It didn't take long before they arrived back at the residence. Everyone was worried and cared about Baozhai since she was unconscious.
"What happened? How did this happen!" they shouted at Xiaomei. "She was attacked. Someone tried to shoot her with arrows," Xiaomei said calmly without showing the agonizing pain on her face as she hid her wound with her hand, but it didn't matter since they didn't even notice in the first place.
"What nonsense are you sprouting," LiJie said coldly. Before Xiaomei could defend herself, some of the people who helped bring Baozhai testified for her. Immediately it shut LiJie and the rest up.
It didn't take long for Zhou Haitou to show up and act like he knew nothing. "What happened," he said, trying to be concerned. They immediately explained the situation to him. "Alright, call the physician, and I will go investigate," he said, displaying a great leader. Xiaomei remained quiet since she knew who was the culprit but couldn't say anything to affect the plot, so she showed an innocent bystander and watched the uncle leave.
LiJie, Chuhua, Bojing, and the physician, including Xiaomei, were in Baozhai's room. Baozhai was on the bed, still unconscious.
"How is she?" LiJie asked. The physician checked her pulse and finished examining her with his eyes before getting up from the bed.
"She is fine. She just fainted from hitting her head. She will wake up soon," the physician replied. Everyone gathered by the bed while Xiaomei was by the door, holding the side of her stomach so she didn't bleed out. She was sweating in pain, and her face was turning pale. Xiaomei was waiting for the right moment to get the physician alone.
"Thank you," LiJie said to the physician.
"Alright, it's best to leave her alone to rest," the physician said, heading to leave. They all nodded their heads.
"Let me walk the physician out," Xiaomei forced out, but the people in the room didn't seem to be bothered by her as their focus was Baozhai.
Once Xiaomei and the physician were out of the door, she did a quiet groan and said, "Can you please help me." She was slightly bent down, enduring the pain. The physician immediately saw the blood on her hand. His eyes were shocked to see her enduring this kind of pain. They quickly hurried to her room.
The physician finished helping her. He then gave her some medicine for her to drink. She thanked him and told him not to say a word about this. Since she knew it was pointless to tell anyone about this as they would think she was trying to get their attention. She wasn't the main girl or anyone important in the story for anyone to care about, and she was supposed to be dead. It was best left unsaid.
A couple of hours passed, and night had arrived. They finally realized that Xiaomei wasn't with them.
"Wasn't Huang Daiyu here?" LiJie said, looking around the room. Bojing also looked around.
"I thought so," Chuhua said, looking around. "When did she leave?" she added.
"Whatever. Who cares," LiJie said, sitting on the bed beside Baozhai. He touched Baozhai's hand before she shouted, "Huang Daiyu!"
In Baozhai's mind, she was worried about Xiaomei, but in their head, they thought Baozhai was pleading for help. They immediately felt anger and hurried out.
They knew how evil-hearted Daiyu was, so they knew she did something to Baozhai and made it look like she was innocent.
Xiaomei was in her room, resting with her entire face pale. Her peace and quiet didn't last long as there were loud banging noises at her door. She forced herself to open it. Once she opened it, she saw all three of them standing there, looking at her with cold anger. Instead of noticing Xiaomei's condition, they barged into her room.
"What did you do to Baozhai!" LiJie said, angry.
"What are you guys talking about," Xiaomei stuttered in pain.
"We know you did something," Chuhua said. Xiaomei looked at Bojing to see that he was also agreeing with them and waiting for an answer.
"I told you. Someone was trying to shoot her with an arrow," Xiaomei said again. "You guys better hurry back and watch Zhou Baozhai before the person comes after her again," Xiaomei said, thinking she didn't want to get hurt for nothing.
"Are you sure it wasn't you who harmed Baozhai," LiJie said coldly.
Xiaomei snapped as she was in pain right now and wanted to rest, but she had listened to them interrogate her. "If I wanted to harm her, then why did I waste my time saving her and bringing her back when I could have just left her there to die," she said, annoyed with her voice turning into ice, making them all shut up. "You all better leave so you guys can make sure she is safe." Xiaomei pushed them out and shut the door in their faces. They all were stunned by what happened before awkwardly leaving to watch Baozhai.
Xiaomei breathed out heavily, enduring the pain and slowly walking back to the bed. Once she was close to the bed, she felt a gust of wind behind her. She turned her head before a hand grabbed her neck. She started to gasp for air as the man was choking her. She saw the man was wearing all black clothes and a face mask. She knew it was the uncle, who else would it be? She tried to free her neck, but he strengthened his hands around her neck.
"W-why waste your time killing me... when I-I am not the one you want to kill...," she forced out of her tight throat, trying to find any excuse to save her life.
Warning: violence
(I feel that I describe the violence in this chapter a little bit much and may bring some discomfort to some readers so please be aware.)
"You're the one who got in my way. You ruined my plan by getting in my way," he squeezed harder. She gasped for air again and couldn't find the strength to scream for help. Everything was getting blurry, but she quickly glanced beside her to spot a vase. She reached out to grab it but couldn't reach it just yet. She tried again, but then she started to notice darkness was closing in. She felt her eye slowly closing, but at that moment, she felt the vase within her fingertips before latching onto it and smashing it into his head. He groaned in pain as she collapsed on the floor. Xiaomei started coughing in pain to breathe as she was trying to crawl away. She knew she couldn't stay there, waiting for her breathing to go back to normal and be a sitting duck.
