His Rui

"What do you think, Rui?"

Xi Ying asked his wife calmly as he stretched out his hand and pulled her towards him. Li Rui, however, didn't say anything in response. Her eyes were towards the wall where the old physician was hiding.

She knew that Xi Ying was not unknown as he had not said anything important yet. Sure enough, the next moment he said

"How should we kill that old man? Should we hang him or cut his body with the sword?"

The old physician who was hiding behind the wall started to tremble fiercely. Because of his trembling legs, he soon fell down on the ground with a pale face.

There was silence in the garden for the next few moments …at least until the old physician gathered himself and came out from his hiding place. His face was red with rage and he pointing his finger at Xi Ying's face he said

"Young Man…you …I have believed you. You can't back down from your words. How can you think of killing me now?"

Xi Ying had a lazy expression on his face as he said.

"If you ever did again what you did just now…"

He said looking towards the wall the old physician was hiding just now and continued

"I will not think about killing you any longer. I will just kill you."

The old physician felt a shiver running down his spine. At the same time, he understood that Xi Ying already knew that he had been hiding there. And that's why, he didn't talk about the real thing but something else …to scare him.

Basically, he had just made a fool out of himself.

His white mustache started to tremble because of anger but he couldn't vent it anywhere.

In the end, he just stomped his feet on the ground and then left from there.

Xi Ying shook his head while looking at his leaving back.

He could really believe that this old man have been an Imperial Physician at some time in the past. He was just so childish.

Finally being left alone, Xi Ying looked at Li Rui and said

"This Empress Dowager…she seems to very suspicious. I am not understanding if she is a threat or not."

Li Rui nodded her head calmly. After a few moments of silence, she said

"Ying, Is it not weird that she knows about your plans but she still has not talked with His Majesty about this yet?"

Both of them looked at each other and then suddenly said together

"Or maybe he already knows everything."

.

.

.

The doubt that Li Rui and Xi Ying had inside their hearts surely settled a panic inside their hearts. If Zhao Wang Lei knows everything and he was still very silent, it could only mean that he had a big plan …a plan with which he could perhaps trap them.

"Take this letter to the Second Prince."

Inside the study room, Xi Ying gave another letter to his shadow guard that was to reach Zhao Zhang Wei. If it was really what they were thinking then they needed to act as fast as they could.

Of course, act as fast as they could didn't mean killing the Emperor but it meant to make themselves safe and free of any accusations if put on them.

An Emperor could not be killed just like this.

"An Si"

Xi Ying stopped his shadow guard suddenly who was about to leave the study room.

"Be Careful. This Lord doubts that someone is always following you when you are inside the Imperial Palace."

An Si frowned in confusion but nonetheless nodded his head.

He always had been very careful but since his master was saying this and then he should indeed be careful.

"Yes, My Lord."

After a bow, An Si left the study room finally.

.

.

.

Almost a quarter of shichen later, An Si was standing in front of Zhao Zhang Wei in his study room.

Zhao Zhang Wei sighed heavily,

He should have actually told Xi Ying that he should not send his shadow guards like this. He doubted that Empress Dowager got to know about their plans because of their constant entries only.

"Did you feel someone's presence around you when you entered the Imperial Palace?"

Zhao Zhang Wei asked Xi Ying's shadow guard seriously. The shadow guard however shook his head.

"No, Your Highness"

Again he had a frown on his forehead that presented just how confused he was.

On the other hand, Zhao Zhang Wei just shook his head again with a sigh. If Xi Ying's capable shadow guards could not feel the Empress Dowager's people's presence then he wondered how more powerful they were.

"Pass the letter to Benwang."

He said to An Si who passed the letter to Zhao Zhang Wei silently. Zhao Zhang Wei opened the letter and read each and every word with a frown on his forehead.

After he finished reading the letter, he leaned against the chair he was sitting on.

No, it was not possible.

Zhao Wang Lei knew nothing. He was sure of this fact after seeing how panicked Zhao Wang Lei looked in the afternoon when he had gone to the Imperial Study room to meet him.

One thing that he could conclude from this meeting was that Zhao Wang Lei actually feared Empress Dowager.

Otherwise, why had he looked so panicked when he got to know that Empress Dowager and Xi Ying met each other.

"Wait here."

Zhao Zhang Wei said to the shadow guard and then picked up his brush and a rice paper to describe the meeting from afternoon to Xi Ying.

He was sure that Xi Ying must have his own reasons to think this but Xi Ying was unaware of what happened in the afternoon.

It was a very confusing matter…especially because Empress Dowager Xin Jia was the mother of Zhao Wang Lei.

Why was Zhao Wang Lei so scared of her?

It was not that there had not been any Empress Dowager in the history who wanted to have power more than the Emperor and hence was despised by the Emperor himself regardless of whether she was his biological mother.

However, Empress dowager Xin Jia didn't seem to be that kind of person too.

If she really wanted power then why would she leave everything in Zhao Wnag Lei's hands and go to live in isolation? She would be a fool to do that if she really wanted to achieve power by doing this.

So what actually Empress Dowager wanted from Zhao Wang Lei and why he was so scared of her?