Chapter 8: A Hard Day
Zenghui was so ashamed of himself. Probably even more so than his parents. They were going into the second day of their meeting and in the middle of it, he fell asleep!
He remembered, his head getting heavy and it slamming against the long rectangular table. Everyone stared at him. Zenghui then left the room, sad and embarassed.
He stared down at the gray rug and thought of what his parents might say. He thought of the worst thing that could happen. He imagined his father yelling at him and sending him out into the cold! He thought that his mother would take away his freedom to see his friends. Or maybe they'd even take away his beloved sword and bow and arrow!
"No!" he gasped out loud.
The secretary looked at him. "Are you okay, Zenghui?" she asked.
Zenghui nodded. "I suppose so. I think, I should just step outside."
"You still sad about what happened in there?" asked the secretary.
He nodded slowly. "Yes," he replied.
She just said trying to help him, "I'm sure you're fine, Zenghui. I mean, you're the most well behaved boy I've met in a long time. Why don't you try going back in?"
"I can't," he said looking at the doors that led into the meeting. "I just can't," he sighed.
She was about to say something, but he got up and went down the long flight of stairs. He looked down as he walked through the town. He went to their room and got his sword that rested in its sword sheath. He took out the sword and looked at his reflection in the silver sword.
He remembered when his father first gave it to him. He was about twelve. Ruby kept wanting to play with it, but he wouldn't let her. Luckily, his father disagreed as well.
He would practice the day hald the day with it. He also had to fit in time for archery and his chores as well. His thoughts were interrupted when the maid came in.
"I''m sorry," she apologized.
"Oh no. It's alright. I was just leaving," he replied.
He left and went towards the edge of town with his sword. He practiced his sword for awhile. He swung his sword at the bamboo trees and sliced them one by one. He stopped as he saw the pile of bamboo chutes. He put back his sword in the sheath and walked to town.
He and his family always brought back a souvenir. Last time, Ruby had picked. Now it was his turn. He looked through the shops and the items.
Nothing really appealed to him. He kept looking though. He knew that Ruby would get mad at him for not doing so. He spotted something. He went to grab it, but someone else took it quickly. There were no more of the plush toy of a red-orange fox hugging a metal-gray fox.
The bunny hugged it tightly. Zenghui looked at it, but didn't dare take it from him. He knew his sister would take it in an instant. He could just see her swipe it and himself grabbing her by the back neck line of the robe she wore.
He smiled. The bunny cocked his head. "Why are you smiling at me sir?"
He snapped out of his daydream. "Oh. Nothing," he said simply. He went to look for something else. He couldn't find anything. He then returned to the hotel and decided to mail a letter to Valerie.
Meanwhile, Ruby was writing in her diary. She wrote of all the sneaky little tricks she had played on Valerie, Peter, and their new guest, Josie. She had put poison ivy on he table and when Valerie picked it up, she got itchy. She took Peter's drink of soda and replaced it with soy sauce. She even slapped a pie in Josie's face when she wasn't expecting it. She did all of that to them, within three hours.
Ruby began writing something knew in her diary. She missed her brother. She wanted to constantly try and prank him, then having them all fail since he knew her every move.
She then stopped writing when he heard Peter shout out angrily, "Ruby!"
She had put mouse traps on the floor. Then she quickly opened the door and put plastic wrap by the opening of her door. She made sure there were no wrinkles. She smiled as she took a look at her handywork. It was completely see through. No one would tell.
She saw Peter coming in, his tail had two mouse traps and hit foot had one as well. He stomped over to her and she just smiled. Peter hit the plastic wrap and he squirmed. He flailed his arms trying to get it off of him. "Ah! Ruby!"
Ruby quickly opened the window and was going to jump out, but soon saw Valerie and Josie at the bottom! "Got'cha didn't we?"
Ruby smiled slyly. "You think you've tricked me? If so, you're very wrong!"
Ruby climbed out, but stood on the ledge of the window. She looked up and grabbed the ledge of the window above her. She climbed up and opened the guest room that Peter stayed in.
Their house had three guest room. The one at the first floor, Valerie stayed in, the one on the third floor, Peter stayed in.
She hopped into the room and closed the window. She took one whiff of the room and cringed. Oh, yuck! Peter! thought Ruby. She saw the room had socks thrown on the floor along with dirty laundry. She coughed and opened the window. "Oh man! I need to have a one on one talk with that snow leopard!"
Josie, the South Chinese Tiger, looked at Valerie. "I can't believe that little girl could do all those horrible pranks," said Josie.
"Well, you'll believe it soon enough, Josie," said Valerie.
Josie had orange fur, black stripes, and green eyes. She had a pink vest with gold flower patterns and white pants. Josie also worked for the newspaper. "Maybe I'll make a story of her."
Valerie shot her a look. "Oh be quiet."
Peter then climbed out onto the ledge and tried to go after Ruby. Ruby didn't see him and was still coughing from the horrid smell. Peter snuck up and soon his paws gripped the ledge.
Ruby looked down and narrowed her green eyes. She grinned and said, "Hi Peter. I'm doing airing out your room." She gripped the window and said, "And also, a tip, do some laundry!" She slammed the window on his paws and he yelled!
He fell and crashed onto the two girls. "Peter! Why'd you let go?" asked Josie.
The two shot her a glare. This was a hard, long day for them. They didn't need questions like that!
As Ruby went back to her own room, she still felt empty. I can't wait until Zenghui gets back! she thought.