Keep your voice down. Are you trying to look glamorous dressed as a forced lover?

Li Qingyan was completely distraught, strongly suspecting that Guan Ka was causing trouble and that he was no longer satisfied with just the two of them.

After all, this little novel is only one-on-one in the early stages, but later it becomes one-on-two, or even one-on-many.

But based on the previous level hints, even with many asterisks, it doesn't seem to make that sense.

So it's still just the two of them.

The problem is that Ji Mingzheng is here, and he might get dragged into it, so it's uncertain who will finish the challenge with her in the end. What if Ji Mingzheng is the one who refuses in the end?

Did she force herself on him?

Li Qingyan's cerebellum was inappropriately yellow.

Cheng Fei looked at Ji Mingzheng, then down at his crippled leg: "Today it was my fault for not protecting His Highness properly, which put him in danger."

Cheng Fei keenly sensed that it was probably because of him that His Highness was implicated in the assassination attempt.

"Fortunately, Consort Ji arrived in time; I am far inferior to Consort Ji."

Compared to the proud, stubborn, and unyielding Li Qingyan, Cheng Fei is more likely to show weakness and reflect on his actions.

His face was still splattered with blood, and he had completely lost his earlier ferocity. He looked like a defeated puppy, leaning on his cane, appearing pitiful.

"You've been protecting me all along." Li Qingyan came to her senses and immediately comforted him, "You're amazing too. I saw and heard your determination to protect me. You even threw away your crutches."

When Cheng Fei entered the Eastern Palace, he naturally had to ask the imperial physician to examine his leg injury. The physician's advice was to be extremely careful during this period, otherwise it would be difficult to recover, and he might be lame for the rest of his life.

But Cheng Fei just threw away his crutch without hesitation, which shows his determination.

Cheng Fei's eyes lit up with surprise, yet also with a touch of shyness: "Your Highness."

He then said earnestly, "Compared to Your Highness being injured or even losing Your Highness, being lame is nothing. Your Highness can trust me more next time."

His Highness's tense expression suddenly relaxed after General Ji appeared.

Your Highness trusts General Ji more than he trusts him, but he is actually capable of protecting Your Highness, doing everything in his power to do so.

"Okay." Li Qingyan nodded.

Cheng Fei smiled, then paused, "Although I've said it several times, I still want to thank Your Highness, regardless of the outcome."

In fact, he had known for a long time that he resembled King Heng, because he had heard his superiors mention it and had also thought that they might be related, so he had always wanted to pay his respects to King Heng.

But he couldn't see the Princess Heng. Even though she was under his command, they missed each other time and time again, as if an invisible force was preventing them from meeting, until he met His Highness.

He was absolutely certain that His Highness was not only his benefactor, but also the one who could completely change his destiny.

"Don't be shy. When Prince Heng returns, just let her see your birthmark."

Li Qingyan's gaze fell on his collarbone. In the Hengwang lineage, there are children who are born with a unique cloud-shaped birthmark, located below the collarbone.

However, not every generation has it, so it is not used as a bloodline certification mark for the Hengwang lineage, but since it exists, it must be.

Outsiders were unaware of this, but the royal family knew; the emperor had previously spoken to Li Qingyan about it.

Cheng Fei obediently pulled down his collar, but Li Qingyan frowned as he watched.

"Where's your birthmark? It's gone!"

Li Qingyan leaned closer, but still couldn't find it: "Is it the other side?"

"No, it's this side."

As Cheng Fei spoke, he obediently pulled down the other side of his collar to let Li Qingyan confirm.

"Your Highness, it has never appeared before, nor has it ever turned red. It only turned red once, I think, when it gets hot."

"Your skin turns red when it gets hot? Then quickly pat it off."

Cheng Fei obeyed, but the area below his collarbone was slapped red, and the birthmark still did not appear.

"Why hasn't this changed?" Li Qingyan leaned closer to look and felt a chill down her back. She glanced back and saw Ji Mingzheng staring at them from the outside.

