XH 137

The gentle shake on her shoulder slowly dragged Xiao Hua back to the land of the living. She tried to ignore it but the shake continued patiently with the same rhythm, stopping her from going back to sleep.

"Wat?" Xiao Hua mumbled. She had fallen asleep with her head onto the pillow, so her words were muffled by her pillow that was surprisingly soft enough that she would not die from suffocation.

"The Empress had sent someone over to wake Xiao Hua up."

"Dun wan," Xiao Hua mumbled.

"Come on Xiao Hua~ Wake up and have a bath~"

Her brain itched, sensing that there was something wrong with the situation, yet she was still too tired to fully turn on her brain.

"Xiao Hua, the Empress is waiting for you~"

Finally, her brain clicked and Xiao Hua quickly sat up in surprise. "You are back, XiYing!"

With a laugh, Duan XiYing tried to fix Xiao Hua\'s bed hair, gently so that it would not be painful. "Yes~ Master had sent you a letter."

Xiao Hua visibly perked up, her sleepiness slowly dissipating. "The Third Prince sent a letter? Where?"

"Xiao Hua can read it after washing up and taking a bath~"

"Okay!"

"Why is Da Bei sleeping in your room?" Duan XiYing asked suddenly.

"...Er...." Xiao Hua was quickly rendered into speechless, her brain not working quick enough to supply herself a good excuse.

The first thing that Duan XiYing did when she returned back to the Third Prince\'s manor was seeking out Xiao Hua, as she could not help but worry her little miss would be caught up in mischief while she was away.

However, a Munzhu hostage servant, known as Er Yen, had passed her the message Tian Zi intended for her to receive upon returning back. It was a little disappointing to know that Xiao Hua did not leave her any message.

Picking up the letter that the Third Prince had sent back for Xiao Hua, she quickly dashed into the palace, and with help of her old skin, able to locate where Xiao Hua was. But she also found Da Bei sleeping on the floor inside the room Xiao Hua was sleeping in!

Da Bei, trained to be alert in all times, quickly went awake when he sensed Duan XiYing\'s piercing stare and quickly slipped out of the room with the thin blanket he used as his bed.

"I\'m lonely," Xiao Hua admitted after she managed to rearrange her thoughts and wake up all her slumbering brain cells.

Wrapping her arms around Xiao Hua, Duan XiYing whined, "But Xiao Hua, XiYing is here and want to sleep with you~"

Doing her best to ignore the two soft objects pressing onto her cheeks, Xiao Hua explained, "You left to send a letter to Doctor Bai."

"So Xiao Hua is lonely when the master is not around? Xiao Hua usually sleeps with master every night?" If they did, Duan XiYing had no idea, as between their bedchamber, there was a connecting door, where they can enter each other\'s room without anyone\'s knowledge.

"What? No! I did not!" Xiao Hua hurriedly denied. "I\'m just not used to this place and it\'s scary so I asked Da Bei to sleep in the room instead of outside to accompany me!"

"Where is Tian Zi?"

"She went to handle things with Steward Zheng back at the manor. She had yet to find the time to sleep," Xiao Hua said when she suddenly realized something wrong.

"Why am I naked? XiYing!"

"You need to bath~" Duan XiYing laughed and without Xiao Hua aware, had picked her up and crossed over to the wooden bathtub to carefully deposited her into the warm water. "Here, read this while you soak~"

After passing the letter, Duan XiYing left, leaving Xiao Hua with fierce blushing accompanied by a strong sense of awkwardness.

Telling herself that the people in this era do not mind their handmaiden to look at their birthday suit, she let herself sink into the water-filled lily petals, carefully not to damage the letter in her hand. With great anticipation as her heart tripled in speed, she cautiously unfolds the letter.

\'My little flower, I miss you.\'

Xiao Hua blushed, her heart speed up even further with affection. How could he able to make her react this way with just a letter?

\'I\'ve worked hard so that I can return to you quickly, but that Tang Guan won\'t retreat until our side suffers huge damage. I fear that I will need to stay more than a month to properly stop them.\'

Her mouth unconsciously curled downward, already feeling sad that he would not be returning sooner. She misses him lots.

