Truyen3h.Co

Màu nền Màu tối Mặc định Xám nhạt Xanh nhạt Xanh đậm Vàng nhạt Màu sepia Vàng đậm Vàng ố

Font chữ: Palatino Linotype Bookerly Segoe UI Patrick Hand Times New Roman Verdana Tahoma Arial

Chiều cao dòng: 100 120 140 160 180 200

Kích cỡ chữ:

Chapter 11: Red Bean, it's time to eat

General Tang Jiang was just twenty-five years old and considered to be in his prime.

He had planned to marry in his early thirties despite his parents' disapproval, desiring to help the Second Prince to get the throne before settling down and help Tang family to continue its bloodline.

But his lovely wife Ping Shui entered his life like a cannonball, and broke apart his plans. She had even gotten his lord to question his loyalty towards him. Thanks to that, he was now stuck in the middle of a sticky mess.

"Since General Tang recognized me, should it now be clear that we are not bandits?"

General Tang cupped his fist. "I apologize for damaging your carriage and harming your men. I will personally escort your party to your destination with a new carriage." Eunuch Lau Liu was still smiling but the air around him shifted drastically. "Gen-eral, are you thinking that this matter could be solved with just that? My master is a gentleman to a fault and this servant always helps in fighting for my master's well-deserved justice. It would bring trouble to my master if this incident is spread out and for my master to be known for being too amiable."

General Tang's hand moved closer to his sword instinctively against the threatening aura. "This is my mistake for wrongly attacking your carriage. If Eunuch is willing to accept, I will compensate for the death of your horse driver and man with two elite guards of mine to serve your master."

If Eunuch Lau Liu accepted that offer, that would mean he was welcoming spies into the Third Prince's camp. He was not senile yet, to accept such a compensation.

"General Tang, as an elder, I must advise that when you are apologizing, it would be better to be sincere," Eunuch Lau Liu chastised lightly and Geng bristled in anger in defence of his General.

"This General thanks Eunuch Lau for your advice."

"Since you have killed two of our men, it would only be fair if your men died as well. As an elder, I shall plead to my master, on your behalf, to not take another life of your men than necessary."

Right after the words were voiced by Eunuch Lau Liu, General Tang sensed the shift of wind rather too late. A man was pushed to the ground on his knees by Da Bei's tough grip on the man's shoulder.

"The spy!" Ang gasped in alarm when he recognized who that man was.

"General, help me-" Da Bei cut off the spy's head cleanly around his neck, the spy's blood sprayed all over him.

General Tang Jiang unsheathed his sword as an angry snarl of a cornered animal escaped from his mouth and rushed towards Eunuch Lau Liu.

"Now it's finally fair," Eunuch Lau Liu said as if he was just talking about today's weather, unruffled at how angry General Tang was. To him, the general was still unworthy to be his equal opponent.

Da Bei's movement was quick when he disappeared from his spot and appeared before General Tang, stopping the furious swing of his sword that was intended for Eunuch Lau Liu. Ang and Geng joined the fight as well, but only General Tang could match Da Bei's strength as the other two men were easily pushed back with a blow from the young boy.

They were too busy fighting against the young boy to wonder what happened to the other four of their men that were supposed to replace the Third Prince's soldiers.

"General Tang, aren't you worried about your master's safety? After all, it's rather easy to get that little rat from his hiding hole."

General Tang's anger extinguished immediately when the feeling of icy water poured onto him upon hearing the Eunuch's words. Their spy was placed inside a cage with guards surrounding it, yet he was easily brought out here. But the most horrifying thought was that the cage's location was not far from the Second Prince's tent.

"Retreat and protect the Second Prince!" General Tang ordered harshly and gave Eunuch Lau Liu a fierce glare before hurrying back to the campsite.

Ang and Geng loathed to let them go but they quickly followed after their general.

No matter how angry they were, the Second Prince's safety was their priority.

"Not bad. You have grown stronger," Eunuch Lau Liu praised Da Bei.

Da Bei nodded indifferently but his red ears betrayed his true feelings upon receiving the praise.

The ground trembled slightly as the sound of horses galloping grew louder, heading straight to their location. Da Bei relaxed his guard when he saw it was only Xiao Liu returning.

Xiao Liu had returned with Red Bean without a new carriage. He jumped down from Red Bean when he saw the clearing was empty of their enemies.

"General Tang and his men had left?" Xiao Liu asked, sparing a few glances at the headless corpse, spotting Da Bei's handiwork from them.

"The Second Prince would be very unhappy with the General this time," Eunuch

Lau Liu contemplated with slight worry, yet his eyes twinkled in anticipation.

Xiao Liu silently lit up a candle for General Tang.

The general's wife, Madam Ping Shui, naturally knew that her husband was in hot water with his master and had informed the Third Prince about it.

The Third Prince was currently busy dealing with the unexpected fire and the injured Xiao Hua, so the matter of Si Si was left to Eunuch Lau Liu to handle. Eunuch Lau Liu decided to use this opportunity to hit three birds with one stone.

The first was the traitor, Si Si.

The second was to fish out and exterminate the spy inside South Guilin Village.

The third was to have General Tang sink deeper into hot water, further disrupting his relationship with his master.

The first two birds were not that important. It was the third bird that Eunuch Lau Liu gave priority to. General Tang would be much more useful as their ally instead of being their enemy. It was also because Madam Ping Shui grew to care for this husband of hers and Lau Liu was not one to break a happy couple apart.

"Let us return and inform our prince the good news," Eunuch Lau Liu said. He eyed sideways at the tied up Si Si beside his feet. "She has served the last of her pur-pose."

Eunuch Lau Liu stepped down from the remains of the carriage and headed to one of the horses. Da Bei approached Si Si with unchecked hostility evident in his bloodthirsty eyes. His hand gripped onto a long, thin blade that was specially crafted to suit his assassination skills.

"Wait, let me do it," Xiao Liu said with unease at Da Bei's demeanour.

"Xiao Liu, do not coddle Da Bei." The cold voice of Eunuch Lau Liu stopped Xiao Liu. "He is now Da Bei of Prince Long Zhu's shadow guard, not Da Bei, your nephew." Even if Xiao Liu's brain understood the reasoning of it, his heart screamed that Da Bei was still too young. He should be an innocent boy, not this bloodthirsty killer! But because of Da Bei's bloodline and the sworn loyalty of his parents towards the Third Prince, his path was already sealed before his birth.

Si Si did not react even when Da Bei's bloodlust hit her, and her blank expression did not change when Da Bei chopped off her head. She had long remained unresponsive due to the insane torture of her bones breaking, crushed at the hands of Da Her mind was gone but her body was still living, which was exactly what the Third Prince wanted. Even when her head was chopped off, there was not even a drop of ood left, as the Spider Lily had absorbed all her blood, using it as its soil to grow none the twins. Da Rei preferred to chon off his target's head as it was then the death was guaranteed. On the other hand, Da An preferred to stab their targets through their heart or throat, but in this world, high ranked cultivators would not die easily with just those wounds.

Da Bei had not known if any of Da An's previous targets were alive from those wounds, but he had heard that their master's teacher healed a man that was not supposed to survive with a severely damaged heart.

Even Lord Jing Ke was miraculously alive thanks to their master's teacher, the Legendary Doctor Bai.

Da Bei's bloodlust disappeared and he picked up the 'Spider Lily' that had crawled out of its dead host.

"Destroy it, Da Bei," Eunuch Lau Liu ordered and Da Bei crushed the 'Spider Lily' using his fist with icy mist radiating from it. He crushed the deadly flower until it had no chance to recover.

'Spider Lily' was a dangerous plant, and the Third Prince only used it on someone that he hated. 'Spider Lily' was only grown using blood, and it could jump from one host to another. Leaving it alive would only bring harm to other humans.

Eunuch Lau Liu was already seated on top of a horse, with both legs facing side-ways. It was a posture that would only be spotted on noble ladies during horse riding in western countries. "Xiao Liu."

Xiao Liu sighed and patted his horse's nose. "Red Bean, it's time to eat." The seemingly normal and harmless horse suddenly morphed, its straight row of teeth turned into a sharp row of teeth. Its soft hair and tail turned hard and spiky, sharp enough to pierce through a human body. It ran towards the corpses and started eating them like a savage beast that was starved for days.

Da Bei returned from a nearby stream with most of the blood washed away, just in time for Red Bean, the scary horse, to finish its meal.

Red Bean morphed back to its harmless appearance and rubbed its head against Xiao Liu, begging for pats. He gave them willingly; even going as far as to praise how dignified it looked when chewing on its... food.

Da Bei climbed up onto the horse that Eunuch Lau Liu had occupied, taking the front seat that was left vacant for him.

"We shall not waste time for Xiao Liu to return to his senses."

Da Bei nodded in agreement and signalled the horse to start making their way back home, ignoring Xiao Liu who was speaking sweet words to Red Bean.

Chapter 12: You are more than a servant to him

"Angle- I mean, Feng Jiu, is the Third Prince celebrating his birthday now at the Pearl Courtyard?"

Feng Jiu stopped writing and replied with a shake of her head. The Third Prince had left not long ago and the sky was already dark. She decided to accompany the restless Xiao Hua, at the same time busily writing something on the stack of papers laid out on the table.

"The night celebration is canceled."

Xiao Hua's heart stopped momentarily before it resumed at a faster pace. "Why? Is it because of me? The fire caused a lot of mess?"

Placing down the brush, the lady in red stood up and walked towards Xiao Hua who was forced to lie down on the bed by the Third Prince.

Her body still felt sore and tired, making it difficult to move around. Lying down on the bed seemed like a nice thing to do for the lazy Xiao Hua, but she grew bored with no laptop or mobile phone to keep her attention occupied.

There was a time she got bored and asked for novels. But the words were too advanced for the beginner Xiao Hua, so Duan Xi Ying ended up reading aloud for her. Le Xiao Ting, who had read dozens of interesting romance books before hitting the genre of transmigration and reincarnation, could not help but cringe at the cheesy and sexist stories of this world.

Since then, she was no longer interested in the novels of this world. The idea of making Heise write some BL novels came to mind, but she rather had him focus his energy on searching for any clues to help them return to their original world than occupying her bored mind.

Duan Xi Ying had suggested more training when she complained she was bored, but a lazy person would remain lazy even in boredom.

Speaking of Duan Xi Ying, Xiao Hua wondered when she would return. There was no word of how long she would 'help out'.

"The fire is just one of the reasons for Long Zhu to cancel the night feast." Feng Jiu rubbed Xiao Hua's head affectionately as she patiently explained. "He is not in the mood to celebrate when you are injured."

It was unclear why she would have the feeling of wanting to treat this little girl nicely, despite only knowing her for half a day. Perhaps Feng Jiu had not met such clear, yet lazy eyes that belonged to a fourteen-year-old girl with a prince as her mas-ter.

"A servant getting injured should not be a big deal."

Feng Jiu smiled and poked a slender finger onto Xiao Hua's soft cheek. "You are more than a servant to him."

