"If I hadn't vented my anger, I wouldn't be here with you now," Fu Zhen snorted softly. "Your uncle and aunt came to see you when you were in a coma. They stayed with you for quite a while. I only persuaded them to go back when it was getting late."
Ever since she found out that Chen Tingfeng was playing the victim, she had classified him as a scoundrel in her mind. If it weren't for Mrs. Bai dragging him here this afternoon, she probably wouldn't even want to set foot in Baiqu Courtyard.
Even when he did come, he just took a look, then with a sour face, he said that Chen Tingfeng wouldn't die and tried to pull Mrs. Bai back. He only behaved himself after getting a hard slap from Mrs. Bai.
However, saying these things would really hurt the father - son relationship. Fu Zhen glanced at Chen Tingfeng and kindly omitted those words.
But even if she didn't say it, Chen Tingfeng could guess. He said enigmatically, "Father actually came to see me? It's really rare."
Fu Zhen was speechless. She didn't know what the two of them were arguing about. She patted him and said, "Speak properly."
Chen Tingfeng wisely shut up.
The two of them sat chatting under the lamp until it got darker. Then Fu Zhen got up to bid farewell.
"I'll see you off," he said as he also got up.
He even wanted to follow Fu Zhen after seeing her to the courtyard gate. Fu Zhen stopped him with a smile. "Do you still want to see me back to Zhuqing Courtyard?"
Chen Tingfeng nodded理所当然ly. "I'm not at ease with you walking alone."
The Marquis Mansion was full of his informants. She really didn't know what he was worried about.
"You've walked this way before," Fu Zhen said. "There's no need to see me off. Going back and forth like this will only make people laugh."
But Chen Tingfeng firmly followed beside her. No matter what she said, he wouldn't leave. Only after seeing her to the courtyard gate did he feel relieved. "Who dares to laugh? If you're not convenient to deal with it, I'll take care of it."
He looked at her with his eyes. His once - deep eyes now showed a lot of tenderness, making his whole person look softer.
A woman's reputation was far more important than a man's. Moreover, she was an unmarried girl, so she was naturally a bit shy. Even if a maid offended her, sometimes she was too concerned about her reputation to deal with it directly.
But he could.
"What a heroic young marquis," Fu Zhen looked up with a smile, her eyes curving.
He reached out and tapped the tip of her nose. "You're so naughty."
But his left hand still held hers tightly.
Fu Zhen looked down and shook her hand. "The moon is high in the sky. Cousin, aren't you going to let go?"
"I don't want to," he said as he got closer and shook her finger imitating her.
Fu Zhen looked up into his eyes and tilted her head. "Chen Tingfeng."
"Hmm?" he replied.
"What are you afraid of?" Fu Zhen suddenly asked.
His abnormal clinging to her made it hard for her not to notice something was wrong.
But she didn't understand. Hadn't they just confessed their feelings? What was he anxious about?
Chen Tingfeng pursed his lips. He looked into her eyes for a while, as if his secret had been exposed. He sighed softly and his eyebrows drooped. "... Do you still want to marry into the Duke's Mansion?"
Fu Zhen: "..."
"Have you been worrying about this all night?" It was the first time in her life she had encountered such a thing. She couldn't help but feel a bit headache and amused at the same time. "Do you think I'm a person who goes back on my word?"
"Of course not!" Chen Tingfeng quickly explained. He sounded a bit self - deprecating. "Just think of me as being out of my mind."
He of course knew that it was wrong to doubt like this... but he just couldn't control himself.
His cousin had once considered the situation in the Duke's Mansion so carefully, and he knew that she was satisfied with the Duke's Mansion. That was why he was always on tenterhooks, afraid that one day he would do something wrong and hurt her heart, and then she would run into that damned Wei Yuan's arms.
"Lower your head," Fu Zhen sighed softly and suddenly said.
Chen Tingfeng didn't quite understand, but he still obediently lowered his head.
Fu Zhen reached out and grabbed his cheek, pinching and shaking it like kneading dough. When she met his eyes, she said half - seriously, half - jokingly, "Since I've promised to give you a chance, at least before I'm disappointed, I'll treat you well and won't consider anyone else."
Her mother had suffered a lot from her father's philandering. At that time, she had sworn that she would never be like her father.
