The two waited... with remarkable patience... until nighttime came and Xinyi slowly materialized just below where the two creatures hid. They went down from the tree and the panda bear carried Xinyi on its shoulders all the way to Shíjiān's cave, up to the innermost chamber cloaked with illusion spells, and laid her to the bed of flowers. After finishing his task, big panda left the cave and went back to the bamboo thicket.
---- o ----
After Lei Ming hollered his regrets, he walked back to his residence. Unknowingly, Madame Lei was already there sitting behind his table. Lei Ming slightly bowed to his mother. Madame Lei stood and without hesitation said, "Where is your new bride?"
The question gave Ming a headache, making his face sour. "Ma, please, I wish to rest for a while. We'll talk later." Then he waved a hand to a guard. "Tell your Lord Zhai to come here." The guard left after receiving the order.
Madame Lei smirked and stood beside Ming. "How about the feast when she is not here?" She eyed him, teasing.
"It doesn't matter. I only thought of using the feast as a surprise, and to make her feel welcome..."
"But you screwed up twice. Last night and this morning. I bet you failed to convince her."
"Ma," Ming said as his shoulders sagged, feeling defeated. He already regretted it and hated the reminder.
"I don't know what happened, but let me handle this problem. Don't involve your brothers or sister," said Madame Lei with her eyes gazing at a distance.
"What are you going to do?"
"Just you wait and trust me, son. Remember, I'm not only your Ma but also your teacher who taught you everything you know. And you're still lacking with experience. So watch and learn. When did I ever fail?" said Madame Lei with the fortitude of a mentor.
"Once, the time when you lost a bet with Pa and had no choice but to marry him," said Lei Ming with a poker face, but gurgling laughter began deep inside. Oh, he loved this. It was now his turn to tease his mother because this was the most sensitive topic for Madame Lei, and she glared in annoyance to her son. She hated losing, but she lost to Ming's father and ended her marrying the man.
She never liked to marry Lei Bolin, Ming's father, who was adamantly courting the strong-willed and martial arts expert Yang Lifen. But because of her pride, she took the courting man's bait, a challenge on making three men fall without her going near the three men or from using any martial arts' techniques against the targets.
Though an expert, she had no way to do this because her ways before to win were using her fist and feet or any weapon she could hold. So, she told Bolin with extreme confidence, "If you, the weak-bodied scholar, who only knew how to read books, could do it then I would surely marry you."
"You better keep your word," said Bolin with a huge smile on his face.
"Of course, I always keep my promise," said Lifen with a mocking grin.
In response, Bolin winked and showed her his charming dimples. Then unhurriedly poured some oil outside a busy restaurant. Indeed, the prepared scholar only scared the eating three men near the door by shouting snake and throwing a real but dead snake on their table. The poor three victims ran out in fright and stepped on the oiled floor and fell flat on their faces.
Therefore, the wedding took place a month after and the following month she beat her husband after learning Bolin paid the three men in advance, believing she would fall to his bait. Nevertheless, she bore him three sons and a daughter and was happy living with him before he died in sickness.
Oh my, I'm getting sidetracked here. Let's get back to our story.
Madame Lei berated her son. "Ming 'er, don't ever bring that up again if you want your wife back." She was dead-serious warning him and also observing his reaction. Lei Ming didn't retaliate but only took his stand as the man of the house and the clan leader.
"Ma, I can take care of this problem on my own. You don't need to meddle with my married life," said Ming with a tired face.
"Let's see if you can find her. If not, you have to let me handle this," said Madame Lei with a clear determination in her voice.
"Fine," said Ming and instructed the newly arrived Zhai to scour the whole estate to find her. Yes, they searched for hours and looked at every nook of the land, rested for lunch... and continued the search thereafter... By the time the sky went dark, they left the forest to report to Ming.
Unknown to them, they only missed her reappearance just minutes away after they left the spot.