Circumventing Fate 59 - Limbo

Doctor Lou was making his way out of the palace, with Ah Jin as his guide.

"You're still going the wrong way." Ah Jin advised beside Doctor Lou.

They had been walking about randomly for a long while now and were not getting any closer to the gates. She tried to advise him, but he declined and insisted he knew the way.

"I know where I'm going." Doctor Lou swiftly responded.

"But -"

"Shh." Doctor Lou responded, putting a finger to his lips and then he smiled and continued walking.

Then he spotted Prince Yi, who happened to be coming towards his direction. Doctor Lou squinted at him, staring straight at him as they closed the distance.

Prince Yi noticed Doctor Lou's stare and slightly knit his brows, but faced forward, ignoring the old man's behavior.

As they passed by each other, Ah Jin stopped and bowed, while Doctor Lou went, "Hmph!" put his nose up in the air and kept walking.

Prince Yi frowned as he did that and stopped in his tracks, "Stop."

Doctor Lou seemed not to hear and kept walking.

Prince Yi narrowed his eyes and flatly said, "I'm talking to you, old man."

Doctor Lou then stopped and turned with a hand holding his beard, "What do you want?"

Prince Yi raised an eyebrow, "Don't you know to show respect?"

 "Tch, all these little children keep getting on my nerves lately...you'd think they'd at least respect the beard..." Doctor Lou quietly grumbled while stroking his beard and looking off to the side.

Prince Yi frowned and then said, "Are you blind? Can't you see t-"

"Ahhh yes, you see, my eyes have gotten really bad with age so one can conclude me blind." Doctor Lou interjected, yawning and nodding in the process.

"Do you not know who you're talking to?" Prince Yi asked in a stern voice.

"We've already established that I'm blind, are you trying to make fun of me by asking that?" Doctor Lou grumbled while massaging his ear.

"Are you playing with me?" Prince Yi's frown deepened.

Doctor Lou sighed and then said, "You're the one who stopped me here. So if someone is playing..." He paused, glanced at Prince Yi and shrugged.

 Prince Yi glared at him. Doctor Lou saw that he was being glared at, and so took a step back then cleared his throat, "Ah, I should mention, I have friends in high places..." Then he started counting his fingers.

"There's those two drunkards and that brooding brat...I guess the bothersome brat can also be counted toooo..." He dragged out the last word as he looked Prince Yi from head to toe.

"...Ah, there's that adorably- well, that's complicated ...Hmm, maybe that killjoy can be counted too - but our relationship has been quite tense lately, we're sort of opposing parties, you know different visions and clashes, like rivals, a very annoying one too, always, always getting in my way..." Doctor Lou rambled on, going off track.

Then he took a deep breath and returned to his friend count, " ...Ah, there's also a Noble consort and yes, even the Emperor...by default, but yes, I am friends with the Emperor. I'm just letting you know." Doctor Lou finished straightening his back and stroking his beard.

Prince Yi listened to Doctor Lou's rambling with increasing irritation. When he heard the last sentence, he was taken aback. Then he glanced towards Ah Jin and then looked back at Doctor Lou with a raised eyebrow.

{...So that's what he was getting at? No wonder I felt she looked somewhat familiar...Friend?... Even the "Emperor"? Is this some sort of joke...}

 Prince Yi fisted his hands, Doctor Lou looked at him warily and then sighed, "Okay, okay I concede..." Then he lightly nodded his head in greeting, and then looked up to see Prince Yi's deepening frown.

Doctor Lou then explained, "Ah you see, I'm very old...so my back...but if you insist, I can get on my knees. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ahhh..." He loudly exclaimed as he slowly lowered a knee, while shooting Prince Yi an exaggerated aggrieved pained look.

The guards stationed at a distance, who were observing the scene were lowering their heads or looking away in disagreement. From a distance, it looked like Prince Yi was bullying this poor, white-haired old man by demanding he get on his knees.

Prince Yi's eyes darted around, and then he faced forward and angrily stormed off.

Doctor Lou stopped as soon as Prince Yi turned, "Tch, stupid children..." Then he waved towards Ah Jin, "Hurry, come help me up. I'm stuck, oh my poor back."

Ah Jin sighed and went to help straighten him. Doctor Lou squinted at her, "Why are you looking at me like that? What did I do?"

Ah Jin shook her head in response, then Doctor Lou raised his head, "Better! Let's go, I've lost a lot of daylight being here...How tiring." He said, yawning again, and then resumed walking.

When they finally arrived at the palace gates, Doctor Lou turned to Ah Jin, "Tell Xing Xing that I will be going away for a while. Not to worry, it won't be for too long. I'll send her a message when I return. I'm going." After saying this, he sauntered out the gates.

***

The whole palace was in an uproar because of the Empress dowager's illness.

After her initial hysteria, she ended up passing out. It had been two days, and she still had not regained consciousness. The doctors have not been able to figure out any cause for this illness.

What was even more perplexing for the doctors was that she seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but on checking her pulse, it was extremely irregular and seemed to be going through phases of extreme highs and lows at different intervals.

With her strange condition, they suspected that it may be poison, and so investigations were started.

The entire palace was searched for anything suspicious. Of course, the imperial wives were also searched as well.

One concubine was actually found with some poisonous materials in her possession, to her detriment. So she was dragged off to be interrogated. Even though it is unlikely that she would have had the opportunity to poison the Empress dowager, just being caught with that in your possession on its own is normally enough for a great deal of trouble.

With all this going on, the atmosphere in the palace has been very tense, and everyone has been on high alert and on their best behavior.

Since she left the Empress dowager's palace that day, Lei Xing has been biting her nails, waiting for her turn to be interrogated or maybe even arrested, considering she was right there when it all happened.

