"Fine, fine, all the more for me!" Bao Li gave Li Meirong the evil eye as she emptied the contents of Li Meirong"s cup into her own. Yet Bao Li didn"t stop there.
After her third consecutive drink, Li Meirong grabbed the wine bottle and hid it in her dimension.
"No more wine for you, either," Li Meirong said sternly. "You"ve picked up a bad habit."
Bao Li"s large, childlike eyes glimmered with unshed tears. Her pitiful expression was capable of melting the coldest of hearts.
"Li Meirong, do you even have a heart?" Bao Li asked, pointing a shaking, accusing finger across the table when Li Meirong remained unaffected. "Are you truly my friend?"
Unaffected by Bao Li"s dramatic performance, Li Meirong slowly took a sip of her tea.
"Drinking too much is bad for you," she countered calmly. "I will be a bad friend if I don"t take care of you."
Bao Li"s expression quickly s.h.i.+fted from pleading to irritation, and she switched tactics. If her first strategy of garnering sympathy was not going to work, then she would need to go for something else.
She harrumphed loudly and waved a fist in the air. "Whether or not you take good care of me, you would know the answer to that very well. I am still your senior, even if I am, unlike you, an outer sect disciple."
"Yes, you are," Li Meirong agreed, smiling helplessly and nodding her head. "Head Chef Bao Li, what can I do to make you feel better that does not include allowing you to continue drinking?"
The question seemed to appease Bao Li"s temper, for she relaxed her pose once more. She placed her small hands back on her lap as a rare little smile spread across her plump, rosy cheeks.
Across the table, Xiao An Fei allowed herself to take another sip from her cup now that the situation had finally calmed down. "Humans are difficult creatures to comprehend," she mused silently.
Bao Li cleared her throat a few times. "This morning, I traveled from Healer"s Peak over to our division"s kitchens. As I came back, I happened to pa.s.s by your house…"
As she trailed off, Bao Li eyed Li Meirong with an ardently expectant look.
Li Meirong merely raised one brow questioningly. Her crystal-clear eyes were tinged with perplexion.
"Oh?" she queried.
"You… you do not have anything else you wish to say?" Bao Li asked, annoyed.
"I… I really don"t know what you want from me." Li Meirong"s confusion was clearly shown in her face.
From Bao Li"s tone, it seemed to Li Meirong as though her friend expected her to confess to something. But, for the life of her, she couldn"t figure out what.
Usually, Bao Li would not beat around the bush for long. The chef was a rather upfront sort of person. The main subject she seemed to whine over was about acquiring s...o...b..ll...
Li Meirong dearly hoped Bao Li wouldn"t ask for him again. There was no way she would give up her fox spirit, even if he was an unruly little thing.
Xiao An Fei, sitting demure and silent across the table, was still as a statue. Her dainty hand, gripping the cup close to her lips, froze mid-air as her eyes widened slightly in understanding.
This very morning, she and her sister had presented Bai Yu before the Sovereign Lord in this garden. Could it be that this Bao Li girl had overheard their conversation from afar and came to inform Her Ladys.h.i.+p?
If so, then Xiao An Fei had to find an appropriate time to intervene, and silence Bao Li before it was too late!
She chose to remain tactfully silent for the moment, to continue a.s.sessing the situation. Xiao An Fei was not fully certain of the chef"s motives, and so she would restrain herself for now. Her jaw clenched, and she hoped she would not need to take any drastic measures.