Little Fairy
Ping An was a little puzzled when she saw Siwei rushing over to find her. After all, Siwei was Cui Shenzhi's personal maid, and it didn't seem reasonable for her to come back at this time.
When Siwei hurriedly pulled her aside and changed her clothes, he was even more puzzled. Her clothes were in accordance with the regulations for palace maids and were not dirty, so why did he have to change them?
When they were taken to the gate of the East Palace and saw the carriage, they were even more puzzled.
Why would Cui Shenzhi take her along when she's penniless? Does he think that even a mosquito's leg is meat, and expect her to squeeze out every last bit for the slum dwellers? Is that something a human being would do?!
However, after getting into the carriage, she suppressed her dissatisfaction and rushed towards Cui Shenzhi as usual. But Cui Shenzhi, who usually accompanied her, stopped her for the first time. Only then did she notice that there was another person in the carriage, someone she had seen before.
—Chen Meiwu, the emperor's only daughter, a princess who grew up pampered and spoiled.
Ping An's heart sank.
So why did Cui Shenzhi, who had clearly gotten used to and even allowed her to be intimate with him, suddenly start to resist? Was it because of something Cui Lingxian said or did?
As expected of Shen Meiwu's daughter, she easily made all of Cui Shenzhi's efforts over the past half month come to naught. What skill! It seems that if she wants to win over Cui Shenzhi's heart, Cui Lingxian is an insurmountable obstacle.
Ping An's eyes flashed, and without hesitation, she abandoned Cui Shenzhi and rushed to Cui Lingxian's side with bright eyes.
"Pretty little sister... Big sister... You're so pretty!"
Cui Lingxian felt the overwhelming warmth from Ping An, and only then did she understand what Cui Shenzhi meant when he said that Ping An didn't know many common-sense things.
She was Cui Sugong's only daughter. With Cui Sugong's various promotions, her status was even higher than that of the Crown Prince Cui Shenzhi. Naturally, she had no shortage of people who flattered her. But this was the first time she had met someone like Ping An who expressed his affection for her so openly, with the simplest words and the most straightforward actions. Perhaps it was for this reason that she felt a sense of closeness.
Without thinking, she took Ping An's hand affectionately and said, "Ping An, I heard from Shen Zhi that you were born in the ninth year of Hongjia? Then you are a year younger than me, so you should call me sister. But you don't have to think too much about it, just call me Ling Xian."
Hearing this, Ping An smiled and replied, "Ling Xian, my name is Ping An, the Ping An of peace and safety. But I don't want to call you Ling Xian. You are so beautiful and your name has the character 'Xian' in it. You must be a fairy like Shen Zhi's mother. But there is already a fairy sister. So how about I call you Little Fairy?"
Hearing these words, Cui Lingxian felt that Ping An was so adorable that she couldn't help but hug her tightly.
“Ping An, you’re so cute,” Cui Lingxian turned her head and said to Cui Shenzhi half-jokingly, “Shenzhi, how could you hide such a cute Ping An in the East Palace without letting me know? That’s too much. Don’t tell me you want to keep Ping An all to yourself?”
However, before Cui Shenzhi could say anything, Ping An crawled out of Cui Lingxian's arms, blushing as she denied, "No, no, Shenzhi isn't that kind of person. Shenzhi kept me in the East Palace to teach me to read and write. He said something about 'belly...belly books'."
"A person with a wealth of knowledge naturally exudes elegance." Cui Shenzhi and Cui Lingxian said in unison, and then smiled at each other after they finished speaking.
Seeing the unspoken understanding between the two, Ping An's wariness towards Cui Lingxian increased even more.
The fact that these two half-siblings have such a good relationship is undoubtedly due to Cui Lingxian's hard work, and Shen Meiwu must have also contributed a lot. It seems that Shen Meiwu has thought about what will happen after Cui Shenzhi ascends the throne.
