Sore Throat

Chen Liqin woke up languidly. It will be the third day since he was circled by Shao Chen and smashed by his awful-disastrous singing skills.

Also until this day, he still could not manage to tell Shao Chen his tasks as Liang Hu's substitute. At last, Chen Liqin had to do all of his works himself. He even had to ask for his meals himself!

Even worse than that, sometimes Shao Chen would finish the tea that had been served to Chen Liqin off because that crazy girl's throat was dry from singing too much. After that, Shao Chen would continue torturing Chen Liqin with his song while the emperor had to ask for another batch of tea. It was really a lot of work!

The emperor's work pace was becoming slower too. He could not concentrate when Shao Chen disturbed him. Eventually, he had to finish a lot amount of work after Shao Chen left his office at the night for a nap.

As a result, he had not met Ming Yu since the day Liang Hu hurt his spine. Even though he really missed him a lot.

"Hah…." Chen Liqin had a long sigh. his steps felt heavy when he thought he had to go to his office again today.

'That crazy girl must have arrived!' His stress had reached its peak and was about to explode. He desperately needed Ming Yu to comfort him.

"Hah…." He sighed again.

It took several minutes before Chen Liqin finally opened the door of his private pavilion and then walked sluggishly to the royal office. When he reached the front door, his legs grew heavier.

He took a deep breath several times while preparing his heart to accept whatever would happen this whole day.

Chen Liqin slowly opened the door then passed through the folded wall. As he had guessed, Shao Chen had already inside with his back to the emperor.

That crazy girl was sitting dumbfoundedly behind the emperor's desk work which had been full of piles of document.

'She sat at my place without permission again!' Chen Liqin was annoyed but he was too tired to scold Shao Chen as he knew it won't work and he would just spend his energy in vain.

"Go away!" The emperor pushed Shao Chen away then sat down. The dumbfounded Shao Chen did not expect that coming and fell miserably aside on the floor.

Without paying any more attention to Shao Chen, Chen Liqin started arranging the mountains of scrolls on the desk and then opened a scroll that was closest to him.

Silence filled the room for long enough to make Chen Liqin felt strange. 'Did this girl take a wrong medicine?' He wondered why this girl did not start to circle him and sing as usual.

Chen Liqin intended to inquire Shao Chen but when he turned around, that crazy girl's face was very closed, glaring at him.

"Woah!" Chen Liqin was taken aback. He even dragged his butt back several centimeters.

Shao Chen, who actually had long been dazed, was also taken aback by the sudden shout. Reflexively, his legs tried to run away but because of his squatting position, his foot tripped over the other leg so that he fell on the floor in a strange position.

"A … hh…." A hoarse voice caught Chen Liqin's attention.

"Hm?" Chen Liqin was confused. He had never heard someone with a voice like that before and now, there were only he and Shao Chen here.

Glaring suspiciously, Chen Liqin approached Shao Chen who was trying to get up. With both of his hands, the emperor locked Shao Chen's movements by pressing on the crazy girl's shoulders. At the same time, that hoarse voice was heard again.

"A … hh…."

Chen Liqin blinked several times while pressing Shao Chen's shoulders several times again with much more strength.

"A … uhhh!!! Hu ... t! Thi … f … e … ror!!!" Shao Chen shouted in a very hoarse voice. It was very hoarse that even many of the syllables could not be heard.

Still nagging with so much difficulty, Shao Chen tried to brush Chen Liqin's hands off his shoulders. However, instead of succeeding, he got hit on the shoulder many times from Chen Liqin who suddenly burst out laughing loudly.

"Karma indeed does exist! You deserved this for bothering me, heaven's son!" Chen Liqin mocked, still could not stop laughing. He guessed that the reason for Shao Chen's hoarse voice was because Shao Chen had been singing nonstop with a loud voice these days.

"Hahahahahahahahaha … you could not bother me again! Hahahaha!" Chen Liqin stuck his tongue out at Shao Chen like a child.

Shao Chen was also provoked by it then glared at Chen Liqin. "Yo … wi … ge … m … re … e…."

"What did you say? Could you speak properly?" Chen Liqin mocked incessantly while laughing again. He was jubilant to see Shao Chen's suffering.

Shao Chen was getting more and more annoyed. 'I will use another revenge plan!' With a strong determination, he opened the shabby book – his holy bible – that he always carried around.

Unfortunately, as he was too passionate about getting revenge by singing and circling the emperor, he had only learned to read two pages of the book. It even had not gotten into the first revenge plot.

He tried to read it by himself but the words he could recognize were really minimal.

In annoyance, he closed the book and put it back into his fabric bag. 'I will learn to read again!' He determined, intended to go to Yan Mei for another lesson.

However, Chen Liqin, who was still laughing, noticed Shao Chen's intention and immediately caught his arm.

"Do not you dare to run away! Today, I will definitely make you do Liang Hu's work and help me until you can't even have a sleep time!"

Shao Chen was confused as to what Chen Liqin's meant because he indeed did not know from the start that he had been given the task to replace Liang Hu – as he was daydreaming too much when Chen Guang told him about it. He wanted to protest but Chen Liqin had pulled his arm so that he fell and sat back down with a 'thud!' sound.

