章 13: Not easy to bully

There was an awkward silence followed by Zhai Heng's admonishing voice, " What in the world are you talking about? Do you even know what you are saying? Saying such things can get you in a lot of trouble, don't you know that?"

" I am not lying though," said Yu Lingyun with a slightly hurt expression, his lips pouting as he looked at his childhood friends. " When I went to announce the decree to the Empress, she said some things that made me lose my temper and I raised my sword against her. But she wasn't intimidated by it instead, she grabbed my wrist and then …" he paused with a confused expression on his face before continuing, " I don't know what she did but her move was swift, brutal and very painful …" he whispered, afraid that someone would hear him saying such things.

" Anyway, she did some …" with very violent moments of his hands to explain the move that Liu Hui Ying used on him, Yu Lingyun said, " Something really weird and bang before I knew it …my sword dropped on the ground and I was lying on the floor without a weapon in my hand, I thought that I will die then and there but then suddenly very ugly, red rashes started to pop all over the Empress's skin."

With his arm placed on the tabletop, Yu Lingyun leaned forward and looked at Zhai Heng and Zhai Tian Yu. " After what I witnessed I am sure that the Empress really hates man." He drawled the word 'hate' nice and long. " And what's more when I was facing her, she didn't look like the naive, spoiled and completely bumbling young miss as everyone make her out to be, she looked me in the eye like an equal. Not as a frail woman who needs to rely on a man but as an equal, do you get what I am saying? From what I saw I can tell you one thing for sure, she doesn't need a man."

This information of course didn't bring any joy to either Zhai Heng or Zhai Tianyu instead the two of them looked at each other with an alarmed expression on their faces.

" If what Lingyun said is true then I am afraid, all our plans will fall through…Yu'er, what are we going to do now?" asked Zhai Heng, his eyes popping wildly as he looked at his younger brother. The Empress …if she really hates man then what will happen to all the plans that they have made? For the sake of those plans to work it was very important for the Empress to be under the palms of their hands.

Zhai Tianyu said nothing but the brush in his hands snapped in half because of the strength that he was putting at it. " She played a really, really smart game, just like my mother."

The Liu family belonged to a very old clan and had been in power since the era of his great-great-grandfather, the power that the Liu family have accumulated was no joke. This was the reason that even though he inherited the throne and became the Emperor, he was still fearful of the Liu family —— every move that he made, he had to be cautious, worrying about being caught by the Liu family, if he was to make the slightest bit of a mistake then he will become nothing but a puppet in the hands of those ministers of the Liu family who have been eyeing him like a bunch of vultures.

Making a mistake wasn't an option and angering the Liu family was even more impossible for him to do.

For the sake of silencing their clamouring, he had to make his childhood sweetheart Ji Yue a royal concubine while leaving the seat of Empress to someone from the Liu family. Only he knew how badly his heart bled that day when he had to bring Ji Yue into the palace like a small, insignificant Concubine. She was his beloved and deserved nothing less than being brought into the palace dressed in bright red veils accompanied by gongs and a big hoo-hah..yet because he was being suppressed by the Liu family he had to bring Ji Yue silently like a dirty little secret.

As for the daughter of the Liu family, she came inside the palace with such a big and high fanfare that she might as well declare herself the ruler of the world.

He didn't want Ji Yue to be bullied that was why he chose a woman who was naive and easy to take care of from the Liu family but never did he think he would be crossed like this!

" Zhen, really made a big mistake choosing that woman didn't he?" Zhai Tianyu threw the broken brush in the basket where all the trash from his study was thrown and then turned to look at his brother. " To think we made such a big mistake, just like our father … what will happen to us now? Will we be killed——"

" Don't!" Zhai Heng immediately reached his hand out and stopped Zhai Tianyu from finishing the words that he was going to say before he said, " I am sorry for stepping out of my line, your majesty. But you don't need to fear, no matter how smart that woman is, she can't take care of all of us at the same time can she? We also have the great Empress dowager with us… there is no way she will have the chance to retaliate against you."

Zhai Tianyu smiled softly but there was a hint of melancholy to it as he turned to look at the moon shining in the sky. " You are right, even if she has the Liu family behind her, it wouldn't change the fact that she was destined to die, the second she stepped inside this palace. No matter how strong she is, in the end, she is all alone, isn't she? Zhen will love to see how long she will be able to defend herself against us."

———————-

" Don't worry your majesty, I am always with you..no matter what happens with little Ai here, you will never be alone," Qui Ai kept on chattering as she made Liu Hui Ying's bed, maybe it was because she was young but she kept yammering on and on until Liu Hui Ying started to feel her ears twitching, maybe if she heard to Qui Ai's chatter a few more minutes, her ears will really fall on the ground. " So what if the Emperor didn't come to see you? I am sure as soon as left prime minister Liu finds out what he has done he will scold the Emperor until he is willing to spend the night with you, your majesty."

There was no need for anyone for the left prime minister to do anything of the sort like that, she was very happy without the Emperor trying to get close to her.

With Qui Ai being such a loudmouth, Liu Hui Ying didn't even have to ask anything about the owner of the body. Qui Ai who firmly believed that her mistress was the best in both worlds told her everything that she wanted to know after finding out that Liu Hui Ying lost all her memories.

Turns out the owner wasn't a daughter from an easy-to-bully family, she hailed from the biggest clan that has been ruling over this country for more than a hundred years, their history was deep and it wasn't easy to knock them down either. The Left prime minister about whom Qui Ai was talking was the uncle of the owner of this body that Liu Hui Ying was occupying, from what she heard it was clear that even though there was a right prime minister, the court was sort of ruled by this uncle of the owner all alone.

After listening to what Qui Ai had to about the Liu family, Liu Hui Ying wasn't surprised that the Emperor tried to take the Empress down before she could gain a firm foothold in the inner courtyard of his palace. He was already being rolled around like a ball by the left prime minister, surely he wouldn't want to be ruled by another one from the Liu family in his inner courtyard will he?

" Your majesty——"

" Little Ai, I think it's late, you can go and take a break now," Liu Hui Ying was more than just tired after listening to Qui Ai's chatter. She was supposed to be head of the detective department, she liked solving cases with her ghost employees and taking care of thugs by beating them every now and then… when has she ever sat down and gossiped to anyone like this? It was one of the most boring things that Liu Hui Ying has ever faced in her life.

But because she didn't want the little girl to start crying again, she smiled and looked at her. "It's been a tough day, hasn't it? You ran around so much for the entire night, you deserve to lie down on a comfortable bed and sleep in peace."

" What about you, your majesty?" asked Qui Ai with her head tilted to one side.

" About me? Haha, I think I will stay awake a little more." How can she sleep? Her promotion was gone! Her body was gone and now she was stuck in this annoying place! It was good enough that Liu Hui Ying didn't go crazy, what sleep!

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