"They're going to come tonight", Long Jie and Li Xi Rui are now sitting leisurely in the Jian palace. It had been several days since the spy heard their conversation in the tea pavilion.
"Why did it takes this long for them to act? It doesn't feel right", Li Xi Rui frowned.
Watching that small attractive face frowned, Long Jie extended his arm and smooth out the knitted eyebrows. "En..Catch the small fry first to lure the mastermind", he retracted his hand. These few days, what hadn't he do? Holding hands? Of course everyday! Whispering sweet nothings? Definitely! Even in front of the probing eyes. Eating all kind of tofu? Sure! Sometimes he could even hear the left prime minister gritted his teeth in annoyance.
"Long Jie is right. These kind of thing is better if it's not rushed", Li Xi Rui stared back at his face. 'He truly is good looking. If only...', Li Xi Rui shakes her head. It's better if she didn't think about that other prince. Did she regret loving him? Yes! Why wouldn't she? No matter who it is, they deserved to be loved and not being dumped after he found someone better. The least he could do is tell her the truth PRIVATELY! But no, he just dumped her in front of the ministers and ruined her reputation!
Realising Li Xi Rui is distracted, Long Jie moved to her side and sit beside her. Slowly his hand snakes around her waist from her back.
"What..a..re..yo..u...", Li Xi Rui startled.
"Shh... the Bai siblings are coming", he whispered. Li Xi Rui looked at the direction of the door and surely the Bai siblings emerged from the large door. She put her head at his chest and start acting. Actually at first, she refused to act in front of their trusted one but Long Jie said, they couldn't take a chance. If this plan failed, there might be an even better danger. Their family and friends might be affected too. So, she decided to scarifice. Sacrifice her tofu to be eaten everyday.
"It seems like this is a bad time, Qi Qi. Our famous couple is now in need of privacy the most!", Bai Wu Chen smiled. What hadn't he see? He saw everything till he almost turned blind! QiQi's face turned scarlet. 'My sister is truly adorable. Just from seeing this she could be as red as a tomato', he pinched Qi Qi's cheek. Qi Qi pouted. Bai Wu Chen might look like a gentle and calm scholar, but when he is in the presence of his sister, he would do a complete 180˚ and become a sister fool.
Scrambling from Long Jie's embraced, Li Xi Rui acted shy, "Oh! QiQi, Wu Chen, I...". Before Li Xi Rui could finished her words, Long Jie pull her back in his arms.
"Xi Rui, isn't it too late to act embarrassed? Besides, Wu Chen and QiQi wouldn't mind. Right?", Long Jie asked the siblings. And of course the siblings nodded. Of course they wouldn't mind. What should they say? The master of the house himself didn't feel embarrassed, then them as guests shouldn't say anything either.
Falling back to the warm embraced, Li Xi Rui could only calmed her beating heart. Even if Long Jie didn't mind, she still feel awkward.
Long Jie tightened his arm around her and kiss her temple. Her smell lingering in the air. He felt calm. That night, their enemy will start their plan, but of course Long Jie had already prepared all the necessary counter attack. His future wife also contributed to the plan. Her brilliance really made him proud. What- woman fall from grace? His future consort is so smart that she would make a good strategist!
Surrendering to her fate, she let him hold her. It's comfortable anyway. The sound around her started to diminish till she could hear nothing. She had fallen asleep in his embrace. Looking at the small woman sleeping in his arms, Long Jie didn't want to let go. So he hold her till the sun almost go down.
"Emperor! This lowly prefect had been set up! This is what the prime minister and minister Lu had planned together!", Prefect Wei slammed his head on the floor. What dignity? Now he should save his head first. Making a false charge on a minister is not a small crime!
Long Jie woke up from his daydream. 'Ah~ right, I have this matter to solve before the big favor', he realized.
"How could a prefect like you didn't do an investigation before making a false charge?!", the crown prince taking the que to defend the left prime minister. He thought he still had a chance to make Li Xi Rui entered the palace. What he had heard from eunuch Rong regarding his brother and Li xi Rui didn't sit well with him. He couldn't just let his brother to take advantage of this situation.
"Father emperor, please let this prince to make a cross examination and put forward some evidence", Long Jie pleaded. He didn't see Long Qing's glares.
"You may proceed!", Emperor give his consent.
Walking up to the young prefect, Long Jie said, " Prefect Wei claimed the prime minister Li had been embezzling fund from the treasury?".
Prefect Wei nodded.
Taking the said evidence in hand, Long Jie opened the blue book. "Minister Lu, does these books came from the ministry of Revenue?". He handed the account books to minister Lu.
Carefully, minister Lu read the part where it stated a transaction to the left prime minister. "This.. this minister had never seen this book before. See this seal over here? Since this minister had take over the head position of the Ministry, the seal had been change. You could see this part of the seal is from the new seal. If these books are from the previous head of ministry, then it should have the old seal marked", minister Lu explained.
"Then, where is the old seal?", Long jie questions the minister.
"Naturally, the old seal would be destroyed", he replied politely to the second prince.
Looking at the young prefect face, the once pale face now become even more pale. The hand starts trembling.
"Then Minister Lu, explains to us why is your jade had been found on the corpse? Did you perhaps.. did it?" Long Jie starts to question the minister again. This matter must be resolved today so he could collect his payment. Ah~ he couldn't wait to meet his beloved!