Strange, Odd, and Peculiar, but also Unique

Later that evening, as everyone else was preparing for bed, Tang Jing called for Lulu. She quickly got dressed again and went to meet him in his study.

Walking with hesitant steps to the room, Lulu nervously played with the sides of her dress the entire way there. She was shy to approach the door because this would be the first time she did not have Xiao Chu next to her. There was something about Tang Jing that scared her and attracted her at the same time.

When the servant let her into his study and immediately departed, Lulu realized that they would be alone and her heart started to beat so fast that she could feel the vibration in her ears. She could see Tang Jing's mouth moving, but could not hear what he was saying. She bit her lip and took a deep breath trying to calm herself down.

"Lulu?," Tang Jing repeated, standing up, and this time she heard her name.

"My apologies," she bowed, "I think I'm tired."

Tang Jing could tell that her words weren't entirely truthful, but he decided not to question her about them. They had more important things to discuss, after all. Instead, he politely apologized for summoning her given the late hour and led her to the sitting area. "I would have asked you this earlier when we came back from our trip to town, but I had some work to take care of," he started. If she could lie, then so could he. The truth was that he wanted to ask her some things in private.

Lulu nodded, while making sure to remain looking down and with her hands folded in front of her in the manner that Xiao Chu had taught her. Xiao Chu and the Tang Mei were so nice to her, and she wanted Tang Jing to like her too.

Tang Jing saw a faint, red hue adorn Lulu's cheeks and wondered what she was thinking about. "When the Suns described how you were found, there was mention of 'strange clothes.' Can you describe them? Better yet, do you still have them?," he asked.

Lulu looked up at the mention of her clothes, grateful his question was something she had the answer to. "Yes!," she exclaimed. "I brought them with me when I was brought here."

Tang Jing was relieved but was careful not to give anything away in his countenance. Finally, they might be able to get a lead based on her clothes given that different countries and even regions within countries had preferences about the styles of clothes. Standing up, he gestured toward the door, "Can you please show them to me?" Although he did a good job of hiding his facial expression, his actions betrayed his eagerness to see the clothes.

Lulu was surprised that he didn't ask for her to bring the clothes to him in the study. Was it alright for him to go to her room? She wasn't sure about the protocol on that and figured he would know better than she. She replied, "Of course," and stood up.

There were two servants waiting with lanterns outside the study and after Tang Jing instructed them to lead the way to Lulu's room, they did so—but not before quickly exchanging a confused look between themselves that fortunately for them, the master did not see.

After arriving at the threshold of the room that had been assigned to Lulu, Tang Jing dismissed the servants, telling them not to return. As master of the manor, he felt he had every right to go into any room as he felt inclined to, at any hour of the day or night, but he knew it was inappropriate to be in Lulu's room this late at night alone. Still, he needed privacy and so this could not be helped. The servants knew better than to say anything about it in any case, given that such gossip could get them fired or worse.

Once they were alone, Lulu retrieved the clothes that were in a neat pile, and handed them to Tang Jing. He walked over to her bed and laid every item out individually. He saw what appeared to be an undershirt of some kind but not like anything he had seen, not even in books. What he was looking at was the shirt Lulu had been wearing that day. It was a lavender color with white and yellow flowers, though they were not embroidered. They appeared to be drawn on the fabric, which was a little silky though it was clearly not silk. Most surprising was that it had short sleeves that would barely cover the shoulders.

The next item of clothing were pants, but the fabric was strange. It was a blue color and appeared extremely sturdy and slightly rough to the touch. His fingers swept over the material as he came to a pair of white socks. He picked one of them up and started examining it. His eyes grew bigger after seeing that the material stretched quite a bit.

Tang Jing put the sock down and picked up one of Lulu's shoes. He turned it around every which way he could and peered inside. It had to be strangest out of all the items he had seen. Still holding the shoe, he turned to Lulu, who had been watching him the whole time, and asked, "Do you recognize any of these?," while gesturing at everything on the bed.

