"This story is in Seclusion atm" Continue Dreaming ~ ELOD

Chapter 4 - The Morning After

When the sun rises up, the light creeps in through the cracks of the curtains and shines upon Fengjius face. She started to get cranky, when she's not ready to be woken up. Donghua was already up early and was just watching her all this time. He was on his side, with his elbow on the bed and supporting his head with the palm of his hand. He waves his hand to shut the curtain tighter, blocking the light hitting on her face. She yawns and stretches out her and wiggles her nose like how she always does when she's in her fox form.

"Xiaobai, are you up? Do you want to sleep a bit longer? You didn't sleep much at all last night!" he asks her. "No, it's ok. I enjoyed last night." she giggles and plays with his hair. He keeps watching her playing with his hair, while he just touches her cheek. She keeps staring into his eyes and smiles at him. Her pleasant smiles always make him so happy to look at. He leans in and whispers "You were so naughty and loud last night. Now you just lay there like such an innocent child." She got a little mad when he teased her, so she yanked on his hair that was already in her hand. He didn't expect that tug, so he fell on top of her. "So is this what you want?" he continues to tease her. She blushes and tries to hide her face from him. He leaned in closer and kissed her deeply.

He then wraps the purple silk sheet and picks her up in his arms. "What are you doing?" she asked and he stayed silent. Their chamber has an open area with a natural hot spring connected. He walked over and carried her into the spring. "Stay still." he states. He walks out of the spring over to the shelf with all the bathing items and grabs a handful of some peach blossom petals and a bottle of healing & smoothing oil then adds them into the water. He got back into the spring and relaxed while laying back on the large stone wall beside the waterfall. He tugs her closer and removes the silk sheet wrapped around. He lays her on to his chest and hugs her from the back.

"Xiaobai, it's still early, let's just relax a bit, this spring is good for you." he speaks softly to her ears. She nods her head then she just closes her eyes and lays back on his chest.

After two hours soaking in the hot spring, Xiaobai had fallen asleep in his arms. He waves his hand and a large cloth appears and he wraps her in the cloth to dry her up. He lifts her up and takes her out of the spring. He waves his hand again and the bed is all clean and tidy. He lays her down on the bed gently and chooses out her outfit. The outfit he chose was a sheer lilac robe with a phoenix embroidery with gold thread and pearls all over. The inner layer was a silky royal purple with small yellow flowers on all the edges of the robe. He waved his hand and she's dressed. He starts combing her hair and styled it in a cute half bun and a few thin strands of ponytails and braids. The remaining of the hair just let it fall down. He stood back a bit and cocked his head looking at her, to see if something was missing. He chooses a golden phoenix drop hairpin and he places it in the bun. He chose a pair of simple gold blossom drop earrings. He drew in her brows and painted her lips in red while she's still resting.

He goes over to Gungun's chamber and sees if she is awake. Then he realized that the sleeping spell is not over yet. So he took this spare time and went to prepare some breakfast. He knows his cooking is really bad and doesn't want to murder his family, so he made a simple breakfast for sure Fengjiu won't complain. He washes some rice and fills it with water in a large pot and lets it boil. He went out to the pond and caught a fish, and he fillet it then seasoned it with salt and pepper. Then he places in the congee until it comes back to a boil. He chopped some green onion and ginger then added it to the pot. He took a spoon and tasted the congee to make sure it tasted okay before he served it to his dear empress and the little princess. He sets up the table and places the pot in the middle. He went to the little garden to pick some fresh fruits and veggies. He washes them and places them on the table beside the pot of congee.

He went back to Gungun's chamber and the spell had just expired. He sees her waking up and as he sits beside her bed. She does the same habit as her mother stretches and wiggles her nose. She rubs her eyes with her knuckles and looks at him. "Good morning lord father" as she continues to yawn. "Morning my little princess. Did you sleep well last night?" he asks her. She nodded her head and he pats her head. "That's good, so go get washed up and ready. We will be going on a trip to your mother's homeland." he said softly to her. "Really really! Gungun finally gets to meet great grandmother?" she questions. "Yes we are, also your grandparents and grand uncles and aunts." he replies. "Oh goodie! I go right away." she excitedly replies"

He left her to get ready and returned to his own chamber to see if his sleepy head had woken up yet. As he expected, all the duvet is on the floor. He shakes his head while smirking. "Xiaobai are you up yet?" he softly calls her while sitting down on the bed beside her. "Xiaobai... Xiaobai... Xiaobai... if you don't get up I will tickle you" he whispers into her ears while reaching out to tickle her waist. "Okay Okay Okay I'm up!" she giggles and sits up. "Did I fall asleep in the spring? How long did I sleep for? And why didn't you wake me up? I need to get change and ready... and make breakfast..." she states while she was worrying. He clears his throat to get her attention. "Xiaobai, calm down. Take a look at yourself first." he speaks softly and waves his hand to make a mirror appear in front of her. "Oh my. Did you do all this?" she said with surprise while looking in the mirror, moving her head every angle. "Do you like it?" he asks. "I do! I never knew you can do this kind of stuff." she asks and tilts her head. "I still have a lot of talented trades for you to discover. Come on, let's go eat some breakfast before we leave." he says happily. " Oh I forgot to make bre..." she gets interrupted "Don't worry, I already prepared some." "Ummm are you sure it's edible?" She asks with surprise. "I promise it won't kill anyone." he said with some anger. So they left their chamber to head to the dining table where Gungun was already waiting for them to arrive for breakfast.

"Good morning mother." as she runs to hug her mother. "Good morning my little precious princess. Did you sleep well last night?" she asks while caressing her cheeks. She nods her head and hugs her tightly. "Well then let's have some breakfast. Your father got up early to make us some." she said with a happy face.

They all sat down and started to eat, and surprisingly to Fengjiu the congee is actually great. "Not bad at all. You've improved your cooking. At less you won't kill anyone now" she giggles as she teases him.