Inside of a carriage, Peng Mingzhu was drowsily staring at the passing buildings where people were walking from and to. Her heavy lids did not lighten even when she exposed them to the bright sunlight and she wondered whether she would fall asleep in the midst of a "stranger" or not.
Well, the person was not really a stranger since they were introduced to each other the previous day. However, according to Peng Mingzhu, they were strangers and since she considered their relationship to be as such, that was what they would be for a while.
As for who the stranger was... The stranger was Wei Li, the older brother of Wei Kangnuan and the crown prince of the empire.
Being forced awake and dragged into a royal carriage, Peng Mingzhu was incredibly sleepy. However, what she felt most was irritation, annoyance, and anger.
'Which bastard dared to disturb my beauty sleep?!' Peng Mingzhu internally screamed angrily while trying to block the bright light that passed through her closed lids.
Why did she get forced into a royal carriage? Well...let us go back to 15 minutes earlier…
"Xiao Nuan, I believe that this is a feasible plan," Wei Li told his brother who was currently inhabiting a bitter face.
"She has no need to join you," Wei Kangnuan denied the best that he could.
Since early in the morning when he first came here, Wei Li already knew that convincing his brother to allow him to take Peng Mingzhu with him to the coroners would be hard, so he already had a plan in his mind on how to convince this possessive brother of his.
"Xiao Nuan, if she goes with me and manages to show her talent to the coroners, they will certainly praise her," Wei Li started saying. "If they start praising her, her name will become more recognized and the netizens will surely accept her as your wife. Xiao Nuan, I am doing this for you."
In fact, he was not doing this for Wei Kangnuan. Wei Li was trying to convince Wei Kangnuan to allow him to bring Peng Mingzhu along so that he could witness more of what she was capable of and to see if she was worthy of his brother.
Even though Wei Li knew that Wei Kangnuan had incredible foresight and great judgement, he still needed to test the lady. After all, they were brothers and reassuring each other in case of mistakes was important as princes of an empire.
As soon as Wei Kangnuan heard what Wei Li said, he could only be tempted to accept even if he did not want Peng Mingzhu to be close to this older brother of his.
"Fine…" Wei Kanguan reluctantly accepted. "But, you need to make sure she stays safe. And, do not lose sight of her. If you do, she might disappear forever."
"Huh? This is the capital. Where can she go after disappearing?" Wei Li questioned, confused about why Wei Kangnuan was tensed about Peng Mingzhu disappearing.
"She is not your normal lady. If you look down on her, I will not be able to marry her," Wei Kangnuan warned.
'And I will beat you up if that happens,' Wei Kangnuan declared in his mind in the case that Wei Li did manage to lose sight of Peng Mingzhu.
Back in the present, Wei Li could feel the dark aura from Peng Mingzhu so he said with a wry smile, "If you are still sleepy, you can sleep. I will wake you up when we reach the palace."
Peng Mingzhu was just about to go back to sleep, but hearing the voice belonging to someone she was "just acquainted" with, she immediately shot up, wide awake.
"Huh? Why are you here?" Peng Mingzhu asked, confused as she looked around to see the fancy and luxurious inside of the royal carriage.
Hearing her question, Wei Li gave a chuckle, "How did you manage to sleep through all that commotion of us waking you up and putting you in the carriage without knowing who we were?"
"No, I recognized Wei Kangnuan's voice," Peng Mingzhu told him.
However, feeling that something was not right, Peng Mingzhu then shook her head and asked, "Where're you taking me?"
"The palace," Wei Kangnuan answered seeing that she was still not in the right mood.
"Why are you taking me there?" Peng Mingzhu continued to question. "Why is Wei Kangnuan not coming also?"
"I need your help in identifying the corpses of the people who died during the incident," Wei Li told her. "And to answer your second question, Xiao Nuan has something else to do relating to the case."
"He must be in charge of investigating the murderer's past, am I right?" Peng Mingzhu questioned, looking out the window to see the rushing people outside.
"Yes. How did you guess?" Wei Li asked, though there was not much shock on his face.
Peng Mingzhu ignored his question and instead told him something informative, "You should have had me join Wei Kangnuan instead. It's not hard to look at dead bodies, but it's hard to find evidence relating to someone's past."
"I will tell Xiao Nuan about that then," Wei Li responded, respecting what she was telling him.
Even though Wei Li did not get to witness her skills during the incident, he could still predict and infer how skilled she was based on rumors.
Despite how rumors ran amok in the capital, Wei Li understood that the netizens would not boldly speak of something relating to another person dying without having witnessed the scene themselves. Maybe there were just too many cases of physicians killing themselves after a rumor was spread wrong and the country started running out of people who knew how to save lives as netizens now do not honestly speak anymore about people in the line of saving lives.
"Can I ask you something?" Wei Li asked, albeit a little nervous since the question was quite personal and he knew she did not like them considering her reaction during the previous day.
"What is it?" Peng Mingzhu responded positively, leaning her head on her arm at the window.
"Who are you?" Wei Li once again asked.
However, he immediately regretted his decision when he felt the tenseness in the carriage. In the entire world, the only person he feared was his own younger brother. Now though, he could feel that he would soon add another person on the list of people he feared.
"You seem to be really interested in me?" Peng Mingzhu questioned with a raised brow, her tone incredibly dark.
"I am merely worried about Xiao Nuan," Wei Li tried to explain. "He suddenly picks up a stranger and then announces to his people that he will be marrying the stranger. How can he do that when he knows nothing about the stranger?"
Hearing his explanation, Peng Mingzhu nodded her head in agreement as she continued to entertain herself with the view from her opened window, "Yes, I agree with you. However, you should tell that younger brother of yours to stop pursuing me. I don't plan to fall in love here, nor do I plan to settle down here."
Throughout her entire response, the tone was strangely calm, but also dark and shady. The tone was so unique that Wei Li felt a shiver go up his spine.
"I-I have no power to stop Xiao Nuan," Wei Li admitted fearfully while rubbing the back of neck to calm himself down.
"Huh…" Peng Mingzhu hummed strangely, causing Wei Li to feel cold sweat going down his back. 'So, he has more power than the crown prince…'
"You guys are brothers, no? Should you not be equal?" Peng Mingzhu asked, but the dark aura on her body still had not faded yet even though they were no longer discussing the question about her personal life.
"Father gave us the same freedom, same power, and same starting point. However, Xiao Nuan was much smarter than me," Wei Li honestly admitted, a bit of pride could be heard in his voice. "Xiao Nuan was able to expand his reach even more than me. Though of course, he was always very secretive and private, so not a single soul knew how strong he was. All they knew was that he should not be angered. Now, everyone in the palace knows that they should anger me instead of Xiao Nuan. Well, that is if there is anything to anger me with."
"Just a warning…" Peng Mingzhu began to say. "Don't drag me out ever again. I'm not sure what I will do if you suddenly disturb my sleep. Do you understand?"
Hearing the apparent threat in her tone, Wei Li apologized, "I understand. I apologize for suddenly waking you up. I will make sure to discuss it with you early on."
"Good," Peng Mingzhu nodded. "Also, if you ever need my help, don't ask Wei Kangnuan. Ask me."
"Uh...I-'' Wei Li tried to say something about what Wei Kangnuan would do if he did not discuss it with the man.
"If anything ever involves me, I should be the person to give permission. Not an outsider," Peng Mingzhu interrupted his words. "I don't like it when a stranger decides things for me. Do you understand?"
Outwardly, Wei Li was nodding his head in understanding, however, on the inside, he was thinking, 'I'll definitely make sure to tell Xiao Nuan first. I don't want to be murdered by my own brother.'