Chapter 99

The announcement from the eunuch surprised Chu Tiankuo as he did not know why Tang Xia would want to meet him at this time.

“Did she tell you why she wants to meet me?” Chu Tiankuo asked. As he was editing the memorial to the throne, he did not want to waste his time.

“Well…” The eunuch shook his head.

“I don’t know. Her Grace did not tell me.” Yue Ji had asked the eunuch to announce to His Majesty that she wanted to meet him so urgently that the eunuch had forgotten to ask her the reason in wanting to meet the emperor.

The eunuch felt quite perturbed by this omission on his part and hoped that His Majesty would not punish him.

“Alright.” Chu Tiankuo waved his hand, looking at the memorials to the throne that he had not read yet. Then he said, “Tell Yue Ji that I have some memorials to the throne to deal with.

“If she has something urgent to tell me, she can come in now. If not, I’ll meet her when I finish my work.”

Chu Tiankuo thought his emphasis should always be on state affairs, so he decided he would finish his work first if Tang Xia had nothing urgent.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The eunuch obeyed and closed the door as he left the room.

Tang Xia who had been waiting for a long time, walked forward immediately as soon as she saw the eunuch coming out.

“Eunuch, what did His Majesty say? Is he willing to see me?”

After she finished her sentence, she looked about her. Then she took out a silk bag and gave it to the eunuch quickly as there was no one around.

It was quite necessary to grease the palms of these eunuchs and palace maids in the imperial palace. People would agree to help those they owe, right? So Tang Xia would not be afraid that people would refuse to help her as they had gained many benefits from her.

Not knowing what was in the silk bag, the eunuch caught it due to his conditioned reflexes. Then he weighed the silk bag in hand and found it a little heavy.

So he knew what it contained. Now that Tang Xia had given it to him, he would be happy to accept it.

The eunuch put the silk bag into his sleeve and pretended to say perplexedly to Tang Xia, “Your Grace, I have told His Majesty what you said, but His Majesty said…”

“What did he say?” Tang Xia asked hurriedly.

“His Majesty is editing memorials to the throne. He asked whether it is something urgent.”

As the eunuch said this, he raised his head to check Tang Xia’s look. Noticing that Tang Xia was not angry, he added, “If it is not urgent, please wait for His Majesty to finish his work.”

“I have nothing urgent.”

Knowing that Chu Tiankuo was editing the memorials of the throne, Tang Xia did not want to interrupt his work as she did not want to be the imperial concubine who brought calamity to the country. So she decided to wait until Chu Tiankuo finished his work.

“So how many memorials of the throne does His Majesty need to edit?”

Tang Xia thought it would be wise to know the number first. She could come back next time if there were still many memorials of the throne left.

The eunuch recalled what he had seen on the desk before he left, with his head tilted to one side and answered,

“Only four or five memorials to the throne are left, Your Grace. Do you want to wait for His Majesty until he finishes his work? I’ll let His Majesty know that now…”

“Four or five memorials to the throne? It seems that it is not too many…”

Tang Xia nodded her head and made her decision.

“I’ll wait for him. Please let His Majesty know.”

It was wise to treat others politely, so Tang Xia’s attitude towards the eunuch was quite good even though she was an imperial concubine.

“It is my pleasure, Your Grace.”

After bowing to Tang Xia, the eunuch went into the room again. Tang Xia who had nothing to do, had no choice but to wander around, waiting for Chu Tiankuo until he finished his work. And the eunuch came close to Chu Tiankuo after he got into the room.

“What did she say?” Chu Tiankuo asked in a low voice, when he heard the approaching footsteps.

“Yue Ji said she had nothing urgent so she will wait for you until you finish your work, Your Majesty.”

“I see.” Chu Tiankuo nodded and asked, “Where is she now?”

“Yue Ji is waiting outside the room. Please hurry and finish your work so that Yue Ji can meet you soon, Your Majesty.” Then the eunuch glanced at the desk and found there were still three or four memorials to the throne left.

“Well, you are right.”

Chu Tiankuo agreed with the eunuch as he thought it would be tiring for Tang Xia to wait outside the room. He did not want her to wait too long.

So Chu Tiankuo buried his head in the memorials to the throne. After almost half an hour, he finished his work.

“It’s done. Let Yue Ji in.” Chu Tiankuo ordered.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The eunuch obeyed and left.

“Your Grace, His Majesty asks that you go in.” The moment the eunuch got out, he found that Tang Xia was hovering near the doorway, “Your Grace, please follow me.”

“Alright.” Tang Xia went into the room, following behind the eunuch.

While the eunuch asked Tang Xia to get into the room, Chu Tiankuo arranged the memorials to the throne neatly on the desk. When he raised his head, Tang Xia stood in front of him with a smile, “Greetings, Your Majesty.”

“Rise. Why are you here?” Chu Tiankuo asked.

