Of Soil And Sovereign

Xuan was in his study reviewing scrolls when he heard his chief eunuch announcing the arrival of Su Rui and Liu Chen, he sighed holding his forehead, it looked like his troubles today came in pairs, previously it was his senior concubine and her oily soup throwing herself at him while making it seem that she was here because she was worried about his "dragon body" and it took him a while to get rid of her and as he got a headache from her incense and now that he was finally relieved this two trouble show up again.

It seemed they come together nowadays, putting on a show for him, one angering him to death and the other to calm him down.

He put his scrolls down and summoned them in; they arrived bowing in exaggeration, and however much he asked them not to, it seemed like the more he told them not to do that, the lower their bow got the following visit. He decided not to excuse them and let them continue bowing for a while till they apologised. He did not excuse them; he just sat there sipping his tea. That was when the two realized that the emperor was finally retaliating, and now they regretted betting on who could bow low in front of the emperor each time.

Su Rui, sweating remained bowed ninety degrees, while Chen, next to him, bowed even lower yet stood perfectly straight, unlike Su Rui, who tried to glance at his cousin from the corner of his eye.

Rui, no longer able to continue with his bow, fell down to his knees, begging for forgiveness. He knew begging for forgiveness was much easier and he would rather beg than suffer.

Chen looked at his pathetic friend and was so disappointed as he couldn't merely stay bowed that short time and continued with his bow. The emperor, seeing their little game, was determined to break them, and since Rui broke and begged for forgiveness, he permitted him to stand, ignoring Chen, and the two discussed the current state of affairs.

After holding for a while Chen could no longer continue and fell on his knees begging just like his friend before and could finally stand up now he felt bad for judging Rui for being unable to hold his bow but as he stood up and could see Rui smirking, he knew Rui he was merely acting to avoid discomfort.

To think that he felt bad for the guy, he mentally slapped himself and walked in to join them.

After a few discussions, the topic shifted to their purpose in the palace. Rui pulled a letter from his sleeve but before he could utter a word, it was snatched, leaving the three in stunned silence. The emperor's reaction embarrassed him and stunned the two.

He knew it was from Mei, and not seeing and hearing from her in a while made him so miserable, and now he saw the letter and snatched it without thinking.

The entire study turned quiet as they stared at each other and Rui broke the silence by explaining that the letter was from Miss Mei and was delivered to his residence a while ago by the steward of the Li household but was confused about how the Li family had a household after the he took their wealth after his explanation, he looked at his cousin to explain how the Li got a household but received nothing.

The emperor quickly opened the letter, and though it was brief, it made him smile, shocking the two young masters in the room.

Chen at first couldn't believe what Rui told him at first, but he was now very sure and was glad he agreed to come to the palace, or he would have missed this sight.

The letter thanked him for his help and informed him they were finally in the capital, which he knew, but it also mentioned that she would have a party tomorrow and invited him since she only knew him.

Because the emperor was lost in thought, Rui and Chen could not wait for him, so they stood next to him and read the letter, the room silent with shock.

When the emperor came out of his happy trance, he looked down but could not see Rui and Chen, so he looked around; they were both at his side, shocked, staring at his letter.

He was shocked at their shamelessness and slapped the arm of his chair, startling the two from their trance and they kneeled down, asking for him to spare their life and to forgive them. He knew they were just acting dramatic; usually, Chen was calm, but in the company of Rui, he turned stupid just like him.

They both begged him to take them to the party as they were curious about the lady and he refused dismissing them but Chen quickly promised the emperor that he would go to the north of the empire to assess the situation of the warring nomads and Rui not to be left behind promised to go to the south and assess the drought.

The emperor was surprised; he'd been trying to send them for a month, but they'd made excuses. Now, they volunteered, amusing and angering him with their fearlessness.

Since he got something out of it, he agreed, as he also wanted the two siblings to have more people supporting them, so he agreed to take them, but since Mei was only expecting him, he did not want to catch her off guard so he wrote to her and inform her that two other people would be joining him.

Now, the only issue to overcome was getting Su Rui an identity since the emperor had taken on the young master of Duke Su's identity, and Chen suggested that the since two siblings did not know anyone yet. They could introduce Su Rui as Duke Su's younger son, and Rui agreed, suggesting he could be Duke Su's concubine son.

Xuan and Chen looked at him as if he'd gone mad, thinking his reasoning was crooked. They could just act as siblings, why did he have to be a concubine son?