She had to run. She was finally able to crawl up to her feet. She headed towards the door before he grabbed her by the arm and threw her towards the table. Her body slid across the floor, and her back slammed against the table's legs. Her back was throbbing in pain. She grabbed onto a chair's leg and threw it at him. He used both of his arms to block the chair, so his face was covered by his arms. She then took that chance to pull herself by using the table's leg to get her up. She saw the teapot she was still using to brew her medicine. She grabbed it and threw it at his head, but luck was not on her side as she was slightly off-point. It only bumped the side of his head, but he still fell to his knees in pain. She grabbed a teacup in one hand and the other a chair. She raised the chair up and smashed it down on his back, causing him to be completely on the floor. She quickly bolted out the door as her body was in a flight-or-fight mood. The adrenaline in her body made her feel no pain, as if her body was numb, and the only thing that was on her mind was to run.
Once Xiaomei was outside, it was empty with a few lights. There was no one around. Even if she wanted to scream for help and hope they could hear, she couldn't. She felt her throat was tight and painful as it hurt when she tried to talk. All she could do was hope that she could make it to them. However, Baozhai's uncle jumped out of nowhere. He was in front of her, stopping her from going in that direction. "You think I'll let you get help," he said, lunging at her. He grabbed her arms tightly before she used the hand that had the teacup and smashed his head again. The teacup shattered into pieces but also cut her hand in the process. However, she still held onto one broken piece before he released her and groaned in pain. She quickly ran the other way as it was the only option she could take since he was starting to grit his teeth and looked ready to lunge at her.
He wiped the blood off the side of his head and glared at her back. His eyes show great determination to kill her with all his heart. Little did Xiaomei know her injured hand was leaving a trail of blood for him to follow her.
She reached a deserted area. Where there were empty rooms for more guests to spend the night. She hurried to open a door and closed it behind her before crouching down to hide. Once she was trying to catch her breath, she could feel the adrenaline in her body start to fade away, and she could feel the pain again. She then noticed the trail of blood she was leaving. She looked at her bloody hand, holding onto a sharp piece of porcelain that was covered in blood. She switched it to her other hand before having her bleeding hand grip her clothes to make her blood soak into her clothes instead of dripping on the ground. She knew she couldn't stay here any longer because he was probably following the trail of blood. She quickly and quietly exited through the window.
On the other side of the residence, Baozhai woke up. All three of them got up and surrounded her before asking if she was okay.
However, Baozhai didn't care to answer them and asked, "Where's Huang Daiyu? Is she okay?"
"Why do you care if she is okay? You are the one who's hurt," Chuhua said.
"No, she's the one who protected me. Before I fainted, I recall her getting hit instead," Baozhai said, getting up as she felt a slight pain in the back of her head. They stood there shocked as they started to recall Xiaomei clutching the side of her stomach and looking pale. Both LiJie and Bojing hurried out.
Once they were close to Xiaomei's room, they saw the broken pieces of porcelain on the ground with blood spots here and there. They immediately saw her door wide open. They hurried inside to see if she was there. However, all they saw was a mess. There were broken pieces of a vase, a scattered teapot, and wooden chairs thrown in all sorts of directions before they hurried to follow the trail of blood.
Zhou Haitou followed the trail of blood until he reached the door. He broke open the door to find no one inside since she just happened to shut the window at the same time he broke open the door, so he didn't see her closing the window. He entered the room to look for her.
On the other hand, she quickly entered the farthest room through the window. She closed the window just in time again as he saw no one outside. He jumped out the window and slammed it shut in anger. When she heard that, she jumped in fright. Soon she started to hear each window being slammed open as he was getting closer and closer. She quickly opened the door and shut it, but this time he saw the door shut. He laughed and hurried after her. She heard his steps getting closer to her.
She didn't know how long she could run. She was getting tired. She noticed a dark area where the building was blocking the moonlight. She thought she could hide there so she could rest for a bit. She knew if she tried to run back to where they were. She probably won't make it since they were on the other side of the residence.
She continued to push forward and ran into the dark area. She couldn't see anything as she had to feel her way. She felt the wall and hid beside it.
Before she could think of a way to save herself, she heard his footsteps getting closer. "Just because it's dark. You think I can't find you," his voice lingered in her ears. "I will find you," he taunted, sending cold chills down her spine. She quickly covered her nose and mouth to not make a sound. She crouched down to help her stop trembling so much.
She then felt his presence passing her and heard him touching the wall to guide his way. "You can't hide forever," he taunted again. She felt that he was getting further away from her, so she quietly moved forward to escape. However, he chuckled, "There you are." He heard the tiny pebbles under her feet.
Her spot was given away, so she quickly got up and ran again. "Forget it. At least I could say I tried to make it to them," she thought, running in the direction where they were.
He was already on her tail. He was a few feets away from her before he grabbed her hair to stop her. She groaned in pain before she turned and stabbed him in the arm with the sharp porcelain. He cussed out before throwing her to the ground.
This time she couldn't get up. Her body was exhausted. It finally gave up on her. He stumbled towards her while holding onto the stab wound on his arm. He looked down at her as she couldn't do anything anymore. He then stepped on the wound on her stomach.
"I forgot. How's your wound," he said, stepping on it harder. She felt like she was being stabbed. She groaned in misery. "I wanted to kill by my hands, but now I am tired of wasting my time on you," he said, pulling out a dagger. Xiaomei closed her eyes in defeat and thought, "I-I guess I'll try to see if dying will take me home."
