Chapter 255 - Other People's Affairs

Later that morning, the Emperor sat on his throne scrutinizing his silent ministers with a frown. Chen Bo was naturally missing from the pack. While the ministers who had their homes raided in the early hours of the morning by Imperial guards all seemed to have nothing to say. 

At the moment, the capital still had soldiers roaming around, more soldiers even flooded into the city this morning to assist in the search. The streets were empty and the tension in the city was very high.

So the ministers all knew to tread lightly as no one wanted to be the one to further irritate the Emperor and become an example for the masses. So they silently waited for the irate Emperor to explain the situation. 

The Emperor finally let out a breath and announced, "The Empress dowager's health has gotten worse. Therefore, to avoid any further decline and to aid her recovery, she has decided to go into seclusion. From today onwards, she will see no one nor leave her palace...for the sake of her good health."

The Emperor scanned the ministers and waited for someone to raise an objection. It was obvious he was punishing his mother, but no one stepped forward to chastise him over his diminished filial piety. No doubt they had all already heard about what happened in the Chen manor. 

The Emperor lightly scoffed, it was not like they cared for his mother anyway. But he had expected someone would try to use this to start trouble with him, but clearly those who like to play devil's advocate were clearly too worried for their own heads to speak. 

He could have probably thrown her back in the cold palace with minimal or no protest. But for the sake of the Xia people who have helped him and to avoid any reproach from the public, he would do his "filial" duty and keep her grand shell intact. 

The Xia palace was no longer an option as the Empress dowager was now too volatile to allow out of his sight. Therefore, the Empress dowager's palace will become her prison.

The Emperor got up, scanned the room, and then said, "There are enemies in our midst and I expect all of you to give your utmost assistance in aiding the soldiers in weeding them out of their hiding places..." With that said, he stormed out. He had nothing else to tell them, after all, he himself was still not sure of the identity of the enemies or what their true motive was here. 

Therefore, there was really no explanation he could give anyone at the moment. He was also not interested in discussing the absurdity that happened with them either, that, they could find out about that on their own.

After Court, the Emperor had a brief meeting with Defense minister Lei and Prime minister Zhao, where he gave them a debriefing on the current state of events as they were to oversee the general matters of it. Then the Emperor left to find the one person he was greatly interested in discussing this topic with, simply because he thought he could get answers here. 

The Emperor returned to Lei Xing's palace to find Lei Xing in the middle of having breakfast. She immediately smiled and waved him over as she instructed Xiao Ruo to scoop up some congee for him. The Emperor returned a weak smile and sat down next to her, as Xiao Ruo placed a bowl in from of him.

Lei Xing then handed him a spoon and instructed, "Eat." The Emperor smiled and proceeded to eat. It was obvious she had also heard about what happened. At the very least, his bad mood and the manner in which his mother was brought into the palace was no secret. Since Lei Xing was being careful and nice, he indulged her and ate even though he was not hungry. The conversation could wait a little while.

Lei Xing tentatively watched the Emperor and inwardly sighed. She had not been able to sleep after he left. She had asked Xiao Ruo and Ah Jin to listen for any information. Therefore she had heard quite early on about the unconscious Empress dowager being carted in by Imperial guards. Later they heard about the Empress dowager's palace being emptied of servants and locked with Imperial guards even guarding the doors. 

It was obvious something very big had happened.

There were also rumors about a death in the Chen manor, the Emperor's anger, and his search for people who hurt the Empress dowager and others in the Chen manor. One rumor said the Emperor attacked his own mother enraged because she tried to kill his concubine, Chen You. Another rumor actually even said that the Emperor and the Empress dowager had a war in the Chen manor because of Chen You. 

Bottomline, the rumors were all over the place and Lei Xing did not give them much importance. After all, she knew for a fact that the Emperor did not at all care for Chen You. Unless Chen You had used some dark magic to make him fall foolishly in love on sight last night, the Emperor would not be fighting wars for her.

Regardless, Chen You seemed to be at the center of every rumor and Lei Xing was quite curious as to how she ended up back in the capital and in the middle of all this chaos. 

