Prodigal Returns
Prodigal Returns
But still, she could not just give up, so Princess Nalan growled at the Emperor again, "It's not like I'm asking you for much! All I'm asking is for you to spare his life! You've already deemed him a traitor and I'm going to take him away! I swear they will never see each other again so you have nothing to worry about! He's no longer a threat to you, so why can't you spare him? What more do you want?!"
Molin closed his eyes and inwardly groaned. Although he could probably escape the Emperor's initial swing, if the Emperor really meant to kill him, he would not survive for long with the number of guards around ready for attack. Even if he could escape, he could not just leave Princess Nalan behind and run.
"Five seconds..." The Emperor coldly reminded.
Lei Xing finally regained her senses and raised her eyebrows at the Emperor. Her eyes asking if he knew what he was doing. She understood the principle of not negotiating with terrorists but... Isn't this giving up a bit too easily?!
Lei Xing was trying to communicate but the Emperor kept his eyes coldly focused on Princess Nalan's, ignoring her.
Princess Nalan scoffed, "If you kill him, I'll kill her. He's just a guard. Does your Empress really mean so little to you? Shan was right about you, you're a coldhearted bastard!"
Lei Xing gulped, this was becoming a bit too real for her. Princess Nalan may not have originally intended to kill her but looking at this situation right now, she really could kill her. She had no idea what the Emperor's game plan was BUT it was not making sense to her!
Now really worried about losing her life because she was stuck in-between two crazy people, Lei Xing tried to diffuse the situation, "Nalan, how about you and I go in and administer the antidote together? Thi-
"Do I look like an idiot to you?!" Princess Nalan interrupted, tightening the arm around Lei Xing's neck, causing Lei Xing to frown and grab at her hands to ease the pressure on her neck, "I'm not moving until I see Shan!"
"I see you have made your choice." The Emperor said and then raised the sword, swinging it down to decapitate Molin. Princess Nalan panicked and agitatedly jerked forward. In that same moment, Lei Xing also panicked, realizing her life was in her own hands as everyone here had gone mad. Lei Xing grabbed the hand holding the knife to try stay the knife as she raised her elbow to strike Princess Nalan's stomach to save herself.
{...I'm sorry! I'm sorry, okay! T_T)...}
Then everything went still... All the inhabitants of the scene froze in motion as if time had stopped, luckily before any of the hits could land.
Lei Xing's eyes darted around in a frenzy as she wondered what the hell was happening now! She could not move any part of her body other than her pupils. Her eyes locked on the Emperor's and she realized that he was also conscious but stuck as she was. They tried speaking but found they could not move their mouths.
"Ow, ow, bad landing..." Lei Xing and the Emperor's eyes darted to the ground, over the railing where they a familiar old man sitting on the ground, rubbing his back. Doctor Lou grabbed a hold of the railings and pulled himself up and over the railing, landing on the floor between them.
Doctor Lou then looked from Lei Xing's side to the Emperor's side and then frowned, "I turn my back for one moment, and the two of you are already at each other's throat! What is going on here?"
When neither of them spoke because they could not, Doctor Lou squinted at one and then the other, "Are you two ignoring me?" The two narrowed their eyes at him and Doctor Lou went, "Hmph! Fine, I won't ask - ohhh, sorry." He snickered when he realized they could not respond because of him.
and the Emperor and Lei Xing's limbs were free. The two stared at Doctor Lou, speechless as they saw everyone else was still frozen around them.
With his limbs freed, the Emperor left Molin's neck alone and stormed over to Lei Xing and forcefully separated Princess Nalan from her. Princess Nalan's limbs were stiff as a statue and while Lei Xing was nice enough to be careful, he was not. He lightly touched the wounds on Lei Xing's neck and scolded, "This is why I told you to stay away from this Princess, but you insist-"
"I didn't go to her, she came to me." Lei Xing defended, lightly touching her neck, "Also you, why would you goad her like that? What if she really killed me?" She asked looking with a disgruntled frown.
"You said she was harmless." The Emperor reminded, narrowing his eyes at her.
Lei Xing blinked at him in disbelief, "You-"
"I'll stop being polite if you two continue ignoring me like this" At those disgruntled words, the couple turned to find Doctor Lou standing next to them, glaring at them, "What is going on here?" He asked again.
Lei Xing and the Emperor both blinked at him, then glanced at each other, frowned, and looked away. Doctor Lou looked from one to the other, "Fine, don't tell me, it's not like I came here for you two anyway." He muttered, pulling on his beard, "You. Where is Shan Shan?" He asked, squinting at the Emperor.
The Emperor went rigid and Lei Xing raised an eyebrow at Doctor Lou, "Shan Shan?"
"Yes. My protege, Shan Shan. Where is he? I can't sense him." Doctor Lou irritatedly said.
Lei Xing looked at the Emperor.
{...Protege? O_O)...}
Doctor Lou eyed the couple exchanging suspicious looks, "Did you two, by any chance...do something to him?" He asked with a scowl.
***
Lei Xing and the Emperor quietly stood by the door, nerves racked as they waited for Doctor Lou's reaction. They had brought him to Prince Yi's corpse and the old man just quietly stood there, looking down at him.
"Hey, did you know about this protege thing?" Lei Xing whispered to the Emperor, she had never heard of the old man having any sort of relationship with Prince Yi. Then again, the old man had always been too busy trying to sell the Emperor to her that mentioning another man would not have helped his cause.
