Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 140: A Stinging Slap

Chapter 140: A Stinging Slap

[Suggested song for the Chapter – Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Ryuichi Sakamoto]

The two guards ran with Meili between them, lurking at the dark edges of buildings and trying to keep a low profile, which was difficult with Tricky sticking to them like glue and barking up a storm.

"Here! Hold the girl while I deal with the dog," snarled the chief guard to one of the eunuchs.

Meili saw her chance. While the guard was trying to hand half of the job of carrying her over to the eunuch, she bit his hand that was covering her mouth.

The guard yelled in pain, gripping his hand.

Meili screamed, "Help! Somebody help me!"

"Bloody hell!" growled the guard, giving her a stinging slap to the face to shut her up.

Meili was stunned. She had never been deliberately hit in her life, and the blow silenced her, bringing tears to her eyes and a ringing sound to her ears.

The sounds of heavy footsteps running could be heard in the near distance.

"Let’s get out of here!" the chief guard yelled. "Leave the girl and the dog and run!"

Meili was now unceremoniously dropped to the cobbles where she stood and swayed for a moment, before sinking to a crouch, clutching her throbbing cheek.

"Tricky," she murmured, looking everywhere for him.

The dog charged over to her, nuzzling her with his nose and gently licking her hand which held her cheek.

Before the four men had managed to leave the scene, a group of four of the Emperor’s guards appeared at the northern exit to the square.

They saw the two guards and eunuchs in Prince Haoran’s colours, and Court Lady Mei fallen to the ground, apparently injured, and a great shout went up.

"Catch them all! Don’t let them get away!"

More footsteps rang out from behind Meili, almost drowned out by the confusion that ensured, and two of the Crown Prince’s guards ran onto the scene from behind her.

One of the men ran up to Meili and crouched down alongside her, while the other joined in the chase.

"Are you alright, Court Lady Mei?" asked the man solicitously.

She nodded, looking at him with wide eyes, still clutching her painful cheek, which felt like it was already twice its normal size.

He didn’t think it was worth his life to pick her up and carry her, so he put one arm around her shoulder to help her stand.

"Come over here with me away from the fighting. We don’t want you to be used as a hostage by somebody desperate," he spoke kindly to her, and a few tears fell unbidden down her cheeks.

"Are you hurt? What has happened to your face?" he said anxiously.

He knew his Prince valued this very beautiful woman, and it would be absolutely dire for all involved if something had happened to her face.

"One of the men slapped me," her voice caught in a half sob, "but I’m okay".

She was clearly not okay. He needed to get her to a physician.

"Come with me, my Lady. I’ll take you to a physician for medical treatment."

"I’m sure it’s fine," she assured him. "I don’t want to take you from your duties here capturing these men. I’ll see how it looks in a mirror and take myself off to a physician if it’s necessary," she blinked back the tears that kept threatening to overwhelm her.

Tricky whined and nuzzled her free hand; not sure if this man that was holding his mistress was friend or foe. She stroked his ears absently, taking comfort from his presence at her side.

The man looked uncertainly down at the delicate woman, and then across the square at the fighting, not sure what to do.

At that moment, the Crown Prince strode into the square, quickly taking in the pitched battle between four of his Father’s guards and one of his own, against some of his elder brother’s men.

Then he saw Mei Meili standing with one of his guards, who seemed to be supporting her with an arm around her shoulder, while she held her cheek with her hand.

He ran over to her in a few quick strides.

"I’ll take it from here Yu Lan," he said to the guard, plucking the fellow’s arm from Mei Meili’s shoulder. "You go and help make sure none of them get away or get a chance to take the easy way out."

Yu Lan knew the ’easy way’ meant suicide. He nodded with determination, relieved to have the right decision mapped out for him.

"I’ll leave you with the Crown Prince, my Lady," he said to her, taking his leave.

"Thank you, Yu Lan," she gave him a watery smile, and the man was momentarily dazzled, until the Crown Prince gave him a boot to the buttocks to help him on his way.

Zhu Yicai shook his head at the man, but he didn’t waste any time. He picked Mei Meili up in a princess carry and strode away from the fighting.

"Don’t you need to help your men, Crown Prince?" she whispered. "Don’t worry about me. I’ll make my own way back to your Emperor Father’s chambers."

"Mei Meili, don’t even think about going anywhere until I’ve had a physician look at you. Shi Lei," he called to his chief eunuch, who was stumbling along behind the Prince trying to keep up with him.

"Yes, your Highness?" he panted.

"Send a royal physician to meet us in Miss Mei’s rooms."

"But I don’t live there anymore, Crown Prince," she reminded him quickly.

"That’s right," he muttered with annoyance.

Well, he wasn’t planning on taking her to his Father. Not until he had made certain she was really okay, despite her protests.

"Send the physician to my palace," he called behind him to Shi Lei.

"Yes, Highness," the man peeled off into the dark.

"Crown Prince, I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to go to your palace at this late hour. I am a young unmarried woman after all, and you are a married man. What will your wife think?"

"I don’t give a damn what she thinks. I’m the man of the household. Her role is to support my decisions, whether she likes them or not."

"Please, Yicai," she called his name, tears glistening in her eyes. "It’s really not appropriate behaviour, and your wife already dislikes me. I don’t want to give her any cause to deepen that into hatred."

He looked down into her eyes and when he saw that she was about to cry, his eyes softened.

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