Chapter Thirty-Nine

The next two days pass smoothly for Li Feng and Lam Bai. Li Feng goes to the steamed bun shop several times, alone and looking for the other three men that took Lam Bai, but he doesn’t come back with any results. Whenever Lam Bai needs to go out, she goes with Li Feng.

Finally, on the day Li Feng and Lam Bai will be leaving Quanchang, they visit the lord’s estate again. The guards make Li Feng and Lam Bai wait at the gate like last time, but they are allowed in after a guard runs to the estate, enters, and comes back out waving his hand.

Li Feng and Lam Bai are led inside the estate and sat where they sat the first time they came over, waiting for Chen Yan to bring tea. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Chen Yan enters the room with three cups of tea in his hands.

“How was the aquarium and museum?” Chen Yan asks, setting two cups of tea on the coffee table and sitting back in his chair.

“There were some very interesting exhibits,” Li Feng replies, drinking the tea. In this entire second life of his, nothing he’s ever drank as matched Chen Yan’s yellow tea. “However, we did have a mishap with some ruffians the following day.”

“Well, sometimes that happens,” Chen Yan says and takes a small sip from his cup.

“Yeah,” Li Feng says, finishing off his cup. “It sure does. Anyways, we’ll be leaving the city soon, and I’d like to thank you for your hospitality.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Chen Yan says, smiling. “Can I get you another cup of tea?”

“I’m fine,” Li Feng replies and places his cup on the table. “But, please, I think my servant would like another.”

Lam Bai lowers the tea cup from her mouth, having already drained it of the contents several seconds ago. She looks from Li Feng to Chen Yan, then he holds out his hand to take Lam Bai’s cup. “Thank you,” Lam Bai says, and Chen Yan fills her cup in the kitchen.

After Lam Bai drinks her second cup, she leaves with Li Feng. They then return to the hotel to get their luggage and leave, dropping the room key off with the woman at the desk before exiting the hotel. It’s less than an hour walk to the northern gate of the city, where Li Feng and Lam Bai hire a wagon to take them to Lizhou, a logging town not too far to the north.