Chapter 35: Don't get caught by the Emperor

After Bai Mi has her fun, Xi Zirui is presented with gifts from her and all high ranking consorts and concubines. He accepts them all gracefully, if with a stiff smile and a slight eye-twitch.

From Jade combs, jade hair ornaments, gold crowns and hairpins, rings, necklaces, earrings that he can't wear because the original Xi Zirui's ears aren't pierced, to the more practical such as inkstones and smooth buttery paper for writing letters, he's presented with every manner of gifts.

But most of all he gets fans. Fans in every colour of the rainbow, folding fans, and rigid oval fans. Their decorations ranging from picturesque nature scenes to poetic four-character sayings.

"This Empress will ask the servants to have all the gifts delivered to little brother's quaint residence," Bai Mi says. There's a ripple of laughter in the hall at the words 'quaint residence' likely originating from the concubines with more lavish accommodation, or at least, rooming closer to the Emperor's own quarters.

Xi Zirui thanks Bai Mi for her great generosity again, and turns to leave when she stops him by poking his shoulder with her folded fan. "I think this gift little brother should take with himself."

She takes a green silk oval fan from the pile, its white handle carved from whale bone, and hands it to Xi Zirui. "I picked this fan especially because I thought it would match little brother's new robes." Her smile grows teeth. "As 'raggedy' as younger brother might find them, I think he looks fetching in them. Green brings out little brother's dark eyes."

Xi Zirui's eye twitches some more as he takes the fan from Bai Mi's hands.

---

It feels like hours have passed when he's finally released from the Hall of Glimmering Virtue. Xiao Gou waits for him outside, as do a number of other servants who work for lower ranking concubines and as such weren't allowed inside the Hall.

His innocent face breaks out in a smile as soon as he sees Xi Zirui. "Xi-fei, it's such a nice day, how about we go for a walk in the Imperial gardens? I've never been."

Some passing concubines give them judgmental looks from behind their fans and long sleeves. Sneering at the way Xiao Gou clings to Xi Zirui's arm, and Xi Zirui lets him.

They can all get fucked. After the ordeal he went through, Xi Zirui deserves to spend some time in the company of someone who doesn't despise him.

He runs his fingers over Xiao Gou's prickly head, and says, "That sounds like an excellent idea, let's go."

---

It really was a great idea to enjoy some fresh air.

Xi Zirui feels better already just feeling the mild autumn breeze gust softly past him. The time shortly after the Autumn equinox is his favourite, when the weather has yet to turn cold, and the trees still have most of their leaves. He and Xiao Gou stroll without direction through the manicured gravel paths, under sculpted archways, dipping their fingertips in every fountain they walk pass.

Xiao Gou's childish joy at everything he sees lifts Xi Zirui's spirits. He has half a mind to run through the garden himself, and fuck it if someone catches him at it.

He's following Xiao Gou as he hops and skips over a colorful section of pavement, when he stops suddenly, almost making Xi Zirui bump into him.

He turns around with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry Xi-fei, I think I heard the sound of swords."

Xi Zirui strains his ear and sure enough, he too can hear the distinct air displacement of a blade cutting through the wind.

"Someone must be training."

Xiao Gou nods distractedly, looking in the direction of the sound with longing written all over his small features.

Xi Zirui sighs. He has no interest in watching some sweaty guard go over his morning calisthenics, but he was a child once too, and he understands Xiao Gou's fascination.

"Go on then," he says waving forward with the green fan. "Go see what it is."

Xiao Gou giggles and runs off the path and into the grass, following the sound behind a decorative wall with ivy climbing up its sides.

Xi Zirui follows after him leisurely, more out of concern that the person, or people, he walks into might give him a hard time for being a servant walking so carelessly around the Imperial Gardens.

He almost drops his fan when he sees who exactly is training.

With the upper half of his robes tied around his waist, Han Yu is standing in the middle of a patch of short grass, practicing his sword forms with his slim back turned to the wall Xiao Gou and Xi Zirui just came around from.

Xi Zirui can't help following the path of the beads of sweat down the valley of his spine, admiring the athletic shift of his shoulder blades as he lifts the sword. In the previous world as in this one Han Yu is lightly muscled all over, a slim swimmer's build. Even though Xi Zirui is sure Crown Prince Han Yu has never swam in anything other than a hot spring.

Xiao Gou gasps when Han Yu slices through a falling leaf. The noise alerts him to someone else's presence.

He smirks when he notices Xi Zirui standing stockstill like a child caught with his hand inside the candy jar.

The combined power of that white smirk and the view of those trim abs is too much for Xi Zirui. He can't help remembering the last time they had sex and the way he rubbed himself to orgasm all over that tight stomach.

He can feel his face heating up under Han Yu's amused stare. He lifts the silk fan in front of his face, hoping to hide his damning blush.

It's not a good idea to entertain that type of thought while his situation is still so precarious.

He's a lowly concubine and Han Yu is the Crown Prince.

But it's so hard when Han Yu looks like an extravagant meal and Xi Zirui feels like he's been fasting for days.

Han Yu wipes the sweat on his forehead with the back of his wrist, devastating Xi Zirui with the view of his lean bicep, and approaches him and Xiao Gou. "I didn't expect to see Xi-fei out here."

"Xiao Gou wanted to have a look around the gardens," Xi Zirui says, fanning himself a little.

Why won't Han Yu pull up his robes? How immodest for the Crown Prince to be walking around half-naked.

Meanwhile, Xiao Gou is looking up at Han Yu and the sword he's carelessly holding in his right hand in awe, his gap-toothed mouth hanging slightly open.

