play hard
Choi Shin-ji was somewhat surprised by the scene before him. He wasn't surprised that Ju An, who was usually so composed, would get angry, nor was he surprised that Ping An would cause trouble. What surprised him was that Ping An had actually caused such a mess that even Ju An couldn't contain his anger.
When Ju An extended Ping An's hand in front of Cui Shenzhi, Cui Shenzhi understood, because he too could no longer suppress his anger.
"Ping An!" Cui Shenzhi shouted, while telling Siwei to fetch the medicine Lu Fengping had given him earlier, "What are you doing? Don't you want these hands anymore?!"
Ping An had never seen Choi Shin-ji so angry before, and couldn't help but shrink back.
"Yes, yes, I want it."
"Then why did you mess up your hands like this?!"
"I didn't mean to do anything!" Ping An shouted for a moment, then her momentum waned. "I just wanted to make a sachet for the fairy. I've seen those 'empresses' make them before, and they were so pretty and smelled so good. But for some reason, my hands always act up. I either cut myself or prick myself, and then... this happened."
Cui Shenzhi was furious, but seeing Ping An's pitiful appearance, he couldn't say anything harsh. He could only carefully bandage her wounds with a stern face.
Ping An watched Cui Shenzhi's actions and said excitedly, "Shenzhi, Shenzhi, are you using magic to heal me? Then I'll be better tomorrow, right?"
“It won’t be that fast,” Cui Shenzhi said irritably. “It won’t be better in less than ten days or half a month.”
Upon hearing this, Ping An first gasped in surprise, then hurriedly said, "Then...then won't the fairy see my hand? The fairy is so gentle and kind, she will be very sad. Shen Zhi, please help me, please let my hand recover immediately?"
Cui Shenzhi sighed and helplessly instructed, "Qi Kang, go to Chengqian Palace and tell him that I have some things to ask Ping An to do, and that Ling Xian should not come to the East Palace for the next half month."
Upon hearing this, Ping An immediately became anxious.
"Shenzhi, it was wrong of me to hurt my hand like this. You wouldn't help me keep it a secret from the fairy, but how could you separate me and the fairy like the Queen Mother of the West separated Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy? That's too much!"
"Queen Mother of the West?" Cui Shenzhi raised an eyebrow: "I'm the Jade Emperor! Your hand definitely won't heal in less than half a month. If you're afraid Ling Xian will be sad and don't want her to know, then you can only avoid seeing her for a while. There's no other way."
Ping An choked up, and after a long while, she said dejectedly in a low voice, "Okay... I'll try my best not to die of lovesickness."
Cui Shenzhi couldn't help but facepalm. What was all this nonsense? Ping An was so good at remembering all this random stuff, but not at learning anything serious.
"Peace, lovesickness is just a pretext made up by those scholars to deceive you young ladies. It's nothing more than a cover for their shameful thoughts. Otherwise, why is it that throughout history, it's mostly women who die from lovesickness, while men only marry wives and concubines one after another after getting lovesick?"
Cui Shenzhi thought for a moment and added, "The story of Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy is the same. What love or not? It's just that Dong Yong coveted the beauty of the Seventh Fairy and had the despicable idea of possessing her. He forcibly dragged the Seventh Fairy down to the mortal world. You and Ling Xian should listen to less of this kind of story."
Ping An nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.
Seeing the confused look on Ping An's face, Cui Shenzhi smiled and shook his head: "Me too. Why am I telling you all this? You probably don't even know what lovesickness means, let alone the story of Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy."
“I understand,” Ping An said confidently. “I asked the fairy to give me her jade pendant so she wouldn’t fly back to heaven like the Seven Fairies!”
Cui Shenzhi then noticed that the jade pendant on Ping An's waist had somehow become two pieces, and couldn't help but laugh and pinch her cheek.
*****
Whether it was because Lu Fengping's medicine was too effective or because Ping An was young and recovered quickly, the wound Ping An had inflicted on his hand by gritting his teeth was almost completely healed in just ten days. If nothing unexpected happened, it would be fully healed in another day or two, and Cui Lingxian would be able to come to the East Palace.
How could Ping An allow such a thing to happen? So she used the same trick again, but this time she used the excuse of making palace lanterns instead of sachets.
Then Choi Shin-ji was so angry at Ping An's blood-soaked hand that he laughed.
"Qi Kang, go find a knife. Since Ping An doesn't want these hands, I'll chop them off for her!"
"No!" Ping An frantically tugged at Cui Shenzhi's sleeve, trying to act cute, but only managed to leave a bloody mark on Cui Shenzhi's sleeve before letting go, because it hurt too much.
Cui Shenzhi was so angry that his heart ached, but he couldn't bear to see Ping An looking so pitiful. So he sent Qi Kang to Chengqian Palace to deliver a message, saying that he had something to tell Ping An, which was a completely insincere excuse. He also skillfully took out Lu Fengping's ointment and applied it to Ping An, and then bandaged her up.
Hearing Ping An gasp in pain beside him, Cui Shenzhi wanted to say something to comfort her, but he held back and said stiffly, "You still know it hurts? I thought you didn't know, otherwise why would you hurt your hand like this time and time again?"
