章 25: When your worst nightmare comes true
When Li Juan woke up in the morning, it was already seven in the morning. After talking to Qiao Chu and Tang Wei Sheng over phone calls, she felt the urge to finish her works earlier and return to Jing city as soon as possible.
After having breakfast, Li Juan decided to go to the library in Xi city first and if she gets enough time, visit the museum too. To get more information about the city, it is always better to have a trip to its library and museums. Li Juan took her bag and laptop and went downstairs. She walked into the kitchen and searched for Mrs Zhao
"Mrs Zhao." she called the maid who was cleaning the dishes.
"Yes, Miss Li,"
"CEO Tang went to Jing city yesterday.
He had some emergency there." Li Juan notified her.
"Yes, Miss. Are you leaving now? I thought your flight is in the afternoon?"
"Yes. I have some unfinished work, so I need to stop by the library. Can you tell me where the bus stop is?" Li Juan asked Mrs Zhao.
"Why are taking the bus,Miss? young master's car is still here. I can call you a driver." Mrs Zhao suggested.
"No need, Mrs Zhao." Li Juan refused. "I prefer travelling by bus. Can you tell me where the bus stop is?"
After hearing Li Juan's reason, Mrs Zhao didn't compel her to take the car. She carefully told the route to the bus stop.
"Will you ever come back here, Miss?"
"I don't know, Mrs Zhao." Li Juan replied with a smile. "Anyway, thank you so much for hosting us."
"Pleasure is mine, Miss." Mrs Zhao thanked her and bid her goodbye.
Li Juan said bye to the maid and walked outside. When she passed the gate of the villa, the telephone in the villa rang. Housemaid came running to pick up the call.
"Yes, Master, Miss Li has left the house. She didn't take the car. She said that she wanted to visit the library. She asked for the nearest bus stop. Yes, master. Yes."
Mrs Zhao ended the phone call and went back to her work.
Tang Wei Sheng's villa was situated in a quiet neighbourhood not far from the public road. Li Juan slowly walked towards the bus stop. Besides the roadside, the trees were getting ready to grow again and sprout new leaves.
Even though it was a little bit cold, the weather was perfect for walking. Li Juan took the phone out of her jacket's pocket. There weren't any calls from Tang Wei Sheng.
Maybe he is busy. Li Juan thought, maybe he will call once he became free.
Li Juan reached the bus stop and waited for the bus while checking for the central library in Xi city on the internet. The bus stop was not crowded as it had a few office workers waiting for the bus.
Not far away from the bus stop, a black land cruiser car was parked. A man in black hoodie and sunglasses was observing Li Juan, who was immersed in her phone.
"We met again, Li Juan." He greeted as an enigmatic smile bloomed in his face.
After a few minutes, the bus arrived at the bus stop and Li Juan boarded it along with others.
Soon after, the black land cruiser started following the bus, unknown to Li Juan. Within an hour, Li Juan reached the central library. She kept her bag in the baggage counter before entering the library. She didn't have any time to waste, so she asked the librarian about the books on the local history of the Xi city. Librarian led Li Juan towards the historical section of the library.
Li Juan sat with a pile of books in the historical section of the library. Since the historical section was one of the least interesting areas for readers, the corridor was unusually quieter than other areas of the library.
Li Juan was busy reading and taking notes from the historical texts so that she completely forgot about the surroundings. After an hour, she stopped reading to take a break. However , all of sudden she felt like someone was watching her.
It was the common human gut feeling, yet Li Juan raised her gaze from the books and looked around.
A man was sitting not too far away from her seat.
He wore a black jacket with a hoodie over his head and the weird part, he was already looking at her.
When their eyes met Li Juan tried to give a smile ease the awkwardness of the situation. However, he didn't respond to her. There was a book kept open in front of him and he still kept staring at her.
Li Juan felt uneasy and uncomfortable and diverted her gaze back to the book.
But still she could feel his piercing gaze on her. She slowly raised her eyes and looked at him. He has removed the hoodie and his facial features were visible. He looked familiar.
Where did she meet him? She searched in her memory for a man who has a piercing ice-cold gaze.
Suddenly Li Juan remembered seeing him in the roadside when she returned from the monastery.
The man who stood under the plum blossom,
The man whom she saw in the dream,
The man who shot her.
A chilly sensation spread across Li Juan's body. She couldn't believe her eyes as she never expected to run into him once again.
Li Juan immediately avoided his eyes and kept her head low.
Why is he here?
"Should I go and talk to him?" Li Juan asked herself. She was worried about what happened in her dream, but she tried hard to believe that those things will never happen in the real life. It's better to confront him rather than running away from her.
Li Juan took a deep breath and decided to talk to that person. She raised her head and looked at his direction. He was gone.
There were no one in the place where he stood. Li Juan was the only person in the entire historical section.
Did he vanish into thin air?
Li Juan felt a churning sensation in her stomach. He was sitting in front of her a few seconds ago and in the batting of an eyelid, he vanished.
Or did she start having hallucinations?
Li Juan began to feel scared to stay alone in empty corner of the central library. She didn't believe in any supernatural powers, but somehow that man, made her mind to think about supernatural activities. She didn't have any courage to stay any longer.
