Trap in a Book

by Usui Takumii

not mine, Song smile at wattpad. Help the author on ko-fi with the same name.

2. 11 to 20

The next morning, LiMei was watering the plants while Bao was teasing her as he was helping her. Xiaomei smiled, watching them as she started grinding soybean in the stone grinder. After she finished grinding, she strained the soy milk to get rid of the skins with the thin cloth and boiled the milk. She set aside the milk to cool down and heated up another pot of water and poured a lot of sugar to make liquid sugar.

Then, Xiaomei cracks the last two eggs into a bowl and ladle some of the cool-down soy milk in with the eggs. She beat the eggs together with milk and poured flour into the mixture. As the batter was smooth and had no more lumps, she set up the pan and oiled it up before she poured a small amount on the pan. She flips the pancake over as LiMei and Bao finish. "Okay, I have to go. Maybe, next time I will eat with you guys," Bao said before leaving.

"Good, so you don't have to steal my food," LiMei said. Bao stuck his tongue out and left. "You...!" LiMei said, frustrated.

"You two are like love birds," Xiaomei said, flipping another pancake.

"Miss, are you out of your mind! I don't see him like that. He is just an annoying kid," she pouted trying to defend herself.

"Okay, if you say so," Xiaomei said, looking at her and seeing her blushing a bit.

LiMei quickly asks, trying to change the subject, "what are you making?"

"I'm making some pancakes," Xiaomei said. "Try it, it's good even though it may not be the best, but it should taste decent," she added. Xiaomei finished making pancakes and set the table. "Try it with some liquid sugar. It would be better with maple syrup but...," she softened out, trying to make it not important to bring up something that isn't here.

"Mmm, these taste delicious," LiMei said as Xiaomei smiled in delight.

The night has arrived as their day went the usual quiet day. In the dim room, Xiaomei was grinding soybeans again to make soy milk as she moved her hand in a circular motion. The milk drips into a bowl, and she continues to pour more soybeans into the hole and move the stone grinder. She continues to strain the soy milk and heat it up as LiMei follows Xiaomei with a lantern for her to see in the dark. "LiMei, can you watch the milk? I have to prepare the ingredients," Xiaomei said and had a candle in her hands as she headed back. LiMei agreed.

Xiaomei opens the bag of glutinous rice flour and scoops some into a bowl and grabs another bowl. She grabs the brown sugar bars and crumples them to fine sugar into the bowl. She then grabs another bag and opens it to scoop out some lotus root starch in another bowl. She set those aside and opened the cabinet again and grabbed the bag of rose tea. She only picks three rosebuds from the tea and crushes them in the lotus root starch before carrying three bowls outside. Once she reached LiMei, Xiaomei did one last quick stir on the milk and took it off the fire.

She then poured all the lotus root starch into another pot and poured some milk in. She stirs to dissolve the starch before adding some sugar. She then placed the pot on the fire and stirred constantly until it became thick. She then sets it aside, so it will cool down and become and look like jelly.

"What about this?" LiMei lifted the bowl of glutinous rice flour.

"Oh, that's for another dish I'm making," Xiaomei said and grabbed the remaining milk in the pot and heated it up again with sugar. As it simmered, she poured the glutinous rice flour in and removed the pot off the fire. "Sorry, LiMei, but can you go get the pan and oil," she asked as she quickly stirred and folded in the flour until she made a smooth round elastic ball.

Before LiMei came back, Xiaomei divided the ball into pieces and then formed smaller balls. Xiaomei put the pan on the fire and poured oil into the pan. She then flattened the ball and grilled it on the pan. She flipped the rice cake on each side as both sides were golden brown.

"Okay, time to eat," Xiaomei said after getting the rose lotus root jelly cake out. She cut it into bite sizes as they made it back to the house. Xiaomei set the plates down on the table. As they were about to eat, the door opened, and comes in Bao. "Bao, what brings you here?" LiMei said.

"I'm hungry. I wasn't able to eat anything because I have to be on duty,'' he said.

"Well, there's no food for you here,'' LiMei said, crossing her arms. He snatched a couple of the rice cakes and hurried out. "Thank you! But I have to go back to duty again. Sorry, see ya!" he yelled from the doorway.

"Bao! Come back here!" LiMei said.

"LiMei, let him be. He didn't eat all day, and he has to go back," Xiaomei said, setting LiMei down. LiMei sighs and settles down. Xiaomei took a bite of the rice cake and tasted the hot sweet elastic cake. The hot rice cake made her body warm and soft on the inside. "Miss, this tastes so delicious," LiMei kept eating.

"That's good to hear," Xiaomei smiled.

After eating, both Xiaomei and LiMei went out to wash dishes by the well. The house was empty and dark as a small lantern was flickering on the well and was barely seen as the two figures were busy and unaware. A dark shadow came running through from above the roof as it was being chased. It spotted an abandoned ugly house in the palace as it thought this was a safe place to hide from the guards as it landed in the courtyard.

"Miss, did you hear that?" LiMei said as she grabbed the lantern from off the brick.

"It's probably your imagination, LiMei," Xiaomei said, finishing up the last plate.

"Are you sure, Miss?" LiMei said, scared and curious. "Miss, let me go check?" she said.

"LiMei, don't...,'' Xiaomei said as it was too late. "LiMei, I can't see. You took the light," Xiaomei hollered. However, LiMei didn't come running back or said anything. She felt something was wrong as she stopped what she was doing and headed toward the house.

At that moment, Xiaomei froze in place. LiMei's mouth was covered by a hand, and a long sharp sword was against her neck as the lantern she was holding was trembling in fear. Xiaomei could see the figure behind LiMei. It was a tall man wearing black clothes as if he was an assassin.

Xiaomei thought, an assassin, great. I didn't find someone to kill the main girl, and now someone is here to kill me! Wait...

She thinks back to the book. This is probably the person who tried to assassinate the emperor but failed. As the person seems to be injured.

Xiaomei quickly started an act, "please spare us! We are nobodies. Look at us. We live in a cold palace. No one will know you are here, and they won't even listen to us. So, spare us." She continued to act desperate, "why kill us and waste your time. When your target is the emperor and not us?''

The man saw right through her and smirked before saying, ''well, you know who I want to kill, so I must kill you." The blade reflects against the moon as if he was ready to kill.

"Oh, come on, most assassins come to kill the emperor. Who else would it be?" she stated bluntly, breaking out of character as she fears for LiMie's safety. He chuckled and gave her chills.

"What if I'm here to kill you?" he said deadly.

"What," she couldn't comprehend as no one in the story tried to kill her before.

"Maybe, I'm here to help Baozhai get rid of a vicious cold-hearted person who tried multiple times to harm her..." he said deadly, and at that instant he let go of LiMei and ran up to Xiaomei before slicing her upper arm while LiMei tried to stop him in fear and accidentally pull off the ribbon from his mask, revealing his face.

Xiaomei did a tiny groan and grabbed her upper arm before falling to her knees. "You," she said in pain. She saw the man's face against the moonlight, and she realized who he was. He was described in the book as a good-looking man, like the main guy and secondary guy, he has sharp pairs of eyes and a small black beauty mark under his eye that make him look like a sly man. And, to her surprise, she realized how good-looking he was as she assumed the main guy was to outshine the rest of them.

The man was Wang ZhangWei, Baozhai's childhood friend, who he had a long-time crush on at a young age. However, he is also trying to find and kill the people who murder his family, as he was in the same clan as Baozhai. She remembers in the book that he shows up later in the story to also cause more of a love triangle between the main couple and the secondary guy. When he first showed up in the story, he was trying to assassinate the emperor. He has been searching for the main girl, Zhou Baozhai, for a long time because he knew she couldn't have died.

