QT: Don't fall in love with the Male Lead

Chapter 174: Don't be assassinated

Xi Zirui notices Su Xueyi sitting up straighter when he addresses the dancing girls, but not as if he's trying to put a stop to it.

Odd.

The chief-eunuch calls the girls forward so they can receive their rewards and pay their respects to the Emperor. All of the them stand beneath the raised dais where Xi Zirui's throne sits in single file, their heads lowered.

Xi Zirui instructs another eunuch to bring enough jade jewelry so that he can gift each girl a piece.

He comes back with a large platter of priceless jade directly from the palace's treasury. Xi Zirui reaches into it and takes out a piece at random, offering it to the girl at the head of the line.

She removes her veil before accepting the jade bangle, her eyes wide and incredulous. "This lowly one isn't deserving of such consideration from his Highness," she says.

Xi Zirui smiles at her and assures her that her talent deserves rewarding.

All smiles, she leaves the line to give way to the dancer behind her, and so forth as the line keeps dwindling.

Han Yu's fingers keep holding on tight to the hem of Xi Zirui's robes, out of view of all the guests.

Eventually, they reach the last girl in the line, and Xi Zirui thinks he recognizes her even before she takes off her veil. There's something about her tall and slender figure that reminds him of someone, her phoenix eyes are glued to him, and not the gift she's about to receive.

Xi Zirui is so fixated in watching her remove her veil, he doesn't notice her pull out a hidden blade from the waistband of her flowing skirt. 

Liao Min advances towards him with a small dagger held high in her fist, her face contorted in a mask of hatred and determination. Bracing himself for a brutal death, Xi Zirui muses he should have seen this coming.

But death never comes.

Xi Zirui only realizes he had closed his eyes when he blinks them open and finds that Han Yu has wedged himself between Xi Zirui and Liao Min. His own fist closed around Liao Min's blade, a trail of red blood running down his arm, soaking his dark robes.

The short blade is scant inches away from piercing Han Yu's own chest.

That's what finally kicks Xi Zirui into action. He jumps out of his throne, and crushes an acupoint in Liao Min's wrist that makes her let go of the dagger with a yelp. She spares Han Yu a look of utter betrayal before the guards descend on her, flattening her to the floor to immobilize her.

"Don't kill her," Xi Zirui tells the guards, watching as they restrain Liao Min. She doesn't put up any fight, and lets herself be secured between them.

Xi Zirui addresses the stunned guests, many of them still holding their cups while looking up ahead at the dais, gaping like dead fish.

"Please, continue to enjoy yourselves and the feast minister Su has gone to such trouble to prepare." He doesn't think he imagines Su Xueyi's panicked look as some of the guests sitting next to him cast him suspicious glances. "This Emperor will excuse himself for a moment, to handle this unpleasant matter, and will return shortly."

He follows after the guards who escort Liao Min out, still holding on to Han Yu's lead. He's in a hurry to get his wound looked at, but he can't be seen being too worried about him. Regardless of whether Han Yu saved his life or not.

Inside, he's fucking furious at Liao Min for hurting him.

He's almost out the doors of the main hall, when Ni Ni chimes.

"Congratulations Host! Empress Dowager's Favor up by 15 points. Now at 45 of a possible 100 points."

Xi Zirui tries to focus on that particular silver lining, but the coppery scent of Han Yu's blood renders his thoughts unsteady. 

There's only so much he can do to avoid looking back to make sure Han Yu is well.

---

The guards carry Liao Min to the same holding block Xi Zirui first found Han Yu in. 

They drag Liao Min into an empty cell and restrain her against a wall, shackling her by the wrists but leaving her legs free.

Han Yu has wrapped his bleeding hand in a strip of his robes, and it's no longer bleeding, but when Xi Zirui looks back at him his lips are clenched in a thin line and his handsome face is bloodless. 

"Leave us," Xi Zirui tells the guards as soon as Liao Min is fully restrained.

