Behind The Mask

It was already evening when the birthday party was over. Ming Yu said goodbye to Chen Liqin and the others as he had some matter to do.

With his personal maidservant, Ming Yu walked out from the center block which was occupied by the main royal families to the side block of the palace by passing through a long bridge. After a while, he arrived at his Lotus Pearl Pavilion.

Opening the elegantly carved door, a dark and empty living room showed. The maidservant burned the oil lamp wick. The yellowish light immediately lighted up the room.

Ming Yu closed the pavilion door tightly then stepped into the bedroom.

A wide smile decorated his feature when he saw a bonded maidservant on top of the bed.

"Hmm ... what should I do to you so you could never denounce me to The Queen Mother…," Ming Yu said in a swinging cheerful tone but tinged with coldness, gave that maidservant crept in fear.

"Mm! Mm!" The maidservant tried to shout something but her mouth bounded by a cloth. Tears pooled around her eyelids.

"Ohh … don't cry." Ming Yu stroked her face with a regretful expression, but anyone could find a trace of excitement from his eyes.

The caress was so soft that it gave the maidservant goosebump.

"…or maybe … I want to see your crying face more!" Ming Yu's eyes gleamed like a crazy man. He tore the maidservant's clothes, exposing the beautiful curves of this weak and delicate body.

Tears rolling down her pretty face. 'It's better to die than to be humiliated like this! ' Without warning, she bit her tongue.

Her body drooped stiff, soulless. A big bloodstain dirtied the white cloth bounded her mouth.

"Oh my~ what a shame! The fun part had not begun yet." Ming Yu felt regret that she could not experience the excitement but that creepy wide smile still decorated his feature.

"Don't play too much! Have you done your task properly?" A man's voice suddenly heard from the corner of the room.

Ming Yu was taken aback before realizing that it was Dai Junjie who was talking. "You shocked me! I was almost throwing a knife at you," he protested without losing his smile.

Dai Junjie chuckled. His monolid eyes curved into a crescent moon shape, made him look very evil.

"The old man gave you a new task. The deadline is the d-day for auction," Dai Junjie said without further ado. He only came to tell Ming Yu this but what bad luck he had to come across an unpleasant show.

"Hmm … alright. Junjie, help me to clean up this corpse later." Ming Yu waved his hand nonchalantly to drove Dai Junjie out.

Dai Junjie raised his eyebrows in wonder. "Later?"

Ming Yu licked his lips mischievously. "There are still fun things I want to do." 

Dai Junjie almost threw up from the thought of what Ming Yu would do to the corpse. He looked at the poor woman with great pity.

"Whatever. Just remember to do it without leaving any trace and don't be so long."

Then, he left the pavilion….

*****

"Aaaa … I'm bored! No money here!" Shao Chen whined while laying on the damp floor.

'If there is money here, I could kill time by counting them!'  This was the only thing he could do when he had free time and there were no other things that could make him happier than this. Besides, counting money also affected his peacefulness.

"Miss, you can sleep if you are bored," proposed one of the young guards who was sitting in front of Shao Chen's cell. His countenance was full of exhaustion.

It had been two days since this crazy girl was detained inside the underground jail and Shao Chen had never taken any time to sleep. He whined ceaselessly, waking almost all of the prison guards and preventing them from falling asleep again until they had reached the peak level of fatigue.

"I could not sleep! I'm still pissed off at that thief emperor," Shao Chen suddenly shouted after processing the guard's words for almost 30 minutes – his brain worked very slow as it had not given any food for producing new energy.

The guard who had almost fallen asleep was gasped back in surprise. Their heart had filled with blood tears!

"Miss! Please do not suddenly shout like that! We are tired and we need sleep," the guard who sat on the opposite of Shao Chen's cell begged.

Even the two other prisoners who were kept inside different cells nodded simultaneously until their heads almost flew away. They also affected by Shao Chen's disturbing behavior and for the first time since they got into this underground jail, they developed some kind of partnership with the guards.

Shao Chen became silent. The others were wide-awake, cautiously waiting until 30 minutes had passed and Shao Chen still had no response. They began to relax, let their soul swam into the dreamland….

"Oh Okay!" Shao Chen suddenly replied in a loud voice.

"MISS!!" all of them screamed at the same time.

Shao Chen immediately zipped his mouth. His slender fingers tracing the sidelines of the floor sluggishly. The eyes had been half-closed but his irritation kept him awake.

Although very slow, his brain was still trying to look for a good way to get revenge and get his money back from the thief emperor. The reason for his vengeance had been added, not only from his parents but also from the loss he got.

"I will definitely get my revenge!" Shao Chen unconsciously shouted his thought.

"MISS!!!!!!" all of the underground jail's residents cried. Half of them had been drowned into a pleasant and sweet dream only being ruined by that crazy girl again!

They shot a murderous glare at Shao Chen.

"I'm sorry…."

*****

Orange tinge filled the sky when Chen Liqin got out of his office while stretching muscles. Gentle breeze stroked his tired feature.

"Brother, did you call us?" Chen Shihong, who had just arrived, asked. Chen Yongrui also there besides him.

"Yes, come in. we will talk inside the office."

They followed Chen Liqin inside obediently. Chen Liqin got some of the illegal auction reports then sat back behind his work desk.

Chen Shihong and Chen Yongrui stared at the piled-up documents in wonder.

"What is this, Brother Liqin?" Chen Yongrui at last asked.

"I need your help…"