Given where the two n had been the previous night and who had been arrested, she had a clue of what they were about to say and she raised her hand.
"No."
"But we haven’t said anything yet." Ringo mumbled gruffly.
Chi Lian put her arms on her desk and leaned forward. "And I hope that you will not say it. Royal treasures were stolen, with Heng Yuan’s arrest the news will soon land in the right eats despite the emperor’s desire to keep a lid on it. Let guess, he wants to go out and find the lost treasures for him."
"I told you that she would say no." Mingzhe said, helping himself to the lemon drops casually."
"Which is why I am recording this so that the emperor does not assu we did not deliver his ssage." Ringo waved his phone in the air.
"Turn that thing off." Chi Lian told him.
Ringo did as told. "Sister-in-law, I apologize for not telling you about the recording beforehand. You can be sure that I was going to edit out anything unsavory that you said and only share with the emperor your rejection of his request.
He is my boss and Mingzhe’s boss, we may talk back to him and share our honest opinions with him but at the end of the day, he is the leader of the empire."
"He is your boss, not mine. I do not owe the royal family any favors and over the years I have helped them a lot. It is not I that owe them but they that owe ." Chi Lian sneered. "How did they pay back? I don’t need to explain for you all to understand how they paid back. They betrayed the trust that we have built for two and a half decades."
"Not all of them." Mingzhe felt the need to point out. He was still on good terms with many people from the royal family, those that had not been involved in Junjie’s ss.
"When a minister betrays his nation, the consequences do not visit him alone. His entire family is dragged down along with him. In the old days, if a minister in the emperor’s court was found guilty of treason, nine generations of his family were wiped out. Was it fair to the innocent ones?" Chi Lian folded her arms on her chest and leaned against her chair.
"When I did favors for the royal family, it was out of love for the empire and loyalty to my leaders. I never asked for reimbursent of any expenses that I spent on those missions. I never took credit for my work. I even saved the Long family from being swallowed by the Chu’s. The one ti I needed them.....one ti!!!" She leaned forward again and slapped the table a couple of tis.
None of the people in the office could argue otherwise. It was true that she had many sacrifices for the empire and even missed out on so special days like birthdays with her children and other holidays because she was on missions.
Sotis, she would be injured in the line of duty but she never once complained and she always made sure to finish the mission.
Ringo sighed and he sunk into the chair. It looked like the Chi Lian era of running around like a super secret errand girl for the royal family had co to an end.
"I love this empire, it is my ho. But I can love my ho and not carry all of its burdens on my loneso shoulders." She took a deep breath. "The theft of those royal artifacts was an inside job, the royal family should wipe its ass for once instead of looking for an outsider to do it for them.
The emperor alone commands eight thousand royal agents. He commands the Imperial army and every other departnt of the national army. He can use any of them to track down the missing items. He doesn’t need . Now that i i’s divorce had been settled, I will be leaving for a short vacation with my husband. Rose and Mingzhe...you are in charge of your siblings."
Chi Lian run to the window, opened it and leaped out. Nobody panicked, they knew she would land safely on the ground and then ride her motorcycle away from the building.
"That went just as I expected." Ringo said. "Without the dramatic window escape."
Rose closed the window. She remained by it and turned around to look at her brother and uncle. "If Junjie wants to get back in mom’s good graces, he needs to apologize in person. What he did may look simple in his eyes, a mistake that can be written over with a minor apology in a text. But, to mother, it is not a minor mistake, it is a deep betrayal, an insult to everything that she did for the royal family. She never expected much from them but she believed that us and them....we were like brothers and sisters."
"More like fingers on one hand." Mingzhe suggested. "If one is broken or damaged, the rest find it difficult to function so all the fingers must work together to make sure that they move in perfect coordination always."
Ringo stood up, he exhaled loudly as he moved to Chi Lian’s desk to empty the candy bowl. "I know one thing for certain now, if that dragon ever hatches, the Long’s are not getting it even if she forgives Junjie."
"Well, I for one am glad that this happened. Now, I don’t have to worry about mom all the ti chasing all sorts of crooks in other nations or ours. It is one thing I always hated when we were growing up." Mingzhe comnted.
"You always wanted her to be just mom." Rose said.
"What is wrong with just mom?" Mingzhe asked. "Just mom would not have taken two bullets to the thigh for the Grand emperor. I thought she was going to die."
"But she didn’t." Rose emphasized.
"Tell that to six year old who decided to research full body suits that were bullet proof." Mingzhe answered with a snarl.
Ringo was switching back and forth between the two siblings. Knowing that their argunt would not end, he said sothing that would get them on the sa boat. "So, which one of you is taking in the triplets while your father is away? It is not , the last ti they stayed over, Jun Yi brought ho an injured skunk that skunked all over Cherry’s head. Soone has got to tell that girl that she can be the champion of injured animals without bringing them ho."
"Have you heard about the wolf pup?" Rose asked him.
Ringo winced. "I heard it pooped everywhere and ow ow moved out because she could not have her baby in a dirty environnt."
"ow ow is a drama queen." Rose rolled her eyes. "She moved to i i’s house for the Hua Qi cakes, not because of the wolf pup. Besides, the wolf pup had a bug in the stomach and it was treated. It is now healthy and not pooping everywhere non stop."
"You know what is a good punishnt for i i....." Ringo smiled evilly.
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