Wow, somebody else reviewed! Thanks for all the compliments. tear tear i'm so happy.
Chapter Eight
Mei Li lay on her new bed in her new room within a large building that housed many people. She had met all of them when Pang Tong showed her in that afternoon, but already she had forgotten most of their names. Of the people she did remember, one of them was Liu Bei, the leader. Mei Li had purposefully committed his name to memory, thinking that it wouldn't be good to forget the most important person's name.
She also remembered Zhuge Liang, the calm and intelligent strategist. He had left an impression on her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. In the end she just decided that he was an interesting person, and that's probably why he struck her so.
And the last person she particularly remembered was Guan Ping. She blushed as she thought about the good-looking young officer. In fact, he was only one year older than she was. She felt shy around him, though, and doubted that any relationship would ever rise between them. Li found it odd that she was so much more comfortable talking to the older people, like Pang Tong, than the people her own age, like Guan Ping and another girl whose name she had forgotten for the time being. But the girl was nice and seemed to be friends with Guan Ping; probably his girlfriend. Li decided then and there to dismiss the thought of a relationship with Guan Ping, so as not to get her hopes up when she was obviously no competition for that other girl.
Mei Li took her sketchpad off her dresser. She no longer had to use her blanket to keep her things in, since there was a dresser with drawers in her room. Taking the pencil in her hand, she opened up to a new page and sketched Pang Tong from memory. She decided to make him riding on a horse in the picture, since that was how his death was to come about. Li felt guilty for a moment and wondered when she would bring up the painful subject.
She decided to switch her thoughts to happier ones, and tried sketching Guan Ping from memory. Without much reason, she drew him defending a castle as a heroic war general. She decided to add his father in there; his looks were easy to remember because he was the only one with an incredibly long beard. She didn't remember his name though; Guan-something-or-other.
A servant peeked his head through the door to tell Mei Li that dinner was to be served in ten minutes. She smiled and nodded, saying she'd be there very soon. It was only after the servant left that Mei Li realized she didn't know the way to the dining hall. Knowing she'd probably get lost, Li put away her sketches and decided to try finding her way right now.
She exited her room and gently closed the door behind her. As she walked down the hall, for no particular reason, she remembered that today was her birthday. She was now seventeen, and look how she was spending the day; as a runaway in a house full of strangers. This wasn't at all what she had in mind when her uncle asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday.
Now that she thought about it, rather ironically she did get her birthday wish; to see the gypsy caravan. Not only did she see it, but she got to spend two whole weeks with everyone there. Interesting, she thought, how that used to be what she wanted more than anything for her birthday, and now all she wanted was a family and a home.
"Are you on your way to dinner?"
Mei Li turned around to see Guan Ping walking behind her. She tried to keep her voice calm as she said, "Yeah, I am."
"Well, you're going the wrong way," he said with a smile. "Not that I blame you. You're new around here. You're Mei Li, right?"
He actually remembered her name! She was ecstatic. But instead of letting Ping know of her state of extreme happiness, all she said was, "Yeah that's right. And you're Guan Ping."
"That would be me."
Mei Li was uncomfortable with the silence that followed as Guan Ping led her through the corridors to the dining hall, but she could not for the life of her think of something interseting to say. She thought back to when Pang Tong introduced her to everyone. He hadn't told them she had run away from home, and Li was thankful for that. He actually didn't tell anyone that today was her birthday, either. The only information he gave them was her name and that she needed a place to stay. That was all these people needed to know to welcome her with open arms. Li was sure, though, that Pang Tong had told his leader, Liu Bei, more about her in private. Of course he would want to know more about this stranger who had come to stay with them.
Guan Ping led her to the dining hall without saying another word. She was glad he had found her, wandering aimlessly through the halls. She would have never found her way in time for dinner.
When everyone else was seated, Mei Li took special notice of where Guan Ping was sitting; a couple seats down from her. But more importantly, he was sitting next to the girl. Of course his father was on his other side, but Mei Li wasn't interested in that. Li herself was sitting next to Pang Tong and a nice lady who seemed familiar. But then again, Li had many dreams with people in them and suffered from deja vu on a regular basis. This lady was probably in one of her dreams and that's why she seemed familiar.
After the meal was started, so was a conversation; naturally about Mei Li. Everyone wanted to know everything there was to know about her, but Zhuge Liang kept people from getting too nosy. Li was grateful that he often stepped in to stop the conversation when it was getting too personal, because she wasn't quite sure that she wanted everyone to know she ran away from home.
At one point, Zhuge Liang brought up an interesting topic. "I have a riddle." he said. "And whoever answers it first correctly will get a prize." Everyone looked at him eagerly, waiting for him to ask so that they could start thinking of what the solution could be. They all wanted the prize.
"How many marbles can you put into an empty bag?"
Conversation immediately arose. Many people repeated the question to themselves, others asked the person next to them if they had any idea. Some responses were called out.
"Twenty!"
"As many as you have!"
"Wait, how big is the bag?" someone asked.
"I assure you, the size of the bag is not imporant." was the strategist's reply.
