My elder sister forced me to become a concubine; I was reborn and remarried into the emperor's

Wei Nanxun was terrified. She had been raised in seclusion since childhood and, although she was neglected by her family, she was still pampered and spoiled. The most ferocious thing she had ever seen was the hunting dog raised by Pei Yuyan.

But even then, it was only a distant glimpse, kept at bay by the feeding eunuchs; they had never gotten this close before.

Her face turned deathly pale with fright. The sight of the crimson tongue lolling out and the bits of flesh and blood between the sharp teeth made her tremble uncontrollably, and she almost vomited.

Even so, she dared not back down, fearing that if she uttered even a word of fear, the man would become even more arrogant. Today was the opening day of the shop, and if she gave in now and made an exception for him, wouldn't everyone follow suit? How would she do business in the future?

She thought this to herself, but when the leash was loosened and the ferocious mastiff pounced on her, she still felt fear.

This is a person's instinctive reaction when faced with danger. Besides, with her thin arms and legs, she's not even a bite away from it!

"Young master, run! I'll... I'll hold them off for you..."

Zhixia was so scared that her voice trembled, but she still stood in front of her, stretching out her arms like an eagle protecting its chicks, protecting her tightly.

Wei Nanxun's hands and feet were trembling. She also wanted to run away, but Zhixia was still there. How could she let Zhixia shield her from everything?

She didn't know where she got the strength from, but she pushed the person in front of her aside with all her might, and she herself didn't have time to run away.

The waiters in the shop wanted to help, but there was a table blocking their way, so they didn't have time to get it over the table. The passersby were unwilling to sacrifice themselves, so they could only watch helplessly as the vicious dog opened its blood-red mouth and pounced to bite the skinny young master's leg.

The onlookers quickly looked away, afraid of witnessing something too gruesome.

But instead of the expected screams of a boy, a deafening bark of a dog rang out.

Through the gaps between their fingers, the crowd saw that the handsome young master, though looking disheveled, was standing unharmed with his arms outstretched. On the other hand, the vicious dog had a short blade, as long as an arm, stuck in its back.

The short blade, gleaming with a cold light, had already sunk into the thick flesh, causing the mastiff to writhe in pain, blood instantly pooling on the ground.

The accident happened so suddenly that no one was able to react at first.

It was the rogue named Chen Er who came to his senses first. He widened his eyes, cried out, and pounced on the mastiff.

"Wangcai, Wangcai, who dares to hurt my Wangcai?"

But the vicious dog, seeing the man lying on the ground barely alive, was in so much pain that it couldn't even recognize its own master. When Chen Er approached, it mistook him for an enemy and began to bite him violently.

Its teeth were incredibly sharp; when it bit into someone, it felt like flesh was being torn off. For a moment, the screams of the dog and the people inside the shop mingled together, startling everyone out of the store.

As soon as Manager Qiu came out, he saw Wei Nanxun, whose face was deathly pale. He was so frightened that he quickly pushed the table aside and ran out.

"Young Master, are you alright, Young Master?" He checked her for injuries while instructing the shopkeeper and waiter to take the man and the vicious dog away, and also sent someone to report the incident to the authorities.

Wei Nanxun quickly calmed down and stiffly shook her head, saying, "Uncle Qiu, I'm fine. You should have the shopkeeper appease the surrounding people first. Otherwise, after such an incident, many people will likely be affected and won't dare to come again tomorrow."

After confirming that she was alright, Manager Qiu had no choice but to agree and go back to discuss it with the shopkeeper.

Soon, the shopkeeper came out to appease the guests: "We apologize for the small accident that frightened you all. It is our responsibility no matter what. Therefore, I have decided that for the next three days, everyone who comes can receive free snacks, one serving per person, first come, first served. I have already reported this to the authorities, and the officials will be here soon to arrest these troublemakers. Rest assured, nothing like today's incident will happen again."

Those present were initially terrified and cursing, but upon hearing that the authorities would arrive soon after being notified, and that they could also receive free snacks, their expressions immediately changed.

"Manager Xia did a good job. I've been annoyed with Chen Er for a long time. He freeloads on the streets every day without ever paying. He should be arrested and thrown into jail as soon as possible."

"That's right, arresting Chen Er is like ridding the people of a scourge."

"The shopkeeper cares so much about his customers, I would still buy snacks even if they weren't free. I feel at ease buying things here."

"I want to buy some too..."

As more and more voices like these emerged, Wei Nanxun finally felt a little relieved.

As things seemed to have settled down, her gaze pierced through the crowd and landed on a carriage parked on the side of the street. The carriage looked ordinary, but she had been watching it for a long time.

She felt it while she was in line; a gaze was subtly fixed on her, but she couldn't find it no matter how hard she looked.

