27 Exploring the town together (part 2)

As Lin Mei noticed the prince's change in expression, she felt like there was a caged rabbit inside her chest impatiently struggling to run free. This was the second time she had witnessed his smile. But while she had felt startled on the first occasion, at this moment an overwhelming feeling of lightness and joy overtook her heart and she couldn't help smiling alongside him.

A little flurried and bewildered by her current emotions, she avoided looking at Zhen Fang and continued licking the sugar figurine that he had purchased for her.

While her mouth was occupied munching on the candy, Lin Mei heard someone yelling from a nearby stall:

"Miracle tea! We have miracle tea! Our miracle tea that prevents disease is back in stock!" A young seller advertised.

Remembering how Zhen Feng enjoyed tea and also how he had fainted that one time not too long ago, Lin Mei felt that it was imperative that she purchase that miracle tea. She quickly paced towards the line of people gathering near the wooden booth, wanting to know more about the medicine.

She stood in line for quite some time before it was finally her turn. The owner of the stall was an old man with a long ash-grey beard that covered the lower half of his face. He was sitting quietly beside a younger man who vigorously marketed the tea and sold it to customers.

Mei peered at the old man and further inquired about the product:

"Does this tea really prevent disease? What kind of disease?"

"Young miss, this tea is as valuable as a treasure! Our miracle tea is a very effective medicine that cools internal heat, restoring the body's harmony. It improves digestion, heals inflammation, and reduces blood pressure and fatigue. This miracle tea can prevent all diseases related to excessive internal heat and dampness!" The young seller proclaimed.

Lin Mei thought back to the time when Zhen Feng had been ill. When she had asked Hu Cheng about the crown prince's health, the man had mentioned that Zhen Feng had been diagnosed with a chronic condition related with having too much internal heat. She hadn't really understood what that meant since she wasn't familiar with human medicine, but the tea this merchant was so successfully selling seemed to be a good option in preventing future outbreaks of the prince's disease.

"How much is it? I have pearls, can I trade some of this miracle tea with them?" She asked, showing him a few of the pearls she had been carrying inside a dark blue sachet hidden in her left sleeve.

Once the young man spotted the shiny spheres, his posture changed very suddenly either in surprise or distress. His eyes shifted from the pearls to stare up and down at the female in front of him.

Lin Mei noticed the change in the young man's behavior and patiently stood in her place with a guarded expression. She would wait for his reaction until she decided on what to do. A lot of humans still held deep prejudice for mermen and would frequently turn violent upon encountering members of her race.

Having the damned magical jade bracelet stuck on her wrist would truly leave her quite helpless if someone with magic or a martial arts practitioner were to fight her, but she could easily defend herself against a normal human such as this one.

But whereas the man who had been publicizing his goods so fervently a few moments ago had become silent, the old man who had been idly sitting by had stood up to take a closer look at the objects the mermaid was holding.

"Three of those pearls will buy you this small box." The old man said.

As reluctant as she was to part with her pearls, Lin Mei really wanted to give something back to Zhen Feng, especially since she was planning on leaving soon. Also, the line of locals that she had personally observed buying the miracle tea attested to its efficacy.

"I will exchange it for two pearls." She bargained.

The old man smiled politely and agreed to her price.

♔

When Lin Mei had left to purchase the miracle tea, she had completely forgotten about the person who had been accompanying her. Now that she had closed the deal with the old man, she had no idea where to find Zhen Feng. Still, she had a big hunch that the prince had been watching her the entire time and that if she remained in place, he would come to her.

Somewhere close by, Zhen Feng had watched the scene with interest. Just as soon as he saw the mermaid leaving the stall, he finally moved to approach her.

"You traded that tea for pearls?" He asked.

"How do you think I've been buying my clothes and other necessities? When I came from the sea I brought a large number of pearls with me so that I could survive on human land for some months. A lot of merchants are willing to trade their goods for pearls." Mei answered. "Sadly, I don't have many of them left. I never planned to stay away from the sea for so long." She remarked, wanting to convey to the prince how urgently she needed to go back home.

"The younger peddler didn't seem too keen on exchanging the tea for your pearls." He said in a mocking tone, deliberately ignoring Ni Ni's last few sentences.

