37 Thinking Hard

*Sometime and somewhere in the Palace*

Inside a spacious room, there was countless of men standing in columns and varying in the color of their uniforms or clothing, designated for their position inside the imperial court.

Besides the people in it, the designs and structure of the room was exquisite and out of ordinary. The pillars were designed after a coiling dragon, the floor was marbled and the curtain was splendid, that it was sprinkled with specks of gold and silver, for it to shine and glitter.

Unfortunately, the wondrous sight was in contrast of what will partake in the inner court as the court officials bury their heads underneath their official's hat.

A 'THUD!' echoed across the room as a scroll was thrown straight to the head of one of the court officials inside the room.

"Incompetent fool!! I told you to report to me what has happened to the drought in the Eastern Border but this?.. This is what you call a report? Why don't you let your servants or even a footman do your reports everyday and see if they did good in their work than you!" As emperor Li Xiang Di roared inside the inner court, every court official who was struck with fear even lowered their heads.

"Your majesty, there must have been a mistake." A man in his mid twenties steps forward but no one

knows if his move was right or wrong or was it bravery or foolishness.

The man was the Sixth Prince of the Zhou empire, Li Bei Wu, one of the son of Xiang Di to one of his concubine inside the harem. Though, this sixth prince was one of the candidate for the throne, he had no power or footing inside the Palace as his mother was a simple maidservant.

"A mistake?" The emperor stated as his eyes was fixed towards the man. "What does the Sixth prince mean that there must be a mistake?"

"There must have been a mishap that happened when the reports was delivered." The Sixth Prince said as he felt cold sweat on his palm and chest.

"A mishap?" The emperor asked without taking his eyes off from the sixth prince. "Are you telling me, there is such brave people that do mishaps inside my Palace?!"

"N..No Your majesty but there might've been an accide-"

Emperor Xiang Di slapped the dragon table with his hands, producing a thunderous and sudden loud sound. "Fool!! Now you say there was an accident? Head Eunuch Gu, tell me what is exactly written in the report."

An old man in his fifties stood just beside the emperor while holding a scroll. "Around 16 city was affected by the drought and has already been evacuated by the soldiers to the nearest cities. Approximately, there were around 1,587 people that was needed to be relocated ....."

Though the report was lacking, it could be considered as good enough but why would the emperor get so upset if there was nothing wrong? Murmurs started below the columns of people, wondering what was wrong. Every court official was guessing not until, finally, the head eunuch Gu started speaking again.

"Ahem.... According to the Sixth prince' report,..." Head Eunuch Gu looked at the emperor for affirmation to speak but the emperor chose to just ignore him. Having no choice, head eunuch Gu continued, "According to the report, the daughter of the town head.... was very nice to look at and her behind was plump and soft, while the daughter of the he--"

Collective gasps was heard from the mouth of everyone, they were not surprised that it came from the report of the sixth prince as he was reputed as a womanizer and a skirt chaser. However, they were shocked to hear such indecent words and to top it off, they just heard it from the mouth of the head eunuch who was already in his fifties and had been serving the emperor with a stern face.

.....

Back to the Liu Residence, Jing Chu was having a hard time serving her young lady. Right now, her body has gone numb and stiff looking at Jiao Yu who was walking back and forth and no one could tell what was going through her mind.

Her young lady has been like that since the time, they had entered her inner quarter and made Jing Chu worried sick as she saw Jiao Yu plop herself on the floor and started to bite her finger.

Jing Chu went beside her and hesitantly asked, "My lady, should I go and get a physician to look at you?"

Suddenly being interrupted, Jiao Yu looked at her and sighed in frustration, "No need to get a physician.. just get me a knife." Having heard Jiao Yu's words, Jing Chu immediately kneel in front of her and said, "My lady, please rethink you decision. At least let Master come here and speak with you."

After saying all that, Jing Chu stood up and went outside without waiting for Jiao Yu to stop her. Jiao Yu stared at the door with slack jaw before she tiredly laid on the floor and deeply sighed.

In her mind, the last words of Yu Jie Xing kept on replaying and disturbing her. Just after taking a few steps away from the screen divider, she faintly heard him talking to himself. She only heard a small part of it however, Jiao Yu was sure that she heard the word Xiangli village. And that made her nervous and busy thinking hard. What does he mean by that? Did he somehow found an inkling about her involvement with that village? That was nearly impossible and it was not enough to question her.

It was not an issue she could just think and ponder of. At least, by the next time they meet, she would try to divert his question and avoid being found out. She would also try to think of getting to know him better for he might be one of her enemies. Just as the phrase goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.