27 Yu Mei is an Idio

Even as Yu Mei secretly followed Mu Gao Ting to the young Feng scholar's home, she was in a confused state. This wasn't right. They should have already been married by now. What was going on? Yu Mei needed to know. What better way than to spy on them.

She and Chu'mei stood under a tree, a distance away from the Feng's home. "Xiaojie, this isn't proper. Why are we watching another couple's quarrel?" Chu'mei whispered. "Shh...be quiet. I'm very interested,"

Even thought Chu'mei didn't find this fine, she couldn't do anything but stay with her lady. What fun could her lady find in this. It was clearly a case of an obsessed rich girl trying to win a man's heart by force.

After Chu'mei caved in, they watched as Mu Gao Ting desperately pleaded with Feng family's butler, trying to get him to call Feng Lin Ge out. After a while, the butler gave up, giving in to her love sicken plead.

Not long after, Feng Lin Ge walked out with the most annoyed face. Yu Mei didn't blame him, who wouldn't be annoyed when they had a little pest following them. But she had to admit, he was worthy of his name, Scholar Feng. His tall and manly stature paired with his youthful face was the perfect image of a young scholar.

Feng Lin Ge put his hand behind his back, looking at Mu Gao Ting with no emotion. "Brother Feng, are you hungry? Should we go eat?" Mu Gao Ting sweetly asked, fixing her hair in front of him like a shy girl in love.

"Young Lady Mu, you shouldn't call me Brother Feng. We are not that close. If anyone heard this, they would not think well of us. Young Lady Mu should go back. It's not proper,"

"Brother Feng…" before she could even finish her sentence, he coldly turned away, slamming the door on her. "Miss, let's go back," Tong'er held onto a disheartened Mu Gao Ting's arm. Mu Gao Ting nodded, looking at her lover's door one more time, in hopes that he would appear in front of her once more.

All this was so familiar to Yu Mei. "Chu'mei, you stay here," Yu Mei commanded before making her way towards Gao Ting. Gao Ting didn't even look at Yu Mei once but Yu Mei's eyes were on the heartbroken Gao Ting the whole time.

Yu Mei "accidently" bumped into her. "Watch where you are going?" Tong'er scolded Yu Mei.

"Sorry, sorry," Yu Mei apologized before looking at Gao Ting. "Eh? What's wrong with you? Are you not feeling good," she proceeded to ask a soulless Gao Ting. "Quit being so nosy, Miss, let's go," Tong'er spoke for her lady, pushing Yu Mei away. Before the two of them could get far, Yu Mei stopped them. "Wait, what if I tell you I can get Scholar Feng to marry you," hearing this, Gao Ting looked up at her, eyes filled with life once more. She grabbed both Yu Mei's hands. "Really?" Yu Mei nodded her head, "But I can only tell you," she slowly looked at Tong'er. Gao Ting got her meaning. "Tong'er, you stay here," Yu Mei and Gao Ting walked a distance away from Tong'er. "Tell me and I'll give you whatever you want,"

"I'll tell you after you answer a few questions of mine,"

"En,"

"Didn't you meet a lady called Beauty Chen?"

"Beauty Chen?" Gao Ting didn't recall meeting anyone with that name. This puzzled Yu Mei even more. What was going on? This was making Yu Mei's head spin in circles. Her master and Ju Ming should have already passed by Siu a year ago. Could it be possible that when she switched bodies, she changed the course of time?

"Are you sure? Didn't a young and beautiful girl trade something for your 100 year old ginseng root?" Yu Mei didn't forget to compliment herself.

"My ginseng root? I still have it," Yu Mei scratched her head. Did she remember the year wrong? There was no way she got it wrong. Her memory wasn't that bad.

"Can you tell me how to get him now?" a big eyed Gao Ting asked impatiently. Yu Mei whispered something into her ears, once again shocking Gao Ting. "Really? He likes that?"

"En,"

"Good luck,"

***

The rest of the journey to the temple went by smoothly. Empress Ping had no energy to play any more tricks on Yu Mei. Yu Mei too had been too preoccupied with her own situations to play anymore. When they got to the temple, an elder abbot came to greet them. "Her majesty," with the most respectful voice, he greeted Empress Ping.

"Abbot Chen, how are you?" she returned the greetings.

"I am doing better now. Her majesty has greatly blessed our Wu Bei temple. It is our honor to have you here," Yu Mei rolled her eyes from the back after listening to a few more praises coming out of this abbot's mouth. Even this abbot was sucking up to the empress.

After this cringe worthy greeting,they were lead to the praying room where a large golden Buddha statue was seated. Each of the girls was kneeling on a cushion in front of the Buddha as they were handed a thin bamboo holder filled with fortune sticks.

