When Ah Dai was done and gave the mirror to his Master, Si Ning found himself smiling at his reflection as he turned his head left and right. Ah Dai never ceased to amaze him with how well he could style his hair, knowing the particular style to fit for a particular occasion.
The door opened and Si Ning placed the mirror on the table ready to lash out at Jiang Ye who came in without announcing first but seeing how Jiang Ye kept shifting his eyes all around and how he dressed in mild expensive robes looking like a Young Master made Si Ning sighed but he was going to lash out anyway because of Jiang Ye was his guard and he mustn’t let it slide because Jiang Ye’s Young Master appearance."You this...." Si Ning stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed a woman wearing a veil to cover her face standing at the back of Jiang Ye, he didn’t notice her at first because he was focused on Jiang Ye that came in suddenly.
"Leave us!" A sweet commanding voi
Immediately Si Ning was done creating space for the teapot on the table, Ah Dai made his presence known by making his entry announcement and walked in setting the teapot on the table when he was about to start brewing the tea Si Ning waved for him to leave and he proceeded to brew the tea himself by adding the tea leaves in the teapot and waited a bit for the leaves to ferment before pouring it into two teacups and added a rose flower petal on the tea.When Si Ning was done making sure the flower petal was floating and satisfied with the way the tea looked fancy, he placed a cup in front of Ran Chunhua but instead of her taking a sip like he expected, she stared at the tea and frowned when it occurred to Si Ning that since Ah Dai wasn’t present to taste the tea and Ran Chunhua was different from Qiu Bai or Shao Lang who drank tea without anyone tasting it first.Si Ning quickly took his cup and took a sip because Ran Chunhua didn’t come with her court
Si Ning slouched as he sighed feeling like he just had the most tiring discussion ever, he expected to see Xiu Zhicheng’s Concubines when he joins the harem but he never thought he would be visited by one, and yet he couldn’t see the point of the conversation they had.The only thing he could understand was that Ran Chunhua doesn’t want him to marry the Emperor so Si Ning ruled over the conversation as pointless."Young Master." Ah Dai called and waited before entering when he heard no reply. "Young Master, Lieutenant Jiang Ye is seeing Concubine Ran out." He reported.Si Ning turned and was a bit surprised to see Ah Dai had changed his cloth and was now wearing dark attire that looked expensive to show he was going to tag along. One thing Si Ning never had the heart to do was to say no to Ah Dai because judging by Ah Dai’s personally, he might break down into tears and Si Ning would like to avoid that at all cost so he took a deep breath
In the end, Si Ning left Si Nan and rode a horse alongside Chen An to the small banquet organized by Song Feng in his courtyard and what Si Ning expected was to get there, join a table, and drink but the reality was different from his imagination.There was a small higher platform with two steps leading to where Song Feng and Mo Qi were seated on a chair while the banquet was a small banquet with people dressed luxuriously, mostly Ministers Si Ning had seen in the courtroom and some women he had never seen sitting appropriately at two long tables only sipping their drinks and smiling to the dancers who were dancing at the space created at the center of the tables.When Si Ning got there, he was led to a chair reserved for him and provided with only a small bottle of wine with many plates of food, facing the boring dancers that were dancing slowly to the guqin a man was playing at the corner, the man’s eyes were closed while he nodded with a passion to sho
"Twenty-one-century dance?....""What does that mean? Have you ever heard of twenty-one century?""What is going on?""Do General Si Ning want to dance?""General Si Ning wants to sing.""I am blessed to be alive to watch this."Different murmurs filled the air as some of the women seemed excited and almost jumped out of their seats to clap while the other women only focused on Si Ning wondering what was happening. The men looked confused, some curious while Song Feng looked on edge as he stretched his neck and shifted forward that Mo Qi had to turn sharply to him due to his sudden movement but Song Feng was quite nervous about what Si Ning wanted to do that he didn’t notice Mo Qi that was staring at him until she tapped him to gain his attention."Song-ge are you feeling cold?" Mo Qi asked concerned about Song Feng who looked on edge.Song Feng almost jolted and he turned sharply to her and gently took her hand in his "I
First, it started with series of muffled voices that were making Si Ning’s head start to ring that he was forced to have no other choice than to listen to who dares to disturb his sleep only for the voices to become louder."....what do we do?""We should leave General for now."The series of conversations was drifting into Si Ning’s ears and with each word spoken was making his head bang that the banging started to increase but he was too sleepy to bother about it even though all he wanted was just strength to yell once for them to get out so he could continue sleeping without any disturb. This time of his life was a time he needed a do not disturb sign."...but do you think that is wise?"That was it, Si Ning had heard enough and he wasn’t going to just lay back anymore because it was his room and someone coming in to discuss and disturb his peace was way out of the line.Get out!"That is all we can do."