Since she had promised Chen Tingfeng, she would naturally be whole - hearted towards him.
Unless Chen Tingfeng disappointed her again.
Chen Tingfeng suddenly hugged her, as if embracing the bright moon.
"I understand," he said, burying his head in her hair.
Just when Fu Zhen thought this matter was over, she suddenly heard him say, "Then go and make it clear to Wei Yuan tomorrow."
"..." Fu Zhen. "Chen Tingfeng, have I been too nice to you?"
He was really pushing his luck.
Fu Zhen was both angry and amused. She pushed him away. "Alright, get out of here."
The door "banged" shut in front of him. Chen Tingfeng stood there for a while, then suddenly let out a soft laugh.
There was nothing he could do. He was just such a greedy person. Once he noticed his cousin's soft - heartedness, he couldn't control himself from pushing his luck a bit more.
"Yuanbao, go and buy a lover's knot," he said as he turned around leisurely.
He knew that the lover's knot he got was a common style on the market. It was gone and it didn't matter. There was no need to feel guilty about this useless token of affection.
It just saved him the trouble of replicating it.
The servants who were not on duty at night had gone to bed early. Just now, only trusted servants like Yuanbao and Cuihuan were at the door, so Fu Zhen dared to get close to Chen Tingfeng boldly.
After a busy day, now in the dead of night, Fu Zhen finally had a chance to calm down and think carefully about what had happened today.
To be honest, today's events were completely beyond her expectation.
She had gone to the ancestral hall originally to test Chen Tingfeng's feelings.
He said he liked her, but she didn't fully believe it. Even until now, she still felt a bit dazed.
When did Chen Tingfeng start to have feelings for her? She didn't know at all.
Because of this uneasiness, she chose to get close to him again to find out. But unexpectedly, she heard his heartfelt confession in the ancestral hall.
He really wanted to marry her.
Her heart seemed to be struck hard by a bell. The lingering sound made her head go blank. For a moment, she was led by the nose by this shrewd Chen Tingfeng. In a fit of passion, she blurted out the secret.
She turned over in bed and looked at the dark ceiling, slowly exhaling.
But it was good this way. So far, she hadn't found out the person who had poisoned her, which showed how well - hidden that person was. Telling Chen Tingfeng, according to his cautious nature, even if he couldn't find any clues now, he would just quietly be more vigilant and make full preparations.
With him around, although Fu Zhen didn't want to admit it, she really felt much more at ease.
Moreover... Fu Zhen lowered her eyes slightly and looked at her fair and delicate hands.
There was something that had troubled her for a long time, that was - in the previous life, when Chen Tingfeng locked her in that yard, was it because he disliked her or because he wanted to protect her?
She had always firmly believed that it was because he disliked her, but the dream she had last night completely shattered her belief.
If he really hated her so much, why did he come back in person amidst his busy schedule to deal with those maids and servants for her? She clearly saw the look in his eyes when he looked at her room from afar before he left. It was a look of pity.
A pity as gentle as the mountain wind, a hesitation of wanting to get close but not being able to.
Fu Zhen closed her eyes and suddenly remembered a dream she had a long time ago. In the dream, Chen Tingfeng had gray hair at a young age. There was no longer the vitality in his eyes as there was now. Instead, he looked listless.
At that time, Xie Yan, who had already become the emperor, said, "It wasn't your fault back then."
Fu Zhen didn't understand before. What exactly was the "thing back then"? Or rather, she had guessed but didn't want to believe it.
But now, she was sure that the "thing" referred to her death.
She buried her head in the quilt and sighed softly. The last bit of hesitation in her heart gradually dissipated at the sight of his gray - haired appearance.
In the previous life, besides the external factors, wasn't her own death also partly her own fault?
It was she who had drugged Chen Tingfeng first and actively provoked him by unscrupulous means.
After marriage, she gradually became paranoid and irritable, often scolding and beating the servants. People's hearts were changeable, not to mention the servants who had never been very loyal to her in the first place.
The events of the previous life were just a mess. Blaming anyone was useless.
In the end, it was all the fault of the person who had poisoned her.
Fu Zhen suddenly let out a cold laugh. That kind of poison was colorless and odorless. She didn't even know when it had been put into her body.
Such a powerful and rare poison. After thinking about it, she thought that only one person could get it.