His Rui

”Go to Wangjun valley with this letter and ask all of them to reach here at the earliest.”

”Yes, My Lord.”

An Ping bowed his head as he accepted the letter and then immediately left the study room.

Now Xi Ying looked at his other shadow guards.

”An Su, what have been assigned before?”

”My Lord, this servant had been keeping an eye on Minister Li.”

Xi Ying nodded his head. He already remembered this. Almost every shadow guard of his had one or other work in his hands.

Now he needed a very clever and hard-working shadow guard to keep an eye on Qin Wenya.

”Leave that for a few days.”

Xi Ying said to An Su.

Li Qiang had not shown any weird movement in the past few days so Xi Ying decided to leave him alone for now and asked An Su to keep an eye on Qin Wenya instead.

After that, he looked at An Si and said

”An Si, you will keep an eye on Li Manor now…especially the first household of Li family.”

”Yes, My Lord.”

”An Shing will stay at Xi Manor. An Ju, your work is the same. Being around Li Rui continuously and you can leave now.”

And soon one by one, every shadow guard left from there except An Si.

”Anything new?”

Before this, An Si had been keeping an eye on Lu Manor so Xi Ying thought that the reason behind staying is that his shadow guard had something to tell him.

”My Lord, It is Lady Yu Wei. She came to know about what happened in front of Li Manor yesterday and now she is trying to find out more.” 

Xi Ying raised his eyebrows and asked her curiously.

”How?”

”It seems that Lady Yu Wei bribed one of the servants serving Young Master Lu. The servant had accompanied Young Master Lu that day and had been standing in a corner of the street and hence saw everything.”

An Si paused and then asked his master

”My Lord, should I stop her from finding anything out or let her do it?”

Xi Ying smirked as he raised his head and looked at his shadow guard.

”Let her do it. In fact, help her in finding more. Now Lady Yu Wei will do whatever we had wanted to do.” 

An Si understood what his master was saying and his eyes brightened. He had always liked to do the works like these.

(‘It seems that a lot of face slapping was about to come!’)

Excited for his new work, An Si hurriedly left the study room after greeting his master once more.

Xi Ying stayed inside his study room for some time.

He was actually thinking about the banquet in the Imperial Palace that was about to happen in two days. The convoy from the neighboring country was to attend this banquet also.

Xi Ying didn’t know why although the deal seem very favorable to Xin, he is feeling since the start that there was something very peculiar about this deal.

Why did they suddenly agree to make peace!

Combined with that, everything in this deal seems to be favorable to Xin and less favorable to them then why are they still continuing with this deal! 

He could sense that there was going to happen something great …maybe in the banquet only.

That was also the reason he didn’t want Li Rui to attend this banquet. He would have tried to find out more but now his side already lacked people.

Xi Ying sighed and he wished that his other shadow guards would reach Imperial City soon otherwise things can start to turn against them.

One thing that he decided during all this is that he could also ask Zhao Zhang Wei to investigate the convoy and their people.

For now, he could do this only.

After making sure that everything was under control, Xi Ying left his study room and went to Plum Courtyard. 

At night, the Plum Courtyard was very silent. Li Rui was a very light sleeper so Xi Ying had ensured that no one would dare to make any noise when she is sleeping.

Very quietly, he walked to his and Li Rui’s room and slowly opened the door,

The room was dimly lit and warm too. Xi Ying was afraid that cold air would enter the room so he immediately turned around to close the door.

However, when he turned around again to look at the bed, he was shocked to see that there was no one on the bed.

Xi Ying’s eyes flashed with panic and he was about to shout for An Ju when his eyes went to look towards the couch that was placed near the window and a little far away from the bed.

There he saw a curled figure lying on it and his heart was instantly filled with relief. 

He immediately walked towards the couch and removed his robe to cover Li Rui’s small body.

Inside his heart, he was very dissatisfied.

Why did she sleep here? Did she not know that it is not good for her health? A deep frown marred his forehead as he very carefully picked the book that was held By Li Rui’s hand in a very light hold.

He put the book on the table that was a step away from the couch and then carefully lifted Li Rui from the couch. However, no matter how careful he was, Li Rui still woke up by his light movements. 

Li Rui’s eyes were first filled with wariness but she calmed down when her sight focused in the dim light and she saw that it was Xi Ying.

”Ying…”

Her voice was a little hoarse and it told Xi Ying that she was sleeping very deeply.

He sighed helplessly blaming himself for waking her up. Walking towards the bed with Li Rui in his arms, he asked his dear wife

”Why did you sleep there?”

”I was waiting for you.”

Xi Ying was about to bend down to make Li Rui lie on the bed when he heard her words, He paused amidst his actions and his deep black eyes suddenly focused on his wife’s face. 

He swallowed before he asked as if to confirm what he had just heard

”You were waiting for me.”

Li Rui felt her heartbeat quickening under Xi Ying’s intense gaze. She suddenly couldn’t help but wish to go away and hide but she was very better at pretending to look composed and nod her head.

”Yes…”

She whispered and the next moment, she found herself lying on the bed under Xi Ying.