23 Come, come! The Wei Familys Face 7 (1/2)
Soft like fluffy balls of cotton, and rather springy to the touch. Leaning her head against the warm surface, An Fei couldn't help but appreciate the softness, and felt the urge to rub her face against the comfortable 'pillow'.
”F…Fourth Young Miss…”
Feeling the girl nestled near her bosom move her head, Xiao Wen immediately placed the scroll in her hand onto the drawing table. Fearing that the young girl was about to fall off of the chair, the maidservant immediately extended her arms to support An Fei's body.
However, her nimble hands suddenly froze, an agape expression on the maidservant's attractive countenance as she could acutely feel a warm sensation rubbing on her chest.
”Uh…”
”Sister Wen, what's wrong?” Noticing Xiao Wen's strange action, a nearby maidservant directed an inquiring gaze. ”Did something happen to the Fourth Young Miss?”
”Nothing, nothing.” Xiao Wen hastily replied. Looking down to see that An Fei had drifted off into sleep once more, the maidservant twitched her eyebrow before relaxing her arms. She quickly waved her right hand towards the inquisitive maidservant, shooing the curious gazes away.
”Nothing should be wrong.” She reassured. ”I think the Fourth Young Miss just moved about whilst sleeping.”
”Oh, then that's really nothing!” came the reply without much delay. ”Since it's just that, then don't be so startled! You know how Master is nowadays, he's jumping around and shaking in his boots every time he hears something unsettling regarding the Fourth Young Miss.”
Shaking her head and picking up the scroll to continue reading, Xiao Wen dismissed the fellow maidservant's joke. However, her thoughts could not help but stray back to the odd sensation near her bosom, causing her attractive countenance to furrow into a deep frown.
Did she just get molested by the Fourth Young Miss?
-
”Lord Minister, you're back!” A servant greeted Wei Xuan energetically, quickly taking the minister's coat before rushing off into the courtyard of the manor's primary residence. Wei Xuan fluttered his hands in response, signaling for the servants to retreat from the gateway.
”You seem rather popular and admired by you servants!” A playful and amused voice interjected from the side. ”Much more amiable than mine. They're so stiff and solemn, almost as if they're going to die tomorrow. How boring!”
Turning to his right, the minister found the emperor of Great Yong casually leaning against the wall of the Wei Manor. His left hand fluttered a paper fan emboldened with Confucian scripts, and his right secured a wooden stick spearing a line of candied fruits.
”Your Imperial Majesty,” Wei Xuan sighed, his head drooping to rest level with his shoulders. ”Can't you spare this minister? Once the empress knows, this one's head will most likely be on the chopping block!”
”Hmph! This emperor has yet to forgive the act of slandering this emperor!” the emperor smirked. ”Daring to claim that this emperor had frequented brothels and admiring the loose flowers by the riverbed, how atrocious! This emperor assumes that before little tiger comes to claw your head off, you would have already forfeited it to this emperor!”
”Alright, alright! I concede, you win as usual.” Wei Xuan shook his head and wiped his sleeve, before turning to face the doors. Closing the double doors of the gate shut and inserting a steel bar to lock the mechanism in place, the minister continued to forlornly sigh.
”Your Imperial Majesty, Great Yong has a regulatory law that protects civilians from punishment if they were speaking the truth!” he ruefully spoke. ”Your Imperial Majesty can't simply chop off this minister's head because of a single incident with a lowly brothel, right?”
The emperor suddenly narrowed his eyes, his vision tracking Wei Xuan's eyebrows with the utmost scrutiny. He had a rather unsettling promotion that silencing the minister before him as soon as possible would be the best idea he had ever construed in his five hundred years of life.
”After all,” Wei Xuan momentarily paused, his index finger stroking his chin. As if not noticing the increasingly frosty death glare directed towards him, the minister decided to jump into the boiling pot without much thought. ”There's still the Flowing Springs Hall and Golden Gate of Ming! And…if this minister recalls correctly, the Golden-Tailed Scholar's Association and the Fragrant Feather Pavilion were the most tender of Your Imperial-”