"I didn't want to either," Ping An said, head down, looking aggrieved. "I heard that palace lanterns are made of bamboo, so I went and cut down a few bamboo stalks, specifically choosing the smallest ones, and then split them into small strips. Everything went smoothly up to this point! But when I tried to assemble them into a palace lantern shape, I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't put them together. I just kept trying and trying, and by the time I realized what was happening, my hands were already like this..."
"How dare you say that? Didn't you know to ask Ju'an to fetch the materials for making palace lanterns for you?"
"Shenzhi, how could you say that!" Ping An said righteously, "Do you know how busy and tired Sister Ju'an is every day! Just from what I see every morning, Sister Ju'an is often so busy that she doesn't even have time to drink a cup of tea. How can you expect me to trouble her!"
"Besides, this is a gift for the fairy. I took her jade pendant, which means I kept her here. So I have to take responsibility to treat her well. Of course, I have to make the gift for her myself to show my sincerity."
"Oh?" Cui Shenzhi's voice held a hint of mockery: "Ping An, you took Ling Xian's jade pendant, so you have to take responsibility for her? But have you forgotten that you also have my jade pendant? Doesn't that mean you also have to take responsibility for me?"
Ping An was somewhat surprised.
—The kind that comes from the heart.
Although her ultimate goal was to win Cui Shenzhi's heart, she was still a 'childlike Ping An' at the moment. How could Cui Shenzhi say such things to her? Could it be that he already had ulterior motives towards her? That would be too beastly! She was still just a young girl who hadn't even reached adulthood!
“Your jade pendant is different from the fairy’s. Yours is what you gave me, while the fairy’s is what I wanted. So I don’t need to be responsible for you, I only need to be responsible for the fairy.”
After saying that, Ping An made a funny face.
Although Choi Shin-ji was just saying it for fun, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous upon hearing such a response.
"You... I've really spoiled you for nothing. I brought you to the East Palace, taught you to read and write, and provided you with the best food and drink. But as soon as Ling Xian appeared, I became a worthless freeloader."
As he spoke, Choi Shin-ji turned his back, his shoulders trembling as if he were crying.
Ping An panicked a little and wanted to tug at Cui Shenzhi's sleeve to coax him, but because the wound on her hand was bandaged but still hurt, she could only anxiously circle around him.
"Shenzhi, Shenzhi, you misunderstood. I didn't mean you were worthless, nor did I say you were throwing yourself at me. What I meant was... I... I like you the most! Does that make you feel less sad?"
"You like me the most?"
"Uh-huh!"
"What about Ling Xian?"
"A fairy is ranked first alongside you?"
"That's more like it." Cui Shenzhi turned around, his face showing no sign of having cried.
Upon discovering he had been tricked, Ping An immediately started making a scene. It was at this moment that Qi Kang returned, but he remained silent until Ping An had calmed down before speaking: "Your Highness, the Princess asks, since you have something to instruct Ping An, can Ping An still go to the slums with you tomorrow?"
Choi Shin-ji sighed as he looked at Ping An's hand.
"Of course I can't go to Ping An, but I'll still go as usual."
"yes."
Ping An never expected that her casual act of separating herself from Cui Lingxian would unexpectedly grant her the joy of not having to go to that wretched slum. However, this meant that Cui Shenzhi would meet Lu Fengping, and if Lu Fengping said something to Cui Shenzhi while she was not there, who knew what trouble it would cause her.
Her eyes darted around, and she asked in a low voice, "Shenzhi, if we go to the slums, will we see that Young Master Lu?"
"You'll be seeing Fengping, what's wrong?"
"Nothing much, I just wanted to say, since we're going to see that Young Master Lu, aren't you going to be in the way?"
"...Ping An, what did you say? What did you say about me?" Cui Shenzhi thought he had misheard and reached out to pick at his ear.
“I’m telling you, you’re in the way,” Ping An raised her voice slightly, then leaned close to Cui Shenzhi’s ear and whispered, as if she were doing something wrong, “Can’t you tell? That Young Master Lu likes Little Fairy.”
“Feng Ping’s behavior was so obvious, of course I could tell.”
Hearing this, Ping An looked astonished.
"Then why are you still going?! Even Dong Yong knew to steal the Seventh Fairy's clothes behind her back. With you there, how will that Young Master Lu talk to the Fairy, how will he express his feelings to her? Have you thought about that?"
This was indeed an angle that Choi Shin-ji hadn't considered.
He had always thought that Ling Xian was somewhat resistant to Feng Ping because of their first meeting, which was why she showed no signs of being moved no matter how hard Feng Ping tried. But thinking about it carefully, perhaps he was also one of the obstacles? Maybe he should try to see if Ling Xian and Feng Ping's relationship would progress when he was not around?
"Qi Kang, tell Ling Xian that Father Emperor has given me some more instructions. I'm too busy to go, so please ask her to help me take the things I prepared and distribute them to the people in the slums. However, even though I'm not going, the number of guards and people secretly protecting Ling Xian when she goes out cannot be reduced in the slightest, understand?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will take care of it immediately."
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