Si Ning’s heart skipped a beat as he felt a sudden heavy weight starting to build up on his chest, it was starting to pull him down as he started to feel low because deep down he knows Xiu Zhicheng had decided to take him only as his Consort, putting him in a position that was equal to his Concubines which means he would have all the riches and might even end up not participating in any war. He knew that the hostile relationship between Xilie and Xiu would never be settled without a war which means the war was coming up.Riding to war was an option Si Ning wanted to avoid at all cost but being a Consort means he might even lose his army because he would end up following whatever Xiu Zhicheng wanted and if Xiu Zhicheng told him he wanted the Si family army to join the Imperial army then Si Ning would not have a choice than to comply, he might also never attend court meeting and only be the Consort of the Emperor, everyone would see him as the King Consort and he would ha
Si Ning blinked rapidly as he tried to assimilate and understand what Si Nan told him wondering if he heard her right but seeing that she was beaming from ear to ear looking so happy when the Si Nan he knew would burst out laughing immediately if she tells a lie yet he was still suspecting that’s she just told him a lie but looking her taking her time, not wanting to call off her prank and her smile seemed genuine means it was probably true yet he was still finding it hard to believe because Si Nan might have up her prank games. He was about to ask if she was sure about the announcement and wasn’t trying to prank him since Xiao Pei that should have informed him was quiet but Si Ning couldn’t detect what his expression says because just as usual his face was impassive and Chen An that do bring news to him if he didn’t attend the court assignment wasn’t around.Si Nan produced a folded piece of paper from her perfume pouch and extended it to Si
"...I wandered, Baby I, I could make it better, I could hold you tighter, On that long road, Oh you’re the light." Si Ning sang as he twirled around making the water dripping from his hair splashed around before his hair settled to stick to his face and back. Si Ning pulled the hair that was blocking his view back and took his time matching his dance steps smoothly as he pulled out a robe from the wardrobe to check if it was suitable to his taste and see if it was an attire he could wear to the palace. "Uninvited, unwelcome, the only one who recognized me, this eternal night with no end in sight, It’s you who gifted me the morning, can I now hold that hand? Oh oh, I can make it right." He turned around, imagining himself as part of BTS performing on a stage with lot of fans watching as he turned around moving swiftly to the mirror, placing the robe he was holding to his neck but just like the heap of clothes on the floor, he doesn’t feel like it suits him wearing it to the p
The meeting wasn't tense and was going smoothly that Si Ning was glad about the pleasant atmosphere but the problem was he felt eyes on him, even though Xiu Zhicheng was sitting quite a far distance from him with a bored expression while replying and giving orders to the Minister reading their report yet Si Ning could tell Xiu Zhicheng was watching him.Si Ning does not understand why he was being stared at so much, even Shao Lang kept glancing at him with the corner of his eyes. Si Ning knew he looked beautiful but he had always been a beauty so he doesn't understand the stares directed at him and some of the Ministers too kept glancing at him then he concluded that it had to be because Xiu Zhicheng just announced that he would be the Empress in a month time because he doesn't feel any hostility coming from them so he doesn't think he was being stared at because he was yet to give the reply about whether he would sign over half of his army to the Imperial famil
Si Ning's mouth fell slightly because a part of him was telling him that Xiu Yuan was at the front of the courtroom to see him. "Yuan-er?" He never expected that the name he called to sound like a question but he was a bit surprised to see Xiu Yuan so he quickly moved closer to the foot of the stairs, his attention on Xiu Yuan not realising when Xiao Pei, Jiang Ye and the rest of the guards saluted and started to leave.Xiu Yuan jumped up happily and started to wave his hands before clapping then returned to waving his hands to show how happy he was as he laughed then he started to climb down the stairs in a hurry."Your Highness!" A palace maiden shouted in alarm as she hurried off after Xiu Yuan but didn't try to stop him, she only walked behind with her skirt gathered in her hands to avoid tripping, making it looked like she couldn't catch up to stop Xiu Yuan.Si Ning could not believe that Xiu Yuan with his big robes was running towards him, he h
Si Ning raised his hands to allow Ah Dai to tie his belt. He had woken up since dawn but didn't make any move to get out of bed only for him to finally stood up when Ah Dai came in to wake him up for him to get ready to attend the court assembly, even though he doesn't have enough time to soak for long in the bathtub yet he made sure to wash up and even completed his face routine then he allowed Ah Dai to dress him nicely even though his uniform was the same with the rest of the Officials and Generals yet he wanted to stand out and look nice because he would be seeing Xiu Zhicheng, he was still annoyed that Xiu Zhicheng left him to have dinner with his Concubines yet he still wants to dress nicely because he would see him and he hated that part of him that wants him to dress nice only for that purpose.Ah Dai led Si Ning to take his seat and he started brushing his hair out before he started to style it into a half ponytail after adding oil to the edges then he took a gol