“Nothing, actually.”

After she bowed to Chu Tiankuo, Tang Xia stood up, “I thought it is so tiring for you to deal with state affairs every day. So I want to ask you to come with me to the Royal Garden so that you can relax and enjoy the great scenery.”

Enjoying the scenery was the secondary reason. The most important thing was that she needed to pull off the show of ‘a beauty saved the hero’.

Lyuyou was lurking in the Royal Garden, so what Tang Xia needed to do was to guide Chu Tiankuo there.

“Sure.” Chu Tiankuo felt happy about Tang Xia’s concern. He stood up and walked toward Tang Xia with a smile. Then he held Tang Xia’s hand naturally,

“I do feel tired after editing so many memorials to the throne, it will be good for me to go out for a walk.” Chu Tiankuo turned his head around and said to the eunuch, “Arrange the carriage for me. Let’s go to the Royal Garden.”

Tang Xia stopped the eunuch before he could speak, “Wait!”

As Chu Tiankuo and the eunuch looked enquiringly at Tang Xia, Tang Xia wore an embarrassed smile and said, “I just want to spend some time with you only, Your Majesty. There is no need to bring other servants. Is that ok?”

“As you wish.” Tang Xia’s coquetry made Chu Tiankuo feel so satisfied that he acceded to her request immediately.

As planned, Tang Xia and Chu Tiankuo went to the Royal Garden without any servants.

As Tang Xia enjoyed the scenery, she guided Chu Tiankuo calmly to the place where Lyuyou was lurking.

“Look at that, Your Majesty. That flower is so beautiful.” Tang Xia said, trying to distract Chu Tiankuo’s attention.

“Absolutely.”

Chu Tiankuo agreed with Tang Xia’s words and looked at the flower pointed out by Tang Xia, not noticing that Tang Xia had gestured towards Lyuyou.

Lyuyou obeyed and shot an arrow in the direction of Chu Tiankuo.

The silver arrow flew towards Tang Xia and Chu Tiankuo with a ‘whooshing’ sound. As Tang Xia reached out to intercept the arrow, Chu Tiankuo’s reaction was faster than hers.

Chu Tiankuo held Tang Xia into his arms and pushed her aside before the arrow could hit her in the back.

“Are you ok? Are you hurt?” Chu Tiankuo released Tang Xia and asked in a tense tone.

“No, I’m fine.” Tang Xia’s face turned white with fear. What shocked her was not the arrow but the moment when Chu Tiankuo held her in his arms.

“Are you out of your mind? Why did you stand in front of me? What should I do if the arrow hits you? Do you think I cannot avoid it?”

Chu Tiankuo was a little angry as Tang Xia did not seem to cherish her life. In the meantime, he was also moved because he did not expect that Tang Xia was willing to protect him while risking her own life.

“It is my pleasure to die for you, Your Majesty.”

It would have been impossible to die as Tang Xia intended to push Chu Tiankuo to the ground. So the arrow would not hurt her. Tang Xia was not that stupid to lose her life to ‘rescue anyone’. Besides, it was an ‘accident’ planned by her, how could she possibly get hurt?

But she forgot that Chu Tiankuo was an indefinite factor. “Ah! What a mistake!”

Tang Xia was mentally complaining that Chu Tiankuo did not play by the conventional plot in her mind as she intended to complete the show of ‘a beauty saved the hero’. However, Chu Tiankuo helped her avoid the arrow, which was quite the opposite situation.

“I need to do it again.”

As Tang Xia thought of this, she winked at Lyuyou. Lyuyou was a little hesitant, but she decided to shoot another arrow.

Chu Tiankuo was confident that the assassin would definitely leave since he had failed the first time. However, another arrow flew towards them.

Chu Tiankuo did not react in time this round, so Tang Xia brought Chu Tiankuo down successfully before they got hurt.

As Tang Xia brought Chu Tiankuo down, their position was quite ambiguous—Tang Xia was on top of Chu Tiankuo while Chu Tiankuo was holding her waist.

“Your Majesty, are you alright?” Tang Xia blushed. Then she distangled herself from Chu Tiankuo and got off him quickly.

After Tang Xia stood up, she helped Chu Tiankuo to stand up, too. Chu Tiankuo replied, “I’m fine.”

What had happened was too odd—according to convention, the assassin should leave after the first failure, but this assassin was too bold.

That was the reason why Chu Tiankuo did not react in time.

But, it seemed that something went wrong.

Tang Xia had stood in front of him when the first arrow came. It would have hit Tang Xia if he had not reacted quickly.

And Tang Xia brought him down when the second arrow came. How did Tang Xia know that the assassin would shoot another arrow at that time? In other words, did Tang Xia conspire with the assassin?

Chu Tiankuo felt a little embarrassed and looked at Tang Xia suspiciously. Then he asked, “Yue Ji, are you trying hard to get close to me?”