A Kind Gesture
Lulu woke up the next morning on her back, feeling a warmth on top of her stomach. She was confused for a moment until she remembered the tiny rabbit she had adopted the previous day. Petting the bunny, she started speaking in baby-talk to it, telling him how cute he was. Lulu had checked the little bun the night before and giggled at his tiny pee-pee, as she called it.
Reaching for him, Lulu picked up Bao-Bao and sat up. She placed him into a small basket that was by the foot of her bed. Yesterday, she had shredded some paper to put in the basket in case the baby rabbit relieved himself. Next to the pile of papers, she had placed various grasses and some veggies for him to eat. There was also a little saucer of water. She felt bad because the tiny baby was probably needing milk, but she didn't know what kind of milk would be good for it. Looking at the untouched food, she sighed. At least it looked like he had been drinking the water since there was less of it, but some had also spilled so she couldn't tell how much he drank.
Lulu's maidservant entered as soon as she heard her lady stirring inside. Lulu was still not used to having someone help her get ready for the day, but she had resigned herself to it.
Once ready to head out to the kitchen to help with breakfast, Lulu loathed to leave Bao-Bao alone, but it couldn't be helped. She asked the chef if he knew about baby rabbits and what to feed them but was told that rabbits were food. That made her hesitant to ask others.
All the Tang siblings were present for breakfast and conversation remained relatively light. Lulu was anxious for the meal to end so that she could go feed the bunny. Tang Jing noticed that she was distracted and asked her about it. She was hesitant to answer but figured he would find out about Bao-Bao at some point anyway. Hoping he wouldn't be against the idea of pets, she told him about what had happened yesterday.
Tang Jing's face was unreadable as he said, "Yes, I'm aware of what happened yesterday. If you feel that anxious about the rabbit, you may leave as soon as you're done. But, I must say, you should not have run after it alone. We have told you that it is dangerous." What he didn't say was how his heart had felt as if it was pierced by an arrow when he had heard about her disappearance. He was just glad that she had been found before he found out about it, otherwise, he didn't know what kind of state he would have been in.
Lulu bowed her head and arranged her body posture and facial features to reflect the apology she gave, even though she didn't really feel sorry since it was her plan to find out who had been following her. Tang Jing sensed something was awry, but he couldn't put a finger on it so he just filed the feeling away for the moment.
Eating quickly, Lulu finished and excused herself. She went to check on Bao-Bao before going to look for milk. It took a while to find the little rascal as he was hiding inside one of the pillowcases on the bed. Smiling, Lulu gently removed Bao-Bao from his little den and hugged him to her. As she exited the room, Lulu saw Tang Jing approaching with a saucer of milk.
"What's that?," she asked, looking up at Tang Jing with rounded eyes under brows that were raised in an expectant manner.
Tang Jing extended the saucer toward the bunny and answered, "It is goat milk. We don't have any rabbits at the manor, so this is the next best thing."
Lulu's face expressed the surprise she felt, "Wow! Thank you! How did you know that?" She reached for the saucer.
"It is common knowledge," Tang Jing replied matter-of-factly.
Lulu had to stop herself from smiling at him. "To you maybe," she thought to herself. His arrogance seemed cute to her. She said, "I'll see if he likes it," and turned around to go back into her room. Tang Jing followed her.
She put the bunny into the basket and then placed the saucer in front of him. He sniffed at it for a little while and then his little tongue slurped up quite a bit of it.
Lulu looked up at Tang Jing with a big smile, "Bao-Bao likes it!"
Tang Jing couldn't help but smile at her joy. Then remembering himself, he straightened his lips and remarked, "Of course. It's as I said."
This time, Lulu couldn't contain herself and giggled. Tang Jing looked confused and asked, "Was there something funny in what I just said?"
"No, no, sorry," Lulu waived her hands back and forth.
"Then why did you laugh?," he asked again, not wanting to let it go.
Lulu blushed and was quiet for a moment before she responded, "I don't want to say." Then she quickly added, "But I promise I wasn't laughing at you. I would never do that."
Tang Jing studied her and felt that he could trust her words. Although he was curious, he decided to drop the questioning. Instead, he said, "Alright. I guess it is not important. I need to get to work anyway."
Lulu stood up from the bed and was about to thank him again when she felt a pain in her head that made her sit back down.
Hearing her groan of pain, Tang Jing turned around and rushed to her side. "What's wrong?," he asked as he bent down and instinctively put a hand on her back.
Lulu shook her head, and fainting fell backward onto the bed.