After noon, Meilian and Jun Zhi leave the cottage in a carriage.
"You look good dressed as a young lord," Jun Zhi says as he tries to contain his laughter. "Xiao Lian maybe you should dress up as a guy more!"
He burst out laughing making Meilian angry and hit him with her fan. He apologizes to her and smiles at Meilian's pouting expression. She fixes her clothes and twirls the hair strands that are covering the side of her face. As a guy, she looked very handsome. She was sure maidens would fawn over her if they saw her. She grinned at the thought.
"Do you remember who you are?" Jun Zhi asks her.
"I am young master Xihuan," Meilian said. "I'm your good friend from afar and I've come to visit you after a long time"
Jun Zhi nodded in contentment. They needed their story to be straight so no one would question Meilian's identity or they would ask questions. To keep her father happy and allow her outside more she had to make sure no one knew she was actually a woman.
They arrive at Cangshan town and Meilian is taken aback. The carriage rides through the gates and into the busy street. Jun Zhi asks to stop the carriage and both get off and look around. Meilian is mesmerized and she almost forgets she is disguised as a man. Meilian and Jun Zhi didn't come alone, Jun Zhi's servant and good friend came along with them.
"Let me show you my favorite shops, Xiao Lian," her best friend tells her. "Here let's go over there first!"
Jun Zhi holds Meilian by her arm and drags her around to his favorite shops, his servant following closely behind them. She is taken to a hand fan store. Meilian had always wanted to own a custom-made fan she could bring anywhere. The store they went to looked very high-class with beautiful fans put on display. Jun Zhi walks straight up to the cashier.
"Hello young lord," the shopkeeper greets Jun Zhi. "How can I help you today?"
"I came here about two months ago and requested a custom-made fan," he said. "I came to see if you had finished it"
"Yes, yes it's already finished," the shopkeeper enthusiastically said. "Let me go get it for you!"
The man went to the back of the store to the crafts room and brought back a small wooden box. Jun Zhi's servant walks up to the shopkeeper and takes the wooden box from him and gives it to his master. Jun Zhi opens it up and looks inside, content with the handiwork. He gives the box back to his servant and reaches inside his clothes and takes out a pouch. He puts it down in front of the shopkeeper.
"Here is the rest of the gold," he says as he watches the shopkeeper pick up the pouch and weights it using his hand.
The shopkeeper looks up at Jun Zhi and smiles at him.
"Happy doing business with you, young lord!" he says as he bows down in gratitude.
Meanwhile Jun Zhi was doing business with the shopkeeper, Meilian looked at the various fans displayed. Every fan was unique and she was mesmerized by the varieties made. Before she could look more, she felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around to her friend watching her.
"See anything you like?" he asks her.
Meilian shook her head.
"They all look nice," she said. "But nothing that calls my name"
Jun Zhi smiles. Both of them finish up at the store and step outside. They walk some more, looking at all the different stalls and stores.
They have been walking around for a while and they can hear a loud grumbling. Meilian quickly puts her arms around her stomach, her face becoming red.
"Xihuan there is a restaurant nearby," Jun Zhi tells her. "Let's go there"
Embarrassed, Meilian can only nod her head.
The group head to a restaurant and upon arrival, the owner ran up to them and greeted Jun Zhi. It appeared to Meilian that he was a regular here because without skipping a beat, the owner offered them a VIP room to dine in. Jun Zhi accepted and the trio was led to the fines VIP room the restaurant had.
Meilian and Jun Zhi sat down while Jun Zhi's servant went to place their order. Meilian looked around the room and she was fascinated by everything. She couldn't stop smiling. Although Meilian didn't grow up with fancy things, she got glimpses of them when Jun Zhi visited them and brought her dad things which he always declined.
She loved her simple life but always wondered how her life would be if she and her father lived differently than they did currently. She wanted to take over the family business from her dad and give him the best life. Meilian knew she couldn't be lazy and was determined to work hard to become the kingdom's best pharmacist.
Meilian was spacing out when she felt a pair of eyes watching her. Jun Zhi had tried to get her attention for the past few minutes and she just realized. Jun Zhi chuckled.
"Do I have your attention now Xiao Lian?" he asks her while watching her closely.
Meilian pouts and nods her head. Jun Zhi reaches into the inside pockets of his clothes and pulls out the wooden box from earlier. He passes the box to Meilian that looks at him confused.
"What-" before she can finish he interrupts her.
"Just take it and open it," he tells her.
He is as excited as she is. Jun Zhi wanted to see how his childhood friend and crush would react to his gift to her. Meilian closely examines the wooden box in her hand before she slowly opens the lid. Inside the box was the most beautiful fan Meilian had ever seen in her life. It was a bamboo fan, and on it, orchids were painted. A lotus was carved on the handle.
"Try it," Jun Zhi encourages her.
Meilian slowly takes the hand fan out of the box and unfolds the fan in hand, exposing the beautiful orchids on the fan.
"It looks very much like mother's hairpin!" Meilian noted.
"It is supposed to resemble her hairpin," he says. "Xiao Lian, do you like it?"
Meilian examines the fan closely, "It's lovely Jun Zhi!"
Jun Zhi heaves a sigh in relief. He was worried she might not like it, but after hearing her response, he was happy to see her beaming. Not soon after, Jun Zhi's servant along with another server came with their food.
Meilian and Jun Zhi finish up their meal and pay up. Soon as they leave the restaurant, they see that a crowd has gathered by the plaza. Curious, the trio walks up to the crowd and as they get closer they hear a commotion. Meilian and Jun Zhi pry their way to the front to see what's going on. Soon as they get up front, they see the young master from Heaven's Sword Sect. His sword is out, and it's pointed at a man laying on the ground, his clothes torn up and bloody.
The man on the ground is crying to be saved, pleading to the crowd that he is a good man.
"Which sect have you come from?" the young master from Heaven's Sword Sect demanded.
"You have to believe me!" the man on the ground pleaded. "I haven't done anything wrong!"
Meilian gets infuriated. How could someone as a master of a well-renowned sect behave like this, especially when someone is weaker than him? She let emotions control her and before she realized it, she stood in front of the man, shielding him from the sharp sword.
"Good sir," Meilian made sure her voice was a little deeper. "What has this man done that you have to raise your sword at him?"
"Are you in leagues with this man?" the young master asks her. "Is that why you have come to defend him!"
The young master didn't look happy at all. He had the impression he would come to arrest one man and not two. He then points his sword at Meilian, who is not amused by the sudden change in accusation.
"I'm here to seek justice for this man here," she says. "What could he possibly have done to receive such harsh treatment?"
What Meilian didn't notice, what that the man on the ground had gotten up while she and the young master were conversing. The shady man got closer to Meilian.
"You might be new here but this man has a record," the young master of the sect says. "He is wanted for numerous crimes!"
Meilian didn't want to be stubborn, but she understood that the young master couldn't be lying for no reason. She was about to turn around to face the man. Instead, she felt a cold sharp object on her throat. The man behind her held her in front of him as a shield daring anyone that came close to him that he would kill Meilian.
Jun Zhi is shocked by this and steps up to save his best friend from danger, but before he is able to get closer to her, more men clad in black arrive from the shadows - the evil man's backup has arrived.