Xiao Hua's eyes clearly revealed mixed feelings to Feng Jiu's words before they were hidden away. "I should not be."

The younger girl closed her eyes with body language that told Feng Jiu she was not willing to continue the conversation. It was rude to do so but if Xiao Hua did not stop the conversation, she might have exposed something she wanted to keep hidden.

Long Zhu stared at the reports on his table in a distracted manner, his mind unable to fully concentrate on the issues that needed his urgent attention.

Three brief knocks at the door brought his far away mind back to reality. "Master, An Wan is here to report the search of that servant's room."

"Enter," Long Zhu answered curtly and placed down his brush.

The creak from the door opening and closing was loud in the silence of the room.

An Wan curtsied in greeting before placing a royal blue pouch with familiar embroidery of a white cat onto the table, making sure not to disturb any of the documents on the table.

"This was found hidden in that servant's room. Her bed mate knew nothing about her plan other than knowing she had been crafting short arrows lately."

Long Zhu immediately recognized the pouch as Xiao Hua's handiwork. The threatening letters had revealed that this pouch was important enough for Xiao Hua to risk her life to get it back.

That traitorous maid must have been confident about her plans to go well enough that she did not bother disposing of the threatening letters quickly.

"Sister An Jing had taught Elder Sister Hua how to embroidery and make a pouch.

This pouch is Elder Sister Hua's gift for you, Master."

Long Zhu already knew that this pouch was his little flower's gift for him. He gently picked up the blue pouch and absentmindedly rubbed his fingers over the embroidered white cat, just like Xiao Hua had said it would. "It's not a dragon."

An Wan did not say anything but she understood what her master meant. Sister An Jing had suggested for the younger girl to embroider a dragon but Elder Sister Hua was not skilled enough to do so. An Wan remembered the poor stitch work that Elder Sister Hua had called a 'dragon' but ended up resembling a snake. In the end, she stitched a white cat, the only animal she learned to do well.

Long Zhu and An Wan quickly turned their attention to the door when they sensed a familiar flare of energy right outside the room. After getting permission using eye contact, An Wan moved to open the door and allowed An Jing to enter the study, holding onto a tall food container with both hands.

"Forgive me, Master. I would have knocked but this servant feared that the containers would drop," An Jing apologized. "There's also Lady Feng Jiu requesting to meet you."

Without Long Zhu's response, Feng Jiu had already swept into the study, her bright red clothes flared around her dazzlingly. Even at this late hour, she still looked as perfect as she was when the day started. The red flower between her eyebrows was especially eye-catching on her fair skin.

"I met up with An Jing on the way here. I would have left you to enjoy your dinner but I changed my mind when I found out Xiao Hua was the one that made your din-ner."

"So you are here to steal food from me?" Long Zhu asked as he leaned back on his chair relaxingly. He motioned An Jing to set up the dinner on his table.

An Jing handed the food container to An Wan before clearing the table. After setting up the dinner for two people, the inner maids left their masters to enjoy Xiao Hua's 'specialty' fried rice. Feng Jiu immediately sat down on the prepared chair opposite Long Zhu and without any bashfulness, reached out to taste the fried rice.

Her beautifully shaped eyes widened in delight. "I never tasted this type of fried rice before! It has a much lighter taste yet still flavourful!"

Long Zhu's mouth twitched when he saw Feng Jiu quickly piled fried rice onto her bowl until it was as high as a hill. "This is my birthday dinner."

Feng Jiu sniffed daintily. "But this might be my only chance to taste Xiao Hua's cooking."

"The Imperial Concubines are always afraid to eat too much for fear they gain weight. Feng Jiu is not afraid to gain weight?"

Feng Jiu gave the boy she had watched over for seven years a dirty glare. "You know better than to point out a lady's weight and age."

"I apologize for my bluntness, Lady Feng Jiu."

"You are not sorry at all." Feng Jiu sighed and decided not to fight with a lovesick boy over fried rice.

Long Zhu stood up and walked towards a shelf to pick up a scroll. The dark blue pouch with amateur stitching hanging on his belt drew Feng Jiu's eyes. "Oh? That's a cute pouch you have."

"It's a birthday gift from my little maid."

Feng Jiu became sober with concern. The memory of Xiao Hua's sudden distant-ness when she hinted that Long Zhu viewed Xiao Hua more than a maid worried her.

"This is the information you asked Lau Liu to investigate." Long Zhu pushed the scroll to Feng Jiu's side of the table.

Normally, Feng Jiu would have eagerly unrolled the scroll as the information she had asked Long Zhu to investigate had occupied her mind for far too long. But now she was more worried about the little maid that she had taken a strange liking to.

"Long Zhu, I know your little maid was the one that saved your life, but you should not overcompensate."

The hand holding onto a porcelain spoon that had scooped a bundle of rice stopped its tracks. "What are you trying to say?"

Feng Jiu sighed silently. "Xiao Hua might be young, but she is not a child. When a beautiful looking man treated her so well, her heart would develop feelings that she could not control and may not have the will to."

After Feng Jiu finished speaking, the hand continued its path and the rice entered the waiting mouth. Long Zhu chewed and tasted the rice, letting out a pleased hum.

This time, the fried rice had a hint of tea leaves and the prawns were omitted. The taste of the tea leaves was strong, but it mixed well with the other ingredients.

Seeing the uncaring response, Feng Jiu glowered in disapproval. "Long Zhu." The two-word-sentence was enforced with a strong, pressuring force that the current Guilin's Emperor would never in his life be able to replicate. Long Zhu stopped eating but he did not look strongly affected by the pressuring force.

"I know what I am doing."

Feng Jiu gasped in incredulity. "You are doing it on purpose?"

Long Zhu frowned and a hint of confusion could be identified from his phoenix shaped eyes. "Of course. Isn't that the best way to make her love me?"

Feng Jiu exhaled a shaky breath at his surprising revelation. "Long Zhu, why do you want her to love you? Do you want her to love you as one does to a master or love you as one does towards a lover?"

"You do not need to know."

Something almost like terror rolled around her heart. The image of Xiao Hua with guarded eyes flashed past her mind, stirring her fear even more. "Long Zhu, if you have no desire to marry Xiao Hua, stop what you are doing. That girl is inexperienced and guileless towards a man's attention."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Long Zhu!"

The cold gaze stopped Feng Jiu's outburst. "I'm not a cruel person."

That promise stopped her fear from growing but it did not lessen it.

Chapter 13: I'm not Munzhu's spy

Surprisingly, it was not Duan Xi Ying but An Jing that came to pick up Xiao Hua the next day. Despite the unexpected surprise, it cheered her up. Even if Duan Xi Ying's a pretty cool lady and quickly became her good friend, it was still An Jing's motherly tenderness that acted like a balm to her frazzled soul.

Her touch was gentle as An Jing helped Xiao Hua to get dressed and tied her usual hairstyle. Her hair was now shorter thanks to the fire that had burned the lower ends into a coarse and wrinkly appearance. Before, her hair was waist length, but now it just reached the middle of her back.

"Sister An Jing, can you tie the buns higher?" Xiao Hua suggested.

Not knowing what Xiao Hua wanted, An Jing still did what she wanted. After it was done, Xiao Hua gathered the rest of her hair that was not tied into buns and plaited them into a single, thick braid down the middle of her back.

Before, the feeling of having half of her long hair loose on her back felt nice and feminine, but now she wanted to tie them all up without hindering her movement or to distract her.

Le Xiao Ting no longer had the bravery to follow 'Desire for beauty, Disregard her life' motto!

Yesterday, before the Third Prince left, he told her that she will be moving back to her room to rest. It was also to make things easier for Long Lian and the Eight Prince to visit her as Autumn Courtyard was a restricted area.

Xiao Hua managed to dig up some information and discovered that Autumn Courtyard was specially reserved for the Third Prince's VIP guests to stay. Feng Jiu was one of his VIP guests that no one other than the inner maids and shadow guards knew about. The secrecy made Xiao Hua even more curious but the Third Prince said if she managed to complete a task for him, he would let her know. Without needing to consider it, she immediately rejected it.

Did he still believe she did not know that the previous tasks were just a trap for her?!

（°°==）

"Sister An Jing, can I visit Er Yen? I know that he's recovering but I would worry less if I could personally see how he's doing."

An Jing nodded with a smile. "You may."

With that, An Jing lifted Xiao Hua into her arms easily, carrying them out of the room and towards the next door.

The Third Prince had instructed An Jing to forbid Xiao Hua from walking and should only carry her when she needed to move. Despite the crazy amount of expensive medicine used on Xiao Hua that allowed the doctor to declare she had completely recovered, the Third Prince insisted she needed to have bed rest for another day.

This young lady had nothing to complain about other than being bored. + (v) r

Da Bei was standing outside the room, watching his mother bring Xiao Hua to the next room with curious eyes, but did not stop them.

Xiao Hua's nose caught the smell of medicine and to a lesser extent, blood. The bed was occupied by Er Yen, who looked thinner and weaker than she remembered.

Fortunately, Er Yen was awake and his eyes were rather alert.

An Jing sat Xiao Hua down on a stool beside the bed and stood at the far corner to give them the illusion of privacy.

"I remember you came back to save me," Er Yen spoke first with a slightly hoarse voice due to a large amount of exposure to smoke. It would take some time for his voice to recover back to normal. "Thank you."

"You are welcome. I want to thank you as well." Xiao Hua returned the gratitude and smiled in a bittersweet way when she saw the confusion in his eyes. "You could have climbed out of the window first, but instead, you made sure I was the first one to leave. So you saved my life as well."

Er Yen snorted and that move started a coughing fit. Xiao Hua quickly poured a cup of water for him to drink, easing his cough.

"You know what happened after that?" Er Yen asked. Since the moment he woke up, he was tended by a doctor and the inner maid, Elder Sister An Wan, had dropped by a few times to check on him. No one bothered to tell him what happened.

"Long story short, because I'm in love with you, I agreed to become Munzhu's spy." Er Yen jerked violently and stared at her in plain horror that even the pain from the rough movement had not distracted him.

Well, it was fun for a second but it was no longer funny when the other party did not share the same sense of humour.

Xiao Hua revealed the truth. "That was what Si Si wanted the Third Prince to think.

But the prince knew the truth that you are innocent."

Er Yen sighed in relief. "Fortunately."

"Si Si was the one that asked you to collect the fireworks, wasn't it?"

His nod confirmed her suspicions. "She said she was passing a message from Steward Lau Zheng about the fireworks not being not enough."

"Steward Lau Zheng? Eunuch Lau Liu's son?" The guy that refused to let her wipe the floor after Si Si accidentally dropped the teapot?

Xiao Hua had seen him a few times in passing since that day, treating her like a precious porcelain glass, not daring to approach her. Tian Zi informed her that he was adopted by Eunuch Lau Liu, who he had picked up from the street.

"Yes." Er Yen's expression softens with reverence. "He's my mentor."

