Moon River courtyard is so quiet today. No maiden running down its halls or anyone creating mischiefs. All is merry, while Song Qing is meditating under a cherry tree. With both her eyes closed, she is looking calm for now.

After some time, she opens an eye slowly, keeping the other one closed. From here, she can take a full view of Yong Meng’s room, as the sliding door is open. He is not there! She takes a sigh of relief and lies down on the grass with her legs still crossed in the sitting position. The events of today’s morning start encircling her mind. “Punishing me like this! I never did it on purpose in the first place. I should clear my mind? How can someone ever clear their mind in this tiring and boring way?”, while she is complaining all this to herself, she hears someone’s footsteps. She at once retreats to her former position with her eyes closed. Looking as if she had been meditating for eternity.

Yong Meng enters his room, with a certain paper in his hand. ‘What is he reading?’, Song Qing thinks in her head, looking at all this from her narrowed eyes. She suddenly closes them as Yong Meng looks at her to find if she is contemplating. After a moment, Song Qing hears retreating footsteps. Now she opens her eyes wide and like a thief enters Yong Meng’s room through the open doors. On his table, is a paper in a pale-yellow colour. “Got you.”, Song Qing unfolds it. It’s a big note. She reads it while coming out of his room to the garden. “Do they want the reader to get diabetes? Using such honeyed words and so unnecessary terms…oh! It’s an invitation for a feast! They could’ve written that at the beginning. Why make it so unnecessary long?”, she says to herself. Then again, she hears approaching footsteps.

“Oy, when did I come out of the room?”, she hurries towards the room but stops at a second thought. ‘What if I am caught while placing it back?’, she wonders and with a speed as that of lightning she hides behind the bushes. It is the best place for now, no one can see her here. It might have been difficult to go to the meditation place, but this is alright for now. Song Qing puts the invitation beside her, while she is crouched, she clasps both her hands and prays to the god in a very low voice, “Please, it shouldn’t be him or if it is him please, don’t make him look in my direction. I promise from now on I’ll…I’ll…”, while she is busy bargaining with the god, a squirrel appears by her side. The little squirrel, takes hold of the invitation and starts tearing it, it hasn’t gone far, might’ve just bit a little portion of it when Song Qing notices that little paper on which her life depends for now, being destroyed by that little fella. She tries to grab the squirrel, but it slides from her hands and runs away. Without a second thought she follows it and is soon out of the courtyard. The squirrel runs towards a shabby looking dense forest. Song Qing halts and thinks for a moment, ‘If I don’t place it back that devil is surely going to eat me and moreover, I was even slacking off! I’ll be dead for sure.’, she calculates everything and again starts chasing the squirrel. She is going deeper and deeper in that forest. The squirrel stops near a big banyan tree, thinking that it is my territory now. Nothing can happen to me here. Song Qing, sees the squirrel, calmly beneath the tree with her paper. She proceeds very slowly, so as not to alarm the squirrel. The squirrel turns its head and notices her, with all her might it tries to make a big and terrifying face, thinking that it might scare a human many times bigger than itself. Song Qing smirks and says, “If you are trying to scare then do it properly.”, she then makes a face so devilish and scary that the squirrel is scared to the extreme and leaving the invitation there it runs away like lightning. Song Qing laughs wildly. How could that little squirrel who perhaps had no experience in scaring could scare a human that had become the master of the art by constant practice in scaring her younger brother.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Song Qing, now starts heading home, the way of which she is confused about. While chasing the squirrel she had come so deep in that forest, that now it was getting harder and harder to go back. She was making such rounds, when she heard the noise of water. She was thirsty after running so long, so she resolved to drink some water first. She followed the noise and reached to a natural hot-spring. As she was about to lean and drink water, she saw a man bathing at the other side. Her cheeks turned red and she turned around. She would’ve had taken a few steps when she halted an turned around to take another look. It was Ke Qin! She hid herself behind a bush and said to herself, “It’s that bastard!” While she is thinking that how to take advantage of this situation, she points his clothes nearby. A devilish smile spreads over her face. She grabs them stealthily and runs away as fast as she can. When she thinks that she has ran enough and the spring is out of sight, she halts and leans her back on a tree and laughs heartily. Then staring at the clothes, she gives a malicious smile and says, “What will he do now? He shouldn’t have offended me.” She drops his clothes there and starts wandering in the forest, she still has to find a way to go back! “Wouldn’t it have been better if I would’ve asked that sissy to help me instead of teaching him a lesson?” Her hopes are all down, she has been wandering for such a long time. She lifts her head and looks at the sky, while still walking and cries, “I am lost! Please help me! If you’ll help me then…” Before she is able to complete her sentence, she bumps into someone. It is a man wearing a white coloured robe. The robe is bright without imprints and looks beautiful in its simplicity. The man has chiselled and beautiful facial characteristics. Looking though as the epitome of beauty. Even Yong Meng’s looks are nothing compared to his. His beautiful black hairs flowing in the air and his sparkling eyes as though stars are embedded in them, he is breath-taking handsome. He smiles sweetly at Song Qing, while tears are constantly rolling down her cheeks.