Bai Jingfei gulped nervously hoping that the guards would not come her way. But unfortunately her prayers never came true. A guard started walking towards the broken down shed.
Bai Jingfei ducked behind a box in the shed and hoped not to be seen. The guard walked all the way to the shed, and placed one hand on the shed, leaning on it.
That was a bad move.
Bai Jingfei had already removed the wooden planks that composed its foundational structure. When a muscular man leaned on an unstable construction it was obvious what exactly was going to happen.
The shed collapsed.
Dust flew up to the sky and with a rumble the wooden planks fell down one by one. The air was full of large particles that congested Bai Jingfei's nostrils.
Double attack.
After both the burning hair and this dust it was highly unlikely she was going to be able to breathe normally
Bai Jingfei tried not to make a noise in fear of being caught. The weight of the dusty planks on her wasn't much but now she had an odd itch in her back. There was no way she could itch her back without moving the planks…
"Oops! No one used this shed anyway…" said the guard, casually as he moved away from the collapsed remains of what used to be Bai Jingfei's shed.
Bai Jingfei felt the urge to come out of the ruins and punch the guard but one wrong move and she would get into trouble.
She didn't know if the beard had burnt completely yet. If she was caught burning the beard it would be damning evidence of her crimes and she would have no way out.
'What can I say if I'm caught? Tee hee hee I'm burning my beard? Pretend to be stupid? Claim confusion? A demon possessed me?'
Bai Jingfei had already given up on the possibility of getting out of this situation unscathed. Worst case scenario she's pretend to be stupid for a week or two saying mercury was in retrograde and it affected her…
Well she wouldn't have to pretend to be stupid.
Acting stupid was an innate talent of hers.
"Okay what is that smell from the fire…" asked one of the guards to the other, scratching his forehead while inspecting the pile.
'I'm dead… I'm dead… I'm dead,' panicked Bai Jingfei.
She braced herself for them finding the beard but the other guard replied to the guard investigating the pile, saving Bai Jingfei's butt.
"It's probably a beetle. Those things smell when they burn…" he yawned, "no point poking around here let's just go."
Bai Jingfei thanked every god she had cursed in the last month she had been in this world and almost cried tears of joy seeing the guards leave. She had never been so thankful that both beetles and hair smelt the same when burning.
'Blessed keratin, you save me once again!'
After the guards had gone, Bai Jingfei emerged from the wooden planks and poked through the pile herself. The beard was no longer there. She had gotten rid of all the evidence!
Bai Jingfei did a little happy dance and snuck back to her room again.
She didn't forget to take her candle holder back with her just in case that ended up becoming evidence against her. She was finally thinking smart and cleaning up behind her mess.
Poor Bai Liu would still have to investigate so he wasn't going to be anywhere as lucky.
Bai Jingfei instantly put her candle holder down once she reached her room, and brushed herself down to get the dust out of her clothes.
She then began packing so she would have something to show when she returned. She took some clothes, some jewelry and most importantly some candy.
Bai Jingfei dragged her whole sack of candy out from under her bed and stuffed her clothes on top of the candy to cover it. She then hugged her dad and headed out of the house with Bai Liu who was going to drop her off to jade mountain.
The trip was going to be about an hour long and Bai Liu and Prime minister Bai didn't feel comfortable sending her up a mountain alone, even if it was in the family carriage.
The Bai family owned quite a few carriages, each more luxurious than the next. Bai Jingfei decided she was going to take a nap in the carriage.
Bai Jingfei yawned as she walked to the carriage with Bai Liu.
While she had gotten quite a bit of sleep on Ladder's shoulder, that hadn't been nearly enough for her to replenish a sleep cycle she had ruined so painstakingly.
She leaned on Bai Liu lazily as she walked and he ended up picking her up in a princess carry. He then carried her all the way to the carriage without even breaking a sweat.
It wasn't as comfortable as the potato sack carry she had gotten used to but she felt like royalty nonetheless.
Bai Liu had no problem carrying his sister. She was pretty short and resembled a thirteen or fourteen year old prepubescent girl despite almost being of age. Needless to say she was very light. Bai Liu had trained his body more than well enough to carry her.
Bai Liu plonked Bai Jingfei down into the carriage as gently as he could, which wasn't very gentle if you were picky, but as gently as he possibly could.
Sitting in the carriage Bai Jingfei fell asleep yet again and Bai Liu yawned too.
Bai Jingfei leaned on to Bai Liu's shoulder while in deep sleep and Bai Liu felt himself nodding off too. He let his heavy eyes shut and quietly fell asleep next to Bai Jingfei.
It was a peaceful and quiet scene as the carriage rolled through the countryside towards the mountains.
Thus two two Bai siblings took a comfortable nap next to each other in the carriage, unaware of the chaos that would ensue soon after.