10 A liking but no interes

"Qiu ge, why did you call that boy a girl earlier?" The man in orange robes asked the second prince.

"Hmm?" Zong Qiu looked up from his scroll and signaled his head towards the man in dark red to explain.

"Ying, that was Wei Mingxia, the first daughter of the Wei family."

"Hah?! Deng Yanjing explain clearer!" The guy in orange whined.

Deng Yanjing sighed and lifted his hand over his forehead before continuing.

"Basically, that was a girl dressed as a boy and that girl is also the first daughter of the Wei family. Does that explain everything Ying?"

"Ohhhhh." Ying responded like a five year old finally understanding what something meant.

"If I remember correctly she's the daughter of the Viscount Wei right. But why would a person like her dress like a boy and come here as a servant?" Hearing this Zong Qiu smiled as he thought of the pair of brown eyes again.

"Because she's a known tomboy. Ever since young she was known for being not your particular lady." Deng Yanjing continued and coughed when he mentioned the last part.

"Lady or not it doesn't not change the fact that she now owes me 100 gold and would have to work for me for that." Zong Qiu stood up and walked towards a window, staring into the vast garden.

"About that." Deng Yanjing walked forward before continuing.

"That was a lie right?" His statement did not surprise Zong Qiu so he did not flinch when Yanjing said this but it did surprise the childish Ying.

"Hah? Why would Qiu ge lie about that though?" Ying asked as he scratched his head.

Zong Qiu laughed and Yanjing sighed suddenly feeling very annoyed.

"The ebony wood fan is expensive but I am sure that the price is no more than 10 gold. I may not know exactly why you lied but I am sure about the general reason why."

"Oh really. Well then why don't you tell me then." Zong Qiu turned his back at them and began playing with the draperies on the window.

"Qiu..You, sigh." Yanjing suddenly questioned why he was here in the first place.

Yanjing carefully thought out what he was going to say each word with caution since he knows that the words he was about to speak was on a topic Qiu never liked to talk about.

"Well from what I saw you seem to have taken a...liking of that girl."

Ying spit out the tea he was drinking and jumped up to his feet.

"A liking? Yanjing are you sure, Qiu ge it's not true right."

Zong Qiu however remained calm and sat back down on his chair.

"A liking. Hmmm, maybe but let me tell you that I have no interest in her. I only proposed that deal for fun who knew she would actually accept it." Zong Qiu sighed as he thought back to what happened.

When he knew that the "boy" in front of him was not a boy but girl he thought that this girl probably came from a poor family and has to cross-dress to have enough money to live since boys are more favored as servants here, however the blue pouch gave away her identity.

The pouch itself is made of the finest quality silk and thread only those with strong connections with merchants and the royal family can have these. Being a merchant himself, Zong Qiu could identify these with a glance so he knew that this girl was not from a poor family.

Brown eyes, black hair and cross-dresses as a boy. There are many ladies of nobility that can fulfill the first two requirements but very few can fulfill all three. With process of elimination he reached the conclusion that this girl is Wei Mingxia.

He didn't know why he lied to her, he just felt like it. Someone with her status can probably get 100 gold in only a couple of days so why would she accept his proposal? This puzzled Zong Qiu.

"Wei Mingxia. I'll do my best to make this week one you would not forget." A playful glint flashed through his eyes and the tips of his mouth rose to show a smile.

-----------------------------------------------

"Lady Mingxia..." Xing whispered as she frantically looked around.

"What?!" Mingxia replied back as she climbed over the walls of her house.

"I still think this is a bad idea. Come down before you're hurt!" Xing pleaded.

"Xing. Can you not be so timid? I know you have only been here for a few months but I am sure you have heard about my name far and wide. I hate feminine classes especially now that I have to take it with Mingxue." Mingxia successfully climbed to the top and flipped over to land on her feet on the other side.

"Finally! I'm out." She purposely chose to escape 2 hours before her class.

It's been a week since she has started feminine classes and it was torture with her. She was ordered to sow phoenixes but she managed to sow ducks. She was asked to paint flowers but it resulted in colorful dots all over her page. Needless to say she was the type of student that whatever you teach her she would manage to fail.

The only class she is actually making progress is martial arts. With more stamina and a higher pain tolerance than her past life she is able to complete every one of her teacher's requests. Her teacher was so impressed that he decided to teach her how to manage a sword. Her grandmother did not agree but seeing how adamant Mingxia was, she could only agree. It wasn't that Mingxia didn't know how to paint or sew, (she worked hard in her past life so that Zong Ching could favor her) it was that she did not want to do these again. It made her feel like a weak, useless and fragile flower when she learned these lessons, especially guqin class. To make things worse, her grandmother placed her with Mingxue to learn these classes which was torture on top of torture.

She was not allowed to go out for a week so she also couldn't go to fulfill her deal to work for the second prince yet. This is her second reason why she has to go out today. She had three reasons why she had to go out and the third reason was that Zong Ching was coming.

Today she wore the same outfit she wore last time the only addition she made was that she has a small dagger in her belt. This time her pouch is carefully tied around her waist under her robes so that no one can see it.

She arrived at the Water Lotus Pavilion again but this time she walked to the back door instead of going through the front. She opened the door and to her luck today the pavilion was busier than ever so she could easily blend in with the other blue outfit servants. After three stops from the third floor to the first then back to the third.

"Where are the freaking stairs?" Mingxia walked around the third floor trying to find the stairs to the fourth floor.

This is her fourth trip sending food and she just can't seem to find the stairs to the third floor. After coming back from her third trip she was told by the manager that she needed to send a special meal to the VIP rooms on the fourth floor. Although she was confused why *she* had to but she took it anyway.

Little did she know that a special man holding an ebony fan was patiently waiting for her in the first VIP room.