Detective Ghost Empress

Zhai Heng looked at the man crying pitifully in front of him. He didn't say anything and simply patted Yu Lingyun on the back. Because even if he pitied Yu Lingyun, he knew that there was nothing that could change the situation.

"Look at the brighter side, at least you can now sit on the throne and enjoy the taste of power," Zhai Heng remarked. However, no sooner did he make that remark, than Eunuch Li walked inside the palace and stopped right in front of the bedchambers that belonged to Zhai Tianyu before shouting shrilly, "Your majesty, her majesty the Grand Dowager Empress has invited you for a conversation."

Last night the assassination failed and even though the rumours spread that it was the Liu family's special guards who saved Liu Hui Ying, the Grand Empress Dowager was not someone who would believe just the rumours, she wanted to make sure that Zhai Tianyu was not involved in disrupting her plans because if he was then she would have no qualms changing the Emperor!

She held little to no affection for her grandson when her eyes were set on the throne for so long.

Yu Lingyun and Zhai Heng knew this as well. Thus, when Eunuch Li announced that Grand Empress Dowager had invited Zhai Tianyu, Yu Lingyun dragged a pillow over his head and started to hit his face with it.

"This is the fourth time! She has called me for tea, breakfast and meditation already. I think I have done a good job but this old woman is so suspicious that she does not want to settle down!" Yu Lingyun whined, he did not want to go to the courtyard that belonged to the Grand Empress Dowager again!

He turned to look at Zhai Heng with a glint in his eyes and then said, "Ah Heng, why don't you wear this mask? I think that the role of his majesty will suit you even more."

Yu Lingyun was a warrior and not a scholar, he could not sit still! Even if the mask changed his physical appearance, it could never change what was inside. Thus Yu Lingyun was still reeling in the fact that he had to sit still for another two or three hours.

Zhai Heng stiffened when he heard Yu Lingyun's suggestion. He was aware of how suspicious and winded his grandmother could be if she wanted to if he went there in Yu Lingyun's place then——

'I will have to listen to her sermons for more than three hours… I am never going to do that,' Zhai Heng thought and inwardly rejected Yu Lingyun's request. He smiled at Yu Lingyun and then said, "I took an oath that I will never sit on the throne which means that …this is something that only you can do Lingyun."

After he was done speaking he turned on his feet and ran away leaving behind Yu Lingyun who burst into tears once more as he knew that he needed to kneel for another three hours.

He was going to cancel his and Zhai Tianyu's friendship once that man returned!

***

Zhai Tianyu sneezed. He rubbed his nose with his fingers before turning to look at Liu Hui Ying who sat across him. He glanced at the ugly get-up that she had taken and was amused.

"My queen, I did not know that you have a thing for buck teeth, pimples and sallow skin," he remarked with a teasing smile causing Liu Hui Ying to grit her teeth. She originally wanted to take the appearance of someone who wouldn't tempt Zhai Tianyu.

However, once she went down the rabbit hole, it was nothing but chaos. Jia Li added the buck teeth, Li Gang added the pimples and whatnot while Grandma Lan Fen told her that men in her time did not like yellowing complexion and she took everyone's advice thinking that she would be able to avoid Zhai Tianyu's attention.

He might even avoid looking at her. She did not expect that the combination would be this deadly, now even Liu Hui Ying could not look at her own face.

'This was indeed a terrible, terrible tragedy,' Liu Hui Ying thought in her head. She wanted to change but when she thought about how Zhai Tianyu would not look at her and might even ignore her, Liu Hui Ying swallowed her grievances.

She looked up at Zhai Tianyu who was finding the entire situation amusing and glared at him. "What do you know we are going to investigate the incidents that happened years ago, who knows what kind of secrets are hiding in that village? If I dress up like you everyone will look at me. How will we investigate?"

As she spoke she glanced at Zhai Tianyu disdainfully. Even though she said it to push the attention off her, Liu Hui Ying admitted that Zhai Tianyu looked good. Even with the mask on his face, he seemed to have not changed much.

It was only when she climbed into the carriage and questioned him why he looked so similar to his usual appearance that she found out that this man whose get-up Zhai Tianyu took was his maternal cousin.

Thus, the two of them looked heaven and hell apart.

And this was something that Liu Hui Ying did not like at all.

"Are you sure that you are going there to investigate and not to have fun? Why are you dressed too luxuriously?" Liu Hui Ying questioned. She told him that they needed to blend him, like hell they would be blending in like this.

Zhai Tianyu cheekily smirked at her and then answered, "You think too much my queen. Though it's true that the Yue village is not doing good it doesn't mean that we need to dress up like beggars to infiltrate the village. What's more, if one is playing the role of the servant, it only right that one of us play the role of noble, if not then how will we get inside the house of the county magistrate?"

"And you just decided that the noble would be you?" Liu Hui Ying questioned back causing Zhai Tianyu to snicker as he shrugged, "Its not me who decided. It's you, my queen.." he trailed off as he looked at Liu Hui Ying who stiffened and then turned to look out of the carriage.

Indeed she was the one who chose to dress up like this but who asked this man to look at her as if she was the very land on which he was walking and if she vanished, he would never be able to stand again.

Like she was very important to him as his breaths.

It scared Liu Hui Ying because no one had looked at her like this…no someone did look at her like that but she had chosen to ignore that man all along.

However compared to that man, Zhai Tianyu was even more clingy, it scared her to the point that she felt suffocated. Because she knew that even if she wanted to reply to his confession, Liu Hui Ying did not have the very thing to say that she loved him back.

She did not have any understanding of love and Liu Hui Ying was afraid that she would disappoint him, more importantly, she was not even from this era. They were two different individuals from very different timelines, Liu Hui Ying did not think that they could overcome such challenges.

As for Zhai Tianyu looking at her with such adoration, it must be because he had never seen someone like her, sooner or later this rarity would vanish and he would lose his affection for her.

'You are not the kind of woman any man would ever want,' those heart-wrenching words echoed in her head causing Liu Hui Ying to suck in a breath. It had been too long and he completely forgot about this.

Liu Hui Ying shook her head, she had long decided that she did not need a man to rely on, even if she was alone she would be fine.

Zhai Tianyu noticed the change in the air around Liu Hui Ying's air and narrowed his eyes. He seemed to have realized that she was thinking of something unsettling, thus he immediately opened his mouth and then said, "Now that I am looking at you again my queen, you look really cute."

"What nonsense are you saying?" Liu Hui Ying felt her heart skip a beat as she turned her head and glared at Zhai Tianyu. She had taken this get-up because she wanted to avoid attracting his attention, but now he was telling her that she looked cute like this. Was this man on coke or something? She wished she had her beloved dog to take a look at this man.

Because Liu Hui Ying knew there was something very wrong with him.

Enjoy new tales from empire

At this moment even Liu Hui Ying could not stand to look at herself and yet this man could look at her and call her 'cute' something was very wrong with him all right!