40 The simpler, the better

'But I can't say that I don't want to go; I'm sure eldest brother will drag me there even if I make a tantrum, he must still be riled up because of yesterday things. Moreover, I was the one who asked to come here in the first place. Ugh...' An Bing Qing went back to submerge into the water with a heavy heart.

After a while, she finally gave up her struggle and poked her head out from the water while thinking, 'Well, it is not as though Shu will come and say –hi or something, right?' This was supposed to calm her down but it only made her mood depressed.

At length, she pressed her lips together and went out of the bathtub.

She dried her body and hair with wandering thoughts and melancholic heart.

But her sadness soon became anxiousness; even if he won't spare her a glance because he doesn't know her in this lifetime, what if he… just by coincidence looks at her? She should dress up well, right?

With this thought taking her mind, she went to her bedside to where her qiankun bag was.

She quickly came to the drawer chest next to her bed and took her green qiankun bag.

"Rustle. Huh?" When she took it, three sheets of paper fall to the floor.

She picked them up and gave to its contents a quick glance.

"This list…" Her eyes glittered; it was the list of items that will be auctioned at Ghost Forest Treasure Hall at the end of the competition.

"Hmmh… I will need to look for Zi Hui…" She said; some of the herbs she was lacking and needed were on the list.

She kept the list on her qiankun bag before wearing her inner clothes and taking out her best outfits.

An Bing Qing swept her gaze over all the robes and swiftly chose five of them; she displayed them on the bed and then she put the rest on a corner of the bed.

She passed her sight from one robe to another but couldn't decide.

All her gowns were white but had different embroidering. She picked one with golden lotuses and golden sash; she wore it and looked at herself in a human-sized silver mirror.

After given a couple of turns in the same place, she sighed, shook her head and reached for the next one which had purple peonies and green leaves on it.

But yet again, she didn't like it and took the next one.

She went through the five sets of robes and dressed in the first two again but she still couldn't make a decision.

"Ugh!" she slightly pulled her hair as she felt time went by slowly.

In the end, she drifted her gaze to the little pile of robes at the edge of the bed and said, "The simpler, the better. Isn't it?" and she took a set of pure white clothes.

After putting on the loose white robe, she did her hair and tied half of it with a white ribbon.

Finally, she refreshed her face and put on some powder to hide her tiredness from last night.

Her heart and head still weren't calm. Therefore, she took out the gourd of wine and a jade cup from a purple qiankun bag that was hanging from her sash; she had switched qiankun bags, the green one was now inside the purple one. But before opening the lid she bit her rosy lips and put away the gourd, she took a jade bottle out and served herself clear water instead to cool her mood down.

At long last, she walked towards the door and when she was before it she saw the debris of the porcelain vase she had thrown to her eldest brother earlier; her mouth twitched. She shrugged her shoulders and opened the door; she jumped over the pieces of porcelain and then closed the door.

"Little sister, you finally came out. Your eldest brother feared you falling asleep while bathing but after hearing noise every now and then, your handsome brother didn't worry anymore", An Yu Yong said as he closed a book and stood up.

He patted his purple and yellow robes before fixing his sight on An Bing Qing. He sized her up; she was neatly dressed but clad in the same type of attire, the only difference was that she had combed her hair a little, 'Did she take that much time to dress so simple? Now that I think, didn't she liked to wear clothes with pretty embroidering?' he hadn't thought of this before; when they were at home she always wore less fancy clothes but whenever she went out, she usually would dress her best gowns.

"Tsk, this is why you mustn't drink, you don't know what is good anymore", he said.

An Bing Qing glared at him; though she didn't understand his meaning, she did get his mocking.

When she saw his line of sight, she understood he was referring to her clothes. She smirked, "Hmph, I only learnt from the best", she returned back his words; he also was clad in robes that had no patterns.

"Tsk, that's because my charm is more than enough, little sister", he said with magnetism.

An Bing Qing rolled her eyes, she wasn't in the mood for this and she walked past him before he could say more. If she stayed here, his chatting will never end.

"Hey, wait. Not everyone can…" An Yu Yong chased after her while An Bing Qing speeded up her pace to not listen to him. Still, this helped her to have her mind occupied with other things, making her relaxed without she noticing it.