"Don't worry, I won't waste my time killing you. I'll let you bleed to death as you are a filthy person who doesn't need to waste my strength,'' ZhangWei despite her as he heard all the rumors of her crimes towards Baozhai. She shot a glare at him before he vanished. "Next time, I see you. I will personally find a way to kill you,'' she spits out in pain.

LiMie trembled in fright as she saw Xiaomei bleeding. She helped Xiaomei up and took her to the house. LiMei quickly grabbed all sorts of things to try to clean and bandage the wound. "Miss, hold on. I'll go get help!" LiMei said and tried to leave.

Xiaomei grabbed her sleeve, "LiMei, you know no one will care and think I did this myself. Let it be. Just help me wrap it tightly," she said.

"No, I will go get Bao! He will help!" LiMei said quickly, but Xiaomei stopped her again as she knew the guards will be arriving soon since they saw him coming in this direction.

"LiMei, we have to make this place look filthy," Xiaomei said out of breath.

"What? Miss, but your arm?" LiMei said, confused.

"Not right now. The guards are coming. We need to look like we are in a terrible state, so they don't get suspicious of us," her forehead shows pain. "So, help me, grab a bucket of dirt and mix it with water,'' Xiaomei said.

LiMei wanted to say something but hurried out and grabbed dirt and splash water in a bucket while Xiaomei forced herself to hide the money and food ingredients somewhere they wouldn't look. LiMie hurried back to the house. "LiMei, smear the mud everywhere," Xiaomei said and gathered all of her strength she had. She and LiMei covered the house in mud, she covered the walls, the table, the seats, the cabinet, the closet, and the floor in mud while LiMei was covering the outside, including the door at a fast speed as they were mostly splashing and throwing it on. They threw the bucket beside the house before heading back inside and blowing out the candle as they wiped their muddy hand on their clothes. Xiaomei wanted to make the house dirty, so whoever comes here will pity them and think that there's no possible way she is involved with anything.

Xiaomei told LiMei to pretend to be sleeping as they heard footsteps at their door. A loud bang came from the door, and guards entered the room with fire torches in their hands. Both Xiaomei and LiMie got up, and before Xiaomei could speak, another handsome man, he had a cold and aloof look and a perfect bridge nose, spoke in a serious tone "where are you hiding the assassin?"

"Excuse me, but I don't know what you are talking about? Both my maid and I were sleeping," Xiaomei said, but the man didn't pay any attention to her and waved his hand.

"Search,'' he commanded as all the guards started separating and searching. They forced Xiaomei and LiMei out of the house so they could search everywhere and watch them closely. At first, they were trashing everything, but for some reason, they felt pity for her and LiMei as they saw how filthy the place was and saw how Xiaomei and LiMei looked dirty and thin.

Xiaomei did her best not to show pain on her face and pulled her arm behind her while the handsome general was watching her. LiMei saw Bao was here as she wanted to ask for help, so she slowly made her way toward him without being noticed. However, a guard appeared and barked, "Move!" and shoved LiMei to the ground to report back to the handsome man. Bao was about to hurry to help her up, but Xiaomei stared at him to tell him to stop, so he didn't get in trouble and caused people to think that he was involved with them before she helped her. Xiaomei wouldn't care or mind if they treat her badly, or talk down to her, but shoving LiMei was absolutely a no.

"General BoJing, how rude of your soldiers to push my maid down without apologizing when she was not in the way? There was plenty of space to come through without shoving her to the ground. We followed what you told us. We are standing outside of the house as you all are trashing the place," Xiaomei said coldly.

The man stood there, unmoved as his facial didn't show consideration, "Why does that have to do with anything with me? I don't care about your maid, she is not mine," he said. She expected his response to be like this as he was written to be a very cold-hearted man but has a soft spot only for the main girl.

"Oh, is that so? Such a shame to have a royal general like you," she said politely, but it felt like a slap to the face as all the guards stopped and looked at him.

Instead of feeling ashamed or embarrassed, he said "For a person like you to say such a thing like that is so ironic.''

"That may be true, but I don't harm others who aren't the person I am going for. And I am in here for a reason, ain't I? I am repenting," she states, sending chills to everyone.

"Oh really, then why did we see the assassin come straight in this direction and spot the person magically disappearing here," he sternly said.

She smirks before saying, "are you sure you weren't slow and lost him." As she walks forward to him, hiding her arm behind her, and to his surprise to see such clear eyes in front of him, even if she looks in a horrible state, she still shines lightly in the dark. He noticed her face to be slimmer and her body to be thin with dirt covering her entire body, but instead of looking sickly, she looks well put with her clear eyes. "General BoJing, let's make a bet if the assassin isn't here, then buy me a bag of rice and leave here now. However, if you somehow find the assassin, then I am willing to be sent to prison and be punished whatever it is decided on, so you could help ease the one you like to be at peace," she cunningly said as he knew who she was implying.

"Why would I agree to this ridiculous thing,'' he said, finally feeling overwhelmed.

"What's there to be afraid of? I'm just helping you? Ain't I? I am willing to put my life for a bag of rice," she said, slyly, which caused the guards to find her more pitiful to give her life for a bag of rice.

Silence has come upon them as her eyes smile at him and cause him to feel irritated as he agrees. She smiled and said, "General BoJing, continue on your search, I allow you." LiMei grabbed her sleeve, worried, but Xiaomei grabbed her hand to assure her.

A couple of minutes later, all the guards report seeing nothing to BoJing as his face turns ugly. "Let's move out," he ordered, staring at her the whole time while she tilted her head and smirked, provoking him.

All the guards moved out as BoJing was one of the last ones to leave, while Bao waited at the entrance for everyone to leave, so he could talk to them as he was worried about them. BoJing continued to stare at her as if he was suspicious of her, but she didn't waver and stood there looking at him unmoved. "I hope General BoJing will keep his word," she mocked him as he didn't say anything and walked away. There Bao made it look like he was going to follow him but didn't.

In the trees, a shadow was hidden in the dark as the sly man smiled mischievously. "Look at that... she is a smart and calculated person, interesting," Zhangwei said before vanishing again.

2

Once BoJing was out of sight, Xiaomei collapsed on her knees. She was in constant pain as she was breathing heavily and used her other arm to support her up. "Miss!" LiMei said, hurrying to her. She saw how pale Xiaomei looked, and she was sweating profusely. "Hurry, help me carry her on my back," Bao said as he rushed to her. He piggybacks her out of the cold palace. LiMie quickly grabbed the things they needed; money and a face veil for Xiaomei.

Xiaomei weakly said, "where are we going?" As blood drips down her arm and rolls off her fingertip. "To a doctor," he said quickly and led her down the secret pathway, which was the opposite direction where BoJing and guards headed as they were heading towards the village.

"Okay, I finished applying medicine to the wound. It's deep but not too deep. I had to stitch the wound up. Sorry, Miss, but you will have a scar...,'' the old doctor said. She nodded weakly without complaining. "Here is some medicine to help you recuperate your strength," he added, and LiMei accepted the medicine.

"Thank you.,'' she said, tired.

Morning arose, and after eating rice porridge, LiMei was preparing to clean the entire house. Xiaomei got up and said, "Let me help you."

"Oh no, Miss, that's not necessary. You need rest," LiMei said, trying to help Xiaomei back to bed. "LiMei, I'm fine. Don't worry, I'll use my other arm," Xiaomei continued to persuade and got up again.

