Chapter 23: Twenty three
The other hair pin in the case was quite simple and elegant. It had a thin long metal rod whose bronze color was a bit faded. At one of the tips was an unpolished white pearl.
She tried to think. Her head hurt even more. She closed the case and put it aside before trying to sleep again.
Her father didn't stop asking about his wines. How was it possible for thieves to simply break in without leaving any damage and take his wines?
He wouldn't stop complaining about it. He wondered day and night and made a lot of noise in their small Dong family.
Dong Mei started to frequent the courtyard, trying to get as far as possible from her father's continuous laments. No meal went by without him talking about his wines, making Dong Mei contemplate skipping a few meals.
When her father's suspicious eyes finally landed on her, Dong Mei couldn't take it anymore and stepped out of the house.
"Here," she handed Cang Mang a fruit.
He laid on the grass with his eyes closed but took the fruit.
"What is this?" he asked, not wanting to open his eyes.
Dong Mei answered casually, "wampee."
Cang mang immediately threw it into his mouth and bit it. He sat up in the next moment with open eyes and a twisted expression.
"Sour!" he exclaimed.
Dong Mei smiled with a good amount of schadenfreude. She nodded to herself, 'it's the small things. It's the small things that matter.'
"What did you call me here for?" she asked.
He looked her over before laying back down in the grass, "nothing. I didn't think you'd come."
They were seated in one of the grass clearings around the village. The back side of the village was surrounded by hills that got bigger and bigger with the distance away. If one looked further, they would be able to see a few mountain ranges towering above the clouds.
Where they were seated was not a far climb up. It was one of the nearest hills from the village. They were on one of the sides of the hill and they were able to see some parts of the village and could count the villagers walking around in their gardens with harvesting baskets on their backs.
Herdsmen watched over cattle and sheep. Little boys ran around with the goats and dogs barked here and there.
A circle of girls gathered under a tree and a short distance from them were a few teen males throwing glances at them.
Further down there was a family that seemed to be having a dispute and in another courtyard, the chickens ran wildly about, refusing to be caught.
The wind on the hill was gentle and the days seemed care free. Dong Mei found herself letting go of a heavy breath and calming down.
"Did the man you arranged come?" Dong Mei asked.
"Mmh!" Cang Mang replied, knowing that she was talking about the speed date, "your Prince Charming was deeply disappointed that you didn't show up."
"Who is this Wangzi you keep talking about?" She asked, feeling that she had asked the question before.
"It's a figure of speech," Cang Mang replied, "it comes from a fairytale."
"Mmh? What's that?" Dong Mei didn't really want to find out. She was simply asking for the sake of it.
"It's a story that always has a happy ending," he explained, "Prince Charming is the Mr. Right of every girl's dreams. He swoops in at the right time, single handedly saves the damsel from distress and finally marries her, filling the rest of her days with ease."
"What's the story?" she asked.
"There are many. Perhaps the most common one is about the maid and the prince," he asked, "do you want to hear it?"
Dong Mei hummed a response.
"Once upon a time, there was an earl who had a wife and daughter that he loved deeply," he said, "the family of three was happy that way."
"What's 'hal'," Dong Mei interrupted.
Cang Mang thought for a bit before saying, "same as an official with a relatively high rank," he decided to modify the story a bit, "In any case, the wife soon falls ill and dies. The happy family is soon shrouded in grief though they try to move on. Soon, the official felt that he couldn't leave his daughter in the hands of maids. She needed a mother. So, he married a widower with her own children, feeling that only one that already knew how to be a mother would treat his daughter well."
Dong Mei turned and looked at Cang Mang as he told the story.
"At first, all was well until the official suddenly died, leaving all his wealth in the hands of the new wife..."
He had his eyes closed, one hand under his head and the other over his chest. He was in an ordinary outfit that was held together by the sash at the waist. Like that, he seemed peaceful.
Dong Mei noticed he didn't have his usual stubble. Instead, his thick eyebrows were the most hair he had on his face. The evening sun gave his face a small soft glow. He seemed about to doze off at any moment but his lips kept stroking against each other in calm movements.
His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he spoke. His collar was slightly loose, revealing a small fraction of his chest. She suddenly recalled the day he completely took off his shirt in front of her. In fact, she realized that she had seen his bear chest a numerous number of times though she was never bothered to find out why he took off his shirt before.
But as she looked at him, there on the peaceful hill, she couldn't help but marvel a bit at how well sculpted he was.
She wondered that if he took off his shirt, would his body glow just as his face did under the sun?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone