XH 277 - Are they really an idiot?

Long Zhu waited until Qiang Laohu returned again with his men and hauled tea into their large bathtub, before voicing out his concern. 

"Is the idea of storing multiple bathtubs full of medicine into your spatial bags to travel… not a feasible idea?"

Qiang Laohu quickly stopped his tracks, including his men and Xiao Hua.

"W-Won't the medicine not work anymore if we did this?" A younger Bai Hu man asked hesistately.

"Then, won't those medicine you had stored in your spatial bag should have lost its value if that was the case?" Long Zhu smiled.

Xiao Hua placed a bucket of tea into her bracelet and then pulled it out again before tasting it. It still retains its effect.

"I stored the bottle in my spatial bag," Da Bei said after watching Xiao Hua's action. His words were like a thunderstrike to Xiao Hua, destroying her belief in one go!

That's right! Xiao Hua always brewed a bottle of tea for Da Bei everyday to drink.

Xiao Hua suddenly wanted to cry when she remembered how she had lunged the heavy buckets previously. 

Who is the fool? Oh, it's me!

Qiang Laohu wanted to roar in anger when he remembered how exhausting it was to teleport between places with twenty men with him! He nearly emptied his stomach! And now Long Zhu, that stinky brat, said he does not need to do so? 

He wanted to punch someone!

Even those muscular men, whose ripped abs glistening from sweat, suddenly felt as if their muscles had softened and the room was not as boiling hot as before. It was at that moment they were enlightened on why the majority of the Bai Hu ladies would complain about their father or husband or brother that only knew how to fight but not think!

Are they really an idiot?

The one that suffered the most serious blow from Long Zhu's question were the Guilin servants that had been hauling heavy buckets since last night!

Ah, they could finally see the beginning of the morning light...

"You heard the Third Prince! Prepare enough spatial bags!" Heise hollered, not affected at all since he was not the one that lung heavy buckets around!

Thanks to the suggestion, Xiao Hua, Long Lian and the Empress Dowager had to work even quicker to keep up with the rapidly decreasing amount of tea.

The next day's afternoon, also Xiao Hua's first day of married life, resulted in all that were wounded by the black mist being saved. Those that lived at the attacked streets were evacuated to a safe place built quickly by the Department of Work. 

After midnight of the second day, the wounded in the Bai Hu Kingdom were stabilized and the Guilin Kingdom no longer had any area contaminated by the black mist. 

Qiang Laohu would have carried Xiao Hua directly to Bai Hu Kingdom to brew tea if not for Heise had already turned his private bathroom to be the ideal place for tea brewing in large quantities. 

On Xiao Hua's second day of married life, Bai Hu Kingdom was finally free from any contaminated area. 

The first thing Xiao Hua wanted to do was bath! Her current sweating state was no different than swimming with her clothes on!

Carefully controlling her joy of finishing her work to avoid being criticized, Xiao Hua returned back to the Third Prince manor to rest. Even if most injured managed to keep their lives, they could not save their missing flesh that was eaten away by the black mist.

There was yet any medicine for flesh to regrow.

As Long Zhu still need to deal with other business, Xiao Hua returned alone. This was one of the rare moments Xiao Hua was glad she did not have an important post. 

The Emperor's personal bathroom was locked with no one allowed in since Xiao Hua tea was still in it. The water had stopped flowing in and they would need to clean out the pool before it would return back to its normal state.

Heise decisively offered the rest of the tea in the pool to Bai Hu, since the secret effect of the tea needed to be hidden and Heise would not drink the tea from the pool even if he was beaten to death!

The bathing pool may have been cleaned by the servants, but knowing that the previous Emperors had bathed here and even involving some hanky panky in it made him want to puke.

Stepping into the Spring Courtyard with only trustworthy people around, Xiao Hua ditched her solemn expression. "Bath!"

"The water is prepared~" Duan XiYing led Xiao Hua into her new bedroom where the festive decorations had taken down.

Now that there was no veil blocking her sight, she recognized the bridal chamber to be Long Zhu's bedroom.

Xiao Hua had been to Long Zhu's bedroom before, so she could see there was something different with the room. 

"... Isn't that my room?" Xiao Hua blinked in surprise. 

