Chapter 10: You have to be cold-blooded towards your enemies
With a wave of his hand, Grand Preceptor Xie dismissed the two guards behind Ning Xiaoyao. Though Ning Xiaoyao hadn't publicized her intentions, they were still effective against Grand Preceptor Xie. The Xie Clan had stolen the dragon with the shifting winds by placing a female on the emperor’s throne. A crime like this wasn't something they could afford to expose. Even without the populace seeking their deaths, the various princes of the palace would be enough to eat their family alive.
Ning Xiaoyao didn't trust Grand Preceptor Xie’s ethics and said, “Don't lie to me anymore, or else I'll keep undressing.”
“You,” Grand Preceptor Xie seriously wanted to ask why she was being so shameless. Did young ladies undress themselves in the streets?!
Ning Xiaoyao pointed at the crowd beneath the platform and said, “Make your move.”
“His Majesty decrees,” Grand Preceptor Xie had no choice but to face the crowd. “That Lou Zigui be escorted back to the justice cou...”
“That Lou Zigui be escorted back to the palace,” Ning Xiaoyao interrupted. She didn't really understand classical Chinese, but she knew there was no way the emperor’s palace was called the justice palace. She finally managed to save this guy, so how could she be at ease unless he was right beneath her eyes?
“How could we escort an outsider male into the emperor’s palace?” Grand Preceptor Xie gave Ning Xiaoyao a gloomy face.
If not, then I'm undressing.” Ning Xiaoyao’s words were the same as before.
At this moment, Grand Preceptor Xie was utterly discomfited. He thought he'd raised a rabbit, but who knew that this rabbit could eat people?! Such was his current state of mind...
“Why are you still aiming your weapon at me?” Ning Xiaoyao asked one of the archers off the platform.
The archer trembled before his hands slackened, dropping his bow and arrow to the ground. He promptly knelt down for Ning Xiaoyao, his action reminding everyone else that this was the current Son of Heaven atop the platform. There was the sound of rustling robes as everyone recovered their senses, knelt on the ground, and starting reciting blessings for the emperor for tens of thousands of years.
Ning Xiaoyao wasn’t used to this kind of spectacle and shifted to one side, only to realize she couldn’t avoid anyone on this platform. Thus, she stood in place and turned towards Fang Tang. “Bring the Supreme Commander back home, no, back to the palace with us.”
Fang Tang and the rest were all standing stock-still with no reaction to Ning Xiaoyao’s words. Everything had changed too fast for them to process it. Ning Xiaoyao could only run to Lou Zigui herself. His current expression was wooden, his gaze still dark. Who knew what he was thinking of? Ning Xiaoyao checked Lou Zigui’s injuries. Mm, although he was still covered in blood, her treatment had long stopped the bleeding.
Right now, Lou Zigui couldn’t describe what he was feeling. He had gone from Earth to the depths of Hell and back again. All of the changes had brought him happiness, anger, grief, and joy--the gamut of human feeling--in spite of himself. He had no time to prepare, much less accept these feelings. By the time Lou Zigui felt his legs leaving the ground and looked up, he finally realized that the little emperor had picked him up.
Fang Tang and the rest felt their lips twitch. They never thought the Supreme Commander would be carried like this one day, much less that the the skinny-as-a-bamboo-pole emperor could possess so much strength.
“You,” Lou Zigui had never been carried like a woman before. His face turned red as he tried to get out of Ning Xiaoyao’s hold, but he was too weak now to struggle. How could Ning Xiaoyao understand Supreme Commander Lou’s currently awkward feelings? Holding him in a princess carry, Ning Xiaoyao ran off the execution platform and looked left and right before her eyes settled on a carriage parked nearby.
“That carriage isn’t bad, we’ll requisition it for now,” she said to Fang Tang.
Fang Tang glanced at the carriage in question and felt his lip twitch again. This was the Grand Preceptor’s carriage. His Majesty not only snatched a man from right under the Grand Preceptor’s nose, but a carriage as well? Wait, Fang Tang paused to think, Something about that doesn’t sound right...[1. snatched a man...a carriage - Not sure of the joke, but usually ‘snatching’ a person from someone usually refers to snatching away their lovers or wives. Considering that Ning Xiaoyao’s even carrying Lou Zigui princess-styled...well. :3]
“That’s the Grand Preceptor’s carriage,” one of the generals spoke up.
Ning Xiaoyao felt that this was even better. Now she didn’t even have to pay a rental fee for the carriage. After all, you had to be cold-blooded and relentless towards your enemies. Not only did she refuse to pay, she liked this tall, wide carriage and its strong horses enough to appropriate it for herself!