The Emperor's Phoenix

Chapter 12 | His Spite

金  张  伟

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Jin Zhang Wei

Zhang Wei sat at the desk in his study room, leaning on his hand thoughtfully as he poured himself a cup of tea. No matter what he did, his thoughts kept revolving around the incident with his sharp-tongued wife and her derogatory remarks against him, which only irked him further the more he was reminded about that situation.

"Oi, Zhang Wei..." the male physician called, flipping through a book about the human anatomy. "...Your cup is overflowing."

The emperor blinked out of his daze and stopped pouring, internally cursing at the puddle of tea on a long letter he was writing. Raising the cup of tea to his lips, he furrowed his eyebrows as he took a large sip.

"Be careful, it's hot."

Zhang Wei placed the cup back down and coughed as the heat burned his throat.

Ah...That damn woman...

Trying to clear his mind of her, he grabbed another blank scroll with more ink. Picking up a brush, he managed one stroke before it suddenly broke in his hand from the way he tightly clenched it. Hearing quiet snickering in the corner, he focused a harsh glare on the physician who hid his laughter behind a pale sleeve of his robes.

"What's wrong, Zhang Wei? You seem very unfocused today...I wonder what the reason is-"

"Shut up, Ming Yu."

With the confidence of a male, that woman was like an untamable flame--dangerous yet enchanting. She had put him into a foul mood the last few days as he constantly found himself boiling in his frustration.

And it doesn't help that she shares the same blood as 'that person...'

He certainly would have found great pleasure in crushing her spirit and turning her into a docile wife. After all, Zhang Wei was quite intolerant of people who didn't know their boundaries.

"Suffering from bloodlust? Or could it be a different type of lust—" Ming Yu smirked in amusement as the emperor continued glaring at him.

"Shut up or I'll kill you."

Zhang Wei was extremely tempted to throw the pot of tea at his friend's head. Staying silent, he ignored the physician as he imagined the various ways to kill him.

"Fine, fine, you...stale, unseasoned pork bun--"

Tch...I'll make him choke on 'stale, unseasoned pork buns' in the dungeons.

Ming Yu sighed and paced around silently for a while, his pale robes swishing around softly. His steps slowed as he suddenly stopped in front of a dusty painting of a young woman at the back of the study room.

"Ah, it's been a while since you cleaned this..."

Zhang Wei shifted his gaze over, and the two stared in the silence of their shared sentimentality at the past.

He could still recall her bright smile and twinkling eyes as she ran up to them everyday, presenting whatever new book she was reading and excitedly ranting about it. Her presence in his memories was so clear and full of her lively nature that it took much effort to remind himself of how she was no longer there.