Chapter 210 Go to the Marquis's residence and see your son.

Zhou Zhining jumped up from her chair almost immediately, her voice trembling with emotion: "I didn't!"

How could she possibly imitate Yao Qingling?

In what way does Yao Qingling compare to her? What is there that she should learn from?

Prince Xin twitched the corner of his lips: "Why are you so excited?"

But the mocking look in his eyes clearly said: I've learned it.

From the moment that maid Hongying appeared, a thorn was planted in Zhou Zhining's heart. She knew that Zhan Xingzhuo could not forget Yao Qingling, otherwise he would not have found a maid with similar eyes to her to follow by his side.

Zhou Zhining cares about Yao Qingling, so she subconsciously tries to analyze Yao Qingling and what makes Zhan Xingzhuo so attached to her.

Yao Qingling's stubbornness?

Her refusal to travel thousands of miles away piqued his interest?

Men all share similar thoughts: a submissive woman has already submitted to him, and they are happy to conquer a woman who disdains them.

Prince Xin thought to himself that Zhou Zhining could not learn even a fraction of Yao Qingling's skills.

It should be noted that Yao Qingling's willingness to refuse Zhan Xingzhuo was a resolute act of defiance, even at the cost of her own life.

Zhou Zhining couldn't be that resolute; she was just a woman playing hard to get.

Zhou Zhining still needs Zhan Xingzhuo to turn her life around, so how could she really break ties with him?

It was precisely because Zhan Xingzhuo had also figured out Zhou Zhining's thoughts that he didn't care about Zhou Zhining's temper at this moment.

Prince Xin believed he had observed these people with detachment and understood them perfectly well.

Zhou Zhining trembled slightly, hugging herself, under the cold and mocking gaze of Prince Xin.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she lowered her eyelids, seemingly acknowledging Prince Xin's words—that she was imitating Yao Qingling.

Prince Xin glanced at her again, picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and said, "At this time, you shouldn't be thinking about jealousy. We will keep it from Zhan Xingzhuo that he is about to have a son, and we won't mention it at all in our letters to him."

"If I remember correctly, in your letters to him, you repeatedly wrote about how Xiao'er missed him and how much she needed him."

“You keep mentioning your son, reinforcing his existence, and planting him in Xingzhuo’s heart. If Zhan Xingzhuo didn’t know he had a son, of course he would value Xiao’er.”

"However, Zhan Xingzhuo is not a brainless man. By this time, he already knew he had a son, so he would know that the letters you wrote were actually out of fear and guilt. You were vying for his son's favor for your own son. Therefore, you deliberately concealed the news."

Zhou Zhining trembled violently, her eyes widening: "You mean, Xing Zhuo will be angry with me because of this? And become estranged from me?"

"You mean, Xingzhuo prefers his son to my Xiao'er?"

Her eyes were blank and empty, filled with fear.

"But he practically raised Xiao'er! When Xiao'er was sick, he took care of him personally without taking off his clothes. He even put Xiao'er next to him to sleep, ignoring Yao Qingling."

“Xiao’er learned to walk by holding his hand, how could he not love Xiao’er!”

Zhou Zhining became hysterical and rattled off a long list of how good Zhan Xingzhuo had been to Xiao'er.

Xiao'er only tripped and fell, but Zhan Xingzhuo scolded Yao Qingling for not being careful enough and not paving the road properly.

How could he not want Xiao'er?

Prince Xin simply held the teacup lid, slowly stirring the foam on the surface of the water, responding to her questioning with a mocking, dismissive sneer.

His mocking face shattered Zhou Zhining's beliefs.

Isn't that so?

Zhou Zhining swayed, her body, which had been stiff just moments before, went limp and weak. She leaned against the armrest, tears welling in her sorrowful eyes as she looked at Prince Xin: "For you men, do you care more about your own son or the son of the woman you love?"

Although she had doubts, she was also grasping at a sliver of certainty.

She believed that Zhan Xingzhuo loved her and Xiao'er as well.

Prince Xin looked at him with cold, indifferent eyes: "What do you think?"

Even if a man loves a woman dearly, if the child is not related to him by blood, he can still dote on her, but that's about it. In other words, a man's affection for this outsider child depends solely on the extent to which he loves the woman.

If the affection for a woman fades, the child becomes nothing more than an insignificant outsider.

How can it be compared to one's own blood relatives?

Zhou Zhining opened her lips silently, wanting to offer another explanation, but she could only open her lips and couldn't say anything.

Her eyes quickly dimmed.

Prince Xin said calmly, "Zhou Zhining, if you still want Zhan Xingzhuo, you shouldn't be arrogant. He no longer belongs to you."

"Listen to my advice: the way you used to gain Xing Zhuo's favor is the way you will continue to do so."

"Never follow Yao Qingling's example; you can't afford to lose."

Prince Xin felt he had said enough, so he put down his teacup, got up, and left.

Zhan Xingzhuo arranged to have dinner together that evening. He booked a private room at the restaurant and didn't go anywhere else, just drinking alone in melancholy.

He drank too much and lay down on the tatami mat to sleep for a while.

As he became engrossed in his reverie, darkness fell.

In a daze, a pair of soft little hands wiped his face and hands and covered him with a thin blanket.

Just as the little hand was about to pull away, Zhan Xingzhuo grabbed it.

"Don't go..."

A magnetic murmur came from a half-asleep, half-awake voice, and the man slowly opened his eyes.

Before him was a beautiful face, with her eyebrows and eyes slightly lowered, looking at him with utmost tenderness.

"You drank so much all by yourself. Didn't you have dinner with Prince Xin and the others? How can you eat like this?" The woman said in a coquettish voice, glaring at him reproachfully before pulling her hand away.

Zhan Xingzhuo was able to clearly distinguish the people in front of him.

This is Zhou Zhining, not Yao Qingling.

Even when Yao Qingling is meek and docile, her gentleness still carries a sharp edge.

She has a pair of heroic eyebrows and eyes, and no matter how gentle she is, she can't be as charming and soft as Zhou Zhining.

When she saw that he was drunk, she would wipe his face and hands with a cloth, but she would not speak or complain. She would just silently do everything and tell him to go back to sleep.

She just sulks to herself.

Zhan Xingzhu stared blankly at Zhou Zhining for a while, strangely enough, at that moment, he was thinking of Yao Qingling.

But ever since they fell out, Yao Qingling has never taken care of him like that again. No matter if he is drunk or not, she will never say a word or even look at him.

It was as if he were just someone who had nothing to do with her.

Yao Qingling, when she hated him, she didn't even tell him she was pregnant; she was a woman who would rather suffer than leave him...

Zhou Zhining noticed that his eyes were open.

He was clearly awake, and his eyes were on her.

But why does it feel like he doesn't see her?

A pang of sorrow welled up in Zhou Zhining's heart. She bit her lip, and tears streamed down her face. "Are you sad? Yao Qingling gave birth to your son, but she doesn't want you anymore?"

Zhan Xingzhuo snapped out of his daze and, seeing her tears, quickly wiped her eyes.

"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm just tired and need to clear my mind for a while."

Zhou Zhining wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and turned her back: "I don't believe it."

"You just woke up, you should be full of energy, how could you be tired?"

“It’s evening again. I shouldn’t have been waiting for you here. Go to the Marquis’s residence and see your son.”

As she spoke, her voice trembled with tears, and the more she wiped them away, the more she cried.

Zhan Xingzhuo frowned slightly. In the past, if he saw her crying like this, he would have hugged her from behind, held her in his arms and comforted her until she smiled.

But at this moment, Zhan Xingzhuo remained lying still.

He asked casually, "Why didn't you tell me?"