Chapter 142 - Black Knight (1/2)

Once the evening arrived, the Emperor happily made his way to the Imperial garden where they had set up a little banquet arena for him and his wives. The wives were already there and all bowed when he arrived. The Emperor took his seat and then frowned at the empty spot where Lei Xing was supposed to be.

Chen You glanced up at the Emperor's expression then showed a small smile but quickly replaced it with a worried look as she said, ”Ah jiejie isn't here yet?... I told her about it this morning...” She then glanced at the Emperor and then looked away with knit eyebrows and mumbled in a low, but clearly audible voice, ”What could be more important than the Emperor? For jiejie to do this...”

”She'll be here soon!” Li Ru suddenly chimed in and Chen You covertly glared at her, Li Ru blinked then gulped and looked up at the Emperor and continued, ”She must be running late...She'll definitely be here soon...O-Of course there's nothing more important to her than Your majesty...” Li Ru awkwardly finished. The Emperor glanced at her and she looked down and pushed on, ”...I prepared a song!... If Your Majesty does not mind listening. Noble consort Lei will surely arrive soon...”

An awkward silence followed then the Emperor sighed, ”That's fine then...”

Li Ru let out a sigh of relief and then went towards the stage as she hoped Lei Xing would show up soon. That afternoon, Chen You had sent a servant to inform her to prepare for this special banquet on the Empress dowager's orders. Li Ru felt it was a bit weird as it came out of nowhere but she had could not question the Empress dowager's order and so had no choice but to comply and quickly prepare something.

It was also the same for the other wives as well. Chen You informed them of the banquet that afternoon and had apparently been put in charge of organizing it. They were all too busy putting their performances together to question anything and were happy to get a chance to shine in front of the Emperor.

As Li Ru played she worried for Lei Xing, it seems she was not told of this event and had left the palace. She knew Lei Xing's character well enough to know that she would not treat the Emperor carelessly like this, and especially not in public even though she had his affection. Her personality was too careful for her to ignore this.

Once Li Ru was done, Chen You quickly stepped up and reassured the Emperor that Lei Xing will be arriving soon. She even informed that she had sent the servants to look for her. She then copied Li Ru's tactic and offered to dance while they wait for her ”jiejie” to arrive. As she danced, she glanced at the Emperor, only for her to see him frowning down at lei Xing's seat again.

{...It's already this dark...I believe I told her to always make sure to return by sundown...}

The Emperor was clearly not interested in her dance and Chen You also lost interest in it, but continued with a pinned up smile while fuming on the inside.

***

Lei Xing was still rubbing her arm with a frown as they walked along. Prince Yi looked at her expression and then asked with a friendly smile, ”Is your arm hurting?”

Lei Xing glanced up at him and his smile unnerved her so she looked away and dismissively said, ”I'm fine.” Her arm was hurting and mildly itchy, somewhat numb...It just felt odd, she felt odd. But it was nothing much, just mildly irritating.

Prince Yi opened his mouth but before he could speak, Princess Nalan ran up to them and stopped in front of Lei Xing with a wide smile. Lei Xing looked at her and felt a bit apprehensive. Princess Nalan then brought out her hands from behind her back and Lei Xing immediately frowned in dismay as she looked at the dead bugs on the two sticks in front of her.

Lei Xing gulped and then looked up at Princess Nalan. Princess Nalan's smile brightened, ”Isn't this great? I've been wanting to share these delicacies with you since our visit to the flower field. I can't believe we came across them here. How lucky! Go ahead, try them.”

Lei Xing gaped at the bugs and gulped, as she felt her throat constrict.

{...Is that a scorpion there? O_O)...You do know scorpions have poison, right?... What about all the insides? >_

”I can't-”

Princess Nalan narrowed her eyes at her, ”What do you mean you can't? Are you looking down us Zou people who eat it? Here...” Princess Nalan then bit into the head of the beetle on a stick and Lei Xing held her neck as she watched her eat it, it took all her strength not to make a gagging face. Princess Nalan then extended the scorpion to her and said, ”Hurry up!... Or you can't mean to say that you're better than this Princess, right?” She finished and then pushed the scorpion stick into Lei Xing's hand.

Lei Xing glanced behind Princess Nalan, looking for Prince Rui or Molin. Princess Nalan caught her looking and then ordered, ”Hurry up! You should have finished it already.”

Lei Xing glared down at the scorpion for a bit and then she frowned.

{...No. Never! You can't make me! Screw politics! I say go to war! ≧ｍ≦)...}