"Lei, you just recovered from a stab wound. Plus, this is my mansion. So, I'm going to help you," Wenran stated. She was tired of not being able to really be able to fight with them during fights and battles. Plus, she's also been practicing fighting.
"Are you sure you want to come with me?" Lei questioned her as she was worried that Wenran would get hurt.
Wenran nodded, "yes, plus, I've been training and practicing. I actually want to help fight with you guys in fights and battles. I don't want to be just the brain of the group."
"Ok. Let's get going then," Lei said as she started walking.
Wenran nodded as she grabbed her sword and followed Lei.
They got to the main hall and saw that there were several guards surrounding the area.
Over at the main hall. Professor Shiqi was sitting down with a sword to his neck, so if he makes the wrong move or speaks, he's gone.
"So, Shiqi, why are you lying about you working with the group?" A male voice spoke.
"I'm not lying. You can check to see if I have any tattoos, which I don't," Shiqi replied.
"Fine. Someone check him for any tattoos," the male voice demanded.
One of the men checked and saw no tattoo on him. He looked at the leader and shook his head.
"Ok, but that still doesn't explain why you have a letter from the leader of the group," he stated.
"Zao, you know that I'm working with Lei on the mission of stopping the group. So, whenever she finds something, she always brings it here for me to look at," Shiqi replied.
"I know, but it seems like you know more than you let on," Zao stated.
"I don't know anything more than what Lei knows," Shiqi looked at him, with a serious face.
"Boys, let him go. He's telling the truth."
They nodded and removed the sword from his neck.
"You better not let Lei or General Feng find out what you did here today," Shiqi stated.
"I know. That's why I made you order Wenran to her room so that she doesn't find out that it was me," Zao looked at him.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Shiqi facepalmed as he let out a sigh. "Zao, Wenran is a smart girl. She'll find out sooner or later."
"I know she's a smart girl."
"Ok. You might want to leave before Wenran gets impatient and leaves her room, which is weird for me to say," Shiqi mentioned.
"Ok. We'll leave," he said as he turned around and shouted, "everyone, let's leave!" With that, he walked out.
Lei and Wenran saw and were shocked to see Zao, Tao's father.
"It makes sense why someone has my signature," Lei whispered.
"Yeah, but why did Uncle Zao have your stamp and order for a search?" Wenran whispered back.
"Beats me. He could've forged it. Uncle Zao has seen where I put my stamp at, so maybe he used it," Lei replied, quietly.
They watched them leave before they walked out and over to the main hall.
Once they got to the main hall, Wenran rushed in and went to her father to see if he was alright. "Father! Are you ok? Are you hurt?" She bombarded him with questions.
"Wenran, I'm fine. I'm not hurt," he replied.
"Ok-ok. What did they want from you besides the letter?"
"That was all they wanted. They wanted to know if I was a part of the group."
Wenran nodded as she was about to speak, but Lei walked in and walked towards them.
"Wenran, calm down. I'll find out why they used my stamp and lied to you guys," Lei chimed in.
Professor Shiqi looked at her. "Lei? What are you doing here?"
"I found something from the group," Lei replied as she grabbed out the note she found.
"Oh? Where did you find the thing?"
Lei explained what happened with Kai, "and so today I went to check up on how the guards were doing. Fu Xia came up to me and told me that he had examined the bodies to see the cause of death, which was instant poison tablets. So, we went to see. The weird thing was that the bodies were hard, but squishy. As I was examining the leader of this group, I found that they have duckweed tattoos on their necks. I ordered Fu Xia to see if there were any spying on us by being a guard. After he left, I looked to see if he missed anything. I found a letter that was sent from the boss of the group." Lei handed the note to Professor Shiqi.
Professor Shiqi took the note and read it. "This is different from the last note you found," he stated.
"It is? How?"
"Wait here, let me get the other one," he walked over to grab the last note Lei had found. Professor Shiqi grabbed it, went back, and handed it to Lei, "have a look."
Lei took it and took a look at it. "It is different, but it's from the same person. Could it be that they are trying to throw us off track?"
"It could be. I highly doubt it, though. But then again, if Kai was a part of the group, then they probably are trying to throw us, you, off the tracks," Professor Shiqi mentioned.
"True, but I don't even think that his parents know that he's part of the group and if they do, then they are probably not ok with it and are worried," Lei responded.
"What if the people of the group come here?" Wenran asked.
