Go with the flow

Ping An was kidnapped in front of everyone. The group quickly found the vicinity of the burly man's house and then heard the sound of something breaking. Cui Shenzhi quickly strode towards the direction from which the sound came, but he had only just reached the door when he heard what Ping An said.

"I can't leave now, so I have to stay and be your wife."

In an instant, Cui Shenzhi felt as if the blood in his body had frozen, so much so that even though he knew Ping An was just a step away in the room, he couldn't move and didn't even have the strength to reach out and push the door open.

He was afraid.

He was afraid he was too late. He was afraid that when he opened the door, he would see Ping An, who had been defiled. He was afraid that Ping An had lost her innocence because of his trusted friend. He was afraid that the innocent Ping An would be harmed by his negligence. He was afraid that Ping An's bright, star-like eyes would be filled with an indelible shadow from now on.

It was Cui Lingxian who arrived just in time and had the door kicked open.

Seeing Ping An with her hair disheveled, clothes in disarray, and a conspicuous wound on her hand, curled up on the ground, Cui Shenzhi felt a sudden surge of metallic taste in his throat. He quickly took off his coat and draped it over Ping An, then reached out to touch her head, but Ping An dodged away.

— Ping An did it on purpose, deliberately pretending not to know that it was Cui Shenzhi who came, and deliberately avoiding Cui Shenzhi.

She wanted Cui Shenzhi to see with his own eyes how much she had been hurt. She wanted Cui Shenzhi to remember this scene clearly, to remember what Lu Fengping had done to her, a simple and innocent girl, because of some unfounded speculations!

In this way, as long as she doesn't reveal any flaws in the future, no matter who speaks ill of her to Cui Shenzhi, Cui Shenzhi won't believe them.

Ping An suppressed the slight upturn of her lips, dodging Cui Shenzhi's hands while shouting loudly, "No, you can't have the jade pendant. The jade pendant is to be returned to Shenzhi and the fairy!"

"Ping An, look up." Cui Shenzhi tried to suppress the metallic taste rising in his throat and said as calmly and gently as possible, "It's me, it's Shenzhi, Shenzhi has come to save you. You're alright now. With me here, no one can hurt you, no one can."

Ping An raised her head, blinked at Cui Shenzhi for a long while, her eyes filled with tears but she didn't let them fall. She just sobbed and carefully handed the jade pendant in her arms to Cui Shenzhi.

“Shenzhi,” Ping’an said, choking back tears, “This is your and the fairy’s jade pendant. I didn’t give it to him. You didn’t become the Seven Fairies. You don’t have to stay here like me to be his wife and have his babies.”

Cui Shenzhi felt the metallic sweetness in his throat intensify, so intense it felt as if something inside him had cracked open and was continuously oozing blood.

Lu Fengping was his friend. It was Lu Fengping who introduced Lu Fengping to Ping An. It was Lu Fengping who made Lu Fengping harbor malice towards Ping An. It was his trust that gave Lu Fengping the ability to lure Ping An away from the mountain. It was his oversight that left Ping An isolated and helpless, leading to her being kidnapped and bullied. It was Lu Fengping who harmed Ping An.

But Ping An knew nothing about it, and even under these circumstances, she still wanted to protect him and Ling Xian.

Cui Lingxian still retained a sliver of reason. Seeing that Cui Shenzhi didn't move, she walked to Ping An's side and gently pulled her into her arms, tentatively asking, "Ping An, do you mean that he took your clothes, just like Dong Yong took the Seventh Fairy's clothes, so you can't leave?"

Ping An nodded.

"He only took your clothes and didn't do anything else to you, right?"

Ping An pouted and started complaining, counting on her fingers: "He did! He hit me! He scared me! He even said I wanted to sleep in Shen Zhi's bed, but I have my own bed, why should I sleep in Shen Zhi's? He wouldn't let me go back to the East Palace, I said I could go back to the Cold Palace, but he wouldn't let me. He even wanted to sell the jade pendant you gave me..."

Listening to Ping An's rambling complaints, Cui Lingxian and Cui Shenzhi gradually felt relieved.

fine.

Fortunately, they arrived in time.

Fortunately, they weren't too late.

Cui Lingxian hugged Ping An tightly, her trembling voice full of relief: "It's alright, Ping An. With me and Shenzhi here, everything will be fine. You don't need to stay here. We can talk about the rest when we get back."

"Really? Can I really leave? Can I leave even if he took my clothes?"

"Of course! Have you forgotten that I'm a fairy, and Shenzhi is the child of a fairy sister? Would we lie to you?"

Ping An's expression finally relaxed, and she threw herself into Cui Lingxian's arms, crying her heart out. Then she threw herself into Cui Shenzhi's arms, clutching his clothes and sobbing uncontrollably.

Feeling the warmth of An'an's body in his arms, Cui Shenzhi felt that the previously unbearable fishy and sweet smell had dissipated somewhat.

He raised his hand and gently placed it on Ping An's back, patting it softly. It was unclear whether he was comforting Ping An or calming the uncontrollably beating heart in his chest.

*****

After learning that Ping An had been found, Lu Fengping also rushed over.

Seeing Ping An's disheveled appearance, Lu Fengping stepped forward and bowed deeply.