Cao Fei spares him a worried look. "His Majesty shouldn't be alone with someone who has just made an attempt against his life." He dithers, before finally saying, "Let alone two of them."

"It's thanks to the intervention of one of them that this Emperor still stands," Xi Zirui says, shooting Cao Fei a withering look. "This Emperor will continue to take his chances. Dismissed."

They can hem and haw all they want but at the end of the day, Xi Zirui is still the one making the rules.

As soon as they're gone, Han Yu turns to Liao Min with a scowl. "What are you doing here?" he asks, clutching his injured arm to his chest.

"Rescuing his Highness! As his correspondence instructed me to!" she says, looking from Han Yu to Xi Zirui in shocked confusion.

Han Yu opens and closes his mouth several times, trying to process Liao Min's words before finally turning towards Xi Zirui, "This King did no such thing."

Xi Zirui nods. "I believe you."

Liao Min lets out a loud roar. "My King, what have the Xin dogs done to you?"

Xi Zirui tries very hard not to smirk. He's given Han Yu the fucking of a lifetime, as always.

It's a little concerning that there isn't a similar trace of amusement in Han Yu's dark eyes. Perhaps his injuries are deeper than they look.

"This King has an agreement with the Xin Emperor," is the only explanation Han Yu gives, holding his chin high as if daring Liao Min to question him.

She doesn't, but it's a close thing. It's clear from the rage shining in her eyes that she thinks he's being tricked in some way.

"Then who was corresponding with me?" she asks, spiting out the words.

"Do you have any remaining letters?" Xi Zirui asks.

She raises his eyes up at Xi Zirui and gives him a long look of deep suspicion, after a moment in which he doesn't say anything, she finally hangs her head and says, "Just one, I burned all others. It's still on me."

Xi Zirui enters the cell and retrieves the letter with quick perfunctory gestures from beneath Liao Min's waist sash.

It's a thin piece of paper folded multiple times, with only a few lines written on it:

'Enter through the south gate, disguise and weapon will be prepared for you. Join dancing group, practice with them, say you are replacing sick girl (out of the way) wear veil at all times. After performance you will be delivered to his room as 'gift' do it then.'

Except Xi Zirui had rendered that last part moot.

Han Yu recognized her at once, and knew her presence among the dancers couldn't mean anything good.

He shows the letter to Han Yu who shakes his head. "That's not my handwriting," he points at the red seal in the corner of the sheet. "But that's my seal. Your guards took it from me the moment they apprehended me."

That's not surprising to Xi Zirui, obviously any of the people who want to get rid of him could have done it.

"Did you see anyone's face, did you ever see any of the people helping you get inside the palace?" Xi Zirui asks Bai Mi.

Her patience for him seems to have reached its end because she looks to the side and ignores him completely.

Han Yu clears his throat, but it turns into a cough. "General, please."

"No, I've never seen anyone."

"Like me," Han Yu says, turning to Xi Zirui. "Maybe it's the same people."

Maybe. Maybe not. Xi Zirui isn't sure who's behind this, but something tells him Bai Mi and Su Xueyi aren't working together. They might even be running against time to see who can kill him first.

That's an interesting possibility.

Xi Zirui is about to ask Han Yu what he thinks when he lists backwards heavily, his eyelids fluttering feverishly. Xi Zirui rushes to his side before he can lose his footing, and notices for the first time how hot his body feels.

Infection couldn't have set in this quickly.

"The dagger was poisoned?" Xi Zirui asks Liao Min, furious that she didn't say anything.

She's looking at Han Yu half-fainted in Xi Zirui's arms in wide-eyed panic. "I had no idea, the dagger was found together with the costume."

Han Yu clings to the front of Xi Zirui's robes, struggling to remain awake. One of his hands reaches up towards his face. "Rui-er," he says, breathless as if he's run a long distance.

Xi Zirui's chest tightens with the intimacy of those two lone syllables. Before he can reassure Han Yu that everything will be okay, that he'll get help, Han Yu falls completely unconscious in his arms.