Trap in a Book

Chapter 23

The next day arrived, and they all were in the garden. The outside table was filled with snacks and tea. LiMei and Bao were chatting with each other while they were doing chores like watering and tending the garden. Xiaomei was reading a novel. She was interested in seeing how ancient times wrote their novels. She thought she might as well start on something since she still had a while longer before the story ended. However, at least she knew that the story was progressing since ZhangWei probably had told Baozhai by now and should be leaving soon. She started to relax as she leaned on her hand while reading. She thought today was going to be a peaceful day. She grabbed a snack with her eyes still on the book.

It did take long before her peace was disturbed when she heard someone land in her garden again. She looked up to see ZhangWei brushing himself off before coming to the table.
"Mister Wei, what brings you here?" Xiaomei said as she thought he would be busy getting ready to leave or spend time with Baozhai.

"I came to tell you that I'll be leaving this evening," he said, sitting down and picking up a snack.
"Oh," Xiaomei said, containing her happiness.
"Yes, it will take me a couple of days, maybe weeks to come back," he said.
"Well, I hope you have a safe trip," she added, lifting her cup of tea to him as if she was cheering for him.

He chuckled before saying, " It looks like you are happy that I'm leaving."
"Of course, you're going back to your hometown. Your family is probably there. It would be nice to visit home," she said, displaying a friendly smile as she was thinking in her head, "Of course. So you can leave me alone."
ZhangWei looked at her supposedly friendly smile and said, "Is that so? Well, then I thank you for blessing me for my safety."
Xiaomei, "..."

She wasn't trying to bless him for safety; she was just being nice. That was not her intention as she had to leave that friendly smile on her face.
He smiled even more, seeing how her smile tightened. "Well, then let's have a goodbye toast," he said, pouring tea for himself and her.

She wanted to refuse, but she thought since she won't be seeing him anymore. They won't have any relation with each other, because once they leave, the story will continue its course.
So, she picked up the tea he poured for her as they toasted. She drank it in one go. "Well, goodbye, Mister Wei," as she noticed her sight had started to become blurry and turn black. ZhangWei had caught her before she fell as LiMei and Bao hurried towards her. "My lady," they shouted.

By the time she woke up from blacking out, she was leaning against a wooden wall as she was inside a wooden carriage. When she opened her eyes, she was staring straight at three people, whom she hoped never to see again while they were staring at her with great hate, discomfort, and nervousness on their faces. She quickly pushed herself to sit up as she stared at Lui LiJie, Zhou Baozhai, and Han Chuhua.