Making you a son-in-law is not about making you conquer the world.

"Thank you first!" Lin Ping said incoherently, his excitement beyond words.

He had complicated feelings for Xia Linglong. He didn't exactly like her, but he did have some affection for her, and he also felt a bit guilty, since he hadn't kept her around last time.

It was because of Xia Linglong's experience that Lin Ping disliked arranged marriages. Later, when Jiang Yunying was also taken away by Jiang Lanfeng, he began to resist this practice.

"What was I supposed to thank?" Xia Linglong scratched her head, suddenly forgetting what she should thank Lin Ping for, since he didn't seem to have really helped her.

Driving away the flower thief was not her ultimate goal. In other words, they had already alerted him, and it would be difficult to catch him again in the short term. As a result, the flower thief case would be forgotten, and Xia Yeran's abilities would naturally be questioned.

"What are you doing in my Yingtian Prefecture, you scoundrel? Have you fallen for some woman again? Aren't you afraid your wife will throw a tantrum?" Xia Linglong's tone suddenly changed, turning cold and disdainful.

These three seemingly derogatory sentences fully demonstrate Xia Linglong's concern for Lin Ping and her desire to know about his recent situation.

He is the son-in-law of a marquis's mansion and should not leave Jiangcheng Prefecture without permission. Jiang Yunying did not show up when they encountered danger, which is obviously a problem.

"You have too many questions, so I choose to remain silent," Lin Ping replied with a pout, sounding rather like a child throwing a tantrum.

Lin Ping behaves differently in front of different people. For example, he is a responsible older brother in front of Zhao Xiaoyu, a mature man in front of Jiang Yunying, but he is a child who never grows up in front of Xia Linglong and is prone to acting on his emotions.

"Fine, don't tell me then. I don't want to ask anymore. You deserve to be assassinated by that flower thief." Xia Linglong's attitude became even worse.

I'm a princess, high and mighty, and I finally lowered myself to speak to a spoiled brat like you, only to be met with disdain. Sorry, goodbye!

"What if I told you I came to Yingtian Prefecture specifically to find you?" Lin Ping seemed to have opened a strange door and suddenly became good at flirting.

Xia Linglong's heart skipped a beat, overwhelmed with a bittersweet feeling, her mind filled with images of Lin Ping's kindness towards her.

When you start to like someone, everything they do is perfect, just like the way Xia Linglong looks at Lin Ping right now.

"Tomboy, what's wrong with you? You didn't believe it, did you?" Lin Ping stared blankly at Xia Linglong, his straight-man nature exposed once again.

"Hehe... guess whether I believed it or not?" Xia Linglong revealed a strange smile, and the next second was a car crash scene, with Xia Linglong beating Lin Ping like a pig's head.

This comforting love wouldn't kill Lin Ping immediately; the two eventually had to calm down.

“Tomboy, didn’t I tell you not to get involved in this case?” Lin Ping said seriously. He had emphasized this to Fan Lengyu not long ago.

He was a straight man, so of course he didn't understand women's thoughts. It was precisely because of his emphasis that Xia Linglong disregarded the difficulties and dangers to carry out the mission.

These days, there aren't many people who dare to openly care about Xia Linglong, and Lin Ping is one of them. Xia Linglong can easily deduce from this that Lin Ping is in Yingtian Prefecture.

"Don't flatter yourself. Who wants to listen to you? Catching the flower thief is the mission of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. How can I not participate?" Xia Linglong replied coldly.

Their conversations were always so antagonistic, like natural enemies.

"I thought you came to save me, but it seems I was just being presumptuous." Lin Ping sighed inwardly, then laughed self-deprecatingly. "That's right, it seems there's no one in this world who truly cares about whether I live or die."

"You idiot, you're the biggest idiot in the world!" Xia Linglong clenched her little fists anxiously, but Lin Ping's lonely and desolate expression truly broke her heart.

"Is this still the same lecherous man? Why is he so heartbroken and dejected?" Xia Linglong stared at Lin Ping with a puzzled expression, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

In her eyes, Lin Ping was a complete wastrel who knew nothing of sentimental matters, but now it seems otherwise.

"Your wife doesn't care about you anymore?" Xia Linglong asked suspiciously, feeling that Jiang Yunying's absence was somewhat strange.

"My wife is gone..." Lin Ping clenched his teeth so tightly that a "crunching" sound could be heard.

Next, Lin Ping unlocked the memories buried deep within his heart and recounted the events that followed Xia Linglong's departure, while appropriately reserving details of his purpose in coming to Yingtian Prefecture.

The other party was a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a proper young master. He couldn't very well tell the other party in a grand manner, "I'm here to pretend to be an official! I'm waiting to be appreciated by the emperor, and then I'll go and uproot the Lotus Palace and turn it into lotus soup."

"You divorced Jiang Yunying?" Xia Linglong grasped the key point of the entire timeline: regardless of the process, the solution was that Lin Ping divorced Jiang Yunying.

"I suspect you're gloating!" Lin Ping said unhappily, having clearly observed Xia Linglong's faint smile.

Have some sympathy, alright? I'm the one who lost my wife. Even an ordinary friend should offer some words of comfort. What's with the smirking? Are you gloating? Forget it, forget it. I, Lin Ping, don't deserve any true friends. At most, I have a bunch of fair-weather friends.

"I didn't!" Xia Linglong retorted without any conviction, unable to even come up with a coherent explanation.

Logically speaking, she really shouldn't be gloating, after all, the two had a close relationship, and she should wish Lin Ping happiness. However, she was also a woman, dreaming of beautiful love, and now that she finally had something to look forward to, how could she not be happy?

Xia Linglong was in a really difficult situation. As a princess, she could never easily say the word "like." Moreover, Lin Ping was a married man, and she couldn't break up the couple, much less become a concubine. Besides, the king had already arranged the marriage for her, and she had no choice but to comply.

Under the oppression of these three mountains, Xia Linglong's love was so humble that even though it tore her heart apart, she could not show it in the slightest.

Now that a major obstacle has suddenly disappeared, Xia Linglong unconsciously laughed out loud. Even though she knew it was impossible, she still felt a glimmer of hope.

Therefore, her explanation was weak, and she could only hope that Lin Ping, being a straight man, wouldn't see through her ruse.

"What should we do next? The flower thief will definitely not show his face for a while." Xia Linglong quickly changed the subject, staring at Lin Ping with an admiring look, still regarding him as her pillar of support.

Before meeting Lin Ping, Xia Linglong was quite independent and didn't even trust men. Later, she gradually developed a sense of dependence on him and became too lazy to think, since he would arrange everything perfectly anyway.

"I already have a plan in mind. Go back and wait. We must not let the Embroidered Uniform Guard act rashly!" Lin Ping said meticulously, his entire figure growing taller.