Sticky Situation

Qin Zhi Hao was waiting outside the palace when a familiar figure walked out from the building. At one glance, one could see that the man's expression was not that good. His brow furrowed and his hurried steps showed his impatience and anger.

The man clad in a bamboo green robe paused when he saw the man in front of him. His expression showed his surprise. He quickly recovered his emotion and his lips stretched up into a smile. He hid his right hand under the long sleeve and a drop of blood dripped on the floor.

"Fifth brother," Qin Zhi Hao took the initiative to greet him. His gaze darkened upon noticing the blood. The injury on his brother's hand was not light.

That man in that bamboo green robe was no other than Qin Zhi Hao's fifth brother, Qin Zhi Cheng, with the title of Prince Yan. He was the second son of the Emperess and a close contender of the Crown Prince.

"Seventh brother." Qin Zhi Cheng chuckled. He turned over his shoulder to look in the direction where he came from and smiled. "Sorry. Emperor Father seemed like he was in a bad mood after he met me. If you're not careful, he might leash his anger on you." The smile on his face quickly disappeared and the prince walked away hurriedly.

Just as the fifth prince had left, an old eunuch walked over in a hurry with a horsetail whip in his hand. The anxious expression on his face faded slightly when he saw Qin Zhi Hao outside. "Your Highness, you can come in. His Majesty is waiting for you inside."

Qin Zhi Hao nodded. He took a step and stopped again when he noticed that the eunuch have something to say to him.

Xiao Xi flashed a hesitant smile before he shook his head, He straightened his mood and led Qin Zhi Hao inside the Emperor's study room.

The Emperor was sitting behind the table when Qin Zhi Hao walked in. His gaze focused on the documents in his hand and his brow knotted.

Qin Zhi Hao swept his gaze across the room and caught a drop of ink stains on the furniture. Some of the documents on the Emperor's table was slightly disorganized, and one of the porcelain vase on the side table was chipped, evidence that the servants were in a hurry to clean up the mess.

It seemed that whatever argument between the Emperor and his brother was quite intense. The Emperor had swept everything on his table due to anger and his brother's hand was slightly injured.

He quickly looked away from the evidence of arguments and stepped up before his father. "Your Majesty."

The Emperor snapped out of his thought and looked up. The knot on his brow faded slightly upon seeing the person in front of him.

"I'm here to escort you," Qin Zhi Hao spoke as he got the Emperor's attention.

The Emperor turned his head to his eunuch. "Is it time?"

The old eunuch nodded before he stepped forward to remind the emperor of his schedule.

When the Emperor turned to Qin Zhi Hao again, the trace of anger on his expression had disappeared. "Have everything been arranged?"

"Everything has been arranged as planned. Your Majesty, I won't let anything bad happened during this lantern festival."

"Have you find out who was behind the events?"

Qin Zhi Hao tightened his fist. "I haven't. But we will surely catch whoever that person is before the sunrise."

"Sunrise," the Emperor repeated and chuckled. "It might be too late if you wait that long. Zhi Hao, you have to pick up your pace. Don't disappoint me."

…

Meanwhile, in a part of the city, Yu Feng was hanging around in the City Center as she enjoyed the street performers playing a few tricks. In the last few days, she has been staying inside the army camp as a hostage.

Although that bad man said that he was giving her a chance to stay close to Orange, Yu Feng found that she was kept in the camp for a few other reasons. One of them was to let her learn a few secret signals and a few other things that would help her during her mission today.

Another reason was that that man did not fully trust her. Keeping her inside the camp was his way to ensure that she would not betray him.

While living in the camp for a few days, Yu Feng could not help but wonder if her life would be in danger if she continued to help him with this task.

That man had a suspicion that she might be working for his enemy, but other than him, no one had ever approached her and offered her such a task.

Suddenly, Yu Feng was wondering who was that man's enemy. She did not want to join the losing camp and found herself dead because of it, ah!

Looking at the man's attitude and temperament, Yu Feng could sense that he was not a simple person. Therefore, whoever his enemy was, he should be someone powerful.

Didn't that man had mentioned his enemy could intercept his messages? Wasn't that was why he decided to use her help?

Yu Feng was afraid that she had suddenly got herself involved in a sticky matter.

Her expression turned ugly as she thought of that possibility.

In the past, her father got himself into a sticky situation, and look at what happened to their family? After her family broke apart years ago, her father was determined not to get himself and his family into such a situation again.

As her father had once said, it would be better to live in moderation without wealth, position, and power as long as they could live safely. After that tragedy, her father would always lock himself in the room with his books. He had forced her to read and taught her the importance of knowledge.

Yu Feng thought differently.

What was the use of reading that amount of books and having too much knowledge if they could not have food on the table?

In the end, look at what happened to her? So what if she knew how to read and knew the four arts? Everyone around her left her one by one and she had to survive on her own as a street thief.