Chương 24: Food Crisis

"Well, it hasn't been easy but it isn't all bad...I have had the - "

"Ah, I'm feeling a bit dizzy again, I need to lie down...I'm sorry I can't accompany you for long." Lei Xing said as she dropped the cup, looking down and holding her head with her other hand.

"O- Of course, I'm sorry for interrupting your rest...I'll be leaving now." Li Ru said quickly getting up, then she bowed to Lei Xing, "I just wanted to say thank you...I will do my utmost to repay you this debt of gratitude."

{...Repay? how? with poison? -_-)'...}

Lei Xing glanced at her skeptically for a bit then smiled, "There's no need to repay it, it wasn't anything significant and as I said I didn't particularly do it for you...just consider it your own good luck."

"But, still - " Li Ru quietly said.

"It's okay, you should go." Lei Xing flatly said.

Li Ru looked at Lei Xing and was flustered and hurriedly said "Ah, yes" and bowed again and left.

Lei Xing watched her as she went out.

{...*sigh*, I hate this...}

Lei Xing sighed and got up, "Xiao Ruo, have everything on the table thrown away, it's all making feel sick. Ah Jin, come with me."

"Ah? Everything?" Xiao Ruo exclaimed.

Lei Xing turned, "Yes, everything."

"But - " Xiao Ruo tried to protest.

"Just do it." Lei Xing flatly said and walked away.

When Lei Xing got back to her room, she sighed and then turned to Ah Jin, "Do you remember?"

Ah Jin nodded, "It was when you were 8 years old, we had gone to Official Li's manor for his mother's 60th birthday celebration...you had wandered off for a period and when I found you, you were with Noble consort Li."

"I see..." Lei Xing calmly said.

{...So it's not a lie?...then...even still, what about the poison?...}

Lei Xing sighed again and walked over to the large open windows and sat down on the ledge, she looked around the lavish room and sighed again, then looked at the beautiful garden outside and sighed again.

{...It is truly a golden cage...}

After a while, she looked back inside the room and her fixed eyes on Ah Jin, who was standing in the center of the room. She looked at her intently for a while, Ah Jin maintained her posture with her head slightly lowered and didn't flinch at all, "Ah Jin, how about I release you?"

"Release?" Ah Jin looked up with some panic.

"Oh, since you have been sent over to the palace, I am now considered your master, so I can release you...the palace is not an easy place. You should go live the life you want."

{...As much as I'd like to have someone reliable, it seems unfair to shackle you to a life even I don't want...}

Ah Jin knelt down and kowtowed and said a bit panicky, "Miss please don't...I have nowhere to go and no life I want to live if it's not at your side. Since you saved me, my life has been tied to yours. However and wherever you live, at your side is where I want to be...please don't..."

Lei Xing calmly looked at her kneeling on the ground for a while, then sighed and said, "Okay then...If you change your mind let me know." and then turned back and absently stared outside the windows.

Ah Jin stood up with a sigh of relief, bowed again and then stood there deeply looking at Lei Xing.

Lei Xing was in an increasingly bad mood. Not only was she stuck here, but someone had already tried to poison her, not one but two poison attempts in one day. She was worried about her future and how she would survive here, and even if she survived, what sort of life would she live.

{...I really hate this place...}

"Your highness, you shouldn't worry so much...You are blessed and so will definitely live a happy life." Ah Jin calmly said.

Lei Xing turned and looked at Ah Jin's calm face and then laughed, "I'm that obvious?... You are right, there's no point in worrying, whatever will be, will be."

Ah Jin smiled and walked forward and handed Lei Xing four envelopes, "I was asked to give you these."

Lei Xing took the envelopes and looked at them, they were letters from her family. Her father and mother's were pretty much the same set of words they gave her when she left home before with congratulations and blessings for the future, Lei Xing sighed as she read them.

Xiao Ting's expressed admiration at the budding love story between her and the Emperor, praising her for her quick "work". Lei Xing's mouth hung open as she read Xiao Ting's letter.

{...This brat is definitely deluded...What stupid dead romance? -_-)...}

Lei Xing put away Xiao Ting's letter in annoyance and then picked up her brother's, and her annoyance skyrocketed.

Lei Yong's talked about how she has now gotten her wish and so she must treasure this opportunity and that the emperor is a good man who is worthy of her love...

{....Goosebumps!...what stupid wish? I wish to get outta here!!!...I guess a dying's girl's wish trapped me here...that's mean...Shut Up!! I'm also dead and I didn't ask to be here!!... Come to think of it, what if her soul entered my body and she's living my life...then maybe we could switch back?... Forget it, how could she, I, have survived the ocean?....

...Maybe she, I got rescued?... Didn't happen, because, 1) It's the ocean, 2) at night, 3) I can't swim...well, maybe she can swim...she drowned in a pond -_-)...and 4) The ship was gone... even if someone saw me fall, the moment I went under the water, that was it...it may not even be possible to recover my body...*sigh* forget that...no point being depressed about it...}

Lei Xing took a deep breath and got up, then looked around at the boxes in the room and said, "Okay, let's sort these out."

