Trap in a Book

Chapter 29

It didn't take long before they all unpacked and settled in Baozhai's uncle's residence, except ZhangWei, since he had his own residence. He wanted Xiaomei to stay at his residence, but she bluntly refused and took strong measures to stay at Zhou Haitou's residence.

It was nightfall, and they were celebrating the return of the long-lost Baozhai. Everyone, including them and all the people living there, raised their cups to cheer for Baozhai's return. They were all celebrating in the banquet hall. Xiaomei felt like an outcast as she was sitting at the back. She was drinking tea and snacking. She had a perfect view of everyone.

"It is a blessing that Miss Baozhai has returned," a person said.

"Indeed. Miss Baozhai is all grown up now. She looks exactly like her mother and father," another person.

"Your father and mother would be so proud seeing how you grew up," another said.

"Your father was such a great leader. He was the best emperor," they all praised Baozhai's father. Xiaomei immediately saw Baozhai's uncle clenching his teacup in his hand as he forced a smile on his face.

"Yes, I agree. My brother was the best leader," Baozhai's uncle said with great tension in his voice, but no one seemed to notice, except for Xiaomei.

Xiaomei took a deep sigh and thought, "You guys really don't know how to shut your mouths. The breaking point is coming." She was ready to watch a show.

"It is all because of Emperor Liu! He said he wanted to ally with us but then went back on his word. Killing us and taking over our nation," a person shouted as everyone shouted in agreement.

"What," Baozhai said, shocked. LiJie, Chuhua, and Bojing were also shocked. Baozhai looked at them differently now.

"Zhou Baozhai?" someone asked, seeing how shocked she was.

"Baozhai, you didn't know," ZhangWei said as he assumed she was acting to get closer to the palace to get more information and kill the emperor.

"Yeah, that bastard had ordered his army to attack us and take over our region. That's why we are living here in secrecy to get as far away from the capital. If he found out, we are still alive. He will for sure kill us all," one of the elders said.

"Um... I-I'll be back. I need some air," Baozhai said, overwhelmed, getting up to leave the banquet. LiJie quickly went after her.

"Wait, so we killed Baozhai's country... Doesn't that mean we are enemies...," Chuhua said softly to Bojing. Bojing didn't say anything as he didn't know what to say.

"Since Baozhai is back. Isn't it best to have her become our leader? As she is the descendant of our great emperor. She would probably be great like her father. Daughter like father," someone pitched an idea. It didn't take long before they started to agree.

Baozhai's uncle chuckled, "What a great idea, but let's wait until she gets a little older and agrees," as he was holding his anger and hiding his clenched fist under the table.

Xiaomei watched as the breaking point was here. She already knew the uncle was going to assassinate Baozhai and pinpoint it to the emperor. Xiaomei took another deep sigh. If she remembered correctly, Baozhai's uncle was the mastermind of everything. He was the reason why Huang Daiyu and Baozhai families were killed by the emperor.

He was the one who secretly informed the emperor that Great General Huang had committed treason. He heard that Great General Huang was smart and mighty, but he was the biggest and easiest target to make his plan work without leading any tracks on his end.

Since the Great General Huang was Emperor Liu's best friend, causing a great betrayal between them shouldn't be hard, and then finding out the truth will cause a great opportunity to use his (Emperor's Liu) power to eliminate his (Zhou Haitou) threat. Also, it would be a great opportunity to help get rid of more obstacles in his way in the future; for instance, getting rid of the great general will weaken the Liu nation, so it will be easier to defeat them, and then he could rule it all.

So once Zhou Haitou accomplished getting rid of the Great General, he left evidence that it was the emperor from the neighboring nation, making it look like the neighboring country was trying to weaken them so they could attack them.

When Emperor Liu found out the culprit was the emperor of the neighboring nation who caused it. He went mad. He ordered everyone in the neighboring country to be killed since he lost his long childhood friend and his beloved wife (the empress) they must suffer as well.

Therefore, it didn't exactly go as Zhou Haitou planned as he didn't think Emperor Liu would go crazy and kill everyone, but lucky enough Baozhai's uncle still got what he wanted. He became a leader in this small sect.

Xiaomei thought, "This all happened because he had an infuriating complex against his older brother and wanted to be the leader." Baozhai's uncle watched everyone, enjoying themselves as he thought he must kill Baozhai or she will rightfully take over his spot as the leader.

A few minutes later, Xiaomei saw Baozhai's uncle smiling but drinking his tea with his hand gripping tightly on the teacup.

Xiaomei knew what he was thinking as he thought he had a perfect plan. He was going to kill Baozhai and frame the emperor. He was going to say that the emperor had his men follow them back here and kill Baozhai since she was the daughter of the late emperor. Then LiJie will join forces with him to kill the emperor since LiJie probably had his own army since he was the crown prince, as Zhou Haitou had his men do background checks on Baozhai's little friends. So with ZhangWei and LiJie armies (ZhangWei had his own little army), he could take over the entire region for himself. So he will use everyone as a stepping stone before stabbing them in the back once again.