The time it took Yu Mei to stand and scold Chu'mei, Gu Shao had already appeared in front of her. He stood in front of her in a white tunic, the sun hitting him in the right spot If Yu Mei was even checking him out for a second, she would have fallen for him this instance. Sadly, her mind was on other things. Things like...his speed. She wondered if it was even possible for humans to move that fast. He took one step closer, alarming her.
"Go away," she quickly ordered Chu'mei, shooing her away with her hand. Chu'mei immediately ran around the corner and hid. Yu Mei fixed her male robe and stood there, waiting for Gu Shao to make his way towards her. [Act like a man. You are a man] her persuasion worked at first but the closer he got to her, the less confident she became. She didn't know how to react. It didn't help that his face was also blank, neither mad nor happy.
Gu Shao only stopped when he was within arm's reach. Yu Mei let out a delightful smile as she waved at him awkwardly. "It's been a while," she broke the silence.
"Do you know how long I have been searching for you?" his voice neither mad nor happy. Yu Mei was beginning to think this was a bad choice, was he happy to see her or not? He didn't look happy. It didn't really matter to her, all that mattered was that she was happy to see him, not in a romantic way though. Happy to see THAT! Her eyes wandered down from his eyes, falling to his chest, below his waist and finally skimming his thighs before spotting the jade. He was wearing it and Yu Mei had never been more thankful.
If she had made a sudden appearance but no jade in sight, her efforts would be in vain. What she didn't realize was that in that few seconds she "looked" at him, his eyes were following hers, when he felt she was staring at his jewel. Gu Shao felt uncomfortable for a moment as he quickly pulled his outer robe together, protecting his family jewel from any unwanted gazes. *Cough* "Ahem* his low voice sounded out loudly, trying to get her ogling eyes back up to his. Yu Mei quickly snapped back, her eyes immediately met his. She was embarrassed; did he catch her looking at his jade pendant? Surely he wouldn't get suspicious, Yu Mei wondered.
Gu Shao shook that awkward few seconds out of his mind. He thought it was only him hallucinating it. It didn't matter, what he wanted to do now was to keep questioning her about her disappearance but then he remembered, he was at Pei Nan's palace. And "Xu Ren" was here, but how was it possible?
"Brother Xu, may I ask why you are here?" Yu Mei inhaled a long silent breath. How did she forget such an important matter. It was so easy to get from her place to his, she had completely forgotten. [Crap! Ju Ming, what are you doing here? What are you going to say] her eyes looked right and left a few times, a clear sign of stress and a big sign of "I'm going to lie right now."
"I followed you," she blurted out on impulse. Gu Shao arched his brow. "You followed me?" [That's right, I followed you. Let's go with that] even though it sounded kind of creepy and quite like a stalker, Yu Mei decided to go with that. After all, there was no changing her statement. "I have been looking for you, Brother Shao. Who knew it was so hard to find you, it's been a few days now. I happened to see you enter Prince Nan's estate and followed you," she cleared her throat and spoke in a very manly voice, too manly in honesty.
In the corner, Chu'mei had not left yet. She was secretly peeking her head out from the corner and eavesdropping. She blushed when her lady spoke those words, "Looking for you". She even felt shy and embarrassed for her lady. Which woman was bold enough to admit they were looking for a male, only her lady could do such a crazy thing. It didn't help that this fueled her already wild imagination by 100 times. There was no doubt in her mind, Yu Mei liked Prince Shao. Chu'mei wanted to squeal with excitement as she continued to watch. Her heart was pounding as she continued to watch this romantic encounter she hallucinated in her head.
*Loud laughter* "So you have been looking for me too? What a coincidence. And here I thought you ran away from our bet," he finally let out a sigh of relief. When his eyes skimmed the face of Yu Mei, he had to admit., the young man in front of him was not the most handsome but something was very intriguing about him. To him, Yu Mei's male Xu Ren had a touch of softness/innocence, making him look very vulnerable. Gu Shao finally thought of it, Xu Ren had that vulnerable look that made anyone want to protect him. Gu Shao wanted to protect him.
Yu Mei swallowed her anger and smiled at him. "Of course I didn't forget our bet. You won fair and square, what's it going to be," [Dear ancestors, please keep him from speaking those dirty and immoral words.] If he really asked her to lose her virgin body to a female, she would have no way to get out of it. "Come with me," he suddenly stepped forward and wrapped his arm around her neck, placing his hand comfortably on her shoulder. The height difference when they were standing next to each other was too different. She was like a little boy next to the very elegant and mature Prince Shao.
"Where to?" Yu Mei was questioning him. There was a good possibility he would really take her to lose her innocence. She was afraid, very afraid. She didn't get a chance to reject his invite when she was dragged out. Her head turned around just in time to see Chu'mei put her two hands up high, in small fists. She was lipping something along the line of, "I support Prince Shao!"