Mei Li turned to Pang Tong to ask him if he had any idea of what the answer to the riddle was, but one look in his eyes and she could tell he already knew. He was refraining from answering though, to give the others a chance. Mei Li was suddenly filled with respect for him. He knew the answer and yet he didn't want to ruin it for the other people.
Amidst calling out of answers, Li concentrated on the riddle. How many marbles, she thought to herself, can you fit into an empty bag ... an empty bag. That was it!
"Wait!" she called out, and everyone quieted, waiting for her to speak. "You can only put one marble in. After that, the bag isn't empty anymore!"
"That's correct," Zhuge Liang answered, a smile dancing on his lips.
People immediately started talking, discussing the answer and how obvious it was, yet so hard to think of. Many congratulated her, and someone called out, "What's the prize, Prime Minister?"
"Whatever it is, she deserves it," Pang Tong interrupted. "Not only is she smart, but today's her birthday."
After this announcement, conversation started up again, and people started wishing her a happy birthday and asking her how old she was. In between questions, Mei Li spoke across the table to the strategist.
"I don't need a prize, sir." She said. Before he could respond, a cake was brought out to the table and placed in front of Mei Li. She glanced at Pang Tong who nodded back. He told the cook it was her birthday and now all this was happening? She felt like a prized animal who was being watched and just wanted some privacy.
"This does it," Mei Li said, referring to the cake, but hiding a smile. "Zhuge Liang, I do not need that prize! You're already doing so much."
The cake was cut and passed around to everyone. Of course before they could eat one bite, Mei Li had to have a piece herself, as was customary on people's birthdays. After all the celebrating had been done, a servant led Mei Li back to her room and everyone eventually retired to their own rooms as well.
Mei Li had just finished getting dressed in her own room when a knock was heard on the door. She opened it up to find herself looking face to face with that girl, the girl who she assumed was Guan Ping's girlfriend.
"Hello," the girl said in a pleasant voice. "Sorry to disturb you. I'm Xing Cai, in case you don't remember."
"Hi, Xing Cai." Mei Li said. She had to remember that name.
"I was wondering if you had an extra pillow, by any chance. I'm in the room right next to yours, and apparently a servant is washing my pillows, because I don't have any."
"Oh, sure." Mei Li said, opening the door wider. "Come on in. I'm sure I could spare a few for the night."
"Thanks a bunch." Xing Cai said as Mei Li handed her two pillows. Cai glanced around the room and noticed Mei Li's sketchpad sitting on her dresser.
"Hey, can you draw?" she asked.
"Yeah, do you want to see some of my sketches?" Mei Li asked, hoping that she had just found a new friend.
"Sure!"
Mei Li went over to the dresser and picked up the sketchpad, leafing through some of her earlier sketches. She didn't want Xing Cai to see the ones she had done of Guan Ping and Pang Tong, so instead she showed her a couple she had done when she lived back on the farm.
"Oh my, these are amazing!" Xing Cai said, genuinely impressed. "I never was much of an artist. I can't draw to save my life."
Mei Li laughed and didn't say anything else. People had told her that sort of thing before, and she was never sure how to respond.
Xing Cai started flipping through the book, looking at all sorts of pictures Mei Li had drawn. There were some of her aunt, her uncle, the farm animals, even a few Mei Li had drawn of herself. When the pictures started getting into ones of the gypsy caravans and various gypsies doing chores, Mei Li decided this girl had seen enough. She might start asking questions about the gypsies, or she might stumble upon the one of Guan Ping. Li reached for the sketchpad said, "Want me to draw one of you?"
This diverted Xing Cai's attention from the sketchpad, and the girl involuntarily handed it to Mei Li as she wholeheartedly agreed.
"You can pose however you want." Mei Li said.
Xing Cai sat down on a chair and fixed her hair. "How long will it take you?"
"Well, since it's getting late, I can get the basic outline tonight and work on the details tomorrow, if you'd like that." Mei Li answered.
"Okay," Xing Cai agreed.
Li worked on her sketch, and after about ten minutes told Xing Cai she was done for the night. Showing the girl her progress, Xing Cai was impressed and couldn't wait until it was finished. Li told her that she could have it when she was done. This made Xing Cai even happier, and the girl left in a good mood, holding the two pillows she had borrowed from Mei Li. The young runaway went to bed peaceful and content that night, sure that Shu was the place to stay for the time being.
Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang was wide-awake in the library talking to Pang Tong. The two strategists were discussing Mei Li.
"I was impressed by how easily she came up with the answer for my riddle today," Zhuge Liang told his friend. "She has a lot of potential, I'm sure. It's in her genes."
"Her genes, you say? How would you know anything about that?" Pang Tong asked, his curiosity roused.
The strategist was quiet for a second, thinking about how to respond. "You'll just have to trust me on that one, Pang Tong." The strange man shrugged. "You know I trust you," he said. "I have no reason to doubt you."
"Then hopefully you'll agree with me on this next subject."
"Which is ...?"
"Mei Li is precociously intelligent. I think I would like to make her my new apprentice."
Okay so usually I ask some questions down here to keep you wondering what happens next in the story but alas i have no questions today. All I can say is ... please r&r!