"Your Majesty, what are you looking for? I can help you hurry-" Weiheng offered in a whisper. Although he still didn't know what his master wanted to do, Weiheng would not stand still. He was going to do something for Li Xi, even though he had to keep his mouth shut because Chunyin had only told Weiheng to shut up.
Chunyin interrupted Weiheng's words, "No need. You can wait outside if it's boring in here" Chunyin explained with a little sarcasm. Honestly Chunyin couldn't stand someone like Weiheng who talked a lot.
"Then, I'll be out just in case" Weiheng said. He can only do what he can without disturbing his master. Even so, Weiheng was still quite worried because his master had never done anything so serious, even searching with his own hands and eyes.
Weiheng sighed, "I can't. Your Majesty must not fall in love with that servant girl any more," thought Weiheng, who really thought that the change in his master's attitude was because his master was in love.
After Weiheng left, Chunyin finally breathed a sigh of relief and was able to freely open any archives that he didn't want to show at all to people from the Li empire even though his himself had become the most important part of the Li empire itself. For a while, Chunyin hesitated but after he thought more carefully. The case of the water ghost in the jade lake was indeed related to Yue Lan's spring. At first Chunyin thought that the victims in the jade lake were due to the poison that flowed from the Li empire who was so proficient at it that it would take a long time to find evidence, so in the past he closed the case on a whim and purposely just to provoke whether the empire was right. Li is carrying out a bad plan.
"But, there's no way this person sacrificed his own citizens" Chunyin muttered as he pointed at Li Xi when she said 'this person'. although he hates Li people, especially Li Xi, but Chunyin can't deny that Li Xi actually has quite similar traits to him. Both have hearts even though he and Li Xi show it in different ways, but Chunyin knows that Li Xi also loves his people. He would not act silly just to start a dispute with the Feng empire so as to deprive the two imperial subjects of peace. Both hate each other but still have boundaries.
"Is it really a water ghost?" mumbled Chunyin. He thought and remembered the time he fell into the jade lake.
"Impossible. I didn't feel another creatures presence while drowning in the jade lake" Chunyin thought, "there must be something else ..." Chunyin thought as he recalled how she couldn't use his powers in the jade lake.
Chunyin snorted in annoyance, "I have to investigate the jade lake and Yue Lan spring at the same time at this rate" Chunyin muttered. He realized he had to establish a good relationship with Emperor Feng in order to investigate the jade lake secretly freely. And this was the first time Chunyin regretted that the security system's decision was too strict that she had to bother with it now.
"The jade lake shouldn't need to have special supervision either" complained Chunyin who started to think that she was very stiff. If it was not guarded, the current him would be able to easily disguise himself and go investigate the jade lake freely.
***
An Jia Li immediately got up from her bed. His clothes and mattress were already wet, but she ignored it because when she realized that her hairpin was taken, An Jia Li couldn't stop thinking about it. Why did concubine Zhi Yang take her hairpin?, when she must have had many hairpins that were better than hers which were mostly made of pure jade. When thinking about it, An Jia Li came to the conclusion that concubine Zhi Yang might have misunderstood and thought that the hairpin was a gift from Emperor Feng because in the novel, An Jia Li had read the passage where Emperor Feng gave so much of his valuable possessions to this Xiang Lian character. Secretly so it's no wonder that Zhi Yang's concubine thinks the same way.
Sadness dominated An Jia Li over her fear of trauma. She still couldn't forget the darkness and cold water that had touched him earlier, but he couldn't forget the peony hairpin Emperor Li Xi had given him.
While contemplating that, the wind blew past the doors and windows that were still open. The wind blew through the skin so that An Jia Li realized that she had not changed her wet clothes. While remembering that, An Jia Li automatically also recalled about the dark cell where concubine Zhi Yang had taken her earlier. An Jia Li's head suddenly hurt. Automatically An Jia Li's memories of the time she had an accident came back to life.
Before she completely lost consciousness, at that time An Jia Li was absolutely certain that her saw something very beautiful. She thought that her might already be in the sky garden, but when she opened her eyes, she was reborn as a character Xiang Lian.
"That time... I saw a beautiful white flower garden" muttered An Jia Li. A feeling of nostalgia suddenly enveloped An Jia Li, but only for a moment because after that An Jia Li was startled by a loud noise from the back yard of the maid dormitory pavilion which was very close to her room. At first An Jia Li thought it was a black cat, but there was no way there was a cat larger than the height of the ornamental plants growing there, so An Jia Li took an outdoor broom made of bamboo which is usually used to clean fallen dry leaves.
