Chapter 262 - A Fan's Lament

After a meeting with the Emperor, An Hao went to the military camp to pick out the unit that will be accompanying him on his mission to escort Prince Rui. 

"What's your problem? I thought you would be happy seeing the Emperor..." Lei Yong asked as he scrutinized An Hao, who had barge into his office and had just been sitting there quietly with a disgruntled pout. It was really not like An Hao to be this quiet. 

An Hao glanced at Lei Yong and then said, "Prince Rui's leaving...and the Emperor wants me to escort him...tomorrow." An Hao said with a frown.

"So what's the problem? I thought you enjoyed messing with him..." Lei Yong said as he perused some doc.u.ments, not paying An Hao much attention. 

"That's fun and all but I'm going to miss my Emperor's wedding and Xia-" He immediately closed his mouth and lowered his head with a bigger pout.

Lei Yong glanced at him with a raised eyebrow and shook his head, "Why didn't you tell the Emperor that?" He offhandedly asked with a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt.

"How could I have done that?... I naturally have to be available when my Emperor needs me. It's just disappointing..." An Hao swiftly responded. 

"Since you have decided...Get your men and have a safe trip." Lei Yong said with a smile. An Hao glared at him and then let out a sigh, stood up, and said, "You can just assign any unit..." 

"Why not pick one yourself?" Lei Yong asked with knit eyebrows.

An Hao blinked at him and then went, "I'm busy..."

"I'm busy too..." Lei Yong retorted.

"Welll...you know I'm leaving tomorrow and will be gone for a while so I...I need to go say goodbye...to...to my father!" An Hao awkwardly responded with a smile.

"Right now?" Lei Yong said narrowing his eyes at him.

An Hao blinked and then went, "...Well...I...want...to go spend some quality time with him." An Hao said with a resolute nod.

"An Hao...Are you planning on going to my manor?" Lei Yong bluntly asked. 

An Hao froze and then blinked at him and mumbled, "Noooo, not exactly...." When Lei Yong frowned at him, he went, "Okay, okay...You know we've been very busy the last few days so I've not had any free time so I have not had time for visitations and such..."

"...Anyhow, I need to go see to some important stuff before leaving...Help me set things up, I'll pay you back eventually. See you tomorrow." An Hao quickly interjected and shot out of the office before Lei Yong could get a chance to turn him down or give him a lecture. 

Lei Yong sighed after An Hao's departure. He could see that An Hao had been a bit restless the last few days. An Hao himself probably did not even know the reason, but Lei Yong had a hunch.

After all, An Hao had been asking him about his home life quite frequently recently, seemingly at random. Obviously too scared or shy to ask after Xiao Ting directly. 

Lei Yong had looked into An Hao's actions since he returned to the capital out of concern for Xiao Ting. While he knew An Hao did not play with women, he still needed to do this for his own peace of mind.

They had this running joke in the army that if An Hao treated his wife half as well as he treated the Emperor then that woman would be very lucky. But then here he was treating Xiao Ting even better than he did the Emperor.

Lei Yong had even watched An Hao neglect the Emperor in Xiao Ting's presence. An Hao was as innocent as they come, Lei Yong was not even sure if he had ever held a woman's hand much less done anything more. 

Although An Hao was a bit clueless, he was the kind of person to go the extra mile for anyone he liked. Therefore, Lei Yong truly had no complaints. His sister deserved someone who was willing to go that extra mile for her. 

As for Xiao Ting, Lei Yong honestly had no idea what she felt towards An Hao. But with An Hao's cluelessness, it would probably take him a few years to understand what everybody else could see, much less him confessing his feelings.

So Lei Yong was quite comfortable just leaving him alone, after all, his younger sister was bound to get married someday and rather than some pompous useless ass of a noble's son, a doting clueless An Hao was much better. 

****

An Hao happily made his way to the Lei manor to find Xiao Ting. He had not seen her in almost two weeks and with this impromptu trip he would be gone for at least a month. So he felt he needed to see her before and let her know he would be gone for a while.

After all, they were great friends, what if she missed him and went to look for him? Therefore, it would be very bad and inconsiderate of him not to give her prior notice.

Naturally, on his way, he picked up some snacks for Xiao Ting. After all, it would be ill-mannered of him to visit empty-handed.

He arrived at the manor and simply sauntered in. The people of the household all knew him too well and so the guards bowed and paid him no attention. He casually grabbed a passing servant asked where Xiao Ting was. 

"General, I don't think you can see the younger miss today." The servant politely responded.

