Xing and Shengli walked into AoTian"s study and Lord Zhong, AoTian and Rijun were there. Xing observed them closely if they feel differently towards her but Lord Zhong"s voice interrupted her."Hey brat, make me tea!"
Only heavens knew how much joy that simple sentence brought her. For the first time Xing liked being ordered around. It is proof that they still treat her the same and not like some weirdo G.o.dsend saviour or something. Shengli nodded at them with a smile as to thank them.
As usual only after downing four cups of her tea did Lord Zhong came to the point,
"So did you really hit that s.h.i.+hong?"
Xing remembered everything that happened the day before and her expression became serious. The name "s.h.i.+hong" made her blood boil.
"Right around here", she pointed above the heart near the shoulder. "Probably hit the bone or the arrow might have stuck in his bone. I"ll be glad if he loses the use of his left hand. I"m not that good in archery. I cannot hit moving targets or something at odd angles", she stated the truth.
"Oh, brat ! Is that why you decided to stand on the same level as him on thin air as he was standing on the tree? You know, you are amazing! ", Lord Zhong laughed heartily.
Rijun looked at her surprised, Turns out, she is not expert at some things too. She is human after all!
" What did he ask you ", Shengli asked. He didn"t hear s.h.i.+hong"s side of conversation.
Xing pursed her lips and looked accusingly at Shengli, "You d.a.m.n fox! How could you seduce a criminal overlord?", she hit his arm.
"What?", Shengli asked somberly. He knew that guy was overly interested in him. But why?
Seeing his expression, Xing felt bad, "Don"t worry, I"ll Protect you", she patted his back and Shengli"s face became gleeful in an instant. She did say "Prince or Wolf, he is mine", yesterday. But why is s.h.i.+hong interested in him? Is it to spite her?
" Did you catch him?", Xing asked.
"No", Lord Zhong sighed, "Lord Ran helped him escape".
Xing clicked her tongue, "I have no idea how he just escapes. Are your people incompetent or s.h.i.+hong that much smart?", she paced inside the room in deep thoughts,
"Anyhow, Oldman! He"ll get to the Zhong family next. Me and Seiren already made him believe that our two families don"t get along. So he"ll probably bring down both families by framing the Huang of bringing down Zhong. He knows in the capital as long as these two families are there, he cannot even have a single thing done. I have already blocked most of his operations in the East using Lord Chu and so he only has the capital city to focus on. First, you.. ", Xing was entirely concentrated and her hands were shaking in excitement and she was completely engrossed in it and she seemed dark.
Shengli noted it and he wanted to get her back. These things can be taken care of them by themselves and she doesn"t have to care about it. If every detail is revealed to her, she might go on a killing spree to gain s.h.i.+hong"s attention like he did to that woman the previous day. He cannot let her heart go dark.
" Xing..", he called in a whiney tone, "Take care of me! I didn"t sleep at all last night and my head hurts", he placed his forehead on her shoulders.
Xing who had dark thoughts about how she can get to s.h.i.+hong, snapped out of it when she heard him.
"Why didn"t you say so before? Come, I"ll give you medicines. Sleep a bit. You get fever when you are tired", she pulled Shengli by his hands and exited her father"s study without even caring about others and Shengli just let her drag him and walked behind her.
"You are going to let him take her just like that?", Lord Zhong asked AoTian who was staring at the back view of those two who left.
"I don"t care anymore! Even if they elope and come back years later with children and demand me for Dowry money as they had lost all their money through the years, I"ll happily accept them and raise their kids", AoTian said rubbing his temples.
Lord Zhong laughed, "What a late realisation you have! Even if they elope, if you expect them to return after they"d spent all their money, that day will never come as both of them can buy this entire country two times over", he poured some more tea and drank it.
AoTian wondered if he had accepted him immediately and announced their wedding, would things have turned out differently?
Xing brought Shengli to her room and picked some medicines for him and gave it to him and he ate it obediently.
"Shall we go out a bit?", he asked her.
" Okay, but where to?"
"The pond?", he asked and he noted her expression getting sour.
"Don"t you have somewhere else we could go? A secret place?", she asked. She didn"t want to do anything with G.o.ds anymore and that pond they met belongs to a G.o.d and so she wanted to not go there.
