Chapter 23 - I Hope You All Still Remember Xi Er.

Qin Empire, Imperial Palace. The Qin Emperor was having a slightly confidential conversation with an eunuch.

The Qin Emperor is a man who is in his early forties, he has an upright and slightly squarish face, a full broad forehead and a pair of gentle yet sharp eyes, this might not be the greatest look of a man but it is definitely a look that suits an emperor well. The eunuch who was talking with the emperor looked slightly muscular and a bit too bold and too manly to be an eunuch, the slightly luxurious outfits he wore and the gold dagger that hung on his waist indicated that he was not just an ordinary eunuch.

"Oh? So, you are saying that she might be still alive?" The Emperor asked.

"Yes, My Lord. My underlings saw a beautiful lady and a handsome young man on the Carnival Street in South City. The identity of the young man is yet to be identified but the lady, however, looks exactly like Lady Rei." said the eunuch in a near whispering tone.

"Hmm... I see. What a miracle she survived..." The Emperor murmured.

"Should I inform the information gatherers to keep track of her?" The eunuch asked.

"Nope, you don't have to take any action. It's just good enough to know that she is survived. After all, she did nothing wrong, she is merely an unlucky sacrificial scapegoat." said the Emperor.

"My Lord, I would like to advise you to reconsider that decision. There are too many hidden elements in this matter that need to be considered" said the eunuch.

"Oh? So you are doubting me?" The emperor asked as he suddenly switched his tone to a slightly cold and sinister tone that was filled with murderousness.

"Ah... No, Your Majesty, I would never dare to. Please forgive my ignorance." The eunuch immediately kneeled down and begged for mercy.

"You may take your leave if you don't have any other matters." said the emperor with a subtle smile on his face...

***

Ben's farmhouse.

Ben strenuously opened his eyes and found himself lying on a bed, or to be exact, Rei's bed. Through the unique floral aroma of the room, Ben can totally confirm that he is in Rei's room. Realising how inappropriate the current situation was, Ben immediately forced himself out of bed despite that bad dizziness which kept his head spinning.

"Dr Ben! What do you think you are trying to do?"

Holly exclaimed as she rushed to the bedside stopping Ben from standing up. Due to the rush, Holly accidentally dropped a small clay pot of hot soup that she carefully brought in from the kitchen.

"Holly... where is my pocket watch?" Ben asked in anxiousness, he sounded a bit out of breath.

"Pocket watch? Ah... Hold on for a second..."

In a slight panic, Holly hastily looked for the said pocket watch and after a short search, she eventually found it on the table.

As Holly passed the pocket watch to Ben, Ben frowned as soon as he saw a reddish spot on Holly's hand. Ben took the pocket watch from Holly, took a glance at the time and sighed.

"Hah... An hour and fifteen minutes wasted," said Ben.

Yup, he just fainted due to exhaustion about an hour ago and regained consciousness but the only thing he cares about is how much time wasted.

"Dr Ben... I don't think this is what you should be concerning right now..."

And yes, she dissed him.

"Ah... Right... Hurry up and go wash up that scalded spot on your hand, if not it will get worse, after that, bring me my herb box from over there, it should have some herbs that can be used to make scald powder." said Ben, in his usual serious tone, as if his own health is not even a big deal.

"But Dr Ben..."

"Five minutes."

"Ah... Yes. I will be right back."

Ah... Right. That's their usual pattern of interaction.

***

Holly watched Ben with concerned eyes as he gently applied the freshly made scald powder on her injured hand with a fluffy fur ball. Holly was in dilemma, she really wanted to stop him from continuing to do so as she knew that he was not feeling well and she was capable of doing it by herself, however, at the same time, she really liked it when Ben showed his warm and gentle side to her.

For Holly, Ben is always a strict teacher as well as a father to her, she knows that he cares for her but at the same time doesn't easily show his care most of the time. Thus, she felt kind of jealous when Ben constantly showed his warm and gentle side to Rei, but that was only before Holly got to know Rei more to the core, right now, even Holly herself would love to show all her kindness to Rei.

"Where is Rei? I haven't seen her ever since I woke up."

"Huh?"

The sudden question from Ben pulled Holly's mind back to reality.

"Hmm? Holly?"

"Ah... Rei... She is in the kitchen right now, making some sweets." said Holly who tried her best to press down her inner thoughts.

"In the kitchen... Alone?" Ben asked, rather concerned.

"No... No... Xi Er is with her." said Holly.

"Xi Er? Ah... I see... It does take quite a long time for her to reach here huh?..." Ben murmured after a short thought, he does recall hearing the voice of another lady along with Holly's when he slowly losing his consciousness.

"Yes, it wasn't easy for her to pass the frontier without getting noticed. But I am glad that she made it here safe and sound," said Holly.

"True. Another question... Aside from you and Rei... And maybe Xi Er... Uhm... Do anyone else know that I... fainted?" Ben asked, he sounded rather worried.

"Supposedly no," said Holly.

"Thank goodnes... Ah... Hold on, how about Chris? You didn't tell him, right?" He asked again.

"No, I always knew that you would never want His Majesty to know, thus, I am telling everyone to keep this a secret from His Majesty," said Holly.

"Hah... What a relief..." said Ben...