As Steward Lau Zheng's sole apprentice, he was allowed to enter the Autumn Courtyard's storage to help his mentor to retrieve or place things in the storage. Er Yen was also deferential and did not wander around where he should not.

"He must be disappointed with me," Er Yen mumbled in distress and Xiao Hua swore she spotted tears in his eyes.

"Why would he be disappointed in you? You did nothing wrong."

Er Yen gripped the bed covers tightly. "I did not confirm if it was Steward Lau Zheng that issued that order or not. I should have known that there would be enough fireworks because I counted it! But I did not question her and just went to take more!"

"You are just a servant. Who are you to question the order given to you by your superior?"

Er Yen's head snapped up at Xiao Hua's words. Her tone revealed nothing but scorn at his thoughts to question his orders that were given to him.

To Le Xiao Ting, as long as the order from the superior did not make her commit an immoral act or rule breaking stuff, it was best to follow them. They were her superior with more experience than her after all.

"I never questioned Steward Lau Zheng's orders!"

"Then stop wallowing in depression. Has Steward Lau Zheng blamed you?"

Er Yen's shoulder slumped. "I never saw him."

Xiao Hua silently covered her mouth with a palm, looking apologetic. If Steward Lau Zheng did not visit him, it might probably mean Er Yen was in trouble.

"You know, I nearly forgot we are currently in Autumn Courtyard! He's not allowed to enter to see you!" Xiao Hua perked up immediately when she thought of that. She sighed in relief when Er Yen perked up as well.

"I'm going to return back to my room, so if I see Steward Lau Zheng, I will explain everything to him, so don't worry!"

Er Yen's eyes were filled with hope. "You will?"

"Yeah!"

With a bright smile filled with gratitude, Er Yen thanked her.

Xiao Hua nodded and stood up slowly. "Well then, I'm going now so rest more so that you can heal faster."

"Xiao Hua?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm not Munzhu's spy."

It took a few blinks before Xiao Hua understood what Er Yen was trying to tell her.

With a soft smile, she said, "Let's be friends."

It was Er Yen's turn to blink suspiciously with his bright eyes a few times before answering, "Okay."

Xiao Hua laughed and slowly walked out of the room. She did not dare to say 'I believe you' because she was not a naive girl that believed after one life-threatening experience would make Er Yen be truthful to her.

The Third Prince had told her that Er Yen was a hostage from Munzhu country, and it was unknown if Er Yen would have resentment towards the Guilin Kingdom or not, especially after witnessing another of Munzhu's hostages being killed in front of him for being involved with Long Lian's kidnapping. Being friends and slowly learning more about it might be a good starting point to learn if his words could be trusted.

An Jing picked her up again after closing the door. "An Jing, do you know where Steward Lau Zheng is?"

Even if Xiao Hua could not trust Er Yen, she chose to trust the emotion that he had shown when he talked about Steward Lau Zheng.

"Lau Zheng is handling some matters." Eunuch Lau Liu had gone off to play hide and seek with the Second Prince's army so Lau Zheng was forced to handle Lau Liu's portion of work. "I will have him meet you as soon as he's able to."

"Ah, no need to rush! It's not important so I will talk to him when he's free." She did say she would tell Steward Lau Zheng about the truth if she spotted him, so Er Yen should expect that it would not be easy for her to coincidentally meet the busy stew-ard.

But reality always smashes expectations, so when Xiao Hua finally returned to her bedroom in the Spring Courtyard where the mess of the one sided fight was cleaned up, Steward Lau Zheng was anxiously waiting right outside her room.

Da Bei had gone to fetch Lau Zheng while An Jing slowly carried Xiao Hua towards her room, at the same time breathing in fresh air. Lau Zheng immediately dropped everything he was doing and rushed towards the Spring Courtyard.

Xiao Hua smiled at Steward Lau Zheng, feeling a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry for taking up your time, so I will try to finish this quickly."

It was a sin to hinder a man with heavy responsibility with a limited amount of time, especially when Xiao Hua was just going to sound like a busybody by asking him to meet Er Yen.

Chapter 14: Spot on, darling lil' sis

The Eighth Prince playing with a wooden toy was a normal sight. No one expected much from the silly Eighth Prince. Pretending to be a ten-year-old boy with the mind of a five-year-old kid, Heise had to show some interest in the toy in his hands no matter how stupid it made him feel.

Arriving early to a celebration was never a good thing in this era. It was boring and no one approached or spared any attention towards him. There was only tea on his table and he was already bored of drinking it every single day.

In his original world, Heise was a rich second generation kid, as well as the only son and the heir of his family's business. The parties he usually attended were either hosted by his family or by the clique that had treated him like a prince, due to his background. He never wanted to attend those parties, but because of his family name, he had to maintain his good image and stay connected with his clique just in case he needed help one day.

Heise admitted that he was not truly happy despite living a luxurious lifestyle. His parents demanded him to fulfil their high expectations and Heise disliked it when they were often busy with their work and parties rather than to spend more time with him. He grew up under the care of a nanny, and his parents showed their attention and love by giving him a large amount of pocket money. His clique befriended him because they were asked by their parents, and he did not know who was genuinely there as his friend.

In Heise's eyes, the world was always black and white, and the only thing that could brighten his world was dangerous sports. However, it was put to an end when he suffered a serious injury that rendered him unconscious for two days and his parents forbade him from doing those sports again.

Since he was banned from participating in dangerous sports, he joined a martial arts club that he managed to persuade his parents to allow him, and learned the use of many kinds of weapons. It was then Heise met him in the club; the man that filled his world with rainbow colours with his kind smile and friendly attitude.

From then on, Heise did his best to get his attention, and his hard work gave him a fruitful result. He agreed to date him after Heise introduced him to same sex love. But Heise knew that his girlfriend was still being disinclined about their relationship and decided to do something about it.

That was the beginning of his journey as a web writer that resulted in him being transmigrated into his own bloody novel.

Surprisingly, in this world, he had gotten some parental love he yearned for, along with the add-ons that came along with the main hardware; the siblings' love.

Long Lian truly treated him as her little brother, despite being annoyed by his clinginess. The Third Prince treated him as the substitute of his real eighth brother but Heise did not mind it, so long he did not suddenly wake up one day and want him dead. The Fourth Prince always gave him candies whenever he visited, and the Crown Prince tended to treat him like a puppy.

As for the Second Prince, he disregarded his existence. It actually hurt that his son ignored him, his creator! His father! (°™°#)

After his twelfth attempt of searching for a familiar face, he finally spotted Princess

Long Lian, one of the few people that could ease his boredom.

The Eighth Prince's eyes sparkled with interest when he saw Long Lian making her way to the Third Prince, who had just arrived, surprisingly dressed in a subdued at-tire. Tossing the wooden toy to Eunuch Heng, he controlled his short legs to move towards the two of them.

The Third Prince raised an eyebrow when he saw his younger sister and his eighth brother making their way towards him with a spark of determination in their eyes.

Waiting until both his younger siblings reached him, the Third Prince led them to a secluded place for discussion that must not be leaked to other parties.

The Third Prince's shadow guards were enough to stop any busybodies from trying to eavesdrop on them. Long Lian waved Tang Mei, her personal maid to stand guard at a far distance and the Eighth Prince did the same to Eunuch Heng.

Once they were finally alone, Long Lian immediately asked, "Third brother, why did you cancel last night's party?" She placed both of her hands on her hips to make herself look intimidating.

The Third Prince silently thought that his younger sister was no longer adorable.

He refused to believe that his little flower was the one that corrupted his sister. After all, Xiao Hua was a good girl.

"What I say must not reach anyone else's ears, understand?" Long Lian and the Eighth Prince nodded seriously when the Third Prince's gentle smile disappeared.

"Xiao Hua was injured during an assassination attempt. The mastermind was already handled properly."

Long Lian's face paled as rage and fear rose like a great wave inside her. She was about to demand why she was not told about it when the Eighth Prince beat her to it.

"Xiao Hua was injured? Why didn't you tell me?"

The Third Prince felt amused that his eighth brother would be worried about his fellow transmigrator when he would pick a fight with Xiao Hua every time they met.

As long as Heise's worry was not more than how friends worried about each other, he would not destroy the bond between them.

"I'm telling you now, aren't I?" The Third Prince replied carelessly. "Xiao Hua will like it if the two of you visit her later."

"Even without you saying, I will visit her later!" The Eighth Prince huffed angrily and the shape of his swelled white, soft cheeks was like a steamed bun. "Why would Xiao Hua be injured? Isn't she always followed by that 'Kakashi' kid?"

The Third Prince raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar word, but knowing it was another word that Heise and Le Xiao Ting could understand, he overlooked it as he could mysteriously understand who Heise was referring to.

The Third Prince had guessed correctly, as Le Xiao Ting did know about Heise's nickname for Da Bei, which was 'Kakashi'. It was a character from the Naruto' Japanese manga that wore a black face mask as well.

"Da Bei was negligent and has been appropriately punished. He would not dare to leave Xiao Hua alone in the future."

"This isn't the time and place for this discussion," Long Lian cut in, which was sur-prising, as she would be the one that demanded answers instead. But she was right, as they were currently in the palace celebrating New Years and people would talk about how long they had disappeared.

Long Lian took out a funny looking paper and handed it to the Third Prince. "This is my birthday present for you, third brother. I had actually planned to give it to you last night."

The Third Prince gingerly took it, turning it around to examine it. "What is this?"

"That's an envelope," the Eighth Prince answered and asked Long Lian, "Xiao Hua taught you how to make it?"

"Yes! Carefully open the seal! It's made from a melted candle!"

The Third Prince lightly tugged open the seal and found a folded short letter inside.

He unfolded it and found the content was rather weird.

"I'm having trouble thinking of a good present for you, so Xiao Hua suggested this to me. This paper works just like the pawn item's receipt! You can ask me to do one favour when you return this paper to me. But this paper only works for one year so remember to ask me for a favour before this year passes."

"That's a neat idea."

Long Lian nodded enthusiastically. "Xiao Hua always solves my problems!"

The Third Prince stared at the paper in his hands with a thin layer of depression surrounding him. If it was Xiao Hua that gave him this present, he would be happier but that did not mean he was unhappy with the pouch.

"Third brother...you can't be upset that Xiao Hua was not the one that gave you that instead, are you?"

Spot on, darling lil' sis~

"Third brother, did you forget you are Xiao Hua's master? Giving you that paper would be useless when you can order her around anyway."

Long Lian did not know that the Third Prince could no longer treat Xiao Hua as his servant. Since the day he found out that Xiao Hua was a transmigrator, he felt that it was wrong to treat her as a servant. He did not mind treating the original Xiao Hua as his servant because she was a servant in his first life, with her life rightfully belonging to his younger sister.

The transmigrated Xiao Hua looked different than the original one, where the current Xiao Hua looked prettier and more adorable than the original could ever be. It was not difficult to differentiate them.

"Then my present would work well for you." The Eighth Prince handed the Third

Prince a thin, blue book with a saucy grin that looked wrong on a child's face.

With a raised eyebrow, the Third Prince took it. The Eighth Prince quickly stopped him when he was going to open it.