"But Miss...," she said reluctantly.

"Don't worry, it will be better to have an additional hand to help and make the process faster," Xiaomei said, and so LiMei reluctantly agreed and headed to get a bucket of water. However, up in the trees, a lean and tall man was leaning against the tree. He said, "Oh, look at that she hasn't died yet," and looked down at the small house.

Outside of the cold palace, every guard and maid has been whispering about the matter of last night and how they started to pity Xiaomei and LiMei as the commotion has finally reached LiJie and Baozhai as they have their own problem to solve. Once they heard a whisper from two maids walking out of their courtyard. Baozhai went silent and left while LiJie chased after her. "Don't mind them," he said, but she didn't say anything back. Until they both spotted Chen BoJing and Han ChuHua heading somewhere as Baozhai was about to head towards them, but LiJie grab her wrist to stop her.

A while ago, BoJing had returned from the market from buying a bag of rice, ChuHua had spotted him as she ran to him. "What are you doing?" she asks happily as she has this long crush on him. However, he didn't feel the same and answered, "Why does it matter to you? It's my business.," and he carried on. She chased after him and continued trying to talk to him, but his mind was busy with his feelings, and didn't reply to her. They finally reach the cold palace and ChuHua said, "What are we doing here?"

"You can go if you want," he said, busy while entering the court.

LiMei stood firm on cleaning inside the house as it was dirtier and more work than outside, so she closed the door, not allowing her to enter the house until she finished. Xiaomei was about to start cleaning when she heard some voices coming in. She turns to see BoJing and a bright spunky girl with him, and slowly walks towards them. "Why are you bringing rice to people like her?" ChuHua said, looking at her disgusted.

Xiaomei smiled and said, "Oh General BoJing, you haven't told her... such a shame," she was toying with him. He remained silent, but his face stiffened as he was about to give her the bag of rice. However, ChuHua intercepted and said, "Let me do it. She might try to seduce you,'' and both Xiaomei and BoJing look at her with a cold look.

She didn't seem to notice and processed, "here.'' Xiaomei reached out to grab the bag of rice, but then ChuHua let go of it as it dropped to the dirt and spilled everywhere. "Oh sorry, my hand slipped," she said, cunning.

"Oh really," Xiaomei smiled.

"Just pick up the rice like a filthy person you are," she remarked.

Xiaomei smile turns into a smirk before saying, "I am a filthy person, but at least I don't have a filthy heart like someone.''

ChuHua felt like a slap when across her face as she stuttered, "You-"

However, Xiaomei was not finished and said, "But thank you for giving free food for birds and other animals who would love to eat this rice. You do have an UNEXPLAINABLE heart." she emphasized her words and continued, "well, I think it's best for you two to leave this place. It is unfit for people like you. People might think you are filthy as well.'' ChuHua wanted to say something, but BoJing said seriously, "ChuHua." before walking away. She pouted before following him. However, before leaving the cold palace, BoJing looked at Xiaomei with something in his eyes.

Xiaomei watches them leave as she frowns. She sighs before thinking in her head, such a shame. She was disappointed to find that Han ChuHua is an annoying bratty person as she liked her character in the story because ChuHua was the person who stood up for the main girl and was the main girl's best friend. As Xiaomei always rooted for ChuHua's flashy comeback. Xiaomei shook her head and went back to cleaning.

The man chuckled, "She does have a smart mouth." ZhangWei put up his arms above his head and leaned against it and continued to watch her.

As BoJing and ChuHua left, both LiJie and Baozhai saw where they were leaving from, and LiJie headed there, and Baozhai quietly followed. Xiaomei had a soaked cloth in her hand, and she was wiping away the mud off the door. She then heard footsteps as she turned her head to see a shiny handsome man with a proud and ignorant look with a beautiful pure innocent-looking woman beside him. They had a shiny bright aura around them as she knew it was them. She took a deep breath and walked toward them. She braced herself and was ready to act into character, "What are you doing here! Trying to see how horrible I look! SO, you can look down on me! Ha, yeah right! Just wait! I will get you!" She yells and lunges toward Baozhai, and right on time LiJie stops her and pushes her to the ground. "Daiyu! How dare you!" he shouted. She landed on her wounded arm as she endured the pain and stared at them with fury. "How dare I! Why are you here then!'' she rebuked.

"We came here to see the commotion and see how pitiful you are, but it looks like you are not pitiful but disgusting," he said.

"Yes, I am disgusting! So, you better get out, or this disgustingness rubs off on you!" she said hysterically.

"You-" he said at a loss of words.

"What nothing to say?" she taunted him. He then tried to find something to blame her as he noticed the spilled rice.

"How dare you steal food! You are not allowed to have any food tonight!" he blurted out.

"Steal?" she laughed. "It was given to me. Why don't you ask your friend, General BoJing," she said. She then chuckled again and spoke before he could, "No food. Look at me, do I look like I eat? My maid and I haven't got any food for almost a month now," she said, sharply. Both LiJie and Baozhai look shocked and confused as they felt this sort of pity for her. LiJie's eyes saw her thin body and pale face, but he had never noticed her sharp clear eye before. She has this strong look even though she looks so frail.

"What! Do you feel pity for me? I don't need your pity." she mocked.

LiJie remains silent before storming off. Baozhai never saw him this way and followed him.

Xiaomei exhaled deeply as she felt so exhausted getting into character while she grabbed her arm. "Miss, are you okay? I heard voices and you shouting," LiMei came out, extremely worried.

"Oh, it's nothing big," she said, weakly. "Let's continue," she said. As the man in the tree had long gone when he saw Baozhai, he quickly sat up and quickly followed her when she left.

Baozhai was trying her best to keep up with LiJie as he was speed walking toward the kitchen. She didn't understand what he was doing and had this unsettling feeling in her heart. Once they reached the kitchen, LiJie said, "Why haven't you sent food to Daiyu? I heard you haven't been sending her any food for a month now!"

The maids trembled in fear, and the court lady spoke, "I I- thought I sent some maid to send it, but I guess... I do apologize. Please forgive us, your majesty. I will not forget."

"You better! If the emperor hears about this, you will be in serious trouble!" he shouted before leaving. Baozhai did understand why he did that because if the emperor had heard that they hadn't fed Daiyu, he would kill them as he cared for Daiyu and favored her, but Baozhai felt jealous.

Baozhai walked away, upset, and bumped into BoJing and ChuHua as ChuHua was trying to reconcile with BoJing. "Baozhai?" ChuHua said, seeing Baozhai upset. "What's wrong?" ChuHua asked, but Baozhai didn't say anything.

BoJing was about to ask her if she was okay as he was worried, but LiJie appeared and said, "BoJing, did you give Daiyu a bag of rice?"

He answered, "yes."

"Why?" LiJie said.

"Because" BoJing simply said. At that moment, Baozhai felt jealous again.

1

Xiaomei and LiMei were finishing up until LiMei told Xiaomei to rest as she will finish up and make lunch for them. Xiaomei reluctantly agreed as LiMei was very persistent, so Xiaomei went to water her plants before resting. After watering the plants, Xiaomei felt so drained out and exhausted as she sat on the ground and leaned against a tree. Her eyes felt droopy as she fell asleep. The wind lightly blew against her skin and hair as her hair swayed back and forth. A tall figure reappears again to spot her sleeping against the tree as he has returned because he was unsuccessful to talk to Baozhai as she was occupied. He watches her sleep as he sees her slowly and quietly breathing in and out with her eyelashes resting. She seems peaceful. Soon a voice came closer and called out, "Miss?" LiMei was looking for her. "Miss?" she cried again. Xiaomei woke up from her nap and rubbed her eyes. "Here," she called out before slowly getting up. "Miss, why are you resting here? Why didn't you rest inside?" LiMei asked.

