Chapter 231 - Upstaged

Tung Mei and Lei Yong arrived to find only Xiao Ting's personal maid standing where they had left Lei Xing. Tung Mei knit her brows and asked the maid, "Where's Xing jie?"

The maid who had zoned out jumped, quickly bowed and reported, "The older Miss had to leave early."

"Ying jie~ you're back!" Xiao Ting immediately bounced over on seeing Tung Mei, she cast a quick glance at Lei Yong. And hoping that her brother and smoothed over things with Tung Mei, Xiao Ting asked, "Are you still leaving?"

Tung Mei turned to Lei Yong, who was narrowing his eyes at An Hao, who had suddenly developed an interest in the plant life around him.

Tung Mei ignored Xiao Ting's question and turned to Lei Yong, "Let's go to the palace." And immediately turned to lead the way, but Lei Yong promptly stopped her and said, "It's okay, forget it."

Tung Mei eyed him suspiciously with an accusing gaze. He finally sighed and said, "I apologise." It appeared that he had poked a sore spot, he not only brought up her mother's death but also called her a liar. 

Tung Mei studied him for a bit and then flatly commented, "It's understandable. I might have done the same...I guess."

Lei Yong scratched the back of his head feeling uncomfortable with the situation. He was not sure what else to say. He fixed his eyes on Xiao Ting who had been worriedly glancing back and forth between the two of them.

Xiao Ting noticed Lei Yong looking at her and innocently blinked back at him wondering what he wanted. Lei Yong's eyes then motioned to Tung Mei, who was narrowing her eyes at An Hao wondering what he was doing. He looked like a complete idiot scanning the ground for nothing.

Xiao Ting finally got a clue and immediately latched on to Tung Mei's arm and gently swung it, "Ying jie, why don't we go back to the party? Or if you're still unwell, I can take you to your room. I received some very interesting things today and you can open them~ Oh, yes! Hao ge~..." Xiao Ting glanced behind her and waved An Hao over.

An Hao warily looked from Xiao Ting to Lei Yong, who was now frowning at him. He looked back at Xiao Ting's smiling and waiting face, gave an awkward smile and sluggishly came over to her. 

Xiao Ting promptly opened the box and brought out the jade panda and excitedly showed it to Tung Mei and Lei Yong, "Hao ge made it!"

An Hao almost got a heart attack when Tung Mei leisurely grabbed the jade panda with one hand to appraise it. But Lei Yong promptly arrested his attention when he menacingly bit out, "Hao ge?...Quite generous of you."

An Hao looked off to the side as he said, "It was nothing." through a cough. This was getting uncomfortable. It was time for him to leave, but before he could bow out, Tung Mei handed over the panda back to Xiao Ting and asked, "You really like this?"

Xiao Ting nodded as she stroked the head of the jade panda, "They're very cute..."

Tung Mei nodded and then reached into her sleeve and started searching. It was obvious she wanted to pull out something, most likely for Xiao Ting. But then she was taking an unnecessarily long time digging and her sleeve could not possibly be that deep. She was starting to look stupid too.

Tung Mei flashed them an awkward smile and then turned away from them as she closed her eyes and continued digging in privacy.

{...Panda. I can produce a panda too...Why can't I find a good one?... Oh, okay, not bad. Perfect!...}

Tung Mei finally turned around with a triumphant smile as she watched Xiao Ting inhale sharply in delight as she saw the object in Tung Mei's hand. The other three blinked in surprise as well, they had never seen anything like that.

The base looked like a rocky hill, with grassy green little beds up and down the hill, with baby pandas in various adorable positions on them. Then there was a glass casing the top of half of the hill, with a larger grass bed where a mother panda sitting, busy eating what looked like grass with two little ones playing by her legs. And the most mesmerizing thing was that it seemed to be snowing inside. 

"Is that snow? How?" Xiao Ting asked as she touched the glass. 

"Obviously not, it just looks that way...It's called a snowglobe, shake it and it snows." Tung Mei said with a smile as she plucked the jade panda from Xiao Ting's hands and replaced it with her snow globe. Then she plopped the jade panda in the box An Hao was still carrying.

"Where did you get this?" Lei Yong asked as he touched the glass of the snow globe with raised eyebrows. 

An Hao, who was now pouting at his panda clearly being overshadowed mumbled, "And how did you carry it in your sleeve? It looks quite heavy."

Tung Mei smiled and promptly responded, "I bought it at the merchant festival and yes, it was quite heavy." She said narrowing her eyes at An Hao with a victorious glint in her eyes. 

"They really do sell all sorts of strange things there." Lei Yong commented as he studied the snowglobe. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to go check out the merchant festival because he was too busy worrying about a certain missing person, who apparently did find the time to shop.

An Hao knit his brows and mumbled under his breath, "Why didn't I think of that?" He had gone there three days out of the seven. But he had been too busy trying out the unique snacks and buying recipes to have bothered about things like that. 

Tung Mei smiled, pleased with herself. She pat Xiao Ting's head and said, "Enjoy your present~ I have plans, I'm leaving."

Lei Yong immediately knit his brows and looked up at her, thinking that she was going to disappear again. Xiao Ting also promptly looked up from the snowglobe with puppy eyes then Tung Mei sighed and said, "I'll be back tomorrow."

Xiao Ting smiled and nodded, "En, I love the present! Thank you."

Tung Mei smiled, sent a passing glare at Lei Yong and then sauntered off. He deserved some cold treatment for a bit. If she was too happy with him too soon, he would get suspicious of her. It was best to escape to give herself room to breathe.

Today had been such a stressful day for Tung Mei. From Lei Xing to the old aunt and then to Lei Yong. She was exhausted. All this was honestly starting to feel suffocating.

