Chapter 258: Ending Part 3

After listening to this, Xia Jinghe frowned slightly and said nothing.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a fight outside the door. He pulled Shen Qingxi up and said coldly, "Find a place to hide."

Shen Qingxi hurriedly said thank you, then ran inside and hid behind the screen.

Xia Jinghe opened the door and walked out, and saw that the guards had already restrained two people, who were the burly men just now.

He lowered his eyes slightly and stared at the two people who were detained and kneeling in front of him, and asked, "Who are you? How dare you cause trouble in front of this palace?"

One of them was obviously not convinced: "Who are you? Why do you bully others by taking advantage of your power?"

The guard took out a token and said, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is here, do you still want to commit treason?"

The two were both shocked and kowtowed repeatedly to beg for mercy: "We are poor people and do not know the real reason. Please forgive us, Your Highness, and spare our lives."

Xia Jinghe smiled sarcastically and said, "Tell me why you are here first, and then I will consider whether to let you go."

"We...our young lady is missing, and the lady sent us here to look for her. We seemed to have seen her walking in this direction just now, so we came here to look for her."

"Your young lady? Who is she?"

"Our young lady's surname is Shen. She is very pretty, just like a fairy."

Xia Jinghe pursed his lips and said, "I have been in my room the whole time and have not seen anyone else. If you want to find someone, go somewhere else."

After that, he asked the guards to release the two men.

The two men immediately kowtowed to express their gratitude. When they stood up, they didn't even dare to wipe the dust off their trousers and legs. They just ran away with their bodies hunched.

Xia Jinghe returned to the room again, closed the door, sat on the chair, and ordered calmly: "Come out."

Shen Qingxi then dared to come out, with her head down and her hands folded in front of her. She came to him with a pitiful look, knelt down, and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for saving me. Qingxi is very grateful."

Xia Jinghe did not let her stand up. He just sat there, looking down at her. His slender and beautiful fingers tapped the table lightly. His voice was cold and slow. "When I left Tiangan Kingdom, Uncle Shi set fire to Zizhu Courtyard, creating the illusion that I and my sister were dead. He used this to come to Xuancang incognito. Outsiders all thought that the Rui Palace had suffered a disaster and everyone in the palace had died. How did you know that I am the crown prince now?"

Shen Qingxi was stunned for a moment, and then quickly explained: "My brother told me. He is now the Prince's tutor and has a lot of contact with the Prince, so he knows your identity."

Two years ago, Tiangan State had just appointed a crown prince, the Sixth Prince, who was born to the Empress. Xia Jinghe had been on good terms with the Sixth Prince since he was in Tiangan, and they still exchanged letters occasionally. He knew that there was nothing wrong with his status.

This point does make sense.

Fearing that he would have doubts and misunderstandings again, Shen Qingxi continued, "My brother only told me about this matter. Your Highness, rest assured, I can swear on my life that I have never revealed a single word of this to outsiders."

He leaned back slightly and said lazily, "Let's start."

Shen Qingxi was stunned for a moment, not understanding: "Wha...what?"

"You're going to swear? Go ahead."

Shen Qingxi met his slightly playful eyes, frowned, and finally raised her hand and swore: "God, I, Shen Qingxi, swear here that I will never reveal the true identity of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to anyone, otherwise I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death."

After listening to her, Xia Jinghe stared at her serious expression for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter if you tell others about it. I have already secured the position of Crown Prince of Xuan Cang, and this matter poses no threat to me."

Shen Qingxi felt that she was being played with. Her face turned red with anger. She stood up from the ground and said angrily, "Your Highness, do you think it's fun for me to play with you like this? I've fallen into such a state, and I was originally grateful for your help, but I didn't expect you to make things worse for me like those people."

"You can't stand this? Haha - I have never been a kind-hearted person. I saved you today just because I happened to be in a good mood. So I hope you will be more sensible in the future and stay as far away from me as possible." Xia Jinghe's voice was cold, and the look in his eyes as he stared at her was like ice.

Shen Qingxi felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over her head. A trace of hurt flashed across her eyes, and tears instantly filled her eyes. Her voice choked with sobs: "Your Highness the Crown Prince..."

Somehow, Xia Jinghe felt a pain in his heart when he saw her tears, so he immediately turned his head away, lowered his eyelashes and didn't look at her, forcing himself to continue coldly: "It's getting late now, I will order someone to open a new guest room for you, and I will send you away tomorrow."

Shen Qingxi stared at his cold and resolute profile, clenched her hands at her sides, and said lightly: "Thank you, Your Highness." After that, she wiped away the tears that overflowed from the corners of her eyes, turned around and left the room.

Xia Jinghe gave an instruction to the guard outside the door, and the guard took her to the next room.

…

After a quick dinner, Xia Jinghe sat on the imperial concubine's couch and read a book, but after reading for a long time, the book remained on the same page without turning the page.

Shen Qingxi's face appeared in his mind unconsciously, as if he and she were inextricably linked in some way. Every time they met, she was in danger, and he would always lend a hand to help.

He recalled what his mother had said to him when they were in Hangzhou. Perhaps, they were really destined to be incompatible. Thinking of this, he didn't want to have too much contact with Shen Qingxi.

"Let's send someone to send her back to Tiangan tomorrow morning," he thought.

The next morning, Xia Jinghe had just packed up and sent someone to call Shen Qingxi, but was suddenly told that she was sick.

"Is it serious?" he asked, frowning.

The guard replied, "She looked very serious. She caught a cold and had a high fever. She was unconscious when I went in."

"Go and get a doctor."

After this little incident, he did not leave for the time being and went to Shen Qingxi's room to check in person.

Just as the guard said, Shen Qingxi had a high fever. Her whole face was red and felt frighteningly hot to the touch. She curled up in the quilt with a charcoal basin burning beside her and a bottle of hot water in her arms, but she was still shivering all over and kept saying she was cold.

Xia Jinghe asked the waiter to put a handkerchief wrapped in snow on her forehead to cool her down, and then gave her some water. Only then did she seem to feel better.

Not long after, the guard who went to find the doctor came back alone.

"Where is the doctor?" Xia Jinghe asked.

The guard bowed and replied, "There is only one clinic in the town, and the doctor there has gone out to see a doctor early in the morning. It is said that he will not be back until dark."

Xia Jinghe rubbed his swollen eyebrows, thought for a moment, and then ordered: "Go to the town to hire a woman who can take care of people, and also hire a carriage, take her with you, and we will set off to the South City immediately."

"yes."