"I just felt drowsy," she replied as they headed back. "Miss, do you want to pick up the rice?" LiMei asked.

"No, leave it. Let the birds have it," she said.

"But we are almost done with the rice," LiMei said with concern in her voice.

"It's okay. We can make glutinous rice balls," she assured LiMie. The man listens and watches them leave before disappearing.

However, that night food had arrived at their door as they ate leftovers from the maids who brought it to them, which was a surprise to them and did not taste good.

The sun rose bright in the sky, Xiaomei's body felt drained, and she wasn't able to get up. LiMei quickly went to boil the medicine, but when she opened the door, she found a bag of rice at the door. She looked over where the previous bag was yesterday, but that bag was still there. "Miss, there's a bag of rice here," said LiMei. Xiaomei forces herself up and limps towards the door. LiMei hands her the bag of rice. "Who gave us rice, Miss?" LiMei said.

Xiaomei could only think it was from BoJing. She looked out the door to see no one in sight. However, there was someone in the trees, sitting on a branch, unnoticed.

Afterward, LiMei boiled medicine and made rice porridge again for Xiaomei. Today, Xiaomei stayed in bed all day as she had no energy in her body. While LiMei went out to water the plant, there was a knock at the door. Xiaomei woke up from the sound before calling out, "LiMei?"

"It's me, BoJing," the voice answered.

Xiaomei forced herself again to get out of bed and weakly headed towards the door. She opens the door to see BoJing with a bag in his hand. He saw her face looking extremely pale and beads of sweat on top of her forehead. She looks weak and extremely frail. "Are you alright?" he unconsciously said.

Her clear eyes look at him, unexpectedly shocked. "I I- mean you don't look fine," he said.

Her lips hook up, and said, "What do you mean I don't look fine. What do you expect me to look like? I live in the cold palace. Do you expect me to look healthy?"

He didn't say anything and lifted up the bag to her. She looked at him clueless.

"Here,'' he said, handing her the bag.

She opened the bag to see rice in it. "Rice?" she said.

"Since it spilled yesterday," he said, quietly.

"Oh my, General BoJing has such a kind heart," she continued. His face stiffened in anger as he walked away. "Thank you, kind-hearted General BoJing," Xiaomei shouted loudly, and BoJing ignored her. Once he left, she finally relaxed as her pain had reappeared, and she felt out of sorts. "Miss," LiMei arrived back when she heard Xiaomei's voice and hurried to support her back to bed. While Xiaomei was resting, she thought if BoJing gave her rice now, then who was the one who gave it to her earlier.

The next day arrived, and Xiaomei was slightly better than the day before. She was watering the plants again while LiMei once again was making lunch for them since the maids had forgotten about them again. After finishing watering, she sat down on the grass again and leaned against a tree. She took a relaxing breath and thought to herself, ahh, this is nice. Not doing any work and just relaxing all day if only I could do this in real life. I would do this every day than going to work. She leaned her head against the tree and looked up into the sky. She basks in the sunlight as she closes her eyes, feeling the warm sunlight hitting her face with a light breeze coming here and there. Soon enough, she falls asleep in the light. ZhangWei once again appeared on top of the branch. He saw her forehead crinkled as the sun was shining brightly in her eyes. He raises up his hand to create a shadow to cover her eyes as the crinkled on her forehead had disappeared. However, she opened her eyes as she felt it was weird that the sun had disappeared. To her surprise, she saw the tall handsome man sitting on a tree branch with his leg straight out as both of them were looking at each other.

She already saw his face, so he wasn't afraid of hiding it. He smiled before saying, "Look at that, you haven't died yet."

A small rage had appeared inside of her as she suppressed it without showing it. "Mister Killer, are you here to kill me again?" She said, sarcastically.

He wasn't bothered by the name-calling and chuckled, "like you said, why waste my time killing you when you look like that?"

Her smile twitched tighter, "I see, you have come to watch an entertainment."

"It seems so," he said.

"Well, sorry to inform you, Mister Killer, but this might bore you," she said and was ready to walk away.

"Call me, Mister Wei," he said.

She stopped and turned, "Mister Wei? Then it won't be as entertaining," she coiled with him and left with a smile on her face. ZhangWei was left with the last chuckle.

Xiaomei's smile died as she kept walking away, as she was thinking about how to get him back for hurting her. She was about to enter the house until she saw the rice bag moving. She slowly walked towards the moving bag. She crouches down and touches the bag as it starts chirping. She opens the bag and out comes a small black-capped chickadee. The bird landed beside her as she dumped all the remaining rice out. She watches the little bird but instead of eating it looks at her. She lowers her palm down to allow the bird to jump into her palm. As she was raising her palm up to her face, the bird continued jumping around in her hand.

"Hello there," she said and tried to pet it with her pointer finger. The little bird started to peek at her hand, thinking there was food there. Xioamei chuckles before lowering her hand down again to let the bird off her hand and to the pile of rice on the ground.

She took the empty bag and headed back. "My lady, just in time. The porridge is ready," LiMei finished setting the table. After eating, Xiaomei was drinking a cup of medicine. She set the cup down, a bit angrily. "Are you alright, Miss?" LiMei asks, worried.

"Yes. I'm just thinking of a way to kill him," she said, clenching her hand.

"Sorry, Miss. what..." LiMei said, lost for words.

Before Xioamei was about to answer back, a voice appeared at the window. "It seems like someone is talking about me?" ZhangWei was sitting on the window frame. Xiaomei's eyes shot straight to him.

"You haven't left yet, Mister Wei?" She forced out with her eyebrows twitching in irritation.

He smiled and said, "well, I heard someone talking about me."

She smiles before saying, "Who says anything about you?" As she got up and walked towards the cabinet and set the cup of medicine on top before sneaking open a drawer to pull out the small rusty scissor. She hid it in her hands with her sleeve blocking it from sight. However, his sight was quick and splendid to see what she was up to. "Mister Wei, do you think I was talking about you?" She said, cunning as she slowly walked toward him. Once she was close to him, she faked a trip as she had the scissors ready to stab him. While she was falling onto him, his quick move pulled her hand past his shoulders, making her completely fall onto him as they fell out the window together. His back landed on the hard solid ground, but his eyes were on her while she looked surprised and tried to comprehend what just happened. Her hair tickles his face as it brushes against him. Xiaomei quickly got off of him.

As he was getting up, she then tried again to stab him again, but he was quicker than her as he grabbed onto her wrist and redirected her away from his body, making it as if he didn't notice her real intention. "You should watch where you are going, or you may hurt yourself again, and might accidentally die," he does a sass talk.

"You are right, Mister Wei. Thank you for catching me," Xiaomei thanked him with a tight smile as she knew that he knew what she was planning and caused them to fall out of the window for his own protection and redirect her hand. She got up and dusted herself off as LiMei had run out to check on her. "Miss, are you alright?" LiMei was checking for any injuries on Xiaomei's body. "Yes," she answered back simply. She didn't want to waste her time with him anymore as she headed back to the house.

As he watched her leave without saying anything, he picked up the small rusty scissor that was left behind and chuckled at it.

The next morning, the lean man in black once again sat up on the tree. He looked down at the small house and noticed a small brown fuzzball kept going back and forth at the door.

