A Thousand Life Times

Chapter 6: Xiao'Hei

"Your Highness, the people would feel uneasy with this sudden change. Please think about the people. We beg you to reconsider!"

"My words remain, if you question me any further then you don't have to show up in court starting tomorrow."

"Your Highness!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Miss...Qin...Miss..Qin?"

Waking up from her daze, Qin Ruisheng finally returned her eyes to the book she was reading, a quiet smile on her lips.

"Hmn, the Great Empress Murong who brought the Empire to it's glory. It's a historical legend but it's not as romantic as the book portrayed. Empress Murong fought for the good of the common people, eradicating the monopoly on salt and grain trade but that change started a civil war amongst the high nobles and businessmen."

"How do you know that?"

A deep voice interrupted their conversation.

"You speak as though you were living in the moment and saw everything happen with your own two eyes."

Qin Ruisheng coughed lightly, quickly steering the topic away,

"I-i've just read many iterations of this history book. Ehem, what are you doing here at this hour?"

There was a lot of things Hei Jinyu had to take care of before they returned.

So in the past few days, Qin Ruisheng hadn't seen even a glimpse of his shadow.

The outcome of the battle was obvious, the remaining bandits still fought till their last breath but the end was as predetermined from the start. The body of Turu Yan was retrieve along with Wangmo who had been taken captive. The battle was over and the bandits were completely wiped out.

It was a marvelous victory for the Nine Tailed Battalion army, their feat in battle was soon spread widely.

Within weeks, the capital had heard of the victory and the emperor personally called for the army to return to the capital and their stay at Nianji town was over.

"We're leaving earlier tomorrow morning. I came to let you know that the timing had shifted."

'...he came all the way to tell me this? Couldn't he have sent someone?'

Closing the book shut, Qin Ruisheng stood up, shifting slightly to put the book back.

"I got it."

She could feel his eyes following her back as he stood there in silence. His presence took up the entire room, leaving one unable to breathe.

"Is there anything else?"

It seemed as if he wanted to say something but his lips merely parted slightly before he pressed them shut again. After that he simply turned and left.

The two maids by her side didn't dare to lift their head the entire time and only after he left did they finally relax their tensed shoulder.

"Miss Qin, please drink the medicine before you sleep."

Ah'Yan urged her as she brought the warm bowl of soup forward. It was only after seeing Hei Jinyu that they were reminded what they were doing before they got lost in their chatter on the Great history of Empress Murong.

Qin Ruisheng had been drenched in the cold rain the other day, listening to Hei Jinyu give out his commands and watching the entire show unfold, in the end she had caught a cold and even though she had mostly recovered, they didn't dare play with chances.