Lin Xiao didn’t know why but the moment Bai Chenyi arrived with the Imperial Edict, he felt extremely happy. He had even forgotten the stinging pain on his shoulder. He looked at the Right Minister’s fearful face and his lips couldn’t help but curl up into a smile. “Right Minister Huang, what now? If you delay any longer, won’t you be disrespecting the Emperor?” he asked in a mocking tone.
Huang Zhexian glared at Lin Xiao, but didn’t dare to say anything. Until he could figure out his identity, he felt that it would be wise to not antagonize this person even more. Unfortunately for him, Lin Xiao was not one to let go of someone who had crossed him so easily.
“I am really curious. Why did the Emperor come? Did you tell him about my ‘rebellion’?” Lin Xiao asked again but Huang Zhexian did not answer. Seeing this, Lin Xiao simply continued to speak: “Minister Huang, ah, do you know who this man is?”
As he said this, Lin Xiao gestured to the man clad in dark clothes with his head. He could see Huang Zhexian glancing over to the man in question, suspicion evident in his eyes.
“I have an idea who he is,” Lin Xiao said with a smug face. “His martial arts level is high, and not even your guards were able to sense him. Throughout the whole land, there are few people who can achieve what he had done and few of them… belongs to the Emperor’s Shadow Guards. Am I right?”
Lin Xiao turned to face the shadow guard that the Emperor had placed by his side. Said shadow guard merely lowered his head and saluted Lin Xiao. “Wangye is correct. This slave is called An Yi. His Majesty has tasked this slave to rescue Wangye.”
Hearing An Yi addressing Lin Xiao as ‘Wangye’, Huang Zhexian’s face turned even more ugly. By now, his face could even rival a cold bodied corpse. He knew that no matter how he explained later, the outcome would still not be in his favor.
On the other hand, Lin Xiao frowned with how An Yi had called him. He is someone who had just arrived into the capital, and suddenly, he found that he was conferred the title of a ‘Wang’ without his own knowledge? But when he looked at Huang Zhexian’s expression, he could feel the satisfaction in his heart. Thus, he decided to play along with this shadow guard called An Yi.
“Help me untie the rope,” Lin Xiao said to him.
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.
An Yi obeyed and immediately moved to help remove the rope that was binding Lin Xiao. As soon as it was loose, Lin Xiao stood up and moved his arms, only to wince in pain as he quickly held to his injured shoulder.
“Wangye!” An Yi called out in a panicked tone. He wanted to reach out, only to remember that his own hand is dirty with his own blood from when he grabbed the barbed whip.
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“Why have you stopped this General?” Bai Chenyi couldn’t help but voice out his confusion. From the shadow guard’s tone earlier, it was clear that he was worried about Lin Xiao’s injury. But when he tried to take a good look at it, he was stopped. To him, it doesn’t make sense at all.
“His Majesty would be displeased.”
It was a short sentence, but the meaning was misunderstood by all parties within the room. In short, what An Yi was saying, if the Emperor were to know that Bai Chenyi had stripped Lin Xiao off his upper inner garment, even if it was for the purpose of examining his injury, the Emperor would be ridden with jealousy.
But in the ear of Bai Chenyi, Huang Zhexian and his two guards, and even the servant who had arrived before, it was as if An Yi was reminding them that the Emperor is still waiting in the main hall, and if they delay any longer, the Emperor would be displeased.
For Lin Xiao though, all he could think of was that a certain someone is being unreasonable. ‘Did he tell An Yi that no one is allowed to touch me? Isn’t that too much?!’
Knowing that the shadow guard is merely doing what he was ordered to do, Bai Chanyi and Lin Xiao simply compromised despite their misunderstanding.
“General Bai, I am alright. Just a little pain. Let me get dressed,” Lin Xiao said as he walked over to where the guards had thrown his clothes earlier before everything started. Naturally, after being roughly handled, there were a few places where it was torn. As someone who was used to living in the mountains though, Lin Xiao didn’t really put much care into it and simply dressed himself. But whenever he had to move his right shoulder, the stinging pain would make him grimace.
Behind him, he failed to see An Yi looking down with a clenched fist, a guilty expression painted across his face.
Once Lin Xiao was ‘properly’ dressed, all of them proceeded to go to the main hall of Huang Manor. The courtyard where the main hall was located was huge, but at the moment, it was actually crowded with guards from the Imperial Palace. The closer they got to the main hall, Lin Xiao could see the members of the Huang family who had already gathered by the summon of the Emperor.
Once they were in front of the entrance of the main hall, they could see the Emperor was already seated inside, waiting for them. The servant that has been leading them immediately moved away, allowing them to proceed inside.
Lin Xiao was actually feeling uneasy the moment he saw the Emperor, especially with how dark the other’s expression currently is. Everyone could see that he was in a very foul mood. The first to make a move was actually Bai Chenyi who knelt on the floor, giving the Emperor a kowtow. “This General has seen the Emperor.”
“Your slave greets the Emperor.”
Not long after, An Yi also kowtowed to the Emperor, except that his form is different from Bai Chenyi. Bai Chenyi simply cupped his hand and gave the Emperor a bow. An Yi knelt on his right knee with right hand reaching to the ground. Lin Xiao frowned, then looked over to Huang Zhexian.
“This Minister greets the Emperor. May the Emperor live for tens of thousands of years!”
Because Huang Zhexian was slightly behind the two, he was a bit late in his kowtow. But when Lin Xiao saw his form, he showed a complicated expression. Huang Zhexian was kneeling on the floor, and bowed down until his head touched the floor.
As someone who was never taught any palace etiquette, Lin Xiao did not know which one he should follow. Bai Chenyi was a general, An Yi was a shadow guard while Huang Zhexian is a minister who had done something wrong and is trying to appeal to the Emperor. None of the three identities fit with his, thus he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to greet the Emperor.
In the end, he decided to copy An Yi’s way of kowtow for two reasons. One, he knew his social standing is lower than Bai Chenyi and he doubted he could raise his arm without wincing. Somehow, Lin Xiao felt that if the Emperor knew that he was injured, their situation would be blown out of proportion.
Secondly, because of his injured shoulder, if he followed Huang Zhexian’s method, it might look awkward if he were to rely more on his left side. It might fool others, but as someone who are used to formalities, the Emperor might notice his injured shoulder.
But before he could even move to lower his body, he suddenly heard the Emperor speak: “Lin Xiao, you are excused from kneeling.”
A/N: Last Chapter of the year!! Well, at least for this author since I’ve set this at 23:59 at GMT +8.
Happy New Year, everyone!
This year has been hectic for everyone. To be honest, even this novel was on pause for a while (around May-August). But luckily, I am now slowly getting back on track.
I hope to finish uploading at least Arc 1 before February next year. Yes, we are very close to the end of Arc 1 already. I hope everyone will still be reading this by then!
Before I forget, thank you for reading this story! If I am being honest, this was the first story that I was serious in writing on. My English is not that good, so I could only use simple words to portray as much as I can and hopefully, it can deliver the story to the audience well. In any case, thank you again for joining me on this journey!
Sincerely,
Lin Xiaolong.
i’m first and i really love this novel thank u so author for creating it i’m really glad i found this gem, thank u so much author and happy new year thank u so much for the double upload 😍
Happy New Year, dear Author!! Thank you so much for this wonderful story!!