"So it was Minster Yu," LiJie said. "Alright, I will have someone keep an eye on him," LiJie added before he signaled one of the guards to send someone to spy on Minster Yu.
"So what should we do?" Chuhua asked.
"We need to draw him out by setting up a trap," Bojing said. As ZhangWei stood at the back, everyone else remained in deep silence and contemplation.
"How about we pretend to have a grand celebration to make him think we're unprepared for his attack?" Baozhai gave an idea.
"That sounds like a great idea," Chuhua said.
"That might work," Bojing also agreed.
"I believe throwing a celebration out of nowhere might be obvious," LiJie said. All except ZhangWei wore an "oh yeah" expression on their faces, then nodded in agreement.
"Also, innocent people will be involved," LiJie added as their facial expressions started to frown. "How about a memorial service? For the deceased Empress and General Huang," LiJie asked. "We can have the people mourn in their homes while the palace holds a memorial service," LiJie added.
Everyone thought for a bit before agreeing. "Alright, I will inform the Emperor about this," LiJie said.
____
It was a peaceful night, and inside a small residence, everything was quiet and dark, except for one room that still had its lights on. Inside the room, Xiaomei sat on her bed, leaning against the bed frame. She was quietly listening to ZhangWei, who was telling her all the information while he was slowly drinking tea.
"A memorial service," Xiaomei said, looking at ZhangWei.
"Ngh," he answered while lifting the teacup to his lips. Xiaomei quietly sat there, thinking to herself before ZhangWei said, "I don't want you to go to the memorial service." He set the cup down on the table and stared at her.
"What?" she said, startled by his request.
"I don't want you to attend the service. It will be dangerous," he said with great concern.
She smiled before saying, "I know, but it will be odd if I don't attend the memorial service." He frowned and remained silent. "Don't worry too much. I will stay hidden in the background and avoid the fight," she tried to reassure him.
"Alright. Stay behind me or Haoyu at all times," he said firmly. She didn't argue with him and nodded her head as she could tell how anxious he was.
He immediately stood up and walked towards her before slowly taking off his outer robe. "W-what are you doing?" she stuttered.
Once his outer robe was off, he swooped down, laying on her bed and taking her in his arms. She tried stopping him from entering her bed and struggled to free herself from his grasp, but it was pointless as he had already laid comfortably in her bed and held her tightly in his embrace with his chin on top of her head.
"ZhangWei, you have your own room and bed. Why are you hogging my room and bed?" she said, still struggling.
"It's more comfortable with you. Also, I must take as much time with you as I can...," he softly said as he feared that the end was drawing near and he couldn't stop it from coming.