"Don't read it here! Do that when you are alone! Remember, don't let anyone see it!"

"Why not?" Long Lian whined. Her interest was piqued when the Eighth Prince for bade the Third Prince to read it until he was alone.

"It can only be seen by third brother! The content was thought up by me and Eunuch Heng is the artist." The Eighth Prince boasted smugly before saying seriously. "If you don't mind being embarrassed, go ahead and show it to others. But Xiao Hua would faint if someone saw it."

"What's inside?" Long Lian demanded and tried to grab the book but the Third

Prince raised his hand high until his younger sister could not reach it.

The Third Prince's interest was piqued as well. From what his eighth brother had said, inside this book contained some valuable knowledge that would involve Xiao Hua. The content would be embarrassing and personal.

He could not wait to read it.

Chapter 15: Don't fall in love with my beautiful face

The trio returned to their seats just in time before the Emperor and Empress arrived.

Everyone stood up, paid their respects, and sat back down when the Emperor permitted them.

The place was crowded as every fifth-ranked minister and above was invited to join the celebration. Their family members were invited as well, except for the concubine born children.

Yet Liu Chu Chu was the exception to that expectation, as she was the Second Prince's future princess consort as well as the Legendary Doctor Bai's apprentice. As Liu Chu Chu had publicly broken ties with her family members for wrongly accusing her of murdering her legitimate born elder sister, she was allowed to share the Second Prince's table without caring about etiquette. For today's festive event, she dressed in a bright red robe that resembled a wedding dress. As she always wore red, there was no longer anyone that was overly shocked by how she dressed.

Her innocent looking face was extremely lovable today, and the Second Prince seemed to agree with that too, for he was always caught staring at his future consort with a smitten smile on his face.

The Eighth Prince suddenly understood why Xiao Hua said that the Second Prince was rather cheesy.

After the Emperor finished the annual sacrificial ceremony to the Gods, the next event began. The representatives from smaller countries inside the Guilin Kingdom would have to present their gift to the Guilin Emperor one at a time.

Long Zhu lazily, yet charmingly ate the prepared snacks that were displayed on his table. A cup filled with tea on his table had gone cold and a serving maid glanced at it worriedly for the Third Prince had not drunk even a sip of it.

The poor serving maid thought that there was something wrong with the tea but the Third Prince's tongue was actually spoiled by Xiao Hua's tea. He could no longer drink the teas that were not brewed by Xiao Hua.

Fortunately, An Jing had foreseen it and made an appropriate backup plan. An Wan, the only inner maid that followed the Third Prince into the palace today, discreetly took away the cold tea and replaced it with a new cup of tea.

"Your Highness, this tea was personally brewed by Elder Sister Hua this morning." Without any reluctance, he picked up the cup and took a sip. With just a sip, Long

Zhu could confirm it was indeed brewed by Xiao Hua.

The serving maid that had witnessed the whole interaction felt a little insulted. She was one of the Empress' second-ranked maids and was personally tasked to serve the Third Prince today. The tea was personally brewed by her, with one of the best tea leaves in the Guilin Kingdom. Yet the Third Prince did not even taste it and only paid attention to the snacks on the table.

The serving maid could feel the phantom slap on her face when the Third Prince's maid removed her tea and replaced it with hers. She felt another phantom slap on her cheek when the Third Prince drank it and did not stop his maid constantly refilling it.

The snacks were discarded, no longer worthy of his attention.

"This King is here to visit Guilin's Emperor with gifts for the New Year." A deep, smoky voice of a man with a forceful presence caught everyone's attention and the silent whispering died down. He had waited until everyone had presented their gift before presenting his.

They were surprised that the King of Munzhu would personally come to greet the Emperor of Guilin. The rumours of his bad temper and his hatred towards the royal families were well known to anyone interested

The King of Munzhu was not as handsome as the Second Prince, but he was the more masculine between the two. There was something wild under his polite smokescreen and it was actually what most older ladies would go crazy about. His hair looked rough and untamed, matching the wild look in his eyes.

Most of the madams had married boring, book smart officials; hence they were not that good in pleasing their wives in bed as they tended to put their own pleasure as their first priority. Even if there were husbands that pleased their wives, it could be considered as rare. They were men with many wives and concubines, who then expected their concubines and wives to please their husband, not the other way around.

It was unknown how the rumour started, but to the madams' newfound knowl-edge, military men were rather adventurous in bed and had more stamina. They could not conduct a survey, as they had too little subject to interview, but Madam Ping looked radiant after her marriage and it was widely known that General Tang had kept his wife in bed for three days!

They could die in envy! (><)°

"To have the King of Munzhu travel from afar, We hope you will enjoy the celebration to the fullest with Us."

"This King will do that." The King of Munzhu had said it as if one was talking to someone with equal standing when the truth was that he was just a King of a small country while the other was the Emperor of a large Kingdom that was made up of a few smaller countries inside of it.

"This King had prepared a gift for Prince Long Zhu when I heard it was your birthday yesterday. Mithu, pass the gift."

Long Zhu placed down his cup, giving the King of Munzhu a wide grin, looking like a boy of his age. "This prince likes presents. If you have the time, I can give you a tour around the palace as thanks for your gift."

An Wan accepted the long silver box from the King of Munzhu's servant and returned back to the Third Prince's side.

"I will gladly accept that invitation."

The Emperor nodded with a smile, pleased at how hospitable his most beautiful son was but, on the other hand, the Empress was suspicious.

It was rather strange that her son would give a stranger such a wide and genuine smile. Normally, she would have assumed Long Zhu was just being friendly, but what she had witnessed two nights ago had horrified her and shaken her belief. Her son was the most beautiful man in the world and it was inevitable that some men would have dirty, immoral ideas towards him.

Fortunately, she had a good plan to protect her son!

The Empress laughed gently, and placed a hand softly on the Emperor's upper arm, catching his attention. "Your Majesty, the Third Prince is now seventeen years old.

Won't this be a good time to choose a suitable bride for him as all the suitable candidates have gathered here today?"

Long Lian, who was seated just below her mother, glanced up at her sharply. The silver chopstick in her hand snapped into two, earning a horrified gasp from Tang Mei. The princess must be very agitated to be able to snap the silver chopsticks in two!

"Mother Empress, this daughter thinks that might be too soon for my third brother to marry," Long Lian quickly slipped into the conversation. "My eldest brother has not even married yet."

"Eh?" The Crown Prince turned to their direction upon hearing someone mentioning him.

"Third Prince, what did the King of Munzhu give you anyway?" Yang Ling asked loudly from his seat, which was not far from the Third Prince's assigned seat and effectively changed the topic.

Advisor Yang just shakes his head but does not stop his son's antics. This was not the first time his son had acted this way.

But there was someone that refused to change the subject.

"The Empress is right. It is indeed the right age for the Third Prince to choose a princess consort," Minister Bin spoke up, caressing his short beard. "Your Majesty, right now every eligible young lady worthy of the Third Prince has gathered here.

Perhaps the Third Prince is interested in one of these noble ladies?"

The eligible and of age young ladies that were interested in the Third Prince either blushed or did their best to make eye contact with the Third Prince.

"Minister Bin wants to be a matchmaker for the Third Prince now that his daughters are all married?" Yang Ling said loudly, not at all caring that he was being rude.

"By the way, where's your eldest daughter? Hey Sir Xu Ming, where's your wife? Is she punished to be the guard dog of your house? Are you angry because your wife likes the Emperor?"

There were discreet coughs and whispers among the guests. The twisted rumours of Madam Bin Tang aiming to be the Emperor's wife were widely spread around. She had boldly decided to choose a partner for Princess Long Lian, acting just like a mother would towards her daughter.

Xu Ming, who was seated beside the red-faced Minister Bin, cooly replied, "This official's wife is not feeling well. To avoid spreading her illness, she chose to be ab-sent." He stood up and bowed at the Emperor and Empress. "This subject hopes that the Emperor and Empress would look over this subject's wife's rudeness."

"A sick person should rest." The Emperor dismissed without care. If he was to care for every single woman that took interest in him, he would not even have time to sleep!

"Say, King of Munzhu." Yang Ling turned to the King of Munzhu who was coincidentally seated across from him. "Did you receive the painting of beauty from Minister Bin? What do you think of the youngest Bin daughter? I heard she's pretty but a little touched in her head. Ah, did I remember the wrong dates? Has she already been sent over to you? Did the Bin's youngest daughter please you?"

Advisor Yang spurted out the wine he was drinking and coughed violently.

"Father, why are you so clumsy? Didn't I already tell you to drink slowly at your age?" Yang Ling patted his father's back carefully until the coughing fit subdued. "One day you will accidentally choke to death with that speed drinking! Don't assume you

Advisor Yang took a deep breath and held back his anger. This is not a suitable place to scold his son!

The King of Munzhu surprisingly showed goodwill to Yang Ling, who he had crossed swords with on the battlefield. "This King has yet to know your name." Yang Ling grinned devilishly and introduced himself. "My name is Yang Ling, age fifteen. I'm male so don't fall in love with my beautiful face!"

The awkward atmosphere from Yang Ling's blunt questioning earlier dispersed as the guests laughed at how shamelessly he had introduced himself.

And just like that, the Empress' plan was sabotaged.

Chapter 16: Scientific Curiosity

"Turns out the King of Munzhu had rejected the second daughter of Minister Bin! He even says she's too ugly to be his maid!" The Eighth Prince laughed as he retold what had happened during the celebration to Xiao Hua.

The Third Prince and the Eighth Prince had surprisingly returned early. The Third Prince checked how she was doing before leaving to do something important, with the Eighth Prince staying back to keep the 'sick' Xiao Hua's company, who was forced to remain in bed.

To make conversation easier, the Eighth Prince had dragged a stool next to the bed to sit down. Eunuch Heng was forced to wait outside with Da Bei, who was right outside of her room, acting as a bodyguard.

"Don't be mean," Xiao Hua chastised lightly.

"What? Do you pity her? Did you forget it's the eldest daughter that tried to harm Long Lian?"

"You repeated that so many times that even if I don't want to remember, I would,"

Xiao Hua said dryly. "But the younger sister is rather pitiful."

"This is called karma! The evil father and the evil elder sister are the one that harmed her!"

"I know, your novel did include Bin Tang, the heroine's sidekick, who has a crazy younger sister."

The Eighth Prince tsk-ed in annoyance. "Right now, we are on the Third Prince and Long Lian's side so we must not pity them!"

"Luckily your novel is full of plot holes or else Long Lian won't be able to counter-attack," Xiao Hua remarked and even gave him a grateful smile.

"Shut it! Who's the one that says this world is not my novel?"

"Me," Xiao Hua admitted without a shred of embarrassment. "But it's a good reference."

"Hmph!" Heise crossed his arms. "That's because my novel is awesome."

Xiao Hua rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "Where is Long Lian?"

"She says she will come later. Why are you being moody?" The Eighth Prince suddenly asked, catching Xiao Hua off guard.