Xiaomei got up with a lot on her mind. She knew she couldn't possibly kill him as he was too skilled, and there was barely a chance for her to get him injured as well. What could she possibly do? She tried to make herself feel better by lying to herself that she could do a sneak attack on him, but in reality, that was not possible as well. She heard scratching noises at the door and went to open the door. To her surprise, there was a small handful of berries on the floor with the chipmunk sitting there. "Are these for me?" she laughed. The chipmunk shook its head before crawling onto her dress and climbing up onto her shoulder. "Are you the one who gave me a bag of rice," she jokes before picking all the berries off the ground and heading inside to give the chipmunk his half of the shared nuts.

The man in the tree said, "Look at that. I'm going against a chipmunk."

Xiaomei went back outside to wash the berries while the chipmunk stayed behind with LiMei as it was eating peanuts. Xiaomei lifted the bucket out of the well and set it down before throwing the berries in the water. She headed back while thinking about what she should do with the berries. Should they just eat it or make something out of it? She then started a fire, placed a pan over the fire and dumped the small handful of berries in, and poured a generous amount of sugar in as well. She stirred the berry and sugar mixture as the sugar started to dissolve and turn into a liquid while the berries burst. She continued to stir until the mixture became thick and turned into jam. She then set it aside before heading back inside to grab a bowl of glutinous rice flour, oil, and clean water. "Miss, do you need any help?" LiMei asked once Xiaomei entered the house, as she was watching and playing with the chipmunk. "No, I'm fine," she replied before making her way out.

Xiaomei started boiling the water and added some sugar to the water until it dissolved. She removes the water from the fire and pours the hot sugar water into the glutinous rice flour. She mixed it until it was a round ball of dough. She kneaded the dough for a couple of minutes until it became a smooth ball. She then divided it into pieces. She then flattened the pieces and filled them with some of the jam before reforming a ball. She then heated the oil before frying up the balls. She was disappointed that she didn't have any sesame seeds to make it official sesame balls but this will do. She continued to fry until it puffed up and the outside was golden brown. "LiMei," she called out. "Food is ready!" She brushes her hair aside from her face and notices familiar black clothes. She looked up in the tree to spot ZhangWei, leaning against the tree with his arm crossed. She forced a smile before saying, "Mister Wei, I'm sorry to disappoint you. It seems that I'm better."

ZhangWei chuckled and said, "That's a shame,'' and disappeared. She showed her fist where he had disappeared and was pleased that he would finally leave her alone.

"Miss, who are you talking to?" LiMei had left the house.

"No one," she said, carrying a plate of "fried sesame balls" inside. She took a last glance at the empty trees.

The very next day, a bag full of berries was left at the door. She picks it up and looks around to see no one. She looked up at the tree to see no one. "Miss, who gave us a bag of berries?" LiMei asked.

"I'm not sure...," she said.

"What should we do with it?" LiMei asked another question.

"Since the person gave it to us. Might as well make use of it," Xiaomei said and headed to the well. She washed the berries before making more jam. Since there were more berries than yesterday, it took a longer time. While waiting, she made glutinous rice flour dough and grinded some walnuts to make some walnut milk. After the jam was finished, she poured it into a jar and heated the walnut milk. She then put a spoonful of jam into the milk and stirred before dividing small pieces of the glutinous rice flour dough into little balls and throwing them in. Once the rice balls floated up, she took the pot off the fire and served food.

However, the next day there was a piece of pork hanging at the door. Xiaomei unhooked the piece of meat and looked around again to see no one. "Who keeps giving them food?" she said. ZhangWei hasn't shown up since that day as the trees were empty. It made sense as the story is progressing. He probably had finally met with Baozhai and talked. So it couldn't be him? "Is it Bao?" she said...

Xiaomei had started cutting up the meat and vegetables, green onions, cilantro, and red pepper, while the rice was cooking. She poured oil into the pan and tossed the chopped pork in before adding salt and red pepper. As the pork was almost fully cooked, she added the green onion. Once the green onion is cooked, she tosses the cilantro before taking the pan out of the fire. Xiaomei thought, if only she had the proper ingredients she could have made hong shao rou (Red braised pork belly) before she sighs in sadness.

"Miss, it smells delicious," LiMei said. The aroma was strong as everyone in the palace could smell it.

"What's that smell? It smells so good." ChuHua said while the others (Baozhai, LiJie, and BoJing) with her were curious as well.

"Oh, it seems that the kitchen is cooking something delicious," a henchman said, following the emperor. The emperor stopped before taking a nice sniff and nodded his head in agreement.

A couple of days passed by, and Xiaomei was thinking about how she can follow the storyline and not actually try to kill Baozhai or do evil, murderous things. She needs to find an assassin to at least scare Baozhai, so she doesn't change the story. "I could ask Bao...?" she said.

Before she could think more, the door burst open. "Huang Daiyu, you will be coming with us!" a guard said and grabbed both of her arms.

"Let go of my lady," LiMei yelped and tried to pry their hand off Xiaomei.

"What's the meaning of this?" Xiaomei said as they were dragging her out.

"You are summoned to accept your crime of poisoning Miss Baozhai," the guards roared.

"What? Poisoning... Baozhai!" Xiaomei trying to comprehend as it's only been two months. She doesn't get framed until it's three months in the story.

"Do your talking to the emperor!" the guard said and continued to drag her.

"My lady didn't do anything," LiMei pleaded and clung to one of the guards' legs to stop her. The guard kicked her off of him.

"LiMei!" Xiaomei cried out and struggled to break free. "I will go on by myself! After I helped my maid up." Xiaomei sent chills to the guards as they released her. Xiaomei bent down to help LiMei up. "LiMei, stay here. Don't worry. I'll be fine," she said.

"But, miss...," LiMei said, worried and clung her hand onto Xiaomei's arms and didn't want to let go.

"It's okay," she reassured her before slipping LiMei's hand away. She said firmly, "Lead the way." One of the guards led the way and the other one was behind her, making sure that she didn't run away. She followed, but her mind was completely distracted. She didn't understand why the story has changed, she hasn't changed the story too much. The story barely spoke about her in the book, so she didn't really know what she was doing most of the time. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for the worse. All it matters now is that she doesn't die now.

Once she entered the Emperor's court and was standing in front of the emperor.

LiJie hollered at her, "Huang Daiyu, how vile of you to poison Baozhai!"

"Huang Daiyu, accept your crimes! You evil-hearted human! Knee in front of the emperor!" ChuHua shouted.

"I refuse to accept these crimes against me. I did no such thing to Zhou Baozhai," Xiaomei said.

"How dare you! Not accept your crimes!" ChuHua shouted.

"Silence!" the emperor ordered, as ChuHua became quiet. "Huang Daiyu, how could you..." the emperor said, softly and disappointed.

"Your majesty, believe me, I did not do such a thing. I will put life on the line," Xiaomei said, putting her hand up.

"Your majesty, don't believe her,'' LiJie said.

Xiaomei turns her head and looks at LiJie and ChuHua before saying, "How was she poisoned, and when did it happen? Please explain the whole situation before pointing fingers." For some reason, LiJie and ChuHua had chills run down their spines as Xiaomei shot them a glare.

"She was poisoned this morning from drinking tea," the emperor said.

"And you all frame me that I put something in her tea? How can I possibly poison her tea?" Xiaomei said.

"We have a witness that said they saw you put poison in Baozhai tea," LiJie said. "Bring her in!" He commanded. Then a low-rank maid entered the room as she went on her knees.

