His Rui

When Xi Ying got the letter from Zhao Zhang Wei's shadow guard the next morning, he was not surprised.

He was, in fact, impressed by the fact Zhao Zhang Wei send him all the information so soon. However, his impression of Zhao Zhang Wei improved by greater bounds when he opened the letter and saw the handwriting on the letter.

It was Zhao Zhang Wei's handwriting which meant that he himself had written all this.

Xi Ying traced the written words in ink with his fingers. The ink was completely dry. He doubted that Zhao Zhang Wei had written this letter last night only when his shadow guard had gone in the Xinhe Palace with the letter.

It made him wonder if he remembered everything about Zhao Wang Lei's power on his fingers only.

"Everything is correct."

He told his wife sitting beside him who had woken up early this morning coincidentally compared to the past few days where she couldn't wake up no matter how much he tried.

Due to this new habit of Li Rui, Xi Ying was unable to meet his wife properly in the morning in the past few days. He would just leave after kissing her forehead a few times and then ask Liu Lan and Li Hua to ensure that Rui has her breakfast as soon as she gets up.

However, today when he woke up he found that Li Rui was already awake and lying in his arms while staring blankly at nothing in particular.

For a moment, Xi Ying had been afraid that she was overthinking again. The fear resided in his heart since the night he had confessed his feelings to her. Although his heartfelt very light after telling her everything, he could see that his confession had left her a little flustered …or perhaps a lot.

The not-so-good thing was that he didn't even have any way to find out what she was thinking.

The only thing that he could do was to behave as if that night never happened.

"Was your purpose of asking the second prince to find out all this was just to check whether he is capable or not?"

He heard Li Rui asking with a little bit of suspicion in her eyes.

Xi Ying smiled as he shook his head. Perhaps Li Rui was the only woman or maybe the only person who could see his hidden intents because until today he had found no one who would be able to guess his plans from his actions.

"No"

He said as he dismissed his shadow guard. After the shadow guard left the study room, he continued

"I will tell you but first I am curious to know what you think about this letter sent by the Second Prince."

Li Rui glanced at the letter in Xi Ying's hands calmly.

"I think the dry ink and the short time that the second prince took to send this letter only confirms our guess from the last night. He had been planning against the Emperor since very long." 

Xi Ying was again amazed by Li Rui's words. His eyes flickered with pride for having such a woman as his wife.

"That was what I wanted to see."

He told Li Rui.

"If we have the second prince involved with our plans then we need to know whether his fight against the Emperor was only for the throne or for something else also. If it is his own selfish intentions and something that he is doing in the flow of his emotions then his actions can affect our plans in the future."

Li Rui nodded her head after hearing Xi Ying's words.

It was possible.

However, she wondered what Xi Ying's next actions would be. As if seeing the question in Li Rui's eyes, Xi Ying said

"I will confront him. If he still tries to hide the truth then I don't think we can expect any honesty from him in the future and having dishonest people with us in this fight will only increase troubles for us."

Li Rui's eyes flickered for a moment and she went silent for a few moments before she asked Xi Ying

"Ying, anything you got to know about First Uncle?"

Xi Ying shook his head.

"Nothing new, Minister Li never visited the Imperial Palace after that day. An Si said that he didn't have a good face after he heard the Empress' plans of destroying Li Clan."

Li Rui's fists were clenched inside her sleeve. She hopes that her first uncle would never go to the Imperial Palace to meet the Empress again. She would forget that he ever saw the Empress and heard her talking about destroying the Li Clan if it happened.

She would just think that he actually cared for Li Clan and that's why he never went to see the Empress again.

However, if Li Qiang went there again then she would perhaps lose all the respect she has for him.   

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That morning when Lu Jianye woke up, he first went to his father's courtyard after getting ready for the Imperial Palace.

"Father, this son will marry Second Young Lady from Li Clan only as his wife. Requesting Father to not expect this son to marry the young miss from Yu or any other clan."

Father Lu's face went red in anger after he heard his son's words.

When he had heard from his servant that Lu Jianye has come to meet him, Father Lu has been very happy as he was going to tell his son about the date he had fixed for his and Yu Wei's marriage.

However, now happiness was replaced with anger.

Pah…

He threw a teacup in Lu Jianye's direction in his anger and started shouting.

"I have always been so proud of you but now you are just making me feel ashamed for having you as my son. Being attracted to a girl with a bad reputation and then wanting to marry her as your wife …that's not how you will be able to take Lu Clan to the heights."

Lu Jianye remained silent and waited for Father Lu to calm down.

A few moments later, he spoke again.

"Father, this son has never demanded anything from Father before. This will be the first and last thing this son will request from Father. If Father can give it to this son then this son will always be grateful to Father but if Father cannot then this son will just leave this Clan."

Father Lu sat there with a baffled face as Lu Jianye got up and left his Courtyard.

The middle-aged man started to beat his forehead with his hands as he cursed Li Na inside his heart. If only his son had not that woman this would not have happened.

Today his obedient son went against him. How could Father Lu not feel angry!

In some part of his heart, he already knew that now nothing would be able to stop Lu Jianye from marrying Li Na except he himself.