Cunning General Si Ning

No matter how Si Ning begged and kept acting as a nuisance because he was sure the boy knows something yet Xiu Junjie didn't say a word about why the Queen Dowager hates his family and the boy kept diverting and twisting any question he asked leaving Si Ning no choice than to give up when his legs felt like they were about to split apart that he was forced to stop to wait for his palanquin to arrive but Xiu Junjie was long gone before that time and now he was back in his room trying to think of what his family did to the Queen Dowager to make her hate them so much.

"There, right there, a little towards my knee." Si Ning grunted when he felt Xiao Pei moved his hand towards his knee and he sighed enjoying the massage finally feeling that the pain in his legs was finally reducing.

The moment Si Ning gathered some strength to walk to his bedroom when they got to the Jasmine palace, he quickly laid down on a thick soft mat and told Ah Dai to massage his legs but Ah Dai was a bit hesitant that Si Ning had to tell Xiao Pei to do the massage instead after it dawned on him that Ah Dai only had one good arm. He was a bit surprised when Ah Dai didn't protest or begged to be the one to do it and Si Ning understood that it would be tedious for Ah Dai to use one hand to massage him and Ah Dai was also fully aware of it.

Si Ning was starting to feel sleepy that he yawned, his eyes silted almost closed when he realized he might have been asking the wrong person his question when he had a fearless guard to ask.

Whenever Si Ning had a thing to ask, it was better to ask Ah Dai, Xiao Pei, or Jiang Ye and if they were unable to reply then Xiao Pei or Jiang Ye wouldn't mind investigating to find out for him.

"Young Master do you want some grape juice?" Ah Dai asked, he was sitting beside the table cleaning Si Ning's dragon-shaped hairpin.

"Sure." Si Ning replied as he spread out his hands.

"Should Ah Dai make it mild, sweet, sour, or bitter?" Ah Dai asked as he placed the hairpin in the jewelry box even though the hairpin doesn't need cleaning yet he cleaned it anyway to make himself busy.

"Hmmm what do you think Xiao Pei?" Si Ning asked, he doesn't want to drink grape juice but he knows that Ah Dai doesn't like being idle, and to fix that he had to go along with anything Ah Dai wanted to do and this time around he would just feed the juice to Xiao Pei and that was the reason he was asking for Xiao Pei's preference.

Xiao Pei continued rubbing Si Ning's feet. "Sweet." He replied.

"Sweet." Si Ning said aloud because Xiao Pei's voice was too low for Ah Dai to pick up. A small smile played on his lips because he didn't expect Xiao Pei to choose sweet when it doesn't fit his appearance at all but he was done judging people by their appearance.

"Yes Young Master, Ah Dai will go to the Imperial kitchen and make the best sweet grape juice." Ah Dai replied happily, a wide smile plastered on his face. He saluted before leaving the room in a hurry to carry out his task.

"Tell me, Xiao Pei, what did my family do to the Imperial family, no I mean what did my family do to the Queen Dowager?" Si Ning didn't bother to find a means to start the conversation, he was already feeling sleepy so he had to ask before sleeping off.

When Si Ning was bothered by something he doesn't know, he used to end up losing sleep over it or find a means to know and satisfy his curiosity before he would be able to sleep peacefully but now that he walked for long and didn't sleep for a night, the fatigue already set in making him feel so sleepy that he was using all his willpower to keep his eyes open and he doubts he would be disturbed by his curiosity to know that he would end up unable to sleep.

"What General's family did?" Xiao Pei rubbed some massaging oil on his fingers and started to trace Si Ning's toes gently.

"Yes." Si Ning replied, his voice low that he hoped Xiao Pei was able to hear him because he wasn't about to repeat himself. He focused on Xiao Pei as his means to prevent his eyes from shutting.

"I don't understand Young Master." Xiao Pei replied after some time.

Si Ning took a deep breath trying to find the strength to reply. "I mean why did the Queen Dowager hate my family so much?" He forced out a word at a time just to make it sink and make Xiao Pei understand him.

"But Young Master you know." Xiao Pei said moving to the other foot.

Si Ning widened his eyes to prevent it from closing. "Know what?"

Xiao Pei rubbed oil on the foot. "Know."

"Know?" Si Ning raised a brow letting his eyes relax.

Xiao Pei shook his head. "General before Commander Chen An left yesterday, he asked me to collect the documents from him today." He informed Si Ning.

"Okay go." Si Ning had already lost his strength, he was aware that Xiao Pei wanted to change their discussion, he decided to drop his question for another day because he had no strength to be persistent.

"But General shouldn't ask anymore because I don't think it is wise....."

Si Ning was unable to hear the rest of what Xiao Pei was saying because he finally surrendered himself and allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep.

The next time Si Ning woke up was due to Chen An that kept shaking him, the moment he opened his eyes and met Chen An's face, he noticed the dark circles under his eyes, his eyes wide and hollow, overall no one could see Chen An and say he doesn't look exhausted. Si Ning had no way to complain that he wanted to sleep a little more when he saw Chen An's state so he quickly sat up knowing his expression was probably almost per with that of Chen An. He turned to the table to see Xiao Pei standing beside the table, a pile of papers on the table.

"When Xiao Pei said you didn't wake up I had to come." Chen An said with a worried expression as he extended a hand to help Si Ning to his feet.

Si Ning doesn't need anyone's help to stand up because Chen An helping him might suddenly make him dizzy so he slowly stood up and moved to sit at the table. "Thank you Chen An." He blinked as a means to clear his vision. He noticed the lemon juice on the table and he flicked his finger as a gesture for Xiao Pei to take it away. "Drink it." He said and looked around to see Ah Dai wasn't in the room.

Xiao Pei took the glass of fresh grape juice and swiftly left the room to give them some privacy.

"Do General need my help?" Chen An gestured to the stacks of papers on the table.

Si Ning blinked trying to think. "Just this..." He quickly checked the pile he worked with and brought out a single profile. "Jiang ChenMu, why is he in my army and is he a family of Jiang Ye?" He asked as he moved the seal towards him.

If Jiang Ye was with him he could have asked him but he had been busy throughout the afternoon trolling in the palace so there was no way he could have to send for Jiang Ye.