"What?"

"You are still okay, but when I was halfway through my story, you suddenly looked gloomy."

"I... I did?" Xiao Hua touched her face nervously. She thought she had managed to hide her feelings, but who would have expected the terrible poker face Heise could see through her mask?

"Spill!"

As if this young lady would admit I'm depressed at the thought of the Third Prince getting married in future! (°u°4)

Xiao Hua quickly returned the question. "You should spill instead. What's with those dark circles under your eyes?"

The Eighth Prince's face suddenly crumbled like quicksand, his whole posture wilted like a flower deprived of sunlight. The dark circles around his eyes looked even more prominent on the rapidly paling face.

"What...what's wrong with you?!"

"The Empress caught us." The Eighth Prince covered his face in despair and she barely caught what he said.

"Caught what?" Xiao Hua asked in panic. Did the Empress find out they were trans-migrators? She grabbed his shoulder and shook him. "How did you get caught? Aren't you supposed to be careful?"

"I am being careful! I made sure it's night time with no one around before I made a move!"

"Then how the heck did the Empress find out, huh?!"

"How was I supposed to know she would suddenly visit me during late night when I should be asleep! Who would visit a sleeping person!"

"What did she see? Did you spill everything?" Xiao Hua hissed urgently. The Empress had not sent anyone to haul her in for questioning so maybe the Eighth Prince managed to lie his pants off about his trip to the library.

"Of course I did not spill everything! She only saw us kissing!" (.. • Huh?

"Luckily I didn't do anything more than kissing but just kissing is enough to drive the Empress crazy!"

(-). • • Huh??

"So I just made up some bullshit about kissing Eunuch Heng because it's a form of affection, blah blah blah and that I just copied what the Emperor did to the concubines-"

"Wait!" Xiao Hua held up her hand. "I don't understand!"

"What do you mean you don't understand?"

"What kissing?" Xiao Hua asked solemnly, her initial panic already gone.

"Are you stupid? I'm talking about me and Eunuch Heng kissing and the Empress caught us. Which part of it that you don't understand, idiot? Or do you mean you don't know how men kiss? Hey, why did you pull out a knife - hey! Hey! Hey! Why are you throwing them at me?!"

"So did you get punished?" Xiao Hua calmly sipped her tea, looking composed and proper in contrast to the slightly ruffled Eighth Prince that was breathing hard with flushed cheeks.

The Eighth Prince glared at her but still replied to her question. "No. She thinks I'm just being innocent so she just punished Eunuch Heng lightly."

"Oh?" Xiao Hua arched an eyebrow, surprised. "So the Empress thinks you are to be blamed for everything and views your Eunuch as the innocent party."

"Hey! That's not true! It's only because of who Eunuch Heng is!"

"Huh? Who is Eunuch Heng?"

"Hmm... it was supposed to be a secret, so don't tell anyone."

"But you are telling me...?"

"You are different. You are my best friend."

Xiao Hua gaped at the Eighth Prince in surprise, who had also realized what he had just said. His face turned red as he stammered. "Don't..don't misunderstand! In this world, I can only talk to you without needing to lie and all, so you are my best friend here! When we return to our world, we will be strangers!"

Xiao Hua smiled, placing down her empty cup at the corner of her bed and reached out to hug the Eighth Prince. "You are my best friend too. But I hope I can still be your friend when we get back."

"Do... do whatever you want!"

Xiao Hua laughed and pulled away. "So who is Eunuch Heng?"

Relieved that the topic shifted, he answered excitedly, "You won't believe it! He's actually sent by the second male lead to protect the Eighth Prince!"

"What? Why?" The second male lead was Duke Heng, a person that did not want to get involved with the princes' infighting for the throne. So why would he want to protect the Eighth Prince?

"Turns out, the Eighth Prince's mother is actually the second male lead's elder sis-ter, so he's actually the Eighth Prince's maternal uncle."

"So the Empress knew about it and let Eunuch Heng stay by your side." Xiao Hua concluded, "She isn't a bad person."

The Eighth Prince shrugged. "She's an okay person."

"Wait... Eunuch Heng, Duke Heng... could it be Eunuch Heng is a family member?"

"No way! How the second male lead could send a family member to... to be a eu-nuch! He will have to...to.." In the end, the Eighth Prince could not finish his sentence due to horror and he even pressed his thighs together as if his family jewels could be cut off just from talking about it.

"How old is Eunuch Heng anyway?" Xiao Hua asked curiously. "To be so brave and agree to be a Eunuch," the Eighth Prince flinched from the word, "and he looked quite young."

"I just realize I don't know how old he is.."

"So you could be seducing a jailbait for all you know. Tsk, you dirty old man."

"I'm twenty-two years old! Besides, I'm in a ten-year-old's body so I'm not old!"

"So you just had him commit a crime with the underage you."

"Do not!"

"So how did he react to your kiss?" Xiao Hua leered.

The Eighth Prince sighed dreamily as he reminisced. "During the early days, he looked disturbed but he never pushed me away. Now he just lets me do whatever I want to him, so that means he feels the same way towards me."

"Or you are his master and he has no choice but to go along with you or else he will be punished." Xiao Hua mercilessly poured cold water on him.

"Hey! Why are you always being mean to me?"

"I'm not being mean. I'm just thinking realistically." Because it's fun, duh? "Did you ask if he likes being kissed?"

"I did not ask him."

So her best friend prefers to steal lips, huh?

"But there is something weird. I... I felt something below him when I hugged him."

"Huh?" Xiao Hua blushed in realization. "The...the male part?"

"Aren't eunuchs supposed to have... that part ..... chopped off?" The Eighth Prince asked hesitantly.

"Do you know how it works? Is it really chopped off?" Xiao Hua asked in a morbid curiosity.

The Eighth Prince stared at her in horror. "How on earth would I know?! I won't even dare to find out something like that! But history did mention eunuchs no longer having that part as they were chopped off."

"Oh.but is it true? Don't you ever wonder about it?"

"The heck...why would I wonder about it?! I'm a guy and it's a sensitive topic to me!"

"But you love Eunuch Heng, don't you? That means you have to accept all of him, including his... absent parts! So what if you are the 'gong'l4)? Even a 'shou' I5) would need a working part. Oh, can he still have release? If you are the only one having fun, it's not so nice, isn't it?"

The Eighth Prince's face was funny to look at, alternating from red to white with a scrunched up expression. "I... I don't know! We still don't know if he really got... chop... chop..argh!"

"Then we will just have to ask Eunuch Heng, right?" Xiao Hua proposed with an innocent expression.

The Eighth Prince was contemplating it before standing up and marched towards the door, not noticing Xiao Hua doing a fist pump gesture behind him. He opened the door and wavered slightly when he saw Eunuch Heng immediately approaching him eagerly.

"Er... you come in!"

"The Third Prince said he's not allowed to enter," Da Bei declined strictly.

"Da Bei, can you let Eunuch Heng in? We would like to ask him something, pri-vately." Xiao Hua asked in such a sweet and innocent way that Da Bei softened slight-ly.

"What do you want to know from Eunuch Heng?" What does she want to know that he can't answer?

"Like what's his age... and stuff." Da Bei stared at Xiao Hua until she fidgeted uncomfortably before he finally allowed Eunuch Heng in.

"Thank you, Da Bei!" Xiao Hua gushed before Da Bei closed the door with the three of them inside.

"What do you wish to know, Your Highness?" Eunuch Heng asked enthusiastically.

The Eighth Prince looked embarrassed and Xiao Hua realized this was not something she should be seeing. "Erm, the two of you take your time." She dropped the bed curtains to cover her view.

"Hey, what are you doing Xiao Hua?" The Eighth Prince asked in disbelief.

"It would be wrong for me to look!" Xiao Hua's voice ended up in a high pitch from nervousness.

"It's....it's for science! So why are you hiding?!"

"Science your head! I'm not going to see a man's p...p..."

"Penis?"

"Shut up! This is embarrassing!"

"Do you think that's not embarrassing for me? You will see it with me!" The Eighth

Prince marched over and pushed the curtain apart roughly.

"My lovely curtain!" Xiao Hua wailed.

"Tie it back up or I will rip it!"

"You meanie!" But Xiao Hua still tied up the curtains.

"Your Highness?" Eunuch Heng stared at his master in confusion when the Eighth

Prince faced him with a determined look.

"I... I order you to strip!" The Eighth Prince ordered with an overly red face and

Xiao Hua face palmed.

Are they satisfying their scientific curiosity or are they asking a gigolo to strip?!

Chapter 17: I refuse to be your bed warmer!

"Y our - your Highness?!" Eunuch Heng shrieked in an unmanly manner and clutched the front of his clothes like a maiden that was going to be taken advantage of. His face was as red as the Eighth Prince's, who was no longer able to meet his eunuch's wronged gaze.

It was actually embarrassing for the innocent third party! She was pretty convinced that she was actually witnessing a lover's interaction!

"Let us see your private parts!" The Eighth Prince continued to stuff his feet deeper into his mouth since he had already gone this far.

Eunuch Heng's mouth gaped at an impressive length, looking about to faint from shock.

Honestly, Xiao Hua had not wanted to speak a word to avoid making things even more awkward for the young eunuch, but at this rate, her pig teammate would lead them to death. It was rather fortunate that the Eighth Prince's embarrassment had diluted her mortification. She had not seen a naked man's body, not even her ex-boyfriend's before except from BL [6] manga. But she knew better than to believe those perfectly drawn abs in the BL manga were the same as those real-life men.

"Eunuch Heng," Xiao Hua began with a professional tone that Le Xiao Ting usually donned when she was forced by her boss to handle client meetings for him when he refused to wake up before nine-thirty. Her boss always arrived at work after ten in the morning and to compensate for the late arrival, he would work till late at night.

"The Eighth Prince is curious about your anatomy. With regard to your current profession, you should have undergone a... delicate adjustment to your body in order to get employed for the position. The Eighth Prince, just like any other child, is curious about what it looks like."

Praise this young lady! She had just spat out advanced mandarin words! It does not matter if they understand what she just said because she certainly does not, but they just need to know she looks cool!

"Lies! You want to see it too!" Heise pointed out.

Will it kill you to stop pulling aggro towards me? Look! Eunuch Heng had just directed his horrified gaze at me! 

Fine, since her dignity was already halfway gone, just continue with it! Xiao Hua stared at Eunuch Heng earnestly and plagiarized the innocent look from 'Puss in the boots' as she spoke in a soft, pleading way.

"Please, Eunuch Heng. The Eighth Prince wants to see it. Please let us see it."

"But...I'm not-" Eunuch Heng looked panicked.

The Eighth Prince joined in. "Please, Heng!"

"Your Highness, I'm still-"

"Just once!" The Eighth Prince bargained. "You only need to let us see it for one time and we won't ask again! We won't even mention it again!"

Eunuch Heng's whole body was trembling in such a pitiful way that Xiao Hua had half a mind to call it off. Perhaps they will need to ask another eunuch to show them instead.

But will Eunuch Lau Liu show them?