At that moment, Zhou Haitao was struck down by a foot that appeared out of the blue and kicked him away from her. ZhangWei landed. Zhou Haitao saw him along with LiJie, Bojing, Junfeng, and some guards, as some of them had torches in their hands. He knew he wouldn't beat them, so he quickly escaped.
"After him," ZhangWei said, extremely deadly. Junfeng and the guards hurried after him. "You. Get the physician immediately. If you don't hurry and she dies. I will kill you for her death," ZhangWei stopped a guard from going with the rest. The guard left to get the physician as his life was on the line. All three of their hearts ache in pain seeing how Xiaomei was as she had already blacked out. Both LiJie and Bojing immediately felt guilty. ZhangWei placed his two fingers on her wrist and could barely feel her pulse. He carried her back to her room, where they could clearly see all the injuries. There was a large red handprint strangling her neck. Her hand was covered in blood. Her clothes were stained with blood.
The physician hurriedly arrived with his assistant. He was shocked by what he saw. "What happened to her? Didn't I-" He stopped himself, remembering her words not to tell anyone about her wound.
"You did what," all three of the men said suspiciously.
"Ah, nothing," the physician said and was about to check her condition. However, they all stop him, thinking he will cause her harm. "Please move. I need to treat her, or she will die," he said.
"You better tell us, or we will kill you and get another physician," they threatened.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell. I made a promise to this Miss," he said.
" Well, she is not conscious, so she doesn't have to know or else," ZhangWei threatened. The physician felt the chills and immediately told them while he had his assistant clean the wound on her hand.
"Well, after treating Miss Baozhai. Miss Daiyu grabbed a hold of me and showed me her injury. She was injured on the right side of her stomach," he pointed, "Which looks like it reopened," he said, looking at the blood stain on her clothes. "It was pretty deep," he said. He looked at them and said, "That's all." He started to treat her.
The three guys were standing outside, waiting. The physician and the assistant came out. "She is in a serious and bad condition. Her pulse is barely there. She used all her strength," the physician paused for a minute.
"What's the matter," Bojing said, concerned since they noticed he was hesitant to speak more,
"I don't know how to say this, but did you all know that she has poison in her body?" the physician said quietly.
"Poison?" They all were shocked to the core.
"Yes, I didn't notice it before when I was tending to her abdominal wound. However, it is a deadly poison but easy to cure...," The physician couldn't say anything anymore, fearing his life would be in danger.
"Why aren't you continuing?" LiJie said seriously.
"W-well, I-I gave her the antidote, but... it didn't seem to affect her." the physician said, feeling cold sweat going down his back and seeing how they all were looking at him deadly.
"What do you mean? Are you sure you gave the right antidote?" ZhangWei said deadly.
"Yes. I did," the physician trembled in fear and continued, " It seemed like she had this poison in her system for a while now, and it has already spread throughout her body." Before any of them could speak, the physician continued, "However, it looks like the poison in her system is frozen within her for some reason. So it's not moving or causing her any harm to her now. However, I don't know how long that will last. When it unfreezes again, she will most likely be dead... I-I will try my best to find a cure for her." he said, trying to make sure they don't kill him for being useless.
He continued again so they wouldn't kill him on the spot, "Not only her hand and neck were injured. Her back has a massive bruise across her entire back. Her arms are covered in red hand prints and bruises, and the wound on the side of her stomach has opened bigger. Now, it's up to her body to recover. I have already given her medicine before, so it's in the room. Please give it to her so it can help her retain her strength. It's best for her to rest now," the physician said, trying to leave before they could threaten him. However, it didn't work. "Let me be clear. You better find a cure for her," ZhangWei said. The physician quickly and quietly nodded his head before leaving.
They re-entered the room to see her pale face. She lay there motionless. Looking at her wounds, they could feel her pain, but LiJie and Bojing felt a massive guilt in their gut.
They could barely see her breathing. Chuhua entered and saw how badly Xiaomei was. Chuhua felt horrible and asked, "How is she?"
"Not good," Bojing answered. Chuhua could see the red marks on Xiaomei's neck when she entered the door.
"Crown prince, I came to tell you that Baozhai was asking for you," Chuhua tried to say while still looking at Xiaomei.
"Ah," LiJie said, remembering Baozhai.
"We should tell Baozhai since she was trying to come here too, but I stopped her," Chuhua said while she and LiJie were leaving. "Bojing, you coming?" Chuhua said. Bojing wanted to stay, but Chuhua dragged him away.
It was just ZhangWei and Xiaomei in the room. He walked closer to the bed before sitting beside her. "You didn't die last time, so you can survive again. A stubborn and feisty person like you won't die easily. You better not die on me," he said, poking her forehead, but she didn't make a sound or movement. He sighed deeply, expecting her to wake up and show her fake smile as she was trying to hide her anger from showing.
He sat there in silence as he found it funny. This pain he was feeling. He wasn't used to this feeling. It felt like his heart was being ripped out of him. Looking at her injuries, he felt so much pain, as if he could feel them. When he saw the blood trails and the mess in her room, he didn't feel at ease as a horrible gut feeling was eating him alive as he would never see her again, and he had to find her no matter what. This feeling was way worse than he felt for Baozhai.
He softly chuckled before looking down at her pale face. He always thought he liked Baozhai since he was little and always worried about her, but Daiyu was different in his heart. He thought Daiyu was just something that entertained him, and when he was tired of it, then it didn't matter anymore, but he didn't expect that he couldn't let her go or let anyone have her. She was something precious to him.