Long Zhu had actually broken down the wall between their rooms, combining their room for more space!

"Master wishes to have a spacious and comfortable room for two people to sleep in," An Jing explained. 

Xiao Hua grinned happily as she walked around the room. "This looks great! There's even a separate corner for the bathing area!"

She poked her head behind the wide and tall dragon and phoenix screen divider and saw a large bathtub at the center of the space behind the screen.

There was even a corner prepared for her feminine stuff, blending well with the other furniture in the room. 

"Oh, I remember you! You are the little mandarin orange plant, right?" Xiao Hua poked the potted plant beside the window, whose leaves shook from her touch, before caressing her finger in friendly greeting. 

"That isn't the same potted plant, but one of it's seedlings," An Jing explained. "It had grown too big and master moved its root to the garden."

If it was not because her master liked that Xiao Hua would peel a mandarin orange for him, he would not even replace its descendant to take its ancestor's place at the window sill. 

After a nice, relaxing warm bath, Tian Zi and Tian Chi served her a pot of sweet smelling tea and a large bowl of warm chicken ginseng soup.

"Madam, please drink the soup to warm yourself up before sleep," Tian Zi said with a smile.

The bright, natural smile on Xiao Hua's face when she saw Tian Zi and Tian Chi became a little unnatural after hearing her new title. 

An Wan lit up a relaxing incense. "You are now our Madam," An Wan said firmly with her eyes lowered. 

Ettique must be followed and respect must be given. 

"I understand." Xiao Hua forced a smile. It will take some time to be called as Madam by her good sisters.

Since the beginning, everyone had followed etiquette and called her elder sister. After she was adopted as Doctor Bai's daughter, they wanted to call her Miss Bai but because of her words, they continue to call her elder sister.

But now that she was their master's wife, they must treat her as such and with a proper line drawn between them. 

Xiao Hua would accept her new title, but she will not stop giving them the respect they deserved. 

"Well, getting married is no different from before anyway!" Xiao Hua jokes, trying to lighten up the mood. "I will still be brewing tea, grind ink and eat with the Third Prince!"

Tian Zi laughed, agreeing. "Indeed so." 

Everyone in the manor knew Xiao Hua was special in their master's heart and their marriage did not create a large wave among the inner maids and shadow guards.

But there were some lower ranked servants that dared to question the right of Xiao Hua being the Third Prince's wife. They were quickly silenced by the inner maids. 

"Except that Xiao Hua will need to call the Third Prince as husband~" Duan XiYing smiled teasingly. 

Xiao Hua's blush increasingly gets darker when others giggle at her shyness. She hides her blushing face by drinking the soup in an unladylike manner, right from the bowl itself instead of using the spoon.

The delicious taste helped her to ignore their teasing. 

"Madam, what do you look forward to in married life?" Tian Zi asked lightly. Although the wedding night was ruined with the demon attack, they can still look forward to the future.

"Hmm, I can't think when asked right on spot." Xiao Hua pondered as she nibbled on the red dates. "But there is one thing I'm long grateful about being married to the Third Prince. I don't need to share the same roof with my in-laws!"

Her answer clearly took everyone aback, except for Duan XiYing and An Jing. The spiritual beasts had seen many households gotten into arguments because of their clashing views and authority hungry. 

"Madam, that thought is dangerous!" Tian Zi hastily said. 

If one heard of Xiao Hua's words, was it not meant that she had a bad relationship with her husband's family and implemented that there was something wrong with her conduct?

"Why?" Xiao Hua looked at the scandalized expressions blankly. "I've heard of many stories from married ladies about their battles with their mother-in-laws and sister-in-laws. With so many madams under a roof, each with their own views and command, there will be no peace even among servants."

Xiao Hua sighed. "I still believe that my relationship with my mother-in-law can be preserved for a long time if we stayed apart, with me visiting her once in a while."

The scandalized expression on the other's face eased a lot after Xiao Hua's words.

"It would still be better if Madam does not speak about such matters outside the courtyard," Tian Zi advised. 

It was considered a son's filial duty to care for his parents and have them live in the same house. It was only because their master was a prince with his own manor that it was pardoned.

"Okay." Xiao Hua nodded, knowing that Tian Zi's advice was for her own good.