Trial Error

The Emperor sat there in shock for a moment, then he knit his brows - this quickly turned into a confused frown as he looked down at the woman on his lap. 

{...Did she just -?...}

He let out an irritated breath, "Xing er'?" When she didn't open her eyes, he tapped her face, "Xing er'..." He called more impatiently, he could see from the rise and fall of her chest that she was breathing. Annoyed, he grabbed her arms and sat her up, and called her again, even shaking her a bit but she remained limp and unresponsive. 

The Emperor scoffed in disbelief and laughed to himself as his eyes scanned the room, surprisingly finding something amusing about this situation. What sort of joke was this? He had spent the last few days stressed, worried sick about her, waiting in anticipation for her to say something, anything really... but for her first word to then be that? 

He was tired of the old man's games.