Lady Meilin is seduced by her green tea brother-in-law everyday-Chapter 284: Royal residents.

To hide the jittery feeling she was experiencing inside, Mei Mei stood up abruptly and rushed out of the room. Only when she reached the kitchen did she stop.

Mingzhu was very confused about why her mother was running. She peeked upstairs and looked in the direction of the kitchen.

"Grandma Feng, why is mommy running?" she asked curiously.

Madam Feng shrugged. "I don’t know baby, maybe she saw a rat."

Mingzhu squealed and latched onto madam Feng’s thighs. The general could fight everything but she could not stand the sight of rats.

Madam Feng carried her granddaughter in her arms and walked her to the kitchen. She turned around once to peek at the the full grown adult male human that was coming down the downstairs. It was her son: the rat that made Meilin blush.

Long Wen followed them to the kitchen to get some cheese cake. After which, she planned to sit in the swings and read her book. The Empress Mother had decided to have the two princesses live with Mei Mei temporarily.

As for why, neither Mei Mei nor the girls could explain.

Long Shuang was in the living room, watching the first unreleased episode of Whiskers 10. She had been picked up from the temple the day before and given the sad news. She had cried, slept and cried again. When she was not eating or watching television, she was crying. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

It was amazing that she was not throwing exaggerated tantrums like she used to do. Living in the royal temple had created some changes in her.

Mei Mei was not aware that her guests had arrived until she saw Long Wen trotting into the kitchen behind Madam Fang. The girl looked just as she always did--impeccable.

She was not wearing black but had decided to wear a pale green dress, the color of fresh sprouting grass. Most people would think that she was being heartless but only she knew that this green was a color her mother loved. Even though they had not been close, this was Long Wen’s way of honoring her.

It was embroidered with yellow daffodils, flowers that were her mother’s favorite. Every week, her mother had brought back three fresh bouquets.

Mei Mei walked to the girl and bent down. Gently, she touched her cheek but Long Wen stepped back.

"I am very sorry for your loss." Mei Mei told her.

"Thank you." Long Wen replied with a single nod of her head. "I am also grateful that you have taken us in for now."

Mei Mei reached her hand out again to touch Long Wen’s head and drew it back and she recalled the girl’s dislike of being touched. "Treat this as your own home, after all, your father is my close friend. Call me aunt Meilin if you wish. If you need anything, come to me, grandma Feng or find any of the servants. My number is on the sticky note on the fridge. If you can’t find me, give me a call."

After that brief interaction, Long Wen chose what she wanted to eat, and also filled a glass with flavored milk. Her maid carried it for her out to the garden.

Five seconds later, General Big Yellow was in the kitchen, panting with his tongue out. The look on the dogs face was like a grin.

"You just finished one bowl of meat buns!!" Madam Feng exclaimed.

General Big Yellow maintained his grin.

Madam Feng sighed and asked mama Chen to give the dog milk and something to eat.

"I swear, that dog is a bottomless pit." She mumbled.

Long Shuang’s maid walked into the kitchen to get something to eat from her princess. She was given the same snacks as Long Wen.

"Will we survive having that little temperamental spirited girl in our house?" Madam Feng asked.

Mei Mei did not have the answer. Mingzhu did not care, she wanted something to eat and then she would be off to play with her plushies.

It took ten minutes for Mei Mei to hear the long awaited scream of horror coming from Mingzhu. No doubt, her baby girl had finished counting her plushies and realized she was one short.

"She has finally noticed." She whispered and winced.

****

The Mo’s were uneasy and they all gathered at their ancestral home. Many were pale, reeking of fear like they had been doused in it. Tea had been served but it was untouched and the scent of peppermint hung heavy in the air.

Every chair in the living room was filled except for one that had pictures of the newly dead deceased members of their family that would be used in their funerals.

"We are next." said Mo Guoqiang, clutching a fan that belonged to his mother. His knuckles were whiter than his face.

Grandpa Mo did not like hearing such words. "Stop saying that. You make it seem as if we are being picked off by death one by one."

Auntie Ping’s sobs increased. Her three children could hardly bring themselves to comfort her as they were scared and confused too. They had lost their father and their mother might be headed to jail. The future was uncertain.

Mo Wenbin, who was considered the voice of logic in the family now spoke in fragments. "This fight....we lost right from the beginning. The enemy....the enemy...." His eyes flicked to his grandfather’s almost lifeless like face. "We cannot fight them. Their strength is way beyond all of our connections. The more we resist....the more we perish."

Mo Shuo stood up with clenched fists. "Then we run. We still have some money hidden away and we have a space ship. I also know Chenyu’s smuggling routes and some of his friends in that business. If we cannot escape by air, we can stow away on ships---"

"You think Jun Mingzhe will watch us escape." Mo Anqi laughed. "We are fish trapped in a net. There is no escape because they have cornered us."

Silence fell in the room and they all felt a chill. The younger ones trembled as their hearts clenched. Even they had a feeling that three deaths in the family during a time when they were being persecuted was not likely to be a coincidence.

Mo Wenbin gnarled at her, "Still, we should try. We cannot give up like this. We are already criminals but it is not as if we murdered anyone. We have not been forbidden from leaving the city or the empire. If we are caught, we can just claim that we were visiting relatives."

Grandpa Mo’s eyes filled with some hope. "If we are on a ship, we can say we were planning to scatter the ashes of our loved ones."

Mo Shuo did not want to wait. "I don’t know about the rest of you but my family is going to leave tonight. I will not stay here and wait for death."