His Rui

The sweet moments lasted only for a few moments as Xi Ling soon came back with a glass of water and passed it to Li Rui.

Li Rui took the glass of water from her son's hands and thanked him.

Xi Ling's ears turned to a bright shade of red and Xi Ying couldn't help but raise his eyebrows seeing this.

The brat is so shy in front of his wife. Where does this shyness go when his son is facing him?

"You should go to the Imperial Palace."

Xi Ying moved his eyes away from his son when he heard Li Rui's words. A frown marred his smooth forehead and he said

"No, you are not well. Today I am not going anywhere."

Li Rui couldn't help but smile lightly hearing this. She leaned against the headboard again as Xi Ying took the glass of water from her hands and passed it to Xi Ling.

The small bun immediately walked to the bedside table that was placed on the other side of the bed and put the glass back there.

When he came back to his place, he heard his mother saying

"It will continue for a few more weeks. Will you take leave from the Imperial Palace every day then?"

"Of course, I will."

The response came from Prime Minister Xi almost immediately.

Li Rui sighed as she looked at Xi Ying's serious face.

Alright, it seems that she chose the wrong example.

After a few moments of silence, she said firmly

"Go to the Imperial Palace otherwise people will say that I am some evil fox who is stopping you from completing his responsibilities."

"Who will dare! I will bury him alive."

Xi Ying said coldly making Li Rui look at him in surprise. She sighed again completely knowing that even this method was not working.

The small bun who had been standing quietly spoke suddenly at this moment

"Father, Mother wants you to leave so you should leave."

Xi Ying turned to look at his son with narrowed eyes. Seeing this, Xi Ling smiled nervously and correct his words.

"Father, Xi Ling will be here for Mother. Father should go and attend the meeting. What if the Emperor punished Mother for Father's laziness?"

Li Rui smiled hearing this but immediately nodded her head.

"Xiao Ling is very right!"

In the end, Xi Ying had to say that he would go to the Imperial Palace. The mother and son didn't stop persuading him until he didn't get up to leave the room.

So after instructing Li Hua and Liu Lan to not leave Li Rui alone, he left the Plum Courtyard.

Outside the Plum Courtyard, he stopped suddenly and whispered

"An Ju"

An Ju was standing in front of Xi Ying the next second.

"Don't leave Rui alone even for a moment."

The female shadow guard immediately bowed her head accepting the order and then left from there o hide somewhere near Li Rui.

Xi Ying turned to look at the entrance of the Plum Courtyard again. He remembered that Li Rui's maid Liu Lan had said to him that since it was his first time seeing Li Rui like this, he was so worried.

After a few days, he will get habitual.

However, this was not what was eating him from inside. After some time, Li Rui was taken inside by her maids, he actually remembered that he had read in a book that a pregnant woman feel nauseous in the starting months.

The thing that was eating him from inside was completely something else.

Every time he would get to know something new, he would realize how he was not there for Li Rui when she was pregnant with Xi Ling.

Although he could do nothing, he could still accompany her when she was going through all this …especially when it was her first time to experience all that.

It made him want to care for her more …love her more. Perhaps it was his own way to fill the void inside their lives that was created because of his mistakes.

--------

When Xi Ying reached the Imperial Court and sat on his seat, he was surprised to see that Li Qiang was also there sitting beside General Li.

However, he didn't pay much attention to it.

The Imperial Assembly went just like usual. Today also, the first prince and second prince were absent from the court meeting.

The ministers were now starting to get suspicious that something has happened. However, no one really dared to ask anything from the Emperor and the Emperor himself never mentioned it. So they could only involve themselves in the discussions and suppress their curiosity.

The meeting ended at the usual time.

After the Emperor left the Imperial Court, everyone also started to leave one by one.

Xi Ying was also about to leave when suddenly he saw Li Qiang talking to General Li. He only glanced there for a moment before he moved his eyes away and left from there.

On the other hand, Li Qiang was currently talking to General Li.

"I will go to the Yao Yue hall to get some good medicine for Li Rong. Her fever had still not reduced since last night. You should leave first."

General Li insisted that he would also accompany him, however, Li Qiang still asked him to leave first. In the end, General Li could only leave alone.

Li Qiang also came out of the Imperial Court. However, instead of going towards the Yao Yue hall, he chose a completely opposite direction.

A few moments later, he was standing in front of the Baixue Pavillion.

A maid was already standing outside. As soon as she saw Li Qiang, she invited him inside.

It took Li Qiang a moment to raise his foot and step inside the huge pavilion. The struggle could be seen on his face clearly. In the end, he still had to go inside.

He had already chosen his path and now he couldn't go back.

The maid led him to a room. When Li Qiang entered, he saw a woman already seated on the chair. An old Momo was preparing tea.

Realizing his presence inside the room, the woman raised her head.

Seeing Li Qiang, a very polite but pretentious smile appeared on her lips and she said

"This Empress had expected to see Minister Li here today."