Xinyi woke up before the moon ended its vigil. She made a huge yawn as she stretched her body out. Waking up early was a habit and pretty useful for such a time as this, "Hubby's treasure room hunting day" Ah, the exhilaration she felt made her heart pumped faster.
Before sleeping last night…
Xinyi squatted as she propped her chin on her palm. She wondered, "How should I go about my escape, and how should I prepare? I need to go to my husband's residence." Xinyi looked at Kuàilè and said, "I need to meet the raccoon tribe or the rats but only those I can trust."
"You need to go outside if you want to meet them. They might not listen to me," said Kuàilè, flying on Xinyi's shoulder.
"We can do that tomorrow. I'm bushed from running earlier. Let's rest for now. I'll wake up before sunrise."
While it was dim outside...
A girl, with a braided hair, wearing a dark blue blouse and skirt, ran and jumped on roofs. A sleepy nightingale flew along with her. They stopped on the roof of the first resident she saw and the girl flattened her body to prevent the guards who were passing from seeing her. She went to the edge of the roof and looked down. There were clothes on pails near a well. She surmised this was the servant's quarter.
Xinyi faced the moon and said, "Kuàilè our adventure starts now."
The bird nodded its sleepy head. "Xinyi, I need to sleep soon. We should hurry." And opened its beak wide, yawning.
"Sorry, dear. I forgot you're a night birdie. Just hang on with me for a while. Okay?" Xinyi said as she patted the bird's head. The bird gave a vibrating tweet while shaking its head.
She lowered her gaze, "Where is his treasure room? He should have one as the governor. That's what I read in books. The Xian's house here even have one but empty. Tsk, tsk." She shook her head, disappointed with her parents again. "They made me marry a governor with nothing. Not even an empty dowry chest," she said, shaking her head again.
"Don't be sad, Xinyi. If it's only a chest, I can find you one," said Kuàilè, caressing her head on Xinyi's head.
"Ah, thank you, Kuàilè," she said as she gently pressed the bird to her face, "Forget it, forget it. After I escape, I'll be freaking rich and chests won't be enough to store my wealth."
Xinyi looked around and jumped down near the servant's quarter's side window and peaked to check if Gu Dai was there but she wasn't. She saw the folded clothes near the maids' sleeping heads and glanced on their bodies, "They're short," and scratched her head.
As she grew up her height was evidently taller than the average ladies. Ready-made clothes wouldn't do. Yan Ma had to go to the nearest town near the valley to have someone sew for her. Then she recalled Foo. Though shorter than her, at least, nearer to her height.
"Yup, where does that disrespectful servant stayed?" She stealthily moved to every room until she found herself in front of a small room with a single door and a closed window.
Xinyi pushed the window a bit to make a peak and found Foo. She noticed she was with a male servant. She opened the door soundlessly and stole Foo's outfit, which was tossed on the floor. Xinyi giggled while thinking, "How will you two cover this up? After all, there is only one outfit here."
Once they left the room, Kuàilè whispered, "Why did you keep looking toward the bed?"
Xinyi's eyes grew big as the owl's and replied, "What are you talking about?"
Kuàilè pulled on one of Xinyi's hairs and laughed. However, Xinyi sighed and thought, 'I am being teased by a bird. I haven't seen a naked man before. Just wondering and curious. You can't blame me.'
Once she saw Xinyi's twisted expression, Kuàilè giggled a little more. Xinyi wagged a tongue at the bird and walked inside the other maids' quarter and changed behind a folding divider.
She strode like a normal maid heading to, she believed, could be her husband's residence. The biggest and most elaborate building she could find within the estate. She was not sure if servants were allowed outside at this hour, but her new outfit would give her some protection if spotted. Xinyi heard her stomach rumbled and wondered, "Where is the kitchen?"
While exploring the inside of her husband's house, Xinyi noticed a room which had two guards outside of it. At first, she thought it was the treasure room, but after some time, she noticed other places had guards as well.
Xinyi gritted her teeth as she entered a nearby room and sat on a chair. "My husband has guards all over the place. Moving around in this place is hard at this time of the day. It won't be easy to move quickly. And the workers might come anytime soon."
She knew she could take care of one or two guards without hurting them, but it would be impossible for her to overpower all of them. Xinyi remembered how she lost the fight to that man earlier. At first, she was confident in her skills, but now, she wondered how strong she was.
Xinyi shook her head and kept exploring the hallways. But once she did, she noticed, "This place is built like a maze. Was it made like this to prevent people from escaping?" Xinyi knew if she wanted to rob her husband, it would not be a simple task, but she never expected it would be this hard.
Kuàilè said, "This place made me dizzy. Something's odd, trapping me in an invisible cage. Let's hurry, I might drop myself to sleep. Don't you know the place? You live here. Or do you have a map?"
Xinyi shushed her partner, but asked herself, "Would there be a map? If not, I should make one."
Then, the dimness of the place slowly vanished. "Xinyi," said Kuàilè and dropped from flying. Xinyi caught her on time and held the poor thing on her palm, sleeping. She sighed. "I need to do this tonight. Need to go back for now." She looked up and thought going on roofs would be a bad idea.
She secured the bird in her loose blouse, jumped down on the ground, and made a run. Then she reached a place which was familiar to her. She hastened her steps and turned to a corner toward a garden she remembered was nearer to the first villa she stayed yesterday. That would be a good hiding place for now.
Before she could reach the circled entrance between walls, Xinyi heard some movements heading toward her. 'Damned, people are waking up. Total bad timing.' She stopped and stood behind a tree.
Two ladies were running in a hurry passing to where she stood before. When the path was clear, she turned her gaze at the entrance and made the run.
While she ran, Xinyi noticed a man's chest directly in front of her, while the man's head was looking away from the entrance. She squealed, "Ahhee!" because she thought she would collide with him.
However, the man fluidly dodged her charge after hearing her scream and grabbed her arm in one swoop of his hand as she passed him. "Hey! What's the rush?" said the man.
Xinyi gulped when she heard the man's voice, and thought, 'Of all people, it has to be Lei Ming? Just my luck.'