Chapter 213 She dared not be moved

Shen Qingci took a moment to realize what he meant. She raised her eyebrows slightly, her gaze falling on Chu Jichen's already slightly red earlobes, and finally couldn't help but laugh.

"Husband?"

Chu Jichen's Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably.

He turned his head, his eyes somewhat unfocused, but his voice carried a barely perceptible seriousness: "Ordinary couples, it seems... that's how they address each other. Since we're going to hide our identities now, naturally... we should also act like ordinary couples."

Shen Qingci found it amusing, but nodded in agreement.

Back in the courtyard, Wanqing immediately rushed over, her face full of anxiety.

When she saw the bloodstains on Shen Qingci's body, she was so shocked that her eyes widened and her voice trembled: "Miss! You...you're injured somewhere?!"

Shen Qingci shook her head: "I'm not injured."

Wanqing didn't believe it and carefully examined Shen Qingci from head to toe. Only after confirming that there was really no wound on her body did she finally breathe a long sigh of relief.

She quickly replied, "This servant will fetch hot water right away to help Miss bathe and change her clothes."

Shen Qingci agreed and followed Wanqing into the washroom.

After testing the water temperature, Wan Qing slowly stepped into the bathtub.

The warm water instantly enveloped her icy body, finally allowing her tense nerves, which had been taut all day, to relax slightly.

She leaned against the tub, lowered her voice, and asked Wanqing, who was adding water for her, "After I disappeared, did Your Highness... ask you, or Zhuque, about the communication codes of the Shen family's secret service?"

Wanqing was taken aback upon hearing this, then shook her head blankly: "No. And even if Your Highness asked, this servant... wouldn't know."

Shen Qingci's gaze deepened instantly.

Yes, even Wanqing, her personal maid who had been by her side for so long, didn't know those secret codes. But... Chu Jichen knew them.

Wanqing then belatedly realized what was happening: "Miss...you've contacted the Shen family's secret service?"

Shen Qingci nodded, leaned against the bathtub, and furrowed her brows tightly.

She suddenly remembered that since she returned, Chu Jichen had inquired about her health and explained the code, but... he hadn't asked who had kidnapped her, nor... how she had escaped.

Chu Jichen...why don't you ask?

Unless... he already has the answer in his heart.

He must have known. After all, he could decipher the codes used by the Shen family's secret service.

If he already knows, then her attempt to conceal the fact that the Shen family's secret service had appeared might... cause him to harbor resentment towards her.

After taking a bath and changing her clothes, Shen Qingci immediately found Chu Jichen, who was writing a letter in the study.

She cut to the chase, asking directly, "Why doesn't Your Highness ask me who kidnapped me, and... how I got back?"

Chu Jichen smiled upon hearing this.

He put down his pen, raised his head, and his deep phoenix eyes were filled with undisguised tenderness and indulgence.

"I'm waiting for you to say it."

“I’ve said before that I will never make you do something you don’t want to do.”

Hearing him say this only confirmed Shen Qingci's suspicions.

Shen Qingci walked directly to Chu Jichen and sat down, then began to recount her kidnapping in detail.

From how she poisoned herself to force her kidnappers to find a doctor.

She wondered why the doctor looked familiar, and then she remembered seeing him once at a clinic near the Shen family's home, which aroused her suspicion.

Then, she began to suspect that the place she was in was the Shen family's stone chamber, and then... she successfully escaped through the stone chamber.

She then recounted how terrified she was when she came out of the exit and saw the woman who had kidnapped her standing there.

Finally, there's how she recognized that it was the Shen family's secret service.

Shen Qingci let out a long sigh of relief, her voice tinged with lingering fear and relief: "I have to thank my father. Before, for some reason, he forced me to memorize the blueprints of the Shen family's secret passage. It was because of this that I was able to pass the test so smoothly."

Chu Jichen reached out and pulled her into his arms, his voice filled with heartache: "You've suffered."

Shen Qingci observed his reaction and saw that he didn't seem surprised at all, which made her even more certain that Chu Jichen... must have guessed it long ago.

She secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately... fortunately she reacted quickly.

Otherwise, if a rift truly develops between us, it will probably be difficult to mend it later.

Chu Jichen, however, seemed to be able to read minds, and saw through her thoughts at a glance.

He sighed softly, his voice filled with helplessness and a hint of barely perceptible seriousness: "I've liked you for a long time. But this is my own business, and it has nothing to do with you."

“When I proposed to you, I said,” he looked at her, his deep phoenix eyes filled with an unprecedented solemnity, “that I am willing to be used by you. You don’t even have to explain everything to me, and I will be willing to give everything for you.”

“I won’t ask,” his voice lowered, carrying a reassuring gentleness, “because I truly believe you can have your own secrets. Whether you tell them or not is entirely up to you.”

"I actually guessed it long ago; it was the Shen family's secret service that pretended to kidnap you."

“But ever since I picked you up, I’ve looked unwell because I’m unhappy with how they’re testing you in this way.”

Chu Jichen's eyes instantly turned dark and gloomy.

He took a deep breath, his voice filled with suppressed anger: "The Shen family's secret service must know that you have poison on you, and they should also know that you took poison."

"As members of the Shen family, they knew perfectly well that all medicine has some degree of toxicity and would inevitably cause harm to the body. Yet they still stood by and watched, continuing this so-called test!"

He paused, seemingly trying his best to calm the surging emotions in his chest. After a long while, he slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, and the terrifying ferocity in his eyes gradually dissipated.

“However,” he looked at her, his voice softening again, “I am pleased that you were able to find the Shen family’s secret service and recruit them to your side.”

"After all, this will give you another force that can protect you."

He reached out and gently stroked her cheek, his voice filled with unbearable heartache.

"I really don't want you to get hurt again."

Shen Qingci looked at him quietly. Her heart, which had long been frozen by hatred and scheming, was unexpectedly struck by his words at this moment, causing a subtle but real ripple to spread.

She lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes casting a faint shadow beneath them, obscuring the turbulent, complex emotions swirling within them.

She thought she was immune to all poisons and would never be moved by any man's sweet words again.

But Chu Jichen...

He always seemed to be able to pinpoint the softest and most vulnerable spot in her heart, and then...wrap her up layer by layer with an irresistible tenderness.

He said that his liking for her was his own business and had nothing to do with her.

He said she could have her own secrets and didn't have to explain everything to him.

He said he was unhappy that the Shen family's secret service used such methods to test her because he was worried that she might get hurt...

These words, like warm streams, silently seeped into her long-parched and barren heart. They stirred within her... an uncontrollable longing.

But the bloody lessons of her past life clung to her like a leech, constantly reminding her—

Sincerity is the least valuable, yet most deadly thing.

She was scared.

I'm genuinely scared.

She was afraid of repeating the same mistake, afraid of exposing her vulnerability to another man once again.

She dared not be moved.

I don't want to... fall in love again.