Xiao Ying made his way back to the servant's wing, where Ming Cheng was supposed to be working, and looked inside the kitchens.
It was almost completely silent, a far cry from the state of the room from when he first left it.
How long had he been gone?
What had happened?
The quartet of children were huddled up in one corner, not speaking to each other at all.
Qi Tao looked almost, his eyes glazed over as went on about mindlessly with his tasks, the glossy sheen over his eyes breaking when he fumbled and accidently dropped a vegetable on the floor, dirtying it and undoing Ming Cheng's hard work.
Qi Qing looked down frustrated, taking her aggression out on the fruit that she was peeling, slicing a little bit too deeply and sharply with her knife and slicing the loquats into two by stabbing it harshly.
Wang Yuan, for all intents and purposes, looked just as he normally did, quiet with the demeanour of a mouse, but at least a little more distracted than usual, his eyes constantly flitting between all his friends as he carried on with his work.
Ming Cheng, out of all them, looked the worst.
He was pale, his hands shaking, and although he was completing his assigned tasks to a satisfactory amount, he was considerably more so isolationist than usual, almost on the verge of flinching when catching sight of the other children.
He kept his head down and continued on with his tasks, minimising all his interactions as much as possible.
Xiao Ying was almost tempted to speak with him, before quickly realising that there were other's in the room also, making replying impossible at the moment.
Instead, he looked over to the servants, and saw them morosely going about with their tasks, a good few of them missing and on the food delivery rounds.
Lan Chang and the head cook were also absent.
Xiao Ying resigned himself and slipped down to sit outside, back where he had begun this morning with his adventures to Concubine Jing's palace.
All he had really gathered from that trip were the facts that the woman was capable of sensing spiritual activities, was currently concentrating on fortifying the palace, and was somebody to avoid at all costs.
Xiao Ying dimly wondered why she was the one who was currently handling Palace Security and not any of the Imperial Generals or the Main Security Office of the Imperial Palace, before he realised that he was in stupid land and that Concubine Jing had to be given the orders to keep her relevant as a main character, otherwise she would be left with nothing and would just be another name and face in a sea of them.
Xiao Ying still had to wonder why he was here though.
Here, living in the shitty novel he wrote, back when he was young and stupid.
Xiao Ying closed his eyes, leaned back, and waited for the afternoon to pass by.
He did not particularly want to do anything right now, and night was still a long, long time away.