As soon as he arrived at the Imperial Palace, Qin Yijun directly went to Yuexing Palace. Here, he could be himself without any pretence. It is his safe haven. There are no servants around, but the palace is well maintained. Every day, servants came at a certain time to clean the palace.
Right now, Qin Yijun walked over to one of the trees located in Yuexing garden. Looking up, he saw the bird’s nest but they were empty. With a heavy sigh, he then hit his head against the tree. “Why did I do that…” he mumbled to himself.
“If he became scared and run away, you only have yourself to blame,” he continued to say out loud despite there was no one around.
“But…”
Qin Yijun raised a hand and touched his lips. He could still remember the feeling of Lin Xiao’s lips on his. He had long dreamed of it, even before his coronation, before Li Fangming disappeared.
He didn’t remember when his feelings for Li Fangming had changed. At first, Li Fangming was his saviour, his benefactor. He felt that since the other had saved him, it is only natural to treat the other well to repay the debt.
But as they continued to spend time together, he finds himself enjoying Li Fangming’s company. He loved to see the other smile. He felt distressed whenever the other got injured during his training. But most of all, he craved for Li Fangming’s attention.
“Ming-er…” he called out in a soft voice, filled with intense longing. He continued to stand before the tree with his forehead pasted on it for a while. It was only when he feels that the turmoil in his heart has calmed down did he finally leave Yuexing Palace.
Qin Yijun went to Tianlong Palace and changed out of his disguise into his usual attire. There was still some time before dinner since he had cut the trip short after the matter with Li Sunxun. So he decided to go to the Imperial Study to get some work done.
Unfortunately, heaven had a different plan for him. Just as he entered the study, he could sense one of the shadow guards he had tasked to guard Lin Xiao had come. “Er, ah… did Zhen not tell you to protect Lin Xiao? Did something happen that requires you to come over personally?”
“Your Majesty, please forgive this slave. But Yi had ordered this slave to report this matter to His Majesty as soon as possible,” the shadow guard called Er replied.
“Say it.”
“ Lord Lin… is being taken as captive—”
“What?!” Qin Yijun couldn’t help but exclaim the moment he heard that Lin Xiao was being held captive. “What is Bai Chenyi doing?!”
“Your Majesty… General Bai was also…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Your Majesty, it was the Right Minister, Huang Zhexian,” Er finally uttered the name of the person responsible.
“Why would the Right Minister Huang order Lin Xiao’s arrest? Where are they now?” Qin Yijun asked as he turned to leave the Imperial Study.
“Before this slave left, they were still at Xia family residence. Huang Zhexian had brought several guards and demanded Lin Xiao to surrender himself for interrogation,” the shadow guard followed Qin Yijun faithfully as he began to narrate the situation. He also informed Qin Yijun what happened that led to this situation.
“He said… he will hit Zhen?” Qin Yijun asked, pausing in his step as he glanced at the shadow guard.
“… Yes…” the reply was slightly late as the guard was hesitating whether or not to tell the Emperor. He was afraid that maybe the Emperor might get angry if he knew. But contrary to his expectation, a smile actually formed on the monarch’s face. It was only for a fleeting moment before the Emperor replaced it with a serious expression.
‘I am guessing Huang Zhexian wanted to use this matter to gain this Emperor’s trust,’ Qin Yijun thought to himself. ‘Alright. Let’s see…’
“Steward Zhong, go and fetch one of the Royal Scribe for Zhen. Er, you go back and see where they are currently at then come back and report to Zhen.”
“This Steward has received the Emperor’s order.”
“Your slave obeys.”
After receiving their order, the two mentioned left and only Qin Yijun was seen rushing to the stable area. There, he saw Meng Chen cleaning the stable. The other’s face was still pale, clearly still suffering from the aftermath of Lin Xiao’s ruthless attack.
“Meng Chen!” he called out.
Meng Chen, who suddenly heard the Emperor’s voice jumped before turning to face the Emperor and knelt on the ground. “Your Majesty, Meng Chen is here!”
“Prepare the horse! Zhen is going to ride out!”
“Ah? Where to, Your Majesty? What about guards?”
“No time! Make it quick. After you finished, you go and assemble the guards under your General’s name and tell them to meet up with Zhen,” Qin Yijun replied.
Sensing the urgency within the Emperor’s voice, Meng Chen didn’t dare to waste any more time. After he prepared the horse for the Emperor, he brought it over. He saw that the Emperor was talking to a person, whom Meng Chen assume to be a shadow guard based on his attire. When he got closer, the Emperor had already dismissed the guard and was now looking at him.
“Meng Chen, you bring the guards to the Right Minister’s residence later. Bring the best, and make it quick!”
Meng Chen had just wanted to answer when the Emperor had gotten up on the horse and forced it into a gallop, leaving clouds of dust behind. “His Majesty… seems to be panicking…” Meng Chen mumbled to himself in his daze. But moments later, he quickly snapped out of it and rushed over to execute his next order.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiao was currently laying down on the ground within his confinement room, bound by ropes as he stared blankly at the roof above him. Remembering what happened before, he felt the anger bubbled up inside him again.
