The Emperor looked at Lei Xing's confused face and sighed, "Come sit down."
Lei Xing hesitantly walked forward. Looking at the setting in the pavilion, she quickly realized that this was definitely the wrong setting.
The Emperor was sitting on a cushion with a table in front of him, and another cushion was set on the other side of the table. He was holding a book and on the table were several scrolls. As Lei Xing sat down, she did not know whether to laugh or cry.
{...Xiao Ruo! I am going to kill you! T_T)...This looks look like a study session NOT a make-out session! What the hell?! >_<)...}
Lei Xing lowered her eyes, avoiding eye contact and feeling incredibly embarrassed. After a while of the Emperor not saying anything, Lei Xing pulled her eyes up and caught him staring at her and quickly lowered her head, feeling even more embarrassed.
She then used her hands to brush her hair to the front to drape over her chest. Then she heard the Emperor snort and then chuckle. Lei Xing clenched her fists in her lap, suppressing the urge to break something.
{...I feel like a freaking idiot right now!... That girl is so fired!... Okay, maybe not. BUT I'm never listening to her again! T_T)...}
"So do you have any questions?" The Emperor asked smiling at Lei Xing, who did not look up and simply mumbled, "No."
"Did you read the book?"
Lei Xing blinked.
{...Book? What bo- Shit! I forgot about that...So that's what I'm doing here. It is a study session and I forgot my freaking homework. Great -_-)...}
Lei Xing glanced up at the Emperor, who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, and then she awkwardly answered, "I apologize. I got sidetracked."
Then she thought for a bit and suggested, "Since this is the case, let's reschedule the lesson for another day, I will definitely be sure to be properly prepared...How about tomorrow?"
The Emperor dropped the book on the table and said, "It's fine...I'll just summarize."
Lei Xing inwardly groaned. The Emperor then began to explain the art of meditation while Lei Xing was just frowning at the book on the table, which she realized was another copy of the book he gave her.
"Any questions?" The Emperor paused and asked. Lei Xing looked up at him, quietly for a while and then said, "You don't have to do all this, you know. If it's j-"
"Read this." The Emperor cut her off with a smile, handing a scroll over to her.
Lei Xing let out a slight sigh, took the scroll, opened it, and went ahead to read, while occasionally stealing glances at the Emperor, who was reading another scroll.
"Read." The Emperor said after Lei Xing's nth glance. Lei Xing immediately looked down at the scroll, knitting her brows, and stopped looking up.
{...I'm confused, very confused -_-)'...Does he really have nothing better to do?...}
"Focus." The Emperor added.
Lei Xing jumped, raised the scroll and quickly started reading with a disgruntled frown.
After she finished, he asked her to explain what she understood. Lei Xing explained, and then the Emperor smiled and nodded, "As anticipated, you have a great capacity for learning."
Lei Xing was greatly pleased, restraining the urge to break out in a wide grin, "Thank you for the praise."
{...You, my friend, have great vision hahaha...}
"Here." He said, handing her the one he just read.
Lei Xing happily took it, read it, and then explained. Then simply waited for her praise. This time though, he simply handed her another one without looking up from the one he was reading.
She frowned as she took it, her disgruntled mood returned. After going through this a few times, Lei Xing became increasingly annoyed and covertly stared daggers at the Emperor. He was no longer saying anything or even looking her way. He was just reading, listening, and handing her scroll after scroll.
"Read."
Lei Xing disgruntedly looked down.
{...Does he have eyes on the top of his head? How the hell does he know?... Also, I don't need supervised reading. I'm not a child, neither am I your pet project -_-)...More importantly, isn't meditation is about self-discovery? Shouldn't I be sitting down, eyes shut, emptying my mind or whatever?... Do you even know what you're teaching?!...}
After Lei Xing finished and explained the one she was on and he handed her another. She frowned, took it, and then put it on the table, "I thought we were supposed to be practicing meditation?"
The Emperor calmly responded, "You can't practice what you don't understand." Still not looking at her.
