EMPEROR AND I

YIYUAN

Thwack!

Shen Hong winced and his head momentarily flipped. He grunted and resisted holding his cheek. That would have him appear to be a weakling before the woman in front of her.

"Six," she smirked.

His cheeks were hot. Li Lian had the most delicate hands but she hit like a man.

If he did not look at her eyes, he would"ve missed the hesitation in them. She didn"t wish to slap him but out of conviction, she was doing it. It was her way of taming him. Probably thought that she was doing good for the world, saving them from his beastly behavior.

If only she knew how far from reality that was. The rage and anger freezing his heart was stone cold, a dagger could not crack it. To be precise, saying he had a heart was out of kindness. He did not possess one. Huticah took away his humanity when it decided to slash his father"s heart.

"I wish to convert the seventh slap to a wish," she sat back from him. It was beguiling to watch her in white nightwear. She had that pure look that shone on that night they met.

"If your wish is to marry me, yes." He squirmed the second the words left his lips. The only one he would marry was his Elora. He promised her so.

The flimsy nightwear was making him think not with his head. He averted his eyes and sought to not notice what he did not know from before―her bust area was loaded.

"Cunning." Her eyes rolled. "I will use it in convenient timing."

"Does that mean Little Fox forsees a future with Grand General?" Oh, he was failing, he was failing. Again, his eyes flickered to check out her cleavage. How was he to sleep next to  her tonight after this revelation?Thankfully, she was covered enough as her nightwear was modest. A normal cotton long sleeved dress fit for a maid.

"That is if Grand General doesn"t wake up looking like a pig." She giggled as she observed his cheeks which were a tint of red. They indeed felt like they were on fire.

It was a first to see a happy grin encompa.s.s her face. Li Lian didn"t smile half the time, yet when she smiled her face flushed bliss. "You are quite enchanting when you smile."

She stilled, caught off-guard. "Don"t say such things," she rebuked then stood and went to a corner where she hunt out something from a small wooden cabinet.

First, her bust area and now her back view to drive him nuts. That"s it. He was to order that all maids sleep in garments designed like their uniforms; lots and lots of cloth to stuff away body structure.

All those curves. Tsk. He swore she was a Furian beauty, though that was a discriminatory thought.

Nevorian women could be curves and beauty too. It was not just for Furia. Also it must be considered as the saying goes; beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

When she returned she twisted open a cylinder with lime green oil. "This will help with the swelling." She rubbed some on her hand and rose up. Immense focus was imprinted on her face as she delicately started oiling his left cheek.

"Agh." He didn"t expect the pain.

"Dui buqi." She hurriedly apologized.

A reflex of deja vu swept him. It brought him back to the time his Lotus Flower cared for him. "By any chance you are―"

"No I"m not in love with you." She outright denied.

"I was not going to ask that, but now that you mention it…" he ruefully teased. She avoided eye contact by changing to the next cheek. On that moment, he almost asked her if she was Elora.

"There." She inspected him looking proud of her work.

"You might as well leave your mistress and serve me, instead," he chuckled, laying himself down.

"Hmm. If my mistress allows it, I may on one condition."

Of course she wouldn"t leave his mother nor would his mother let her leave, considering his mother"s previous reaction on Li Lian. But he was interested to know what was on her mind. "Name it."

She entwined her fingers, being reluctant. "Who hurt you, and left you with so much anger?" Her tone was quiet and empathetic. She then confidently glared at him, not wavering to avoid his eyes, though his warned that she shouldn"t press the issue.

"Forget it." He chuckled. "Who would want to marry a woman who beats her husband?"

"Yuwen Hong!"

"Forget it."

"Tell me," she pouted. "Please?"

He shook his head.

"I will let you sleep here if you do."

"I am going to without your permission, anyway."

"Young Master," she taunted, shaking him.

"Call me Shifu," he grinned.

"Teacher? What can I learn from you?" she mocked. "Hah? Killing people?"

She was lovely. Her energy when seeking to get her way was endearing.

"I will teach my Empress manners."

"Yuwen Hong!" she whined.

How could he say no to such cuteness? "Hǎo, hǎo," he agreed.

She sat attentively ready to listen.

Shen Hong hated lies. But he was not ready to share his soul concerning his father"s death. The only thing they could share was bedroom intimacy. And it had to end there.

"Listen to this poem," he began. That was as far he could reach and she could interpret it however she needed to.

"I wake up with the sun up high.

Birds chirp everywhere in the sky.

Last night blood was a river.