Before the Emperor could respond, Doctor Lou spun around and glared at them, "You're saying you didn't do this?"
Lei Xing was quick to respond, "No, not at all. We were completely shocked by this as-"
"Not talking to you. You." Doctor Lou said, pointing to the Emperor, "I told you to get along."
"So he's really dead?" The Emperor muttered with a frown, "... I had nothing to do with his poisoning." He added when Doctor Lou kept looking at him suspiciously.
"He didn't die by poisoning. While there's poison in his system, his body was dominating it. You see my Shan Shan was smart enough to guard against poisons. Naturally, he inherited that from me." Doctor Lou smugly informed, pulling on his beard.
Neither Lei Xing nor the Emperor was going to highlight the fact that it was the Emperor who actually had the foresight to guard against poison. But Lei Xing could not help asking, "Um...what exactly was your relationship again?"
"I am his Shifu - And you killed him before he could give his formal bow!" Doctor Lou wailed, you could almost see steam coming out his ears.
"he didn't kill him." Lei Xing defensively said with a frown, "Tell him." She said, nudging the Emperor with her elbow.
The Emperor let out an irritated breath and did as he was bid, "All I did was imprison him. Despite everything, I still tried my best to protect him. I ensu -"
"Why did you imprison him?" Doctor Lou interrupted, glaring at him.
"He was plotting treason -"
"He's been plotting treason all these years and it never bothered you before!" Doctor Lou countered, not buying that excuse.
The Emperor knit his eyebrows, "I overlooked the past out of gratitude to you and our past, but this time he went too far. He even involved the Zou prince-"
"Her! Yes, she was supposed to be his escape card!" Doctor Lou angrily said and then began pacing, "I gave you two a way to peacefully resolve things. Is it really so hard for you two to get along, huh?! Am I asking for too much here, huh?! Now you've dashed one of my dreams! Do you know how hard I worked trying to poach him away, huh?! Do you think it's easy?! Yet you just ruined everything just like that?! For what?! You didn't even allow me to even hear "Shifu"! Not even once! Even if you want to be a killjoy, can't you pick your moment better?!"
"Tell me, what exactly is your problem? Get along with your father, you can't! Get along with your mother, you won't! Get along with your onboarding fellow disciple, you won't! Even getting along with the love of your life is hard for you! Huh?! I know they're all problematic people, but you can be more understanding, put in more effort! I mean, you were so willing to put up with all sorts of nonsense from this brat here! Be honest with yourself, even if she tried to kill you, wouldn't you let it slide?! Why can't you extend this same level of understanding towards your own family members, huh?! " Doctor Lou seriously asked, at his wit's end.
Before the Emperor could muster up a response, the old man scowled and jumped on another tangent, "That reminds me, you even had the audacity to pair up my precious baby Xiao Ying with that good-for-nothing son of a lout! What gave you the right?! Even if he's your friend, shouldn't you know what loyalties are the priority, huh?! Your Shifu is naturally more important than any stupid friend! Especially when he's that ungrateful bastard who doesn't even know when and how a treasure hit him in the head! Who does he think he is to look down on my Xiao Ying?! Let me tell you, she is a thousand, no, a million times better than that bastard!"
"... You better undo that nonsense or I swear I'll send you and him through a thousand lifetimes with no good ends! And I won't care who it offends! You can come to find me after for a fight after if you want. Hmph! You've not settled the issues in your own family yet you think you can help someone else with their own, how does this make sense?! Aiya! Is it really so hard for you to just get along with your family members? Is it really too much to ask of you?!" Doctor Lou stopped, raising his fists up as he glared at the Emperor, looking as if he were restraining himself from beating him up.
The Emperor and Lei Xing just blinked at him, he spoke so quickly just now that they were barely able to make sense of anything he just said. All they got was that he was scolding them, particularly the Emperor.
Seeing the two stupidly staring at him, Doctor Lou sighed, "Even if you can't get along for my sake, shouldn't you at least consider the other parties involved?! I'm trying to help you here! How do you want her to feel about the enmity between you two?" He asked, purposefully looking at Lei Xing.
"Me?" Lei Xing asked, pointing to herself, "What do I have to do with anything?" She cluelessly asked.
"It's because of her, isn't it?" Doctor Lou asked, now glaring at Lei Xing.
"She has nothing to do with it." The Emperor swiftly said, stepping out in front of Lei Xing, "The fire you kindle for your enemies often burns you more than him. Even if I must watch a man try to set fire to my house, you cannot expect me to assist him. If I was to let him go, he had to be taught a lesson first."
In steps too quick to follow, Doctor Lou appeared in front of the Emperor, squinting up at him.
{...*You forget I can read your thoughts. I've told you before, PETTY jealousy is unbecoming of a ruler! (≖_≖ )...}
The Emperor frowned but stood his ground, protectively held on to Lei Xing behind him, and steadily met Doctor Lou's gaze. While it was true that Prince Yi's undisguised affection for his wife may have annoyed him, there were other factors that warranted his imprisonment and worse. Therefore, he had nothing to be ashamed of.
{...Then you know she has nothing to do with this. If you must punish someone, punish me. After all, it was I who failed to keep y-...}
{...*And if I insist on bullying her, what will you do? (≖_≖ )...}