Lin Xiao had followed Qin Yijun quietly while making sure to keep several steps distance away from the Emperor. He didn’t know what is going on within the Emperor’s mind, and he felt that there is something more to the request of accompanying him for a walk.
Qin Yijun also noticed that Lin Xiao seems to be wary of him, but there was nothing else that he could do. After all, it was his own fault that Lin Xiao ends up being suspicious towards himself.
The walk continues until Lin Xiao realized that they are approaching a huge palace courtyard. This courtyard was not the Tianlong Palace which Lin Xiao had woken up to before. He still remembers the direction of that palace. And surprisingly, there was a sense of familiarity when he entered the courtyard. But Lin Xiao merely thought it was all due to the smell of the flowers. Back when he still lives in the mountain, there were several wildflowers fields and Lin Xiao would occasionally pick some out to sell in the village.
“Lin Xiao,” Qin Yijun called out after a while. “What do you think of this place?” he asked.
Lin Xiao had been looking around and he had to admit that the scenery within the courtyard can only be described in a single word: “Beautiful.”
He uttered the word in a soft voice but it still reached the ear of the Emperor. A smile formed on Qin Yijun’s face and he continued to lead Lin Xiao towards the pavilion nearby the ponds. “Have a seat,” Qin Yijun gestured towards the marble stone chair, carved with ultimate precision. One could see that the craftsman who was responsible for working on it had poured his everything on its making.
Lin Xiao took a seat across Qin Yijun and they were separated by the round table under the pavilion. Qin Yijun noticed this and could only inwardly sigh. He didn’t know how many times he had sighed in his heart but as long as Lin Xiao is still around, he could still bear with it. “Lin Xiao, do you still remember the dagger?”
“Dagger?” Lin Xiao didn’t know the reason why the Emperor had asked him for a company and when suddenly asked this question, he was taken by surprise.
Seeing the confused expression on Lin Xiao’s face, Qin Yijun took out a small rectangular brocade box hidden inside his sleeve and placed it on the table. Seeing this box, Lin Xiao eyed the Emperor, then at the box again. The box is about two chi in length and half of that in width. The thickness is almost as thick as a clay brick.
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.
‘He has been carrying this in his sleeves this whole time? You really can’t tell at all. I guess as the Emperor, he is always subjected to dangers so his clothes must have several hidden pockets to hide few hidden weapons…’ Lin Xiao couldn’t help but feel more at astonished at his findings.
He then watched as Qin Yijun lifted the lid and let Lin Xiao see what was hidden in the box. Inside, Lin Xiao saw the dagger that he had bought for two gold pieces from the old, dilapidated weapon shop from before. He remembered that the Emperor had asked for it when they first met. Then, he couldn’t comprehend what had happened but he had lost consciousness. After that, after getting the scare of waking up in Tianlong Palace, the dagger was the furthest thing that he could think of and he only remembered about it after getting back to the Xia residence.
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“This dagger… Lin Xiao remembers,” Lin Xiao replied, his lips pressed into a thin line as his gaze never left the dagger. He still felt that he has a connection with the dagger and wanted to find out more about it, but since the Emperor had taken it, he didn’t want to risk both his and Shizun’s life for it. Of course, since he had spent two gold pieces on it only to hand it over to the Emperor for free, he felt a bit cheated.
“Zhen will let you have a chance to take this dagger back,” Qin Yijun said after a while and when Lin Xiao heard this, he could only look up at the Emperor with a surprised expression.
“Why…?” he asked with slight hesitation. ‘He’s not planning on making me do indecent things just for him to give that dagger back, right?’ he wondered to himself feeling his suspicion rose in his chest.
“Zhen feels a little lonely,” Qin Yijun said and Lin Xiao was prepared to bolt out of the area the moment the Emperor said anything that crossed his boundary. “So Zhen was thinking of inventing a small game. The prize is naturally this dagger,” as Qin Yijun said this, he ran a finger across the dagger’s sheath.
“Qtja… xlcv bo ujwf vbfr Llr Zjpfras kjcar ab qijs…?”
