No matter how many skills she had to show, Fu Zhen couldn't do anything with someone staring at her like this. She just felt inexplicably ashamed.
She bit her lips and whispered, "Brother Xie, could you... put me down first?"
"O-oh," Xie Yan woke up from his daze like a dream and carefully put her down. "Are you feeling okay?"
Fu Zhen shook her head. She was about to say something when she saw Chen Tingfeng getting closer. She swallowed back the words and lowered her eyes to bow. "Greetings, cousin."
Xie Yan suddenly turned around. Taking a closer look, he saw Chen Tingfeng's handsome face as black as the bottom of a pot. He was shocked. "When did you come?"
Chen Tingfeng gave him a cold look. "When you two were in each other's arms."
Fu Zhen's face flushed completely. She turned her head and covered her face with a handkerchief, closing her eyes tightly.
Chen, Ting, Feng!
Xie Yan also felt a bit embarrassed. He rubbed his head. "What do you mean 'in each other's arms'? The situation was critical just now. You must have seen it in the woods. It was just an emergency, so I, so I..."
As he spoke, he couldn't help but glance at Fu Zhen, who was trying to hide herself. For some reason, he also blushed a bit.
It seemed that the minty fragrance on her body still lingered at the tip of his nose, fresh and pleasant. Her body was so soft...
Chen Tingfeng could tell at a glance what he was thinking. His already dark face darkened even more. He shouted, "Xie Yan!"
Xie Yan gave a start. Seeing that Chen Tingfeng's tone was so cold, he couldn't help but make a bitter face.
Why did he have to fall for Shaochuan's cousin? He thought worriedly. He didn't know how Chen Tingfeng would torture him later.
Seeing that he had completely calmed down, Chen Tingfeng then turned his gaze to Fu Zhen, his tone strict. "Come with me!"
Fu Zhen knew that this matter probably couldn't end well. If it weren't for Chen Tingfeng's interference, this would have been a great opportunity to get closer to Xie Yan. A hero saves the beauty, and the beauty falls in love. What a great story! But he just had to mess it up!
She lowered her head slightly, her face gradually sinking. But fearing that Chen Tingfeng would tell this to Mrs. Bai in his anger, she had no choice but to obediently follow behind him.
Before leaving, feeling Xie Yan's gaze on her, she looked up. Their eyes met, and she seemed to have something to say but stopped. Finally, as if constrained by something, she averted her gaze and left.
Xie Yan watched her back. He stood there blankly, unable to help but press his hand on his chest. His heart was pounding like a drum.
After Xie Yan's figure was out of sight, Chen Tingfeng said coldly, "All of you, step back."
The maids following behind Fu Zhen looked at each other. Although they were a bit afraid of this cold-faced heir, they endured and didn't reply. They cast their gazes at Fu Zhen in front of them.
Fu Zhen smiled reassuringly at them. "It's okay. Step back first."
Only then did the two maids bow and leave.
Chen Tingfeng saw all this and suddenly sneered. "Cousin is really good at managing her subordinates. What a good trick."
Fu Zhen stared at him expressionlessly. "If one can't even manage their own servants, aren't they just useless?"
Chen Tingfeng took a few steps closer. There was a dark fire in his eyes. "Not only your servants, but even the prince Xie Yan is almost in cousin's palm. I've only just realized how amazing cousin is today."
"Cousin overpraises me. What I've done is not even a fraction of what cousin has achieved." The two were very close, as if their breaths were intertwined. Fu Zhen looked up and slowly showed a smile.
It was an invisible provocation.
Chen Tingfeng stared at her for a few seconds. It was only today that he truly saw her. He no longer spoke to her in a condescending manner. "Very well. Cousin is truly intelligent."
"However, I've also reminded you not to covet what you can't have. Do you think Xie Yan is really as simple as he seems?"
As a prince, Xie Yan had been influenced by the palace environment since childhood. How could he really be as carefree and harmless as he appeared?
Fu Zhen had thought about these things before. But so what?
"So what?"
She was the daughter of a gambler, so there was naturally a bit of madness in her blood. In her previous life, she had made a wrong move, and she was willing to accept the loss.
But a gambler who was used to big stakes would never be satisfied with small benefits. If she wanted to gamble, she would gamble big!
Chen Tingfeng looked at her deeply. "You use your beauty to attract people. How do you know that he will still favor you when you're old and your beauty fades?"
"That's none of your business," she said.
Seeing that she was unmoved, Chen Tingfeng sneered. "Xie Yan has a cold heart under his warm appearance. Do you think he really likes you? He's just intrigued by your novelty for the moment. Even if you're extremely beautiful, if you only have a pretty face, you'll always be inferior to others."
He decided to be straightforward. Sometimes he really wondered if the person in front of him was really the Fu Zhen who had lived in the countryside for more than a decade. How could she be so bold?
But seeing her short-sightedness, he felt that she was indeed who she was, just a frog in a well.
How could Fu Zhen not understand the truth he was saying?
In her previous life, wasn't that how she had suffered a complete defeat?
She had no scheming or means, and she couldn't bear to learn the elegant arts. In the end, she had ended up being abandoned by everyone.
But in this life, everything had changed.
Since she returned to the capital, she had been constantly reading books, learning poetry and literature. From tracing characters stroke by stroke to now having a unique style of calligraphy, it all showed how hard she had worked to change her fate.
And among all people, only Chen Tingfeng was not qualified to say these things to her.
Because in both her previous and this life, he had never truly regarded her. In front of Chen Tingfeng, she, Fu Zhen, was always inferior to him!
"Don't need you to say these things!" She suddenly pushed Chen Tingfeng in front of her. For the first time, she showed a cold and ruthless expression in front of him. "Cousin, just because I call you cousin, do you really think you're my elder and can lecture me?"
"Before lecturing me, why don't you think about what you've ever done for me?" She sneered. "I've tried to please you again and again, but you've never given me a good look. Now, what right do you have to point your finger at me and lecture me?"
Many scenes from her previous life flashed through her mind. In all of them, Chen Tingfeng had always been looking at her coldly, watching her use all kinds of means to please him, watching her move towards death step by step because of her stupidity. He was just like an onlooker, watching her struggle and pain, watching the end of her farce.
Chen Tingfeng was stunned. He didn't know if he was shocked by her ruthlessness or the pain that inadvertently showed in her eyes. He didn't say a word for a long time.
After venting her emotions, Fu Zhen's rationality gradually returned. She lowered her eyes, realizing her gaffe. She took a deep breath.
She bowed to him. "Cousin, I respect you as half of my family. In the future, I just hope that we won't interfere with each other. You can rest assured. I won't do anything to shame the Marquis Mansion."
After saying that, she raised her head and walked out of the peach forest past him.
Chen Tingfeng stood alone in the quiet peach forest. After a long time, he slowly raised his hand and caught a falling petal in front of him. But before he could hold it tightly, it was quietly blown away by the wind.