31 To Her Fortune

Not long before Qinghai decided to follow Xingtian, Huan Meirong spread her soul sense a meter around her when she was at a good distance from the gatekeepers who weren't anymore the ones she had seen in the morning; it was already past noon and the guards had made one of their many shifts of the day.

She was walking by herself now; though Zhi'er had tried to persuade her as he wasn't reassured, he gave up when she used an ordain-like tone. Even so, he still kept a close watch of her as both of them ate some fruit candies on their way back to Huan Meirong's little courtyard.

As she felt somewhat secure inside the City Lord's House, she unconsciously slowed down her pace so it took them more time to cover the distance between her courtyard and the west entrance than before; they took almost two hours.

When they arrived at her courtyard's door, Huan Meirong noticed that there was a wooden plate with two bowls of cold porridge.

"Oh, it is this morning's breakfast." Zhi'er picked up the plate when he also saw it before opening the door.

*Sigh*

'It seems that things won't get troublesome,' she thought as she walked through the doorway, 'Well, that will be as long as the guards in the morning and the ones in the shift don't say anything.'

Because their breakfast was outside, she was sure the maid responsible for bringing it hadn't bothered to wait nor entered in the yard when there was no one to receive the food. Therefore she going out to buy things in the city wouldn't have reached the ears of the City Lord or that's what she hoped for; maids were usually more talkative than guards. That's was also the reason behind Huan Meirong wanting to arrive before the afternoon meal, if the maid had seen the plate with the food, she would have gotten suspicious.

'It is also a good thing that my meal times are only three, I can't complain about it now,' she added to her thoughts with a bit of mocking. She was sure the servants ate more than her here and not only just one dish.

After entering the little cottage, Huan Meirong waved her hand and the bags with food appeared on her arms; she said, "Zhi'er, here is what you bought, arrange them somewhere." Even though, it could perhaps be better for her to keep the food in her qiankun bag, from her point of view that wouldn't be at all right; with the food outside, Zhi'er could pick the food without the need of asking her.

"Aye," Zhi'er who had just put the plate with the bowls of cold porridge on the only wooden table of the room ran back to comply her orders.

When her hands were freed from the bags with food, she stretched her body, saying as she walked towards her bed, "I'm going to rest. If the afternoon meal is sent, don't wake me up.

Oh, and remember to eat, you don't have to wait for me," she added in case Zhi'er would have the thought of waiting for her to eat.

"Eh, aye," Zhi'er slowly nodded; her miss had just read his mind.

At first, Huan Meirong had planned to enter the space in the marquise-shaped black stone to begin the refinement of some of the herbs she had bought but once she sat on the bed and took away the veiled hat, she got really lazy and decided to lie down.

'Anyway, the herbs aren't going to run away. Moreover, I better rest well before I begin to refine anything,' she thought before falling into a deep sleep.

The afternoon meal came and Zhi'er did as his miss had told him, he didn't wake her up and he ate even though he wanted to wait for her before doing his daily chores.

It was good he had done so as Huan Meirong wake up a couple of minutes after the dinner was sent.

"…" Zhi'er was looking at the dinner and then towards the division screen without knowing what to do; his miss had told him to not wake her up even if the afternoon meal was sent but what about the dinner? Should he wake her up or not?

*Rustle*

"Hngh…"

Amid his dilemma, he heard movements from behind the division screen so he called out without hesitation, "Eldest miss, the dinner has been sent."

'Huh? Dinner…' Huan Meirong opened her eyes when the dinner word came to her mind; then, an instant later, she suddenly sat on the bed, thinking as she massaged her temples, 'Dinner? Already? Ughh…'

*Yawn* She got out of bed, stretching her four limbs and adding to her thoughts as she remembered her busy day and the last night, 'This day must have been more extenuating to me than what I have thought and I still have much to do…'

*Sigh*

"Eldest…" Just as Zhi'er was calling for a second time because he didn't hear a reply, he saw his miss coming out from the division screen, making his mouth stop and his hands hurry to have the table set; he didn't approach to walk her to the wooden table as he knew his miss didn't like to be helped inside her courtyard aside from some specific things. Even so, as usual, he couldn't help himself but check upon her steps from time to time.

"Zhi'er, have something happened when I was asleep?" Huan Meirong suddenly asked when she was at ten steps from the table; the recalling of her actions of the day made her wonder.

"Huh?" Zhi'er tilted his head to a side before shaking it as he patted the couch where his miss was going to sit, "Nay, aside from the third miss not getting better from her sickness, Zhi'er hasn't heard anything, eldest miss."

"Oh…" Huan Meirong slowly nodded, thinking before taking seat, 'It seems those guards didn't talk. Hmm… I almost forgot Huan Meiqi.

*Sigh* A pity that I can't see.

She must be looking pretty bad.' She giggled with content and readily began to eat.

Zhi'er couldn't make sense of his miss change of expressions but because she had laughed happily at the end, he didn't think more about it and he also began to eat.

The time after dinner didn't go like the previous nights as instead of conditioning her body while dancing as usual, she went directly to bed fifteen minutes later after having finished her porridge and some tasty side-dishes Zhi'er had bought.

When Zhi'er fell asleep despite the strangeness he felt as his miss had just awoken, Huan Meirong opened her eyes and pressed his sleeping acupuncture points to then enter into the little black stone's space.

She was so absorbed in what she was going to do that she completely forgot that there was someone who watched her at night around these hours but to her fortune, this time, that person didn't come.