"Just ask them if they have a duckweed tattoo on their neck and if they don't show it, then it's them and follow them until one of your servants comes and gets me," Lei responded, "but don't attack, just attack if they attack first."
Wenran nodded, so did Professor Shiqi.
"We will try to get to you guys as fast as we can if they do attack," Lei mentioned, "don't worry, plus since Wenran has been training to fight, then you guys should be good until we get here."
"True," Wenran stated as she had calmed down a bit.
"Yeah," Professor Shiqi chimed in.
A while later, after they had finished talking. Lei was heading home. As she was heading home, she could feel like she was being watched. "I know, you're there. So, come out!" She called out as she stopped.
The person ran out and started to charge her.
Lei had gotten her sword out and had jumped over the person. "Who are you? Why are you following me?" She demanded.
"Someone you know sent me and I won't tell you why I'm following you. I'm no one of importance to you, Lei Feng," they responded as they turned around and went to attack again.
Lei blocks them. "Who sent you?"
"I can't say. But all you need to know is that the ones you love the most and hold close will die," they said as they attacked again as Lei was distracted by what they said.
Lei got cut, but she still fights.
They fought for a while. As they fought, Lei would look to see if they had a duckweed tattoo on their neck, but she couldn't. Lei wins, even though she had lost a somewhat good amount of blood.
Lei would wobble to the physician so that they could patch her up without alerting anyone from her mansion. Before she went inside the physician, she would fall.
As she fell, Yu Min was headed to see Lei. He happened to be near the physician. When Yu Min heard something falling, he went to check it out. As he got around the corner, he saw Lei on the ground, in the pathway of the physician. Yu Min ran to her and helped her up, not noticing that her arm was covered in blood, but noticed that she was paler than normal. "Lei?!?! What happened to you? You're paler," Yu Min exclaimed.
Lei looked at him. "I was being followed after I had left Wenran's mansion and we fought. They distracted me and got me in the arm. I won," she weakly replied.
Yu Min picked her up and carried her inside as it wasn't really late. "Doctor! We need help!" Yu Min called out.
A doctor comes rushing out and sees. "Put her down on the bed while I get the supplies to patch her," the doctor said as he went to get the powder and some bandages to patch her wound.
Yu Min nodded as he did that.
The doctor comes over and patches her up, "your wound should be healed in about a week."
Lei nodded. "Thank you, doc."
"You're welcome," he replied as he got up and went to put the extras away.
Yu Min looked at her, worried, concerned, and relieved. "Lei, why do you always end up getting hurt badly?"
"I don't know. I guess this is what I get for being the General's only daughter," she let out a small chuckle.
Yu Min shook his head. "In serious matters like this, you still have time to joke around."
"Yeah-yeah. I don't want to hear sappy remarks or anything like it. I also don't like it when the atmosphere is intense because of me getting hurt," she answered. Lei was telling the truth about it. She didn't like it. If she could, she would rather be home and not tell anyone about her getting hurt.
Yu Min looked at her as he knew how it felt and how she was feeling. It was as if Lei's, her real persona Xiao, friends were also in the book with her and are in the characters that are based off of them.
Lei gave Yu Min a little weak smile. "Yu Min, don't tell anyone about what happened today with me," she randomly mentioned.
"Ok. I won't tell a soul," Yu Min responded.
Lei hugged him as he hugged back. They left the physician after they paid.
"Hey Yu Min, what were you doing before you saw me?" Lei asked, curious about why he was around the same place she was.
"I was going to come and see you at your mansion," he replied as he looked at her and smiled.
"Oh?" Lei tilted her head, making Yu Min fall more in love with her.
"Yeah. I wanted to see if you wanted to hangout."
"Ah. Ok." She smiled.
Yu Min smiled back as he held her hand as they walked around the kingdom.
As they were walking, they would see Shen and He Zhihao talking and snacking on a melted sugar stick.
Yu Min saw them and was a bit shocked to see them together. "Hey Lei, is Shen dating anyone?" Yu Min asked as he knew that He Zhihao hates Shen, because of what her family is.
"No, I don't think so. Why?" Lei replied as she looked at him.
"Look over there," he said as he pointed over to them, "isn't that Shen with He Zhihao?"
Lei looked over at where Yu Min was pointing at. She saw them, "yes, that's her. But why are they together and eating melted sugar sticks?"
"I don't know, but all I know is that He Zhihao hates Shen."
