Chapter 45 - Illumination (1/2)

Lei Xing on the side was enjoying watching Lei Yong's misery and watching the scene with a smile, restraining the urge to laugh.

...Hahaha, it's nice to see someone else miserable for a change...I'm a horrible person -_-)'...yeah, I don't care hahaha...

Then the emperor's eyes darted in her direction and her smile immediately fell and her eyes reflexively darted in another direction.

The emperor narrowed his eyes, in the next moment the servants came forward and presented them with their lanterns, holding fire sticks ready for them to set off the lantern release. They had already distributed the lanterns to the guests as well. As per custom, the Imperial family releases the first set of lanterns starting with the emperor and the empress, followed by the others...and those outside the city release theirs after seeing the lanterns from the palace.

The emperor looked at the lantern being presented to him and then glanced up at the sky and then said, ”Ah it's time, come along.” and started walking off towards the entrance. They were all perplexed but followed along behind him, with the noble consorts ahead and then the concubines and the ministers and their families following behind, with the servants trailing along.

The emperor was walking briskly and of course, they were all trying to keep up with him. After about fifteen minutes of this, Lei Xing's tired irritated mood resurfaced, she was exhausted and started to slow down and Li Ru beside her also slowed down as well. Lei Xing at this point was glaring ahead at the speed walking emperor, along with Chen You and Zhao Lan behind him almost at a jog.

...Where the hell is this a***ole going now? Also why is he walking so fast? Does he think this is a military drill or something...Pity the old people and the tired here!...Also if we were going for a workout, a heads up on wardrobe would have been nice, do you know how heavy all this crap is -_-?)...

Since Lei Xing and Li Ru slowed down, the others behind them naturally were forced to slow down as well. There were some sighs of relief that could be heard from behind them. Li Ru looked ahead a little worried and said to Lei Xing, ”Don't you think we should speed up a little?”

Lei Xing offhandedly said, ”You can go ahead if you like.”

”Yes, you can go on ahead.” Tung Mei chimed in. Lei Xing and Li Ru startled, turned to see her walking beside Lei Xing, they didn't notice her come up at all. Tung Mei was not bothered by their startled expressions and continued to speak casually, ”Xing jie, so how is life here? I know it's not ideal...”

Lei Xing raised an eyebrow, ”Ideal?”

Tung Mei knit her eyebrows, ”Well, I didn't think you would have wanted any of this...” She paused and then raised her eyebrows, ”Or did you?”

Lei Xing frowned.

...Well, I don't...but then I can't exactly say that here...also the ”me” that you knew very much wanted to be here so -_-)'...

”Ah, I should add that I wasn't in support of this at all. It's just you know...” She smiled shyly and then glanced behind them. Lei Xing turned to follow her line of sight to Lei Yong, who was looking off to the side with a deep frown. Lei Xing wanted to laugh but held it in, she also noticed that Tung Mei was getting quite a lot of questionable stares. Amongst those stares was Xiao Ting who was seemed to be glaring at her, she had also wanted to walk forward to join her sister but her parents had told her it was against decorum and so stopped her.

...But then why does she get to do everything she wants -_-?)...

Lei Xing looked at Tung Mei and asked, ”Is it okay for you to be up here?”

Tung Mei raised her brows in confusion and then Lei Xing motioned behind them, Tung Mei looked behind and then dismissively said, ”Oh, they don't matter.”

”I assumed you were trying to play the role of a perfect daughter-in-law, Xiao Ting said you visited a lot over the last two weeks, couldn't this cause a problem?”

Tung Mei smiled, ”It's okay, they already love me.”

”I don't think Xiao Ting feels that way.” Lei Xing said snorting.

”She'll get over it soon. I admit it's my fault, but seeing her getting riled up so easily is fun to watch, I never got to have fun before and I'm sure we can get along.” Tung Mei finished with a sinister grin.

Lei Xing snorted.

...Xiao Ting is in for some tough days ahead...

They finally rounded the corner, to see the emperor, Chen You and Zhao Lan just standing there, it seems they had realized they had lost the crowd and stopped in their tracks to wait. Zhao Lan frowned at Lei Xing and Li Ru, ”How dare you make the emperor wait for you?”

Li Ru was fl.u.s.tered, while Lei Xing inwardly rolled her eyes.

...If he walked like a normal human being, he wouldn't have to wait -_-)'...

Lei Xing bowed her head to ”apologize”, ”It was not our intention, it's just that not everyone is built for such...exertion.”

Tung Mei snorted and then cleared her throat when Zhao Lan glared in her direction. Zhao Lan turned back to Lei Xing, ”You ob-”

”That's enough.” The emperor calmly said and then proceeded to continue to walking, Zhao Lan scoffed at Lei Xing and then turned to follow. This time the pacing was much more normal and so they all continued to walk along in silence.