Chapter 222 - Wall Blocking

The carriage finally arrived at the Lei manor.

As Lei Xing stepped down and Tung Mei came behind her, the steward of the manor, Lao Wang quickly approached them with some servants and kowtowed to Lei Xing in greeting.

Lei Xing gulped and quickly glanced about the road, as she swiftly but calmly said "Rise" in a restrained voice. This was embarrassing for her. She had honestly never gotten this sort of public show of respect before. But her entire entourage already garnered whatever attention she was trying to avoid. Lei Xing inwardly sighed as she thought there was no more escaping this now.

The servants thanked her and then got up, Lao Wang then walked up to Lei Xing with a smile and bowed, "It is good to see Your highness looking healthy...I also want to congratulate you, there is no one more suited for the position of Empress ..." Lao Wang finished with a low bow.

{...Of course, there's no one more suited when you work for me -_-)'...}

Lei Xing plastered on a smile and said, "Thank you..." Lao Wang lightly bobbed his head and then moved to the side for her to proceed inside. Lei Xing went ahead and Tung Mei trailed behind her then Ah Jin and Lao Wang followed, with Bi Lu and Bi Lo right behind him. 

Just as they were making their way up the steps of the entrance, they suddenly heard a shout from the side, "I'm not late, am I?"

The group stopped and turned to see An Hao flying off his horse and tossing the ropes to a servant as he made a beeline for Lao Wang holding a jeweled box. He suddenly froze in his tracks and blinked at Lei Xing and then frowned, his gaze slid to Tung Mei and then it morphed into a glare. It moved down to Ah Jin and then went back to Lei Xing and stayed there.

Lei Xing raised an eyebrow at him.

{...What's his problem?... He can't seriously still be angry over that cake thing, right? How petty -_-)'...}

Lao Wang glanced from An Hao to Lei Xing, then he tried to signal to An Hao to behave himself. This was their Emperor's future Empress, she was not someone he should play with. But An Hao was too busy glaring at Lei Xing to notice Lao Wang.

Lao Wang knit his brows and decided he had to smooth things over before Lei Xing got angry. He cleared his throat to get Lei Xing's attention and smiled as he informed, "Your highness, this is General An. He is a friend of the Young master and he has also been courting the younger miss the last-"

"Courting?" Both Lei Xing and An Hao exclaimed and blinked at Lao Wang in shock. Then they immediately looked at each other, scrutinizing the other with apprehension.

Lei Xing frowned as she looked An Hao over. He did not look bad, was cute and looked young, but still...

{...Courting? She's just fourteen! What the hell do you think you're courting?! (≖_≖ )...}

An Hao moved his glare to Lao Wang as he walked up to him, "Hey! Don't spread lies! Who's courting who?!"

Lao Wang blinked at him in confusion, "Ah? Isn't that what you've been doing?"

"Of course not! Why would I?" An Hao indignantly responded.

Lei Xing and Tung Mei frowned as they both felt offended by that strong denial and pretty much had the same thought: {...What do you mean 'Why would I?' -_-)...Why wouldn't you?! Our Xiao Ting is sweet, kind and adorable and you're obviously the one who's inadequate here! >_

"Idiot." Tung Mei commented under her breath and An Hao immediately turned his glare to her. Tung Mei raised her eyebrows at him in challenge and then she grabbed Lei Xing's arm and smiled, "Xing jie, we're already very late. "

Lei Xing snapped out of frowning at An Hao and nodded. She could not stand here and begin arguing for why An Hao should pursue Xiao Ting. It was not like she wanted him to, but his denial was really too strong, it was very irritating to her ears. Tung Mei shared the same thoughts but she was also not in the mood to argue, nor was she particularly keen on this pairing and so, she swiftly pulled Lei Xing inside.

As Lao Wang went to follow behind them, An Hao pulled him and then whispered with a frown, "What are they doing here?"

Lao Wang raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"Those two girls." An Hao said with a frown.

Lao Wang frowned and immediately went to elbow An Hao's side, An Hao swiftly moved and clutched onto his box tightly with both hands, "Careful! What if you break it?!"

Lao Wang eyebrow's twitched as he blinked at the pouting An Hao protecting the box. He was speechless. Then he sighed and helplessly went, "You...What are you doing with your life?" 

"Obviously living it." An Hao cheekily responded under his breath as he rubbed the box. Lao Wang glared at him and then shook his head as he sighed again.

{....Let's just forget this part...This boy grew in height but I guess being in a war did not help grow his social skills...at all...}

Lao Wang let out a breath and answered his question, "Obviously the older Miss is here for her sister's big day. Miss Tung is an honored guest, someone who is almost family so it is natural for both of them to be here...On the other hand, what you're doing here is very unclear." Lao Wang finished narrowing his eyes at An Hao. Completely disappointed. He sighed again and then reprimanded, "Your actions today were wrong, the older Miss is now a Noble consort and is the future Empress, you should bow upon seeing her inste-"

"Empress?!" An Hao exclaimed as his eyes went wide. He then lowered his voice and asked, "She's going to be Empress?"