"Your majesty, please spare me. I-I ...," the maid said, scared.

"Tell us what you saw," the emperor said, seriously.

The maid trembles in fear as Xiaomei couldn't think why this maid is framing her. In the book, no one was really against Daiyu as she was considered an evil and annoying burden. So Xiaomei is wondering what her motives are.

"Well... last night I- I saw Miss Daiyu in the kitchen putting something in a teapot that was for Miss Baozhai... I assume it was poison," she said.

Before Xiaomei could speak, the door burst open as LiMei ran in and kneeled on the ground. "Your majesty, please believe me! I was with my lady last night, and she didn't go anywhere. I will use my life as evidence!"

ChuHua shouted again, "Don't believe her, your majesty. She is Huang Daiyu's maid. Of course, she will cover for her.''

Then another person burst in, "your majesty, I was close to the cold palace last night and did not see Miss Daiyu step foot out of the cold palace as she was in the cold palace the whole night. Please believe me as I have no relation to them," said Bao, as he was also kneeling to the emperor. Xiaomei was in disbelief at those two.

"I will also put my life as evidence," he said.

"You two, silence!" Xiaomei said, upset as the whole room went quiet as well. She turned her attention to the maid. "You said that you saw me last night, but why was Baozhai poisoned this morning? Why didn't you dump it out? Why did you reheat and serve it to her? I think it's partially your fault. Don't you think?'' Xiaomei said as everyone looked at the maid.

"I-I..., your majesty. I-I ... was afraid," she stuttered.

Before either Xiaomei and the maid could talk, another person came in. "Your majesty, we have found another witness," BoJing said and did a fist and palm salute to the emperor.

"Bring her in," the emperor said, and two guards brought in another female maid. She kneels in front of the emperor. "Speak," the emperor's voice roared.

"It wasn't Miss Daiyu who put something in Miss Baozhai's tea, but Fai." the maid said and pointed at the maid who was framing Xiaomei.

"Don't believe her, your majesty,'' the maid said frantically.

The other maid continued, "I am the one who usually makes Miss Baozhai's tea in the morning. After I just finished making the tea, Fai insisted on bringing it to Miss Baozhai. However, instead of bringing it out she went back to the back of the kitchen and put something in the tea. Once I asked her what she was doing, she said she was adding more flowers into the tea. And, the next thing I heard was that Miss Baozhai was poisoned, and it was Miss Daiyu who did it. I tried my best to report this,'' She finished.

"She's lying!" the maid screamed. "Don't believe her," she shouted again.

"Your majesty, you can ask the other maid in the kitchen as they will tell you that I am the one who usually makes Miss Baozhai's tea and that Fai was the one who insisted on bringing the tea to Miss Baozhai," the maid swore.

"Your majesty, we found a portion of the poison in her room," BoJing reported and lifted a small bag to show everyone.

"That's not mine! I had never seen that before. Someone implanted it in my room, your majesty," she begs.

The emperor ordered, "search her." Maids appeared and started searching her body.

"Your majesty," one of the maids said and lifted another small bag to show the emperor. BoJing steps forward and grabs the bag, and opens it to inspect it. He gave the emperor the nod.

"Take her away," the emperor ordered.

"Crown Prince! It's not what you think!" the maid screamed as she was looking at LiJie. "Crown Prince!" she shouted again before being dragged away. At that moment everyone in the room knew her motives.

Xiaomei thought in her head before sighing, "Another person who fell in love with LiJie."

"Since this has been settled, you all may leave," the emperor said.

At that moment, Xiaomei went on her knees and said, "Your majesty, for this unjustified, I would like to leave the cold palace and divorce the crown prince to live outside of the palace in the village. As you saw, most people wanted my blood on their hands as I am innocent and framed." Everyone in the room was shocked upon hearing this.

The emperor looked down at her as she lowered her head. "Do you agree?" the emperor said, looking at LiJIe.

LiJie looked down at Xiaomei and back at the emperor. "Your majesty, you can decide since you made this arrangement," he spoke with anger in his voice before walking out. LiJie still resented his father for forcing him to marry Daiyu. However, his true anger had nothing to do with Daiyu but with his father, and what he did to his mother, the empress.

The empress stood by her brother (Daiyu's father) to the very end and never believed that her brother was treason against the emperor as she had died along with them. So every time LiJie sees Daiyu, he will be reminded of his mother, and his hatred towards his father continues to grow.

"I grant your request. You are no longer married to the Crown Prince. You are free. I will arrange a carriage for you at your new place." the emperor said, signaling a people make the divorce papers.

"Thank you, your majesty. May I also take this guard since he was willing to die for me, so I would like him to protect me," Xiaomei said, pointing to Bao.

"That would be fine," the emperor replied.

"Thank you," she said again as she was about to get up. The emperor spoke again softly, "I- I apologize that I couldn't protect you. They are probably disappointed..." She remained silent, knowing who he was talking about.

"Huang Daiyu, take care of yourself," he genuinely said.

She looked up at him and said, "Your majesty, you also take care of yourself."

"You are all dismissed," he said as everyone left. "Have some men prepare the carriage and help Huang Daiyu move out of the cold palace," the emperor ordered his trustworthy henchmen and left.

1

"Yes, your majesty," the henchman answered before making his way out.

The emperor entered his room and said to the servants following him, "You all leave now." The emperor slammed his fist against the wall. He was tricked again. He listened to the wrong people again. He had failed them again. He couldn't protect the only thing he left of them. How could he?

Xiaomei, LiMei, and Bao headed back to the cold palace, "The both of you never ever put your life on the line for me again," Xiaomei said dead serious. "If you ever do that again. I will never forgive you," she said deadly.

"But..., Miss..." LiMei tried to speak until Xiaomei looked at her.

"Yes," both of them bow their heads.

Once they arrived back at the cold palace, there were already men there, ready to help Xiaomei and them move out. Bao was carrying out stuff to the carriage while LiMei was directing what each guard should carry. As for Xiaomei, she sneaked away from them and headed to the little garden. She had to pick all her vegetables because she didn't want all her energy to go to waste. She picked all of the ripped and unripe tomatoes and peppers. She pulled out all the green onions and took all of the cilantro. She set all the vegetables down on a cloth before brushing her hair away while she was tying it up. The little chipmunk appears in front of her. "Oh, hello there. Today is my last day here. I'll be leaving soon. I won't be able to feed you anymore. You take care of yourself now," she said. She picked up the bag full of vegetables and headed back, but the little chipmunk followed her. She turned to see it, tailing her. She smiled and crouched down to it, "do you want to follow me?" she asked. In response, the chipmunk crawled up her dress and onto her shoulders as she made her way back.

To her surprise, she spotted BoJing in the mist, scanning around.

"General BoJing?" she called out as the little chipmunk hid in her clothes.

He didn't say anything, even though it looked like he wanted to. "Since you are here, I can show you my gratitude. I want to say thank you for helping me find another witness and serve justice to me," she bowed her head to him. "How can I repay you?" she asked.

"That's not necessary," he said.

"I insist," she said as she spotted a servant carrying the bag of her stuff. She stopped him and grabbed the bag. She opened it up to see if she could find anything she could give to him. She couldn't possibly give him money, or he will get suspicious of how she got the money.

She pulled out a small jade charm that LiMei insisted on saving as it was a present from her parents. "Take this as a thank you," she handed it to him.

Before he could speak, LiMei came out with the last guard and said, "Miss, we are all set."

"Alright," she answered. "Well, farewell, General BoJing. Thank you again," she said and left with LiMei.