Cheng Fei glanced at Ji Mingzheng, his face full of innocence: "I don't know either. It was when I fell down and His Highness caught me that it got red."

Li Qingyan: "...Because I touched a red mark?"

She was somewhat helpless. In ancient times, there was no paternity test. People could say that they looked alike because there were many similar people. Birthmarks were the real killer evidence. And now that she was at the last minute, the evidence still hadn't appeared.

Somewhat helplessly, she tried poking the birthmark. Cheng Fei flinched; the birthmark became somewhat visible, but not very noticeable.

"This is so different from last time; it was very obvious last time."

Li Qingyan asked suspiciously, "Touching you didn't help, so do I have to...kiss you?"

Yes, she accidentally kissed his collarbone with her lips last time, which is how she unexpectedly confirmed the birthmark.

Cheng Fei's eyes flickered: "Maybe."

Li Qingyan poked it again in frustration, but it was obviously still useless. She guessed that it might be related to heart rate, and it would only work if the heart rate exceeded a certain level.

Therefore, she has to kiss him.

As expected of a lowly story, they've managed to make a big deal out of a birthmark.

Cheng Fei felt his heart pounding faster and faster as he watched Li Qingyan's gaze fall on him. Would His Highness help him?

This time it wasn't an accident; it was real skin-to-skin contact.

Just then, Ji Mingzheng's voice rang out: "Your Highness."

Ji Mingzheng's voice was rather loud, as if he was deliberately reminding someone of something.

Cheng Fei immediately pleaded for help: "Your Highness, what should we do?"

Li Qingyan raised an eyebrow, and finally, under Cheng Fei's expectant yet nervous gaze, and as the footsteps of Prince Heng drew closer, she smiled, gently kissed her finger, and then pressed it against the birthmark.

Cheng Fei's heart skipped a beat as he watched Li Qingyan calmly turn to look at Prince Heng as he stepped into the room.

"Your Highness."

The Prince of Heng glanced at Cheng Fei, whose collar was disheveled, and frowned. Suddenly, he noticed the red birthmark below Cheng Fei's collarbone. His expression changed, and he stepped forward abruptly, rudely tearing open Cheng Fei's collar.

"A cloud-shaped birthmark!"

Li Qingyan's flying kiss was clearly effective, as Prince Heng's eyes instantly turned red.

Cheng Fei withdrew his gaze from Li Qingyan: "Your Highness..."

"There's no mistake, there's no mistake, you must be my son."

King Heng hugged Cheng Fei tightly.

Li Qingyan's mind is made up, that's good.

Sensing the intense gaze, Li Qingyan turned her head and saw Ji Mingzheng, whose face was gloomy, inside the courtyard.

He had a commanding view of everything.

Li Qingyan didn't actually kiss Cheng Fei, but even that whiff of a kiss caused Ji Mingzheng to break the arrow in his hand.

Ji Mingzheng tossed aside the broken arrow and replaced it with a new one, but his hands trembled slightly, and his gaze couldn't help but fall on the broken arrow on the ground.

He felt that to His Highness, he was like a broken arrow that had been discarded.

Arrows broken in two are useless. Broken arrows are discarded on the battlefield and are not recycled or reused. He had thought so before, which is why he said Wen Sheng was more suitable.

Later, however, I couldn't help thinking that even if an arrow is broken, if the sharp arrowhead is intact, the arrowhead and fletching can be removed and reattached to a new arrow shaft to serve their purpose again.

Just like in the storybooks, he was only crippled in the leg, but there was no disability in the rest of his body; it was fully functional.

But now, His Highness has a new arrow, Chengfei.

Since there are new arrows, why does Your Highness need to reassemble them?

Ironically, what His Highness had wanted to reassemble was something he himself had given up on.

They give up but can't let go; they're indecisive and can't make a decision when they should.

He became increasingly strange and alienated, watching their intimacy and even wondering if he would still have a chance if he reassembled himself.

Will His Highness still use him?