Chapter 153

Compared to before, he was obviously much colder today.

Zhi Xia felt uneasy in her heart.

Leaning to the side, she tilted her head and asked, "I waited for you for a long time just now but you didn't come back. You weren't around when I went out either."

Pei Jing smelled the fragrance coming from his side and pulled his thoughts back from the distance. "Zhao Xin sent Fu Yunqi back, and I talked with him for a while."

Zhi Xia nodded and didn't intend to ask further. But Pei Jing asked her, "Won't you ask what we talked about?"

"Would I know?" In fact, Zhi Xia knew clearly that Fu Yunqi was at most used by Shen Hongmei. He couldn't possibly know about certain things. Pei Jing also couldn't find out much from him.

"Of course." Pei Jing now knew Shen Hongmei and Fu Yunqi were plotting against his wife. Of course he wouldn't keep her in the dark without any vigilance.

What Zhi Xia learned from Pei Jing was similar to what she had guessed.

"Zhi Xia, you don't seem to find it strange that Shen Hongmei wants to plot against you." Pei Jing's gaze was deep as he looked at her, not hiding his probing at all.

Zhi Xia smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Hasn't everyone been saying she likes you? It seems I've been implicated because of you." Pei Jing also smiled. His fingers stroked her fallen hair as he held her even tighter. A helpless sigh escaped from his throat. "Silly girl, do you know there are no airtight walls in this world? For some things, as long as you do them, you'll leave traces. Just like the steamed buns in our basket at home - you stole one when I wasn't home. Do you really think I wouldn't know?"

Likewise, the things sent from Jin Cheng would come, but not so much. After all, everyone had a quota. Occasionally they could exchange resources with others, but it was impossible to do this every month.

The grain brought home each time was always a bit more than purchased, and the quality was better too. Zhi Xia probably didn't know, but Pei Jing's hand was a scale. He could know the approximate weight by how much he lifted.

The tastes in her mouth, the lingering smells on her body after a bath, and the things used for the child - all these could easily be concealed from others. But for Pei Jing, who lived with her day after day, sharing the same bed, there were far too many loopholes.

Feeling Zhi Xia's suddenly tense body, Pei Jing soothingly stroked her back. "Don't be afraid, Zhi Xia. Maybe you can consider trusting me a bit more. I won't hurt you. Everyone has their own little secrets - I don't require you to have no concealment from me. But you have to let me know about things between you and Shen Hongmei. She clearly won't let things rest as they are now, yet you won't tell me anything. What if something happens and I can't protect you?"

Zhi Xia looked at him, clearly sensing his earnestness.

"What if I was a monster, a man-eating monster? Would you still protect me?" For a moment, Zhi Xia wanted to completely trust him.

Pei Jing didn't hurry to reply. It was as if he pondered for a while before earnestly answering, "As long as you don't endanger the country or people, don't slaughter the innocent, as long as I'm alive, I will use my life to protect you and the children. From the moment we married, you and the children became my responsibility, just like protecting the country."

Suddenly Zhi Xia didn't dare look at him. She lay on his chest to completely hide her gaze.

In her two lifetimes, this was the first person who said he would use his life to protect her.

To break it off or not, the chaos continues.

He was already suspicious. Continuing to be vague and conceal things would cause cracks in their already sparse feelings.

Divorce was also unrealistic, and she didn't want that.

Previously Zhi Xia felt that a wonderful romance was desirable, with the only downside being it was hard to last long. Too many lovers were madly in love at first, yet their feelings completely vanished and even turned to enmity after the test of time.

She didn't believe love could last long, but she suddenly felt a man with a sense of responsibility was truly captivating.

After a brief escape, she sat up and glanced at the two sleeping children, then said to Pei Jing, "You investigated Shen Hongmei and also know of her peculiarities. Have you noticed her state these recent six months, as well as the changes around her?" Pei Jing suppressed the urge to rub his thumb and forefinger together. That was a little habit he loved to do whenever thinking, but forced himself to change it after joining the military. Still, occasionally he would feel an itch.

Regarding Shen Hongmei, after confirming she wasn't a spy, he gave up investigating her. As for anything else, so long as she didn't betray the country or break the law, those were personal affairs. They didn't have the hobby of peeping on others.

"Your guess isn't bad actually. Shen Hongmei is indeed very unusual. Over the years, people around her have continuously encountered misfortune and harm. You can consider her as being controlled by an evil spirit that feeds on the luck of others. And I am the little fairy who subdued that evil spirit. " Zhi Xia tried to use a cheerful tone as she explained, because she didn't like that oppressive atmosphere herself.

"If you put it that way, Shen Hongmei should be thanking you. But she still wants to harm you. Is it because after losing the evil spirit's help, her career has declined, and her looks have..." Pei Jing's gaze was deep. He didn't want to be so direct, but according to his deductions, it should be similar. "When she was controlled, she wanted to get rid of the evil spirit, but after freeing herself she realized she had nothing left. Unable to bear the pain of losing everything, she regretted it?"

Zhi Xia had to admit, for a man to achieve so much without the meddling of rebirths was definitely not purely due to luck.

He was very smart and vigilant, with strong principles and sense of responsibility.

Or perhaps, if she could change the situation some years later where he had to retire from the military due to injury, he could also display different brilliance on another path.

"But regret shouldn't make her resent you to this extent, unless...she feels you benefited from the evil spirit, or you controlled that evil spirit?"

This deductive ability was amazing.

"It's not really an evil spirit, I said that just to make it easier for you to understand by giving an example. Actually it was a technological product from the future, a kind of black technology. It resides in a person's body and controls others, then draws the good fortune of others through the fondness they develop for the controlled person. In this process, the controlled person like Shen Hongmei can also obtain some benefits as a reward. Her beauty, temperament, talent, these should all be rewards given by that thing. So after losing it, she gradually returned to her true self, becoming who she really was. And she couldn't accept such a plain, unadorned self, that's how it is."

After Zhi Xia finished, Pei Jing looked at her for a long time, sizing her up. "Then what about you? Have you been controlled too?"

Pei Jing thought back to Zhi Xia's huge changes over the past six months.

But she didn't change after coming here and interacting with Shen Hongmei. Rather, she changed every moment from the time she returned to the An family, or even earlier, from their first meeting.

A girl who grew up shackled in the countryside and oppressed - yet on her, he seldom saw traces of being oppressed.

Only when facing her An family parents before coming here did Pei Jing truly feel the grievances in this girl's heart.