Chapter 282 - Stage Presence (1/2)

Lei Xing quickly left the room and as she marched, she glanced at Xiao Ruo and asked, ”Everything is ready, correct? Just the lighting, right? Have that done quickly, I'll go get dressed.”

”Lighting?” Xiao Ruo asked, blinking at Lei Xing in confusion.

Lei Xing immediately stopped and turned to Xiao Ruo, ”Lighting the pavilion, it's ready, isn't it?”

”Ah!” Xiao Ruo exclaimed and then tentatively went, ”We were going to have it prepared during the banquet but then all that happened and you fainted...and we - I wasn't sure -” Xiao Ruo timidly explained.

Lei Xing sighed and then said, ”It's alright, I understand.” After all, it was a crazy day for all of them, even she herself forgot. ”Just go get everything ready, get more people if needed to speed things up...” Lei Xing ordered and then resumed walking but stopped again and scanned her maids, ” Where's Ah Jin?” She asked suddenly realizing that she had not seen Ah Jin since the morning.

”She said she's not feeling well, so she went in to rest.” Xiao Ruo explained.

”Oh...Has she seen a physician?”

Xiao Ruo knit her brows, ”I wanted to send for one, but she declined it and insisted that she just needs some rest. She did not want to bother you...”

”Alright then...If she's still not doing well in the morning, send for a physician and have a maid watch over her tonight to ensure she doesn't get worse...” Lei Xing said and then resumed walking.

She had basically been preparing all month for this and then almost forgot. Well, she could not be blamed for that, she even forgot her own birthday sometimes...and given the situation of the day, it was perfectly understandable.

{...I am such a crappy girlfriend - or wife, whatever I am right now!... Well, at least I remembered. That's better than most people, right?...No? („ಡωಡ„)...}

Even though everything was feeling a bit chaotic at the moment, she still wanted to give him his moment, well, her moment. She needed to see her hard work come to life.

After Lei Xing left the room, the Emperor sat down, glancing in the direction of the doors for a while, curiously waiting for her return. After a long while passed, he realized she was not returning anytime soon. He sighed, ”What is she up to now?”

He glanced around the room and then decided to go over to her desk. Just as he sat down the doors opened and he perked up, expectantly with a smile causing Xiao Ruo to almost jump out of her skin when she came into view to see the Emperor smiling at her.

The Emperor immediately frowned in disappointment and Xiao Ruo quickly lowered her head and explained, ”The E-empress sent me to ask if you needed anything...”

The Emperor lightly sighed and asked, ”What is the Empress doing?” While he did not mind her being busy during the day, it was already the middle of the night, what could she possibly be doing right now...that was more important than him?

Xiao Ruo blinked and her eyes shifted awkwardly, she could not lie to the Emperor BUT Lei Xing would be very angry with her if she told him. Cold sweat started to form on her head as she pondered which crime was greater at the moment.

”You can leave...” The Emperor said, sparing the poor girl. Xiao Ruo quickly bowed and then sped out of the room before he could change his mind.

The Emperor sighed again and picked up a book to see it was an accounts book. He picked another to see the same thing. After going through a few options, he finally found something interesting, Lei Xing's ”drawing” book. She had shown it to him before when she had drawn the plans for her oven a few weeks ago before she commissioned. She wanted to get his opinion to check if he could make sense of her words before she went to discuss it with the builders.

He smiled as he remembered how excited she was telling about all the good food they would be able to eat with this ”invention” of hers. Although she did explain that it was not really her invention. The Emperor chuckled to himself.

{...She could be so serious and unserious at the same time...really cute~...}

The Emperor leaned back and continued to flip through Lei Xing's art book. As expected there were all sorts of other weird, but oddly interesting designs in there.

He had discovered during the last few weeks that Lei Xing was quite skilled, as long as you were not expecting her to draw a person or anything lifelike. Although he had told her that she had foundations to be good, if not highly-skilled, and he even offered to teach her but she declined.

She agreed with his analysis of her skills, but then explained that she lacked the natural aptitude for it and most importantly, she lacked the patience for art. Then she cutely said she would leave all the complicated drawings to him with a sweet smile.

Thus, he had unofficially been dubbed her personal artist, although she had yet to commission his services for a job. He would honestly prefer to draw her over anything else, but she also lacked the patience to be a proper model.