“It is just a simple game,” Qin Yijun replied as he put the lid back on. “Zhen will hide this dagger, and you will find it. But there will be several rules.”
“Rules?”
“En,” Qin Yijun raised his hand and six shadow guards appeared with each, carrying a case made of iron in several sizes. One of the guards picked up the box carefully and placed it inside the iron case before locking it with a key. After that, he handed the case to the guard beside him who did the same. This repeated until the box was secured inside six, locked iron case.
But that was not the end as another guard arrived with a small chest. The iron cases was then placed inside the chest and like the other, it was locked.
The seven keys was then placed on the table in front of Lin Xiao who could only stare at it with disbelief. He could figure out the so-called ‘rules’ that the Emperor mentioned by now. One of it must be that he have to collect the keys in order to get to the prize. ‘But it can’t be that easy…’
Sure enough, when the Emperor began to explain the rules of the game to him, he could only describe the Emperor in one word: ‘Shameless!’
“Firstly, the whole Imperial Palace is this game’s playground. The keys will be hidden throughout the Imperial Palace and you will need to find them,” Qin Yijun told Lin Xiao. “Of course, Zhen understands that the palace is huge so if you ever needed a hint, you can always find Zhen to play another simple game for you to win a hint.”
“… Your Majesty, may Lin Xiao know what this simple game is…?”
“You merely need to catch Zhen when the time comes.”
Lin Xiao thought about it and nods his head. Catching is something he is good at. Whether it’s thieves, bandits or even wild animals, he’s very confident when it comes to catching. He began to formulate a plan so that when the time comes, the Emperor wouldn’t be able to escape from him. The game does sound simple until Lin Xiao realizes something that would make all his plan useless.
“Your Majesty… this game is very disadvantageous for Lin Xiao. The Imperial Palace is not a place where one can easily enter and exit at will. Not to mention, if I accidentally harmed the Emperor during the catching game, then wouldn’t Lin Xiao lose his head to the executioner’s axe? Not to mention, Shizun will also be implicated…”
“You do not need to worry about this,” Qin Yijun said as he took out a scroll made of yellow silk. From its appearance alone, Lin Xiao understood that this was an Imperial Edict. After all, when he received his title before, he also had received something similar.
“This is for you. With this, you don’t need to worry about being harmed within the Imperial Palace.”
Qin Yijun placed the edict on the table and Lin Xiao reached out to pick it up. He carefully unfurled the scroll and started to read the content.
“The Son of Heaven, Emperor Qin Yijun has decreed. For as long as Lin Xiao lives, he is allowed free passages into the Imperial Palace. There will be no restriction placed on him and he is allowed to go wherever he wants within the walls of the Imperial Palace. Servants of the Palace are to treat him as an honoured guest and no guards are allowed to harm him for anything he had done within the walls of the Imperial Palace with the exception that Lin Xiao himself had challenged them into a sparring match…” Lin Xiao continued to read the long content of the Imperial Edict and if he were to surmise everything in a single sentence, he could only say this: As long as the Emperor is still breathing, Lin Xiao is only second to the Royal Family within the Imperial Palace.
If it were not for the Emperor’s seal stamped on top of the silk, Lin Xiao would think that this was a fake and the person in front of him might be someone who is only posing as the Emperor.
“Your Majesty is going this far because… of loneliness?” Lin Xiao asked as he shakily rolled the edict in a careful manner.
“Yes,” Qin Yijun replied. “This game will officially begin tomorrow. For now, you can return to the Bai family residence. When your own residence has been built, Zhen will send someone to pick you up.”
Thanks a lot for updates.. Very beautiful story.. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Seriously!!! Why don’t someone in this word have this kind of loneliness for me 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
I know, right! I want that, too! 😢😥
Okay author now ur Being tooo mean 😭😭😭 take responsibility but thank u so sooo much for the update
Thanks for the update! Lin Xiao still don’t understand that the imperial edict turns him into the empress hahahahah
So cute
Whoah, this game sounds fun- but I feel kinda sorry for LX. 😅