Li Na was dragged out of the banquet hall by the Imperial guards and Li Caihong was in the Yao Yue hall getting her disfigured face treated if it could get treated.
Remembering all this and yesterday's events, Li Rong could not sleep the whole night. Today the Emperor had banned her daughter from entering the Imperial Palace and so much happened in front of so many eyes. Even though inside the room was a eunuch, Li Na being virgin or not was still very uncertain in everyone's eyes.
Both of her daughters' futures seemed to be bleak to Li Rong at this moment.
At this moment, she was missing her husband very much. Perhaps he could have done something for their daughters if he was here.
All these thoughts made Li Rong headache with great force and she excused herself from the banquet saying that she was not feeling well.
In the banquet hall, everyone has finished their lunch.
The banquet continued as the messenger started to present the gifts they have brought from their countries again.
The third day of the banquet was passing very normally or it just seemed like that.
Sitting on his seat, Xi Ying looked towards the entrance with knitted eyebrows. It has been long since Li Rui has returned.
Looking around the banquet hall once, he found that even Princess Wenling has not been there since the beginning.
A bad premonition rose in his heart and he abruptly stood up from his chair.
'If something really happened to Rui then today I shall kill that snobbish princess and end this matter altogether.'
thought Xi Ying as he exited the banquet hall.
As he crossed the entrance with a cold face and in long strides, he didn't notice General Li who passed by his side giving him a very complex look.
After walking out of the banquet hall, Xi Ying went towards Lianxin hall. There were many halls and corridors between Lianxin hall and the banquet hall which made him feel very frustrated as it was making him late in reaching Li Rui.
Finally, Xi Ying reached near Lianxin hall but he didn't need to go inside to find Li Rui because Li Rui was standing outside with someone standing in front of her.
He walked closer to see who this person was and found that it was First Madam Li.
Xi Ying's knitted brows loosened and he understood the reason why Li Rui was taking so much time. However, as he stepped closer and heard the ongoing conversation, the disappeared frown on his forehead came back.
"Your husband has damaged your sister's face Rui. Aunt knows that Caihong was also a bit extreme but Aunt thinks that Lord Xi could have done something else also to save you."
Li Rui stood with her head lowered as Li Rong continued to talk one-sidedly.
Li Rong has been filled with so much anger towards Xi Ying that she just wanted to find someone to vent it all out. So when she saw Li Rui coming out of Lianxin hall she didn't hesitate and started to speak irrespective of whether she sounded reasonable or unreasonable.
"Caihong is refusing to see me. How do you think your first uncle would react when he would come to know of all this? Don't worry, he wouldn't blame you. I know him that much. But Rui, Aunt thinks that you should have talked to Lord Xi about this. Caihong is your family and he should admit what he did was very wrong. What if he did something like….."
"Why didn't Madam Li tell this Lord directly if she wanted to have a talk?"
A cold and sharp voice interrupted Li Rong's one-sided and endless chattering. Li Rong immediately shut her mouth and Li Rui raised her head to look at Xi Ying.
Xi Ying had already been looking at Li Rui since the beginning. When he had seen her lowered head and silently hearing everything whatever First Madam Li said, he had thought that she was feeling very low which had caused him to feel so much rage that he wished to use the same whip on Li Rong he had used on Li Caihong.
However, now looking at Li Rui's calm eyes he knew that she was not affected by whatever First Madam Li said.
Still, Xi Ying couldn't help but feel angry seeing her being so non-defensive.
Just why doesn't she say anything?
The Rui whom he knew was not like this. She was strong, independent, and very alluring. She was not submissive and weak.
Xi Ying moved his eyes away from Li Rui when he saw that Li Rong had turned to look in his direction.
"This one is not feeling well. This one will go inside and would no longer accompany Rui and Lord Xi."
said Li Rong and scurried away.
Xi Ying rolled his eyes and scoffed seeing her cowardly behavior.
Since she knew that she won't be able to speak rubbish in front of him, she ran away as if her tail was on fire.
"Why didn't you just ask An Ju to deal with her?"
He said to Li Rui as soon as he was close to her. His eyes were already on An Ju clearly displeased by what he saw earlier.
However, he retracted his frown and gloomy gaze when he saw Li Rui looking at him silently.
"What are you thinking?"
He asked Li Rui when she didn't say anything for the next few moments.
"Rui is not feeling well at this moment. Rui wants to go and rest instead of attending the banquet."
"What?"
Xi Ying pulled Li Rui closer as soon as she finished her words. He touched her forehead with the back of his hand as he asked
"What happened? Are you feeling cold? An Ju …call the physician right now."
"No need."
Li Rui stepped away from Xi Ying's arms very calmly and stopped An Ju before she could leave.
"Rui is not happy with whatever happened yesterday. Rui wants to be left alone for some time."
Xi Ying was startled by her words. For a moment, he didn't know what he should say.
Actually, there was nothing left to say. Everything he could say, he had already said that in the morning. But it seems that he still had created a knot in Li Rui's heart.
"We can talk it out, Rui, if you want."
He really wishes to.
He really wishes to know Li Rui's thoughts about this whole matter. Because he really didn't know where did he go wrong this time.
He just wanted to take revenge for her but it seems that things didn't turn out how he wanted them to be.
In Xi Ying's eyes, Li Rui had always been very reasonable so he thought that she must have some reason for having this attitude towards this whole matter and that's why he really wished for her to share her thoughts with him.
However, what he heard was
"For now, Rui just wants to be left alone."
She just closed herself like every other time.
Defeated, Xi Ying nodded his head with no emotion on his face.
"Then, rest inside our room. I …"
He licked his lips and continued
"…I will not go back until you feel like meeting me."
With that, he walked away from there.