Lei understood now. "They were pretending to hate each other, so that they wouldn't get caught," Lei stated, "they didn't want any of us to figure out that they love each other because they had hated each other at the beginning."
"It could possibly be it, Lei." It made sense to Yu Min now after Lei had explained it.
Lei smiled as she knew she was right on the dot with her explanation to why they were together. "But we shouldn't let them know that we know."
Yu Min nodded and smiled, "we also don't want them to know about us, right?"
"Yep," Lei nodded and smiled back.
While Lei and Yu Min were talking, Shen and He Zhihao saw them.
"Oh no," He Zhihao stated.
"Do you think that they saw us?" Shen asked.
"No, I don't think so. I mean if they did, should they be over here?"
"True, but do you think that they wouldn't come over to us, because we'd ask them why they were together?"
"That could be it, Shen," he replied.
"Then let's act like we didn't see them, and they didn't see us," she stated.
"Ok, let's go then," Zhihao said as he grabbed her hand and started walking with her.
Back with the two love birds, they had walked to the plaza. Lei saw some things that she thought were cute but didn't get anything because she knew that she would never use them. But she did spot a beautiful hanfu. She walked over and took a closer look at it. The hanfu was an elegant color of blue and green with some embroidery of flowers on the mesh sleeves.
"It's so beautiful," Lei mumbled to herself, "but I wouldn't wear it, or well I wouldn't know where to wear it to." Lei was in love with it, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to wear it and wouldn't bring justice to it. As she was thinking that Yu Min saw that she was in love with the hanfu.
"Hey Lei, why don't we go and get something to eat," Yu Min said as he grabbed her hand. He also whispered to the shop owner that he'd be back for it.
Lei nodded as they started walking towards a food stall.
They walked to a noodle stall and ordered.
Yu Min had told Lei that he needed to go to the restroom. Lei nodded and stayed put. Yu Min went back to the shop and bought the hanfu. He would go back with the box that had the hanfu. Yu Min got back and sat down next to Lei, hiding the box.
"Welcome back. I thought that you ditched me," Lei said.
"Sorry, there was a line for the restroom," he replied, "also, why would I ditch my girlfriend?"
"I don't know, but why would you make her wait to order food?"
"You could've ordered while I was gone, so that's on you."
Lei pouted, "well, I wanted to wait until you got back so that you could order."
Yu Min smiled as he patted her head. "Ok, I'll order and once I order, I have a surprise for you while I waited for the restroom," he stood up and went to order, "and no peeking until I get back."
"Fine, I won't peek. Do you remember what I get here?"
"Yes, darling. I remember," he stated as he ordered.
Lei smiled at him and watched him come back.
Yu Min sat down and handed her the box, "I hope that you won't get mad at me for buying you this."
"Why would I get mad at you for buying me something?" she asked as she took the box and opened it. As she opened the box, she saw the hanfu. Lei looked up at him, "Yu Min, where would I wear this? Can I give justice to this beautiful elegant hanfu?"
"You can wear it to your parents' welcome back party. Also, you give justice to any hanfu that's like this one," Yu Min stated.
"I don't think I do. Also, you probably think that I give justice to any hanfu, so your opinion doesn't count."
"I do, but that's not the point. I see all the others stare at you because you can give justice to anything that you're wearing."
"Yeah, sure. They probably stare because they think that I don't bring justice to anything," Lei stated as she closed the box.
"Lei, I'm telling the truth. Then, answer me this, why are you so popular?"
"Because I'm the general's daughter and grew up with four boys that everyone looks up to," she answered. That's what she honestly thought was why she was popular, but in reality, it was because of how she brought justice to anything she wore and her personality.
"Lei, whenever I walk past people with you, I can hear them talk about how you smile, how you're kind, caring, nice, and friendly, and how you bring justice to any hanfu you wear."
"You're probably just saying that to boost my confidence," she looked at him.
"I'm not, Lei. You can even ask them," he looked back at her.
"I won't. I can see that you're telling the truth."
"Good," Yu Min smiled.
They got their noodles and started to eat. They were eating and Lei started to dance as she ate. Lei hadn't had good noodles in a good amount of time. Yu Min thought it was cute how she danced as she ate.
A while later, after they got done eating, they went to get something sweet to eat. They got a dragon beard and went to their spot on the bridge. Once they got to the bridge, they sat down and started to eat their dragon beard. As they ate, they watched the people walking and buying things.