\'Will my lovely little flower send me letters? You just need to pass it to Da An and he will carry the letter to me. I will wait to read your lovely words.\'

Xiao Hua covered her face with a hand, feeling her face gotten so hot with how embarrassed she felt from his cheesy words. But that did not stop her from grinning stupidly. After getting control of her embarrassment, she continued reading.

\'Do take care of yourself, sleep early, and have plenty of rest. Don\'t over-train yourself. Listen to Duan XiYing, she knows your body well. But my little flower, that does not mean I\'m giving you the permission to stare at Duan XiYing or to do something you shouldn\'t.\'

Xiao Hua: \'...\' What are you thinking, you pervy boyfriend! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

\'I miss you.\'

The letter ended after that and she felt even lonelier than before. She could see he was worried that she would not understand his usual words so he wrote in a simple and blunt manner.

"I miss you too," she mumbled, fighting back her tears, wishing he would quickly come back home. If only this world has mobile phones, she would send him messages every day until he decided she was overly noisy.

After deciding she had wallowed in her misery long enough, she stretched her arms and placed the letter far enough from the accidental spray of water when she bath. She quickly cleans up, especially taking care to wipe her tears and fix her expression to be as normal as she could.

Duan XiYing gave Xiao Hua an understanding smile when she stepped out of the bath area, dressed in her inner robe.

"The Empress gave you a set of new clothes."

With a raised eyebrow, Xiao Hua examined the lavender coloured dress laid out on the bed. With a touch, she could identify it was made of thicker and higher quality cloth. Even the embroidery was finely stitched.

"...XiYing, what kind of flower is this?" Xiao Hua asked with a strained smile after she properly took in the embroidery. She sincerely hoped that they were embroidery of a special kind of flowers she had never seen before.

"No, they are not flowers. They are cute little monkeys."

"That\'s not the point!" Xiao Hua cried in outrage. The little brown monkeys embroidered at the robe were indeed cute, but the problem was the monkey itself! "She\'s mocking me!" Xiao Hua snapped.

"Fortunately the Empress did not ask for a monkey eating banana embroidery or else it will ruin the cuteness."

"...XiYing, you like this embroidery?"

"Xiao Hua does not find it cute?"

"It is cute, but I thought everyone would prefer their clothes embroidered with flowers or patterns," Xiao Hua said neutrally.

"That is indeed the case. But XiYing found it boring after seeing it for decades."

Xiao Hua laughed as she nodded in agreement. "Then why don\'t you wear a dress with animal embroidery?"

Duan XiYing looked slightly disappointed. "XiYing has the duty to withhold the Third Prince\'s image."

"The Third prince wears feminine coloured clothes, with his hair untied in a seductive manner. Do you think he really cares for his image?"

Duan XiYing grinned wickedly and Xiao Hua admitted that it was a rather sexy look that tempts mortal men to succumb to hell with her. "Then XiYing will indulge in it~"

"XiYing, can you embroidery for me too? I like cute kittens, puppies, and little chicks! Oh, I must not forget about adorable bunnies too!" Xiao Hua quickly placed her order on shop keeper XiYing.

"Of course~ XiYing will make them especially cute for Xiao Hua~" Duan XiYing pointed at the lavender dress. "Xiao Hua does not mind wearing it then?"

This time, it was Xiao Hua\'s turn to grin wickedly. "Of course not. It\'s a great gift from the Empress! If one dares to speak ill of it, they will just indirectly insult the Empress\' taste!"

Duan XiYing nodded approvingly. "Xiao Hua is correct."

"He He~" Xiao Hua grinned sheepishly. "Come and help me wear it!"

Standing outside the small courtyard was Xin San, who was waiting for Xiao Hua to arrive so she can guide the other maid to where the Empress was waiting, was secretly anticipating Xiao Hua\'s appearance. She knew what the Empress had given Xiao Hua to wear and frankly, no sane person would dare to wear it.

It would be interesting to listen to Xiao Hua\'s excuse for opting out on wearing it.

However, when Xiao Hua and Duan XiYing finally gotten out of her room, Xin San was shocked to notice she was wearing that horrid dress!

Xiao Hua grinned mischievously at Xin San, who was not able to cover her shock in time. "Sister Xin San, please lead the way. I can\'t wait to thank the Empress for giving me such a lovely dress! The Empress sure has a lovely taste!"

Thus, that was how the rumour of Xiao Hua having poor taste being spread among the palace servant in the Empress\' courtyard.