Since everything was discussed and resolved, the Emperor quickly sent a search party to find Zhou Haitao and bring him in. Soon, Zhou Haitao's pictures were posted all over the city, and news spread everywhere.
Xiaomei and ZhangWei had arrived back at her residence, and LiMei and Bao hurried to greet them and were eager to see her again. LiMei held Xiaomei tightly as she began to cry in happiness to see her lady again.
Each day, they were worried and missed her. To Xiaomei's surprise, ZhangWei had sent a letter once a week to keep them updated about her so they wouldn't worry about her as much, along with some money to feed themselves as they waited for Xiaomei's return.
Soon, LiMei cried hard as she started asking if Xiaomei was still in any pain from the injuries she obtained long ago from Zhou Haitao. Xiaomei couldn't bear to see LiMei's heart-wrenching cries and tried her best to comfort her poor little maid from crying her eyes out by saying that she was fine and was no longer in any pain. However, those words didn't stop LiMei from crying out. Soon enough, Bao couldn't watch his LiMei cry her eyes out, so he easily persuaded her to stop crying, or their lady would be heartbroken and cry her eyes out as well and fall ill. Instantly, LiMei stopped crying and hurried Xiaomei to come and rest inside.
Once Xiaomei entered her home, she noticed that everything was left the same as she left it. She then ordered Bao to fix a room for ZhangWei since he would be staying with them for a while. When they finally were able to relax, she noticed the little chipmunk had turned into a little chubby chipmunk. She had guessed that LiMei and Bao constantly fed the little chipmunk to keep them entertained as they waited for her return.
She lightly chuckled and said, "Look at you. You have been eating so well these days, not so little chipmunk anymore." She slowly reached over to pet the little chubby chipmunk, but he immediately backed away as if the little chubby chipmunk no longer recognized her. "I must have gone so long that you no longer recognize me, " she said, a little taken back by its rejection. She then let her hands stay still to let him slowly come to her and see that she wasn't a danger to him. The chipmunk looked at Xiaomei's eyes and immediately stopped its movement. It slowly crawled towards her hand before sniffing her hand. Once it sniffed her hand, it instantly recognized her and crawled on her hands up to her shoulder. It started going to the other hand as if it was looking for food.
"Pft, are you looking for food? I'm sorry, but I don't have any food on me, little chubby chipmunk," she chuckled with a smile. "I'm glad that you recognized me," she added with a brighter smile.
ZhangWei, who was behind Xiaomei the entire time, raised his hand to the little chipmunk, and it immediately jumped to ZhangWei's hand.
"Look at that. He remembered you but not me?" Xiaomei said in disbelief, with her eyes and mouth wide open.
ZhangWei chuckled before saying, "Maybe because I hand-feed him a lot more than you." He lifted his hand closer to his face and looked at the little chipmunk. He then moved his fingers as the little chipmunk moved along with him.
"Is that so," Xiaomei said with a sense of sourness in her voice. ZhangWei noticed her jealousy and couldn't help but chuckle.
She glared at him before seeing him pull out a little snack for the chipmunk. "Where did you get those roasted chestnuts?"
"I always carry some snacks with me. Just in case I want something to snack on," he answered, feeding the chipmunk. The chipmunk quickly shoved a nut in one side of his cheeks before grabbing the other one.
Xiaomei finally broke into a smile again and said, "Maybe that's why he recognized you. He could probably smell the snacks on you." She lightly scratched the little chipmunk's head.
ZhangWei watched her adore the little chipmunk in his hand before remembering something. "Oh, I forgot. Here this for you," he said, putting the little chipmunk on his shoulder and pulling something out from his sleeves. He then threw it to her as she was startled and acted quickly to catch it. She looked down at it to see a waist tassel with a white jade pendant, and the white jade had a carving of a cute cat.
She broke into a smile and quietly chuckled, "It's cute. I like it very much." She rubbed the cat carving with her thumb.
"I'm glad you like it," he said with a smile. She looked up at him and said, "Did you carve it?"
"Mmm," he nodded his head. She then smiled brighter and looked at it again. She could see how skillful he was as the carving had clean cuts and was smooth to the touch. She immediately hung it on her waist and watched it dangle. She looked at him again before smiling at him. She couldn't resist the urge and leaned forward to kiss his lips. The little chipmunk was startled by her action and quickly jumped off his shoulder to the table and down to the ground.
Before she retreated back, he had already grabbed the back of her neck and deepened their kiss. She then clutched onto his clothes and moved her lips with his. The wind blew between them as their waist tassels swung in sync.