Fate of Mist

(40) Looking for Landon

As soon as I have my plan of action, I went looking for Landon. I looked in the garden first, to see if he's drinking tea in the garden pavilion or something, but he wasn't there. There were only a few maids tending to the flowers. I went into his room next. Maybe he was in his study, reading? Or writing? Or...I don't know. Doing the stuff he usually does in his study. But his room was also empty, except for the wind that blew through the open windows. I walked through the hallways, looking for him. Where could he have gone?

I quickened my pace, and as I turned the corner, I bumped into someone. A sweet-scented smell came drifting into my nose. I backed up from the impact and looked up to see the girl, the "Miss," from the market!

"Miss!" The other girl from the market, I forgot her name, exclaimed as she caught her mistress. The mistress's hand went to her head as she rubbed it delicately. "Miss, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Xue'er," the mistress said. The next second, both the mistress and the maid looked at me.

   "Who are you? Even if you don't apologize, why didn't you bow to my mistress?" Xue'er  rebuked.

   "Oh, sorry. I didn't know your mistress was right there. I was looking for someone," I apologized.

   "How come you're not bowing to my mistress? She's the left prime minister's first daughter. She is Li Yao Ling!" Xue'er seems very proud that her mistress is called Li Yao Ling? Hmm, what's so special about the name again?

Seeing that I still look confused, Xue'er went further on to explain, "Li Yao Ling? Don't you know that name? She is the city of Jingcheng's first beauty!"

Ohh, so Xue'er is trying to tell me that her mistress is, like, Miss Jingcheng or something? Ok. I looked at her mistress's face this time. She is pretty. But what matters? I've seen celebrities just as pretty before.

After seeing that I still am not responding, the mistress said, "Xue'er, we must not be so vain about these titles. Titles are just titles. We must still keep a humble heart."

That's exactly right. You have to be humble, Xue'er. Like your mistress...wait. Was her mistress humble? Why do I have a hesitant feeling about that? Like, if she was humble, why did she let Xue'er finish saying that she's Miss Jingcheng? And she waited for me to respond too, since she didn't rebuke her maid right away. Hmm. Was she really humble? Hmm.

Oh, goodness, I'm wasting time. "Oh, ok, I have to go now, Miss Li. Nice knowing you're Miss Jingcheng. Bye," I smiled and walked past her.

"Hey, my mistress didn't say you could go yet," Xue'er shouted from behind.

"Sorry, I've got stuff to do. Talk to you next time," I shouted back at her.

I finished my walk through the hallways, but there wasn't even a shadow of Landon. Where in the world could he have gone?

I sighed and was still thinking where he could've hidden when a servant walked past. A light bulb popped into my head. Of course, dumb me. I could ask someone. I stopped the servant in his tracks. "Hello, I just want to ask, where is your young lord?"

   The servant looked me up and down. "Aren't you that prostitute young lord brought home?"

   I rolled my eyes. Is that how you politely talk to people? "Yes, now tell me, where is your young lord?"

   The servant sneered. "What? You lost young lord's love? He should've told you if he still cared for you."

   I looked at him. "Excuse me? Are you trying to pick a fight with me? Wanna bet who's going to win?"

   Actually, I can't fight that well, but if the other people see a servant beating up the young lord's future wife, he's not any better off either. But I'm not totally useless. Who knows, maybe he's useless at fighting, and I actually can beat him up. You never know.

   I rolled my sleeves up.

   "Nobody's scared of you. I just don't want to fight a prostitute. Ruins my reputation. Young lord's out of the house. He left about half an hour ago."

   "You should've said that earlier," I complained. Then I noticed the plate that he was holding. "Oh, shouldn't that be for someone?" I pointed to his plate.

   His eyes widened. "You prostitute! You, you made me become late in sending the tea to the Great General!" He ran past me and as he turned the corner, I heard a high pitched screech.

   "Miss!" Xue'er's voiced screamed in a panic. "Impudent servant! Do you not know who my mistress is?! How dare you pour hot tea onto my mistress?! If she is hurt, you will not be forgiven!"

   Ooh, bad luck for him.