His Rui

"Rui"

Li Rui hummed when she heard Xi Ying calling her name.

Her eyes were still concentrated on the dagger in her hands as she peeled the outer layer of apple little by little.

"I want to dethrone the current Emperor."

The dagger in her hands paused momentarily before Li Rui continued to peel the apple without any change and heard Xi Ying continuing

"It is the current Emperor who wants to take Li Clan's military power and in my understanding, only by removing him, Li Clan can be said safe in the coming future. Otherwise, the incidents like a few months ago would continue to happen every time General Li will go the battlefield."

Li Rui put a slice of apple in her mouth as she stared at the front with calm eyes.

A moment later, she smiled and turned her head to look at the man staring at her.

She forwarded one slice of apple towards Xi Ying and said softly

"Have some. You are injured so your body also needs some nutrition."

Xi Ying smiled as he caressed Li Rui's cheek once and then took the slice of apple from her hand silently. The joy could be seen in his eyes more when he noticed that she didn't resist his touch. 

He actually didn't know what was going inside Li Rui's mind …whether she believed him or not.

But he still felt a little burden lifting from his chest.

It was right!

From now on, he would just include Li Rui in his plans. Everything he will plan, he will tell Li Rui about them. When things will go accordingly perhaps she will start to trust him slowly.

Because Xi Ying had now understood that to make Li Rui stay by his side willingly and happily…he would have to let her feel equal to him.

He would have to make her feel equal.

Because she was different from the other women who would obey their husbands unconditionally regardless of if he was right or wrong.

(My dear readers, please see these few sentences from the point of view of a man who was living in ancient times) 

His Rui was different and he would have to treat her differently.

"Let me check the wound on your back."

Xi Ying came out of his thoughts when he heard Li Rui.

He glanced at the apple in her hands and found that she had already finished eating it so he nodded his head and turned around so that his back faced her.

He didn't have any robe to wear so his upper body was naked. The robe has been torn by Li Rui to cover the wound on his back so he could only roam like that.

Fortunately, the clothes that covered his lower body were still safe.   

A small smile emerged on Xi Ying's lips as he thought this.

"Your wound…"

Xi Ying suddenly heard Li Rui's whisper.

He thought that his wound might have looked bad and that's why Li Rui was worried after seeing it.

Of course, in Xi Ying's eyes, this worry was there because she was a physician.

But he still felt happy and tried to comfort her.

"It's alright if it looks bad. We will go back to Xi Manor in some time then you can take care of m…I mean this wound."

Xi Ying secretly rejoiced for his intelligence.

By doing things this way, he would be able to spend more time with his wife than he couldn't in the past few days.

After Li Rui had put the knife on his neck that day claiming that he was planning to destroy her clan, he had not been able to spend much time with her.

He was afraid that if he visited Plum Courtyard then she would feel annoyed and try to leave Xi Manor, so he could only control himself and plan to solve that matter as soon as possible.

But still, he would not leave any chance to steal some time to spend with his wife. 

However, the next moment his happiness was soon forced to vanish away and replaced by disappointment when Li Rui enlightened him

"No…it doesn't look bad. In fact, it is healing quite fast …too abnormal for an ordinary person."

Li Rui whispered with knitted eyebrows as she stared at the wound that already had started to grow some skin as if it had been many days for it to be there.

Xi Ying, on the other hand, stilled completely when he heard Xi Ying's words.

Last night, he actually didn't know just he had gotten this wound but now he knew. The wound was just a pretense so that he could sleep deeply without being aware of anything for a few hours.

And now when its work was done, it had started to heal. 

A moment later, he coughed lightly as he turned around so that now he was facing Li Rui and said with an assuring smile.

"You don't need to worry about that. That's quite normal with my body."

He could only say this as the reason behind this fast healing process he had in his mind, he didn't wish to share it with Li Rui.

Because if he did then he would also have to tell her whatever he saw in his dream last night.

He was not a fool to not know that everything he saw last night had happened somewhere …sometime. The pain he felt seeing his child and his wife's breathing their last, it was real.

Everything he saw was real but a past …a very painful past.     

Xi Ying didn't want Li Rui to know all that. If the things went his way then he would wish that she would never know about those things.   

He doesn't want to hear from her mouth ever again that she regretted meeting him that night.

And about this life, he would not let her regret anything.

He promised inside his heart as he stared at his wife who was still trying to believe his words.

A few moments later, Li Rui finally nodded her head accepting Xi Ying's words. Although she had read that everybody has their own healing rate, the healing rate of Xi Ying's body seemed quite fast.

However, there are always exceptions, right?

With this thought, Li Rui stopped worrying about Xi Ying's wound and she finally concentrated on the matter she wanted to discuss with Xi Ying.

"Prime Minister Xi…"

"Xi Ying…call me Xi Ying or Ying…anything you feel comfortable with."

Xi Ying said immediately when he heard Li Rui calling him again like that. He couldn't help but feel pain inside his heart as he remember that she was calling him in the same way when she was breathing her last in his arms.

They were that strangers to each other despite being husband and wife.

Li Rui raised her eyebrows but complied with his wish.

She had a smile on her lips as she said

"Xi Ying"

For a moment, Xi Ying felt his heart-stopping completely when he saw that smile before Li Rui again had a calm face and said

"Ying, I think you should abandon the idea of going against Imperial Clan."