. They exchanged a glance, and one of them said, “We’ll give Eldest Miss Zhu face. In any case, the man who killed our young master won’t escape.” With that, he threw Li Feng a cold look, hoisted Chen Haotian’s corpse, and turned to leave.