Eunuch Heng moved his hands to his belt and untied it, successfully rendering the Eighth Prince and Xiao Hua's mind into silence. Their eyes were glued onto the hands and then towards the unraveling robe. None of them were aware that they had leaned closer to look.

Team Transmigrator had fallen to this shameless state due to their sick sense of curiosity.

They were also unaware of a new presence that had joined them in the room. Eunuch Heng was too embarrassed to notice and it was too late to stop the incoming karate chop, which packed more strength than needed, on the back of his neck. When Eunuch Heng collapsed onto the ground, unconscious, the Team Transmigrator finally noticed something was wrong.

"Woah! Why are you here?" The Eighth Prince exclaimed in shock.

Xiao Hua's face went deadly pale when she easily recognized who was the new-comer. "Third..Third Prince."

He was staring straight at her with fury blazing in his eyes, ignoring the Eighth Prince. She could not peel her eyes away from feeling like a trapped animal staring at her predator. "Drag them out."

The low, dangerous tone of his made Da Bei move faster than usual, dragging the unconscious Eunuch Heng and the struggling Eighth Prince out of the room. The door was quickly closed as soon as they stepped out of the room.

No! Da Bei, you forgot to bring me out too! \ (° - ° | | |)/

She squealed like a terrified little animal when the Third Prince suddenly appeared right in front of her, looming over her like a thunderous dark cloud that was going to zap out lightning anytime soon.

A large hand cupped the back of her head and forced her to look up to meet his stormy eyes. This action had forced her body to lean closer to him.

"I'm sorry!" Xiao Hua quickly said and shut her eyes in fear. Yes, she believed that as long as she was not looking, it would be less terrifying!

But unfortunately, it only worked when she was watching horror movies...

"I left you with Heise to talk. How did it turn out to have both of you watching a man undressing?"

"We were just c-curious!"

"Curious?" The Third Prince's voice became deeper. "You can satisfy your curiosity

with just any man?"

"What? Of course not! But it would be better to ask Eunuch Heng than Eunuch Lau Liu. He's pretty scary. Eunuch Heng might let us see if he's really chopped cause he's pretty easy to bend- I mean, pretty easy to persuade!"

The Third Prince suddenly tensed and the grip on the back of her head tightened, forcing a pained whimper from her. The grip quickly eased and the Third Prince let out a sigh when he finally realized something.

"Eunuch Heng is not a real eunuch."

"Eh?"

"He pretends to be a eunuch to stay close to my eighth brother."

Xiao Hua opened her eyes in surprise. "Oh!"

... Then why did Eunuch Heng still choose to strip instead of explaining the truth?

"However, no matter the reason, it was still an unacceptable excuse for you to look at another man's body. You will need to be punished."

Before she could protest, he did something that gave her the feeling of déjà vu. The smell of trees entered her nose and a familiar warm and soft thing pressed onto her lips.

Long Zhu stared at Xiao Hua, who had flushed cheeks, dazed eyes, and ragged breath as she greedily inhaled oxygen. This sight of her surprisingly gave him a sense of satisfaction. It was exactly how the book had stated. When he started reading the book his eighth brother had given him, the content gave Long Zhu a great shock. It was a manual on how to court Xiao Hua. There were even detailed drawings beside the explanation, helping Long Zhu to understand the content easily.

For years, he had looked down on men that had succumbed to the pleasure of the flesh, thinking they were weak in mind and body. But today had widened his knowl-edge, as against his expectation, his first kiss was surprisingly nice and helped to warm up his body.

His eyes lingered on the red and swollen lips of Xiao Hua, his eyes darkened in desire without his knowledge. Leaning closer to his little flower, he kissed her once again, learning and practicing how to kiss on the poor, but happily receiving Xiao Hua.

Not long later, the tiny fist rained punches on his chest, which hardly hurt him but he obliged and pulled back, inwardly promising to himself to kiss her again.

"What...what are you doing?!" Xiao Hua yelled angrily. Her hair was in a mess thanks to Long Zhu's hands that had unconsciously gripped onto it. Her hair was not tied up since she was supposed to rest, was spread over the bed, adding more of a sexual appeal to her.

It was unknown when he had pushed her down on the bed with him lying on top of her.

"I refuse to be your bed warmer!"

Long Zhu blinked down at the outraged Xiao Hua and he saw the pain from her expressive eyes. His heart seized and he unconsciously closed his eyes to avoid looking at the pair of accusing eyes. The voice of his teacher surfaced from his memory and rang loudly in his mind as if chastising him.

You need to learn to avoid hurting anyone with your ignorance. This is a lesson that one could never master until their very last breath. This is a lesson everyone should never neglect or forgets.

He knew he was the one that placed the pain in her eyes but he did not know how to fix it. "You..... you don't like it?" Long Zhu asked in a soft whisper.

"It does not matter whether I like it or not!" Xiao Hua snapped and tears clouded her eyes.

Panic squeezed his heart without his control upon seeing the bright, pure eyes that he loved to look at so sad and wounded.

"What did I do? How did I hurt you?" Long Zhu asked, almost pleadingly. He would do almost everything to erase the pain from her, to return the light back to her lovely eyes.

The panic in his voice pierced past the fog of anger and pain that had surrounded Xiao Hua's mind. She took in a deep, ragged breath to calm herself down. The strong desire to run far, far away nearly took over her body, and it was only because of the body on top of her that stopped her from doing so.

As that choice was no longer pickable, she would need to explain until he understood her point. She took another deep breath again before opening her mouth to speak.

"I... I can't" Her voice broke as the pain assaulted her heart, the feeling so familiar that it nearly crushed her spirit. She had not felt this type of pain for years now, and ironically, her second heartbreak was caused by a man with the same face as the one that allowed her to experience her first heartbreak.

She gathered her composure as best as she could and tried again. "I cannot... and will not, accept to be your bed warmer."

"You are not my bed warmer."

Xiao Hua laughed, but it was not a happy or a sad one. It was a laugh of a person that was heartbroken and confused, at a loss in what she should do. "Then what am I?

A maid that you can randomly kiss whenever you like?"

"No!" The Third Prince thundered. "You are important to me!"

That fierce declaration rattled her heart. "How important am I to you?" She asked with a shaky voice, her eyes flashed with unwanted hope.

"Very, very important." The Third Prince leaned down and hugged her close as both of them trembled with violent emotions warring inside them.

"I was taught that I have a right... a right to have a husband that would be faithful to me. I will not accept my husband having more than one wife and a large number of concubines. So please...please don't force me."

The arms around her tightened as her tears fell freely and unrestrained. She cried harder when he pressed his face into her hair and whispered the words she wanted to hear the most, but she could not be happy with just words.

Her heart hurt because she would have to give up on him. She was not generous enough to share the man she loves because she knew she deserved better. The pain in her heart intensified because she knew he would not be faithful to her and she could not demand that from him.

Their love was fragile and new. It was uncertain if it could even last forever.

Then.. would it not be better to kill the root before the flower has the chance to bloom?

Chapter 18: Little brother, thank you for being punished

When Long Lian finally arrived at her third brother's residence, she immediately headed straight to Xiao Hua's room and found a swollen eyed Xiao Hua with a subdued air clinging onto her. The smile on her face when she greeted Long Lian was so fake that it hurt to watch.

"Xiao Hua? What happened?" Long Lian hurried towards the younger girl that was seated on a stool, who she had long thought of as her own sister.

"No. Nothing is wrong." This time Xiao Hua managed to muster up a more genuine smile for Long Lian and added a few more words as she knew her friend would never accept her 'nothing' answer. "T'm just a little upset."

Her previously messy appearance was fixed by An Jing, who the Third Prince had called over after their talk. Fortunately, their swollen lips had returned to normal after a while, or else it would have been harder to explain.

Xiao Hua's lips twisted in a self- mockery smile as she remembered what he said before leaving. 'I will find a way. Wait for me.'

Waiting for him was easy as she has plenty of time in this world. But it would be cruel to hope for an unrealistic future.

"What made you upset? Is it my eighth brother again?" Long Lian huffed in frustration as she gently rolled a warm egg wrapped with a handkerchief over her swollen eyes. It was supposed to be An Jing's task but Long Lian took over without any thought to her status.

Xiao Hua's laughter sounded forced to Long Lian ears. "We were curious about a eunuch's body and the Third Prince stopped us before Eunuch Heng could show us."

"Xiao Hua!" Long Lian scolded Xiao Hua, scandalized. She was taught never to show her skin to people except for her future husband and yet Xiao Hua and her eighth brother wanted to see a eunuch's body!

"The Third Prince has scolded me already," Xiao Hua whined.

"Fine, but never do that again! A lady must never see such a thing!"

"Alright, I know."

Satisfied that Xiao Hua gave her word with an earnest expression, Long Lian finally realized something was abnormal. "Where's my eighth brother?"

"Replying to the princess, this servant knows where the Eighth Prince is," An Jing

spoke up.

"Where is he?"

"The Eighth Prince is currently copying Buddhist scripts as punishment," An Jing

answered as she poured tea for the princess.

"Good for him!" Long Lian exclaimed cheerfully without asking why her brother was given a punishment when Xiao Hua only got a scolding. What matters was he would not be following them!

Little brother, thank you for being punished! d(°v°d)

"Tang Mei! Bring them out!"

Xiao Hua looked on curiously as Tang Mei placed a bag onto a table and untied it, revealing clothes inside it. "What are these for?"

"Let's sneak out to play!"

"Princess, please re-think your decision!" An Jing quickly interjected with a low bow.

"Ah Lian, going out without guards is dangerous, especially for you," Xiao Hua joined An Jing to change Long Lian's mind.

"It's not as if we will not be bringing any guards. Xiao Hua, today there will be interesting things to see because it's the New Year!"

"Will there be lanterns and New Year snacks?" Xiao Hua asked as her interest aroused.

"Yes!"

"Princess, there is no need to go there personally. If you wish to have lanterns and snacks, the servants will buy them for you," An Jing persisted, unlike her teammate who was won over by goodies!

"It's not fun that way," Long Lian complained. "We will dress like commoners and no one will recognize us!"

"Princess-"

"Okay, I will go." Xiao Hua suddenly agreed. Perhaps this outing could distract her for a good while.

"You are the best, Xiao Hua!"

"Elder Sister Hua!"

"Please, Sister An Jing. I've never been outside before. I promise we will only go out for a while," Xiao Hua pleaded, her swollen eyes and the sadness that clung onto her made her appear even more pitiful.

"Alright, but Elder Sister Hua must promise to listen to me and stay close to me or Da Bei. Don't go anywhere without us."

"I promise." Xiao Hua nodded solemnly.

"Yes!" Long Lian let out a loud whoop that was unbefitting of a princess.

«Princess Long Lian, this servant will count on the princess to be aware of your own safety and listen to this servant's instructions."

"Don't worry An Jing, I won't disobey you and lead Xiao Hua to danger." An Jing inwardly wondered why would the princess assume she was worried about Elder Sister Xiao Hua's safety instead of hers?