"Your majesty? Huang Daiyu is leaving now. Are you going to send her off?" ask his trustworthy henchmen.

"No...," he replied. "Give her a large amount of money," he added before the henchmen left quietly. He couldn't possibly face her anymore.

The carriage was leaving the palace. LiMei was playing with the chipmunk while Xiaomei opened the side window and took one last look at the palace. She knows she changed the story, but the story already changed when she was framed early, so let's see what to expect later on... She is leaving, so this can be as if she died and will no longer interact with the story. She will stay on the sideline and watch.

Once they arrived, Xiaomei stepped off the carriage and saw a quiet, slightly small residence that looked built for high-class people. The guards unloaded all of their stuff before heading back to the palace.

A couple of hours later, they finished settling down. Xiaomei was in the kitchen, prepping as Bao and LiMei entered.

"Miss, we got the ingredients," LiMei said. "Here's the fish and pork," Bao said. Both of them set the stuff down in front of her.

"Good," she said before she descaled the fish and cut the head off. She then filleted the fish before removing the skin. She minced the fish filets before putting them in a bowl. She added salt, black pepper, and some starch. She then cracked an egg before separating the egg whites and yolk. She added the egg whites in with the minced fish and mixed it all together. After mixing it, she placed cold water into a pot and started forming fish balls by squeezing the mixture through the gap between her thumb and pointer finger. She placed the fish balls in the cold water, and once she finished, then she boiled the fish balls. As it was cooking, she minced the pork while occasionally stirring the fish balls. She added seasoning to the pork and threw in some chopped-up green onions. She then cracked open a couple more eggs before beating them up in a bowl. She set it aside as she drained out the water from the fish balls and set it aside. She went back to the beaten eggs and had a ladle in her hand. She poured a small amount into the ladle and moved it around a bit before adding the pork filling. She then folded it in half and pressed the edge with chopsticks to make them stick to each other. She flipped the other side to have a nice golden brown on both sides. She continued until she finished with all the pork filling.

After making the egg dumplings, she opened the cabinet and grabbed the ripe tomatoes that were from her garden back in the cold palace, and washed them before cutting slits on them and pouring hot water on them, so she could peel off the skin. Afterward, she chopped them up and threw them in a pot, and poured in water. She let it cook and simmer before adding seasoning. Soon after she tossed the fish balls and egg dumplings in and let them cook for a bit before taking it off the heat and placing it on the table.

After lounging around in the evening, Xiaomei started to prepare dinner. She had kept the fish bones that still had a bit of meat within them and the fish head. She set those aside and started to cut up some green onions and gingers. Once she finished cutting, she added oil to the wok and tossed the fish bones and fish head in. She cooked it until it was golden brown before tossing in the green onions and gingers. Then, she poured boiling hot water into the wok and did a couple of stirs to make sure the fish bones and fish head weren't stuck on the bottom. She covered the wok to let the fish soup simmer for a couple of minutes.

Afterward, she separated the liquid from the solid food before adding some salt and white black pepper. Once she was done, she set down three bowls of milky fish soup on the table and garnished the soups with a few chopped green onions on top.

Night had arrived as they were finishing up their dinner. Xiaomei asked, "Let's go to the night market?"

Both Bao and LiMei look a bit startled at Xiaomei's question. "Miss, it could be dangerous at night," LiMei said.

"Yes, Miss, the night market has some areas that are sketchy," Bao said as well.

"Well, we'll just stay in crowded and safe areas then. Also, I have you, Bao. Don't I? What's there to be afraid of?" Xiaomei said as both Bao and LiMei were still reluctant. "Just for an hour," she added. Bao and LiMei hesitantly agreed.

"Miss, do you want me to get your face veil?" LiMei asked.

"Yes," she said as she knew that words about her had probably spread already. Once LiMei left, Xiaomei whispered to Bao, "Don't worry about protecting me. Just focus your attention on LiMei."

"Miss," he retaliated while blushing. She chuckled before LiMei returned.

"What are you guys talking about?" she asked.

"Nothing," Bao quickly answered in a flustered voice. Xiaomei could see his ear getting red and smiled silently.

Once she stepped one foot outside, she saw how beautiful the night market was as all the lanterns were lit and shined so brightly. They were all hanging everywhere and crowds of people walking underneath them, not noticing their simple beauty.

"Miss, where do you want to go first?" LiMei asked.

"Anywhere," she answered.

"Do you want a bingtanghulu?" LiMei asked. She simply nodded and followed a tall man carrying a bunch of bingtanghulu. Each of them had one. "Ooo, Miss, do you want a lantern?" LiMei pointed out.

"Yes," she said genuinely. They hurried to the stall that sells lanterns. "Sorry, sir. Excuse me," Xiaomei said, bumping into a tall man but continuing on without looking at his face.

The tall man found her voice to be familiar as he turned back to see the lady in pink had already hurried away. "Wang ZhangWei, the restaurant is this way," someone said. He nodded and continued.

ZhangWei finally got the chance to meet with Baozhai, and she looked exactly the same as she did when she was young. He wanted to tell her so many things, but she was always occupied with others. He could tell she had a strange relationship with that guy, Liu LiJie. He noticed that she was too focused on this relationship conflict, and he didn't want to become part of it as well.

He had arrived at the palace, not knowing the news of the situation since he thought it was some nonsense commotion and disregarded it. A servant had brought him over to Baozhai, where he met the rest of the people again. He saw them sitting around a table under a gazebo. "ZhangWei!" Baozhai cheerfully said. LiJie stared at him in an unfriendly way while the other two looked at him awkwardly. ZhangWei wasn't bothered by it as he walked forward and greeted Baozhai back. Soon after, silence came upon them until a maid quietly entered.

"Miss Baozhai, your medicine," she said before bowing her head to everyone.

"Thank you," she said as the maid quietly made her way.

"Medicine? Are you okay, Baozhai?" ZhangWei expressed concern.

"You didn't hear the news? Baozhai was poison yesterday," ChuHua said.

"ChuHua," Baozhai silenced her. "I'm fine now. Everything's okay," she rests assured him.

Before he could speak, LiJie interrupted them, "You better drink the medicine before it gets cold,'' and scooped a spoonful of medicine before blowing on it to feed to her. Everyone became uncomfortable as ChuHua said, "Well then, we will be leaving now. Continue getting your rest, Baozhai."

ChuHua forced BoJing to leave with her as ZhangWei was the only one there with them.

"Well, I see you are occupied. I'll come by next time then," he said. LiJie glared at him when ZhangWei said that last phrase.

"Okay," she replied with a smile.

Instead of leaving the palace, he quietly and quickly headed in the direction of the cold palace. No one noticed him like he was the wind. He was up on the tree in his favorite spot, looking down at the small house. However, he felt it was odd today as it was more quiet than usual. He sat up from leaning on the tree and didn't see any movement or sound. He jumped down and swooshed quickly to the house. He opened a small crack in the window with his eyes widened. He saw the house, completely abandoned.

A few days passed by, and Xiaomei and them were chilling under the sun while basking in the light. Xiaomei had the upper half of her body on the table while using her arm as an armrest, as she was bored. In the midst of boredom, the chipmunk was climbing up the tree beside her. It jumped from branch to branch and accidentally kicked one of the fruit from the tree down and bumped into Xiaomei's head along the way before rolling across the table. Xiaomei grabbed the small red fruit before it could fall off the table. Xiaomei raised her head and smiled at the little fruit as an ideal appeared.

"LiMei. Bao." Xiaomei called out.