Lei Xing narrowed her eyes at him, then the Emperor sighed and finally looked up at her, "Meditation is a journey of self-discovery. In your case, you are attempting to re-discover yourself. First of all, you must understand your current state of mind, the path to re-discovery lies in understanding your current self."
"And how does this reading help me understand my current self?" Lei Xing asked, unconvinced.
"It helps you understand your depth as a person." The Emperor responded, "Continue."
Lei Xing pursed her lips, picked up the scroll and opened it while mumbling under her breath, "I think I have a great enough understanding of my current self."
{...You, on the other hand, might be a bit confused -_-)... I am skeptical of your expertise in this area and I'm starting to think I am the pilot project of y-...}
"Is that so?"
Lei Xing froze.
{...How the hell did you hear that? I didn't even hear it!...}
"...Explain your current self then."
Lei Xing looked up to find the Emperor had dropped his scroll and was looking at her, waiting for her explanation.
She nervously laughed and said, "One can always learn more."
"True, but I'm asking for you to explain your current understanding, not your future one." The Emperor said, narrowing his eyes at her.
{...I need to saw off my mouth! >_<)...}
After glancing around trying to figure out an answer, her eyes settled back on the Emperor, and then she said, "A person..." That was all she could think of.
Apparently, the Emperor wanted more details as he raised an eyebrow at her when she stopped there. Lei Xing looked off to the side and then looked back at him, smiled and then said, "...needs to meditate on that. I will continue to read." She picked up the scroll and looked down, wanting to bury her head in it.
The Emperor blinked, looked at her for a while, then laughed. Lei Xing lowered her head even further in embarrassment.
{...Today is really not my day. It's one embarrassment after another T_T)...}
When the Emperor finally stopped laughing. He looked at the top of Lei Xing's head, which was what he was faced with since she had buried her face so far down in embarrassment. He could also see the top of her ears, which had gone red.
He smiled as he remembered the same thing happened after her qin performance during the competition. Anyone with basic knowledge of the qin could tell she had little to no idea of how to play. Yet she proudly played it, then stood there and confidently called it her composition and defended it.
He had found it amusing until his mother purposely set out to embarrass her by asking her to play a second piece. He watched her confidently and calmly sit down despite having no clue of proper play, ready to play what was probably another one of her compositions.
He had thought her to be conceited and brazen and did not feel a need to interfere. Then he noticed her crimson ears, which betrayed her confident demeanor. In the end, seeing that, he could not help interfering.
{...Thinking back on it, she did put in quite a lot of effort in defending her creations for someone who intended to fail. She probably couldn't stand being shamed, so she made up for what she lacked with her brilliant words. Even in failure, dignity must remain...}
The Emperor then frowned when he recalled his brother's behavior during the competition. Then he sighed and kept looking at her.
{...Proud, intelligent, astute, confident, level-headed, strong-minded...Someone who doesn't show weakness even when she deservingly should...Humorous too...Truly a perfect fit...}
"You have quite the adorable personality." The Emperor suddenly commented.
"Huh?" Lei Xing looked up to find him smiling at her, she immediately looked back down with a frown.
{...Ado-? I am NOT adorable! Xiao Ting is adorable, I am -... am Me! Are your eyes dysfunctional or is it your brain?! Have some respect!... This guy keeps looking down on me. I am in no way ado-...}
Lei Xing blanked when she suddenly felt herself being pulled off the ground. The scroll dropped from her hands, and before she could process what was happening, she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist, and cool fingers glide over her face and her neck. Then she felt a warm, soft touch on her lips. It was a short fleeting kiss. Lei Xing seemed frozen and blankly stared at him.
The Emperor gently looked at Lei Xing's reddening face and wide eyes looked up at him and smiled. Before Lei Xing could recover from her shock, he kissed her again, pulling her even closer to him with a soft, gentle lingering kiss.
Lei Xing blinked a few times and then instinctively closed her eyes as well. This was a wholly foreign sensation... but not a bad one it seemed.
~Thank You for Reading, Please Comment Below~
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