"When did you enter my heart and push Baozhai out?" ZhangWei said to Xiaomei before poking her forehead again. However, she didn't hear a single word of his confession. He then held her cold hand. "I'm sorry. It took me so long. If I got here soon, you wouldn't be in this condition," he said.
Baozhai's uncle was lucky enough to escape and made it back to his room. He had told one of his men to lie to the others that he went to investigate so he wouldn't be back for a couple of days as he had to recover his injuries or they would become suspicious of his injuries.
Baozhai had recovered in a day, while Xiaomei didn't have any sign of waking up. A whole month had passed, and winter was here, but Xiaomei still didn't wake up. Xiaomei's face did look better than before, and her lips had some color in them. ZhangWei didn't leave her side and stayed by her side.
Finally, one snowy day, ZhangWei was sitting on a chair, reading letters before a shadow guard appeared in front of him. "Have you found anything about that person," ZhangWei said.
"No, we are still trying to figure out how he disappeared once he entered a room," the shadow guard reported.
"Wasn't he bleeding on his arm? Is there a trail of blood?" ZhangWei said.
"Yes, but it disappeared once he entered the room," the shadow guard said.
"Which room?" ZhangWei said. "It's a deserted guest room, close to Zhou Haitao's room," the shadow guard reported again.
ZhangWei leaned on his arm before saying, "Is that so? I wonder if Zhou Haitao has found any clues since he is finally back." ZhangWei then ordered the shadow guard, "Tell Junfeng to get information from Zhou Haitao," ZhangWei didn't want to leave Xiaomei alone.
"Yes," the shadow guard said before disappearing. ZhangWei then glanced at Xiaomei and said, "Don't worry, I will find that person." He got up to see her still unconscious. He poked her forehead and said, "What's taking you so long? Haven't you slept enough?"
Then a knock came through. "Come in," ZhangWei said. A servant came in and said that Baozhai wanted to speak with him since she wanted to know how Xiaomei was doing. ZhangWei was reluctant to leave but followed the servant out.
Once the door closed, Xiaomei slowly regained consciousness and still found herself in pain. It wasn't as horrible as it was before, she thought. It was manageable. She slowly moved herself to find no one in sight. The entire room was empty. Xiaomei sighed and thought, "Why am I expecting people to be here? I am the evil rival of the main girl that no one cares about. This emptiness feels horrible. If I was back home, my family would be here." Xiaomei slowly sat herself up. "I miss LiMei and Bao. They would have kept me accompanied right now. If they were here, maybe Bao would have protected me before I got hurt, and LiMei would have called for help... Let's get out of here," she said in her head, getting ready to get off the bed.
She remembered when she was unconscious, and at the brim of death, she was just in complete darkness. "I guess that wasn't a way back home. I'll have to wait until the end of the story then," she muttered to herself.
However, she didn't want to be here any longer, especially in this book. With these people, she was done.
She slowly got off the bed. "Since the story is moving forward. There is no reason for me to be here. They don't need me. I will go back to the capital and wait for the end." Xiaomei was starting to groan in pain. She gritted her teeth and started packing.
Once she finished packing, she noticed it was snowing. She didn't have any winter clothes. She started to think about what she should do before a maid entered the room. She was carrying a tray with a bowl of medicine on it.
"Miss Daiyu, you are awake. Young Master Wang had informed me to send in the medicine first. Let me tell them that you are awake," the maid said, ready to inform them.
"Oh, that won't be necessary. Leave the medicine here, and I will go tell them, but first, grab me some winter clothes, as I don't have any," Xiaomei said. The maid nodded her head and set the bowl down before leaving to get winter clothes for Xiaomei.
It didn't take long for her to bring winter clothes. Xiaomei told her to leave and that she would inform them.
Once the door closed, she changed into winter clothes and picked up her bag. She wrapped the bag around her shoulder. She then drank the medicine in hope that it would help ease the pain. She exited the room. She wanted to hurry and leave, but her body was still recovering, so she would stumble and wobble here and there.
It took a while for her to leave the residence and reach the gate to leave the sect. However, she still had some problems. She didn't know how to get back to the capital or what was going to take her back to the capital.
ZhangWei finished talking with Baozhai and them. It took longer than he expected. When he entered the room, he found her gone. He only saw an empty bowl on the table. He saw her stuff was missing as well. He immediately whistled before two shadow men appeared. "Daiyu is missing. Find her," he ordered. The two men disappeared. He immediately left the room to find her as that lingering fear of never seeing her was appearing again.
He then spotted the maid he told to bring the medicine to Xiaomei. He stopped her and asked where Xiaomei was.
The maid simply answered back that Xiaomei was going to inform them that she was awake.
"If she was going to inform us, then why is her stuff gone," ZhangWei said deadly. The maid immediately trembled in fear and said she didn't know. Before ZhangWei could say another word, a shadow guard appeared.
"Young Master Wang, we have spotted Miss Daiyu by the gate. It looks like she is trying to leave," the shadow guard reported.
ZhangWei immediately left. When he was leaving, he stopped to ask why the guards at the entrance of Zhou Haitao's residence didn't stop her. They immediately asked for forgiveness and explained that Miss Daiyu had told them that she already informed everyone she was leaving.
"The feisty cat knows how to be a cunning fox," he smiled in a deadly and amused way before going after her.
On the other hand, Xiaomei had found a person who was willing to let her buy their horse and carriage. That person was nice enough to show her how the rein works and how she could get to the closest town, where she can then ask someone to take her to the capital since everyone here was never planning to leave the sect.
Her body was exhausted and feeling more in pain, but she had to leave. She endured the pain and got on the carriage. She wiped the rein up and down to signal the horse to go.