Normally it was very hard for anyone to leave Pei Nan's palace but with Gu Shao next to her, no one dared to question her identity. But to be safe, she avoided eye contact.
Her heart beat, no one recognized her right? Ten steps, all she had to do was take another ten steps and they would pass the gate, leaving unscathed. Nine…eight…seven, six, five, four, thr…e..e…..not good! Yu Mei made a fast turn, escaping from Gu Shao's grasp as she held her sleeve to her face, coughing loudly, as if a frog was stuck in her throat. "Prince Shao," a cheerful Hou Lei spoke as he made a turn and stepped through the gates, entering Pei Nan's palace.
Still with her lower face covered with her sleeve, she peeked. Why did it have to be Hou Lei? Her eyes sadly looked at the gate, three steps... "Advisor Xu," Gu Shao greeted back. Hou Lei's attention suddenly shifted to Yu Mei. *Cough* Yu Mei coughed once more, looking to the ground. "And this is?" of course he was curious, why wouldn't he. He had never seen such an innocent looking man in his life before. "Advisor Xu, this is Xu Ren," he introduced the two. Yu Mei nodded at him, careful not to make eye contact with him. Hou Lei's brow scrunched to form wrinkles…where had he seen this boy from? He looked very familiar., but where.. Only one way to find out. "Have we met?"
"I'm afraid not, this is the first time meeting Advisor Xu," she made sure to lower her voice even more. Too much, her voice cracked.
"Brother Xu, is something wrong? Are you not feeling well?" Gu Shao asked when he saw that her right hand never left her face.
*Cough* Yu Mei had no choice but to keep coughing. "I don't know, I just suddenly started coughing. I should wait outside first, in case I get you two sick," she hurriedly stepped outside. As soon as her feet stepped outside from the gate, it felt like paradise. The palace was truly her enemy. Gu Shao quickly followed behind after bidding Hou Lei goodbye.
Yu Mei let her hand down and took a long sigh. "That was a close one," every day was like a struggle for her.
Hou Lei looked back, staring at Yu Mei's fading figure. There was no way this was the first time meeting, "he" looked too familiar.
Free at last! Yu Mei was standing outside of Pei Nan's palace, on the city street. Gu Shao thought it was strange, why did "he" suddenly get better all of a sudden. Yu Mei didn't know how reckless her actions were because all that was on her mind at the moment was food and fun. There were so many things she wanted to do, but one thing for sure was to eat candied dates. She had gotten way ahead of herself. Before she could get carried away, Gu Shao dragged her somewhere.
Back at Pei Nan's place, Hou Lei had made a surprise visit. "A meal with everyone? But where's Sister in law Pan," Hou Lei couldn't help but keep reminding his good buddy of Pan Yu Mei. Fei Ning's bright smiling face suddenly turned sour as she placed her chopstick on the table, annoyed.
Over the last few days, Hou Lei had found the topic of irritation for Pei Nan. Whenever he brought up Yu Mei, Pei Nan would either rage at him with anger or stay silent from frustration. What did he get this time? Silence! The atmosphere suddenly got icy cold. Pei Nan leaned on his chair, crossed his arms and frowned at this so called buddy of his. Pei Nan was trying to stay calm and cool. Nothing good ever came from reacting to Hou Lei, it only motivated him to continue his silly tease. "Why are you here?" no happiness could be traced in his voice.
"Business,"
"We will leave you two alone," Fei Ning said as she stood up and left, followed by Consort Nuan and Consort Wan.
Hou Lei never would have guessed that his tiny comment would infuriate Pei Nan this much. Usually Pei Nan was very composed and Hou Lei had to exert a lot of effort to annoy him. If he knew, his jaw would really drop a thousand feet below.
It had been a whole four days since Yu Mei last made an appearance at his place. If Hou Lei knew what Pei Nan was thinking these four days, he would never let it go. Just thinking about it, Pei Nan couldn't keep himself from frowning.
The first day Yu Mei didn't visit him, he had been sitting at his studies waiting.
The second day, he stayed at Consort Ning's side the whole time, thinking maybe Yu Mei would show up to cause trouble.
The third day, he would never admit but he got annoyed, annoyed that she didn't even show her face once. He even told himself it was a blessing. It was a good thing she knew her place and that it was better for her to not show up ever again. His mood that day was quite good.
Today, he almost walked to her Southern Palace out of irritation. He wanted to ask "What are you doing? Why are you not bothering me?" but his ego would not allow him to do so. He thought he would be okay, especially since four days has passed...but just now when Hou Lei brought up her name, he pictured punching Hou Lei a thousand times in the face.
Pei Nan was not the only one having a hard time. His consort herself wanted to cry.
[Not again!] Yu Mei looked at the bright placard hanging on the building "House of Splendor." Her guess was right; Prince Shao was actually going to do it. As she stared at the sign, a man in white accidentally bumped into her shoulder as he rushed inside the brothel. It was strange; there were so many guests tonight. What was going on...