The first person to close their eyes was the empress, followed by Fei Ning and then Ji Er and Ming Yan. Yu Mei didn't know what to do. It didn't help that Chu'mei wasn't beside her to explain. All she could do was following the rest, closing her eyes. Not even a half minute passed, one of her eyes opened. She peeked over at the sound of sticks shaking. [Ah, so that's what this is for] she looked down at the bamboo holder. All she had to do was shake!

Everyone was shaking the cup up and down with a rhythm. Someone on the other hand was rattling the sticks as if an earthquake had occurred. Even the calm Empress Ping frowned.

Ji Er opened her eyes slightly, peeking at Yu Mei who was right next to her. Ji Er almost burst out in laughter.

She could see Yu Mei shaking the cup vigorously as sticks flew out left and right. There were probably more sticks on the ground than in the cup. Ji Er scooted closer and nudged her arm. "Sister Yu Mei, what are you doing?"

"Getting my fortune,"

"Hehe…what is with you lately? Now you don't even know how to get your fortune told? You shake until one falls out,"

"Huh?" Yu Mei got it all wrong. She did the exact opposite of what she was supposed to do. Weren't they supposed to vigorously shake all the sticks until one was left? Yu Mei wanted to slap herself, how could she be such an idiot! She looked at the rest of the ladies, a stick was about to fall out of Empress Ping's cup. Yu Mei's eyes widened from horror, she can't be caught like this.

Yu Mei didn't know she could move so fast. Her tiny little body dived onto the ground, her hands scrambling left and right, trying to collect all the sticks in front of her. Just as Empress Ping's fortune stick dropped, Yu Mei had managed to collect all but one. Right as Empress PIng opened her eyes, Yu Mei was back in position. "Whew! That was a close one," Yu Mei thought.

One by one, each of them got their fortune read. After getting their fortune told, they prayed for the weather. Yu Mei also made sure to pray for her memory loss mother in law.

Nothing major happened that day, all they did was spend time praying.

Next morning, they headed back down, arriving in Siu the following day. Everyone was busy doing their own things such as shopping and buying food. As for Yu Mei, she only had eyes on food. She would need to stock up on food for the next day. There was no way she would starve like the first day. A little scheme was brewing in her head. This time, it would be her mother in law who starved. Even though she was having ill intentions on Empree Ping, her mind was also occupied on Mu Gao Ting.

It was as if Yu Mei had magical power to summon whoever she thought of. Mu Gao Ting was in her view, holding onto the handsome Scholar Feng. "It's you," Gao Ting yelled the moment she saw Yu Mei. She let go of Feng Lin Ge and rushed over to Yu Mei's side. "You were right, I have to thank you," Gao Ting grabbed Yu Mei's arm as if they were sisters.

"I told you it would work," Yu Mei spoke proudly.

"But how did you know?" a confused Gao Ting asked. She had been wanting to find Yu Mei to ask.

"It's a secret,"

Gao Ting couldn't hide her smile when she thought about that day.

***

That day, Yu Mei had whispered, "Feng Lin Ge has a fetish for violent women," Gao Ting didn't believe her at first. That same day, she had walked over to Feng Lin Ge who was reciting poems under a willow tree. She took a long deep breath before giving Yu Mei's advice a try. Gao Ting had walked over to him and grabbed his collar roughly. Lin Ge had dropped his poetry book with a look of shock. "Feng Lin Ge, you jerk! You're mine from now on," the next thing Gao Ting knew, she had kicked Lin Ge in the shin, pushing him onto the ground. She stared at him, but he was speechless. That day, Gao Ting remembered running away embarrassed. Who knew the next day, he would be the one at her front door asking to woo her.

***

Listening to Gao Ting tell her what happened, Yu Mei felt proud of herself. "Sister Yu Mei, let's go eat. I'll treat," Gao Ting tried to drag Yu Mei. Feng Lin Ge walked over to them. "You must be my darling's friend?"

"En,"

"Have breakfast with us?" he asked. Gao Ting grabbed his collar once more, pulling him in. "Darling, I'll make the decision," Gao Ting said roughly. "Yes, darling," he smiled.

Chu'mei had been at the sideline looking at this whole abnormal situation. What in the world was going on? Wasn't he the aggressive one yesterday, when did the roles get reversed.

Yu Mei wanted to say yes to breakfast. Everyone knows food tastes best when it's free. Sadly she had to rush back.

Gao Ting said her goodbyes and hugged Yu Mei. "Sister Yu Mei, when I have my wedding, you definitely have to come, okay?"

"I wouldn't miss it," with that, Yu Mei and Chu'mei set off.