Lulu shrugged slightly, "I know I was wearing them when I was found but I don't know why."

"Was this all that you were wearing?," Tang Jing inquired with a frown, wondering how it was possible for a woman to wear so little.

Feeling the judgment in his words, Lulu blushed, "Um, well, not all."

When she paused and he saw her hesitation, Tang Jing grew impatient, "Show me the rest."

Lulu looked down, "Um, I'm not sure…that is…um, the rest are undergarments."

Tang Jing's face flushed and he reprimanded himself for not putting two and two together. He wondered if he should still see them as they could reveal something important about her whereabouts. Deciding against it for now, he told her it was alright and that he didn't need to see those as yet.

Lulu's eyes brightened as she thought of something. She put out her hand and said, "I was also wearing this ring."

Without realizing what he was doing, Tang Jing put the shoe down, stepped forward, took her hand, and held it closer to him. Inspecting the ring, he saw that it was made out of gold. He wasn't an expert in gemstones, but he recognized the center stone as something akin to pink tourmaline and the two beside it as diamonds perhaps. Those were indeed the gemstones, even if Tang Jing didn't feel confident in his estimation.

He looked at Lulu in awe that she would have such wealth and yet be dressed so shabbily. The contrast was strange. Everything about her was strange. He couldn't figure her out and that made him very uneasy.

Their eyes locked for a moment as Lulu looked at him questioningly. Suddenly, Tang Jing let go over her hand as if it just occurred to him that he was still holding it.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat. "Was this the only jewelry you were wearing?"

Lulu shook her head and went to a jewelry box at the nearby vanity table. She took out a pair of gold earrings. She placed both in Tang Jing's outstretched hand and said, "I also had a gold necklace with pendant and another ring, but I sold them to help the Suns since they were taking care of me, and to have some money for emergencies.

"Hmmm," was all he said as he examined the earrings. They were small and each had a pink flower that looked enameled. "Why didn't you sell these and the ring you are wearing?"

"I tried to sell the earrings," Lulu answered, "But I was told they weren't real gold so I couldn't get much for them. The ring…umm…this may sound odd, but, umm, even though they were going to give me a lot for the ring, almost as much as for the other two combined, I just couldn't sell it. I felt in my heart that it wasn't the right thing to do. I can't explain it."

Tang Jing's eyes narrowed at her words, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he returned the earrings and asked, "Do you think you could draw what the other two pieces of jewelry looked like for me?"

"I think so," Lulu nodded.

Tang Jing gave a nod back, "Good." Then after thinking for a moment, he gave the following instructions, "I know Xiao Chu has been teaching you to draw so the next time you do, ask if you can take some paper and drawing utensils back to your room to draw in your free time. Only draw the jewelry in your room and only show the drawing to me when I ask for it. Understood?"

He didn't realize how gruff the words came out until he saw the surprised look on Lulu's face. The look also reflected fear, and Tang Jing immediately regretted the tone he had used.

"I apologize," he said. "I know the secrecy may not make sense, but there are some things we need to figure out privately and manor's such as ours always have eyes and ears, if you understand my meaning."

Lulu thought she understood so she nodded, replying, "Yes, of course. You all have been so nice to me so anything I can do to help, if it's within my power, I will do so without hesitation."

"And without questioning?," Tang Jing thought, curious as to why she was trusting them so completely. He admired her loyalty though, both to his family and the Suns. That was rare in the world from his experience. It made her even more unique than she already was. He began to feel a little regret that they were hiding so much from her, but it couldn't be helped for now.

"You have my gratitude, then, Lulu," he said. "I will take my leave now. Have a good night."

He turned to go just as Lulu responded with, "Thank you. I will walk you out," and tried to take a step forward. Her foot got caught in the bottom of the long dress (another one of Xiao Chu's that had been hemmed but clearly not short enough), and she tripped, falling forward.

Tang Jing had turned around to tell her she did not have to, but upon seeing Lulu fall, he caught her in his arms. "Oh!," he exclaimed as Lulu's face became buried in his chest.