I am the champion of palace intrigue, and even the proud prince bows his head in submission.

Chapter 331 Xie Jingchun smiled brightly

There was nothing he could do; he was the youngest son in the family.

He was destined to be unable to inherit the title, and coupled with his repeated failures to achieve official success, his position was extremely awkward.

In order to change his situation, he realized that he had to marry into a powerful family!

Xie Wanning's elder brother, Xie Yanli, was undoubtedly the best opportunity for him to advance his career!

Even if you don't like her, you still have to bite the bullet and kiss her.

"Wanning." He smiled slightly, his tone gentle.

Without realizing it, he had already started using the proper form of address.

Xie Wanning naturally noticed it as well, and her cheeks immediately turned red.

"There's something I've always wanted to tell you." Li Yuanheng took a deep breath.

He stared intently into her eyes, his gaze filled with deep affection.

"Wan Ning, from the first moment I saw you, I fell in love with you. I hope to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. Will you give me this chance?"

Upon hearing this, Xie Wanning's mind went blank, and she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

So fast! It's incredibly fast!

"Master Li..."

Sure enough, she knew it! Young Master Li was in love with her! He fell in love with her at first sight!

Another man wants to marry her...

Honestly, it's so annoying.

A slight blush rose to Xie Wanning's face.

"If you... if you truly want to marry me, when do you plan to come to my house to propose?"

Li Yuanheng was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then revealed a faint smile.

"If you are willing, I will choose an auspicious day as soon as possible to propose marriage."

Xie Wanning's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest, and her cheeks were burning.

Qingping, who witnessed the whole thing: ...

Miss! You, you... oh my god!!!

The capital city, a martial arts training ground.

Xie Jingchun arrived at the training ground early in the morning and skillfully took his longsword from the equipment rack.

The moment he touched it, he immediately sensed something was amiss—

The sword hilt was a little loose.

He gently weighed the sword in his hand and found that the center of gravity was slightly off, indicating that the core inside had been tampered with.

There are no major problems visible on the outside.

However, such modifications could potentially affect force and balance in actual combat.

Xie Jingchun narrowed his eyes slightly.

Who did it?

In the training ground, everyone knew that he was highly skilled in martial arts. Many people were unconvinced, but no one had ever dared to harm him in such a despicable way!

Xie Jingchun's gaze swept across the room...

However, nothing unusual was found.

Everyone is diligently doing their own thing.

It was as if it really had nothing to do with them.

Xie Jingchun's gaze lingered on Chu Yi for a while longer.

His sword was damaged after Chu Yi arrived.

Could it be him?

Since coming to the training ground, Chu Yi has always been a loner.

He would only occasionally stand alone near the equipment rack.

Xie Jingchun became secretly alert and silently sheathed his sword.

I spent the rest of the day deliberately observing Chu Yi's actions.

In the evening, Chu Yi was seen again standing in front of the equipment, doing something.

Xie Jingchun seized the opportunity, walked directly towards Chu Yi, and asked in a deep voice, "Chu Yi, what are you doing?"

Chu Yi suddenly turned his head, his expression as calm as ever.

"Nothing done."

Xie Jingchun's gaze turned hostile, and he said directly, "My sword has been tampered with recently. Was it you who did it?"

Chu Yi raised his head, seemingly somewhat angry.

"It wasn't me. I was just curious and wanted to touch it, but I never touched your sword."

Xie Jingchun frowned: "You really didn't touch it?"

Chu Yi pursed his lips and looked directly at Xie Jingchun.

"No, I have no intention of modifying the sword. I just want to see, really."

Xie Jingchun stared at Chu Yi for a moment, seemingly trying to find a flaw in his face.

But Chu Yi's eyes were calm, showing no sign of guilt.

Xie Jingchun's doubts began to grow. He turned around and went back to the equipment rack to check the other longswords one by one.

During the inspection, he found some scattered fragments of the sword blade and a small section of the broken sword core under the shelf.

Following these marks, he noticed a path behind the equipment rack with some footprints on it.

Xie Jingchun took a few steps in that direction.

More obvious traces were soon found near a bush.

A few pieces of worn-out sword hilts and cutting tools.

Clearly, someone was secretly trying to repair the sword here, but failed to properly deal with the residue.

At this moment, Chu Yi also came over. Seeing the tools and fragments on the ground, he frowned and said, "These are not my things. I have never used these."

Xie Jingchun squatted down, picked up a broken piece of the sword hilt, and examined it carefully.

Suddenly I remembered something. I recently heard that a disciple who had left has secretly slipped back to practice martial arts.

This man had spent a few days at the training ground before being driven away by Instructor Zhang.

Perhaps he did it, and it has nothing to do with Chu Yi.

Xie Jingchun turned to look at Chu Yi and nodded: "I believe you."

Chu Yi did not answer, but remained silent for a moment.

"I just wanted to see what a good sword looked like, and now that I've seen it, it's truly extraordinary."

Xie Jingchun was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.

Chu Yi chuckled, his tone tinged with helplessness and self-deprecation.

“When I was a child, my family was very poor and we had trouble even getting enough to eat. We only had a few swords that we picked up from outside, swords that people didn’t want. After a few years of use, the blades were worn down like saw teeth.”

"The fact that a martial arts school in a neighboring county was willing to accept me is the luckiest thing that could happen to me."

“But life wasn’t good there either.” He paused here, avoiding Xie Jingchun’s gaze.

“When I was at the martial arts school, some scions of wealthy families looked down on me. They deliberately picked fights with me, and I tolerated it several times. Finally, one day, they snatched my sword and laughed, saying that I was so poor that I couldn’t even afford a sword. So I fought with them.”

"After the fight, they even slandered me, saying I had a bad temper and a bad character. My master didn't want to offend those people, so he had no choice but to kick me out."

After saying that, Chu Yi lowered his head and stopped talking, only clenching his fists tightly.

After listening, Xie Jingchun's eyes flashed with emotion.

He pursed his lips, then handed the sword in his hand to Chu Yi, "From now on, you can use my sword."

Chu Yi lowered his head, looked at the sword in front of him, and said in a muffled voice, "Thank you."

Xie Jingchun smiled radiantly, her eyebrows and eyes relaxed, and reached out to pat Chu Yi's shoulder.

Chu Yi smiled back at him.

But as he turned around, the smile on his face instantly turned cold.

idiot.