His Rui

Imperial City

The dust left by the news that Li and Yi Clan had committed treason didn't even settle down when new chaos aroused in a single night. The villages, towns, and shops, even if it was in the Imperial City itself, closed down. No one could come out of their home after seeing the burly figures roaming on the road. 

In the early morning, a man peeked outside opening the door of his house slowly with the hope that he would be able to reach his shop without being noticed by anyone only to hear a loud shout.

"Close the door right now."

The scolding continued. The words were loud enough to be heard by everyone in the street.

"You people are very selfish and just care about yourself. Don't you understand what is going on in our Empire? The one who is innocent; who fought for Xin for four decades is being implicated. Not only this, his whole clan is on the verge of being executed. This is the price he had gotten after risking his life on the battlefield for so many years."

"Hmph… An Empire where innocents are killed like this would soon perish. No one will sacrifice their lives on the battlefield in the future if Li Clan will be executed. We shall not let this happen. We shall fight for General Li till our last breath."

Following these words were loud shouts acknowledging the said words.

Locked inside their own homes, people have different reactions. Some were angry while some really agreed with the said words. It was a shame that they didn't have enough courage to raise their voice. Not against them and not with them.

Still even if not the whole Xin, but the brave and courageous people of the Empire were now fighting against the injustice done to Li and Yi Clan.

.

.

.

On the corner of the same street, five men were standing on the roof of a house looking at this scene.

There were almost fifteen soldiers in the street who were stopping people from coming out of their houses but those five shadow guards were enough to kill all of these twelve soldiers.

But before they could jump from the roof to kill the soldiers, a wave of arrows penetrated their bodies. They didn't even get the time to know who was behind this sudden shower of arrows. Red blood seeped through their clothes and the five of them soon fell down on the roof itself.

Three men clad in black clothes descended there.

"What do you think? How many should be left now?" one asked the other.

"According to the letter My Lord sent, there should be almost one hundred left now." An emotionless voice replied.

"Don't you think it is getting boring now? It is just aiming the arrow in a direction which I can do even with eyes closed."

"Then, let's make it interesting."

The eyes of the two men glittered with excitement as they planned how to make their job, which was to kill, more interesting while one of them was still standing with no emotion in his eyes.

"Don't waste time on useless things. My Lord asked me to complete the work as soon as possible. We have to go back with others also."

Saying this, the emotionless man flew away leaving the two men shouting behind him.

"Brother Zhan…ah don't leave us behind."

Both of them soon left the roof of that house. The small 'Xi' embroidered on the corner of their clothes fluttered with the fresh wind of the morning.

Unaware of the danger they had just been saved from, the soldiers continued to roam the street without any disturbance.

----------------

Imperial Palace

"Did she eat anything?"

"Replying to Your Highness, Wangfei didn't eat anything."

Zhao Zhang Wei's heart sank hearing the maid's words.

"Tell the kitchen to prepare all her favorites."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Eunuch Zhang" Eunuch Zhang stepped forward with a small plant in his hands.

"Your Highness."

"Take this and put it near Wangfei's bedside."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The maid took the plant from the young Eunuch's hands and left after performing a bow.

Eunuch Zhang looked at the departing maid with complicated eyes. The plant that the second Prince just gave to the maid was very special. It could stabilize one's emotion and increase vitality if one would breathe in it. The Prince gave it to Wangfei and he seemed to really worry about her these days but he never visited her.

He had never seen the second Prince behaving like this before even when Wangfei lost her child. What was the reason behind this sudden care and concern?

But soon he stopped thinking about this as it was useless. How can he understand a prince's mind, thought Eunuch Zhang?

From the corner of his eye, he saw his master closing his eyes and resting his head on the headrest so he took his leave and left from there.

Lost in his own thoughts, Zhao Zhang Wei was trying to answer his own questions.

Should he go and see her?

He really wanted to but he was scared. After the incident of that night when he was drunk, he was afraid to face her and see the same fear in her eyes.

He was afraid to face her because he didn't know how he will react after he had finally realized that he has feelings for Yi Huiqing.

He was afraid that it was too late because he could no longer see anything for himself in her eyes.

His thoughts were disrupted when he felt something. Opening his eyes, he saw a pigeon sitting on his hand. With his other hand, Zhao Zhang Wei untied the small scrolled paper from the pigeon's leg. Reading the content of the letter, the look in his eyes changed.

Just at this moment, the study room's door was knocked.

"Enter."

Eunuch Zhang stepped inside the study with an anxious expression on his face.

"Your Highness, His Majesty has called all the ministers to the Imperial Court."