Once they reached the carriage, ZhangWei threw his cloak to Xiaomei. "Wear this," he said. She wanted to refuse, but he already grabbed the cloak from her and wrapped it around her. "I can see your lips shivering," he said.
Xiaomei was once again inside the carriage with Baozhai, Chuhua, and LiJie. This time they were all quiet and no longer glaring at her. Xiaomei glanced at LiJie to see if he was alright since she did waste her effort in saving him. He noticed her, glancing at him before he coldly looked at her with disgust and looked away.
She thought, "I really did waste my effort. I should have let you drown longer before saving you. You are lucky that you are the main guy, so I need you to finish this story."
He looked at Chuhua and Baozhai and noticed they were sleeping since they were exhausted from the fight. His eyes show great warmth when looking at Baozhai. He quietly showed a small smile at her as he held the small tassel in his sleeve. Xiaomei saw his smile and remembered how the book described him. He would have a serious and structural look with a beautiful smile and sweet pair of eyes, and the person he loved was the apple of his eyes. Xiaomei felt like she was the third wheel watching this.
She opened the cloth to look out the window. She felt the breeze as it made her wet hair and clothes cold. She saw ZhangWei, riding the horse beside the carriage, but he didn't notice her yet. Xiaomei looked at him and thought it was funny. She felt like he was better looking than LiJie.
"What are you looking at," a voice said, causing her to snap out of her thoughts. "Um, nothing," she replied quickly.
"It looked like you were looking at my face," he teased. "I-I was not. I was looking at the trees," she lied.
"Alright, keep looking at the trees. I think they are pleased that you are looking at them," he said, smirking. "Never mind, they are not good to look at anymore," Xiaomei said, closing the cloth. She then noticed LiJie, looking at her. She ignored him and minded her own business.
For some reason, LiJie felt annoyed by their flirting.
_______
They had reached the closest town and decided to spend the night there before leaving again. It took them an additional two days before reaching the destination. So, it was a total of four days before they made it. During those days, Xiaomei had tried many attempts to find someone to take her back to the capital but failed.
They got off the carriage, and they reached Baozhai's uncle's residence.
"ZhangWei, you are back," a mid-age man greeted ZhangWei.
"Zhou Haitao," ZhangWei greeted him back. "What took you so long? I sent a message a month ago," Zhou Haitao said.
"Sorry, I was occupied," ZhangWei replied. Xiaomei raised her eyebrows and thought, "Occupied? You were just bugging me."
"Zhou Haitao, I found Baozhai," ZhangWei said as Baozhai exited the carriage and ran to her uncle.
"Uncle," Baozhai cried and went to hug her uncle. Her uncle's eyes were shocked, and he stood there frozen in disbelief.
"Um, Baozhai. You are still alive...," her uncle said, astonished. Xiaomei watched Baozhai's uncle's facial expression as he was trying to hide his confusion and turn it into excitement.
"Baozhai, I can't believe it's you! We have to celebrate," her uncle said, trying to be happy. "Who are these people with you," her uncle asked.
"They are my friends," Baozhai answered.
"Oh. Well, let them stay at my residence," he said, ordering servants to bring their stuff to individual rooms. "Baozhai, how are you? How did you survive," her uncle asked?
"Mother took me to the secret passageway," Baozhai answered.
"Is that so," her uncle said with a hidden emotion in his voice. Xiaomei already knew what he was thinking. After all, Xiaomei knew he was the evil mastermind of this story.