The horse and carriage moved towards the gate. She exhaled in a sigh of relief and exhaustion. However, it didn't last long before these men in black clothes blocked her way, and before she knew it, someone jumped on the carriage and landed right next to her.
"Where are you going? Your body hasn't fully recovered yet?" ZhangWei said, grabbing her hands and making the horse stop.
"Y-you," Xiaomei was surprised to see him. She then struggled to break free from his grasp. "L-let go. I'm heading back," she said firmly.
His eyebrows frown, "Your body hasn't fully healed yet," he said again, refusing to let go.
"Why does it matter to you? It doesn't concern you," she said, trying to break free.
"Yes, it does," he said, continuing to struggle with her.
She gritted in pain, "No, it doesn't. So, l-let go-" she said out of energy before she slowly stopped struggling and fainted from exhaustion and pain.
He caught her in his arms, "This is why I am worried about you," he whispered softly.
Once again, the physician was called over. He finished checking her pulse. "She just fainted from exhaustion since she was pushing herself too much. It is nothing related to the poison in her. It's still frozen. Her pulse is more lively than before. However, please be cautious of her overdoing herself too much. She still hasn't fully recovered," the physician said, leaving the room.
ZhangWei stood beside the bed. "You are such a troublemaker. You stubborn cat," he said, poking her forehead. He then noticed a small portion of her eyelashes were all bunched together as he brushed it to fix it. "Ngh," she responded unconsciously as if a bug was bugging her. He smiled before lightly brushing her eyelashes again. He watched her forehead crinkle. "At least you are reacting, not like before. Do you know how worried I was when you didn't make any movement this entire month?" ZhangWei said, relieved.
A week passed before she regained consciousness again. She opened her eyes to see ZhangWei, sitting beside the bed as he was reading a book. He noticed her movement. "You're up?" he said, giving his attention to her.
"What is the meaning of this," her voice cracked. ZhangWei set the book down and smiled, "Oh, this? This is to stop you from leaving without my permission again. Your body is still recovering. You were unconscious for a month and a week now," he said, lifting a ribbon that connected her wrist to his.
"Stop messing around," she said, trying to get up.
"Your body is still recovering. Lay back down," he said, using his pointer finger on her forehead to push her back down on the bed. She slightly groaned in pain and started to feel the pain again.
"Dang it. My body still hasn't healed yet," she thought, gritting the pain. "At least it's better than last time. I can bear it," she said in her head. ZhangWei watched her think to herself. Her eyebrows frowned in pain.
"Here. Have some medicine," he said, grabbing a small bowl of medicine. He looked like he was ready to feed her.
"Rather feeding me. I would rather you take this off," she said, trying to untie the ribbon on her wrist.
"Stop fussing," ZhangWei said, stopping her hand. "Drink your medicine," he said softly and caring. She immediately pulled back as she was uncertain of his kindness. She knew it was unlike him. He saw that she had her guard up.
He chuckled, "Don't tell me you're scared of me being kind?"
"Of course. Does Mister Wei forget that he tried to kill me," Xiaomei sass.
"Oh, I almost forgot about that," he said, playing with her. Xiaomei glared at him and tried to get up again.
"What are you doing?" ZhangWei said, a little startled. "What? Do you want me to choke?" Xiaomei said. She knew that once she was better, ZhangWei would take off the ribbon, and she could try to escape again. ZhangWei raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was planning since she was suddenly cooperative. She was slightly struggling to get up before ZhangWei helped her. She was in a sitting position before ZhangWei was about to feed her medicine. Xiaomei stopped him. "I can feed myself," she said, trying to take the spoon away.
"Your body is still recovering," he said.
"Yes, and my body should move around to regain my energy," Xiaomei said, taking the spoon away, but ZhangWei moved the bowl away. She was about to complain, but ZhangWei said, "Alright, but I will hold the bowl for you."
She stopped her tongue from arguing with him since she knew it would get nowhere. She scooped up the medicine and drank it. Soon a knock on the door was heard, and the door opened.
Baozhai, LiJie, Bojing, and Chuhua entered the room. "We had heard that Huang Daiyu had awakened," Baozhai said. They all stop at the door once they see Xiaomei and ZhangWei sitting next to each other on the bed, with Xiaomei holding on to the spoon while ZhangWei holding the medicine bowl. They look like a sweet couple.
"What brings you all here," Xiaomei said coldly, looking at them. All of them immediately felt guilty.
"Huang Daiyu, thank you for saving my life, and I'm sorry you got hurt because of me," Baozhai said.
"There's no need to thank me or apologize. I'm glad that you are safe and well," Xiaomei said warmly, but only to her. The other three felt their guilt eating them alive and swallowing them whole. Both LiJie and Bojing opened their mouths to speak when Xiaomei said, "Well then, I need to rest to regain my energy, so please leave." They couldn't refuse, so they left the room.
"What a surprise remark coming out of you," ZhangWei said as one of his eyebrows raised. He didn't expect her to be so cold to them since he knew she would be thick skin and act friendly to them.
"If you felt some heartfelt feelings for them, then please leave too," she said coldly. His eyes widened before seeing the feisty cat having its claws out in a deep grudge. He smiled and said, "I apologize."
She set the spoon in the bowl before pushing it away, "I finished. You can leave," she said. He silently placed the bowl on the small table. Once he did that, she felt the ribbon move. She forgot that she had that on. "Since I want some rest. Take this off," she said, lifting her hand.