Shengli brought her to his secret place in the forest he usually goes. He had built a simple house in there for him to stay since he didn"t want to stay with MingXue in their Manor.
Xing looked at the simple looking house and was astonished when she stepped inside.
Once a Prince always a Prince!
The place was entirely opposite to the outward appearance and was filled with exquisite furnis.h.i.+ngs. It even had a simple kitchen by the side and a nice bath too. Xing leisurely went in and took a look around.
"You didn"t have breakfast, right? I"ll go prepare lunch! ", Shengli went straight to the kitchen and started working and Xing who was pushed out of the kitchen was bored. She noticed he has moved the secret locker that kept all his accounts here. Xing opened the locker with the golden key he gave before and took a look at it to pa.s.s time.
Shengli finished preparing lunch and set it all on the table and called Xing and both of them ate the simple but tasty meal he had prepared. Xing felt nostalgia as he had used her mother"s recipes.
After lunch, Xing wanted to clean the kitchen and the dishes but to her surprise, everything was cleaned except the bowls and cutleries they used.
Why is he so perfect?
" Aren"t you tired? Sleep for a bit", Xing told Shengli looking at his pale face and the dark circles under his eyes.
Shengli nodded and brought her along to the bed and lied in her lap. Ever since he lied on her lap the other day, her lap seemed to be the best place in the world for him.
Xing gently caressed his hair and she could feel her hand was rough against his silky smooth silver hair and she paused.
"What?", he asked in a husky voice that made Xing"s heart skip a beat. How magnetic is his voice!
"My hands are rough and ugly", she said. Shengli grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. Xing flinched as she felt a tingle that started from her palm that spread through out her body.
Shengli realised it and he kissed her hand again. Xing felt the warmth of his lips travel from her hands to her heart.
"Xing", he called her kissing her hand more.
"Mmm", she said as that"s all she could bear to say.
"Your hands are the prettiest hands I"ve ever seen", he said and continued to kiss her hand, "My mother... She, used to push me away, like this", he placed her hand in his face and pushed it with his hand.
Whoa! That"s not what a mother would do, right? It is so demeaning! Why would she push her own son away like that?
"I never liked anyone touching me in the face or anywhere because of that.. Until, you touched me checking to see if I"m alright in that snow! And then there was your mother, who liked patting my head", he looked at her and traced his fingers on her cheek, still lying on her lap,
"You are the one who gave me happiness and love, the first person I trusted blindly. My moon! "
Xing felt her eyes water, "Well, don"t put me up there saying "my moon", "my moon". I"d rather be a little candle silently lighting, beside you than a bright moon far away from you. I only want you", she said kissing his hand.
She meant it, she"d be happy with him s.h.i.+ning only for him and melt away rather than elevated up in the sky s.h.i.+ning for millions, away from him. But will she be let to?
He seemed to have understood her intended meaning and gave a little smile.
"You always wanted to ask me why my mother hated me right?",he changed that heavy topic no one had the answer to.
"Mmm, you don"t want to know where she is buried either", she said. It seemed like mutual hate although she wouldn"t blame him.
Shengli let out a light chuckle, " I don"t hate her. I don"t love her either. For me she is someone who brought me to this world, that"s it. You might have heard that I was called a genius back in my days in the palace and I was supposed to be announced as the crown prince when the previous one died, right?", he asked and Xing nodded.
" There is a secret rule in the Imperial family that only the Empress" Son can be the Crown Prince. That means, my mother has to be the Empress or I"ll have to be the Empress" son for me to become the crown prince ", he paused.
Xing"s cogwheels of her brain turned and only after some time did she realise what he meant by it. The previous Emperor would have never deposed the Empress and made Shengli"s mother Empress. She had also heard that the current Emperor was adopted by the Empress after his mother died. So that means, if a Prince from a Concubine is to be made the crown prince, their mother would be killed and he"ll be adopted by the Empress before announcing him as the crown prince?
How cruel, s.a.d.i.s.tic, cold-hearted, vile, inhumane, cold-blooded ...! Xing could add hundred such words.
"This is what you meant when you said being too impressive is no good, previously?", she asked. So he didn"t know about this rule and he was exceptional and his mother hated him for it. Wow! People inside the palace are really weird!
Xing didn"t get an answer and so she looked at Shengli who was peacefully sleeping and she didn"t want to disturb him and let him sleep on her lap.