V2C157

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His voice was so gentle that Zhu Yan’s heart melted as she was listening to it, and she was just about to lean over and rub herself against him for a while longer, but Shi Ying had already turned around and summoned Chongming with a gesture of his hand.

“You…” when Chongming unfolded its wings to fly up, Zhu Yan leaned on its body to look back at him, blushing, and wanted to say something, but eventually desisted and just exclaimed, “I am very happy today!”

The corners of Shi Ying’s mouth lifted into a smile and he nodded slightly, “So am I.”

After her figure disappeared from the sky, Shi Ying stopped for a moment under the night sky and closed his eyes, as if he was silently transitioning through certain emotions within. Only when he finally removed all the personal feelings about his childhood from his heart did he turn around and walk down the White Tower, returning to the Purple Pavilion again.

As soon as he stepped off from the top of the White Tower, the Head Steward of the Imperial Household, who had been waiting for a long time, greeted him with a flurry of cries, “Finally, we have found you! Your Imperial Highness… No, Your Majesty! The Imperial Edict has been prepared for the death of the late Emperor, and there is still one hour until the morning court, when all the lords will be gathered. Would you like to have some rest and make arrangements?”

Shi Ying was listening in silence then after a moment he said, “There is no need.”

He lowered his head to look at the Imperial Heavenly Ring in his hand and suddenly asked, “Has the Huotu Divine Ring been found?”

Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince suddenly enquired about this matter, and the Head Steward hastened to report, “Ever since Empress Bai Yan’s death, the Huotu Divine Ring has been under the custody of Consort Qing, who was in charge of the harem. Now that Consort Qing has been executed, I have sent my best men to raid the Green Hall, so I haven’t… found it yet.”

Shi Ying frowned slightly: “Where are the maids who were working for her?”

“I tortured them, and they said…” The Head Steward hesitated slightly, but decided to tell the truth, “They said that the Huotu Divine Ring was originally stored in a box by Consort Qing’s pillow, but one night it suddenly turned into a ray of light, and flew out of the window, then disappeared.”

“What?” Shi Ying couldn’t help but be stunned as well.

The Head Steward of the Inner Palace said, “The palace maids all claimed privately that it was because Consort Qing was not qualified to keep the Huotu ring, which could only be inherited by the Queen of the White Clan, and that the Divine Ring had a spirit of its own and left by itself.”

“…” Shi Ying frowned slightly, “Did you use the mind reading spell on them?”

“I used it.” The Head Steward nodded, “They were telling the truth.”

“…” Shi Ying fell silent once again, his fingers tapping lightly on the railing, and his face turned pensive.

“This might be a trick played by Consort Qing. Concealing it from the eyes of others so that she can keep the Huotu Divine Ring for herself.” The Head Steward of the Inner Palace hastily added, “Please rest assured, Your Highness, that I will continue to pursue this properly!”

Shi Ying pondered for a moment and asked, “Where was Consort Qing’s usual place of activities?”

“Consort Qing seldom left the Imperial City, and she only walked between the Green Hall and the Purple Pavilion on a regular basis.

The most she visited was the shrine at the top of the White Pagoda on the 15th day of the first month to pay her respects to the Gods. Her movements were very limited.”

“Then it means that the Huotu Divine Ring is most likely still in the Imperial Palace.” Shi Ying pondered for a moment and ordered, “This matter is not trivial, send people to search for it urgently, and if they cannot find it, I will have their heads torn off.”

“Yes!” The Head Steward nodded hastily and retreated.

The sky was a deep shade of dark blue when the morning sun barely started to revealed itself.

Zhu Yan landed in the backyard of her family home after riding on the back of Chongming, and tiptoed down, sneaking quickly towards her room in fear of alerting her father – yet as soon as she entered the patio door, she was caught by surprise.

“Little princess Zhu Yan, why are you back only now?” Grandma Sheng had been guarding her room, and when she spotted her in one glance, she hurriedly seized her, “How anxious I was!”

“Hush…” she winced and turned to look around, “Don’t awake Father!”