"Why not?" An Hao asked with a frown. The servant knit his brows but before he could speak, An Hao went, "Just go tell her that I'm here. It's important, just a quick visit."

"But -"

"Just go." An Hao ordered, pushing the servant along, "I'll be in the garden." He added and sauntered off to the garden where he patiently waited, a bit disappointed. He had been planning to spend the afternoon with her but since she was busy today, he would just talk with her briefly and then return to the camp to see to the arrangements himself.

An Hao sighed, still feeling disgruntled about the whole affair. 

"General..." The servant returned after a while, An Hao happily turned only to be disappointed when he saw just the servant, the servant promptly informed, "The younger miss said I should bring you over."

"Oh, okay. Lead the way." An Hao swiftly responded with a smile, which he maintained until he was led to what he realized was Xiao Ting's bedroom to find Xiao Ting sitting up in bed, with a blanket on her legs.

"What happened to you?" An Hao worriedly asked promptly shoved the box into the servant's hand as he rushing over, sat on the bed as he grabbed Xiao Ting's face, turning it side to side as he quickly looked her over.

"You're making me dizzy! " Xiao Ting exclaimed as she grabbed his hands to stop him from shaking her head, "I just hurt my leg." She explained as she frowned at An Hao with a pout. 

An Hao blinked at her as he realized what he was doing, but instead moving his hands he just blinked at her adorable pouting face as his face started to turn red.

"O-oh!" An Hao finally responded, immediately dropping his hands to his lap and frowning down at them as his heartbeat loudly in his ears.

{...What am I doing?! (≧_≦)...}

"General..." The servant came up to them and presented the box An hao had shoved in his hands. Xiao Ting promptly took the box and opened it, "Oh, I love these...You remembered..." Xiao Ting said smiling at An Hao as she picked one up to eat. 

An Hao raised his head and smugly said, "...I always remember." 

"Here..." Xiao Ting said, holding out the box to him. An Hao smiled at her and took one, letting out a little happy sigh as he did. He had missed this. 

Xiao Ting turned to her personal maid and went, "Ah Cai, tea and snacks..." 

Ah Cai knit her brows and then turned to the servant that came with An Hao and he smartly went, "I'll go get them" and then left to get things done. 

Ah Cai turned back to An Hao and Xiao Ting, who were smilingly eating and went over to the side to pick up a chair for An Hao to sit on. 

An Hao truly should not be in her mistress's bedroom, but considering Xiao Ting was not supposed to move, they could make an exception as long as there was a third-party in the room and the doors were left open.

But still, he definitely should not be sitting on the bed with her.

"So -" An Hao began but Ah Cai promptly cut in before they could get even more carried away, "General An, please sit here." She politely said. 

An Hao glanced over at Ah Cai and turned to Xiao Ting on the bed and immediately understood and promptly relocated himself to the chair with his face heating up again. He really let himself get carried away today and Xiao Ting's indulging personality did not help matters.

"Do you know what's been going on in the city?" Xiao Ting curiously asked in between bites, bringing An Hao out of his thoughts.

An Hao blinked at her and then went, "Did you get hurt during the search?" An Hao asked with a frown. 

"Oh no...I tripped on a rock yesterday." Xiao Ting sheepishly explained, lowering her head and turning red. It was really embarrassing to still be falling over like that at her age.

"That's good then." An Hao said, relaxing. He was already getting ready to go pick a fight with someone over this. He would have started with his father and then the commanders and then would have located the hooligan who dared to mishandle her.

But now that he actually thought about it, he panicked over nothing. No one in the army or even in the country would dare to manhandle the Defense minister's daughter, especially not in his own house.

"Good?" Xiao Ting asked with a frown.

"No, I meant that it's good it is just a simple injury." An Hao quickly amended and then went, "I'll be leaving the city tomorrow on an assignment..." He informed, switching the topic. 

Xiao Ting paused for a bit and then, "Oh...when will you be back?"

An Hao sighed and then said, "A month to two...It won't be too long." Xiao Ting lowered her head and seemed to pout a bit and An Hao immediately perked and said, "I'll bring you a bunch of fun things! I can get the authentic materials for our recipes and also some other interesting stuff too. You'll love them!" He excitedly finished with a reassuring smile.

Xiao Ting looked up at his excited face and then nodded with a smile, "I'll look forward to it then~"

An Hao's smile widened with Xiao Ting's words and smile. It was a good decision to come here, he was feeling much better now.

{...This trip won't be too bad...Could be useful ~(￣～￣)~...}