Mei-king felt herself begin to come around.
"My mistress."
It sounded like it was from afar but as she slowly opened her eyes she saw Li-ma looking down at her.
It was all hazy and slowly began to come into clearer view.
"Should we fan her?" Li-na asked. "Maybe it is too hot."
Then Chang looked down at her. "No I don't think she needs to be fanned."
"My LADY CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Li-na shouted down at her.
Mei-ling turned to hold her head as her head throbbed.
"Yes I can hear you." She said.
"Forgive me my mistress." Li-na apologized.
"What happened?" Mei-ling asked.
"You fainted." Li-na said. "But some other guards carried you. Even the crowned prince Tai-hua wanted to carry you to your quarters."
Then Li-na sighed and blinked her eyes romantically. "He would have carried you in his arms! All the other concubines that had been laughing at you were jealous of my mistress!"
Li-na began to dance.
"But then the empress said no." Li-na rolled her eyes. "She said that it is unbecoming of the prince to carry a second class concubine who does not even belong to his harem. That was why his majesty did not carry you. But if you see the face of all the other concubines!"
Mei-ling rubbed her brows.
Prince Tai-hua had wanted to carry her when she had fainted?!
She felt herself cringe in terror because she knew that she should be avoiding him as much as she would be avoiding the male lead too.
"Now that the crowned prince is returning back to the Kingdom what will you wear?" Chang asked.
Mei-ling had not even thought of that.
"He is your prince after all." Li-na said.
"He has a number of other concubines, he will not pay me any notice." Mei-ling said waving her hand off as she mused on what to do that would appease the Queen mother.
"Well the Crowned prince I heard is very scary." Chang said. "My brother works with him in the imperial army. He does not like returning home, but he is only coming back because the old king is critically ill."
"I heard he is always going to war." Li-na included her large mouth in the conversation. "And that he is trying to compensate for the death of his brother."
Mei-ling was not interested in hearing anything about the crowned prince because she intended to avoid him
"Please Li-na all your talk is giving me a headache." Mei-ling complained.
Even the dog turned to look at her.
Li-na went down to her knees. "Forgive me my mistress."
What she wanted to know was how she was going to please the Queen mother and make her her ally.
"The empress let you go." Li-na chirped in. "They pardoned you because I lied that you were still weak from the accident. But the Empress has her eyes on you."
"The empress does not like any woman around Prince Tai-hua. Especially a concubine she did not handpick for him."
Mei-ling swallowed.
She did not like this.
She was attracting the wrong attention!
She hoped that before the end of today, she will be able to have her clothes delivered or she will attend the festival in rags!
It had to be the perfect distraction while she used her space.
At least so that no one would get suspicious.
From the original story she remembered that the Queen mother loved it when the FL had made her a special gift!
Hopefully she will bring her to her side!
There was a loud bell being wrung.
"THE CROWNED PRINCE HAS ARRIVED!"