Settling In

Truthfully the tent was very nicely furnished. Meng Mei couldn’t appreciate that fact until she was awake the next morning though.

She hadn’t truly been expecting to have any sort of floor in the tent, and yet, she did in fact have one. After some quick investigating she discovered that a thin layer of fabric had been attached to the bottom of the tent flaps. So not only did she have a floor, she also would get a draft from the tent flaps. To make it more comfortable a few rugs had been laid over the thin flooring.

She also surprisingly had a four poster bed fully made for her, a desk to write letters, and a chair to curl up in.

The set up exceeded every expectation that Meng Mei had for the trip.

Sometime in the night her luggage had been dropped off so Meng Mei decided to make the most of her time and start unpacking. Mainly she just wanted to separate all of her jewelry and writing supplies from the mass of clothes.

Meng Mei hadn’t really been paying attention while Amah had been packing so she was surprised to find more than two boxes of non-clothing items. She had paints, blanks fans, rolls of parchment, bottles of ink, brushes, and even some fabric to practice her sewing skills. On the jewelry side she had multiple small boxes of necklaces and hair pins to match her outfits. The only bracelets that had been packed however were the ones sent by Zhong Shoushan as an engagement gift.

She stared at the box for a long while before sighing and picking out two to wear for the remainder of the trip. It was only fair since she would be around the people who had bought them for her.

It was only once Meng Mei heard noises from outside that Madam Meirong finally came into her tent. She surveyed Meng Mei’s work for a moment before shaking her head.

“It seems you are already comfortable here.” She sighed, moving to inspect the trunks of clothing.

“We’ll be here for a month, I figured that I might as well unpack.” Meng Mei shrugged. Madam Meirong didn’t respond as she picked out an outfit for Meng Mei to wear for the day.

Eventually she decided on a cheongsam and trousers. The cheongsam had a red background but it was covered in delicate designs of trees. If Meng Mei looked closely she could make out small colorful birds taking flight all over the cheongsam. The trousers were the same green color as the leaves on the cheongsam.

“There.” Madam Meirong hummed once Meng Mei was dressed, “Now you can show off the gifts.”

Only once she said that did Meng Mei realize that the choice of a short sleeved outfit had been deliberate.

In order to do her hair Madam Meirong had Meng Mei sit on the stool that had come with her desk. With a surprising amount of expertise, Madam Meirong pulled Meng Mei’s hair into two small braided buns. The rest of Meng Mei’s hair was put into two braids that started just below the buns. Matching leaf hairpins were clipped onto the front of her buns.

It was a more casual outfit than Meng Mei was used to but it pleased Madam Meirong so she wasn’t going to say anything.

“We’ve been excused from breakfast this morning so we could get extra rest. Since you’ve seemed to get along with him these past few days, guard Zhu will bring you breakfast. He’ll also be your escort for the day.” Madam Meirong explained.

“Is there anything special happening today?” Meng Mei asked.

“We’ll all meet in the dining tent for dinner tonight. That’s when you’ll meet Zhong Changming.” Madam Meirong paused as she was about to leave. “Otherwise you may stay in your tent all day to catch up on sleep or you can walk the grounds.”

“Yes a-niang. Thank you.”

Madam Meirong left her tent with a satisfied nod.

It wasn’t long after she left that Zhu Huiqing showed up with a tray full of food.

“Here’s your breakfast guniang.” He called as he laced it down on the desk. Meng Mei made a sound of acknowledgement from where she was hunched over the water basin washing her hands.

“Do we have any plans for the day guard Zhu?” Meng Mei asked offhandedly as she took a seat.

“Only if you wish to have plans.” Zhu Huiqing responded predictably.

“Hmm….” Meng Mei hummed as she started digging into the provided breakfast.

She didn’t really know what she wanted to do today. The bed was calling her back to rest but she wasn't sure she’d be able to sleep for another moment because….because somewhere on these grounds was Lai Huang.

Her all time favorite character was within arms reach, how was she supposed to go back to sleep knowing that?

On the other hand she didn’t want to run into Zhong Changming until it was time for them to be introduced at dinner. If she wandered around it increased the chances that she’d run into him without the buffer of being surrounded by their families.

“Do you know what the Zhong family is doing today?” Meng Mei asked Zhu Huiqing as she tapped her spoon against the bowl of soup.

“Sect leader Zhong and his wife will be entertaining the Madam and sect leader Meng today. Zhong-guniang will most likely be spending the day in her tent or on the training grounds. And the young master is supposed to tour the hunting grounds with your esteemed brothers today.” Zhu Huiqing reported dutifully.

“You’re quite diligent.” Meng Mei couldn’t hide how impressed she was. They’d only been here for a night and yet Zhu Huiqing already knew where everyone would be today.

“Thank you.” He said with a bow.

“I guess we could do our own tour of the grounds in a few hours.” Meng Mei eventually decided. “I’d like to know where things are so I don’t get lost.”

“Understood. Will you be getting more rest in the meantime guniang?”

“Might as well. My legs are still sore from riding so much recently.” Meng Mei conceded. At the very least she could just lay down for a while longer.

“I will fetch you in shichen then. Enjoy your breakfast and rest guniang.”