Han Yu snorts at look of wonder in the little boy's face, and rubs his prickly bald head. "Are you Xiao Gou?" the boy nods. "What do you think of the gardens?"

"Really beautiful, Your Highness," Xiao Gou says, his eyes wide.

Han Yu spares a quick glance at Xi Zirui's downcast eyes and his smile widens. "And your Master? What do you think of him?"

"Really beautiful, Your Highness," Xiao Gou replies, nodding fervently.

Xi Zirui frowns behind his fan. Is that all this child thinks of him? He expected Xiao Gou to praise him for being nice or kind. Beauty says nothing about one's character.

Xi Zirui, for instance, has outstanding character and is a pinnacle of rectitude.

Han Yu is a shameless dog who is using a small child to tease him.

Curse his appalling taste in men that Xi Zirui finds his self-satisfied smirk so attractive.

"Let's move along, Xiao Gou, we're bothering His Highness," Xi Zirui says extending his hand towards Xiao Gou.

Han Yu catches Xi Zirui by the wrist, and turns it around to inspect the pale underarm.

He smiles when Xi Zirui tries to pull away from his grip. "Xi-fei shouldn't walk around under the sun. It's too strong for his complexion."

The sky is overcast so Xi Zirui thinks Han Yu is full of shit. "We were just taking a short stroll, I didn't stay outside too long. We'll be off now."

Despite his plainly worded 'goodbye', Han Yu's fingers don't move from around his wrist. Xi Zirui has flashbacks to that time Han Yu pushed him against the door of his trailer.

Unfortunately he won't be able to deal with him in quite the same way.

He doesn't know what Han Yu is thinking. What will people say if they're found like this?

"This Prince can't let Xi-fei walk around without a parasol." Xi Zirui opens his mouth to disagree but Han Yu cuts him off, "Not so soon after his illness."

Whatever Xi Zirui was planning on saying dies on his tongue. He averts his eyes and fans himself harder. There's a glint in Han Yu's eyes that speaks to his knowledge of the 'nature' of Xi Zirui's illness.

"Please stay here, Xi-fei. This prince will return in a second," Han Yu says, and scabbards his sword before going back into the main path of the garden.

What's Xi Zirui supposed to do? Disobey the Crown Prince? Not likely.

He stays put and rolls his eyes at Xiao Gou who lets out an amused giggle.

True to his word, Han Yu is back soon, now with his robes properly fastened, sans sword, and carrying a painted paper parasol in one hand.

"This Prince will escort Xi-fei back to his residence," he says, taking up Xi Zirui's right side and bidding him to move with a gentle push on the back of his elbow.

He turns around to wink at Xiao Gou. "Not that I doubt the skills of Xi-fei's loyal protector."

Xiao Gou is over the moon at being complimented by the Crown Prince, and skips delightedly ahead of them, as if he might take flight at any moment.

"Xi-fei is not at all what I expected," Han Yu says suddenly, after they've been walking in silence for a few moments.

Xi Zirui looks up at him, wondering, but Han Yu's eyes are shaded by the parasol and he can't tell what thoughts lie behind them.

He can hope, though. "And what did His Highness expect?"

"I didn't expect someone who would take a walk of the gardens because his servant wanted to see them."

Xi Zirui taps the fan against his cheek and lets out a sigh. "I think no child should experience even a single moment of hardship. Every child should be happy and carefree, regardless of the blood that runs in their veins."

Belatedly, Xi Zirui realizes he didn't address himself in a humbling third-person.

He chances a peek above his fan at Han Yu's face to gauge his reaction, and finds his molten eyes gazing heatedly into his own.

Han Yu is the first to break eye-contact, clearing his throat before saying,"Xi-fei and I think alike in this matter."

It seems they've reached the stage of addressing themselves in first person, if not each other. Growing closer already.

Xi Zirui hides his amusement behind the cover of the fan.

They continue to walk in companionable silence for some time, Han Yu holding the parasol above both their heads while Xiao Gou skips and hops all around them like a carp out of water.

Soon, they reach the courtyard of the Fragrant Spring Winds Pavilion.

Xi Zirui spends the whole walk so overly conscious of Han Yu's proximity that he barely notices it when they walk up to one of the weeping willows and under its drooping branches.

"Many thanks to His Majesty for escorting us home," Xi Zirui says, looking away into the swaying branches of the willow, dropping all around them like a curtain.

He turns to leave but Han Yu stops him with a hand around his waist. "Xi-fei, let this Prince apologize for his earlier insult properly."

Xi Zirui looks up at him and lowers his fan for the first time. "And how would First Prince do that?"

"Xi-fei has already asked for his boon of painting classes, but I'm afraid that wouldn't be adequate apology."

Will Han Yu like it if he plays coy? How much will it turn him on later when Xi Zirui lets the mask slip?

"Oh, and why is that?" he asks, keeping his voice barely above a whisper.

Han Yu's hand tightens on his waist and he brings his lips close to the shell of his ear. "How can this Prince make amends, if he's the one being rewarded with more of Xi-fei's company?"

He thinks he's so smooth, but Xi Zirui isn't affected at all. His increased heart rate is due to excessive blood sugar and mere coincidence.

"Maybe First Prince's punishment will be to tell me my paintings are very good, even if they are a crime against both art and nature."

Han Yu lets out a low chuckle, almost burying the sound into Xi Zirui's nape. His warm breath raises gooseflesh where it touches Xi Zirui's skin.

They're both hidden under the canopy of the weeping willow's branches which is why they don't hear the sound of approaching footsteps.

"What are Xi-fei and First Prince doing here?" Su Xueyi asks, making all the hairs on Xi Zirui's neck stand on end for a different reason.