Chapter 117 - Hungry Bully

While Lei Xing and Emperor were occupied with her illness and recovery, An Hao was busy with his investigation. He had finally found out who the Xia informant was in the Lei manor. They had informants planted over the years in all the major families in the country. It would have been much simpler to ask his father, but then he would need to explain his reason and his father was not likely to believe him. So he chose to take the more complicated route to avoid any friction at home, which did not take long either.

An Hao found out that the informant was Lao Wang, the steward of the Lei manor. He thought this was a lucky break for him as Lao Wang often used to come to visit and play with him as a child. He was also very easy to talk to and a lot more laid back than his father and Eunuch Li. 

Therefore, An Hao excitedly made his way to the Lei manor, since the servants knew his name from Lei Yong, he was quickly ushered in. He was informed that Lei Yong was not home, but he said he would wait. The defense minister was at work and his wife apparently went to visit a temple to pray for her ailing daughter.

An Hao, of course, had heard of the Emperor's showcase of "love" for Lei Xing and was not exactly happy with this development. It seemed like the Emperor truly liked this girl, so he had to get quickly get to the bottom of this so he could inform the Emperor. 

He planned to directly go see Lao Wang, but then the servants quickly brought in some snacks and tea. Apparently, Lei Yong had informed them that they must be sure to provide lots of snacks if he came along. An Hao stared at the table and gulped. It was hard for him to resist when it came to sweets, especially ones he had never tried before. He cleared his throat and sat down and decided to just try one so as not to be rude.

{...Ohhh so good...How about that one? Ohhh even better...Lao Wang can wait, food can't...Can't think when hungry ^_^)...}

After he was done eating all the snacks, he drank some tea to wash it down and then went about finding Lao Wang. He gave an excuse to the servants about wanting to hear some funny childhood stories about Lei Yong. They wanted to escort him, but he declined saying he did not need them and since Lei Yong had already ordered them to give him whatever he asked for when he came to visit, the servants obliged and told him where to find the steward and he went off on his own.

He roamed around like a tourist looking around and making stops to admire while comparing their manor to his own, as well as making mental notes to add whatever he liked to his own. He saw the rock formation in the garden and liked it so went to check what kind of rock it was and then took a few steps backward to get a full view of the image he wanted to recreate for himself and ended up stumbling on something and falling to the ground. 

"What the he-"

"Get off me!"

An Hao frowned at the sound and then immediately realized he was lying on something soft and not the hard ground. He quickly got up and turned to see a girl glaring at him. He thought she looked somewhat familiar too and quickly figured it out.

{...Ah, this must be the younger one...}

An Hao cleared his throat, "You should watch where you're going."

Xiao Ting sat up on the floor, dumbstruck as she rubbed the back of her head and irritatedly said, "You're the one who should watch where you're going!"

"Well, I was walking backwards, so you should have gotten out of the way." An Hao defended.

Xiao Ting frowned then sighed, she stretched out a hand and said, "Help me up."

An Hao looked at her hand then raised an eyebrow, "Are your legs broken?"

"Huh?" Xiao Ting said confused.

"If your legs are not broken then why should I help you up?" 

Xiao Ting blinked and then knit her brows, sniffed and her tears started falling, "You came to my house...and harrassed me. You not only pushed me down, but you used me as me a cushion...and my head, back and butt are now aching because of you...and you can't even help me up. What kind of person are you?" Xiao Ting broke into a full cry, using her hands to wipe the tears.

An Hao blinked and panickedly asked, "Why are you crying?!"

Xiao Ting's woes increased, "Now you're even shouting at me too!"

An Hao was feeling at a loss, it will be troublesome if Lei Yong found out that he made his sister cry, so he complied with her request and yanked her arm to pull her up, but it seemed he used too much strength since Xiao Ting cried out in pain so An Hao immediately let go and she fell hard on the ground. 

Xiao Ting groaned in pain and put a hand on her lower back, crying more in pain wondering where this idiot came from to ruin her day.

An Hao lips twitched and he awkwardly said, "Sorry...You told me to help you up."

An Hao then stretched out a hand to her but Xiao Ting slapped it away and crawled to her knees still holding her aching back. An Hao looked to the sky and sighed.

{...I'm really in trouble now...}

He put on a smile and wanted to offer his help again, when someone suddenly shouted, "How dare you bully my meimei?!"

An Hao froze and nervously turned only for him to see Tung Mei racing towards them. He frowned.

{...Her again? -_-)...}

Tung Mei quickly arrived and helped Xiao Ting up, hugged her and patted her head to comfort her while glaring at An Hao, who narrowed his eyes at her and asked, "Why are you here?"

Tung Mei scoffed, "This is my house. The question should be why are you here?"

An Hao scoffed and mumbled, "You're not even married yet and you're already claiming the house and sister."

"What's it to you?" Tung Mei haughtily responded, then she narrowed her eyes, "Don't tell me you're here because of Xing jie?"

An Hao blinked and Xiao Ting raised her head, "What about jiejie?"

Tung Mei pat her head, "Nothing for you to worry about."

"I'm here to visit Lei Yong. Unlike some people, I came on an invite." An Hao haughtily responded. He did not like this girl. He had heard of Tung Mei chasing Lei Yong around, even ingratiating herself with his family despite his objections to her affection.

Tung Mei snorted and rolled her eyes, "Yong ge is not here so you should leave. Either way, I doubt he would be happy to see this." She said her eyes motioning to Xiao Ting's head on her shoulder.

An Hao knit his brows, "It was an accident! She wasn't looking where she was go-" He stopped when he saw Xiao Ting glaring at him with teary eyes. An Hao looked away feeling like a bully. 

"Ah, Lao Wang! Have this hooligan tossed out of here." Tung Mei hollered. An Hao's face lit up and he turned to see Lao Wang coming along with some servants. He had just been informed of An Hao's arrival and that he went to find him. Knowing An Hao's tendency to get sidetracked, he took it upon himself to go find him. 

Lao Wang arrived at their side and bowed, "Miss Tung, what is the issue?"

"This hooligan here harrassed our Xiao Ting so he is no longer welcome here." Tung Mei stated.

Lao Wang narrowed his eyes at An Hao, who looked to the sky. Lao Wang lightly sighed, "Miss Tung, he is also the young master's esteemed guest so perhaps we ca-"

"It's fine. Lei Yong is not here anyway so I'll come another day, lead the way." He finished, then he turned around and strutted off and Lao Wang quickly went to catch up to him.

Tung Mei watched the two of them walking off then sighed, "Some people just don't know what's good for them."

She then removed Xiao Ting from her shoulder and frowned at her crying face, "Why were you just sitting there crying? Huh? You should have stood up and fought him. Is it because he's a general? So what? Even if you can't beat him, you can bite him, poke his eyes out! There are lots of things you can do, how dare he come here and bully you like that?!"

Xiao Ting glanced up at her and timidly said, "It was an accident...mostly."

"Even if it's an accident does that mean you should stay there looking stupid?! I've told you many times that your crying is a problem, be better!" Tung Mei admonished.

Xiao Ting lowered her head and mumbled, "I'm sorry." It had been a while since she had been harshly scolded like this.

Tung Mei looked at Xiao Ting's miserable form and sighed, "Does it hurt?"

Xiao Ting bit her lip and nodded, sniffing. Tung Mei sighed again, "Fine, you can cry this time." Xiao Ting looked up at her and the tears came streaming down. Tung Mei pat her head and then took her to have her injuries seen to.