His Rui

Xi Ying maintained his facial expression to a cold one before he raised his hand to slide the curtain of the carriage and enter it.

Even before he was completely inside the carriage, his eyes looked around inside and they stopped at the figure sitting quietly inside the carriage.

Her face was turned to the other side and she never looked back at him.

Perhaps she didn't notice his presence until now or perhaps….she was really angry just like An Si had told him.

Happiness couldn't help but bloom inside his chest as Xi Ying eagerly entered the carriage.

He had not lied when, inside the banquet hall, he had said that Rui's anger at Princess Wenling demand would make him more than happy.

Because it proved that she didn't like seeing him with other woman…and that proved that even if it was in the slightest of the amount…Li Rui perhaps had something…something for him inside her heart.

Xi Ying's whole heart seemed to be filled with something even at this thought…something very joyful. His heart seemed to be tickled by feathers when he saw that Li Rui still didn't turn her head to look in his direction.         

"My Lord"

However, the call made him move his eyes away from Li Rui.

A frown marred his smooth and elegant forehead as he moved his eyes to An Ju noticing only at this moment that she was also inside the carriage.

His mind warning him that he had gotten so irresponsible in his joy that he didn't even bother to sense his surrounding to check whether they were completely safe or not.

Even though it was An Ju, it didn't matter. The problem lied in the matter that he failed to notice an extra presence inside the carriage.

However, Xi Ying seemed to be very forgiving at this moment.

He thought that let it be just this once.

For this once, let him feel this joy freely …because if Li Rui was really angry at him after hearing Princess Wenling's request in the banquet hall then he would do anything to make her speak this out.

To make her tell him that she didn't like the thought of him being with any other woman than her.

It was not a love confession …but to him, it was everything, at this moment.

The little bit of anything that Li Rui could give him …he would take it righteously.     

"Go out of the carriage."

He said using his cold and indifferent voice, without giving his shadow guard a single more glance as his eyes again found the quiet figure of his wife who still didn't move her eyes to look at him.

An Ju with an anxious expression on her face looked at her master…wanting to tell him something but only felt helpless when she saw that he was not even looking at her.

With a helpless sigh, she glanced at Lady Li sitting quietly since the moment they had sat inside the carriage and then exited the carriage.

Xi Ying's indifference melted away just after An Ju left the carriage. His eyes never left Li Rui's face that he could only see a little bit, as he walked past the table that was placed in front of Li Rui's seat and sat beside her.

She continued to look out of the carriage window making Xi Ying's heart restless now as he had not seen her black eyes for so long now.

He cleared his throat quite a little loudly and froze when finally felt her twisting her small neck in his direction to look at him.

Xi Ying thought of what he should say to test the water first but all of his thoughts also froze when he saw a small and calm smile on his wife's lips as she looked at him and asked

"Lord is having a bad throat?"

As she said these words, she stretched out her hand to pour the water in the glass placed on the table in front of them like a virtuous lady.

Her beautiful face with a calm smile on those soft pink lips only looked more beautiful. Such beauty could make any man forget to breathe ….but Xi Ying didn't seem to like this smile at all this moment.

The carriage had started moving now.

Xi Ying took the glass of water from Li Rui's hands in a daze as he watched her turning her head to look out at the ginkgo trees inside the Imperial garden …with a smile on her lips.

She seemed to enjoy the view. Not even a slight trace of any anger or irritation could be seen on her face.

She was happy and at peace.

And why wouldn't she be? 

Xi Ying felt that he was a fool to expect Li Rui to get angry at him because of this issue.

She didn't love him…at least not yet. He knew it so why did he expect something that he should not …from her for now.

She was at not at fault, not at all.

But he still felt very upset inside his heart seeing the smile on her lips for the whole ride.

"Xiao Ling must have been waiting for us."

He didn't say a single word when she talked about Xi Ling. He, instead only felt angry at these words.

She had everyone inside her heart…everyone except him.

He knew that he didn't have the right to get angry.

But how could he make his heart understand this painful fact. It was difficult to abandon the hope after it was given to his heart that had been waiting to see a small amount of affection in Li Rui's eyes.     

During the whole ride, Xi Ying continued to look out of the carriage's window with a cold and indifferent face.

The atmosphere inside the carriage was stressed, awkward and a little suffocating but both the people inside the carriage didn't seem to bother with this fact.   

It took the carriage more than half an hour to reach Xi Manor.

When the carriage stopped and the coachmen announced that they had reached Xi Manor, Xi Ying was the first one to slide the curtain aside and step out of the carriage.

Once outside the carriage, he didn't turn to stretch out his hand inside the carriage to help Li Rui out. Instead, his feet moved forward to enter inside the manor alone.

However just when he raised his foot to cross the Manor's threshold he was forced to stop by a An Ju's scream.

"My Lady"

The scream followed the loud sound of something colliding against the ground and Xi Ying's face went pale.