The Divorcee Is A Wicked Black Belly 69 The Great Kitchen Conference 2

"Why didn't you just come in and take a seat on the kitchen table? Gives you a better chance to hear everything," An Ning's words dripped with sarcasm.

The emperor laughed a hollow laugh and with the help of Kang Jun stood up. The people behind him were also quick on their feet. They were smoothing their clothing as casually as if nothing had happened and waited for the emperor to say something.

Made the impromptu spokesperson of the eavesdropping lot, Gu Sheng was put in a tight spot. Staying meant acknowledging that yes, he was listening in on a private conversation that had nothing to do with him and everything to do with his stepmother's business. While retreating meant that he couldn't hear anything anymore, which he didn't want to do because he was actually very interested in the relations.h.i.+p between his general and An Ning. He knew the two of them hadn't even met before but she called him Du Lu and the general was equally casually familiar when he called her An Ning. What the heck was going on?

The emperor opened his mouth to offer an explanation but his hungry belly suddenly emitted a growl. The growl was so loud, the emperor flushed when he met An Ning's amused eyes. An Ning wanted to laugh but she was still annoyed so stopped herself. Even so, she also saw the comedic part of it and finally relented with a sigh.

"You'd better come in then. Yi Ying, start dinner, will you? Everybody's hungry."

The kitchen table was a long wooden one that could fit about twenty people. With the ten of them taking their seats around it, dinner that night actually became quite a cozy affair.

An Ning and Du Lu, who took the seat farthest from the group, continued with their conversation while speaking in low voices. Of course, everybody was trying to eavesdrop in on them but were glared at by Gu Sheng, who nonetheless inched closer to An Ning in the pretext of filling her bowl with meat. An Ning threw him an exasperated look but didn't say anything.

"So, where's Richard?" Du Lu said, also ignoring the emperor.

"Don't know. Don't care." An Ning said, spearing the meat on her bowl with her chopsticks.

"If what you say is true, then he's going to come after you."

An Ning looked at him and laughed.

"That's why we're here, Du Lu," An Ning pointed out. "Your friend is nothing but vicious."

"So what are we going to do?"

"We?" There was a mocking yet gentle smile on An Ning's lips.

"I a.s.sume it's going to be us since we're here together," Du Lu pointed out wryly.

"Who's this Richard again?" Gu Sheng suddenly b.u.t.ted in, an innocent look of inquiry in his eyes.

"None of your business," An Ning said succinctly.

"Oh, come on," the emperor protested. "If this Richard is an enemy, I have every right to know, An Ning."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? How else can I protect you?"

An Ning lifted a disbelieving eyebrow.

"I don't need protection."

"You actually do, you know," Du Lu suddenly cut in.

An Ning eyed him with annoyance.

"Nonsense."

"Think of it. We're going to need people, like spies, surveillance, platoon guards. You can't do it alone."

"Did you forget? I took out the entire n.o.bility and won. What are you talking about?" An Ning suddenly frowned. "By the way, what the h.e.l.l are you doing here, Du Lu? And by 'here' I mean here, the palace. I thought you never leave the barracks."

Du Lu laughed.

"Somebody told me about a girl using a monster vehicle to blow off a rich man's house of course I'll be very interested. Where did you get the tank?"

"None of your business," An Ning repeated with a smile.

Du Lu studied her with a frown on his face. His next words were uttered in a serious tone utterly foreign to the acerbic Du Lu An Ning have come to know.

"Can you at least give me your trust to keep you safe while we're fighting this thing, whatever it is? You are not alone in this, you know. I'm on your side, An Ning, I hope you know that."

An Ning was silent then an ironic smile split her face.

"You are a friend of Richard's. Of course it's natural to be cautious."

Du Lu's handsome face hardened, his cold eyes boring into An Ning's.

Watching them, Gu Sheng suddenly felt uneasy. He waited, unsure how these two powerful people would settle their differences.

"Why?" An Ning asked after a while.

Du Lu frowned.

"What do you mean why?"

"You said something about needing troops. We don't even know where Richard is."

Du Lu acknowledged the change of topic with a grunt.

"But we both know he's moving to find us, rather you. It didn't take me long to hear about you and that trick you pulled with that tank. It wouldn't surprise me if Richard had ears all over this place. It wouldn't be long before he hears about it, too."

"But why does this Richard want to find you? Who is he, An Ning?" Gu Sheng again inserted himself in the conversation. The worried expression on his face stopped An Ning from shutting him down. She looked at him, her eyes soft and gentle. Du Lu saw her expression and frowned.

"Someone that I used to know," she said.

"In your previous life?" Gu Sheng said in a whisper, careful not to be heard by the others.

"Uhm."

"You told him?" Du Lu was surprised.

"I married his father. Of course, he knows."

"But..."

"General Chen, can you mobilize our army to help An Ning? If this Richard finds out where she is, then it is safe to a.s.sume he'll invade the kingdom to get her, no?"

"In a heartbeat," Du Lu answered.