"Xiao Hua, quick! Change into these clothes!"

___

When Duke Heng brought the King of Munzhu into the secret room, they found a half-drunk prince with a palm supporting his spineless head. The newcomers could see that the prince had been drinking for quite a while, judging from the empty wine bottles surrounding him on the table.

The prince's eunuch seemed to have given up on stopping his young master from drinking and busied himself with relocating the empty wine bottle to a side of the room.

The King of Munzhu sat down on a chair and grabbed an unopened wine bottle to join the lonely prince in drinking. "Such a rare sight, for the great Prince Long Zhu to use alcohol to overcome his troubles."

Long Zhu did not respond to his taunting, much to the disappointment of the King.

Duke Heng took a seat as well, snapped his folding fan shut. "Does it relate to your lovely maid?"

The King of Munzhu nearly choked on the wine that he had just swallowed when Long Zhu suddenly grabbed Duke Heng's clothes from the front and yanked him closer.

"Don't you dare talk about her!"

Duke Heng looked calm despite being the one that was being threatened by the Third Prince that had a demonic expression. "I have no interest in what's yours, Third Prince"

"My prince, please calm down or you will hurt Duke Heng." Eunuch Lau Liu placed a hand on Long Zhu's, who was still grabbing onto Duke Heng's clothes.

"Ho?" The King of Munzhu turned to the Third Prince with interest. "Is this a fight for a girl?"

"King of Munzhu, please refrain from causing trouble." Eunuch Lau Liu gave the young king a pointed look.

"Sir Lau Liu, you have wrongly accused me. I actually found this matter to be rather interesting because I thought Heng Zhen Gan is still in love with Long Zhu's mother."

Duke Heng glared frostily at the King of Munzhu. "Do not utter nonsense, Tian Liang."

The King of Munzhu, Tian Liang threw back his head to completely empty the bottle before moving on to the next one. "Her son was the one that told me. Surely that would be the truth?"

Tian Liang smirked at the Third Prince, who finally released the tight grip on Duke Heng's collar. Knowing it would not be a good idea to continue messing with Duke Heng, who could be revengeful, Tian Liang turned to his more interesting target.

"Who would have thought the great Third Prince of Guilin would have to finally face love trouble?"

As the Munzhu country's King, Tian Liang was the one that led his soldiers to fight with Guilin's army. Long Zhu, the Third Prince of Guilin, had volunteered to lead the war as the Second Prince of Guilin was in the midst of battling the bandits near the South Guilin Village. At first, Tian Liang respected him for being able to hold his own against him, but after a month, he viewed the Third Prince as an annoying fly that could not be killed no matter how hard he tried.

But the one thing that pissed Tian Liang off was how Long Zhu kept on successfully sneaking into his camp, passing his guards, and entering his tent. He did not know if he should be glad that the annoying fly only wanted to talk about an alliance between both countries and not there to assassinate him.

Tian Liang was not born as a prince or a noble. He was just a blacksmith's son that had seen how his family and the commoners had suffered under the control of the previous king. It took years before Tian Liang managed to gather all rebels and successfully overthrow the previous king. He killed him, along with the rest of the blood-line, for he knew that if he left any alive, they would try to kill him at the first oppor-tunity.

He killed all but one.

Once he took over the throne, there was nothing but wars to look forward to, but the annoying fly told him they have the same enemy and after showing him undeniable proof, that was how the war between two countries ended.

"You knew the Emperor and Empress would not allow a lowly maid to serve you as a concubine, not to mention as a bed warmer," Duke Heng said with more venom as payback for messing up his clothes.

Duke Heng was very lucky that Eunuch Lau Liu saved his good-looking face from being smashed by the Third Prince's fist that was filled with raw spiritual energy.

Eunuch Lau Liu sighed in disappointment and did not look as if he had exerted most of his strength to hold back the Third Prince's fist with just a bare hand. "Duke Heng, you are already past thirty years old. Do not act in such a manner unbefitting your age."

"I apologize. Thank you for your help, Sir Lau Liu."

"It would be bad if your brain was injured," Eunuch Lau Liu lamented. Duke Heng was the Guilin Kingdom's previous prime minister, the youngest to ever obtain the position and the youngest to retire.

Tian Liang laughed loudly as he slammed his fist repeatedly on the sturdy table, fitting the image of Guilin's commoner towards him as a barbarian without manners.

Well aware that his brain was the only reason why the Third Prince added him into his secret group, Duke Heng just huffed in response. "Whatever your problem is, ask for advice from your teacher."

The Third Prince snapped his head in Duke Heng's direction so quickly that the onlooker feared that the movement had dislocated something inside of him. His eyes shone with the beginning of hope. "Why didn't you offer your services?"

"I'm not a sage and a love expert. Moreover, my position is not enough even if I adopt your little maid into my family."

The Third Prince's gaze was rather unnerving but Duke Heng could see his brain was working fast from his not-so-subtle hint. Finally, he laughed, and the depression in his eyes withdrew to a large degree. "Unfortunately, that's true. Lau Liu, help me arrange a meeting with my Imperial Grandfather. This prince misses him."

"I will inform the old master that you wish to find out Doctor Bai's location," Eunuch Lau Liu helpfully translated his prince's order.

The Third Prince stared at Eunuch Lau Liu, who was previously his Imperial

Grandfather's eunuch, with brief annoyance before letting him be. Either way, that was the truth.

"Now, let's get back to what we are here for."

Tian Liang snorted rudely and swallowed a large mouthful of wine. "You are the one that's distracted, arsehole."

Long Zhu started the topic of why they were gathered here in the first place. "What

did you manage to find out about the 'Sealed Gate'?"

"Too little, but it's nothing good." Tian Liang grimly drowned himself with more wine to make the conversation more tolerable.

Chapter 19: The story of the Eighth Prince and the maid

Xiao Hua giggled at the sight of a feminine looking guy with a thick mustache that looked out of place on the beautiful face. She ignored the fact that she had a similar mustache on herself as well.

This happened because Long Lian had thought of an idea on how to visit the town without people recognizing them. "If we dressed up as men, no one would bother us!" Xiao Hua did not have the heart to burst Long Lian's confidence. She had watched many Chinese dramas where the female lead would dress up as a guy but trouble would still find them. It was either because the female lead would save a damsel in distress and had the damsel fall in love with her, or having a newly acquired buddy guy that would question his own sexual orientation because of the female lead's al-lure.

"Ah Lian, I don't think I need a beard," Xiao Hua pointed out. "I look like a child

and no child would have a mustache this early, right?"

"...right." With a smile, An Jing helped Xiao Hua to remove the fake mustache.

Long Lian was dressed in dark brown clothes with her hair tied up into a high ponytail. Her generous chest was now a smaller size as they were bound with cloth.

Xiao Hua did not need to wrap her chest and that fact hurt her self-confidence.

This young lady misses her C- cup! (TunT)

Her attire was identical to Long Lian's, except its quality was nicer. There was a lingering smell of herbs coming from the clothes she was wearing, but she did not mind it. Her hair was tied into a high bun with her bangs remaining untouched, leaving it to cover her forehead.

An Jing chose to dress in a more masculine way with a sword strapped at her waist but did not hide her true gender. Da Bei and Da An would follow them as well but they will follow them at a distance without revealing themselves.

Tang Mei was cross-dressing as well, with impressive makeup that made her look like a plain-looking guy. Xiao Hua was amazed and wanted Tang Mei to help her change her face but Long Lian secretly whispered to her that Tang Mei's skill was not that good yet so there might be some risk. She immediately changed her mind after that.

After their carriage dropped them some distance away from the marketplace, they opted to walk. When Xiao Hua saw the huge crowd, she suddenly doubted if she would survive the day without getting separated from Long Lian.

As a precaution, she reached out to hold Long Lian's left hand with her right hand, allowing Long Lian to use her dominant hand freely. Sadly, if they were in trouble, Long Lian would have to be the one that fought for their safety!

"X-Xiao Hua?" Long Lian blushed prettily but the fake mustache destroyed the beautiful view.

"With this, we won't get separated."

Xiao Hua did consider holding An Jing's hand as well, but three people walking in a row would be difficult to achieve in such a huge crowd with limited space. The crowd was mostly commoners, judging from their dressing if they could be believed. "Where should we go first?"

Long Lian looked conflicted as well, not wanting to squeeze into the crowd. The thought of touching people, even if just a brief brush, filled her with nothing but aver-sion. Today was her first time out of the palace, despite what others might think. She had no close friends or maids that she trusted to have this kind of adventure with.

In the end, An Jing was chosen as their tour guide, as Tang Mei could not be relied on, which was told by Long Lian as well.

"As Lord Lian wishes to listen to stories, why don't we have our lunch while listening to them?" An Jing suggested. They had discussed that they would refer to Long Lian as 'Lord Lian' and Xiao Hua would be Long Lian's younger brother. The idea of Xiao Hua as the younger brother was insisted on by Long Lian herself.

"Yes~" Long Lian and Xiao Hua chorused and followed An Jing like little chicks fol- lowing their mother.

They entered a shop with tables arranged in order to leave a wide space at the center of the shop. Most of the customers choose to occupy the seats close to the center so that they could listen to the storytelling clearer. Commoners were usually none culti-vators, with most of their time spent working to feed their family.

An Jing managed to secure a seat away from the crowd, which was right next to the open window. Their spot allowed them some privacy and still be able to listen to the storyteller.

"Welcome, welcome! What would you like to eat and drink?" A well-dressed middle-aged man hurried to their table. He ordered a young servant with a tablecloth draped over a shoulder to wipe their table cleanly.

The manager of the restaurant had sharp eyes and was able to tell that these new customers were born from the house of nobility despite dressing in commoner attire.

There were no calluses on their white skin and their slender, weak limbs were not something commoners could possess.

An Jing took over as she was the only one that knew about this restaurant. "I've heard that your restaurant is famous for lotus root soup and frog porridge?"

"This honoured guest, you are absolutely right! We are also the best at making fried rice!"

Upon hearing fried rice, Long Lian grew interested. Xiao Hua's fried rice was different from how the royal chef had made it, so that means commoner fried rice would be just like Xiao Hua's dish!

"We will have those three," An Jing ordered when she noticed the interested gaze from Long Lian's eyes.

"It will be served momentarily! What would honorable guests like to order for drinks?"

"Tieguanyin," Long Lian said.

"Of course! We also serve good Tieguanyin tea!"

"Owner, when will the storytelling begin?" Long Lian asked, ignoring the manager's self-boosting.

"Ah? I'm just a manager." Seeing their disinterest towards his position, he let out an embarrassed cough and answered the question. "Very soon! He just took a short break!"

Long Lian nodded, satisfied with his answer. "What story would the storyteller be telling today?"

The manager beamed. "It will be the story of our brave Second Prince on his latest victory!"

A customer that happened to walk past their table overheard the manager's words.

"Eh? I've heard that story already."

"Lord Song, welcome to this humble shop!" The manager did the customary greeting before answering. "Not every customer has heard that story before. It was also a request from a few customers that wish to listen to that story."

