His Rui

It had already been fifteen minutes since Li Rui had gone inside the room.

Outside the room, An Ju was feeling restless because she wanted to leave Yao Yue hall with Lady Li before her master would come back and find Lady Li missing.

She was about to go inside when she saw Li Rui stepping out of the room and An Ju finally released a sigh of relief.

Imperial Physician Xu stepped out of the room behind Li Rui.

He knew that now Li Rui will leave. Although he was unhappy and didn't want to let Rui go so easily, he knew that he could do nothing to stop her as the banquet was about to start again.

Just as Li Rui was about to step out of Yao Yue hall, Imperial Physician Xu could not stop himself and finally asked her.

"This old man might be stepping out of his boundaries but if I may ask from where did My Lady get so much knowledge about poisons and their cure?"

Li Rui stopped and turned to look back at the old Physician.

"Books."

"Huh?"

Imperial Physician Xu was startled.

Books?

He had also read many books but bookish knowledge is still very difficult to apply when you don't have anything to practice that knowledge.

Even An Ju looked at Li Rui with a very surprised face. Since she also knew a little bit about drugs and poisons, Li Rui's answer surprised her very much.

Confused, he looked at Li Rui and asked

"Since how long My Lady has been reading those books?"

"Four years"

answered Li Rui very calmly.

"Oh…"

Imperial Physician Xu could only say this.

In fact, he didn't believe Li Rui's words but he also couldn't find any traces on Li Rui's face to conclude that she was lying to him.

And Li Rui was not lying to Imperial Physician Xu.

She didn't have any reason to lie to Imperial Physician Xu.

Four years ago, she didn't have much knowledge about poisons and drugs. She could recognize many diseases and treat them with acupuncture but she didn't know much about the cure of poisons and the power of some special plants that are used to make drugs.

It was only after that night of four years ago when she herself became helpless in the face of aphrodisiacs, she decided to learn more about drugs and poisons.

She had told her father about this wish of her who had agreed to provide her with everything he could.

However, neither she nor her father had expected her to get married to Xi Ying.

Still, she didn't let it affect her wish to learn more.

In these four years, she had tried to read anything she could get and she also had discovered some new things on her own.

And this knowledge had helped her in Xi Manor many times especially when she had found that Xi Ling was being poisoned.

Only Li Rui knew, the night she had seen Xi Ling, just how much she wanted to use acupuncture on her son and clear his body with all the poison he was being fed.

However, she couldn't do so.

The lack of time was the most difficult obstacle in her way at that time.

She needed at least half an hour but at that time she only had enough time to check her son and try to find out just what kind of poison he was being fed.

That's why she decided to treat Xi Ling by medicines only.

Li Rui looked at Imperial Physician Xu's face who didn't seem to believe her but she didn't say anything to him to make him believe her.

She just turned around and left Yao Yue hall with An Ju.

As soon as she stepped outside of the Yao Yue hall, she saw a familiar figure walking towards them in long strides.

It was Xi Ying.

A deep frown could be seen on his forehead which set down as soon as his eyes fell on her figure.

Was he upset that she went out of his sight without his permission?

Before she used to think that it was just the way a husband protected his wife and Xi Ying was the same. After all, she had seen her father looking for her mother always as soon as stepped inside the manor. If he would not find her then he would look so upset and annoyed that every servant of Li Manor would try to avoid crossing paths with grumpy General Li.

However, now Li Rui had learned that it was Xi Ying's way of controlling her so that he could remain aware of her each and every movement.

Li Rui looked at An Ju who seemed to shrink her head when she noticed her master coming towards them.

"Lord, the banquet is about to start. Does Lord have any problem if we once go to Lianxin hall?"

Li Rui asked before Xi Ying could say anything as soon as stepped forward to stand in front of her.

Xi Ying reflexively shook her head and said

"No problem, let's go."

After that, he stretched out his hand to hold Li Rui's waist not before giving a cold glance to An Ju which didn't go unnoticed from Li Rui's eyes.

A few minutes later, Li Rui stepped inside the room, she and Xi Ying were staying in, with Xi Ying.

She went in front of the mirror and picked the robe that she had left on the chair.

She could feel Xi Ying's eyes on herself but she didn't stop amidst her actions as she wore the thick robe above her dress.

However, just the moment when she was about to turn around, her shoulders were grabbed suddenly.

"Rui"

A gentle whisper fell in her ears as she felt the man burying his head in her hair.

It took her a great amount of strength to not jerk those hands away from her body, to not let him see the coldness inside her heart through her eyes…because she knew that he could see her through the mirror.

"Lord, we're getting late."

She whispered with her head lowered and tried to come out of his hold.

But the next moment, a gasp escaped from her lips when she was suddenly turned around and warm lips sealed her cold lips.