He gently pushed her hand down and said, "Still fussing. Just rest."
"How can I rest with this on me?" she asked. "You rested before with this on you," he said.
"I was unconscious, so, of course, I didn't notice this," she said, about to lay back down, but then she remembered. "How did things go while I was unconscious? Did the person come back and attack Zhou Baozhai?" Xiaomei remembered in the book that Baozhai's uncle continued to assassinate her since it's been a month and a week now, and he should still be assassinating her.
"Nothing happened while you were unconscious. The person didn't come back. We lost track of him. However, Zhou Haitao recently returned from investigating and said it could be one of the emperor's men." ZhangWei said, thinking why she was worried about Baozhai instead of herself since she was the one who got seriously injured compared to Baozhai.
Xiaomei sat there, thinking about how things happened. She realized she did injure Zhou Haitao, so he probably had to disappear to recover like her. She lightly tapped her leg while pondering. ZhangWei looked at her, curious why she was thinking so hard.
If she remembered correctly, the final attempt was the biggest event where they found out who was the mastermind for the whole thing. It should be two months after the first attempt. It was right after ZhangWei's birthday celebration. It was because, during the celebration, all the people were shipping ZhangWei and Baozhai together and were already planning for them to be the new leaders of the sect as Zhou Haitao was literally sitting there, still alive when they were proclaiming the new idea.
Zhou Haitou was furious and attempted to kill Baozhai the next day. During the attempt, Baozhai got injured before everyone came to save her in the nick of time.
Xiaomei knew this attempt would happen since the birthday celebration was a big deal for Zhou Haitao. They were literally implying that he was not fit to be a leader to his face.
Xiaomei bit her bottom lips and thought she didn't want to wait even longer for Baozhai to recover from her injuries because it would take a while for them to heal. Xiaomei wanted to end this story quicker. She was done with this story.
ZhangWei continued to watch her, thinking so hard to herself.
"What are you thinking so much," ZhangWei said, causing her to snap out of her thoughts.
"Nothing," she answered back.
"Are you worried about that man?" ZhangWei asked. "No-" she tried to say.
"Don't worry. I have one of my men watch over you. Haoyu," ZhangWei said before a shadow guard appeared in front of them. "This is Haoyu. He will protect you. You can call for him whatever you need him," ZhangWei said.
"Hello, Miss Daiyu," he greeted Xiaomei.
"That won't be necessary," Xiaomei tried to say. "Do you want to get injured again?" ZhangWei said extremely concerned.
"Yes, Miss Daiyu. Don't worry, I will protect you," Haoyu said. Xiaomei wanted to refuse again, but she could see that they were not going to let it go, so she didn't refuse again.
"Alright. Can you call the physician for me?" Xiaomei said. She knew if she wanted to speed the story up a bit, then she needed her health to be better, so she could save Baozhai from getting injured.
ZhangWei raised his eyebrow in curiosity and said worriedly, "Why? Are you not feeling well?"
She gave a little cough and said, "I wanted to thank him and see how I am doing." She avoided his gaze. She tried to make it like she didn't notice his gaze.
"Yes, Miss," Haoyu said before disappearing.
They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes before the physician arrived. Once the physician arrived, Xiaomei said, "Mister Wei and Haoyu, can you two step outside? It's not right for two unmarried men to be in a room when a woman is getting her body checked."
ZhangWei raised his eyebrow in suspicion before listening to her and stepping outside with Haoyu.
"Miss Daiyu, are you feeling any pain or discomfort anywhere?" the physician asked.
"Oh, no. I'm not feeling any pain. Just a little discomfort here and there. But the reason I asked for you was to thank you for helping me," Xiaomei said.
"Miss Daiyu," the physician tried to say, but Xiaomei continued, "Doctor, is there anything to help me get better faster? I need to recover."
The physician stood there in silence before clearing his throat. "Miss Daiyu, are you concerned about the poison?" He asked as he remembered the scary ZhangWei was outside and felt it was best to find a cure for Daiyu soon, or ZhangWei would kill him if he didn't.
"Poison?" Xiaomei said, confused.
"Miss Daiyu, you don't know," the physician asked, confused.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Xiaomei said with her forehead crinkled.
"Miss Daiyu, you have poison inside your body as it has spread throughout your body. Do you have any memories of when you were poisoned? So it can help me find a cure for you," the physician said.
"Poison?" Xiaomei thought. He saw how Xiaomei wasn't saying anything.
"Miss Daiyu, don't worry. The poison is frozen within your body, but I don't know how long that will last. However, I will try my best to find a cure," the physician said.
"Frozen," Xiaomei said in her head before it clicked in her head. "It makes sense why this body has poison. The real Daiyu died from drinking poison when I got here, so it's only right for this body to have poison in her entire body. Since she is no longer here and I am just occupying her body. So when I leave this place, then Daiyu will no longer cease to exist," she thought.
"Thank you for telling me, but don't worry about finding me a cure. I have accepted my fate, but I do wish for you to tell me how to get better now, at least for me to get back on my feet," Xiaomei said. "But, Miss Daiyu," he tried to persuade, but she used her hand to tell him to stop. "It's fine," she said.
He was silent for a moment before saying, "The only thing that can help is drinking the medicine I gave you and getting enough rest," he said.
"Alright, thank you," she said. Since she has decided to help save Baozhai. So Baozhai wouldn't get injured, and the story can progress a little faster. She must take care of her body to get better.
ZhangWei and Haoyu entered again, and the physician said she was recovering well as he left.
