While the three young girls were busy strolling through the market street of the Capital City of the Wang Empire, someone else was also heading towards the Capital City of the Wang Empire to take part in the auction.
Li Ming bought a few hairpins for Jin Jing as she watched the girl looking at the stall that was selling hairpins with longing.
"Miss Li, you don't need to..." Jin Jing tried to stop Li Ming but of course, the young girl was in no mood of listening.
After five minutes of searching through various hairpins, Li Ming grabbed a package full of beautiful hairpins and handed it to an embarrassed Jin Jing.
"Goodness, you guys need to learn how to accept gifts. At least, you should never try to reject the gifts that I'm giving you. Firstly, because I'll only gift you something if it was some special occasion or you have performed remarkably in your tasks. Secondly, because I won't gift you anything that would not be according to your taste. For example, I only gifted the hairpins to you and not Zi Yan, that's because I can tell that Zi Yan isn't fond of beautiful clothes and hair dresses." Li Ming explained patiently to Jin Jing.
"You are absolutely right, Miss Li. I was surprised when I saw that the dress that you gave was much different from the one that you gave the others. But this dress is something that I would have totally loved. This look suits my taste." Zi Yan said while agreeing to the words of Miss Li.
Zi Yan's current look perfectly suited her warrior persona. The white-colored upper part of the dress was exactly the same as an hanfu which was tucked inside a red-clothed belt that almost covered around six inches of her stomach area and then flowed down in five slits. The bottom was a red-colored high waist long trousers with maxi wide endings.
The cuffs of the sleeves were covered with red belts and her dress was paired with white shoes.
Zi Yan also combed her hair in a high ponytail and only inserted a single beautifully carved polished wooden hairpin which initially belonged to her mother.
Her entire look and aura shouted warrior but Li Ming still felt that something was missing in Zi Yan's look to complete it.
They strolled through the streets of the market area, stopping at every other stall to either look at the interesting items they were selling or sometimes to even buy a few.
Around twelve in the noon they entered into one of the most famous restaurants in the Capital City.
The restaurant was full of customers as it was lunchtime and because of the auction, the market area was filled with more people than normal.
Li Ming paid for a shared room on the second floor as they rarely had any private room left.
The shared room was not actually that bad as the two parts were divided by a partition that provided both parties enough privacy.
Li Ming settled down on her seat and motioned the two girls to take their seats as well.
As soon as the servant left their side of the room after serving them freshly brewed tea, Li Ming flicked her fingers and a protective barrier formed around them, keeping them safe from the spying ears.
Li Ming signaled the girls that it was alright to take off the veil as she also removed her own to enjoy the food without any struggle.
As the two girls were taking off their veils, their gazes landed on their Master who had taken her veil off too.
To say that both the girls were in shock after seeing their beautiful master would be an understatement.
No. Li Ming was not the most beautiful lady in the Immortal world but there was something about the way she presented herself that left everyone in awe and shock.
Li Ming noticed Zi Yan and Jin Jing staring at her with their mouths hanging open in surprise.
She only dared to take off her veil in front of these two girls because none of them had ever seen Chang Chang, the previous owner of the body. That's why she didn't need to worry about them recognizing her face.
"What?" Li Ming asked the two girls with her raised eyebrows. A small smile taking over her pink lips as she found the girls' reaction funny and adorable.
"You are so pretty, Miss Li." Jin Jing was the one who came out of her shock first and immediately let out the words.
On the other hand, Zi Yan was only two seconds late to respond as she also nodded her head in agreement with Jin Jing's words.
Li Ming chuckled softly as she took a little sip of the tea which smelled and tasted like a specific spice that she couldn't remember at that point but the tea was totally soothing for her throat.
"Thank you for your compliment and I must have to say, you both are so adorable. I'm enjoying your company." Li Ming confessed as she thanked them.
It wasn't exactly like having a girls' time, but it was sure the closest to it. She didn't remember the last time she had a lunch or dinner with her girl friends or even friends. Even back on Earth, either she ate her food in the mansion or if it was in a restaurant, that was probably because of some business deals.
That's why spending alone time with Zi Yan and Jin Jing while shopping around the market street and eating food made her realize how alone and busy she had become even in her new life.
The food arrived barely five minutes later and Li Ming noticed the difference in the aroma and its appearance instantly.
The three girls started eating their lunch as they enjoyed the delicious food.
"Miss Li, what are you planning to do about the new clothes shop?" Jin Jing asked after a few minutes to break the silence and also because she was curious to know Miss Li's plans.
"As you have already seen, there's a group of children in the orphanage who are learning needlework. In the past five months, I have tried to broaden their knowledge about fashion designing. Not only they are learning the needlework, but they can also design and create beautiful dresses. Four children in that group are more trained than the new ones, while the others are still learning. In total, we have eleven children learning about fashion designing. I think that's a fine amount of people to start for now as we are planning to open only one shop for now."
Li Ming took a short break as she sipped her tea before continuing, "As for the fabrics and textiles that will be needed, I have some plans about that. Leave that part to me. I want you to completely focus on getting back on your peak again. Train those children along with you. You have around one month before the shop will be ready for reopening."
Jin Jing nodded her head as she processed Miss Li's plan. Everything sounded simple and doable, but she knew that the reason behind it was no one other than Miss Li since she was the person who was taking care of all the impossible tasks.
"Did your brother decided what he wanted to do next?" Li Ming asked Zi Yan after a few moments.
"Oh, I completely forgot about that. He wanted to talk to you about something. He didn't tell me anything about what he wants to talk to you about, but I think it's probably something related to his future plans." Zi Yan replied to Li Ming's question.
"Alright! I'll talk to him after we will return." Li Ming told her as she refilled her bowl with the hot soup.
Her gaze landed on Zi Yan and noticed the worried look on her face. She reached out to lightly pat the girl's shoulder. The girl immediately came out of her trance and looked at Li Ming with her eyes filled with concern.
"Don't worry. I'm sure whatever he will choose, he will consider you first and foremost. Also, I won't let him do anything stupid. Let's first wait for me to talk to him tomorrow, alright!" Li Ming comforted her as she smiled softly at the girl.
Zi Yan nodded her head once again and then the three of them continued with their lunch. Within the next twenty minutes, their table was completely cleaned of any trace of food. All that was left were teacups filled with steaming tea.
Li Ming noticed that after coming to this new world, she had started drinking tea almost all day. But the good part was, the tea served in this world was good for health and psyche.
It had taken her a few days to find a way to convert the coffee into a healthy drink.
Yeah, she achieved the unthinkable!
Just as when they were deciding to leave the room, a conversation from the other side of the partition caught Li Ming's attention.
"Are you saying that you saw the Crown Prince of the Han Empire here in the market area today...?"