Chapter 42 - Do You Like It?
Chapter 42 – Do You Like It?
On the second day, when Lin Xiaofei came to Hong Pei Lou once again, the sun had just risen up and the streets were empty.
She saw that the main doors of the restaurant were closed and thought that they weren't able to receive her letter on time and must have not been informed of her arrival.
Raising her head to look at the establishment, Lin Xiaofei decided to go back to the Lin residence and will later return to Hong Pei Lou once their doors was open, however, just as she was about to turn her back, the waiter who served and guided her to meet the manager of the Hong Pei Lou appeared from the small back entrance where employees of the restaurant would use when coming to work.
"Honorable guest," the waiter said as he greeted her with a deep bow before he straightened his back and added, "My master is already inside and has been waiting for the young miss to come. Please follow me."
Lin Xiaofei glanced at the waiter with a smile, "Thank you."
She followed him through the back entrance and once inside, she found that they were in a long and narrow corridor. The lighting in the corridor was dimmed and dark and when they walked through it, she could see that the back entrance was not a simple passageway for the employees.
And instead of climbing up the stairs like last time, they stopped in front of a wall.. Lin Xiaofei wanted to say something but stopped as she saw the waiter pressing something on the wall to his left and soon, a soft rumbling was soon heard.
Accompanying the light sound, the wall in front of them split in half and another secret passageway appeared.
From her viewpoint, Lin Xiaofei could see a staircase, but it was not going to lead them upstairs but instead, the stairs coiled towards downstairs. The restaurant only had three floors and they were on the first floor so, why was there a staircase leading them downstairs?
Lin Xiaofei looked on this for a few seconds before she heard the waiter's urging, "Young miss, please do step on the stairs that will lead you to where my master is."
"You're not coming with me?" Lin Xiaofei asked him.
The waiter shook his head and replied, "This stairs is only used by master and as his subordinates, we are strongly advised to never use this stairs."
"If it is like that, why am I allowed to use it then?"
"As per master's instructions, you are an honorable guest and he allowed you to use it," the waiter paused as he looked at Lin Xiaofei's eyes that was not covered by the veil on the lower half of her face.
For the years he was employed in Hong Pei Lou, he had never heard of anyone using the stairs leading to their master's secret chamber aside from the master himself.
Lin Xiaofei hesitated to use the 'stairs' which would lead her downstairs. No matter how much she wanted to meet his master, she couldn't throw away her wary and uncertainty.
Her feet was rooted on the ground as she shuddered at the memories of her being forced to enter the dungeon in the Fourth Prince's manor. She screamed and tried to claw her way out from the grip of Yu Fangzhu's men as they dragged her by the hair before throwing her to the underground dungeon.
When the nightmare of her memories entering her vision once again, cold sweats dripped down her forehead as she looked ahead.
The waiter who was beside Lin Xiaofei felt her fear and wasn't sure why it was though. She looked alright when they were walking down the corridor but as soon as her eyes laid upon the stairs leading to the secret chamber, the young lady became fearful and looked like she was being forced to face her death.
"Young miss?" The waiter called out but the young lady beside him was unresponsive and he had to call her out a few more times before she snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him with startled eyes.
"Yes?" Lin Xiaofei answered breathlessly.
"Are you alright?"
She paused and looked at him before nodding her head and answered, "Yes, I am alright."
Lin Xiaofei softly gave a sigh of relief. She was thankful to the waiter who interrupted her thoughts and brought her back to the present.
And without hesitation, she lifted her skirt and stepped into the stairs.
…
It took a minute for her to reach the end of the stairs.
With wide eyes, Lin Xiaofei gasped in awe as she unconsciously took a few steps forward, her hesitation and fear earlier was gone and what replaced it was a soothing feeling that bloomed deep inside of her.
After stepping down the stairs, who would have thought that a room full of wonders and a beautiful scenery would enter her eyes.
This room was filled with colorful flowers and the ground was filled with ingrown grass. However, there was no sunlight that could provide them life and yet, they still looked lovelier than the plants and flowers in the Lin manor.
Perhaps the plants and flowers in the room were the same kind as the ones growing inside a cave, hence, it could still grow inside this place.
And in the centermost of the wide room, a gemstone that has the same size of a huge boulder was giving off a light that illuminated the entire room with yellowish white light, making the whole room look like it was bathed in sunlight.
On the other hand, a stone table and chairs was on the left side of the gemtone and it was as if there was someone enjoying his time earlier that a hot tea and snacks was already served on top of the table.
The beautiful scene that awestruck Lin Xiaofei, gave her a weird feeling after going through the slightly dark corridors and stairs.
As she continued to watch, Lin Xiaofei didn't notice that someone was already behind her, or maybe, the person behind her was an expert in hiding their presence
Suddenly, warm air tickled her ears as she heard a voice coming so close to her saying, "Do you like what you are seeing?"