The Dragon has fallen."

"That means…" Li Lian tried to make sense of it. "Isn"t the dragon the emperor…."

"Apparently so."

"The Dragon has fallen? Is that not treason?"

He took her small hand into his, and smelt it. It smelt of the murky ointment, yet still lovely. "Interpret it however you see fit."

"Yuwen Hong if you dare try such nonsense, they will kill you." Li Lian tried to take her hand from his grip.

He guffawed in fascination of how seriously she took him. She was silly.

"I"m serious," she insisted.

He was serious too. But he couldn"t tell her that her poem interpretation was wrong, otherwise that would be selling himself out.

"Little Fox cares." He remarked. "I"m touched." He was about to sweep her into his arms when he realised the mistake. He couldn"t sleep sideways on any of his cheeks, thus he could not cuddle her.

Li Lian easily caught on to that. "What a pity, looks like today we sleep like a couple on separate beds," she triumphed.

"I"m devasted," he mused.

"But we could make a way."

Shen Hong blinked twice. He could swear he saw her wink. Was she a naughty one?

"What way?" He would grab any opportunity.

"We could have your chest as my pillow, but again," she bit her lips, "my pillow is softer."

Yes, she was a naughty one.

She laughed with glee at her own joke, then shook her hand out of his and grabbed the blanket to cover herself.

"Little Fox, you cannot have the blanket to yourself."

"It"s my room," it came out m.u.f.fled by the blanket.

YiYuan was his, though. "Little Fox."

She started to snore to silence him. He was fighting a losing battle but he needed to confirm his suspicions.

"Li Lian, do you know Elora?"

She abruptly halted her act. "Why do you ask?"

He sighed. "A girl I met years ago was named Elora. She looks like you. And you remind me of her."

"I… I have no idea who that is." She got up and pushed her hair to the back. She looked everywhere but him.

"You are lying to me." He said knowingly. "Come, look at me."

"Is this why you keep pursuing me?" she seethed. "Because you keep mentioning that I look like this girl I don"t know."

"I said look at me." h.e.l.l, it was a command. He was the emperor, and let many of her shortcomings slide. She like Yang Liu must start to respect him. Respect was earned when he seized the throne.

"You will not tell me what to do." She pushed her hair sideways to conceal her face.

Alright. Li Lian was not just a fox, but a bull dog too. The more you poked her, the more she became stubborn. A different tactic would do.

He sat up. "Listen, whatever that is bothering you, you can tell me. I can move the whole world to fix it, if needed." This was true. What was impossible for him?

She vehemently shook her head. "I don"t need a man to fix my problems."

Forget being a bull dog. She was a plain stubborn donkey. He was about to sharply retort, but held back. It was not necessary to argue deep in the night.
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"What"s wrong Li Lian? Are you jealous that I love someone else?"

"No. I"m just irritated by you," her voice was monotonous. He was not stupid though; there was something she was refusing to tell him.

Shen Hong roughly pulled her, cupping her face. He breathed fast, adrenaline pumping as he felt quite close in finding Elora than ever. She only had to speak. The air was dense as he awaited the blank visage her face possessed to crack.

Being Li Lian, she resisted by punching him on the chest which was futile. Her head was locked in his hands. Li Lian"s nature was rebellion, and that was why she fumed when vulnerable.

"Let your heart speak to me." Shen Hong was even shocked by how soft his voice sounded. Yes, he was desperate to know what she hid.

Her face relaxed and she became still as a cadaver and just as pallid, unblinking against his onslaught. Yet, her eyes betrayed her. Tears welled in them, threatening to flow. In them was a mixture of fury and hopelessness.

If she cried what would he do? He didn"t cry himself. He did not know how to. It was not easy to comfort someone when he did not relate.

"My mistake." He released her, to avoid her wailing tantrum. "My heart is just conflicted because… I miss her."

"Then why are you here? You are here to use me. Isn"t it?"

Maybe. He would have anyone who has a little bit of Elora in them by his side.

One precise thing Shen Hong noted about Li Lian is she hated silence. When silence kept rolling in their midst, wave after wave, she finally  quipped, "Get out."

"I was about to," he rose. They needed s.p.a.ce otherwise this conversation was going one way; fighting.

He sidelined his robe, not bothering to pick it up. Someone would come for it.

Banging the door, he was about to stomp off when he heard someone sniff. It was a hollow contained cry that came from behind closed doors and he was deadly convinced; she had something to do with Elora. He just had to attain evidence to prove it.

S.V