Given the apparent depth of their relationship, even if Cui Lingxian and Cui Shenzhi knew that Shen Meiwu's kindness over the years was all fake, and that Fu Yunjin had suffered at Shen Meiwu's hands while she was alive, they would still be constrained by Cui Lingxian's affection and treat Shen Meiwu with utmost respect.
After all, the dead are never as important as the living, especially since the dead was just a biological mother she had never met. How could she compare to the kind older sister who cared for her every day? It was only because Cui Shenzhi and Cui Lingxian had an unbreakable blood bond that she wouldn't have had a chance.
That's quite a scheme.
However, she wasn't entirely without options.
*****
Knowing that Cui Lingxian would be coming that day, Lu Fengping did not just grab any clothes to wear as usual. Instead, he carefully selected an outfit for a while. Seeing that Cui Lingxian and Cui Shenzhi's carriage was about to arrive, he finally managed to pick out a satisfactory one and hurriedly went out the door.
Upon arriving at the slum, Lu Fengping was surprised to find that Cui Lingxian had not yet arrived. So he reverted to his usual self, lounging in a chair and treating patients in a nonchalant manner. However, because he couldn't see Cui Lingxian, he was rather listless and didn't say a word more than diagnosing the symptoms.
But not long after, he saw a carriage with imperial markings slowly approaching, and the voice he had been longing for could be heard coming from inside.
Lu Fengping immediately sat up straight, adopting the demeanor of a gentleman, and gave the old man a long and attentive lecture. However, when he turned around, he did not see Cui Lingxian, but only Cui Shenzhi, who couldn't help but laugh at his pretentious behavior.
Seeing Lu Fengping's bewildered expression upon discovering that only he had appeared, Cui Shenzhi couldn't help but shake his head with a smile.
His friend, he didn't know when he had developed feelings for Ling Xian, but by the time he found out, it had already reached the point of being deeply in love.
But so what if he found out? Ling Xian didn't find out.
Lu Fengping patiently put on the demeanor of a gentleman, showing great care and concern for the people in the slums, helping the elderly and protecting the young children. Cui Lingxian said he was a good person.
Despite Lu Fengping's displays of love and care for his younger siblings and his determination to dedicate himself to medical research so that people would no longer suffer from illness, Cui Lingxian still maintained that he was a good person.
Lu Fengping tried every means to find out about Cui Lingxian, so whenever he was with Cui Lingxian, he always acted perfectly to suit her preferences, and Cui Lingxian still said he was a good person.
A good person is not necessarily someone you like.
After silently shedding a tear for Lu Fengping's seemingly endless pursuit of his wife, Cui Shenzhi knocked on the carriage. The two chattering girls inside then realized they had been talking for too long and, somewhat embarrassed, walked out hand in hand.
Upon seeing Cui Lingxian, Lu Fengping immediately went to greet her.
“Your Highness, I heard from Shenzhi that you had a high fever a few days ago. Are you feeling better now? What did the imperial physician say? Can you be exposed to drafts now? If you trust my medical skills, may I take your pulse? Just to put Shenzhi’s mind at ease.”
Cui Lingxian released Ping An's hand and curtsied.
"Thank you for your concern, Young Master Lu. I am much better now, and the imperial physician said I am fine. Although this is a congenital deficiency that cannot be cured, a little wind won't hurt. I naturally trust Young Master Lu's medical skills, but even in the deep palace, I have heard of Young Master Lu's reputation as a medical master. How could I trouble such a talented person as you to treat me?"
"Your Highness, you flatter me. Although I have some medical skills due to my family's medical tradition, there are still many diseases in the world that I am helpless to treat, such as..." Lu Fengping lowered his head and said softly, his face flushed, "such as your congenital deficiency. I cannot even cure this. How can I have the face to call myself a medical master? I am just a barefoot doctor."
Ping An immediately saw through his undisguised feelings for Cui Lingxian, as for Cui Lingxian…
Ping An reached a different conclusion than Choi Shin-ji.