"Why don't you want to find a cure," ZhangWei said in a serious tone while giving a glance at Haoyu before Haoyu nodded his head and disappeared into the shadows again.
"Since you weren't willing to tell me about the poison and even eavesdrop, then what's the point in explaining," Xiaomei said nonchalantly.
ZhangWei was quiet before walking towards her. "I-I was going to tell you once you got better," he said. She looked at him.
1
"Is that so, Mister Wei? It feels like you were going to tell me after you found the cure or once I was cured," Xiaomei said, not believing his words.
"Fine. Since you saw through me, then there's no hiding it. I don't care if you don't want the cure. I'm still going to find a cure," ZhangWei said seriously.
"It's my business. It has nothing to do with you. I have accepted my fate," Xiaomei said. She didn't want him to waste his effort finding her a cure when it wouldn't work since Daiyu had already died and she doesn't belong here.
"It does. I care about you, and I don't want you to die," ZhangWei said, staring at her in the eyes. She could see how serious he was. She was speechless. She sighed in her heart as she saw his eyes showing great emotion.
She opened her mouth. "Fine, but promise me. You can find a cure once we find out who's the killer is," Xiaomei said as she thought, "By the time they find out the killer, then they will probably be busy and forget all about this, and then it will be time for me to leave." ZhangWei looked at her and could tell she was serious, but he felt something else. However, he couldn't pinpoint it, so he agreed and thought by that time, he would have probably figured it out.
It took two weeks for Xiaomei to fully recover, and ZhangWei's birthday was just around the corner. During her recovery, ZhangWei continued to stay by her side and refused to untie the ribbon until she finally recovered. Since ZhangWei was around, Zhou Haitao couldn't show up to finish the job of killing her.
Baozhai and them occasionally visit her to see ZhangWei and her together. LiJie, Bojing, and Chuhua would try to open their mouths to apologize, but before they could say a word, Xiaomei would kick them out.
She was inside her room, reading a novel she had been reading during her recovery.
"Haoyu," Xiaomei called before a shadow guard appeared in front of her.
"You call, Miss," Haoyu said.
"Where did your master go?" Xiaomei asked.
"To answer Miss Daiyu. Young Master Wang had to go out. He said he will come back later tonight," Haoyu reported. Xiaomei went silent when she heard the last part.
"Well, go inform him that I don't need him to show up here tonight," she ordered.
"Yes, Miss," Haoyu answered before bowing his head.
Before he could leave, she stopped him, "Is it true that your master's birthday is coming up?"
"Yes," he answered. She fidgeted with her fingers before saying, "What does he like?"
Haoyu's eyebrows raised in surprise before he answered her question. She listened and didn't know what to get him. She felt like she should give him something since he did save her. Haoyu disappeared again, and she set the book aside and got up.
She left the residence to buy a gift for ZhangWei.
Soon enough, it was ZhangWei's birthday celebration. It was a great banquet. Once again, Xiaomei sat at the very back to not be noticed. She was snacking and drinking tea in silence.
"Happy birthday, Wang ZhangWei!" people shouted at him and gave him cheers.
"Have you thought of getting married yet?" a person asked. ZhangWei wasn't bothered by that and ignored them.
"What about Zhou Baozhai? Do you remember you two will always be together back in the day," another one said. Baozhai was shocked to hear what she was hearing as she and LiJie looked at each other while Bojing and Chuhua looked at Baozhai.
"Wouldn't they be the perfect couple," a person said. Baozhai awkwardly smiled in discomfort with what the conversation was going.
"Yes, and they can be the very next leaders of our sect. They would be the best," another said.
"Here it is," Xiaomei thought, snacking on the dessert at her table.
"I agree. They will be the best leaders," a person said before others started agreeing. Xiaomei leaned on her hand and watched Zhou Haitao enduring the anger he was having right now. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was sitting here, alive, and they were already having two people replacing him. He clenched his fist in his sleeves and thought he still needed ZhangWei, but he must kill Baozhai. He then gave out a signal to his men by the door as they left the banquet. Xiaomei watched the show and didn't notice someone was watching her.
"Huang Daiyu," a voice called her. She looked at the person who called her. He smiled cunningly. "I didn't see a gift from you yet," ZhangWei said, causing everyone to shut up and look in her direction.
She forced a tight smile and thought, "He really can't stop picking on me." She then said, "Oh, I was waiting for the right time." She handed a small box to a servant, and he brought the small box to ZhangWei. ZhangWei looked at the small box before opening it. His eyes smiled to see what was inside. He lifted out a waist tassel with a black jade attached to it. "A fox?" he said, looking at the carving on the black jade.
"Yes, seeing this. It made me remember you," Xiaomei said. "An annoying, cunning fox," she said under her breath for herself to hear.
"I thank you for the gift," he said with a smile.
Bojing then looked at the small jade charmed Xiaomei had given him. He then felt guilty as he still wanted to apologize to Xiaomei, but he couldn't say a word before Xiaomei kicked him out.
"A tassel," LiJie said, remembering something. He then looked at Baozhai and the small waist tassel in his sleeve. He had forgotten to give back Baozhai the small tassel to her. Before LiJie could talk to Baozhai, a person asked, "Zhou Baozhai, have you thought of getting married yet? You are not exactly young anymore."
Baozhai awkwardly laughed and said politely, "No, I haven't. I-I haven't found the time yet."
It didn't take long before the conversation started up again. Zhou Haitao quietly left in anger, tired of hearing this again as no one noticed him leave, except for Xiaomei, who remained quiet and watched the entertainment.
