Once Xiaomei was far away from her room and noticed he didn't follow her, she finally slowed down and stopped to catch her breath. She patted her chest to calm her heart down. She started to yell at herself, "Stop being swayed."
"Huang Daiyu," Chuhua called out behind her. Xiaomei turned her head to see Chuhua and Bojing coming towards her. She could tell they were all good to go. They both were holding hands until they noticed Xiaomei was looking at them. Their faces brightened in a pinkish-red color. Xiaomei could help but smile at their cute little actions. "Are you joining us with breakfast?" Chuhua said, trying to change the topic. Xiaomei nodded her head.
"What happened to your lips? They are slightly swollen," Chuhua said. Immediately, Xiaomei's cheeks turned pink, and she started cussing ZhangWei in her heart, but she calmly said without her voice wavering in nervousness, "Is that so? I didn't seem to notice. I should go to the clinic for some medicine." Touching her slightly swollen lips. Both Chuhua and Bojing nodded their heads, and Chuhua was about to say something back
However, Xiaomei quickly said to change the subject, "We should hurry to meet with Zhou Baozhai and Crown Prince LiJie." As they were heading to meet with Zhou Baozhai and LiJie, Xiaomei continued to cuss ZhangWei in her heart while touching her red lips. She couldn't believe how dare he made her lips swollen and made everyone know.
_______
After breakfast, Baozhai asked if Xiaomei would join them to go with them to attend their small event. She just wanted to relax in her room and read a book, but she didn't want to deal with ZhangWei as she was upset with him and was flustered to see him, so she agreed with Baozhai. The whole day, she followed the two couples around the small event. During their time going around, enjoying the event, she occasionally noticed LiJie looking at her as if he had something to say but didn't say anything. She didn't mind him and simply ignored his gaze and minded her own business
Little did she know, but LiJie couldn't help but look at her as he felt he had unresolved matters that constantly bothered him. He knew he had wronged her in many many ways, but before he could apologize or do something for her to forgive him, she had already moved on and no longer dwelled in the past. Therefore, he had no right to bring up the past when she no longer cared about the past as he could only look at her with regret.
She would occasionally notice how sweet Bojing would casually watch over Chuhua and sweetly follow after her as she was having her fun without realizing she was separating from the group. She also noticed how happy Baozhai would tag along with LiJie. She would show LiJie all the stuff she was looking at, and his eyes would soften in love whenever he looked at her and see how Baozhai would brightly smile.
Xiaomei felt like the unnecessary fifth wheel of the group. She felt her feet dragging themselves while she was following after them. She started to scan around. She was surprised that ZhangWei hasn't shown up yet. Even though she didn't want to see him. She sort of missed his stupid presence. "No," she quickly thought and shook her head. "Stop thinking about him," she mumbled to herself.
"Huang Daiyu," a voice called her. "Hmm?" she said, snapping out of her thoughts.
"Are you alright?" Zhou Baozhai asked, looking at her. "Ngh," Xiaomei nodded her head in response.
____
The sun had set, and they all settled in a restaurant to end the day. The server brought over plum blossom wine while they were chatting among themselves, Xiaomei was busy pouring some wine into her cup. She sighed in great relief. She hasn't tasted wine in a while. She remembered drinking whenever she was stressed out from work with her coworkers. She took a sip before she felt refreshed. "Ah," she unconsciously said.
Before she could take another drink of the wine, someone stopped her from drinking. "You better slow down. Even though plum blossoms taste sweet and don't seem to be strong in alcohol. It will take effect quickly," ZhangWei said, appearing out of the blue and sitting beside her.
"Oh, ZhangWei. Where have you been? I was surprised not to see you around," Baozhai said. "You must be busy with being the new leader," Baozhai added.
ZhangWei was not in a chatty mood and nodded since his attention was on Xiaomei, who was pouring another cup of wine. He once again tried to slow down Xiaomei from gulping down the wine. "You really don't listen. Slow down," ZhangWei said, holding her wrist to stop drinking the rest of the wine in her cup.
"Stop fussing. I'm fine. The wine isn't even strong," she said, fussing with his hand. ZhangWei poked her forehead and said, "You are the one who needs to stop fussing."
Xiaomei just brushed his hand before she started to feel the alcohol taking an effect.
The two couples watched those two flirt with each other.
"Any news on Zhou Haitou?" LiJie asked, disturbing the two. "Yes, that's why I was gone this morning. I have received some news about spotting Zhou Haitou in the nearest town. I already had my man on the search," ZhangWei said as everyone sat up straight.
Once Xiaomei heard what ZhangWei finished saying, she said, "Good. I'm done," as her voice slurped. "I'm all set! The story is locked in. Now I wait," Xiaomei happily exhaled as she assumed she had said that in her head but unconsciously spoke out loud. She didn't realize her mistake as the wine had already taken effect. Her cheeks were red with her eyes looking a bit hazy.
However, everyone didn't seem to mind what she had said since they were too shocked by the mesmerizing expression on her face. It warmly struck them as they froze in place. Her eyes were shining, and her face was bright. Her lips were glossy red as they had a hint of seduction, but what drew them in was her beautiful smile that lit up the atmosphere. They never saw or knew that she had such a relaxed, bright, and soft expression before. It was endearing. They only saw her cold, obsessive, fake expressions.