Lao Wang frowned and restrained himself from hitting An Hao on the head, "What have you been doing with yourself these days? She is going to be the Empress so you should be respectful. I know that you are close with the Emperor but - No, that is all the more reason you should be respectful towards her. Get your head on straight!" Lao Wang scolded and with a swoosh of his sleeve, he quickly went inside to go catch up to Lei Xing's group, leaving a stunned An Hao standing there with a confused frown.

{...Empress? Since when?...}

An Hao had holed himself inside his room over the last week working on a last-minute present for Xiao Ting. He was initially planning to just give her a dessert of some sort but then he could not think of a snack that was good enough to present as a gift for a special occasion.

After thinking long and hard, he finally remembered her liking the panda he described. She had also been very happy when he gave her the painting of the pandas the Emperor had randomly drawn after running into a couple of them lazily foraging into the forest a few years ago.

While An Hao treasured this gift from the Emperor, he had seen the pandas and Xiao Ting had never seen them and so she was pitiful. Therefore, he could part with this treasure to help out the pitiful adorable creature that was Xiao Ting. She was very happy and grateful too so he felt very happy about it in the end.

He did consider going to catch one for her but that would have taken too long and he only had a week left. Not to mention, he did not think that Lei Yong, the killjoy, would have allowed his sister to keep a wild animal. So he decided to present a look-alike. He rummaged through all his belongings he had been too lazy to sort out to find the white jade block he had acquired a while back.

Then he had to choose an image to sculpt and then went he had to carve it, which took way too long. He was already too far into the project by the time it occurred to him he could have commissioned an expert for the job. But then he had thought that it was simply a panda so it was easy enough. He had really underestimated the job, it was a lot harder than sculpting desserts. 

But since he was already doing it, he felt motivated to finish it. To prove a point. He could not let a simple sculpture defeat him.

After a few days of very careful work, he finally managed to carve out a decent model. After that, he then had to carefully paint it...In conclusion, he was very busy and as long as war did not break out his mind was not concerned with anything else at the time. 

He finally finished it in the early hours of the morning, proud of his accomplishment and exhausted, he promptly fell asleep. Only for him to wake up this afternoon and realize that he was late. He quickly took a bath and raced here only to be greeted with Lei Xing and the more irritating Tung Mei and their follower Ah Jin. They were definitely not the people he wanted to meet today. He had only been thinking of Xiao Ting and had forgotten that she had an annoying sister that was going to be there.

An Hao frowned and sighed. He did all this work and came all the way here, so he should at least hand the panda over to Xiao Ting. Therefore, regardless of the presence of the annoying trio, An Hao went in as he mulled over the new information he just received.

{...Empress...It seems the Emperor really likes this girl...I should have known when he gave her my snacks. He never bothered much with anyone before, much less worried about their stomachs, others even had to worry about him filling his own stomach (≖_≖ )...}

An Hao sighed again and made his way to the main hall only to find Lei Xing and her entire group standing at a standstill by the corner of the entrance doors. An Hao's frown deepened as he saw them but he changed his expression and was planning on walking past them to go in, when a servant stopped him and quietly said, "General  An please wait."

An Hao raised an eyebrow and the servant quickly bowed his head and quietly explained, "Since the ceremony has already begun, the Older Miss - I mean, the Noble consort said to wait outside until it was complete so..."

An Hao blinked and then knit his brows then glanced over at Lei Xing who was peeking inside the hall with a small smile on her face. 

The servant looked at An Hao's poor expression and continued to persuade, "General An, if y-"

"I understand. I'll wait." An Hao said cutting him off and his attention remained on Lei Xing. He could understand that she decided to wait outside rather so she did not interrupt Xiao Ting's moment. Ideally, her position was such that there were few she had to wait for, so it was necessary for her to be considerate, but yet here she was.  

An Hao frowned. In all honesty, he had not discovered anything bad about Lei Xing all this time. There were no bad reports at all from the people around her. They all said she was level-headed, reserved, kept to herself and had always been kind to those beneath her. No complaints at all.

As for his research through Xiao Ting, he never needed to ask Xiao Ting anything, she somehow always ended up talking about Lei Xing by herself. So much so that it actually annoyed him how much she admired this sister, despite the fact that she often scolded her. He often had to change the topic to more enjoyable ones, either by distracting her with food or talks of his adventures.

Despite his reservations about Lei Xing's character, he honestly felt it was very nice to see that Lei Xing had affection for the Xiao Ting that annoyingly worshipped the ground she walked on. 

An Hao frowned down at the box in his hands and looked back up at Lei Xing.

{...I could have been wrong - No, I'm definitely not wrong...but...Is there even a point in mentioning this anymore? ...}

He found no evidence of foul play, so what if she went to rescue her brother? That was nothing but a good deed and questioning her motives now, after so many years would just make it seem like he was out to taint her reputation. He could not think of any merit he would achieve other than a hollow victory of proving a point.

The Emperor liked her enough to make her Empress, she was Lei Yong's sister...and there was Xiao Ting too. 

An Hao sighed. He just realized he had run himself into a wall and it occurred to him that if he continued on this path, he might end up only hurting himself.

{...I guess she's not that bad...She's Lei Yong's sister and the Lei family is a loyal family, so her being Empress should be a great development...I guess...}