Xiu Zhicheng?

Xiu Zhicheng!

The gaze Si Ning felt was never wrong, it was that same gaze from the court, the one that stared at him throughout the court meeting and Si Ning narrowed his eyes at the man in the shadows that finally stepped forward into the light.

The moment Si Ning laid his eyes on Xiu Zhicheng, something burst in his chest and it wasn't fear but relief and happiness, at that moment tears kept trailing down his eyes and he wanted to run over to hug him but when he felt that Jiang Ye was trying to slip his hand out of his hold that was when he remembered their situation that he wasn't supposed to be seen by Xiu Zhicheng, that was what Jiang Ye was trying to protect him from.

It was all over, Xiu Zhicheng had seen him and the Emperor wasn't stupid for him not to connect the dot because they were close to the XiXi tavern and even though if the Emperor never assume that he went to the tavern to see Qiu Bai then he might have gone there just to have some fun and had to disguise as a woman to avoid being caught and no matter from the angle Si Ning was trying to look at his situation everything about him was pointing to him as guilty, he couldn't even say he came over to investigate some matters when he had Jiang Ye and Xiao Pei to carry that out for him so he ended up just standing there with no excuse to give.

The whole situation was already pointing that he should forget his dream of being the Empress, it was all over and at that moment Si Ning wasn't sad. To lose people close to him just to step up his rank was something he doesn't want and right there he accepted that he should probably forget about being the Empress because he had no excuse to give about his fishy appearance. Xiu Zhicheng had seen Jiang Ye attacking Lin Fan which means they had something to hide.

Si Ning tightens his hold on Jiang Ye and he refused to release his hand, all he could think of was that he had to protect Jiang Ye at all cost so he stood to his ground. He wasn't able to see Xiu Zhicheng expression not until he started walking towards them with a murderous glare that made Jiang Ye quickly fall to his knees and kowtowed on the floor while Si Ning moved forward and bent a little in the process because he refused to release Jiang Ye's hand. All he knows was that he doesn't want to lose anybody anymore.

"No." Si Ning said when Xiu Zhicheng stood a few feet in front of him. He wanted to cry and beg Xiu Zhicheng to please spare Jiang's life yet he couldn't form those words.

"Please spare General, Your Majesty, General Si Ning did no wrong it was all my fault, please kill me." Jiang Ye said loudly enough for Xiu Zhicheng to hear as he raised and banged his head on the ground.

Si Ning held the hand he was holding firm as he looked away from Xiu Zhicheng knowing that if the Emperor decided to take Jiang Ye's head then he would offer to protect him so Si Ning also fell on his knees. It was hard that he was drugged making him not able to think clearly because he should have already thought of a way to get them out of the situation but the least he could do was to beg for their lives and endure getting imprison along with Jiang Ye. He was about to tell Xiu Zhicheng it was all his fault when a group of guards rushed into the opening, all dressed in black and covering half of their faces and Si Ning could see it was Xiu Zhicheng's hidden guards and no guards were putting on the palace guards uniform which means Xiu Zhicheng might have gone out in stealth because now that Si Ning could see him he noticed that the Emperor was dressed as a noble.

Seeing that Xiu Zhicheng was watching made Si Ning paused his lips because now he could view himself as being in a dire situation which means whatever he says would be used against him in the court which means he should just shut up and allow Xiu Zhicheng to assume his crime then he could find a way to turn over the crime when his head finally clear up after being imprison given him enough time to think of a way out.

"Young Master!"

Si Ning raised his head and he had never been so happy to hear that voice, he blinked and squinted his eyes to be able to see clearly when he saw one of the men that rushed in carrying Ah Dai in bridal style.

"Young Master... Ooooh.." Ah Dai started wailing as he stretched his hand towards Si Ning.

Si Ning noticed that the hand stretched towards him was broken. It was the prosthetic arm he gave Ah Dai and because he was too weak to move he only knelt there trying to find the strength to stand up as he watched how Ah Dai stretched his good hand towards him just to reach him and when he looked among the guards he discovered that Xiao Pei was nowhere in sight.

After trying to think of the different scenarios that might have happened to Xiao Pei or where he could be only to come up with nothing made Si Ning clenched his fist weakly as he opened his mouth and started panting, annoyed that the drug hadn't worn off.

"Stop moving you will bleed out." The guards that were carrying Ah Dai said as he tried to make Ah Dai stay still.

"Forgive me, Young Master, Ah Dai is useless and wasn't able to protect you." Ah Dai cried. "Ah Dai couldn't protect you!" He wailed like he was in pain just from knowing that he wasn't able to protect Si Ning.

Si Ning was still breathing hard and he wanted to reply so he stood up weakly, releasing Jiang Ye's hand in the process because he had to first check if Ah Dai was truly okay because from what he could see Ah Dai looked pale. All he could think about was checking if Ah Dai was okay before concentrate on where Xiao Pei might be so he stepped forward only to fall forward and Xiu Zhicheng raised his arms in the process and caught him. Si Ning shook when an Immeasurable pleasure ran through his body due to this contact as the calming scent of sandalwood surrounded him that he couldn't resist taking a deep breath of the scent and another part of him responded which made his face turned red when he looked up to meet Xiu Zhicheng's eyes. His eyes dilated as it falls on the Emperor's lips and he raised his hand to touch the lips slowly thinking of how soft it would feels if he reached and stand on his toes to meet the lips with his.

Xiu Zhicheng can't take his eyes off the extremely captivating man in his arms that looked so tempting that he had the urge to hide him away from view because this appearance shouldn't be seen by anybody so he lifted him in bridal style.

"Your Majesty." Lin Fan said firmly waiting for Xiu Zhicheng's order.

"Take care of the injured and Lin Fan search the tavern and kill whoever knows that Si Ning came here tonight."

For some reason, Si Ning considered that order as sexy and he shivered when Xiu Zhicheng gaze met him, that was when he realized he wanted the Emperor so bad.