"He wants you that much?" Gu Sheng was surprised.

"He hates me that much," An Ning corrected.

Gu Sheng frowned but An Ning turned to Du Lu before he could say anything.

"Send out a scout," she ordered. "We'll find him before he finds us."

"And then?"

"And then I'll kill him," An Ning said matter-of-factly.

The dryness of her tone sent s.h.i.+vers down Gu Sheng's spine. Du Lu studied her for a moment then nodded.

"Sei Sei," he called out.

Sei Sei, who was pretending to eat but actually was throwing resentful looks in their direction, visibly perked up when the general called her name. She stood up and saluted.

"Yes, general. I'm here."

"Take some of our men and go to the nearest city west of here. Don't do anything. Just observe and listen. Under cover. Got that?"

"Yes, general."

"You can leave early tomorrow. Report to me in a week."

"Yes, general."

Sei Sei saluted smartly and left without another word. The Min brothers followed her retreating back with anxious gazes. Min Ling was the first to voice out his thoughts.

"Sei Sei under cover? Horrendous idea."

"She's too hard a.s.s to mingle with the common folk," Min Song agreed. "She can empty a room in a second, you know. Are you sure about this, general?"

"Go with her then if you're that worried," Du Lu said with an expressionless face. "Tell her I told you that she needs supervision."

Min Song: "..."

He doesn't want his b.a.l.l.s kicked to his teeth, you know.

"Ahem. On second thought..." Min Song began.

"Go with her," Du Lu reiterated without even looking at him.

Min Song hesitated, pouted then followed after Sei Sei.

"Now that your second in command and my brother are given their respective orders, can you tell me what's going on, General Chen? I am your military adviser, you know," Min Ling said, looking at Du Lu with a serious face.

"None of your business."

"I beg to differ," Min Ling's expression was somber as he unblinkingly gazed at his general. "If it concerns the safety and welfare of the emperor and the kingdom then that is my business."

Du Lu frowned. Gu Sheng opened his mouth but he caught An Ning's eyes and quietly withdrew to the sidelines. Du Lu continued to measure his subordinate with a frowning look. Min Ling gazed back at him, his clear and unshaven face projecting honesty but not fear.

"Do you want me to explain it to him?" An Ning's voice cut the sudden tension between the two men. She was staring at Du Lu with a smile which didn't reach her eyes. Looking at her, Min Ling suddenly felt oppressed, like something foul had taken hold of the air. An Ning was smiling but in her smile was a chilling rebuke as if she didn't care if the two men came to blows as long as she stood firm on her conviction. They don't want to follow her then don't. She didn't need their help anyway.

"You'll go alone and face him?" Du Lu, who had a personal knowledge of An Ning, saw the determination in her eyes. She didn't even consult him much less talk to him about her plans. But then, An Ning and Richard were fated to have this confrontation. They were fated to meet, marry, divorce then hate each other. Wasn't that the usual trajectory of a relations.h.i.+p gone sour? But for Richard to chase her across two timeliness...what did that mean?

"You promised to find the person who killed Father," Gu Sheng, who was staring at his stepmother like she was already gone and killed in battle, forcefully inserted himself into the argument. His young face was pale, his eyes panicked. "You promised to find the person who killed Father," he repeated sullenly, his eyes accusing as they met his stepmother's. "Are you now reneging on that promise?"

The three men were ringed around her like bullies tormenting a little girl. But An Ning was not a little girl. Neither was she weak nor bullied. Du Lu didn't look at the emperor but unconsciously, he leaned forward, his body seeming to elongate as the force of his personality added to the unconscious plea in Gu Sheng's voice. Min Ling looked on, not understanding what was happening but waiting with bated breath for its outcome. It didn't take long.

A genuine smile suddenly spread on An Ning's face. Min Ling blinked at her. The pale and beautiful face was suffused with a soft glow from the lighted lamps. Min Ling was surprised to realize that she was actually a very young girl, certainly about Gu Sheng's age, but her personality was so vivid and her words so domineering she gave off the feeling of a young matron already in charge of a large household. This young empress dowager was obviously comfortable with command and its corresponding obeisance.

"Of course I haven't forgotten," An Ning said, turning to Gu Sheng. "Didn't I tell you we will find whoever it was that poisoned him and kill him?"

'Kill him' the words were said casually as if the outcome was already a foregone conclusion. Min Ling's brows further furrowed. He glanced at the emperor and wasn't surprised to see a wave of something like relief washed over his lightly tanned face.

"Where to find him though?" the emperor frowned, looking at An Ning with mingled question and hope. "The prime minister didn't say anything?"

"What are you talking about?" Du Lu asked perplexed.

Gu Sheng hesitated then glanced at An Ning.

"The late emperor was poisoned," An Ning said, her lips tightening in renewed anger. "Not just ordinary poison. Somebody drenched his robes with it. He...didn't die a simple death. He died in excruciating pain and I...," An Ning stopped.

