Chapter 117 - Hungry Bully (1/2)

While Lei Xing and Emperor were occupied with her illness and recovery, An Hao was busy with his investigation. He had finally found out who the Xia informant was in the Lei manor. They had informants planted over the years in all the major families in the country. It would have been much simpler to ask his father, but then he would need to explain his reason and his father was not likely to believe him. So he chose to take the more complicated route to avoid any friction at home, which did not take long either.

An Hao found out that the informant was Lao Wang, the steward of the Lei manor. He thought this was a lucky break for him as Lao Wang often used to come to visit and play with him as a child. He was also very easy to talk to and a lot more laid back than his father and Eunuch Li.

Therefore, An Hao excitedly made his way to the Lei manor, since the servants knew his name from Lei Yong, he was quickly ushered in. He was informed that Lei Yong was not home, but he said he would wait. The defense minister was at work and his wife apparently went to visit a temple to pray for her ailing daughter.

An Hao, of course, had heard of the Emperor's showcase of ”love” for Lei Xing and was not exactly happy with this development. It seemed like the Emperor truly liked this girl, so he had to get quickly get to the bottom of this so he could inform the Emperor.

He planned to directly go see Lao Wang, but then the servants quickly brought in some snacks and tea. Apparently, Lei Yong had informed them that they must be sure to provide lots of snacks if he came along. An Hao stared at the table and gulped. It was hard for him to resist when it came to sweets, especially ones he had never tried before. He cleared his throat and sat down and decided to just try one so as not to be rude.

{...Ohhh so good...How about that one? Ohhh even better...Lao Wang can wait, food can't...Can't think when hungry ^_^)...}

After he was done eating all the snacks, he drank some tea to wash it down and then went about finding Lao Wang. He gave an excuse to the servants about wanting to hear some funny childhood stories about Lei Yong. They wanted to escort him, but he declined saying he did not need them and since Lei Yong had already ordered them to give him whatever he asked for when he came to visit, the servants obliged and told him where to find the steward and he went off on his own.

He roamed around like a tourist looking around and making stops to admire while comparing their manor to his own, as well as making mental notes to add whatever he liked to his own. He saw the rock formation in the garden and liked it so went to check what kind of rock it was and then took a few steps backward to get a full view of the image he wanted to recreate for himself and ended up stumbling on something and falling to the ground.

”What the he-”

”Get off me!”

An Hao frowned at the sound and then immediately realized he was lying on something soft and not the hard ground. He quickly got up and turned to see a girl glaring at him. He thought she looked somewhat familiar too and quickly figured it out.

{...Ah, this must be the younger one...}

An Hao cleared his throat, ”You should watch where you're going.”

Xiao Ting sat up on the floor, dumbstruck as she rubbed the back of her head and irritatedly said, ”You're the one who should watch where you're going!”

”Well, I was walking backwards, so you should have gotten out of the way.” An Hao defended.

Xiao Ting frowned then sighed, she stretched out a hand and said, ”Help me up.”

An Hao looked at her hand then raised an eyebrow, ”Are your legs broken?”

”Huh?” Xiao Ting said confused.

”If your legs are not broken then why should I help you up?”

Xiao Ting blinked and then knit her brows, sniffed and her tears started falling, ”You came to my house...and harrassed me. You not only pushed me down, but you used me as me a cushion...and my head, back and butt are now aching because of you...and you can't even help me up. What kind of person are you?” Xiao Ting broke into a full cry, using her hands to wipe the tears.

An Hao blinked and panickedly asked, ”Why are you crying?!”

Xiao Ting's woes increased, ”Now you're even shouting at me too!”

An Hao was feeling at a loss, it will be troublesome if Lei Yong found out that he made his sister cry, so he complied with her request and yanked her arm to pull her up, but it seemed he used too much strength since Xiao Ting cried out in pain so An Hao immediately let go and she fell hard on the ground.

Xiao Ting groaned in pain and put a hand on her lower back, crying more in pain wondering where this idiot came from to ruin her day.

An Hao lips twitched and he awkwardly said, ”Sorry...You told me to help you up.”

An Hao then stretched out a hand to her but Xiao Ting slapped it away and crawled to her knees still holding her aching back. An Hao looked to the sky and sighed.