After they were done with their meal, the servants cleared the table and then cleared out of the room so they could talk privately. The Emperor narrated the events that happened and Lei Xing listened with keen attention.

"They disappeared?" Lei Xing asked in disbelief, quite amused by this wonder. This world seemed filled with many mysteries.

"En. If I had not seen it myself I would have found it hard to believe. There was a flash of light and then they were gone just as the battle was about to commence."

Lei Xing nodded with raised her eyebrows in contemplation.

{...They have teleportation? How cool is that! If I had th- What am I saying? These are enemies, people who freaking drugged me...Crap people who need to found and dealt with! -_-)'...}

"I have men searching the city, but I don't think it will yield any results..." The Emperor said with a frown, "I do have one of their men alive, who the physicians are currently trying to save. As for Chen You's mother..." The Emperor sighed, "She was still alive when I left but her situation seems very bleak. She's apparently very frail." 

The Emperor's frown deepened and Lei Xing at a loss for words, she simply put her hand over his and squeezed it. The Emperor took her hand and then smiled and got to the main reason he raced over here, "I was thinking that your doctor friend might have an explanation for this or maybe even some information about the enemy...You said you have a way to contact him privately -"

"You want to talk to him?" Lei Xing asked as she promptly removed her hand from his, realizing where he was going with this. 

The Emperor knit his brows at her sudden distancing but he nodded, "If it's okay with you...Or do you -"

"No, no. It's fine...Ah, he has not been responding to me today but we can try." Lei Xing said with a fleeting smile. She was not sure if it would work now since she had just touched him but she would try.

{...Oy, doc?...Hello? Are you still alive? No?...Asleep? WAKE UP!...}

{...*...}

{...Tch, answer -_-)'...}

"Xing er'?" The Emperor called when Lei Xing frowned. Lei Xing looked at him and then took off the bracelet and said, "You try."

The Emperor reached out to take the bracelet but then she suddenly stopped him and said, "stretch out your palm." The Emperor raised an eyebrow but complied, and then she dropped the bracelet onto it from above and said, "Go ahead, try."

"Hello?" The Emperor said.

"You can just do it through your mind." Lei Xing explained.

"Ah." The Emperor responded, remembering. 

{...Hello?...}

{...*...}

{...Hello? Doctor?...Doctor Lou?...}

{...*Yesss?... How can I help you? ( ￣^￣ )...}

"He's here..." The Emperor said with a smile towards Lei Xing. Lei Xing returned a strained smile, she could see that the good doctor was here just by looking at the bracelet. And honestly, she was mildly irritated that he had been ignoring all day, yet when the Emperor came calling, he swiftly responded.

{...How coincidental ≖_≖)...You were intentionally ignoring me, weren't you? I'll get you...later -_-)'...} 

"Go ahead, talk to him." Lei Xing urged the Emperor, hiding her irritation and showing her full support. The Emperor looked back down at the bracelet and explained the situation.

{...I had a strange encounter last night. Where a group of people were surrounded but then they disappeared with a bright blue light from nowhere..in an instant...Have you seen - or heard of anything like this before?...}

Doctor Lou was silent for a while and then the Emperor knit his brows and went, "Hello?"

"He likes to use silence to build up momentum, but he's still there..." Lei Xing reassured with a smile. So the Emperor nodded and patiently waited for a bit longer and then finally, Doctor Lou spoke up.

{...*Hmmmmmmm...Well, I have...}

"He has!" The Emperor said, somewhat excitedly, looking up at Lei Xing. Just as he thought, this old man would know.

The Emperor looked back down at the bracelet in his hand and went, "So how did it happen? How is that possible? Do you know who they are?" The Emperor asked out loud again, he did not mind Lei Xing hearing the conversation and actually wanted to include her. It felt wrong excluding her, after all, it was her contact giving the answers.

{...*Hmmmm... Well, this is honestly someone else's affair...and who they are? I don't know nor do I really care to...I don't like to get involved in other people's matters. It's troublesome~ ( ￣^￣ )...}