Lei Yong watched Tung Mei disappear around the corner and then sighed. He turned back to the trio before him and then his eyes focused on An Hao, who was now glancing from the snowglobe in Xiao Ting's hands to his jade panda in the box. Obviously comparing them and his displeasure at being upstaged was palpable.

An Hao did not expect that someone else would know of Xiao Ting's love for the panda. After all, he had only told her about them recently and so he thought that his present was special. But now he wondered how many other pandas he had to compete with.

"Xiao Ting, you should return to the garden, you've been gone too long." Lei Yong said and Xiao Ting immediately realized she did have a party to return to, "Ah, let's go."

"You go ahead." Lei Yong said. She blinked him and then looked at An Hao, who seemed to have resigned himself to Lei Yong.

"Go on." Lei Yong repeated and then Xiao Ting nodded and then handed over the panda snowglobe to her maid and whispered, "Careful."

Then Xiao Ting went over to An Hao, closed the box and then took it with a bright smile and sweetly said, "Thank you." An Hao instinctively smiled back at her. She chose to carry his panda herself. Therefore, he was clearly still the winner here.

An Hao looked on with appreciation Xiao Ting left. 

{...Definitely a great person who knows the value of effort outweighs any novelties...Commendable, very commendable...as always...}

As soon as Xiao Ting was out of sight, Lei Yong turned to An Hao, "What are you doing?"

An Hao glanced at him and then faced forward and went, "What do you mean?"

"Do you have feelings for my sister?" Lei Yong then bluntly asked with knit eyebrows, staring An Hao down.

"NO. What gave you that idea?" An Hao promptly responded and then he frowned off to the side.

{...Why does everyone keep saying that today? -_-)...}

"Then what are you doing? You're not only making food, but now you've turned into a craftsman. If this is some sort of game to you, end it. NOW." Lei Yong seriously said.

"Of course it's not a game." An Hao responded with a frown, but Lei Yong obviously was not convinced.

An Hao sighed and explained, "It happened like this ..I came over to see you one day and there was an accident so - Oy, I just knocked her over, accidentally, don't think nonsense!" He quickly clarified when Lei Yong frown intensified.

"Anyway, I came over to apologize. She was nice enough to get the cooks to give me the snack recipes I wanted and so I reciprocated and shared some with her as well and so we became friends...She's a very nice person." An Hao finished.

Lei Yong let out an exasperated breath, "Exchanging recipes? An Hao, my sister is not a street vendor!"

"Of course not! She's much better than that...The jade panda was simply because food did not seem to be an appropriate gift for such an occasion. I may not know much about your nobleman rules, but I at least have the sense to know that." An Hao said looking at Lei Yong with a displeased and aggrieved expression.

Lei Yong looked at him and sighed as he brought up a hand up and massaged his aching temple as he said under his breath, "It's a wonder how someone could normally be so smart but yet so foolish at the same time."

{...But Xiao Ting is also like that so I can't really criticize him...But she grew up sheltered so she has an excuse...An Hao is just...beyond comprehension...}

An Hao eyed Lei Yong and then frowned, "Oy, Lei Yong. It's not a crime to be your sister's friend. I had time and knew only a few people in the capital so I had little choice. I had thought of us as good friends and so extended the same courtesy to your family members. But If you'd like me to stop seeing her, you just have to say so. Anyway, I'm going to be very busy soon so it might be for the best...I will not be offended."

An Hao honestly did not even believe his own words. He would definitely be offended, very offended.

An Hao had never met someone whose likes aligned so much with his. He normally got made fun of when people found out about his great, borderline obsessive, interest in snacks. Since he was young, he had beaten up all the other boys and men who dared to tease him, except the stall owners whom he needed to get recipes from. They were the exception.

He knew they all still laughed behind his back but he ignored them. As long as they did not bother him, he would not bother with them. And so Xiao Ting's eager and happy reception was a breath of fresh air for him. She listened to him ramble about his recipes and adventures and she also really, really enjoyed eating snacks as well and this made him extremely happy. Even happier than when he made them for the Emperor.

To be clear, An Hao really liked the Emperor but the Emperor was not someone to get enthusiastic about anything, much less about food. So he never got anything more than a nod and maybe a "good" from the Emperor. He also never ate more than a few bites of them. Snacks were really just not his thing but he indulged An Hao.

An Hao appreciated all this but he could not help feeling a tiny bit disheartened by the muted response. But Xiao Ting was different, she shared in his excitement and gave commentary. Overall, she was just a better companion. 

What's more, An Hao meant her absolutely no harm. And frankly, he would rather jump in front of a stray sword before he hurt Xiao Ting and would kill anyone he dared. Therefore, he honestly did not see any reason Lei Yong should be worried. 

But while he might not be happy with Lei Yong's decision, he would respect it. And so An Hao waited with bated breath for Lei Yong's response.

Finally, Lei Yong let out a sigh and then narrowed his eyes at An Hao and quietly but menacingly said, "If you hurt my sister in any way, I will kill you. Emperor or not." and then he just stormed off, leaving a confused An Hao behind.

{...Sooo...Is that a good ending or not?... And why would he bring my Emperor into it, he's obviously innocent!... But is that a Yes or No? Hmmm, yes?...Definitely a yes~..}

An Hao let out a relieved sigh as he felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, "What a good day~" He said with a smile.

Xiao Ting was happy with his present, Lei Yong was settled. He had accomplished a great deal and was tired so headed for the exit. But after just a few steps, he changed directions. Since he was here, he thought that he might as well stay a bit longer.

He remembered seeing some interesting snacks that had not gotten eat yet. Moreover...He did not want Xiao Ting to think that he was scared off by Lei Yong or have any such unflattering notions about his person. 

After all, he was definitely not someone that could be easily scared off.