"Sometimes it's when I offer to pay for things with pearls that humans notice that the color of my eyes and the slightly lighter tone of my hair doesn't mean that I'm a foreigner but a mermaid. Some of them even get a little antagonizing when they realize it." Lin Mei explained. "Liu Ting has never had any problems using the pearls."

Zhen Feng was somewhat displeased with what he had heard and remained mute for a long time as if chewing over something.

Lin Mei took this opportunity to deliver the gift she had just bought. She grabbed Zhen Feng's right wrist and placed the tea box in his palm.

"Here. It's called Miracle tea, they said it was efficacious for preventing illnesses related to excessive inner heat. It will be good for your chronic ailment." She said as she gave out the small box. "Don't get sick again." Mei added softly.

Zhen Feng gazed at the little wooden chest with a surprised expression and was wordless for a few moments. After a while, he regained his frigid composure to ask in a sarcastic voice:

"You would believe it just because they said it? You are unexpectedly naive."

Lin Mei was caught off-guard. She didn't predict that the prince would actually ridicule her instead of thanking her.

"Did you not see the number of people lining up at the stall just a few moments after the peddler announced the product was back in stock? If the locals are repurchasing such expensive tea, then it must be very good!" She asserted, raising her chin up in an attempt to keep her dignity.

"Or it can also be a ploy. The merchants may have paid a few people to gather in front of their stall to attract more buyers." He countered with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Well, it won't hurt to try it out. If you are not satisfied with it, I will personally be back to confront the old man who sold it to me." She promised, stubbornly keeping her ground.

"Alright then." As he spoke, the prince placed the small wooden box inside his sleeve and started walking ahead of Lin Mei once more.

At least he hadn't returned the present or else the pearls she had so painstakingly sacrificed for the medicinal tea would have been utterly wasted.

Struggling to keep up with the man's large steps yet again, she grabbed onto his sleeve and the prince slowed down his pace in response. They walked together like that until the prince changed direction to enter a jewelry store.

Lin Mei was very fond of human-designed jewelry, especially hairpins and earrings. But, with that being said, she had no spare money to spend on such things at the present time so she would rather not look at them too much.

Nevertheless, she wondered what the prince would be searching for in such a store. Thinking that, she peered at the man beside her and saw him looking over the store's hair ornaments. He then picked a silver hairpin decorated with a beautiful green jade stone carved into a flower and inspected it for some time before handing quite a few large pieces of silver to the store's owner in exchange for the accessory and walking out of the establishment without saying much. Lin Mei trailed after him.

She felt peeved when she thought of the possibility of the hair ornament being a gift meant for Zhao Xiuying but she chose to ignore such notions.

After walking a while more, as they were passing by an outdoor restaurant selling steamed dumplings, Lin Mei pulled Zhen Feng's sleeve. When the prince turned around she pointed to the dining area and asked:

"Can we eat? I'm a little hungry…"

The prince didn't reply but headed towards the restaurant that the mermaid had pointed to and directly spoke to the waiter to order some food. The employee looked a bit intimidated by Zhen Feng's domineering aura and immediately went to the chef to make sure the noble-looking man would be served as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Lin Mei sat at one of the vacant tables and waited for Zhen Feng. She didn't have to wait long before both the prince and the server arrived.

The waiter left two sets of chopsticks, a couple of plates and cups, a bamboo steamer tray, two bowls of rice, and a small jar of wine on the table before nervously taking his leave. The impatient mermaid pulled the steamer's lid off and devoured one of the small warm dumplings inside in one bite. Only after trying out the food did she proceed to fill the prince's cup with wine and then hers.

Zhen Feng took a few sips of alcohol and stared blankly at the cup for what felt like an eternity. Once Lin Mei, who had been waiting for the prince to start eating, realized that he wasn't going to feed himself, she picked up one of the dumplings with her chopsticks and placed it into his mouth just as she had done with the sugar figurine.

Although Zhen Feng hadn't been expecting this, he accepted the food placidly.

The two people peacefully continued their meal with Lin Mei taking on the responsibility of feeding the prince every once in a while.