It was the next day, and Xiaomei was getting up to prepare for the final assassination attempt. She remembered in the book; he brought Baozhai into the forest to show where they had supposedly buried her parents. As he used that as an excuse to get her away from everyone and make it easier to kill and dispose of her in the forest.
Once Baozhai heard about the graves of her parents, she was eager to go and forgot to inform the others. So, it was just Zhou Haitao and Baozhai alone in the forest.
Once they got deep into the forest, he pulled out his sword and slashed the side of Baozhai's stomach. He wanted to enjoy his time in slowly killing her. When she landed on the ground from the sudden attack, she gripped a log that was beside her. She swung it and injured him before she escaped. However, she couldn't outrun her uncle as she was wounded, so it didn't take too long for her uncle to catch up to her. He cornered her with her back against a tree.
He raised his sword to finish her off, but it was that split second before they came to save her as they were searching for her since Baozhai had disappeared in the morning. It didn't take long before ZhangWei's shadow guards obtained information about where she went and reported back to the others.
However, once they spotted Baozhai, they were surprised to see what was happening and soon Zhou Haitou told them everything as a battle began.
The fight was intense and long, but Zhou Haitou managed to escape. During Baozhai's recovery, Zhou Haitou sent a secret letter to the emperor exposing the sect's whereabouts. Immediately the emperor sent an army to see if it was true and to kill them all, which led to the final battle.
"Miss Daiyu, it does look like Miss Baozhai is awake," Haoyu reported. Although he wanted to ask why she wanted to know that, he kept it to himself.
"Alright, where is she now?" Xiaomei asked.
"It looks like she is still in her room," he reported. "Alright," Xiaomei said, ready to leave her room. She stopped mid-way, "Haoyu," she called.
"Yes, Miss Daiyu," he answered. She scratched the back of her neck before saying, "Haoyu, when I give you a signal, immediately get help, alright?"
"Miss, are you feeling in danger?" Haoyu said, being aware of his surroundings. "Do you want me to get Young Master Wang?" he asked.
"No. It's just that I feel like my fortune will not be good today," she said, looking up at the sky to make it as if she was a superstitious person. She thought it was best not to expose too much detail about the story, especially telling the characters from the story what's to come, or the story would change too much and affect the outcome. It was better to share the bare minimum.
"Yes, Miss Daiyu," Haoyu said uncertainly but brushed it off, thinking she was a superstitious person. Xiaomei informed him of the signal she would do when she felt she was in danger before he disappeared into the shadows.
Even though she had decided to speed up the story a little fast, she didn't want to be a sitting duck and replace Baozhai. Getting pierced through a sharp object was extremely painful. Xiaomei took a deep breath and hurried to Baozhai's room.
Once she reached Baozhai's room, Xiaomei spotted Baozhai talking with her uncle. They were outside of her room. Xiaomei walked towards them and greeted them before saying, "Zhou Baozhai, what are your plans today? I was wondering if you wanted to go to the market with me?"
Immediately, Zhou Haitou glanced at Xiaomei. He endured the rage he felt when seeing her. He wanted to kill her on the spot. He thought, "She wants to get in my way again. Why not kill both of them? I will enjoy killing her." He touched the scar on his arm before showing a smile and said, "Why don't you join Baozhai and me?"
Xiaomei acted like she didn't know what he was thinking or planning to do and smiled back. "Where are you two going? Is it alright for me to intrude on your plans?" Xiaomei asked.
"Of course, you will not intrude. We are going to visit my dear brother and sister-in-law's grave," Zhou Haitou said in a fake friendly voice.
"It wouldn't be right for me to go with you two then," Xiaomei said, declining the offer to make it look like she was being polite.
"Nonsense. Right, Baozhai?" Zhou Haitou said.
"Yes. Come with us," Baozhai immediately agreed.
"Alright. Are the others coming as well?" Xiaomei asked. Baozhai immediately remembered the others and was about to say something, but Zhou Haitou stopped her.
"I think they are still resting. If we wait for them to wake up and get ready now, it will be extremely late by the time we get back. It is best not to bother them," he said, making excuses.
Baozhai didn't find anything wrong with what her uncle said as she completely trusted him, and Xiaomei couldn't blame her. He was kind and caring to her as if she was his daughter. Xiaomei wouldn't have guessed it either if she didn't know the story or was in Baozhai's shoes. Xiaomei sighed in her heart before going along with them.
It didn't take them long to head out and enter the forest as they were riding on horses. Since Xiaomei had never ridden a horse, she sat behind Baozhai. They wore warm coats to keep them warm from the icy cold winter. Once they were deep in the forest, Zhou Haitou stopped his horse. "Let's get off here and walk from there. Let's not disturb the ground where they rest with loud horse noises," Zhou Haitou said softly. He didn't want them to escape by having the horses to their advantage. "They are buried over that hill, so it's not too far to walk," he lied, pointing in a direction. They got off the horses and tied them up to a tree. Xiaomei secretly did the signal before following them. Zhou Haitou led them towards the hill with their shoes crunching the snow underneath them. Baozhai was right behind her uncle before Xiaomei grabbed her wrist. "Zhou Baozhai," Xiaomei said, making it look like she just wanted to have a normal conversation with Baozhai and made Baozhai walk side by side with her. Xiaomei thought it was best to have Baozhai beside her so she could protect her. Xiaomei and Zhou Haitou started looking at their surroundings. They noticed that they were far enough from the horses. It was at that moment; Zhou Haitou swiftly turned around with his sword ready to kill.