“Ping An, I’m sorry. Even if I suspected that you had ill intentions in approaching Shen Zhi and Ling Xian, I shouldn’t have used such despicable means that disregarded the consequences to test you, which led to you encountering this situation. It’s my fault.”

Ping An's face was full of confusion.

Cui Shenzhi then said in a low voice, "Young Master Lu is joking. How could you be wrong? I am the one who is wrong. It was my poor judgment in choosing people and my careless friendship that led to Ping An's danger. But please rest assured, Young Master Lu, I will learn from this experience and will not do it again."

After saying that, Cui Shenzhi picked up Ping An and carried her around Lu Fengping toward the carriage.

After Cui Shenzhi and Ping An left, Cui Lingxian remained silent for a while before speaking: "Young Master Lu, I said before that your affection for me would not make me feel unhappy or troubled, but now, I feel very unhappy and particularly troubled. I hope that Young Master Lu will not appear in front of me again in the future."

After saying that, Cui Lingxian turned and left.

Lu Fengping stood there blankly, unable to utter any words of rebuttal or know where to go. He felt as if the world was so vast that there was no place for him. Only the faint voices of Ping An and Cui Shenzhi reached his ears.

"Shenzhi, where is Young Master Lu? Isn't he coming back with us?"

"No, Young Master Lu is not one of us. He has his own path to take, and we have ours."

*****

After returning to the East Palace, Cui Shenzhi instructed Siwei to take Ping'an to wash up and apply medicine to the wound on Ping'an's arm. He also ordered Qi Kang to have the guards give the brute a drug to make him mute and then send him to the government office so that he could be dealt with according to the law without spreading rumors that would damage Ping'an's reputation.

After doing all this, Cui Shenzhi slumped into a chair in the study, staring blankly at the exquisite ceiling with a complicated expression.

He knew very well that Ping An's ordeal couldn't be entirely blamed on Lu Fengping, but he found it hard not to blame Lu Fengping.

Even if Ping An is indeed as Lu Fengping said, a scheming person with ulterior motives towards him, Ping An is still just a weak woman with no power to even kill a chicken. Being left unprotected in a slum, a place teeming with all sorts of people, it's almost inevitable that something bad would happen to her.

Lu Fengping, however, had not considered this situation at all.

He simply assumed that Ping An was a bad person, and then devised a plan to deal with Ping An on his own. After transferring the people around Ping An away on his own, he assumed that Ping An would be safe, so he did not leave any protective measures for Ping An, which led to Ping An being in danger.

Cui Shenzhi couldn't understand when Lu Fengping had become such an arrogant person who treated human life like dirt.

There are also some concerns.

Will he become like that one day?

*****

Although Ping An said nothing had happened, Si Wei was still a little worried and carefully looked her over for a long time while helping Ping An wash up. She was completely relieved when she saw that apart from the wound on her arm, she only had some abrasions on her elbows and knees.

While enjoying Siwei's care, Ping An was also thinking about how to use this incident to keep Cui Lingxian out of the East Palace.

After her eyes darted around for a moment, she asked in a clear voice, "Sister Siwei, why did Young Master Lu apologize to me before? He said a long string of words, but I was too scared at the time to understand anything. But I know that the person who bullied me was that big guy, not him."

Thinking of Lu Fengping's words, Siwei couldn't help but sigh: "Young Master Lu apologized to you because he harbored ill intentions towards you. Out of selfishness, he made an excuse to call away His Highness and Princess, which is why you were bullied by that brute."

"Sister Siwei, are you sure you're not mistaken?" Ping An's face showed a mixture of shock and confusion: "How could Young Master Lu possibly have any ill intentions towards me? He's been very kind to me, helping me heal my hand and helping me recover. If he had any ill intentions towards me, why would he be so kind to me?"

Siwei gently stroked Ping An's hair and said softly, "Ping An, Young Master Lu helped you not because he was kind to you, but because His Highness is both the Crown Prince and his friend. He had no reason to refuse, so he helped you."

"Really... But I still feel something's not right. Sister Siwei, could you take me to find Shenzhi later? I still think they've misunderstood."

Seeing Ping An's obedient appearance, Siwei nodded in agreement.

*****

After washing up, Siwei took Ping'an, who had changed her clothes, to the study.

"Your Highness, Ping An says she has something she wants to tell you."

Before Cui Shenzhi could speak, Ping An ran up to him and said impatiently, "Shenzhi, Shenzhi, I heard from Sister Siwei that you all think Young Master Lu harbored ill intentions towards me, which is why I was kidnapped by that big guy, right?"

"It's not that we think so, it's that Fengping..."

“But I don’t think Young Master Lu is that kind of person,” Ping An interrupted Cui Shenzhi, her gaze intense. “Shenzhi, you’ve known Young Master Lu longer, so you should know him better than I do. Do you think he’s the kind of person who would harbor ill will towards me without reason?”

After a long silence, Cui Shenzhi finally spoke: "The Fengping I know is not that kind of person, but the Fengping I know would not do something like this today, so I don't know if he will harbor ill will towards you for no reason."

"Then let him come and find out the truth. After all, he's your friend, and the most important thing between friends is trust. Isn't that what you told me?"

"…All right."