After a few days of quietude following Zhen Feng's departure, the crown prince's mansion suddenly became very busy. The maids had become so engrossed in their tasks that even their usual gossiping had nearly ceased. All the servants were occupied either carrying furniture around, bringing in food, fabrics and other goods from the market, or cleaning the guest rooms in the residence.
Cloudy Courtyard was no exception.
With all of the commotion outside her room, Lin Mei had not been able to sleep peacefully for three consecutive nights. On the fourth sleepless morning, an overwhelmed and irritated Lin Mei decided to step out of her room to ask a servant what the excessive ruckus was about.
Lin Mei learned that an important minister's family would be paying a visit to the mansion. They were coming to meet with the prince since he resided outside the palace for most of the year. Because the family lived closer to the imperial palace, they would be staying in the Crown Prince's residence for some time before leaving, and were expected to arrive in around four days. Zhen Feng would be returning on the following day to accompany them.
Because all the help was needed to prepare the residence for the arrival of the esteemed guests, Liu Ting's punishment had been temporarily lifted and she had been busy most of the time, coming in and out of the estate.
Upon hearing the news, Mei felt mixed emotions.
A voice in her head reassured her that this would surely be the best time to attempt to escape. She had gotten a large and expensive silk map from Liu Ting two days prior. The map depicted the geographic region in great detail, all the way until the coastline. Lin Mei had already calculated the best route to return to the sea, thought of the safest villages to spend a night in, and even sneakily gathered a few necessities she might need for her travel as well as a ladder to climb up the wall.
However, Mei's heart kept feeling heavy and downcast. So much so that every time she had made up her mind to leave, the pain in her chest would prevent her from actually taking the steps towards the eucalyptus tree. After giving it some thought, Lin Mei thought that maybe her blood pump was feeling guilty about leaving without a word. Yes, it made sense.
"Maybe I should make it up to him before I leave. A farewell gift would be a good way to make amends." She settled.
With a weight lifted off from her shoulders, the mermaid pondered her options. Zhen Feng was a man who didn't appear to treasure many things apart from his garden and his mother's library. But while the garden was maintained in top condition by the two meticulous servants that were in charge of it, the library was very dirty and deteriorated since its access had been so restricted for the last few years.
After some deliberation, Mei decided that cleaning and restoring the library to the best of her abilities would be a good farewell present for Zhen Feng. She would take her leave on the day prior to the prince's arrival.
Mei told Liu Ting about her plan to surprise the prince by renovating the library. The maid was so thrilled by her friend's newly found devotion to her master that in that same afternoon she had already gathered a plethora of cleaning and polishing supplies as well as some tools and materials that could be useful for repairing broken wood. The rest of Liu Ting's evening was spent teaching the mermaid how to use all of the utensils.
The very next day Mei carried everything to the library herself and closed the door behind her shut after noticing that the mechanism that would otherwise have locked her inside had been deactivated.
Lin Mei barely left the room for the next two days, even making the choice to sleep inside the library since it was much quieter than her own quarters. She cleaned and polished the desks, the floors, and the bookcases, wiped the dust off of every bamboo slip, fixed a few of the broken wood tiles and furniture – as best as she could – and even organized the books by name.
On her last day staying in Zhen Feng's residence, Lin Mei was awoke very early in the morning. Hearing all the restlessness outside, she assumed that the new guests had arrived. Upon realizing this, the mermaid resolved to leave as quickly as possible, since all of the attention would be on the minister and his family.
The only thing still left for her to do in the library was removing the planks that had been forcefully hammered onto the old windows carved with beautiful wooden latticework with flower patterns. The wood staves had clearly been placed there to keep the windows from being open and taking them out was an arduous task that took a lot of physical power and time. Fortunately, Mei was a mermaid, so she could still rely on her body's natural strength for such a task.
When Lin Mei was finally able to take out the last plank almost three hours had passed. She opened one of the windows to let the sunshine in.
She had removed all the unnecessary tools and supplies from the library the previous night. Thus, all that was left to clean up were the wooden boards. Mei collected all of the objects and took one last look at the revived library.
Proud of her strenuous and diligent work, Lin Mei smiled before turning to leave. She placed the planks of wood on the ground so she could have her hands free to open the doors.
Before she could pull them open, she heard a loud female voice approaching the room. The owner of the voice sounded furious and seemed to be shouting at a servant, who could be heard meekly mumbling as if trying to appease her anger. The noise got louder and louder as the people grew closer to the library. In a short moment, the doors in front of Lin Mei were abruptly and violently opened.
A clueless Lin Mei was confronted with the gaze of a beautiful young human woman who seemed to be in her early 20's. The female had a small frame and a pale heart-shaped face adorned with two lovely round brown eyes, a red lotus flower design drawn between her delicate eyebrows. She was dressed in a scarlet red zhiju1 dress embroidered with white flower details, a white waist belt accentuating the beauty's flattering shape. Her jet black hair was tied in a half updo with two golden hairpins encrusted with glittering red stones. Her harmonious and bright looks contradicted her dark and irate demeanor.
In contrast, Mei was somewhat taller, with an equally gentle oval face embellished by a pair of almond-shaped silver-green eyes with long eyelashes. She was wearing a plain green and blue zhiju2 that Liu Ting had bought for her at the local market a few months ago. Her dark brown hair was also in a half updo but only secured by a single light-green jade hairpin that she would wear every day. Two loose lighter-colored locks of hair framed her small face.
The two beauties faced each other for a few moments until the youngest of the two decided to speak:
"Who are you? What are you doing in the Crown Prince's library?" She inquired in anger.
Before Mei could reply, the servant interjected:
"Young Miss Zhao, this is Miss Bai Ni Ni, the person I was telling you about. She is the Crown Prince's guest."
"If she is just a guest, why is she freely entering the prince's private library?" Zhao Xiuying further questioned.
"Greetings. My name is Bai Ni Ni. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." Mei slightly smiled, hoping to not irritate the other woman further. "I've been allowed entrance to the library by the Crown Prince himself." She informed.
"How absurd! Am I to believe you and this servant and let you do as you please in the Crown Prince's residence? His Highness hasn't allowed anyone else in here for over ten years. Are you expecting me to believe that he would permit someone from your kind to enter this room freely?" Xiuying asked in a demeaning tone, an accusatory finger pointing at pearl just bellow the mermaid's neck.
Sensing her disdain, Lin Mei lost her will to act politely.
"That is how it is. You can ask any servant in the house. There is no need for you to believe me." Mei replied in an unconcerned voice.
"How preposterous. Talking to me in such a disrespectful manner. Lu Yang! Seize this creature immediately!" Zhao Xiuying commanded.
In mere seconds, a masked dark figure appeared behind Lin Mei and forcefully grasped her right forearm firmly. The mermaid felt her arm being tightly and painfully squeezed by the mysterious person's hand and immediately attempted to escape the man's grip.
Finding herself unable to do so, Lin Mei began to think of words to persuade the woman surnamed Zhao. But before she spoke up, a small black cloud of energy traveling at an incredible speed hit the arm of the person who was holding her captive, leaving a serious injury in the flesh of the dark-clothed man.
"How daring of you Zhao Xiuying. To put a hand on this Crown Prince's people."
To help some people visualize the costumes:
1. Red hanfu dress: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/817333032359608480/
2. Green hanfu dress: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/459296862000911026/
Men zhiju: https://www.pinterest.es/pin/403142604141427291/ https://co.pinterest.com/pin/365143482290314268/