Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Why are you running?

It was the day of the meeting between the royal Xilin and Nilin families.  

Min Li, being as excited as she was, had gotten up extra early in the morning and had finally decided on which the prettiest dress of all the identical servant girl dresses that she had was.  

When she had finally put on her attire, Min Li went to Betti the head maid, where she met up with all the other girls that were going to serve at the event.  

Betti being as busy as she was on an important day like this, had looked awfully anxious and relayed strict instructions to the girls in two minutes before sending them promptly on their way.  

Min Li was to wait outside of the crown prince’s room, escort him to the event and there at the event meet his every whim. 

Since his previous actions had pleased her, Min Li was happy to cater to the man and wanted to take the opportunity to thank him dearly for his help.  

She had thought that his actions had been symbolic of reconciliation, and they would have been at least able to stand each other’s presence thereafter.

So, when Min Li got back to the Eastern palace, she waited by the crown prince’s door for him to come out.

She waited and she waited and she waited some more.  

Min Li looked around, lest anyone see that she habitually invaded the crown prince’s privacy, and pressed her ear against the door. She listened intently but heard nothing.  

Maybe he hasn’t woken up yet. 

Min Li didn’t know the correct way to go about the situation. When she was young, they were allowed to go into each other’s rooms at any time, but now she wasn’t so sure.  

She settled on knocking politely and then a bit harder, then even more until she was full on pounding on the door. 

At that point, Min Li surmised that the man must have known it was her but was just feeling a little bit shy.  

Putting on her best understanding voice, Min Li spoke softly, “Fenhua. Listen I really don’t want things to be awkward between us. I know we have been enemies in the past, but it is time for us to put it to bed. If you don’t come out now, we are going to be late. What do you say?” 

That should do it. She pressed her ear to the door again. Nothing.

Tracing the lines in the wooden door lightly, she pressed on. 

“Don’t be embarrassed.” Min Li giggled at the thought of her presence causing the crown prince to blush. “We can be the good friends we used to be. I forgive you. Yep, yes, I do. You helped me very much recently; I can help you too. What is a little bit of help between friends. Don’t be embarr-” 

“What are you doing?” 

Min Li spun round shocked.  

Rose, Lily and Tom were peering at her curiously.  

Feeling a bit touchy that she was caught talking to the crown prince in such a nice, gooey manner since she had been vehement about her dislike for him, Min Li bit out her words.  

“Well clearly, I am just trying to hurry the crown prince up so we can go meet the royals.” 

Lily now spoke softly, like Min Li was a crazy, unpredictable volcano and she was trying her best not to let her words cause Min Li to blow. “The only problem with that is... the crown prince left long ago; I thought you left with him.” 

With that knowledge it instantly felt like the whole compound was looking at her. All her friends, all the other servants and even the crown prince and his friends. She now felt the intrusion of every single beady eye.  

Min Li blushed what she thought could only be tomato red. Now she was the one embarrassed. Min Li felt even more touchy, but now on the account that she had been caught talking to nothing but air.  

Another one of Min Li’s faithful friends now put her two pence in. “I... am sure that the crown prince didn’t mean to … leave you behind,” Lily finished wincing at her own choice of words.  

In horror Min Li realised that they were trying to pacify her. Oh, the embarrassment.  

“Yeah, don’t worry. He definitely didn’t mean to leave you behind.” Lily chipped in obviously concerned for the fate of her story ‘the crown prince and the maid’ if her words were found to be untrue. 

“Nooo. No. You girls happen to be wrong. That is untrue. He definitely did mean to leave you behind. I mean, one moment the prince was there, then I mentioned your name and then he was gone the like the wind. I have never seen a member of the royal family run away so hard in my entire life. I mean,” he chuckled, “blink and you would miss it. I nearly did.”  

Just when Min Li was starting to believe the kind white lies of her friends and comfort herself in thinking that the crown prince would never do something like that, there Tom had gone running his mouth.  

In the short time she had known Tom, Min Li had noticed that Tom could be just a little bit tone deaf.  

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Min Li wanted to point out that Tom had only been in the palace for about a year. What would such a man really know about the way the royals ran?

Min Li had seen the queen run with her skirts in the air faster than a cheetah, never mind the wind, multiple times.

The queen had ran around the palace making a big deal when Min Li had been relegated from her daughter to a servant. She had ran like a cheetah when the king didn’t go to her chambers one night after she had heard someone mention a concubine.

 The queen had ran like the wind to go show a sliver of her face when she had heard that one of the most loyal painters known for his perseverance who had wanted to draw a portrait of her had had given up waiting by the gate after his ten year long stint. As far as Min Li knew, the poor man was still there waiting for another section of her face, but the main takeaway from the story was the queen definitely knew how to run.   

A little nudge in the ribs by Rose, jolted Tom the out of touch man into understanding and he started nodding, and sweating, profusely. 

“Yeah, they are right. Forget my previous statement. The crown prince didn’t mean to leave you behind. When I reminded him to wait for his serving girl, he had no clue what I was on about.”  

Tom nodded at the words, seeming pleased at his ability to come up with something last minute.  

----

After the conversation, Min Li ran to the other side of the palace to the hall where the banquet was happening. Because of the hot weather by the time she had gotten there, her dress was nearly drenched in sweat.  

Taking a look at her reflection in a nearby pond, she sighed as she took in her form. She looked less like a perfect peach blossom ready to serve and more like a drowned rat not worthy of serving royalty.   

 She made sure her sheer shawl was wrapped around her and rushed into the hall.  

Without having to look around much, Min Li easily found the crown prince in the crowd and sat behind him. 

He seemed to inherently know that she had come in, his shoulders hunched up and he turned around slowly.  

Min Li made sure she kept her face light and happy as the man turned around. The crown prince on the other hand, wasn’t able to pull off looking unbothered as well as her. In fact, he had gone back to a look that he had being all to often for a crown prince as of late. He looked awfully sheepish, like his tail was tucked between his legs.  

It was quite cute Min Li decided, and so she like a good servant smiled at him all the more.  

Her smile seemed to be just what the crown prince needed. He needed nothing more. He obviously yearned from it. Seeing her smile, almost automatically his face changed.

But unfortunately for Min Li’s hope for a renewed relationship, it wasn’t the type of change she had wanted him to make.  

His face straightened out and he looked as sinister as ever. 

Oop- was I just… rejected? Never mind, this face he is making is just as cute. Min Li was feeling quite unlike herself and it was showing in her actions. She was cooing at the man’s every deed.  

Min Li smiled at her saviour as bright as she could. 

The crown prince frowned. 

Min Li winked to the crown prince.  

The crown prince frowned all the more. 

Min Li quickly shot her eyes around the room and then took her chances and blew the crown prince a very unladylike kiss.  

Despite the crown prince’s lack of ardour, Min Li was half expecting the crown prince to break character and try and catch the kiss.  

But instead of her romantic fairy-tale, the crown prince just rejected the motion by curling up his top lip. 

  Playing the big bad wolf, are we? 

 “Stop. Can you not see where we are?” The crown prince said shattering her daydream. 

Min Li hadn’t actually looked around yet. Her focus from the time she had entered the room had been fully on the crown prince. She had wanted them to enjoy the view together, but apparently that was not in the cards. 

 

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