After Mei-ling and Li-na had watched the man being taken away, they were them able to make a run out of the forest.
Mei-ling was tired her body was so weak after all this running she stopped to lean on a tree.
"My mistress!" Li-na said. "If we don't run, then we might get caught by those big bad men."
Mei-ling Remembered what had happened to those men who had driven their carriage earlier on and she quickly resumed running.
Eventually they found their way unto a road path.
They walked a few way ahead and came across a town.
"We're in the town of the imperial palace." Li-na informed.
Mei-ling breathed a sigh of relief!
"Thank the stars!" She said.
"Look there is an imperial soldier!" Li-na pointed out.
Li-na quickly rushed up to him.
"Good evening sir." She greeted.
"Good evening." He replied and looked at the two of them.
He wondered why one very beautiful woman and her servant were looking so tattered? It was unusual.
"We are from our village and today we were supposed to go to the imperial palace." Li-na explained. "She is a concubine to his Royal highness. We were attacked on the way here."
The guard was taken aback.
It was not the first time someone had been attacked on the roads.
Bandits were becoming more and more Rampant.
And had he not heard that a new concubine was supposed to be moving into the palace today?
"Show me your seal." He said .
People who had been invited into the imperial palace had been given a seal and were to show anyone in case they ever got lost.
Mei-ling didn't know what he was talking about until Li-na helped her dig into her pocket and bring a good seal out.
The soldier became alert!
"I'm very sorry for your troubles." He said quickly. "You are safe now."
He asked where they had been attacked so that they could dispatch some soldiers to where the carriage along with the men who had brought them were to see if they were still alive.
Then he called out to another soldier and then they were given a carriage to be taken into the imperial palace.
Mei-ling was just tired.
This part was not supposed to have happened in the book.
When they got to the palace Mei-ling was too tired to even notice how beautiful the palace was.
They were led straight to her quarters and were told that she would see the emperess and queen mother tomorrow.
Mei-ling just wanted to sleep.
She could think tomorrow.
Her entire body ached.
They had a fresh bath and were completely refreshed before they retired to their bedrooms.
A meal was brought for them.
"My mistress you must eat." Li-na said.
But Mei-ling was already snoring in her bed and dreaming of the man she had saved by the riverside.
Li-na ate up the food and pondered on her mistress's sudden change of attitude.
Her mistress was not friendly and very wicked sometimes.
She had once made Li-na frog jump when she poured her favorite powder.
But now seeing how her mistress had behaved all of sudden throughout the entire day shocked her!
She shrugged her shoulders.
Maybe her mistress now wanted to be good.
She turned off all the lights and lay in her side of the room.
There was a sliding door that separated hers from Mei-ling's so she could easily retire and rush out to her if she needed everything.
And she went to sleep too.