Emperor's Cunning Wife

"It's not mine. It's hers." Jinlong replied and recalled a distant memory.

The guard waited for him to continue but Jinlong didn't say anything further which was so frustrating. He had no choice but to ask another person.

"Who is Master referring to?" He nudged his fellow shadow guard in the arm.

"I don't know. You're asking the wrong person." His fellow guard replied and returned his attention on the one-sided battle.

"Chi-" He clicked his tongue and snuck a glance at the unconscious Young Master Gao Ling and to the stern Mo Bai. It's such a pity for Young Master Gao Ling to be drunk at this moment otherwise he would have known who was the Emperor talk about.

"Mo Bai, have this place clean up." Jinlong spoke when the one-side man hunt reached an end.

A burly man who was a head taller than Jinlong nodded shortly and led the other four men to drag the dead bodies to corner after they search each with something that could point out their identities but to their dismay they were cleaned of any marks. Mo Bai took some porcelain from inside his uniform and sprinkled some powder on the dead bodies. The corpses dissolved in a just a few seconds without leaving any traces.

Mo Bai, possessing a face that could easily be remembered amongst the crowd, thick brows like bushes, straight big pair of lips, and small strict eyes that could silence anyone, Mo Bai was appointed by Jinlong as a head of the second platoon in charge of safeguarding his safety.

Don't underestimate these five men's abilities. Although they were lacking a bit in the head, they were very proficient with close combat, swordsmanship, and ranged fights. Each shadow guard was trained under a series of course before assigning their roles.

Each one was capable of going against ten grown men.

It's just that, the other team's fighting style was unlike they usually encountered, so they were filled with temporary interest.

When the last person was taken down and immobilized under some paralyzing drugs. The black hooded leader quickly dragged the person to Jinlong.

Mo Bai took the person from him after a slight nod. He picked up some faint scent of herbs from the man.

Jinlong with Gao Ling on his shoulder strode towards the black hooded man. His thought was filled with questions.

The black hooded man perceived the questioning gaze that was on him. He waited for His Master's business partner to reach him before inquiring.

"Did your Master…"

"Did Master…"

Jinlong and he spoke at the same time. Their eyes were widened at the coincidence.

Jinlong had always been sharp and good at reading people and the man knew his personality. He was a man of few words and whenever he spoke, he never goes in a roundabout way and was straight to the point. For him to ask about the Master when he was also inquiring about his Master's situation only suggest that his Master was not in the Palace. If Master left the palace, she should headed straight towards the shop to drop some words since it was nearing the appointed time to transact with the Royal family. But the strange thing was it's been a week since he heard about her, the spies in the palace had relayed some news about the recent big fire that swallowed the Soaring Phoenix Palace, but Master didn't instruct him of anything. Then he waited for some news and the Dowager's words brought him some expectation however when he went to the temple according to the rumours he did not manage to find her whereabouts, there were some pesky flies hanging around instead surveying the supposed room where the Empress was meditating. There were no traces of his Master at all no matter how he searched every nook and cranny.

"Did Master not send words?" The man asked, his mind was troubled.

"Zhen was going to ask you the same thing." Jinlong spoke, his eyes that did not hold much expression went frostier by the seconds. Even the way he spoke wasn't that casual anymore.

"The master had not visited the shop nor sent any letters so this one had wanted to ask you personally." His spine shuddered from the coldness Jinlong was exuding. He only met Jinlong once when his Master went to settle something. But that one encounter was etched on his memory

"I don't care about her. What I want is the medicine. Have it delivered in the palace on time." The air turned rigid. Jinlong's gaze bore holes on his head.

"That's what this one wanted to discuss." The man swallowed his saliva. His voice stuttered due to the pressure. When talking to this man, one ought to be mentally strong. He didn't even raise his tone but the he could detect the man's ire and as if there were black fog surrounding him continuously pressing him to kneel.

"Don't tell me she didn't prepare it?" Jinlong said in a voice that wasn't asking but stating a fact. Half of his handsome face was covered by darkness.

The man lowered his head afraid to succ.u.mb to weight of his stare before nodding with stiffness. This man took the words he was going to say. Such terrifying discerning skills! He was overwhelmed with shock.

"Do what you must and bring it to me on 12th. Otherwise Zhen doesn't mind doing what your men did to them." He threw the dead men a glance. Those words were said in firm resolution like he was making a promise. His sharp brows knitted, his striking lips were sloped down creating a beautiful contrasting portrait of deathly tranquility.

Badump-

The man's heart beat fast at his threat. He knew that this man wasn't casually throwing some words, he meant what he said but with no clue at hand about his Master's whereabouts, he'll situation was akin to finding a needle in haystack. He really wanted to explain his difficulties but when he lifted his head…

He immediately averted his eyes and said in haste. "Yes, this one will find Master and have her concoct the medicine."

Jinlong's eyes stayed at his form for a longer time before turning around. He didn't say any word to him when he waved his hand and disappeared in the dark.

The ominous aura disappeared with Jinlong.

The black hooded man whose eyes were showing whites faltered in his steps. He was quickly assisted by one of his subordinate.

"What are we going to do?" His subordinate asked. His legs were shaking from listening to their conversation earlier.

"I already told Master that the royal family are scary people and could not be offended but she didn't listen to what I said and even left me hanging on the tiger's mouth." He complained his hearts out, cursing as much as he could, exploiting his Master's absence.

"Hey, if Master heard you, she will send you on a dirty errand again." His subordinate said in a voice where only two of them could hear.

"Then let her hear me. It's better for me to be sent on an errand again away from the Royal family's wrath."

The Master's punishment compared to the Royal family was much better.

"So what now?" His subordinate asked again glancing at his brothers at arms.

The man steadied himself and gazed at the distance. His expression turned serious "We'll have to ask him help."

The subordinate was startled. His throat bobbed. "Do you want us to get killed?"

"Being killed by him or dying under the royal family's blade. It's just a matter of choosing a resting place. With him at least he will take Master's face into consideration and have our corpse be buried, but with the royal family. We'll have incomplete corpses with no burial ground."

The nine men heard his ill-omened words and each looked at each other before lunging themselves on the leader.

The leader seeing his men got all emotional, started to shed some helpless tears.

His men soon followed and also bawled staining their hoods with drops of tears. "Leader!"