There's also the fact that she was the one who sort of led to Doctor Lou's job offer....but nothing happened to her, two days went by with no trouble. Other than the inspectors coming to search her palace, as they did the others, nothing else happened to her surprise.

This state of limbo was even more nerve-racking for her. Even though she knew she was innocent in this matter, she couldn't help feeling like they were busy amassing evidence to choke her with.

{...It's weird that no one's asking me anything...Well, maybe they don't need to? I mean, I wasn't the only one in the room, so it's really not necessary...Yes, let's be positive...Even though I mentioned him first, did I ask her to invite him? So this has absolutely nothing to do with me, Problem solved!...}

 Lei Xing firmly nodded to reassure herself and then sighed heavily.

{...It better be...Doctor Lou even skipped town, leaving me behind...What would I do if I get interrogated? I can't even fork him over...not that I readily would, but you know... Like this I don't even have any information to be tortured out of me T_T)...}

 "Is something wrong?" Li Ru asked as she watched Lei Xing's odd behavior and mood changes.

They were currently sitting in the pavilion in Lei Xing's front garden. Normally they would go relax somewhere in the Imperial garden, but Lei Xing didn't want to go anywhere.

In her mind, she needed to be here when the crows came calling, hence their choice of location for the day.

Lei Xing sighed, "It's nothing."

{...Just lamenting the trouble that I've seen T_T)...}

 "Are you worried about the Empress dowager?" Li Ru asked, looking at Lei Xing's stressed face.

Lei Xing sighed again.

{...Do I look like I have the energy to worry about anyone else right now?...}

 "Don't worry, she will be fine. The palace has the best physicians..." Li Ru tried to console her.

Lei Xing inwardly groaned.

{...I literally could not care less for that woman's condition...Actually, it will probably be better for me if she just, you know...but it's not like I'm praying for her death or anything, I'm just saying ¬_¬)...}

 "Forget about that...What were you saying again?" Lei Xing asked while refilling their teacups.

"Oh yes, you said you wanted to learn to play the qin. So I wrote an easy manual for you to remember to start up with." Li Ru said, waving a hand for her personal maid, who came forward and dropped two books on the table.

Lei Xing snorted as she looked at the thick books, "Well, you've worked very hard." She then picked up the books and flipped through them.

Li Ru had indeed worked very hard on the book, it contained detailed drawings of the qin and explanations of each string, some combinations and the essence of the sound created by each, music scores, and so on. Lei Xing nodded in appreciation as she flipped through.

{...Wow...I can sell this...}

 "You are very marketable." Lei Xing absentmindedly said.

"What?" Li Ru blinked in confusion.

Lei Xing looked up and smiled, "What I mean is this is so detailed and great. You are really very talented, you could make it big out on the streets." Lei Xing finished with a laugh.

Li Ru lowered her head, blushing and murmured, "It's not that good..."

Lei Xing laughed, "No, it really is. You and me kid, we can do great things...You with the talent, me with..." She paused, thinking, "...the talk, as your manager! We would go far!"

 "What are you saying?" Li Ru said, motioning for Lei Xing to lower her voice. Lei Xing laughed.

{...No, seriously I mean it...She will be a great asset, I should definitely cart her along with me...As long as we have some start-up capital, which I have, we can move up quick...I have nothing left but pipe dreams T-T)...}

 While Lei Xing was running through her pipe fantasy in her head, figures sauntering through the doors of her palace jerked her back to reality.

She had to blink twice to be sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

Chen You and Zhao Lan led the concubines and made their way toward the pavilion where Lei Xing and Li Ru were.

Lei Xing knit her brows and watched as the group slowly made their way over. Chen You with a satisfied smile, and Zhao Lan with a blank expression with hints of annoyance sipping through.

Chen You had summoned all the concubines to her palace and then led them to Zhao Lan's palace to "persuade" her to join them in going to visit the Empress dowager.

Zhao Lan was clear on the fact that this was Chen You's attempt at taking charge of the harem. Now with the Empress dowager's illness and with the situation not looking good, if it prolongs or better yet, if she dies, there will be a need for someone to step up and take charge of affairs.

Chen You was actively trying to prove herself for the role by organizing this and showing
"consideration and care". Zhao Lan naturally did not want to play second fiddle to anyone, but if she refused to join them, she would look even worse.

Therefore, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and join the group.

 The group finally reached the pavilion, and the concubines greeted Lei Xing and Li Ru. Lei Xing blankly stared at the group waiting for them to state their business.

It seemed the group was also waiting to be asked about their purpose because none said anything.

After a while of awkward silence, Chen You then smiled, "Jiejie, we were on our way to visit the Empress dowager to encourage her, and I thought that we should come to invite you as well...and of course, you also Noble consort Li."

"I see..." Lei Xing said with a raised eyebrow and a hint of sarcasm.

{...Really? If it were me, I would be pissed off if you interrupted my sick sleep...Frankly, I would be pissed off if you interrupted my sleep, period. You are not on my pass list no one is on that list -_-)...}

As if she read Lei Xing's thoughts, Chen You then came to sit beside Lei Xing and explained, "Jiejie, even though she can't receive us... I think that we should still go over to show concern for her and at least go over to show our support to encourage her spirit. After all, she has looked after us all for so long and has been a mother figure for us all. Simply praying for her from afar is not enough, and is not being filial or reciprocating her kindness. Who knows, maybe us being there will give her the strength to pull through."

Lei Xing looked at Chen You's earnest expression.

{...Kindness? Maybe she looked after you, but certainly not me. But I understand what you're getting at....showmanship is a great idea! Before I get accused of praying for her demise or cursing her to death or something...not that I was or anything, I'm just saying, it's something that someone else could do ¬_¬)...}

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