Hu Nayin soon knelt down. "Your Highness!... This... this... this is too much for me!... I'm not worthy of it!"
Zhu Su immediately pulled Hu Nayin to get up. "Nayin, how can you behave like this?! Don't kneel down, stand up! Aren't you going to become Wang Fei? How can you still lower yourself like this?!"
"B... but... You are a prince, the royal... and I am only a village girl, I am also a Miao..."
Zhu Su smiled assuredly. "I never assume you to be different with me, Nayin. So do the other Team of Wellbeing's members. There are no longer any terms of Han, or Bai, or Miao or Li or Zhuang or anything else. The main point is... errr... I really hope that you are willing to be my life companion... who will walk together with me in my life... and... and I'm sure... you are the best for that, Nayin."
Zhu Su stared deeply at Hu Nayin, his eyes were full of seriousness. Still bowing her head, Hu Nayin said softly, "I... then... I am very grateful for the kindness of Your Highness... I am willing to become your life companion, Your Highness."
Therefore, on this sunny day, wearing luxurious robes and having their heads embellished with sparkling crowns, Zhu Su and Hu Nayin walked together in the inauguration ceremony, as Zhou Wang and Zhou Wang Fei.
Arriving at the gate of Kaifeng Palace, Zhu Su and Hu Nayin now walked slowly through the red carpet embroidered prettily in gold and bright red that lay between the palace gates and the palace court. Zhu Youdun who was inaugurated as Zhou Shi Zi followed behind in the second row, and then followed by Zhu Su's other family members. Behind them were the servants who were ready to do their duties. High officials lined up left and right along the red carpet, the servants and the palace guards were standing behind them. All of them bowed respectfully when Zhu Su, Hu Nayin and their cortege passed them.
And when they finally had climbed up to the entrance of the palace, where the seats of the throne had been provided for both of them, they turned around, viewing at everyone who was now kowtowing and hailing, "Long live Your Highness Zhou Wang! Long Live Your Highness Zhou Wang Fei! Long live Your Highness Zhou Shi Zi! May you all blessed with longevity and glory, forever and ever!"
Zhu Su smiled happily. He moved his hand closer to Hu Nayin's, and again, he held her hand. And Hu Nayin, with tears in her eyes, grasped Zhu Su's hand tightly. Thus, she also smiled happily.
Staring at the clear, bright sky which became a beautiful background scenery for today's magnificent inauguration ceremony.
***
In the Great Hall of Kaifeng Palace. Before Zhu Su was officially inaugurated as Zhou Wang.
Zhu Youxun, Xie Wang, and Rumilie were in serious discussion. It was clear that they were in great panic.
"Xie Wang, what's wrong?! Your plan always doesn't work! First, it failed because of Fu Wang's appearance at Yingtian Palace, then now Fourth Uncle has won Jingnan Campaign and he creates Fu Wang as Zhou Wang again! If Fu Wang catches me... my Heaven, I can't imagine it!" Zhu Youxun was hysterical, demanded Xie Wang's responsibility.
Rumilie pursed his lips. "We must escape from here first... and after that, we can arrange a new strategy..."
"Not that easy, Runan Jun Wang!"
Three of them soon turned behind. Chen Xinyi and other Jinyiwei squads had besieged them, and now were pointing the swords at them.
Zhu Youxun mumbled hoarsely. "You are... the Jinyiwei?!?..."
Chen Xinyi pointed his sword straight at Xie Wang. "Xie Wang! I've known everything about you since a long time ago, and today is the right time for me to catch you! Never think to escape because your lucky in the past won't happen twice!"
Xie Wang responded to Chen Xinyi's threat with a sinister smile. "You know that I can escape successfully in the past, so this time it will be still unchanged."
After that, he unsheathed his sword, pointed it directly at Chen Xinyi.
The fighting soon began.
Now everybody at the Great Hall was involving in a fierce duel.
"The Former Yuan Prince! Surrender! You are no match for us!" Chen Xinyi swung his sword into a sharp strike, yet Xie Wang was able to avoid it.
"You know it very well that I am a Yuan nobleman. Have you ever found a coward Yuan clan who may give up easily?!" Xie Wang raised his sword high, was about to beat Chen Xinyi as he thought the enemy had been in a tight corner.
Chen Xinyi widened his eyes. A second later, the corners of his lips formed a cynical smile. "Gotcha!"
The situation changed by the minute. Xie Wang had his position changed, he was in corner right now. His wrist was locked by Chen Xinyi.
"Never underestimate Jinyiwei, former Yuan Prince! If you all brag that you practice martial arts in the desert, then we have trained ourselves in the peaks of the freezing snowy mountains!" Chen Xinyi tied Xie Wang's hands tightly so that Xie Wang found no way to escape. He then kept all of his attention to guard the former Yuan Prince. He just moved his eyes slightly when his men came dragging the tied Zhu Youxun.
"Where is their another comrade?" Chen Xinyi asked his other subordinates.
They shook their heads listlessly. "We are really sorry... he manages to escape..."
Chen Xinyi exploded with fury. "How come?! We can catch the leader, how can you let the subordinate escape?"
"Well... we suddenly smelled a strange, intoxicating scent... our minds suddenly became unfocused... and he disappeared..."
"Fool! He surely uses Western Opium! You have learned the technique of escaping from its trap, haven't you? But why did you still get trapped anyway?!..." Chen Xinyi stomped his feet. "Well then! He must still not far away! You must find him! Catch whoever you meet, even though she is a woman! Who knows, it's his masquerade!"
The Jinyiwei bowed respectfully. They arrested anyone they suspected as Rumilie, or even the disguise of Rumilie, in this case, those captured victims were the servants. Dozens of people were kneeling down, bowing their heads agitatedly.
Chen Xinyi shouted aloud, "We are pursuing a criminal, and we suspect that he is disguising himself as one of you. Therefore we will examine you one by one. Be cooperative, otherwise, we will decide the disobliging person as the disguise!"
Forced to budge for fear of being immediately labeled as the criminal, the servants kept kneeling in silence while the Jinyiwei observed them as detailed as possible.
"May we report, Deputy Commander Chen. We find nothing suspicious. Or... is this inspection method still not enough? Perhaps we need to do the way we are used to making the suspects confess, with physical torture?..."
All servants immediately screamed in horror. They had heard of Jinyiwei's cruelty in creating such terrible torture to the extent that their victims would finally plead guilty although they were innocent, just to get released from the brutal torture.
Chen Xinyi shook his head. "Actually I have disagreed with that method since long time ago. The suspect usually makes a confession because he can't stand the torture, and not because he is really guilty. Never mind, no need to do that. Rumilie isn't here. Heaven knows his whereabouts..." Chen Xinyi clenched his hands in rage. "I'll let him escape for a while. But later... I will definitely catch him!"
Chen Xinyi made a very wise decision. He freed all the servants who were indeed innocent. Because when Jinyiwei were still tracing Rumilie, he had been out of the palace. He was running fast - running away was indeed the skill he was very proud of since he had mastered all the techniques in escaping perfectly. It did not take much time for him to be sitting on a big rock at the border path between Kaifeng and other cities, breathing hard since running made him out of breath.
My Honor Prince, please forgive me, I can't take you with me... but I will try my best to save you. Please wait for me, Prince!