Trap in a Book

Chapter 19

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?"