His Rui

Silently sitting on his chair, Xi Ying stared at An Si with his cold black eyes.

However, An Si seemed to have understood somehow that those cold black eyes were actually not aimed at him. Because looking into them An Si could feel the murderous aura of his master for whoever that coldness was aimed for.

If he really was the target of that coldness and ruthlessness then he would have not been standing there until now.

Indeed, An Si was correct.

That coldness in Xi Ying's eyes was not aimed for him.

The young and cold Prime Minister was remembering the second day of the banquet at this moment.

The time… when Li Rui had volunteered to treat the poisoned son of the First Prince.

'Zhen allows Li Rui to treat the first Prince's son, Zhao Bo Jin.'

The Emperor had allowed Li Rui to do so after First Prince Wangfei had spoken that she wanted Li Rui to treat her child.

But was it really the truth?

Actually, at that time, he had observed each and every expression on the Emperor's face.

The flickering and brightness of those phoenix eyes had not gone unnoticed from him when Li Rui had vowed that she will accept any punishment if she couldn't treat the prince.

That…she will accept life imprisonment or even being executed in public.

At that moment, the brightness in the Emperor's eyes was as such …that it gave him the illusion that it was the thing that he had wanted for so long.

At that moment, in everyone's eyes, it seemed like the Emperor was giving Yun Weilan a chance to make the decision for her son's life because she was a mother.

But in his eyes, the Emperor seemed to have used Yun Weilan for his own purpose.

He was waiting…he was waiting for Li Rui to do just one mistake so that he could take an advantage of her own promise…so that he could decree her a life-ending punishment using her own promise.

And his suspicion had only got confirmed when he had seen a flicker of disappointment and wariness in Zhao Wang Lei's eyes after Li Rui had really treated the poisoned prince.   

For that moment, Xi Ying's mind had gone blank while looking at that brightness.

Why the Emperor was disappointed that Li Rui treated Zhao Bo Jin!

His disappointment only made Xi Ying have so many more suspicions.

He remembered how that day in forests, a shadow guard had tried to kill Li Rui by missing himself amongst Princess Wenling's people.

Since that day, Xi Ying had known that it was someone more powerful than Princess Wenling who wanted to take Li Rui's life.

So could that person be the Emperor himself?

But why would the Emperor want to kill Li Rui?

This question had made Xi Ying's blank at that time because he didn't have any answer to this question.

He knew why the Emperor wanted to destroy Li Clan and why he hated General Li but all these reasons were nowhere connected to Li Rui.

Then why would he want to kill Li Rui … a woman who meant no harm to him?

Xi Ying had pressed this question and his doubts inside his heart.

However, they raised their head again when An Si told him that the old nanny was sent to the Empress by the Emperor.

Somewhere inside his mind, something was telling him that all of this was a part of a very cleverly devised plan.

Sending the old nanny to the Empress…then the Empress giving that nanny to the Princess Wenling when Li Rui entered the Imperial Palace …and after that the starting of all this manipulation.   

Why does it seem like that even Princess Wenling was used by someone in this whole plan?

"When was the nanny given to the Empress?"

Xi Ying asked his shadow guard.

A fronw marred An Si's forehead which represented his confusion as he answered his master.

"My Lord, An Si is not known completely but it happened during a visit to the neighboring Empire. The Emperor and Empress …both of them had gone out of Xin together for this visit and it was fourteen years ago."

An Si said this because the old maidservant in the Imperial Palace had told him that the old nanny appeared by the Empress side very suddenly. However, she couldn't remember that it was after Empress' visit to the neighboring Empire. 

Xi Ying looked a little clam now. He nodded his head and dismissed An Si.

An Si bowed his head and stepped back to stand beside other shadow guards.

After this, Xi Ying, looked at An Shing and asked

"Any news from Plum Courtyard?"

"Yes, Master."

An Shing stepped forward and bowed his head before answering his master's question.

Xi Ying's silence was an indication for him to continue so he did.

"Today morning, Lady Li sent a message to Yi Manor through a bird. Half a shichen later, That female shadow guard who used to serve Lady Li in the past…she entered Plum Courtyard."

An Shing looked at his master's cold face and asked hesitantly

"Master, should An Shing have stopped that shadow guard?"

An Shing remembered that his master had ordered them not to allow any shadow guard inside Plum Courtyard after he had returned from Li Manor last time.

But still he didn't stop that shadow guard this time.

The reason behind this was An Shing knew that the female shadow guard meant no harm to Lady Li and …also Lady Li was pregnant.

He doesn't want to anger Lady Li by stopping her people from entering her courtyard. But he also knew that by doing this, he was disobeying his master.

That's why An Shing's heart was filled with guilt as he looked at his master.

Xi Ying, however looked at his shadow guard with approval filled eyes as he said

"You did the right thing, An Shing."

Although his voice was cold, An Shing still smiled a little at his master's words and sighed in relief.

After this, Xi Ying dismissed his shadow guards.