A few days later, Donghua saw her again, this time as she entered his personal study carefully carrying a plate of pastries while he was in a meeting. He's never seen her in his study before but maybe he hadn't been paying attention before.  He never really looked at the fairy maids that came in to serve him and to clean his villa so its possible he just wasn't looking more closely.  She made a curtsy but appeared unsure if she should approach his table.  Finally, she must have decided that she may interrupt the meeting if she served the pastries, so she just removed to the side waiting for the meeting to conclude.  He watched her from the corner of his eye and noted with amusement the way she was curiously looking around his study, nodding as if in approval as she glanced at the different sword designs displayed on his walls.  

This was the first time that Feng Jiu had entered this inner sanctum of Dijun and she did not know the correct protocol to follow.  She had been hoping that Chonglin, the head Steward of Dijun would be there so she could ask him but he was not there as she expected him to be.  Normally, she would not even be serving him because she was part of the kitchen staff and was not one of those authorized to enter the personal villa of Dijun.  However, the maid who had been assigned to him had hurt her hands that morning and Feng Jiu who was off kitchen duty had volunteered to go in her stead when she found out that the maid was bringing the Sorrowless Cakes that Feng Jiu had just baked to Dijun.  There had been a special request for that particular Cake that morning and the cook had assigned it to Feng Jiu knowing that she had recently perfected her recipe for it.  Feng Jiu had always wanted to see the reaction of Dijun to the dishes that she made and this was the perfect chance.  So, even though she wasn't familiar with the protocols in serving him, Feng Jiu decided that she could probably wing it.  After all, how hard could it be to serve pastries?

As she stood on the side, she tried her best to stay put and not fidget as the meeting seem to be important.  A council member was reporting to Dijun and Feng Jiu immediately perked up when she heard the name of Prince Ye Hua mentioned.  Her Aunt, the present Queen of Qingqiu, Bai Qian had been engaged to the Crown Prince for a few years now to forge an alliance between the Fox Realm and the Celestial Kingdom but so far no marriage date had been set. Her Gugu was now somewhere in the Mortal Realms going through her Mortal trials and she knew everyone in the Fox Realm, including her, was worried as they had no news of her for a few years now.  Her father Bai Yi Di Jun have been taking care of the Realm in the meantime.  Feng Jiu frowned as soon as she heard that the Crown Prince had brought a pregnant mortal woman into the Sky Kingdom.  Based on the recitation of fact, this woman Susu, was someone that Ye Hua had married in the mortal kingdom  Now that she was pregnant, he wanted to bring her in as one of his concubines.  This matter was causing an uproar in the Sky Kingdom as something like this has never happened before.  How could a Prince, a Crown Prince at that, even think of allowing a mortal woman to stay in his Palace.  It was completely unacceptable.  But it seems that Ye Hua was digging his foot in and refusing to bring the woman back to the Mortal Realms.  Tianjun and the other council members were trying to keep this matter under wraps as they did not want the news to reach the Fox Realm yet hoping to resolve it before it can escalate.  However, everyone knew that by the quickness with which gossip, especially gossip as juicy as this, spreads around the Sky Kingdom, everyone in the whole of the Immortal Realms would know by the end of the week exactly what was happening.  Feng Jiu, who was listening intently now, was looking more and more indignant on behalf of her Aunt.  Although, she knew that the match between Ye Hua and Bai Qian was political in nature and as far from a love match as possible, the news that Ye Hua, who had been dragging his feet on setting a marriage date, had impregnated someone and a mortal woman at that, while he was engaged to her Gugu would be humiliating for her Aunt and the Fox Realm in general.  She wondered if there was something she could do about it.    