Grumbling about the pain of his butt, Shao Chen wanted to nag at Chen Liqin but his throat was too sore so that he would just felt more hurt as he nagged so he could not put out his anger satisfiedly.

Chen Liqin smiled in satisfaction. His eyes lit up happily and cunningly at the same time made the clueless Shao Chen felt an unpleasant premonition with his minus level intuition.

*****

A pile of scrolls was scattered in front of Shao Chen whose feature was bending downwards. He took a scroll reluctantly then started to open it.

A while ago, Chen Liqin took all of the scrolls on his desk and placed them in front of Shao Chen.

"You have to group them accordant to their category!" Chen Liqin ordered arrogantly.

Shao Chen processed the order with knitted eyebrows. "I … do … is?"

"Yes! You do all of this!"

"W … y?"

Chen Liqin tried to grasp what was Shao Chen asking then squatting in front of him while pointing at Shao Chen's nose. "Remember! Father did not release you from your mistakes without requirement. Father told you to replace Liang Hu and this is his job!" he said slowly but precisely with full pressure.

'Whose job?' Shao Chen got even more confused. "…ho … s Li …ang … Hua? (Who is Liang Hua?)"

"Liang Hu!" Chen Liqin corrected. He had been getting used to Shao Chen's way of speaking.

He even did not feel annoyed as he had been accustomed to Shao Chen's rubbish brain. He was more curious about Shao Chen's brain abilities so that he was tempted to do some experiment with it.

"…ho … s th … t? (Who is that?)" Shao Chen asked again, tilted his head.

"Liang Hu was the old man you crashed into until he hurt his spine three days ago."

Shao Chen blinked several times. Without saying a word, Chen Liqin was pretty sure that this crazy girl had forgotten both about Liang Hu and the incident three days ago. Sighed….

"If you can't remember that let it be, but this is the truth so hurry do your job!" Chen Liqin ordered decisively, did not permit protest from Shao Chen anymore.

Actually, Shao Chen did not care about how decisive Chen Liqin was and still wanted to argue. However, as his throat was really hurt, he became dull and at last accepted the task reluctantly.

Usually, Liang Hu would group the documents accordant to their content. However, as Shao Chen could not read, Chen Liqin changed the method. He asked Shao Chen to classify them according to the type of stamp used inside the scroll.

At first, Shao Chen did the task exasperatedly but after a long time, he became addicted and very focused on doing it.

When Chen Liqin stretching his muscles after finishing half of yesterday's documents that he did not manage to finish, he found Shao Chen who was still carrying on his duties diligently.

Knock! Knock!

"Come in!"

The maidservants, who were bringing them their lunch, came in. "Your Majesty The Emperor, have a nice meal," they said politely bowing. However, they only brought one tray.

Chen Liqin glanced at Shao Chen. From the bottom of his heart, he despised the thought of giving Shao Chen lunch. He would be happy to see him starving the whole day. But, he did not expect that Shao Chen would be very serious at his job. Chen Liqin did not have the heart to starve him.

"Brought one tray for her! Then, tell the physician to make a medicine for sore throat," Chen Liqin ordered briefly.

"As you wish, Your Majesty." The Maidservants bowed simultaneously then got out from the room.

Shortly after, a new tray of lunch with a bowl of high-quality medicine was delivered into the room. It seemed that the physician thought that was The Emperor who had a sore throat so he made a medicine with the best ingredients.

"Placed them in front of that girl," Chen Liqin, who had finished his lunch and focused back on the documents, ordered.

When the maidservant do as ordered, the fragrant aroma of food immediately entered Shao Chen's nose. His stomach growled loudly, asking for food. Nevertheless, because he was too preoccupied with what he was doing, he unconsciously ignored his stomach.

Chen Liqin glanced at that crazy girl in wonder. 'Did she did not notice the food?'

"You! Hurry eat your lunch!" Chen Liqin ordered loudly but Shao Chen ignored him.

At last, Chen Liqin approached Shao Chen then shook his body until that crazy girl finally glared at him in annoyance.

"Wh … t?! (What?!)"

"Eat your lunch and don't forget to drink that bowl of medicine after that," Chen Liqin instructed. To make sure that Shao Chen really ate, Chen Liqin put away the remaining ungrouped documents and then shifted the food tray until it was right in front of Shao Chen.

Shao Chen was too lazy to argue so he did everything as Chen Liqin ordered.

At the same time, a knock was heard again.

"Come in!"

Chen Shihong appeared from behind the folded wall. Seeing that his second brother had come back, Chen Liqin's eyes lit up.

"Did you find something in Yao Family's residence?" Chen Liqin asked impatiently.

Shao Chen's hands stopped. Unusually, his brain was working fastly when he heard the word Yao.

'Yao Family?' He felt that he had heard the name.

Chen Shihong nodded. "It's a bit hard and the evidence was scant so I can't guarantee its validity. However, the possibility is high."

Chen Liqin immediately sat down behind the desk. "Report all of them now!"