Whether in this life or the previous one, Chen Tingfeng has always been that arrogant.
Beneath his cold exterior lies an insuppressible sense of superiority. He thinks he has everything under control and thus always looks down on the world.
To him, whether it's people or things, they are no more than the small flowers and grass by the roadside. When necessary, he can set up a game, not caring whether the people in it live or die.
In his previous life, he was so cold and heartless. But in this life, Fu Zhen walked into his heart, and she vaguely sensed that he was not completely unscrupulous.
He was so good to her that she really thought he would change.
"Do you know someone drugged you?" Fu Zhen looked up at him. Her eyes seemed to be stung by the dust in the room and couldn't help getting red.
From his words "I knew you would come", Fu Zhen instantly understood everything.
Whether she drugged Chen Tingfeng or not, he would end up here because today's game was specifically designed for him.
Chen Tingfeng's heart ached sharply. He wanted to hold Fu Zhen's hand, but she dodged him.
He paused, took a deep breath, and said, "Yes, I knew."
At first, he didn't know. In such a grand occasion, it was inevitable to drink. And this wine was an extremely precious tribute. Even if he didn't want to drink, when everyone at the banquet toasted and held the Second Prince in high esteem, and seeing the Second Prince drink the wine and then come to toast him, how could he refuse?
Was he more noble than the Second Prince?
When he raised his head to drink, he smelled the wine carefully. There was nothing unusual about it. And because he had to drink for the Second Prince, he inevitably had a few more cups.
Not long after the wine went down, he felt a bit dizzy. He knew his capacity was not good, so he took an antidote pill in advance. But those male guests were really noisy, making his head ache. Coupled with the rising alcohol, he wanted to find a place to sit quietly for a while.
But just then, many fragmented pictures flashed through his mind, like broken mirrors, stabbing deep into his mind and making him almost unable to stand.
When he came to his senses, he had already walked near the abandoned palace. Looking up, the scene in front of him coincided with the pictures that had just flashed through his mind.
It seemed as if there was a voice in the dark telling him that this room was very important and he must go in.
When his rationality took a back seat, he usually trusted his intuition.
After all, his intuition had never been wrong and had even helped him many times.
He pushed open the door.
Suddenly, a fragrance wafted over, but it was like a drop of water falling into a pan of oil. An indescribable dry heat welled up in his heart.
In an instant, he understood everything.
If he had only drunk the wine or smelled the fragrance, it would have been beneficial to his body.
But if the two were combined, it would become an aphrodisiac that could take people's lives!
If he still couldn't figure out that someone was setting him up today, then he would be unworthy of being the extremely intelligent heir of the Marquis of Wu'an.
The moment he took out the antidote pill and swallowed it, a thought suddenly popped into his mind.
Zhenzhen would come.
He didn't know why he had this thought, but when he thought about it carefully, this thought had already climbed all over his brain like a persistent vine.
Almost instantly, he thought that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
An opportunity that could not only confirm his conjecture but also thoroughly test the feelings of the person he loved.
"My intuition is very accurate," he suddenly smiled self - deprecatingly. "So accurate that sometimes I think if I've experienced these things before."
Fu Zhen's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't help looking at Chen Tingfeng's expression, but only saw rare confusion on his face.
She almost thought that Chen Tingfeng had also remembered the previous life, but now looking at his appearance, it seemed that he hadn't.
"Whenever I have to make a decision, there seems to be a voice in my ear telling me what to do," he looked at his hands blankly. "All the plans in the court and the strategies against the Eldest Prince were told to me by that voice. It told me to guard against the Eldest Prince and make preparations in advance, otherwise, something I would regret would surely happen."
So he made careful plans and placed one chess piece after another in advance. After learning that the mother concubine of the Third Prince died unjustly, he immediately designed for him to fake his death and work for him. He also kept a close eye on the movements of Xie Guang and the Queen. When he learned that Xie Guang knew how to use poison, he immediately sent people to search for various poisons and antidotes in the places he had been.
Because that voice told him that these two people would definitely bring him a lot of trouble in the future.
"You once said that getting close to me would kill you," Chen Tingfeng's face was pale. "I cared a lot."
He cared so much that countless nights he would always remember these words and then lie awake all night.
Only by calculating everything could he feel a little more at ease. But who exactly caused Fu Zhen's death? That voice didn't tell him.
It didn't matter. He would investigate it himself.
After investigating all the way to today, until the moment Fu Zhen came, he finally realized.
It turned out that besides the mastermind behind the scenes, the person who caused Fu Zhen's death was himself.
The mastermind had gone to great lengths to entangle him with her. If today's incident was exposed and he ignored her, it would completely give him a reputation of being cruel and heartless. If the followers of the Second Prince were all inhumane, then how could the Second Prince, who was always with him, be a kind - hearted person?
And if he married Fu Zhen, it would prove that he still had feelings for her, and Fu Zhen would be his greatest weakness. In that case, as long as they killed Fu Zhen, they would surely make him distracted. And when his mind was in turmoil, it would be the best time for them to take advantage of his weakness.
Just like in the case of the bandits back then, the emperor wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of him and throw Chen Xuan into chaos.
If he hadn't discovered Xie Guang's talent for using poison before, he wouldn't have had the habit of carrying an antidote pill with him. Without the antidote pill, he and Fu Zhen would surely be completely tied together today.
Fu Zhen's death was inevitable. No matter what, she couldn't survive.
Getting close to him really would kill her.
Such a cruel truth almost pierced his whole heart, making him almost bend over in pain and almost suffocate.
For the first time, Fu Zhen saw him cry.
In such a dim place, in the face of such an unbearable truth, tears streamed down his face.
Fu Zhen thought she would be happy and relieved to see him in such a mess, but now that she really saw it, she only felt heartache.
She didn't know if it was heartache for him or for herself with a rough fate.
Maybe it was both. She couldn't tell anymore.
Just like her own feelings. She couldn't tell if she loved or hated him.
The moment she reached out and hugged him, there was only one thought in her mind -
Chen Tingfeng and Fu Zhen would be entangled with each other for generations, like a big tree and a vine.
Never to be apart.