She only realized what had happened when the mastiff lunged at her; she had seen with her own eyes that it was a short blade shot from the carriage that saved her.

Otherwise, she would be the one lying on the ground, badly injured.

Although she didn't know who was in the carriage, whether they had simply helped her or for some other reason, she should still thank them.

Wei Nanxun calmed himself down, straightened his headdress and clothes, and then strode over.

She stopped about half a person's distance from the carriage window, bowed, and clasped her hands in a respectful greeting: "Thank you for saving my life, sir."

She tried her best to muffle her voice and act like a respectful and polite young man.

But after waiting for a while, there was still no response from inside, so she thought that he didn't want to show himself. She paused for a moment, but still kept her bowing posture and said, "Don't worry, sir. I have only come to thank you for your kindness. I have no intention of currying favor with you."

This time, a voice finally came from inside, a normal middle-aged man's voice: "It was nothing, don't worry about it."

Wei Nanxun actually had another guess in her heart. The gaze she had just received gave her a sense of familiarity, which unconsciously reminded her of that time in the palace, but she felt that it couldn't be such a coincidence.

She stayed at home every day, completely out of touch with reality, and didn't even know if *** had left Beijing; it was just a simple intuition.

Hearing that it was a completely unfamiliar middle-aged man, her doubts immediately vanished. She had indeed been overthinking things.

How could the heir of the *** family be so free, and so coincidentally, always stumble upon her at her most disheveled moments?

She breathed a sigh of relief and was about to get up to say goodbye when she remembered that she needed a gift in return for her thanks.

But she hadn't brought much with her when she went out, and giving gold and silver would be too vulgar. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Sir, please wait for me a moment."

After saying that, he ran back quickly, and before anyone inside could respond, he ran back breathlessly.

This time she stood very close to the carriage, and she raised her hands to hand over a particularly exquisite food box.

"Sir, this is the last box of snacks I got after queuing. If you don't mind, you can try some."

The person inside seemed taken aback, not expecting her to go back to get some snacks, and remained silent.

Wei Nanxun had run so fast that her blood was rushing, causing a faint blush to appear on her powdered face. Seeing that the other person hadn't accepted it, she felt a pang of annoyance; it seemed she hadn't valued the free gift enough.

He quickly explained, "I saw your carriage was already waiting here, and I thought you might also be here to buy pastries, so I took the liberty of doing so."

"These pastries are delicious, I've tried them and they're really good... No, this box is new and unopened..."

The more she explained, the more she realized something was wrong. How could she know if something was good or not when she was queuing up to get it? For the first time, she felt incredibly awkward with words.

Her cheeks were flushed, even her nose was red, and her eyes were full of annoyance. She looked somewhat comical, but the way she raised her hand also showed a clumsy stubbornness.

Just as her arm stiffened and she was about to put the food away, a hand lifted the curtain, and before she could react, the food box had already landed steadily inside the carriage.

She only had time to see the swaying curtain and a glimpse of a dark blue sleeve.

Before she could say anything more, the coachman cracked his whip, and the carriage swayed and drove forward, leaving her to watch it disappear completely at the street corner.

"Sir, your hidden blade has been sent to be retrieved."

Pei Ji leaned against the carriage wall, crossed his arms, closed his eyes to rest, and after a while he gave a faint "hmm".

"Sir, these pastries look quite delicious, otherwise people wouldn't be robbing them in the street. Aren't you curious about the taste?"

The one who spoke was the middle-aged man who had just responded to Wei Nanxun. He fiddled with the food box in his hand, wanting to open it and take a look.

Upon hearing this, another person said, "Boss, you know our master hates sweets the most, he definitely won't touch these kinds of pastries..."

Before he could finish speaking, the person who had been keeping their eyes closed opened them at some point. Their dark eyes were deep and cold, and with a flick of their arm, they deftly lifted the food box over.

"Get out, you're making too much noise."

The two men shrank back, neither daring to cause any more trouble. With a "Yes," they quickly lifted the curtain and nimbly rolled off the galloping carriage.

-

After this unexpected turn of events, Wei Nanxun dared not linger any longer and hurried back to his residence.

The days that followed returned to normal. The pastry shop's free giveaways had a great effect, and the pastries sold out for several days in a row.

The other shops are also progressing smoothly, and over there, Wei Mingzhao and Pei Yuyan's wedding date has been set for the fifteenth of next month.

No one knows what method Pei Yuyan used to persuade the emperor, but it happened a full six months earlier than in his previous life.

But she didn't care about this at all. Instead, she was secretly delighted. Once Wei Mingzhao's marriage was arranged, she would be able to completely sever all ties with the two of them, the palace and the Wei family!

Unexpectedly, on the day Pei Yuyan came to finalize the engagement, he neither went to see the Wang couple nor Wei Mingzhao, but instead blocked her in the courtyard.