No matter how hard Si Ning tried to go to sleep, he was unable to sleep even after trying to empty his mind and made sure he had nothing to think about but still the picture of Xiu Zhicheng laughing with his Concubines while they fed him, drinking wine kept coming to his mind that it was so irritating.Why am I disturbed by this?The most confusing part was that he couldn't figure out why he was disturbed by this or why he had been thinking of Xiu Zhicheng so much to the extent that he wasn't even angry for thinking about him and that was what was irritating him the most. Si Ning wasn't stupid to know that he was attracted to Xiu Zhicheng so he was going to label it as infatuation which means the only thing he needed was time for it to go then he would completely stop thinking about Xiu Zhicheng and finally go back to his daily life of not thinking about sharing affections with someone or making love to them.This thought made Si Ning smiled, giggling with a wic
'Let's meet.' Si Ning turned over the letter to see there was nothing written on the other side of the paper. Even though he knew that was there to it yet he wondered if the real meaning of the two words might be in code because it could be Qiu Bai's way to avoid any attention to be directed at them since he might be aware of their last meeting being exposed to Xiu Zhicheng. Si Ning decided to look deep into each letter after touching the paper and discovered it was just an ordinary paper yet he still tried to look carefully maybe there might be hidden words in the letters as he drew the letter closer to the candle and bent his head for a closer look but after reading it and considering each letter trying to form what code it might mean to form a meaningful sentence and cracking his brain thinking only to end up with nothing. What sort of letter was this containing only two words, no location not even a time to meet. Without hesitation, Si Ning
Si Ning was a bit confused when Ah Dai didn’t make any announcement of Xiu Zhicheng arriving ,he only walked in and closed the door behind him then bowed before heading to light up the lanterns in the room without glancing at Si Ning.This was Ah Dai’s routine every evening when the sunset, he would come into the room to light the lanterns and candles then after he would ask what Si Ning wanted to eat so he could start preparing it so that Si Ning would be able to eat and go to bed early. Since it was a normal occurrence Si Ning didn’t say a word and only watched him while he tried not to wear a disappointed look.When Ah was done, he moved closer to Si Ning and reached inside his sleeve bringing out what seemed like a letter, and stretched out his hand to hand it over to him."Hmm Is that from the Emperor?" Si Ning asked blandly even though he was itching to grab it to quickly read what was written in it, instead he folded his hands and raised
Si Ning stood in front of the mirror checking his face and hair, he nodded as he slightly touched his hairpin, satisfied with how perfect his face and hair was but that wasn’t the reason he was standing in front of the mirror, the problem was with his attire and his indecisive mind so he started turning over and over, checking his robes from his neck down to his feet then suddenly he felt ridiculous as he removed his outer robe and almost run-up to the wardrobe immediately yanking the door opened and quickly threw the outer robe in like he couldn’t wait to get rid of it before closing the door with a satisfied expression and nodded, his hand akimbo before walking back to the table to take his seat.After some time of staring into space, it dawned on him what he just did then he looked down at his robes and he felt like what he was wearing was not presentable enough and Xiu Zhicheng mustn’t see him like that so he stood up to stand in front of the mirror to c
Si Ning withdrew his hand from Xiu Zhicheng’s hold due to the shock and weight of Xiu Zhicheng’s statement. He was trying to have power equal to the Emperor and Xiu Zhicheng announcing to make him the Empress was just the answer to it all but if Xiu Zhicheng takes half of his army to join the Imperial family army, even after marrying the Emperor and becoming part of the Imperial family doesn’t mean he was really part of the Xiu family and he would have no control over the Imperial army which means he would become crippled. It was just as Xiu TianZhao said, the Imperial family were afraid of him having more power than them and the Ministers were also afraid of him having more power than them in the court.Seeing Si Ning’s reaction made Xiu Zhicheng took the hand he withdrew and held it to his chest, rubbing it slowly to gain Si Ning’s attention before using his thumb to gently rubbed Si Ning’s eyebrows in a way to make Si Ning stop frowning.
Si Ning could feel his face heating up because of Xiu Zhicheng that had been staring at him and wasn’t even trying to hide it, this made Si Ning unable to look at him and to avoid meeting Xiu Zhicheng’s eyes, he stared at the kettle instead like it was an interesting piece of item that he was almost counting the flower patterns imprinted on it.For Xiao Pei to bring tea instead of Ah Dai was something Si Ning expected because Ah Dai does act timid and was self-conscious about his arm even though Si Ning never cared about that because Ah Dai had been doing his job perfectly after promising not to strain his prosthetic arm and not bringing tea must have been his way of preventing being an eyesore to Xiu Zhicheng but looking at Xiu Zhicheng, Si Ning doesn’t think the Emperor would mind about something like that, after all Ah Dai losing an arm doesn’t make him less human. Si Ning also planed to take Ah Dai along with him when he moves to the palace because