“General Bai…” Lin Xiao called out.
“En?”
“Do you think Shizun will be alright?”
“Minghai will take care of him. Don’t worry,” Bai Chenyi replied.
“But, what if Shizun do something reckless? Can your brother really—”
“Lord Lin, it will be alright. Master Long is currently at our Bai residence. Everyone there will help protect your master,” Bai Chenyi said as to assure Lin Xiao’s, worried heart.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Lin Xiao then sat upon the ground. Even with Bai Chenyi’s assurance, he still couldn’t help but worry. “How long do you think they are going to keep me here?” Lin Xiao asked. “This person is that Right Minister, the uncle of that Martial Uncle of mine?”
“En. It seems that Xia Yuanfeng was unable to keep it inside his residence. Regardless, this is also a slap on Xia Yuanfeng’s face. Later, his wife will regret it,” Bai Chenyi replied.
‘After all, the one who stood behind Lin Xiao is none other than the Emperor. What can the Right Minister amount to? Also, this wife of Xia Yuanfeng has already gone over her authority as her husband’s person.’
Bai Chenyi didn’t say that to Lin Xiao. He didn’t know if the Emperor would like for Lin Xiao to know that he’s keeping an eye on Lin Xiao or not. In addition, it seems that the person he’s responsible to guard still didn’t notice the shadow guards that was following him.
After that small talk, silence ensues but it didn’t even last long for the door to their confinement room was opened. A guard stood before the door, glancing at Bai Chenyi, then at Lin Xiao coldly.
“Come on out. Minister Huang will proceed with the interrogation.”
As the guard said this, he walked over towards Lin Xiao, grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him up. Lin Xiao had an impulse to kick the guard but remembering how they threatened to associate Long Yinlian and bring him into this mess, Lin Xiao quickly buried that thought away.
‘But if I am to take this quietly, I am not surnamed, Lin!’ Lin Xiao thought as he glared at the guard.
“Say, brother… why did the Right Minister himself have to do this kind of menial work? Don’t this task usually fall under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Justice?” Lin Xiao asked.
The guard glanced at Lin Xiao before letting out a sneer. “Did you not know? Ever since that event two years ago, there is no one to occupy the seat of the Minister of Justice,” he told Lin Xiao. “Enough small talk! You can talk all you want when you meet the Minister later. It is better that you answer honestly or else, you will suffer.”
“I doubt I will suffer. Also, your minister charged me with the crime of ‘Rebelling against the Throne’. Shouldn’t such crime be judged before the Emperor himself?” Lin Xiao asked again. But this time, the guard simply nudged him roughly from behind, forcing him to walk.
Seeing that he wouldn’t be able to get anything else from the guard, he finally shut his lips. He then took a quick glance at Bai Chenyi who only looked at him. Then, he watched as Bai Chenyi’s lips moved, mouthing: ‘Be careful.’
Lin Xiao left with the guard, leaving only Bai Chenyi behind. Once Bai Chenyi was sure that the guard is out of sight and far from the confinement room, he finally closed his eyes. He slightly moved his arm and not long after, the ropes binding him became loose.
“Come on out. Since you are not following Lord Lin, then it must be that His Majesty has an order for this general,” Bai Chenyi said out loud. He stood up from where he was sitting and carefully inspected his wrist. On his left wrist, there was a small trace of blood from when he accidentally cut his skin with the small dagger he used to cut the rope.
Not long after, a figure appeared out from the shadow and saluted Bai Chenyi. “As expected of General Bai. His Majesty indeed asked this slave to pass this message to General Bai. Please heed this. General Bai, you are to bring this edict and present it to the Right Minister Huang. His Majesty is already on his way here,” the shadow guard replied as he took out the Imperial Edict and handed it over to Bai Chenyi.
Bai Chenyi took the scroll, unfurled it enough to see the Imperial Seal stamped at the corner. Once he confirmed the authenticity of the edict, he rolled it back and nods at the shadow guard.
“This general has received His Majesty’s order. You may return to doing what you are tasked to do,” Bai Chenyi told the shadow guard who only saluted him again before disappearing into the darkness once more.
With the edict in hand, Bai Chenyi confidently went out of the confinement room and whenever a guard tried to stop him, he merely showed them the edict which was stamped with the Imperial Seal. This was enough to make them stop and even kneel on the floor. And just like this, Bai Chenyi’s path was not impeded.
Damn what a cliffhanger ugggh can’t wait for face slap kyaaaa 😆👌
The title for the next chapter is-whipped
Why do I feel there will be something outrageous written on that scroll?
Thanks for the chapter!!!
How outrageous do you think it will be? 😂
Somethong like “this is my wife none of you fckers is allowed to touch him and if he wishes to hit *zhen he’s very welcome to do so, so shut up, scram, and let’s proceed to the getting physical part”. Kind of 😅
Let me go read what the content was again 👀
Pffthahaha this is gold😂😂😂