"If I request the story of the Eighth Prince and the maid, will the storyteller take it?"

"Lord Song, that story must not be mentioned!" The manager whispered hastily, his small eyes eyed around in panic.

"That story is much more interesting than the Second Prince's heroic story. I've lis- tened to it so many times that it's getting boring."

"Can I listen to the Eighth Prince's story as well?" The manager's breath hitched when he saw one of his honorable guests, a young boy with his hair tied up into a bun on top of his head, staring at him with interest.

"This young master, that story is banned," the manager said gravely. "An Imperial edict had passed that no one must speak of that story or they will be fined heavily."

"I will tell you!" Lord Song, without being invited, grabbed a chair and joined their table.

An Jing wanted to remove the newcomer but Long Lian said, "Well, it certainly sounds much more interesting than the story of the Second Prince's heroic accom-plishment."

"Well said!"

The manager tried to change his frequent customer's mind. "Lord Song, you will be fined!"

"I have enough money to pay three times the amount of fine. And did you see any guards rushing here to stop me?"

"I will pay for the fine if you are punished," Long Lian promised generously.

"I... I will pay too," Xiao Hua offered since she wanted to listen as well. She would have to borrow money from Long Lian and slowly pay back the debt.

"Did my brother give you money?" Long Lian asked. "It should not be enough to cover the fine so I will pay for it."

"But-"

Lord Song suddenly applauded. "Such a good uncle you have, little boy! Just accept your uncle's kindness. You can always return it when you get older and earn your own money!"

Xiao Hua did her best to hide her laughter but Long Lian seemed as if she was going to blow up with how red her face was becoming. She quickly placed a hand over Long Lian's to calm her down. "Lord Song gave good advice! I will definitely remember it!"

Still annoyed, Long Lian turned to the manager. "How long does it take for the dish to arrive?"

"Very soon, honourable customer! Please wait for a little longer!" He was ashamed to admit he was too distracted to pass the order to the kitchen. He quickly fled to the kitchen and had them prepare the honourable guests' dishes first.

"Now, which version do you want to listen to?" Lord Song asked

"Version?"

"I've managed to listen to three versions before the edict arrived."

"What's the first version about?" Xiao Hua asked.

"The Third Prince's maid had seduced the innocent Eighth Prince and asked for a rare beast to prove his love towards her."

Xiao Hua: *--*

Chapter 20: Little Uncle, your mustache is slipping

"I t's clearly a foolish story," Long Lian retorted in a disagreeable tone. "The story of the Third Prince and his maid is much more believable!"

How is that so?

"Every first version of a story is faulty! Listen to the second version, it's more be-lievable! The Third Prince is worried about his younger brother and decided to send his personal maid to take care of the Eighth Prince! The maid is very caring and natu-rally, the Eighth Prince had fallen for her. The maid, unable to resist the Eighth Prince's doting attention, had also ended up falling for him! The Eighth Prince decided to find a rare beast to prove to everyone that he truly loves her!"

Xiao Hua: "..." The fuck?

"Impossible! The Eighth bro - Prince should have his own servant to attend to his needs!"

"We, commoners, don't know the truth anyway, but even if we manage to guess the

truth, they won't come out and admit it!"

Xiao Hua made a half-choking and half growling sound, earning An Jing's worried gaze.

"What's the third version?" Long Lian demanded, her posture was the exact model of a battle-ready soldier.

"This..." Lord Song eyed Xiao Hua. "The third version is not suitable for a kid's ears."

THE FUCK?! (# M )=0#(#3)

This lady wants to flip the table! Heise, the next time this young lady sees you, let's hope you are able to dodge my knives or you will say bye-bye to the living world!

"Is it violent and bloody?" Long Lian asked.

Xiao Hua suspects it was actually PG-18 but...

"Hah... little kids will need to start learning anyway so it's fine to hear it."

"Wait.." Xiao Hua was finally able to break out from her cage of silence and reached out to stop Lord Song but her voice ended up too soft.

"The Eighth Prince needs a lot of help as his mind isn't working right. That includes bathing him! But his body has needs like any growing boy and that maid accidentally awakened the beast with her sensual caress! She took advantage of it, seducing and dominating him in bed! With her voluptuous body, it's easy for the innocent prince to fall into her trap!"

"..I want to vomit." Xiao Hua's face was already turning into a light shade of green.

Who would want to do the deed with that kid?! And since when do I have a voluptuous body?

"That's enough, Lord Song," An Jing cut in. She had allowed him to continue his storytelling earlier as the princess and Xiao Hua wanted to listen to it.

But the third version was not appropriate for the younger ladies to listen to. Xiao Hua looked sick and Long Lian's face was spotted with a faint blush. Tang Mei's face was red as well, and occasionally sneaking glances at Xiao Hua with knowing eyes.

...This is slander! Flips table!!! (*°°) +

Spotting a guy waving a hand to get his attention, Lord Song stared at them apolo-getically, "What a timing, my friends are here and looking for me. Do you want to arrange a day to listen to the story in detail?"

"There's no need for that, Lord Song," An Jing declined. "The stories are not suited for my 'young" masters. Thank you, Lord Song, for indulging with my young masters' curiosity."

Lord Song grinned, looking like a scoundrel. "I was once their age after all." He stood up and stretched. "Little Uncle, your mustache is slipping."

Long Lian's hand quickly flew to her mustache, where the edge of it was hanging loosely. Tang Mei quickly helped her princess to stick the mustache back. Lord Song laughed and walked away with a back wave.

The tea arrived at the same time with the dishes, but Xiao Hua could not find her appetite. Her mind was still on the vile stories starring her and the Eighth Prince. She had heard of what happened during Long Lian's birthday banquet and how the Eighth Prince had shocked everyone with the cow and his bold announcement of giving it to Xiao Hua.

She really should have expected people would gossip about it, especially in this time period when people do not have many hobbies to occupy their free time.

An Jing's movement was quick and did not draw attention as she poked silver needles into each dish, checking for poison. After confirming the food and drinks were safe, she poured the tea into the empty cups for her young masters.

Xiao Hua absentmindedly watched An Jing's movement and silently thought to herself that the checking would be useless if it was the surface of the cup that had poison.

"Hmph! Obviously it's my third brother that's better suited with Xiao Hua," Long Lian grumped under her breath as she waited for Tang Mei to fill her bowl with fried rice.

They had opted not to order large portions, planning to save more space in their stomach for snacks when they strolled around the street.

"Young master, are the dishes not to your liking?" An Jing asked when Xiao Hua did not pick up her spoon to eat the fried rice that An Jing had scooped onto the bowl.

"Sorry, I'm just thinking about something.." Xiao Hua picked up her spoon and stared at the dark brown fried rice that seemed to be cooked with some sort of dark sauce.

The rice was small and oily, not at all appetizing like Xiao Hua's fried rice and Long Lian agreed after trying a bite.

"This tasted nothing like your fried rice. It's even worse than the fried rice I've eaten at home." Long Lian placed down her chopstick and picked up a spoon to try the frog porridge and immediately put down her spoon after a small bite.

Curious about the princess' reaction, Xiao Hua scooped some porridge to taste it.

"Hmm, it's pretty okay."

The look when Long Lian stared at Xiao Hua was filled with sympathy. Her future sister-in-law was never choosy when it came to food. Sighing with disappointment, Long Lian picked up her teacup and took a sip. Unconsciously frowning, she took another sip before stopping.

"I apologize, Lord Lian. It seems that this servant's information was not accurate." An Jing would have stood up and kneel for forgiveness but it would not be appropriate at their current place.

Noticing Long Lian's dislike towards the tea, Xiao Hua tasted the tea and found nothing wrong with it.

"What's wrong with the tea?" Xiao Hua asked curiously.

The pity in Long Lian's eyes grew pronounced as she stared at Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua, who recognized that look, wanted to facepalm herself. Le Xiao Ting was not a tea expert and as long as the tea was not bitter, she would drink it.

"Don't drink low-grade tea, little brother." Long Lian took the teacup that was still in Xiao Hua's hand and put it down on the table. "Let's leave. The food here is ter-rible." She had not tasted the lotus root soup, but she knew it would taste terrible as well.

"It would be a waste of food!" Xiao Hua protested.

"Young Master, you do not need to force yourself to eat it," An Jing coaxed, treating her just like a child.

"They don't taste that bad," Xiao Hua insisted. "I cannot say anything about the fried rice but the frog porridge is pretty good."

"Ah Hua-"

"Ah Lian, if we leave with barely eaten food, the manager would think something is wrong with their dishes or with their service."

"There is something wrong with their dishes."

"No, there's nothing wrong with these dishes," Xiao Hua said, almost pleading for Long Lian to understand. "Ah Lian, to the commoners, this standard is already the best they had ever tasted."

Long Lian's eyes slowly widened in understanding before it turned to guilt. "I'm sorry. I'm being picky and demanding, aren't I?"

Xiao Hua grinned in relief. "A bit, but then you got the right to be, with who you are ... Can you wait until I finish off the porridge and tea?"

Sorry fried rice, but this young lady is afraid my stomach won't be able to stand your oiliness!

"I- I will eat too!" Long Lian picked up her spoon and started eating the fried rice.

Xiao Hua could have stopped her but she just grinned and leave her be. "Sis- I mean, An Jing, Tang Mei, why don't you eat too?" She faintly nodded her head at the struggling Long Lian.

Tang Mei quickly started scooping up fried rice onto an extra bowl. "I will eat too!"

"This will be the only time you are allowed to," Long Lian warned her maid. Servants were not allowed to eat with their master, much less sharing food, but the food in front of her must be wiped clean!

Xiao Hua scooped the lotus root soup from the large pot until it filled up the empty small bowl and passed it to An Jing. "Have some soup as well! Your throat must be dry."

An Jing's smile was especially warm and gentle and she accepted the bowl. "Thank you, young master."

"..You know, I can pretend to be Ah Lian's servant..."

"No! Today, you will be my younger brother!" Long Lian insisted. Even if she did not get to call Xiao Hua as 'sister' now, it would satisfy her to call Xiao Hua as her little brother!

"It would have been more believable if you got rid of the mustache..."

"Is this mustache that bad?" Long Lian whined. She loved the mustache as it was fun.

"It's unhygienic if you don't clean it after eating." Xiao Hua blurted out as she remembered seeing a foreigner eating, with most of his food consumed by his thick, long beard.

"Huh?"

Trying to cover her randomness, she changed the topic. "Nothing. The mustache makes you look older and do you remember what Lord Song called you? He thought you were my uncle."

Long Lian: «." Don't want to remember! (O 0 8)a=0)::>

Long Lian ripped off the fake mustache with annoyance and tossed it aside, which Tang Mei quickly picked up to be disposed of later.

"Call me big brother!"

Xiao Hua giggled as she obediently called, "Yes, big brother."

Like Xiao Hua had expected, the manager was shocked when he saw the beard-less

Long Lian when they - it was An Jing actually - paid for their food.