“You even know to be afraid?” Grandma Sheng saw her frightened expression and couldn’t help but laugh, “Don’t worry, the King is not here. An hour ago, he received a secret message from the Inner Palace that the emperor has died in the middle of the night! His Excellency had not waited for the morning court session to commence and hastily entered the palace at once.”

“He went to the Palace?” Zhu Yan couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief and murmured, “Great, finally I don’t have to be scolded! Father… Father, does he know that I didn’t come back at all last night?”

“How come he wouldn’t know? The King is very anxious! My little princess, where have you been all night?” Grandma Sheng was so worried that she took her hand and checked her carefully, from head to toe before suddenly exclaiming, “Dear heavens, what happened to you…? Did someone bully you?”

“Bully?” She froze for a moment, “Who would dare bully me?”

“Then what’s with the red marks on your neck? Why are you even wearing the undergarment backwards?” The old lady was astute after all, her eyes were like a torch, she scanned Zhu Yan up and down once again and couldn’t help but turn pale, “Heavens, young lady! You… did you… which bastard actually dare to deceive you? You, quickly and honestly explain where exactly did you go last night?”

“I… I’m okay, don’t talk nonsense!” Zhu Yan’s face turned rapidly red up to the roots of her hair, stammering for half a second, then suddenly stomping her foot, “Anyway… I wasn’t bullied by anyone, okay? Even if I was, it was me who bullied somebody else! You should stop nagging and questioning!”

“Are you sure everything it’s okay?” Grandma Sheng surveyed the little devil from top to bottom, and the more she looked at her, the more out of place she appeared, “Little princess, you are someone who will soon to be married into the White King’s House… and not returning home for the entire night, what if word gets out?”

“One person does what one person does!” Zhu Yan felt her face getting hot, but she only scratched her neck and said obstinately, “Don’t worry, I will go and speak to Father myself.”

“What?” Grandma Sheng didn’t expect the Princess to admit it in one go, instead she became speechless and sat down on the stool, muttering, “This is troublesome! How are you going to explain this to the White King’s family? Although you have married once, all Six Clans knows that you never consummated your marriage on that occasion – but now you…”

“Why do I have to explain to them?” Zhu Yan’s face flamed red as she stomped her foot and snapped fiercely, “I will not marry Bai Fenglin anyway.”

“What?” Grandma Sheng was shocked, “Are you trying to run away from the marriage again?”

“I…” Zhu Yan originally wanted to dispute a few things, but didn’t want to involve her Master, so she could only say resentfully, “No need for you to foolishly worry about this anyway!”

“…” Grandma Sheng knew that the Princess had grown up to be a young girl with big ideas, and seeing that she became angry, she could only soften her tone and ask, “Is the Princess hungry? Do you want me to cook for you bamboo chicken stew?”

However, the fact that she was questioned about the whole thing just after coming back, made her feel a bit annoyed, so she pouted and said, “I’m not eating! I’m tired, you can leave… No one is allowed to disturb me!”

She had just taken off her dress and was going to bed when she suddenly caught a glimpse of the red marks on the side of her neck in the mirror – she suddenly understood why Grandma Sheng was able to guess what occurred last night, and suddenly her face turned red and she hastily submerged herself under the blankets.

It was almost dawn, the time for the morning court at the Purple Palace.

The emperor’s death and the assembly of the Six Vassal Kings, it was bound to become another big event today.

He… must be extremely busy right now, isn’t he? He will soon change from Crown Prince to Emperor, and he will be in charge of the entire Yunhuang, so he might become overloaded with state affairs, too much even if he had three heads and six arms, right? When will he come to find her? Will he really come to see her tomorrow?

Hey… maybe once she falls asleep later, she will dream about them being together, right?

Before falling asleep, she reflected on these thoughts, apprehensive and full of anticipation.

On the same night that Zhu Yan spent her night at the top of the White Tower of Jialan, a deep ancient well swirled in a secret backyard in Yecheng, like a bottomless eye.

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