His Rui

In the dark night, the Imperial Palace was dimly lit with red lamps.

The large hall surrounded by guest rooms, where the guests were provided rooms according to their ranks, was very silent.

The door of one of the rooms opened without making any sound.

From the slight gap, Xi Ying looked outside and then moved his eyes back to the bed inside the room. On the bed, Li Rui was sleeping peacefully lying on her side.

After being assured that everything was fine, Xi Ying finally opened the door wide and stepped out of the room.

He closed the door again and whispered while looking around.

"An Zhi, stay here only while I am absent. If anyone with bad intentions tries to enter the room forcefully, just kill him.."

He knew that An Shing, hiding in the shadows must have heard him so he turned around and walked away from there.

However, he didn't know that when he stepped out of the room and closed the door, the figure lying inside the room on the bed moved slightly and opened her eyes.

She glanced at the door faintly for a few seconds and then lay down back while staring at the ceiling.

Her thoughts couldn't be seen from her calm face, however, a moment later she closed her eyes silently and continued to sleep.

As soon as Xi Ying was outside the hall, he used qingqong and jumped on the top of the roof of the large hall.

His robes and hair fluttered with air making him look more ethereal as he looked around and then walked in a particular direction.

On the roof, An Ju was already waiting.

As soon as she saw Xi Ying, she bowed her head and greeted him. Xi Ying grunted in acknowledgement and asked in his usual cold and indifferent face.

"Anything you found suspicious today….any maid or servant."

"No Master."

"You also didn't find anything in food sent to the table?"

Xi Ying asked coldly.

He didn't want to give the enemies any chance to harm Li Rui. Since there has already been two attacks, Xi Ying knew that the person behind those attacks was very powerful. He or she could also poison the food that was to be served to Li Rui.

That's why he had asked An Ju to check the food secretly.

An Ju had the capability to detect poison by merely smelling the food. However, this ability could detect only a few selective poisons that could take a person's life.

That was also the reason why Xi Ying tried every dish before serving them to Li Rui. To be assured that every dish on Li Rui's plate was poison-free he even tried those dishes that he has never liked to eat thinking that someone could also find this and then could use this method. After tasting the dishes, he had waited for neither too long and nether shirt time then only he had served them to Li Rui. 

By doing this, he was warning other people like Princess and Empress also.

If they had planned something like that, then their plan was destined to fail. 

"No Master, according to this servant's ability, the dishes were poison-free." 

Xi Ying stared at the distance silently when he heard An Ju's answer. After a few moments of silence, he said

"Still, don't loosen down your guards. They must have planned something. Today was just a start."

"Yes Master."

"Also…"

Xi Ying paused amidst his words and his eyes suddenly became very cold and sharp. He looked around silently and whispered

"Come out if you don't wish to be killed."

The wind carried away his words and the next moment, a figure in green dress jumped in front of Xi Ying with his knees on the ground.

"An Si greets Master."

Xi Ying silently looked at the lower head while An Ju asked the question in her master's place.

"An Si, what were you doing hiding from us? Were you eavesdropping?"

An Si abruptly raised his head and looked at the woman standing behind his master with furrowed brows.  

He didn't seem to recognize the woman so he turned to look at his master with a smile.

"He he he … Master, An Si was just practicing his hiding skills but it seems that I am still lacking."

Seeing his master's eyes becoming sharper and colder, An Si stopped smiling and said seriously.

"An Si saw an unfamiliar person with Master so didn't dare to come out and reveal himself."

This reason was logical so Xi Ying didn't mind him anymore and turned to look at An Ju again.

"An Ju"

"Yes, Master"

When An Si had heard the name An Ju from his master's mouth, his eyes had flickered with excitement. He really missed teasing that kid, An Ju. He looked around the roof but didn't find anyone.

'Strange, I can't even feel anyone. Is that kid more capable than me now?'

He thought with knitted brows but the voice of 'Yes Master' which was the response from the woman made him look at the woman again with a frown.

"Find a way to change the Imperial Palace's food with Xi Manor's food. The dishes served must be the same."

Xi Ying said this because he suddenly remembered in the evening that he had read somewhere that some poisons worked slowly. He cursed himself for remembering this thing only at that moment especially when Xi Ling had been poisoned before with such a poison.

This thing had made him very worried. He went to an Imperial Physician and asked him to check his pulse because he and Rui had eaten the same food.

So if Rui was poisoned then he was also poisoned.

Only when the Imperial Physician said that he was perfectly alright, he had sighed in relief.

Still, he didn't feel safe in letting Li Rui have the food from the Imperial Palace. Poison in the Imperial Palace's food was something very normal. Every year many children died in the Imperial Palace because of the same.

That's why he wants Li Rui to have food from Xi Manor only.

Rui was too precious to him so he doesn't want to take any chance that could make her leave him. He doesn't dare to imagine how will he live if one day she really left him.

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(***This chapter is dedicated to all those readers who leave lovely comments every day. I don't want to take particular names because there are so many readers and I don't want anyone to feel left out. Thank you so much for your love and support. You guys don't know how much your comments motivate me.

I am a student and my sole purpose for writing has been money in the beginning so that I can support my studies myself. There are some days when the earning is less and I feel demotivated. At that moment, I feel like dropping the story and should study only instead-but when I read your comments I feel that there is still someone out there who is appreciating what I am writing and I should not drop it. Thanks to each and every one of you for reading His Rui. You guys are awesome. I love you all.

This is the only long note from my side in this only chapter. I am sorry for making your one coin waste on my blabbering but I just wanted to let you know that I love to read your comments. Thanks. )