Chapter 234: Gratitude Can Be Repaid, But What About Feelings?

In a room with moderate, warm lighting, Zhu Yuan slowly regained consciousness.

As she opened her eyes, the scenes from before she lost consciousness surged into her mind like a tide.

Scene after scene, the overwhelming sound of gunfire.

Sheng Yu was shot.

Zhu Yuan suddenly sat up from the bed, gasping for air.

Having not eaten properly for several days, combined with morning sickness, and having just experienced such danger, her sudden movement caused her vision to black out, and she nearly collapsed again.

A broad, thick palm pressed against the back of her head, supporting her.

"Not dead."

The cold voice carried a hint of impatience.

Pei Ling picked up a pillow to prop behind her, then let go, allowing Zhu Yuan to lean back against it; he took a step forward, standing before her, "Waking up without even a word of thanks, your heart only remembers Sheng Yu, right?"

Hearing that he was not dead, there was not a trace of joy on Zhu Yuan's face; instead, her eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

Her reaction made Pei Ling's expression falter for a moment.

She... wanted to cry?

Watching her eyes grow redder and redder.

Pei Ling's hand hanging at his side clenched, and the moment she lowered her head, he raised his hand, his broad palm covering her eyes.

He frowned, his tall figure leaning closer to her, his face cold, but his voice lowered, almost gentle, "Don't cry."

Did she not know?

He feared her crying the most.

Even in the past, when they had little interaction, when Zhu An'an spread rumors about him and her, he had rushed to the Theater to find her, and even when she fake-cried in front of him, he couldn't stand it.

Let alone now.

There were many women who cried in front of him; every week there were a few who didn't fear death and came to confess to him, only to be either cried into tears by his sharp tongue or scared into tears by his wolves.

There were all kinds of crying.

But only Zhu Yuan's crying made his mood turn terrible.

But it would have been better if he hadn't spoken; she had only had red-rimmed eyes.

Just after he finished saying "don't cry," he felt the warm, moist sensation, drilling from the lines of his palm, as if it were burrowing into his blood vessels, flowing along his veins into his heart.

His hand stiffened, a momentary panic appearing on his stern face; he furrowed his brows tightly, his expression cold and unsightly, "Can you stop crying? I've never coaxed anyone."

"I'm not crying," her voice was muffled, "I'm just shedding tears."

Pei Ling: "..."

Zhu Yuan quickly forced the tears back, not letting herself fall into weeping again; since she was thinking of escaping, she should seal away some of her emotions—wanting to escape while still keeping him in her heart, what kind of situation was this?

Just as she thought Pei Ling would say something sharp to her, he unexpectedly squatted down in front of her.

That high and mighty, arrogant Second Master of the Pei Family squatted before her, and was a bit lower than her.

There was probably no one in this world who could make Pei Ling look up while speaking.

Having sensed Pei Ling's intentions before, and after this incident, with him squatting before her now, Zhu Yuan couldn't even deceive herself anymore.

Pei Ling truly liked her.

He pulled a tissue and clutched it in his hand, extending it toward Zhu Yuan; she was slightly startled and instinctively dodged.

Pei Ling watched her silently and raised his hand again; this time Zhu Yuan had nowhere to retreat, and the next second, he used the tissue to wipe her tears, his movements not exactly gentle.

Afterward, he used the same tissue that had wiped her face to wipe his own hand, without the slightest bit of disgust.

"I like you, you should know that, right?"

Pei Ling's amber eyes stared into hers, unblinking, firmly capturing her gaze.

Zhu Yuan's heart skipped a beat—not out of affection, but out of shock.

She hadn't expected Pei Ling to say it himself.

Slowly clenching her fingers, after a long while, she nodded silently, "Second Master Pei, I'm sorry. I used your feelings to have you help me escape; I will definitely repay today's debt of gratitude."

"Gratitude can be repaid, but what about feelings?" Pei Ling's tone carried a sense of nonchalance.

Just as Zhu Yuan frowned, Pei Ling suddenly raised his hand, his fingertips dry and rough, and rubbed her furrowed brow, sneering, "Even if you wanted to respond to these feelings, I might not necessarily want them. Liking you is my business; you should just carry on as you are."

"But there is one thing I must tell you."

"Song Ci has handed you over to me."

"What?" Zhu Yuan was startled, "You have met Song Ci?"

"Your sister is just as bold as you are; she came to the bank to find me, using your name."

Through their conversation, he had roughly guessed that when Song Ci reported Zhu Yuan's name to the Bodyguard at the time, she had also been uncertain.

Yet he hadn't expected that Zhu Yuan's name would be more effective than anything else with him.

Zhu Yuan was shocked; so Song Ci had gone to the Pei Family Bank to find Pei Ling. Song Ci's courage was too great—did she know what kind of place the Pei Family Bank was, to dare to act so recklessly!

But then again, if Song Ci were in trouble, she would also do so without hesitation.

Song Ci must have exhausted every possible method and found none of them worked before going to find Pei Ling.

"What do you mean by 'handed me over to you'?" Zhu Yuan couldn't react for a moment.

Pei Ling lowered his eyes to look at her hand; when they were at the Hot Spring Villa, their hands had been tightly clasped together—Zhu Yuan had been doing it to save her life, but he had been doing it to hold her hand; it was soft and delicate, and felt unexpectedly comfortable to hold.

"To put it simply, I am your guardian now."

Zhu Yuan hadn't intended to laugh, but this sentence somehow hit her funny bone, and she laughed inexplicably.

But the next second, a sour ache in her heart surged through her entire body.

Scenes of her and Sheng Yu together couldn't help but surface in her mind.

Seeing her eyes turning red again, Pei Ling's fingertips rubbed forcefully against the corners of her eyes a few times, "If you cry again, I'll send you back to Sheng Yu!"

Zhu Yuan blinked, silently cursing herself for being pathetic; she told herself to stop thinking about it, those things, to stop thinking about them.

She looked around and discovered that outside the window was a dense forest, which did not look like the kind of forest one would find in Jingdu City, "Where are we now?"

"In Jincheng."

Zhu Yuan was stunned for a moment; it was a city in the south, she had not expected them to have reached this place.

"Do you want to go abroad?" Pei Ling asked her.

Zhu Yuan hesitated for a moment, "If I go abroad, it will be difficult for me to see my family and friends."

But if she did not go abroad, it would be very easy for Sheng Yu to find her; even if he could not find her in the short term, as time went on, he would eventually find her.

What's more...

Her hand touched her lower abdomen; what's more, she had a child in her belly.

Today she heard Pei Li say that besides their own forces, there were other groups at the Hot Spring Villa.

It was obvious they were not there to rescue her.

Then, since things had been peaceful before, why did someone suddenly come for her?

She vaguely guessed that their target was the child in her belly.

The news of her pregnancy must have leaked out.

"Second Master, can you help me with one thing?"

Pei Ling looked at her quietly, "Is it troublesome?"

"It is quite troublesome."

"Then speak."

Zhu Yuan looked at him in surprise, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I want you to help me arrange a hospital; I want to..."

Watching her hand touch her lower abdomen, Pei Ling raised an eyebrow, "Want to get rid of it?"

Zhu Yuan nodded.

Zhu Yuan looked at him, her eyes calm and devoid of any ripples.