Detective Ghost Empress

Was he that desperate or something?

Liu Hui Ying couldn't help but question.

Experience tales at empire

"Nonsense," Jia Li waved her hand and then said dreamily, "It is all about love. He likes you and because he likes you, even this appearance of yours is dreamy in his eyes." She whispered in a light voice but Zhai Tianyu with his senses heard her.

He however did not refuse and silently agreed with her causing Liu Hui Ying's eyebrows to twitch. She wished she could smack Jia Li and her romance-filled head out of the carriage and throw it somewhere it wouldn't bother her. However, she controlled her temper and turned to look out of the window.

Since Zhai Tianyu did not say it outright, she wouldn't say anything either.

Her eyes drifted close as the carriage continued to move forward. Liu Hui Ying slowly fell asleep and her breathing turned light, Zhai Tianyu looked at the woman who was asleep and his eyes softened. He wanted to reach forward and pull the woman in his embrace but as soon as he reached his hands forward, the eyes of the woman.

However, given that her eyes were darker than the sky of the night and there was a dangerous red glint, Zhai Tianyu knew that this woman was not Liu Hui Ying but her sister, Liu Yi Yan.

"I am sorry," Zhai Tianyu apologized as he lowered his hands to his side and Liu Yi Yan sneered before turning her head away and closing her eyes again.

Zhai Tianyu threw his head back and covered his eyes with the back of his arm. Damn, his life was tough. He could not even woo his wife without getting blocked by a bunch of people. In the imperial palace, his grandmother was eyeing him like a hawk and outside, it was his sister-in-law. That too the one who is no longer alive!

The ghosts looked at the poor man who was supposed to have everything in his hands and yet he couldn't even touch his wife!

The carriage drove past the forests and countryside before arriving at the small Yue Village.

Zhai Tianyu peeked out of the carriage's window when he saw that they arrived at their destination. He then reached out his hand and then shook Liu Hui Ying who was asleep.

"Are we there already?" Liu Hui Ying questioned as she opened her bleary eyes and then looked out of the window. When she saw the dark sky and torches and lamps burning outside the houses, she blinked her eyes and turned to look at Zhai Tianyu before saying, "It is quite late."

"Yue village lies in between the border of the Imperial City and Wen Country," Zhai Tianyu explained with a calm voice he handed Liu Hui Ying a handkerchief to wipe the drool off her face including the dirt and gunk stinking at the corner of her eyes.

He did not think that she looked ugly but with her get-up, if she walked out like this, others would look at her weirdly.

Liu Hui Ying took the handkerchief and wiped her face before turning to look at the village again, she then said, "Where are we staying?"

"There is no need for you to worry about that my queen," Zhai Tianyu said with a smile. He patted his chest and then said, "I have chosen the place where we will be staying, you will not feel any discomfort."

****

"No discomfort? Really?" Liu Hui Ying stared at the rough bed with only a small brazier in the room. There was also the smell of pigs and hens coming from the window.

She did not even need to look out of the window to know that this room which was given to her was close to the horse stable and the yard where the pigs and whatnot lived.

"Well, who asked you to dress up as a servant?" Li Gang did not think that there was anything wrong with the room but the problem was that the room was too small and there was almost nothing for him to possess. Where was he supposed to sleep? In the brazier?

He would have done that if Jia Li had not called dibs on it before he could.

Liu Hui Ying glared at him and then said, "I did not think that they would treat me like this, especially when my supposed-to-be husband was staying with me."

"But they don't know that you are husband and wife."

"Shut up!"

Liu Hui Ying snapped at Li Gang who flinched and closed one of his eyes, he really could not understand why he was the one who was getting scolded when it was Liu Hui Ying who was at fault.

Didn't she know? This world was all about looks.

On the other side,

Zhai Tianyu was staring at the man in front of him while nursing his forehead. He had asked Su Tai to serve Liu Hui Ying really well and in the head of this county magistrate, giving Liu Hui Ying a place to stay next to the pig house was something that he thought was really good.

'She is going to end me,' Zhai Tianyu thought in his head while ignoring the county magistrate's babble. However this was good as well, with Liu Hui Ying investigating things on the surface while Su Tai told him foolish lies, it will be easy for them to expose him.

The only downside of this plan was that Liu Hui Ying would have to suffer. He did not want his wife to suffer.

"My lord, it's a good thing that you came to survey the village," said Su Tai. He was completely oblivious to the fact that Zhai Tianyu was not listening to him and continued to speak, "We have another public project that we need to start but we are lacking in funds, if you can help us then the condition of the village will get even better."

Su Tai did not think that Zhai Tianyu or anyone else had any idea about what was going on in the village. He was one of those corrupt officials who liked to enjoy the funds and the money that the projects built from the money of the Imperial treasury brought him, other than that he did not care about anything else.

He didn't even step out of his house and walk around the village about which he talked so fondly about.

Zhai Tianyu glanced at the man sitting opposite him with a cup of wine in his hands and clicked his tongue. He knew that Su Tai was not a good official but he did not know that he was this bad, his entire body was as big as the table against which they were sitting and his face was red and oily, a clear sign of too much indulgence.

He also noticed the luxurious antiques in the room and the fine clothing on Su Tai's body. Though Zhai Tianyu had seen antiques and clothes even rich and finer than these, he could see that these things certainly did not and could not be brought by the meagre salary of a county magistrate.

However, Su Tai most probably was not worried about being caught. It meant that he either had something to back up his lies or he was confident that he would be able to escape punishment.

Zhai Tianyu narrowed his eyes but when he blinked, all the suspicions and doubts that he had in his head vanished and he looked like a good for nothing who did not know anything better and continued to indulge with Su Tai.

"As I was saying my lord, I have a very good-looking daughter. Wonderfully beautiful," Su Tai slurred while lying on the floor as Zhai Tianyu looked at the man coldly. "If you want, I can give her to you. Just promise me that you will take her as your concubine. I know…that my daughter hic is not good enough for a legal wife but a con…concubine. She is worthy of it, hick."

"Yes, Yes, I understand," Zhai Tianyu spoke as he crawled closer to the man and then placed his arm under his head before helping Su Tai on the pillow. From the perspective of the shadow guards, Zhai Tianyu was helping Su Tai on the pillow but the truth was that he was actually drugging Su Tai such that the latter would not wake up till morning.

He needed to go outside and take a look around the village together with Liu Hui Ying if this man ordered his shadow guards to guard him while keeping an eye on what he was doing, Zhai Tianyu was worried that he would not be able to get out and investigate what he wanted, more importantly, he wanted to see his wife.

She must be really angry with him!

please check my new work: Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival. It will mean a lot.

***************