An Shing was hiding somewhere outside the Xi Manor when he saw An San outside the Manor's gates. His eyes flickered with ruthlessness as he remembered what his master had told him and other shadow guards.
He instantly came out from his hiding area and stood in front of An San.
Seeing him, An San stopped abruptly and looked at him in confusion.
"An Shing, why are you blocking me?"
"Master has disallowed you to enter inside the manor." Said An Shing coldly.
Hearing his answer, An San smiled stiffly and said
"I know that and I was not entering inside. I was just waiting here for my brother."
As soon as he finished his words, An Ping appeared outside the Manor. An San raised his eyebrows at An Shing as if indicating 'See, I was telling the truth' but An Shing's face remained cold which made An San confused.
However, he didn't have much time so he moved towards his brother.
"Brother"
An Ping was already looking at him and said
"Let's go somewhere else."
As he said this, An Ping could feel An Shing's probing gaze on himself but his expression didn't change even a bit.
An San nodded his head and both the brother flew away from Xi Manor in a few seconds.
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Two hours later, An Ping and An San were standing in front of a grave.
After a few seconds of silence, An Ping asked as he looked at his mother's grave
"Brother, why are we here?"
His throat was a bit choked with emotions.
An Ping raised his head to look at him and said without any expression.
"I just felt the need to come here. It has been very long since you came here. Mother must have missed you a lot."
An Ping nodded his head and whispered
"Yes"
But after a moment, he added
"She must be missing both of us."
An Ping smiled a little hearing his words, which disappeared as soon as it came.
Releasing a sigh, he then turned to look at An San and asked
"So why did you want to meet me?"
An San also came out of his trance and looked at his brother. He lowered his head for a few moments and then said
"I am just confused. Why did Master punish me? I was just doing my duty. I killed the physician because he was drugging the Young Master. What did I do wrong in this?"
An Ping looked at his younger brother's lowered head as he heard his wronged voice.
His hand almost rose to pat his head and comfort him but they stopped amidst the air. He put them behind his back and clenched his fists tightly.
There seemed to be something stuck in his heart. It was very painful.
He gulped and cleared his throat as he said
"You should have waited for the master. Leaving aside all this, you should not step out of your boundaries when talking about wangfei."
An San abruptly raised his head when he heard his brother's words and said
"Wangfei?"
He frowned and asked
"When did you start calling her wangfei?"
An Ping's lips were pressed in a thin line. Staying silent for a few moments he said
"She is Master's wangfei, so of course we have to call her wangfei only. Didn't Master ask you to respect her when you were thrown out of the Manor?"
The frown on An San's forehead went deeper and he whispered
"But didn't master used to hate her? How did his attitude suddenly change so much?"
An Ping's eyes flickered with panic and he said whatever came out of his mouth.
"Pretend. Master is making some big plan with the Emperor and for that, he needs to pretend in front of Lady Li. That's why he threw you out of the manor to make it look more real."
An Ping was afraid that An San would go to the First Princess and tell her everything. In the eyes of other people, Lady Li was still the unflavored wangfei of Xi Manor.
Although he didn't know his master's mind he can't let anything out until and unless his master allows it to be revealed.
Realization dawned on An San's face and his eyes widened a little.
"Oh…now I got it."
He nodded his head again and again and said
"No wonder everything felt so strange suddenly."
"Do you know anything else about master's plan?"
An Ping resolutely shook his head and said
"No, master didn't tell us anything."
"Alright, brother. Since I am not there, I can only ask you what goes inside the manor so that I don't get confused with who I should save or who I shouldn't." said An San
An Ping's fists were still clenched behind his back.
"So I'll leave now. I need to go and do some work."
As soon as An San finished, An Ping asked him with an expressionless face
"Where do you need to go?"
An San was silent for a moment and then he answered his brother's question with a smile
"Brother you know we can't tell each other the job that master has assigned to us."
An San thought that he successfully lied but An Ping could see the nervousness behind his smile.
As An San turned around to leave, An Ping suddenly asked him
"An San. You are not hiding something from your brother, are you?"
His question made An San halt.
He stared at the distance for a few moments and then answered without looking back.
"No, brother. How can I hide anything from you?"
Behind him, An Ping's face that was filled with hope became expressionless.
As An San flew away from there, An Ping stared at the place he has been standing for a long time.
A few moments later, he turned to look at the grave.
When he raised his head, his lips were trembling and his eyes were red. A single tear trickled down from his eye and he kneeled down in front of the grave slowly.
'An Ping, promise me you will always be your brother's back. You will let anything happen to him.'
Kissing the sand on the grave, he whispered
"This son couldn't complete his promise, mother."
The pain of seeing his only brother going towards his end was too much.. An Ping didn't know how would he bear it.