Li Juan rose from the seat and placed the books back in their corresponding shelves and went outside. When she saw the bustling city before her eyes, somehow she felt ease.
*Ho, he just scared me to death." Li Juan took a deep breath and walked along the footpath. It was almost noon and Li Juan has started feeling hungry. She walked into a restaurant and ordered some noodles with braised chicken. She quietly ate her lunch while looking at the mobile.
Still no word from Tang Wei Sheng!
Li Juan wanted to call Tang Wei Sheng; actually, she never dared to ask his number since they were just more than an acquaintance. But the circumstances changed the moment when they landed in Xi city. She is no more an acquaintance to him - She is his girlfriend.
Li Juan looked at the green jade ring in her finger and a radiant smile spread over her face.
Her life is going to change from this new year evening.
Li Juan finished her meal and walked outside. Her flight was around two-thirty in the afternoon. Li Juan looked at her watch; it was 12 pm- she has enough time to wander around the city before the flight.
It was her first time visiting Xi city and how can she leave without buying some souvenirs for her colleagues?
Li Juan wandered through the market buying itsy-bitsy things. However, even in the middle of the crowd, she could feel someone's eyes on her.
Li Juan slowly turned to look around and couldn't find anyone.
What if it is another hallucination? Li Juan ignored her gut feeling.
She was about to leave the market when she had the feeling of being followed once again.
Li Juan increased the pace of her walking and found some unusual movements behind her. On a reflex, Li Juan tried to avoid them and walked towards the side alleys of the market.
The side alleys of the market were silent and the buildings and shops in that area looked old and shabby.
Did she make a wrong turn? Li Juan was confused. She turned around and found that two men wearing hoodies were following her.
Li Juan immediately took her phone and tried to dial, at that same moment someone appeared before her.
He was the same suspicious-looking man with hoodie whom she saw in the library.
Are these people work with him? Are they trying to corner her?
Li Juan looked around for a way to escape, and found a narrow path beside an old building.
She took a look at the people trying to corner and in a glimpse, she ran towards the narrow passage.
The two fierce-looking men who were observing Li Juan's actions acted on a whim and followed her.
The men were fast and stronger her and one of them caught Li Juan's rucksack.
On a survival instinct, she removed her rucksack and threw at them and ran without stopping.
The men were flustered by Li Juan's action, but they immediately chased after her.
Li Juan felt that her limbs are going to rip off due to the continuous running as her heart pounded heavily.
Why this whole scenario does feel like a Dejavu?
That scary nightmare, is it happening in her real life?
The narrow path ended in front of a river, Li Juan's steps halted abruptly. Even though it's winter, the Xi river flowed with all its might.
There is no way to escape.
All of her calculations went wrong. Li Juan felt like she was stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.
The people who followed her also stopped running when they saw that Li Juan got cornered.
Li Juan examined the men who looked at her with sinister eyes. They didn't look like some street thugs.
"Where are you trying to run away?" One of them asked Li Juan as he tried to control his breathing.
"What do you want? Money?" Li Juan asked them, without showing any fear. "I swear, I don't have any."
"You," one of the men replied and walked closer to her, gradually decreasing the distance in between them.
Though Li Juan didn't know how to fight them, she attained a defending position and gripped on to her laptop bag.
Suddenly the sound of a gunshot pierced their eardrums and the masked men immediately took out their guns.
Li Juan who was alarmed by the gunshot looked at the direction from where the sound was heard.
It was him, the man in the black hoodie, their leader.
He looked at Li Juan with his ice-cold eyes and pointed the gun at her.
It was an arrow in her dreams and in real life, it was a gun.
Yes, finally her nightmare is turning into reality.
Is she going to die?
Even before anyone could respond, he pulled the trigger of the gun again.
Li Juan saw the bullet coming towards her. Even before she could react, it pierced her shoulder and she fell backwards, into the cold river.
"What happened?" The masked men ran towards the river. Where is she? Li Juan was nowhere to be found.
"Who was that man?" One of them searched for the man who shot Li Juan.
He is also missing from the scene.
"Where did he go?"
That suspicious-looking man disappeared from their eyesight in a moment.
"Call boss!"
One of the men dialled his phone. The other man immediately snatched the phone and cut the call.
He looked at his partner with confused eyes.
"What are you going to say to the boss? Are you going to say that we failed to catch a puny little girl?"
"What are you suggesting?"
"That girl is dead; we shot her and dumped her into the river."
"But what if?"
"There are no buts, did you see the flow of the river? Have you seen anyone surviving that river in winter?
She will be dead soon. Let's leave before someone see us," Both of them turned and walked away from the riverside.
"But who was that man?" One of the men asked his partner.
"With his hoodie and the all-black outfit, he looked like a grim reaper.
Do you think he is sent from the higher-ups?"
クリエイターの想い 
Monsoon_Mangoes
Monsoon_Mangoes since an angel entered into the scene in the last chapter, how about introducing someone else from higher-ups in this chapter?
you know, even lucifer was once an angel.
I am planning to Q&A session with characters in the Empress of the lost kingdom with readers. Do you have any questions about your favourite characters or me?
Like what is Li Juan's phone's wallpaper? or Tang Wei Sheng's name's meaning?
comment it and I will compile it and post it as a chapter.
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