She felt that Cui Lingxian wasn't unaware of Lu Fengping's feelings, or rather, Cui Lingxian was just putting on an act to manipulate Lu Fengping. Otherwise, Cui Lingxian's attitude towards Lu Fengping wouldn't have been so unusual, completely different from when she was talking to her and Cui Shenzhi in the carriage just now.
But what does this have to do with her?
Ping An chuckled and took Cui Lingxian's hand, leaning intimately against her and whispering, "Little fairy, didn't you say you'd take me to do something fun? When are we going?"
Cui Lingxian chuckled, turned her head, and gently pinched Ping An's cheek.
"Okay, let's go now. I'll take you to do some fun things and introduce you to some new friends."
Ping An nodded vigorously. Cui Lingxian apologized to Lu Fengping, nodded to Cui Shenzhi, and then pulled Ping An toward the place where the children in the slums gathered.
Watching Cui Lingxian and Ping An leave, Lu Fengping's expression became inscrutable.
"Shenzhi, where did that girl beside Your Highness come from? If I'm not mistaken, the jade pendant at her waist has a dragon pattern. Is she His Majesty's long-lost treasure? Does Your Highness know about this? Does His Majesty want you to bring her together with Your Highness so that he can openly acknowledge her as his own?"
“Fengping, what are you thinking?” Cui Shenzhi smiled and shook his head, saying, “Ping’an has nothing to do with the Emperor. I gave her that jade pendant so she could use it without worry. She’s just a child who doesn’t know anything.”
Lu Fengping's expression softened somewhat, but...
"A child? I think that girl is about the same age as Your Highness and you, how can she be a child?"
“It’s a long story.” Cui Shenzhi briefly explained Ping An’s background: “So Ping An is almost of marriageable age, but mentally she’s not much different from a child. She doesn’t even understand what being a prince or princess means.”
After hearing Cui Shenzhi's words, Lu Fengping frowned.
“I don’t think this is right. Although you said that Guo Shu deliberately raised her to be like this, have you thought about it? There are quite a few deposed concubines in the Cold Palace. After more than ten years of being influenced by her, I don’t believe that she would not even know what it means to be a Crown Prince or a Princess. Could it be that she deliberately pretended to be like this to get close to you?”
“Shen Zhi, you are the Crown Prince, you must be careful in everything you do, especially with people who appear inexplicably in your life and whose origins are unknown.”
Hearing this, Cui Shenzhi sighed, straightened his expression, and said with a serious tone, "Fengping, I know you care about me, and I know you have such speculations because you have seen a lot of the filth in people's hearts when you travel around, but you can't always assume people's hearts with malice."
"When you first met Ling Xian, you said this to me: 'The Imperial Concubine could never treat me like her own son. Ling Xian must have ill intentions towards me.' But what happened? You were wrong. The Imperial Concubine truly treated me like her own son, and Ling Xian truly treated me like his own brother. You even fell in love with Ling Xian because of his kindness and goodness."
"You've already made a mistake once, are you going to make the same mistake a second time?"
Lu Fengping was speechless for a moment before he spoke: "But this time is different from Your Highness's last time. That time, I made a rash judgment before even meeting Your Highness, so of course I was wrong. But this time is different."
Lu Fengping recalled that when he was talking to Cui Lingxian earlier, he accidentally caught a glimpse of Ping An's expression out of the corner of his eye: "When that girl was talking to His Highness, she was obviously scheming something. If she were an extremely innocent child as you say, she wouldn't have shown that kind of expression."
"Fengping, you must have seen it wrong."
"No, I'm absolutely not mistaken, Shenzhi, believe me, there's definitely something wrong with her."
Looking at the confident expression on Lu Fengping's face, Cui Shenzhi said helplessly, "How about this, after we distribute the clothes we brought to those in need and make arrangements at the porridge stall, we can secretly go and check on Ling Xian and Ping An. If Ping An is really a cunning person, he can't possibly be without any flaws. That way, you can finally feel at ease."
Lu Fengping then nodded.
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