Xiaomei was inside the kitchen, stirring the liquid sugar she had made before Bao entered the kitchen with a basket full of Chinese hawthorns.

"Perfect. Thank you, Bao." Xiaomei picks up one of the fruits.

After all the Chinese hawthorn was on a stick, Xiaomei picked up one and covered it in sugar syrup. Once all the fruits were covered, she quickly spun the bingtanghulu as the sugar syrup had turned into long, thin strings flowing down. She caught them before they hit the ground and maneuvered them to wrap around the hawthorns to form a white net-like cloud.

"Wow," LiMei watched her. Xiaomei continued to do that to rest until she finished. She realized that she made too many. Afterward, she stuck the rest of the bingtanghulu into a straw-like broom. "Alright, done," Xiaomei said before carrying it.

"Where are you going, Miss?" LiMei asked, quickly following her.

"I made too many, So, let's sell it," Xiaomei answered, leaving her small residence.

Once they step foot into the crowd, multiple people turn their attention to them.

"Dad, I want one of those," a child begged.

An hour later, they had finished selling all of the bingtanghulu. Xiaomei weighed the money they made in her hands before saying, "let's go eat." Bao and LiMei quietly follow her to a restaurant. They sat down before a waiter took their order. Xiaomei flipped the cup before pouring tea. Soon enough, their food arrived at the table as they were about to eat. There was a commotion at the next table.

"That's them, sir!" shouted a dirty man pointing at two young scholar men with their backs facing them.

The one in black clothes said, "Took you long enough to show up. I was beginning to wonder when you will come and get your money back." He mocked as his voice was familiar.

Xiaomei said to Bao and LiMei, " Don't mind them. Let's finish our food and be on our way." Bao and LiMei went back to eat and hurried.

"You dare steal my money! Do you know who I am," the voice of the leader.

The other young scholar said, "Your money? Your men were stealing from an old man."

"Yes, that old man owns me!" the leader said, "and I want it back!" The leader kicked the chair as it flew directly to them. However, the two scholars dodged it, and it proceeded to come directly toward Xiaomei. "Miss, watch out!" Bao said, getting up and kicking the chair away from her as he used himself to block her. "Are you okay, Miss?" LiMei asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said. She turned her head to see the men arguing, and she was surprised to see the one in black clothes was ZhangWei. Soon enough, a fight broke out. ZhangWei was attacking the leader, and the other scholar was fighting with the minions. Everyone seemed to scatter and run for their lives.

"Hurry, let's get out of here before we get hurt," Xiaomei said. The three of them tried to hurry their way out. At that moment, Xiaomei saw that one of the minions was sneaking behind ZhangWei with his sword up.

"Wang ZhangWei, watch out!" she unconsciously shouted. ZhangWei's ears perked up before he did a back kick on the minion and slashed the leader down. The leader's arm was slashed and quickly ran out of the restaurant, knowing he couldn't beat them. His minions followed after him. ZhangWei turns to see a familiar face. He squinted his eyes to look at the lady in white who was wearing a face mask. Xiaomei regretted saying his name.

His eyes widened as he realized who it was. He remembered her eyes easily. He was surprised to see her here. He thought he would never see her again. Maybe fate was playing with them.

He smiled cuntly, "How did you know my name, Miss?"

A cold sweat went down her back, but she answered. "Sorry, but it wasn't me who called your name. You have mistaken me for someone else." She knew she was wearing a face mask, so he couldn't possibly realize it was her.

ZhangWei smiled and said," Do you think I can't tell who you are?" Xiaomei didn't mind him and proceeded to walk towards the exit with Bao and LiMei following her. "Huang Daiyu, correct? Did you forget that I saw your maid many times now? Where are you going," he said, stopping her from escaping.

She turned back and acted like nothing had happened, " Oh, I didn't expect to see Mister Wei here?" She acted as if she had thick skin, showing no shame.

He smirked and said, "I too didn't expect to see you here, but I swear that I heard someone say my name.."

"Your name?" She smiled innocently before saying, "Mister Wei, perhaps the person who called your name had already left. There were many people who were here and left already. It's also possible that you were hearing things." She continued to act thick skin since she couldn't possibly let him know that she knew his name, or he would start questioning her since he had never told his name to her. "Well then, since you have things to take care of. We will be taking our leave,'' she said, trying to end this conversation quickly. While she moved Bao and LiMei towards the exit again. He could easily tell what she was doing.

"Alright, I will accompany you back home since things are taken care of," he said with a smile. He thought there were many opportunities for him to catch her.

"That is not necessary," she refused him quickly. "It's not safe for a young lady like yourself to wander the streets. There are many robbers, sex traffickers, and more," he said.

She forced a smile and said, "Thank you for your consideration, but if you haven't noticed, I have a guard with me."

"I don't see the harm in having more people to protect you," he shrugged his shoulders.

Her eyes twitched in frustration before she said, "Mister Wei, I think you are forgetting your friend, who is standing beside you." ZhangWei glanced at the person who was paying for the damage they caused.

"Junfeng, is everything settled? You can go back and send words. I will be back later tonight to continue our discussion," ZhangWei said to the other person.

"Yes," the person obeyed his orders. Xiaomei listened to their conversation and realized that the story doesn't go in-depth with how sneaky and secretive ZhangWei's character was. She did know that he could easily obtain information and know many things since, in the book, he would give the main characters so much information when they were piecing the clues together.

"It looks like everything is settled," ZhangWei smiled, looking at her as she got out of her thoughts.

She thought, "Great."

ZhangWei followed her home and entered her residence. She tried to find any excuses to send him away, but he would resolve those excuses instantly. On their way to her house, he tried to make her spill up and say his name again, but she was not blind to see what he was trying to do. However, he just smiled, seeing that he couldn't outsmart her, and let it go.

"Mister Wei, aren't you bored here? Why haven't you left yet? I don't have anything here to entertain you anymore," Xiaomei said while she was back in the kitchen, cooking with her back facing him. ZhangWei was watching her from outside the window.

"I feel this is entertaining," he said, leaning on his hand with his elbow on the window frame.

"LiMei, who is he?" Bao asked LiMei, as they were watching Xiaomei and ZhangWei.

"Um, he is someone we know by accident," LiMei also didn't know how to explain who he was, since she didn't know who he was.

"Should I kick him out? Our Miss doesn't seem to like him," Bao said.

"No, our Miss and Mister Wei have this kind of bond," LiMei said, smiling in their direction. Bao scratched the back of his head and said, "Really? I guess a weird bond?"

"Are you sure?" Bao asked again, still having his guard up. "Yes, no need to worry," LiMei said since she was used to seeing ZhangWei.

Xiaomei's mouth twitched in irritation as she was peeling the shrimps she bought on their way back. After she finished peeling, she chopped the shrimp. Then she chopped some bamboo shoots before mixing them with the chopped shrimp and adding seasoning to it. She set it aside before grabbing a bowl of flour and adding water. She formed a round dough before rolling it into a cylinder and then cutting it into pieces. She then flattens the small dough pieces to make dumpling wrappers for the shrimp filling. She started making shrimp dumplings and placed them in a bamboo steamer. Once she used all of the fillings, she placed them under a pot of water. She steamed the shrimp dumplings for a couple of minutes before she set the table. They ate again since they didn't finish their lunch due to the incident.

"Mister Wei, I don't recall inviting you to join us," Xiaomei said as an additional person was eating with them. Both LiMei and Bao sat there, looking at ZhangWei. However, he didn't mind their stares and continued to eat.