Even though he was afraid, An Jia Li's curiosity overcame her fear. She walked slowly towards the yard.
"Wh-who's there?!"
Silence. There was no answer at all so An Jia Li was made even more wary. She wondered if a thief had entered?, but it didn't make much sense for the thieves to enter the Feng Empire which had a strict security system. Even if some managed to get in, none of them managed to get out to bring the loot because they would end up in a holding cell.
Prang!.
An Jia Li dropped the bamboo broom in her hand as both of her hands reflexively gripped the other hand which suddenly covered her mouth so as not to scream. No one thought that it was Chunyin who got a misstep so that he was almost caught by the patrolling soldiers, luckily he was able to climb over the wall and fell right in the courtyard of the maid dormitory pavilion. Chunyin herself didn't realize that the mouth she was keeping silent was An Jia Li's.
"You better shut up or I'll kill you" Chunyin whispered threatening An Jia Li even though she wasn't serious about it. At most he would only knock An Jia Li unconscious if An Jia Li shouted.
But beyond expectation. Instead of shouting, An Jia Li immediately grabbed her bamboo broom when Chunyin was no longer holding her mouth shut, and quickly hit Chunyin's head, neck, legs, and body.
Chunyin who was not ready for the sudden attack had to faint because An Jia Li hit the fatal parts of Chunyin's body hard enough.
"Don't underestimate the fans of martial arts novels, even though I can't defend myself but I know the vital points!" muttered An Jia Li quite proudly because finally there is knowledge from the novel that she read useful for her life.
An Jia Li poked Chunyin's body with the tip of a broom. Convinced that the man in full black who was lying on the floor was completely unconscious, An Jia Li only dared to turn Chunyin over and take off the mask he was wearing.
What a surprise when An Jia Li saw a familiar face.
"Y-Your Majesty Li?!" shouted An Jia Li. She then covered her mouth and looked around to make sure no one was awakened by the sound of her screams. After that, An Jia Li tried to carry Chunyin into her room and closed the doors and windows tightly.
An Jia Li stared in confusion. She didn't know how Emperor Li came to be here, moreover her hit him so hard that the emperor fainted and had a wound on her temple. Blood was running down Chunyin's temples and that was what made An Jia Li so panicked right now.
An Jia Li paced around her room, and luckily each room had a medical box provided so An Jia Li immediately took the wooden box. Inside the wooden box were simple and traditional medical equipment as well as several bottles containing powdered, liquid and pill medicines.
"What should I use?!" muttered An Jia Li in confusion as she was not used to it.
"Forget it, I have to clean the blood and stop the bleeding first" An Jia Li said as she closed the box again. She then took a basin of water and a small towel to clean the blood. After cleaning the blood, An Jia Li checked the wound on Chunyin's temple which luckily was just a scratch-like wound so that An Jia Li's panic slowly subsided.
It didn't take long for Chunyin to wake up from her stupor. He remembered what had happened to him before he passed out. Because of Weiheng he was forced to return to the kingdom to retrieve something, so there was no way he would be helped by Weiheng at this time.
Chunyin immediately realized that he was in the maid's dorm room, and naturally his mind was on the maid who had beaten her. However, it took Chunyin a long time to realize that he had fallen asleep on An Jia Li's lap.
"Xiang-er?!"
Chunyin woke up, but fortunately An Jia Li was still asleep, so Chunyin had time to see his Xiang-er which he missed. Even though their meeting was not good, Chunyin was happy and subconsciously smiled. He wanted to hug the figure of the woman in front of him but it was impossible for him to do that.
Chunyin stepped closer and realized that his face covering had been removed so now he understood the situation.
"Xiang-er has seen my face… what excuse should I make?" thought Chunyin. While thinking that, Chunyin's mind was distracted when he saw something strange about his Xiang-er. He then took a closer look and sure enough, An Jia Li's clothes and skin were as cold as ice, her face was even a little pale.
"What happened to Xiang-er?!" mumbled Chunyin. His eyes showed concern, while his face showed anger. Chunyin could clearly tell that hiz Xiang-er was wearing wet clothes until the clothes dries up so that his Xiang-er's skin becomes cold and pale.
"Who dared to make him like this?!" Chunyin's mind was getting more and more volatile when he found bruises and other scratches from the chain marks on Xiang Lian's wrists and legs.
Chunyin clenched his fists. He became unsure of letting Xiang Lian stay in the Feng empire without himself noticing it.
"I have to get Xiang-er out of here" muttered Chunyin who was fighting back with his head and feelings because after all her current Li emperor self couldn't move carelessly for Xiang Lian.