Fu Zhen curled her fingers slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed. She didn't really want to withdraw her hand, but Chen Tingfeng misinterpreted her intention and tightened his grip on it.
This very action seemed to prick Xie Yan's sensitive nerves. He shot to his feet in an instant, pointing at their intertwined hands. On closer inspection, his fingertips were trembling.
Just when Fu Zhen thought he was about to blurt something out, she saw him hold it back forcefully. The next second, he hooked Chen Tingfeng's neck and hissed through gritted teeth, "Chen Shaochuan—come out with me!"
Chen Tingfeng gave Fu Zhen a reassuring look and then was roughly dragged out of the pavilion by Xie Yan.
Both of them were skilled in martial arts. In the blink of an eye after leaving the pavilion, they had exchanged several moves. As they attacked each other, they ran to a place where Fu Zhen couldn't see or hear them.
Xie Yan's face was ashen. "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
The moment he saw their hands clasped together, he felt as if his brain had been hammered hard. The blow made him dizzy and disoriented, as if his brains were being mashed!
What else didn't he understand?
All those things he couldn't understand before and thought were inexplicable now made sense. Why Chen Tingfeng had always stopped him from getting close to Fu Zhen, and why there had always been something or other disrupting his attempts to confess his feelings to Fu Zhen—he understood it all!
He felt an intense itch deep inside him. Looking at the cold - faced man in front of him, he was so irritated that he could hardly resist taking a bite out of him. "Explain!"
He even admired himself for still having the mood to ask for an explanation.
Chen Tingfeng dusted off his sleeves. "It's just as you've seen."
He slowly showed a smile. "I'm with her."
"You!" Xie Yan pointed at him, too angry to speak for a while. "When did this happen?"
"After she broke up with you," Chen Tingfeng said, staring at him calmly.
Xie Yan in front of him was suddenly stunned.
"I'm not so despicable as to poach someone else's lover," he said, then suddenly showed a mocking smile. "But I admit that I did use some small tricks. However—if you had walked towards her firmly back then, my tricks would have been as insignificant as a fallen leaf on your sleeve."
"What a pity..."
No one understood the unspoken meaning better than Xie Yan. In an instant, it felt as if his internal organs had been shredded. An indescribable pain welled up in his heart, and almost immediately, the color drained from his face.
He had grown up with Chen Tingfeng, so of course he could tell whether he was lying or not.
But now, he hated his understanding of him.
"Why?" He frowned, as if finding it extremely absurd.
Why was it you of all people?
"Matters of the heart don't come with so many whys," Chen Tingfeng lowered his eyes. "She's such a wonderful person, a person even you like... Isn't it understandable that I would fall for her too?"
Thinking about it, from a certain perspective, the flirting tactics Fu Zhen had used on Xie Yan back then were also a form of flirting with him, weren't they?
He just liked Fu Zhen like this.
Whether she was vain or coquettish, he liked all of it.
Xie Yan fell silent from then on.
He just had a hard time accepting it for a moment.
The two of them stood facing each other. The atmosphere, which had been tense at first, had now turned cold and stagnant. It seemed as if even the wind would freeze for a moment as it blew by.
After figuring everything out, he suddenly realized that Chen Tingfeng's unusual invitation for him to come to the pavilion today was precisely to let him discover the affection between them.
There was nothing more effective than seeing it with his own eyes to make him give up.
He slowly showed a self - deprecating smile. "You're right."
If Chen Tingfeng had wanted to poach his lover, he didn't have to wait until he had confessed his feelings to Fu Zhen... The only reason he had endured until then was to save his face as a brother.
For a moment, he had a wild thought. If he had firmly chosen Fu Zhen in the palace back then, would it be him who was now by her side, holding her hand?
But almost immediately, he knew it was impossible.
Not only would Concubine Rou not allow it, but more importantly—he wouldn't allow himself to do so.
In the days and nights after breaking up with Fu Zhen, he had been carefully pondering whether his affection for her could outweigh the imperial throne.
And the answer was—no.
In the end, his ambition had overpowered his affection. He belatedly realized that his hesitation back then was because he was thinking about what benefits Fu Zhen could bring him if he were to marry her.
His silence when facing Concubine Rou precisely proved that she had indeed guessed his thoughts correctly.
He was a prince.
The marriage of the Second Prince had never been up to himself.
He slumped against the artificial hill, hanging his head like a drenched dog.
All of this was his own choice. What right did he have to blame Chen Tingfeng?
But... He said hoarsely, "You say I wasn't firm. What about you?"
Could you be sure to choose her firmly when faced with temptation?
Don't forget, they knew each other best. And in a way, they were the most similar people.
Even he had shrunk back. Could Chen Tingfeng really...
"I can," Chen Tingfeng's decisive tone left Xie Yan stunned on the spot. His pupils constricted, and he slowly looked up at him.
Chen Tingfeng lowered his eyes to meet his gaze and repeated, "I can."
He took a couple of steps and leaned against the artificial hill beside him. Looking far away at the pavilion with fluttering curtains, he could faintly see the figures inside. "Ruogu, I'm different from you."
He was the heir of the Marquis Mansion, and he was the only male descendant in this generation of the Marquis Mansion. To put it boldly, as long as he wanted it now, anything in the Marquis Mansion could be his.
He didn't have to face the difficult choices that Xie Yan did.
Moreover, his wife didn't need to bring him any help. He didn't need to scheme for that either. As long as his wife was someone he loved, even if he married a widow, no one would dare to say a word in front of him.
Because he was already capable of reaching a height that many people could never achieve in their lifetimes.
To this day, the only thing he had to face was Fu Zhen's love.
He was constantly on tenterhooks about Fu Zhen's love. Although she had reassured him time and time again, he still felt worried and afraid.
He lowered his eyes and thought calmly. But it wasn't all bad.
Things that were too easily obtained weren't cherished. If he was on tenterhooks for a lifetime, then he could keep his eyes fixed on Fu Zhen and accompany her for a lifetime.
And this outcome was something both he and Fu Zhen were happy with.
Xie Yan gave a self - deprecating smile and said wistfully, "Sometimes I really envy you."
Once you set your sights on something, you'll stop at nothing to get it and can overcome all difficulties in the process.
Such determination and perseverance were enough to draw people's attention.