Donghua, who had been trying to concentrate on the report, was now completely distracted as he observed the myriad of emotions that were crossing the face of the fairy maid.  He could see that she was really listening in on the report being made.   At first, he had thought that she was listening because she wanted to be the first to know the latest gossip.  However, her face had gone from curious to indignant to angry. This was not mere gossip to her. Now, she looked to be deep in thought about something.  Donghua was very, very curious now about her reactions.  As her brows furrowed in concentration, he continued to watch her.  His lips twitch with amusement when he saw that she had absentmindedly reach for one of the pastries in her hands and had started to nibble on it.  Even when the emissary asked to be dismissed and finally left, Feng Jiu still remained standing on the side clearly thinking hard about something and not paying attention to the fact that it was only her and Donghua left in the room. After a few minutes of watching her, Donghua cleared his throat as she bit into another pastry having finished the first one.

"Are you planning on finishing all the pastries? Clearly, you seem to have some sort of obsession with my food." Donghua said pleasantly, his voice finally penetrating Feng Jiu's consciousness startling her into attention. Donghua saw her eyes widen as she saw the half eaten pastry in her hands and realized what she had been doing. She quickly shoved the pastry into her mouth and turned around facing away from him. Feng Jiu could feel her face turning hot in mortification as she quickly swallowed and wiped the crumbs off her face. She then tried to fix the remaining pastries on the plate to make it look untouched, but she knew that it was a futile effort.  Knowing she had no other choice, she took a deep breath, turned around and set the plate down in front of him.  Her face a picture of calm serenity.  Donghua had to force his face to remain impassive even as he had the overwhelming urge to smile.

"Xiao Jiu greets Donghua Dijun. I was just taste testing the pastries for you to make sure it is up to your standards." she said as she could not think of any other explanation as to why she was eating food that was meant for him. She could not believe that this was to be her 2nd meeting with him. Wasn't the kitchen scene humiliating enough, now this? He probably thought she was the village idiot.  The Heavens must be playing with her for how can every encounter she has with him be this humiliating.

"Oh? How do you know what my standard is? But judging from the fact that you ate two pieces, you must believe that it's not up to standard. Maybe it is a good thing that you're taste testing it for me as I would really hate it if I was given something substandard to eat." he said nodding his head benevolently giving her a way out, pleased to realize how quick her mind was and how dignified she can make herself look when she wanted to.  However, when he said the word substandard to her, he could see her expressive face turn from one of serenity to one of umbrage.  She was certainly an interesting person.  

"This is not substandard pastry! For your information, I made these using ingredients I have experimented with for years to make sure it would taste heavenly. It took me days just to knead the dough so that it would be the perfect texture when it comes out.  If you had tasted it before insulting it, you would know that this is the best Sorrowless Cake you would ever taste, no one else could bake it to the level that I could." she said indignantly, completely forgetting for a moment that she had been the one who said she was taste testing it in the first place and that he had been giving her a way out of her predicament. It was only when she saw his raised eyebrows and the amusement in his eyes that she realized who she was speaking to and what she had just said.  She briefly closed her eyes berating herself for her useless pride when it comes to her cooking, her humiliation complete now.  Why, oh why, can she can never mind her words especially in front of him.   She would have smacked her own head if he hadn't been watching her closely.  

"I apologize Dijun for my outburst.  I apologize also for eating your pastries. It was badly done of me.  " she said, a hint of remorse in her voice.  She knew she needed to get out of the villa soon before she digs a bigger hole for herself.  As she was thinking of how she can gracefully excuse herself from his presence,  he gestured towards the tea brewing in front of him silently ordering her to pour.  Feng Jiu, seeing her opportunity to exit, smiled a wide smile as she slowly lifted the tea pot.  However, as she was about to pour it into his cup, she accidentally poured the tea into her own gown.  Feng Jiu made a small yelp of disbelief widening her eyes expressively.  "Oh no,  I apologize Dijun for my lack of respect in appearing before you with a wet gown.  I will go change now.  I will ask someone else to come in and help you pour.  Please excuse me."  Before he could say anything, she put down the tea pot, made a small curtsy and left the room, almost running in her haste.  As such, she did not see the huge smile gracing Donghua's face as he saw through her ploy.  Who was this fascinating creature?  Donghua hadn't had this much fun in years.  He would definitely be seeing more of her in the future.  He will make sure of that.  Donghua bit into the Sorrowless Cake that she had left and thought that she definitely was not lying about how good it was, for it tasted as heavenly as she said it would.