Chapter 24 - Regarding the Spy Reports.

Rei gets back into her room with Xi Er after they have done making a whole bunch of sweets and desserts, Rei is in relief as soon as she finds out that Ben has regained consciousness. In a slight excitement after the relief, Rei stuffed a mountain pile of sweets of different varieties into Ben's hands which put the latter into a confused state.

"Dr Ben, I knew that you must be having low blood sugar again, so I made some sweets that will help you to overcome this issue," said Rei with a sincere look.

"Ah... Haha... I see. Thanks for remembering my low blood sugar issue." said Ben with an awkward laugh.

"And the afternoon tea is in preparation, please stay here for the afternoon tea before you leave." said Rei who somewhat 'forcibly' invited Ben to stay for afternoon tea.

"I... I see... I guess I shall stay here for a while then." said Ben with an awkward smile.

Then, Ben took a glance at Holly with a subtle expression, after the latter gave him a blink with an okay hand sign, he seemed to be in great relief...

***

Later. The King's room. As usual, Ben is with the King, and this time, they are playing chess.

"So... Don't you have anything to tell me?" The King asked as he took down Ben's pawn with his knight.

"Depends on what you want me to tell you. By the way, check," said Ben as he moved his bishop.

Seeing Ben's move, the King gives him a questioning look, as if he is asking: "Are you sure you are going to take that move?"

Then, without any hesitation, the King took down the bishop with his castle.

"Ah... What a careless move..." Ben murmured in regret.

"Well, I guess you are not in a good condition to play a full round with me, let's halt this and continue it someday else." said the King as he shrugged.

Ben nodded before summoning a servant to take the chessboard away.

"You fainted again, right?" The King asked, brief and clear.

"How did you find out about that?" Ben asked, don't seem to be very surprised.

"I am not deaf, I guess." said the King.

"Mmm... I guess so as well," said Ben.

"Hah... You are certainly committing a slow suicide right now. Overdosing that energy replenishment drug can be quite fatal, alright?" said the King with a sigh.

"Ah... Two weeks. Just two more weeks, I swear." said Ben, who has no intention to refute.

"Well, to be honest, I refuse to believe your swear regarding this matter, but... I guess I can't do anything about it except for accepting it... Anyway... I thoroughly read through this report just now and found a rather interesting detail." said the King as he pulled out a stack of papers from under his pillow.

"Hmm? Isn't this the spy report regarding the Empress Dowager? I was about to retract the spies there for a much more important mission, is it a really important piece of information?" Ben asked, slightly surprised and curious.

"Mhmm... Here, have a look at the two records at these two different dates." said the King as he flipped to and marked on two different pages for Ben.

Ben took the report and read through the marked pages thoroughly in detail. After he read the second marked page, he slightly frowned.

"Hmm... From your reaction right now, I believe you have finally noticed what is wrong with this seemingly plain and ordinary report huh?" The King asked.

"Mmm... I did. Tsk... I must be too tired and too concerned about your health that I missed this crucial point. The first date you marked out is about a month ago when the Empress Dowager was just sent into the Imperial Nunnery, during that date, the Emperor visited her as a responsibility of a son, which was supposed to have no problems at all. However, together with this second date, you marked here, which is about a week ago, things get rather suspicious and worth paying extra attention to." said Ben, who briefly analysed the concerning points of the report.

"Yes, I was thinking the same as yours. On this second date, there is an unidentified visitor who wears a hooded robe and mask. By right, based on the laws of the Qin Empire, to ensure the safety of the residents in the Imperial Nunnery, all the visitors to the Imperial Nunnery should be identified clearly before being allowed to enter the building, not to say reach out to the Empress Dowager this easily. For a hooded unidentified visitor to be able to enter the Imperial Nunnery freely, there is only one possibility." said the King.

"That mysterious person is none of any others but the Emperor himself," Ben added.

The King nodded with a thoughtful look.

"Which is why it caught my attention. If the Emperor could just visit his mother freely with his real identity the first time, why would he choose to hide his identity during his second visit?" said the King.

"Yes, I shall give a new order to the spy to continue and strengthen up the spying operations at the Imperial Nunnery," said Ben.

"I will trust you on that. Aside from this... I noticed that you came in with an opened envelope just now, I thought you were going to show it to me." said the King.

"Ah... That is another spy report but it's really nothing important if you are interested to know," said Ben as he shrugged.

Yup, he is referring to that minor spy report regarding Rei's friend.

"Well, I believe even the most trivial matter would have a well-hidden detail that is worth extra concern, thus just show me the report." said the King.

"Oh... Okay. If you insist... Here." said Ben as he took out the said envelope from his pocket to the King.

The King accepted that envelope, opened the envelope and started reading the content of the report, the more he read, the more confused he got. While Ben who knows exactly what that report is about, stared at the King with a slightly evil smile as if he succeeded in his 'evil' plan...