The End of a Romance is Strangely Sorrowful

　　"Xiao… Are you okay?"

　　Su Xiao looked at me blankly with a bowl of peanuts in his hands as he blinked his large eyes: "I'm fine. Why were you so rushed, Big Brother Ming? I've got peanuts, do you want some?" He then looked left and right to scan his surroundings, "Where did you come from? We're in a large open area, how did you appear from thin air?"

　　I angrily exclaimed: "You idiot! You scared me!" I hadn't calmed down yet, so my voice was louder than I thought.

　　"D-Don't scream so loudly. That was so embarra.s.sing!!"

　　You know what would be embarra.s.sing? If Su Xiao were do die under my watch. That would be an embarra.s.sment, okay?!

　　The a.s.sa.s.sins from the League of a.s.sa.s.sins have many methods of a.s.sa.s.sination. The Qilin Guards and the Emperor's Entourage ran into trouble one after another, and today it was Liu Shan Men's turn. I honestly can't feel at peace.

　　I raised my head to see Su Xiao's smooth chin. I then placed a finger on his neck to check his pulse. Okay, good, he's not poisoned. I sent some of my qi into his body for a lap and didn't find anything strange either. I was finally able to let out a sigh of relief. If he were poisoned by strong venom, it'd be too late to save him.

　　Su Xiao looked like a kid whose parents were checking to see if he had a fever as I checked his pulse with my finger on his neck. He couldn't stop himself from going red in the face: "Big Brother Ming?"

　　I think he should be fine. No, I'm still worried.

　　"Come here, do a 360 for uncle."

　　"Screw you! What's wrong with you?" Su Xiao continued in a puzzled tone: "Why are you acting strange? Has your fever returned? Hmm… Why is your mouth red?"

　　Oh, nothing, I just failed to score a romance with a cup of tea. I forced a kiss on a girl who pa.s.sed by, no biggie.

　　Well… To be honest, I'm still confused by what happened. Why did I suddenly lose my calm? Why did I do something like that? I still don't know why. But I was clearly not myself at the time.

　　"Well, uhh…" I blinked my eyes and it took quite a bit out of me to say: "I crashed when I was walking in a rush before. But what on Earth happened? Our people died?"

　　"Our people? n.o.body died."

　　Huh? Didn't he say that the Black Wings Thirteen Wings launched a sneak attack on the city gates and three members from Liu Shan Men died?

　　"You got it all wrong." Su Xiao shook his head: "The eunuch who reported to you was a complete wreck. I think he was scared silly. The attack wasn't at the city gates, but the on the ring outside the imperial city. Somebody suddenly launched an attack and killed three Qilin Guards."

　　I looked at the ring far in the distance with traces of blood on it. The three corpses were still on the ring, while a group of palace guards surrounded them, evidently to protect the scene. Most of the onlookers around were royal family members or children from n.o.ble families as well as servants of the palace. They seemed to be shocked by the scene of the murder taking place, as they all wore frightened looks on their faces.

　　I looked at them and went silent. I then said to Su Xiao: "Xiao, go to where Liu Yuan and co are, and ask the audience what they saw. Don't overlook any clues."

　　"Now? Why?" Su Xiao blinked his eyes, "We're short-handed as is. Is it alright to not guard the gates?"