Walking around near a clear stream is exactly the perfect image of a vacation.The trees provide good shade for walking leisurely. Their leaves are swinging back and front as if waving to them.
Bai Huo and Bai Shui cannot help but to swept around their eyes in amazement. They raise their hands as if trying to catch the falling leaves. No matter how beautiful the garden inside the Liu w.a.n.g Fu is, when compared to the natural works of nature, it appears to be lacking.
A light breeze pa.s.ses above the water as cold air freshen them up. The ripples coming from the stream create a fine tune while the birds are humming as a reply.
Feeling at ease, Tang Mei closed her eyes and took in every sound.
Every sound except from the noise coming from her own mistress.
Giving thanks to Wei Yi Yi"s good influence, Tang Mei has mastered the art of picking up the things she wanted to hear and blocking off anything else.
"Ah Liu, are you still mad? Come on, real buddies would experience almost dying at least once or twice together," Wei Yi Yi reasoned as she nudged Jiang Liu who won"t look at her.
Hearing the "dying" remarks, the twins snapped their heads. Tang Mei peeked just in time to witness the great synchronization between the two and get a laugh out of it.
"Still not talking to me? Look, Jiang Liu, I"m sorry for the person I become when I get mad or stress." Wei Yi Yi frowns as she tries to get the graveness of her words across. "I seriously don"t know her."
"Sh-shameless!"
The twins were starting to question if they have just lost something essential to human beings. You know, like their sense of reality.
So this is the empress" real personality?
They know that their master is an eccentric one among the imperial family. But the empress as well?!
"Maybe this is a fraud?!"
Wei Yi Yi blocked Jiang Liu and tried to catch his gaze. But Jiang Liu is serious with getting mad this time and struggled.
Seeing that talking it out won"t work, Wei Yi Yi switched to a bribery tactic of consoling. "When we get back to the palace, Big sister will help you sneak in how many times you like. How about it? I"ll even make your favorite tanghulus."
Jiang Liu slowly but surely gazed down on her.
"Little brother~" Wei Yi Yi sing-song. "Say, little brother, what do you like? Big sis here will do her best to offer it to you."
"... I want fishes..." Jiang Liu said in a low tone. His mouth is still pouting.
"I"ll get as many as you like!"
"And I still want my tanghulus..."
"How greedy," Wei Yi Yi ruffles his hair. "Alright, it"s a pinky promise."
Wei Yi Yi looked around the area.
She picked up a few sampling and run over her nails. As long as they give a scratch, she throws it back to the ground and proceeds to search for something else.
"Your majesty, what is it that you are looking for?" Bai Huo asked.
"Please tell us, Empress. This servant will help you." Bai Shui offers.
Tang Mei put a hand on each of their shoulders and said, "The Empress likes to do things on her own. Us servants just need to make sure things don"t escalate."
Just as Tang Mei said this, the empress was atop of a big tree in just a blink.
"L-like that?!!" The twin said in unison.
"Wait right here, Ah Liu," Wei Yi Yi shouted. Standing on one thick branch, she reached for what seems to be a vine and tug on it forcefully. Leaves rain and scattered down almost immediately and the twin felt light headed.
Tang Mei was not as jittery as she scolded the Empress. "Your majesty! Please get down at once before someone gets hurt!"
"You mean someone will get hurt first before the empress?!"
"Ah Mei, no need to worry. I a.s.sure you that this is st.u.r.dy." Wei Yi Yi stamps her foot onto the branch to prove it. "See?" Pointing across the opposite streambank, she added, "I"ll get over there just a bit to get some samplings. See yah!"
And with that, the empress jumps down and swing across the stream.
"Is this what you mean by escalating things?!"
Like monkeys to its natural home, Wei Yi Yi yelled, "Ahhhh~ aaahhhhhh~~~ ahh~~" as she swings; sounding exactly like the wild man who grew up with apes.
Calculating the right height and distance, Wei Yi Yi made use of her instinct and good judgement before a.s.suredly letting go.
She bends her knees as she touches the ground to absorb the impact and let her body roll naturally.
Feeling proud of herself, Wei Yi Yi waves over to the group. There"s a scary look on Tang Mei while the twins appear to have their souls knock out of their body.
As for Jiang Liu, he was overwhelmed with a new set of amazement over his Big sister...
And envious... and so, like how kids have a tendency to copy the adults, Jiang Liu grabbed a random vine.
Before anyone could turn their attention back to him, Jiang Liu has done a run-up and jumped by the edge of the stream.
"If the empress escalates things, then is their own prince the final straw?!"
Wei Yi Yi was stunned as well. "Wait! You can"t just---"
It was too late. And everything happened too fast. With a "plock", Jiang Liu fell into the water.
He didn"t even rise to the air that high!
"Ah... This is natural selection at its finest." Wei Yi Yi shakes her head.
As Wei Yi Yi feared it, not only the vine didn"t swing at all, but it also cannot bear Jiang Liu"s weight and fall off from wherever tree it was anch.o.r.ed.
What does he take the vine for? A rope? Didn"t he know that they don"t just securely grow on a tree or attached themselves there, right?
For what it looks like, the vine just offered him up to the lord of the stream and throws him in.
"Jiang Liu"s brain: 404 not found."
A few seconds pa.s.s but Jiang Liu is still under the water. Wei Yi Yi saw bubbles coming up and popping but still no sight of him.
"Hey! I don"t believe you"re drowning! Are you embarra.s.sed?! Well, that"s an idiotic thing to do but get the freaking out of the water before Bai Shui and Bai Huo jumps after you!"