Cunning General Si Ning

It was childish trying to scare off a child but Si Ning was enjoying every moment of it, they had already gotten to the Jasmine palace and for the past hour, Xiu Junjie was still arguing that Si Ning lied while Si Ning was adamant that he doesn't lie, the child was full of energy because Si Ning was aware they could argue all night with how Xiu Junjie kept acting like he would jump and stomp his feet on the ground.

Si Ning's mouth was starting to get sore, all the tingling effect of the kiss gone and now replaced with a strain due to repeating the same statement to Xiu Junjie over and over again.

"What is the reason you waited for me and followed me here?" Si Ning asked when he realized their argument wouldn't be reaching any conclusion soon so he had to change the topic because he wanted to know why Xiu Junjie was now walking beside him into his bedroom.

Xiu Junjie that opened his mouth to continue their argument paused before raising his chin. "Tomorrow you will get married to Imperial father which means your governmental duties will become double and I may never have the chance to tell you what I owe you so that is why I am here to tell you now." He explained in an extremely low voice.

What?

Si Ning had to strain his ears to hear Xiu Junjie and he had no idea what the boy was talking about, he doesn't think the boy owe him any explanation but seeing how serious Xiu Junjie looked means it must be a serious talk because Xiu Junjie even proceeds to shut the windows and door when they got to his bedroom, it was a cold night so shutting the windows even helped to lessen the cold in the room so Si Ning didn't complain, rather he was interested in what Xiu Junjie had to say.

Si Ning sat down by the table which was filled with fruits in a bowl and a jar of wine in case he wanted to get drunk so Si Ning poured the content into a cup only to see it was clear almost like water, he wondered what sort of wine it would be so he raised it only to detect no smell and when he took a sip, his brows furrowed because he was just played by Ah Dai or Yang Sheng because what was in the jar was water. He forcefully swallowed waiting for Xiu Junjie to finish his inspection of placing his ear on the wall trying to detect if someone was at the other side probably wanting to spy on them.

Xiu Junjie sat close to Si Ning after nodding, satisfied by the measures he took. "Remember don't you mistake my carefulness as being afraid, I am the Crown Prince and I can do what I like." He said in a low voice with a hint of warning.

Si Ning nodded. "Okay." He could see the boy was just afraid and wasn't being careful like he claimed and this spark up more interest within him as he also bent forward to hear Xiu Junjie clearly after turning the lantern a bit up to see clearly.

"Since you claimed you had no idea why Imperial grandmother hates your family so I want to tell you why just so I won't owe you." Xiu Junjie stated as he shrugged.

"...." Si Ning's eyes widened because he had forgotten that Xiu Junjie told him he would tell him why the Queen Dowager hates his family in exchange for taking him out to the lantern festival.

Xiu Junjie beckon for Si Ning to come closer which made Si Ning stretch his neck till their faces were almost touching so Si Ning turned his ear to Xiu Junjie. "Imperial grandfather which is the late Emperor was in love with your father, General Yunsheng and because of that, he promised General Yunsheng to make him the Empress if he agrees to the marriage which is why Imperial grandmother is the Queen Dowager and not the Empress Dowager because she was never crowned as the Empress." Xiu Junjie said almost like a whisper.

"Oh." Si Ning was so shocked that he couldn't believe his family was hated for such a reason that he turned to face Xiu Junjie and he feels like he was listening to a scoop.

"The late Emperor keeps gifting late General Yunsheng many things, doted on him a lot, he even begged publicly in the palace for General Yunsheng to stay by him even after he married your mother so your father promised to stay by Imperial grandfather as Xiu General and a friend." Xiu Junjie paused, his eyes darting around that Si Ning also looked around to make sure they were safe to talk.

"There is no one." Si Ning whispered as he moved to his previous position, the neck he stretched to the max already starting to get strained.

"Imperial grandmother took your family as a stain on the Imperial Family, she promised never to forgive your father for taking away her title and when the late Emperor died due to an unknown illness, Imperial grandmother forcefully took command and Imperial father became the Emperor and then General Yunsheng that was ill also passed away so Imperial grandmother placed a gag on the case that whosoever talks about the love the late Imperial grandfather had for your father will receive a punishment worst than death." Xiu Junjie explained then cleared his throat. "Si Ning just remember that all that I said it's what I heard because it happened long ago before I existed but from what I heard it is all true."

"..." Si Ning nodded trying to wrap his head around all what he just heard, the late Emperor being in love with his late father was so shocking it almost seemed like a sad fairytale.

"I want to go and have my rest." Xiu Junjie said, his voice normal as he stood up, without another word he turned and started to head out.

It was just like a paparazzi just dropped the greatest scoop for Si Ning to publish because Si Ning couldn't help but imagine how pitiful the Queen Dowager would be for not receiving the Empress title yet the family she hates most that blocked her from getting the title, a family member is about to have the title just because her son fell in love. He couldn't blame Queen Dowager for hating him yet he think it was too much because his father didn't sin so the son shouldn't pay yet Queen Dowager was holding the whole of his family accountable.

"Xiao Pei." Si Ning said, he was supposed to call louder and wanted to call again only to see Xiao Pei appear at the door, and now he could see the reason Xiu Junjie talked in a low voice because someone like Xiao Pei already trained his ears he could hear between walls.

"General." Xiao Pei said.

"Make sure Junjie gets to his palace safely." Si Ning said and watch Xiao Pei nod and left swiftly. 

Si Ning walked up to the window and opened it letting fresh air in, he pushed the thought of Queen Dowager away as he concentrated on his feeling for the wedding day, it was going to get married tomorrow and become the second most important person in the nation after the Emperor because the Crown Prince should come third according to the historian dramas he had seen so his wedding day being tomorrow and Si Ning had no idea what he was supposed to feel, maybe extreme happy yet he couldn't feel anything relating to that because he had his duties to fulfill yet he hoped his duties would be reduced instead of double like Xiu Junjie said but one thing he was happy about was that first he was getting married to someone who loves him and vice versa because he couldn't wait to sleep with Xiu Zhicheng.

In order not to make Ah Dai cry, Si Ning head to bed, lying down of his bed, pushing all the thoughts that wanted to evade his mind away because he could already picture Ah Dai breaking down in tears in case if he wakes up with dark circles due to not having enough sleep.