The meeting wasn't tense and was going smoothly that Si Ning was glad about the pleasant atmosphere but the problem was he felt eyes on him, even though Xiu Zhicheng was sitting quite a far distance from him with a bored expression while replying and giving orders to the Minister reading their report yet Si Ning could tell Xiu Zhicheng was watching him.

Si Ning does not understand why he was being stared at so much, even Shao Lang kept glancing at him with the corner of his eyes. Si Ning knew he looked beautiful but he had always been a beauty so he doesn't understand the stares directed at him and some of the Ministers too kept glancing at him then he concluded that it had to be because Xiu Zhicheng just announced that he would be the Empress in a month time because he doesn't feel any hostility coming from them so he doesn't think he was being stared at because he was yet to give the reply about whether he would sign over half of his army to the Imperial family or not.

It was hard to ignore them but Si Ning held his head up to look confident as ever and he was quite happy Xiu Zhicheng gaze was directed at him and doesn't even give any Minister that stepped out for the address of an issue a simple glance and to be honest Si Ning could feel his cheeks heating up.

Si Ning was about to smile when his heart started to beat fast on his chest when it occurred to him that he might be wearing his robes on the wrong side but then again it was Ah Dai that dressed it and would never make a mistake like that then he realized the problem might be with his shoes. Ah Dai might have worn the shoes wrong for him even though Si Ning was sure he wore it right when he stepped out of his home and checked yet he was disturbed that he might be wrong so he lowered his head to see he wore it right then he trailed his eyes on his robes and he was relieved that he wasn't wearing the wrong face or a different robe.

Then suddenly it occurred to him that the problem might be his face but then when he left home he had looked at the mirror and Xiao Pei or Jiang Ye didn't say anything about his face just then his mind shifted to Xiu Yuan and he was sure the boy wasn't holding charcoal or ink and his hands were clean. If it was Xiu Junjie that he met, he would have suspected the boy doing something to his face. He wanted nothing than to see a mirror so he could check again why Xiu Zhicheng was staring at him so much or why the rest of the Ministers kept glancing his way.

"And... we have... settled the trading... between the cities..."

Si Ning turned to see the Minister of Finance stuttering and he noticed most of the Ministers looked tense, he felt a sudden chill at his neck which made him directed his gaze to Xiu Zhicheng only to see that he was still being stared at and this time Xiu Zhicheng was frowning which made the Minister of Finance who was waiting for a reply glanced at Si Ning, his eyes beseeching but Si Ning doesn't understand what was wrong but he could feel the tension rising in the room and he almost shivered at the fear that he might have done something wrong he had no idea about and Xiu Zhicheng was about to judge him.

With this thought, Si Ning bit his lower lip as he calculated that if he was to be arrested there he would have to make a run for it but he doubts he would be able to make it to the door without being caught.

Just calm down, keep calm, what did you do.

Si Ning started thinking of what he might have done wrong but after thinking for a while he couldn't come up with anything but he was starting to feel uncomfortable because Xiu Zicheng didn't reply to the Minister of Finance.

"Your hairpin." Xiu TianZhao whispered.

"Hmm?" Si Ning raised a brow even though he didn't turn to look at him but he heard him so he wasn't sure if his hairpin had shifted so he needed to adjust it but he couldn't because of a certain gaze that was directed at him making him feel a bit shy to raise his hand to fix his hairpin and he was so confused because he was being gazed out so openly.

"Your hairpin." Xiu TianZhao repeated without moving his lips.

"Is it taboo?" Si Ning's eyes widen as the thought of Ah Dai being reluctant to take the hairpin was perhaps because of it being taboo. Maybe jade wasn't something he could use and maybe it was only meant for the Imperial family. Because he had not had time to go around not take note of things like that if not he would have known if he wasn't meant to wear jade or not.

"No, it's not, anybody can use jade." Xiu TianZhao told him. "But you know."

Si Ning wanted to ask what he meant or why he was even standing next to him when he felt a cold shiver run through his body which made him meet Xiu Zhicheng's gaze that was hard to read.

"General Si Ning, come here." Xiu Zhicheng voice rang out.

"Your Majesty." Si Ning replied as he stepped forward. Was it his turn to read the reports? This he doesn't understand.

"Come here." Xiu Zhicheng repeated.

Si Ning heard someone take a deep breath behind him which made him wondered if he was in trouble. He doesn't want to be in trouble so he walked forward with his heart in his throat as all his confidence melted away and he found himself not being able to meet Xiu Zhicheng's eye and he stopped at the foot of the steps and when he noticed Xiu Zhicheng didn't say anything and seemed to be waiting for him to come forward made him start climbed the steps one at a time and soon found himself in front of Xiu Zhicheng and was glad there was a table separating them.

"Your Majesty" Si Ning saluted, he doesn't know what to do so he stared at his feet.

"Come closer." Xiu Zhicheng said in a low voice.

Si Ning quickly walked to stand beside the table then Xiu Zhicheng gestured for him with a finger to come closer then Si Ning found himself standing at his side and he bent his head thinking that Xiu Zhicheng wanted to whisper to him only for Xiu Zhicheng raised his hand. By reflex made Si Ning closed his eyes because he had no idea what to be expecting, he really doesn't want Xiu Zhicheng to hit him and he even had no idea what he did but then he felt his hair loosen a bit and when he opened his eyes, his hairpin was in the hands of Xiu Zhicheng who turned it over a few times before removing his hairpin and inserted it into Si Ning's hair. Si Ning was shocked for a second and dumbfounded that he found himself staring at the seal on the table because he really doesn't want to look at Xiu Zhicheng.

"You can leave." Xiu Zhicheng told him.

Eh?