Lei Xing spent the rest of her afternoon sorting through the stuff from home, particularly the money, and her mood got lighter. After she finished sorting through stuff, she took a tour around her palace.

It had three bedrooms, her bedroom was the largest with 2 side rooms, there was also a few smaller rooms for the maids to stay in, a study - actually more like a workroom, there was an embroidery rack on the side, which she knew she would never use, a study area and there was also a qin on one side, which gave her bad memories, and she frowned when she saw it.

There was a bookshelf but the only book on it was "the virtues of Imperial women" that had followed her back from the Empress dowager's palace, and when she saw it, she sighed.

{...How boring...}

Then there was the garden out front that had channels of water running through it, with bridges over it in various places connecting a stone path and different sort of flowers all over, with a small gazebo on one side, with a stone seating set, where she spent some time admiring the surroundings.

When she got back to her room in the evening, her dinner had already been set. She washed her hands and took her seat and was ready to eat, she had skipped out on lunch and hadn't had anything since breakfast, she was finally feeling the hunger.

As she reached for a dish, she frowned as she saw the ring change to a greenish-blue.

{...Again?!...This has to be a joke -_-)...}

She sighed and reached for something else, the same thing happened. She tried something else, the same thing happened.

Lei Xing paused and, dropped her chopsticks and reached for the tea, the same thing happened. She dropped her hands in her lap and rubbed the ring.

{...Okay, this doesn't make sense...I mean, what are the odds? No one should hate me this much, also poisoning like this is overkill, way too much evidence...Am I being paranoid? maybe I'm seeing things...I don't feel paranoid...}

"Your highness, do you not like the food? Would you like something else?" Xiao Ruo asked, she was standing off to the side across from Lei Xing with Ah Jin.

Lei Xing frowned, "Just bring me some fruit."

{...Even if it's just me being paranoid, I can't risk it...right?...}

After a little while, Xiao Ruo returned with some fruit and wanted to cut them, but Lei Xing stopped her, "I'll do it myself." she bowed and returned to her position on the side.

Lei Xing picked up the knife and reached for an orange, the ring went greenish-blue again. She retracted her hand and stayed still, looking at the table of food for a while.

{...Okay, this is getting stupid...}

"You both go out. I want to be alone." Lei Xing said. Xiao Ruo looked at her confused and wanted to say something when Ah Jin stopped her and then they both bowed and left the room.

Lei Xing got up and walked to the bowl of water on the side where she had washed her hands and reached for the water. The ring went greenish-blue again, just now when she had washed her hands, she wasn't paying attention to it, but she felt perfectly fine and no different.

{...Slow poison?...No, this is too much...}

Lei Xing went to a cupboard and rummaged through the stuff there, and brought out some silver hairpins.

She walked to the bowl of water and dipped the pin in it, it was fine, then she tested the various dishes on the table and they were all fine. It was just that the ring kept changing to greenish-blue.

{...Could there be something wrong with it?...it could be a poison that silver can't detect, but I don't think their poison technology has evolved to that stage yet...but still...}

Lei Xing then turned and left the room, Xiao Ruo and Ah Jin were even more perplexed when she opened the doors and started walking off, but they followed her anyway.

Lei Xing went outside and walked around in the garden, hovering a hand above flowers, seemingly admiring them and enjoying a walk.

{...Okay, something is definitely wrong with it...No one is jobless enough to come coat poison on all the flowers here...also wouldn't the plants die with poison? No clue...but something must have happened to it after that tea incident, it was fine during breakfast...}

Lei Xing turned back and went back to her room, closing herself in again. She paced around for a bit.

{...Okay, what do I do now? If it's not working, that's a huge problem...this sets me back a thousand miles, I really can't be testing everything with silver pins, I'd look crazy going around poking silver pins in everything...No I'd have to be crazy to do that, they wouldn't have to kill me then, they'd just lock me up for being crazy -_-)'...Also, it doesn't matter if I do it in my own palace, but what about banquets and stuff...it's one thing not to eat, but it'd be a problem not to drink when they raise toasts and stuff...}

Lei Xing got tired of pacing and went to sit down.

{...The gem was working, I saw it work...so I just have to take it back to Doctor Lou, I'm sure he can fix whatever the problem is, right?... Okay, new problem...how to get to Doctor Lou?...I don't even know my way around this one palace, how do I navigate my way out of a collection of palaces?...even bigger problem, how do I pass the palace gates?...okay, even if I can sneak out with a maid's pass, I'm sure I could snatch Ah Jin's...

...But what if I get caught T_T ?)...I'd like to avoid giving anyone an excuse to take my head, although I'm sure that would be too severe a punishment, but you never know with these people here. Before I could even speak they may pull out a secret love affair out of thin air -_-)...Wait, Ah Jin!...yeah, Ah Jin...She's trustworthy...right?...}

Lei Xing's stomach growled and she looked around and her eyes fixed on the dining table with food. She stood up and walked to the table and sat down.

{...Whatever, it'd have to be tomorrow anyway, it's too late to leave the palace today...food first, think later...}