Everybody in the room stared at her aghast. Even Gu Sheng was clenching and unclenching his fists as he again listened to the words that gave a glimpse of the h.e.l.lish agony his father must have suffered as the poison in his clothing slowly and excruciatingly terminated his life.

The young man seated next to Yi Ling and listening to the conversation around him with a bewildered look on his face suddenly sat up. He was the emperor's a.s.sistant, the young man named Kang Jun who was hired by the empress dowager to manage the emperor's time and schedule. Kang Jun entered the palace on the same day as Du Lu's arrival. Prior to that, however, the empress dowager had introduced him to the emperor who wore the same bewildered look on his face as they met face to face for the first time.

The empress dowager had burst out laughing at their similar expressions then told the emperor, like she was ordering a lackey she had just met, to show Kang Jun around. The emperor, surprisingly and without resentment, did just that. But by then, Kang Jun, after his initial awe and embarra.s.sment at meeting the emperor had pa.s.sed, quickly grasped the reason why he was there and took command of the situation. Instead of the emperor showing him around, he steered the emperor into his own private quarters, asking him about his personal and working habits, his work schedule and his time of rest as they walked side by side.

By the end of the day, Kang Jun had basically a basic grasp of his job as an a.s.sistant to the most powerful man in the kingdom. He even dared to respectfully give advise on one or two matters so that the two of them agreed on working out a daily working schedule that included the emperor's martial arts training, his court appearances, his studies, and time spent sharing breakfast with the empress dowager early in the mornings.

Surprisingly, the emperor, after several minutes of quietly studying his new a.s.sistant, started asking him personal questions. He learned that Kang Jun lived with his mother in the roughest part of the city. He was an outstanding scholar who failed to take the civil exam because his mother fell ill and needed the entrance money for her medicine. He makes a living teaching the sons of rich merchants but was obviously unsuccessful at it because whatever he makes immediately goes to his mother's upkeep. Kang Jun lived a rough life but poverty seemed not to have dampened his spirit. His boyish face was fresh and honest; his eyes clear and bright.

As the emperor's new a.s.sistant, Kang Jun immediately became part of the presumably loyal circle that now surrounds the daily life of the recently ascended emperor Gu Sheng. As such, he was given one of the largest courtyards that sat next to the emperor's palace. He now lives there with his sick mother, who continues to pinch herself every morning to a.s.sure herself that she was not dreaming. The house where they lived also had a small kitchen, which Madam Kang utilizes everyday until her old skills, which poverty and sickness had nearly stolen, started coming back. As such, there was always a whiff of something good and delicious to eat when one pa.s.ses by the house on the way to the palace.

In truth, Kang Jun was not really listening to what his masters were discussing heatedly about. The empress dowager clearly didn't want anyone unimportant to listen in to their conversation so he didn't listen. Instead, he was fighting the urge not to fall asleep. Stuffed with good food and the warmth of Yi Ying's kitchen, he was actually nodding off until something the emperor said, about the empress dowager promising to find his emperor father's killer, snapped him out of his nearly catatonic state.

Poison? The former emperor died of poison? What kind? A poison drench in his clothing? In Kang Jun's hazy and sleep-drenched memory, there suddenly appeared an old man, a poor itinerant, who took shelter from the rain in his mother's old house. The old man was bald and thin, wearing dirty robes and carrying a sack. The afternoon lingered on and he and his mother shared with him rabbit soup and flat potato bread. His mother then went to sleep and as the rain continued to pour outside, the two of them had talked. He was then feeling sad and depressed. The civil exam had come and gone and his future prospects with it. The stranger prodded then nodded understandingly when told about his mother's illness.

He then said something odd.

"Ever heard of the witch?"

"What witch?"

"The one that lives in the Sierra mountains. It is said that she's very good with potions that could cure all kinds of ailments. Maybe she can help your mother."

He remembered looking at the old man like he was an idiot.

"A witch who cures illnesses? Aren't you perhaps confusing the name with a doctor?"

"No, no. A witch. To be honest, I've met her."

"What?"

"But I don't think it was her though."

"What are you talking about? You've met her but it wasn't her?"

"She's said to be really good with disguises so there was a possibility that the person I met wasn't really the face I was supposed to see."

"Maybe it wasn't really her."

"No, it was her."

"How can you tell if she was wearing a disguise?"

"Because the person I met was a young, beautiful girl who looked like an angel. And there was a black dog growling beside her so I know it was her."

Kang Jun looked at him and gave up.

After a while of quietly staring at the rain outside, the old man again opened his mouth.

"This witch also killed people using the deadliest of poisons. I heard about a guy she killed using a poison she mixed in his clothing. The man died an agonizing death. The poison literally burned his skin and bones to nothing."

In the silence, Kang Jun's eyes widened and he gasped. The sound went unheeded but it was at that precise moment that An Ning's eyes drifted in his direction and caught the slight trembling of Kang Jun's eyelashes. An Ning's eyes narrowed and met Kang Jun's terrified orbs with stern authority.

"You know something. Speak!"