Pearl in the Palm

Chapter 5

In the middle of that night, Ye Lizhu's body felt more relaxed, and the feeling of ghosts pressing down on her has faded. She opened her eyes and whispered: "Tea."

An old female servant hurriedly brought tea to rinse Ye Lizhu's mouth.

Ye Lizhu sat up with difficulty: "What time is it now? Where is my father?"

The servant said: "It's already the hour of the rat.[1] The master drank some wine and went back to the room to sleep. Young miss, you are not allowed to cry anymore, your eyes are already swollen like peaches. Are you hungry? Would you like to eat something to fill your stomach?"

Ye Lizhu was reminded by the servant and then thought of her own mother, Jiang-shi.

She felt sad and tearful but she resisted crying and reluctantly said: "Alright."

In this inn, the servants can't go out to make something good to eat. Because Ye Lizhu had just come out of the temple, they didn't know if she would eat meat and fish, so they only used ginseng to stew some rice porridge with some old rock sugar.

Ye Lizhu didn't like the taste of ginseng, so she only dipped her lips, took a sip of porridge, and ate a piece of pine cake.

She ate a little. The servants were afraid that she would not be able to digest and hurt her stomach and intestine when she fell asleep so they sent two little maids to take a look outside.

At this time, three shifts in the middle of the night[2], the moon was shining as bright as daylight. The inn was surrounded by Ye family's servants and guarded by Prince Qin's dozens of troops and horses. In addition, there are several hundreds of heavy soldiers encircling the inn. It was completely and utterly secure.

A servant said: "Young miss, you just ate, you shouldn't lie down again. The night wind is soft outside, and it's not cold either now that it's May. This servant will give you a thin cloak so that you can go for a walk."

Ye Lizhu nodded.

Beauty under the moon is naturally an extremely beautiful sight. Ye Lizhu wore a green satin cloak with intricate patterns embroidered with shining silver thread, and moon white skirt, untainted by even a speck of dust. Her ink-black hair is thick and shiny, a pearl hairpin is faintly moving and brilliant.

Although he didn't see the girl's face, just the back figure, Ti Xiao felt that this girl should be very beautiful.

He had drunk a few more glasses of wine and was bored in the room and didn't want to sleep. The moonlight outside was so good that Tixiao wanted to come out for a walk.

Unexpectedly, he saw Ye Lizhu who was being surrounded by everyone.

However, at this time, Ti Xiao has yet to know Ye Lizhu's name.

He is alone, and in the dark, no one can find him if he does not want to be found.

The maiden's long hair is beautiful, falling loosely behind her, forming a sharp contrast with the moon white skirt and cyan cloak.

Ti Xiao listened to her old servant saying a few words, and then heard Ye Lizhu say: "It's so late, everyone go back, alright? You are all crowding around me, it's so noisy."

The servant looked around and saw no one. After all, most people can't enter the inner courtyard of the inn. If there was anything wrong, Ye Lizhu only needs to shout and everyone will come out at once.