In the month of her "recuperating" from her poisoning, she used the time to cultivate for days at at time.  Each time got longer and longer as he cultivated and at the end of each cultivation period, Lihua would be drenched in sweat and poison.  The black sticky poisonous substance made her smelly so the guards and maids avoided her when she cultivated.  

What they started seeing also from their Master's courtyard are lions and monkeys that would roam, first in the Master's courtyard, then it started moving around to other courtyards as well.  The animals would move out of the Master's courtyard and roam around his estate.  As long as the guards and servants kept to themselves, the animals would also leave them alone.  

The Shadow Guard who was tasked to watch over Takeshi's estate and his movement reported to King Nao of the animals that suddenly showed up one day and started taking over the estate.  He decided to confront Takeshi about it one day after three days of pondering if he should bring it up or not.  

"Word has it that you have wild animals living with you on your estate."  King Nao said as he as Takeshi had just sat down for tea and a game of chess.   

"Haha."  Takeshi laughed as he rubbed the back of his head.  "I hope only you so far has heard of the news!  Lihua found her recuperation boring so she asked me if she could get some pets.  I offhandedly said yes, thinking she was going to get puppies, but when I come home, Eli told me about the cats she got.  I didn't think anything about it until I heard the roar of the lions in the middle of the night and jumped out of bed thinking I was under attack!"  

King Nao laughed as he listened to his brother's story.  

"Upon seeing the lions I ask my Lady Wife about them and she said that when she sent the maids out to find her pets, they told her of a traveling circus troop who had fallen into debt due to the Ring Master's gambling problems.  They intended to sell the lions into an animal fighting ring. As the maids told Lady Lihua about it, she immediately ordered her maids to purchase the lions and any animals that the circus had."  Takeshi laughed as he told the story.  "And that is how I got lions and monkeys for pets!" 

"They are ferocious animals, do they not attack you or your people?"  

"We find that as long as we feed them properly and leave them alone, most of the time they leave us alone.  The only person that got remotely close to them is my Lady Wife.  The male of the lions stays by her side and lets her pet him.  While there is also a male monkey and a female monkey that stays by her side as well.  Imagine having to go use the bathroom in the middle of the night and a lion is sleeping at the floor of your bed!"  

Takeshi laughs as he tells the story with made King Nao laughs.  

"They won't leave her side!"  King Nao laughs.  

"All I wanted were dogs, but I got lions and monkeys instead!"  Takeshi tells him.  "I overheard her asking her maids to look for a tiger!" 

The two of them laugh over tea and chess as Takeshi tells him of all the silly stories that happened since the animals arrived to his estate.  

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By the end of the month, Lihua had broken from Water Bound Martial Stage to mid Sky Bound Martial Stage.  Lihua found that by scattering her animals around the estate, she was able to control them and have them be her eyes and ears as well as using the animals as a medium to cultivate qi through them.  She was able to control the animals to cultivate and thus take the qi from them and place them into her.  It was sort of like a cycle.  She would push her qi into them to bring them out, they would then go out to a different place on the estate and cultivate and from their cultivation, Lihua would take it from them to grow her dantain core and veins.  By having 13 animals out at once gathering qi for her, it effectively gathered enough qi for her to break through into the Sky Bound Martial Stage. 

"Five months until the Phantom Mirage Tournament."  Lihua told Takeshi one night at the end of her month long "recuperation".  "Are you planning to compete?"  

"I never thought about it before."  Takeshi said.  "Before all I ever cared about was making sure our boarders were safe.  I never went attended a tournament before nor cared about the treasures in the Phantom Mirage."  

"What about now?"  Lihua asks.  "You don't have any obligations other than court.  King Nao has a firm hold on his government.  He has your loyalties, even though he still keeps a watch on you and even though he holds you in his heart.   He keeps a watch on everyone, friend and foe, so I can't fault him for that. What do you want to do now?" 

"With the Chen Clan's demise coming withing five months too, I haven't really thought about what I want to do."  Takeshi tells her.  "What about you?"  

Lihua looks at their intertwining hands while they walk through the flower garden and stops in her tracks.  

"There's something I've been putting off telling you since the day we got married."  Lihua confessed.  

Takeshi's hands squeezes her hand tightly as he braces to hear bad news.  

"I've been going around in my head the best way to tell you this.  But no matter what way I say it, in the end it always comes up the same and I don't know how you'll act with this knowledge so I hesitated in telling you and now----"  

"Just tell me already!" Takeshi said cutting her long explanation.  

"I realize something huge!"  Lihua said.  "Life changing huge!"  

"What did you realize."  

"You know my family?"  Lihua said.  "The one that I left behind?"  

"Yes."  

"I realize that when I transmigrated, I didn't transmigrated to a different world or a different time.  I transmigrated to a different country."  Lihua said as she stared at Takeshi.  "That means I can still see my children and grandchildren!"  

"I...I'm a grandpa?"  Takeshi said with a blank face.