31. Family and secrets

After all that crying she stopped and they went out of the room smiling under the stunned eyes of the servants. Only Xiao Ran was silent.

Her master will gain the highest position in the palace. With the backing of old nobles and the military, no one will be able to harm her. She had a soft nature, so the commoners will love her.

The choice she made that day was more than right. Even if she doesn't become Empress, she still can live a good life. She is worth her attention. A small, happy smile appeared on her face.

"Xiao Ran, everyone will be given gifts today. You as well, as the main maid. Come." Hua Lan gave her a heavy pocket gratefully.

Xiao Ran gratefully accepted with a deep bow and then smiled at Liu Mei. "Look, mistress, I am rich now."

Looking at her cutely jumping around, Liu Mei sighed. "Does that mean that you won't work for me anymore?" Her face was sad, but her eyes had playfulness in them.

Xiao Ran stopped jumping and froze. She rushed back to Hua Lan and stuffed the bag back. ''Madame, I better not. My mistress is a simple person. For me being her servant is just enough. But thank you for your thought."

She bowed deeply and was about to back off, when she heard an aggrieved voice. "Xiao Ran, do you look down on our simple background? We just put inside how much we could afford. I gave enough to everyone, but as I see it's not good enough. Sigh..."

Hua Lan was as playful and winked at the now smiling Liu Mei. When Xiao Ran saw their playful expressions, she puffed her little cheeks and became red. ''Mistress, you are bullying me. How mean."

Seeing her almost crying face now, she started laughing and patted her cheek. "Stop being sad and take the gift. My brother and sister in law may not be very rich people, but they have a big heart. We just wanted to joke with you. Go take the gift."She turned her around and pushed her softly towards the smiling Hua Lan.

This one just stuffed the bag into her hands and started pinching her soft cheeks. " Your mistress is maybe a bit simple and not rich, but looking at these cheeks, she treats you quite good. When you grow up, you'll be a beautiful plump lady."

In a world filled with poor people, plumper ladies were sought after. Liu Mei shook her head. In her world the thinner the better. Unfortunately, she always had big bigger hips than other females.

She was not only looked down on, but everyone thought of her as fat as well. But she was actually quite skinny. In this world, on the other hand, she seems to be seen as almost sickly thin.

In the last couple of months, she ate well and she gained some weight. But the weight was not that much since her clothes still fitted her well.

Looking at Hua Lan and other ladies in the city there was quite a difference. She was a warrior.

Even as a pregnant lady she would train her sword, only because of the child more carefully. But before she was pregnant she would train the whole time. So her body was quite... healthy.

So when she told Xiao Ran that she had more meat on her cheeks, the little girl gave a shining smile and nodded. ''Of course, my mistress is maybe not rich, but she never starved me. She is pampering me quite a bit and sometimes it's quite frustrating. "

Hua Lan was curious. "Why frustrating? Didn't you just say that she was nice?"

Xiao Ran gave a long gaze towards her mistress. ''She is good-hearted... way too good-hearted, so I fear in the future people might use her and eat her alive. Miss Hua Lan, you don't know, but our mistress always thinks first of others than of herself. In the future, she needs an army to protect her. No, she needs a divine army to protect her.''

Liu Mei found it so cute and started laughing trying to make a joke. ''Well, why do I need an army if I have a dragon as a husband, who would dare to harm a dragon bride?''

But that sentence made the people in front of her depressed. Hua Lan just hugged her. ''Dragons have to fly around and do their job. You will be left alone with all kinds of bugs and snakes in his cave.''

Liu Mei just imagined that and had a sudden idea. With a big smile, she just chuckled. ''It is fine. I will ask the mighty dragon to spew fire and just burn them to death. If there are no bugs or snakes around me, then I am saved, right?''

She actually still had that strange imagination of her living in a dragon cave from old stories, not knowing what ''dragon'' they are talking about.

Hua Lan, Xiao Ran and Liu Shen just rolled their eyes as they realized that she had no idea what will happen to her in the future. They knew that Liu Mei is not a completely stupid person, but she was clueless in many things that were going on around her. Hua Lan scrunched her eyebrows. It will be hard. But not impossible.

She will need to go home and ask her mother to give her a few secret female guards to be by her side. Only that way she can be sure that this woman won't be harmed. Deep in her heart, she is keeping Liu Mei almost as her own blood. But thinking about it, they really look similar. She is really cute under that scarf she had on her head she had those ugly wounds and baldness. But the facial features became even more prominent now. When the two people were standing next to each other, they seem to be related. How strange. If she is somehow related to him even in the other world...

''Liu Mei, about your future husband...'' She wanted to say more when a knock came from the main door.