Vol 8 Chapter 263 – Doctor Bai swiftly nips the bud

XH 263 - Doctor Bai swiftly nips the bud

"Have the attires and accessories been safely delivered to the manor?"

"Yes, and they are not damaged in any way. Eunuch Lau Liu had overseen the entire process."

"Is the carriage finished its last revision?"

"A bit more, but it will be done and ready before that day."

"Our return day is still uncertain, but the day we had chosen is the wedding date."

"Got it."

"The kitchen-"

"Oi third brother, you already went through all these for the third time! Have mercy for me!" Heise finally snapped in annoyance. 

Heise originally thought he should be patient and let Long Zhu ease his growing nervousness by picking at every detail over his wedding preparation. It was not harmful and will help avoid any little mistakes during the ceremony.

Unfortunately, Heise had severely underestimated his own patience. Or how picky Long Zhu could be.

"... I will be leaving now." Long Zhu did not get angry at his eighth brother's outburst, for he himself knew what he was like during these days.

Even his Mother Empress that doted on him and always had a bright smile whenever he visited her had lately been pretending to be busy and declined meeting him.

"Go, go." Heise waved his hand to shoo Long Zhu away. "Hurry and go or Xiao Hua will think you had chicken out."

Today was Xiao Hua's sixteenth birthday and a bit more than the promised two years’ time. After all, Bai Chuan was stringent over the fact that Xiao Hua can only marry after she passed her sixteenth birthday and became a proper adult. 

Although the four modern thinking people do not agree about a sixteen-year-old getting married, they could not protest against it, when the concerned parties wished for it. 

Even if Xiao Hua agreed that sixteen years old was indeed too young to marry, she reasoned that she wanted to experience married life soon and spend more time with Long Zhu. She does not want to waste time by playing hard to get and risk hurting each other due to the childish game.

Not when she was sure he loves her, just as she loves him.

Two years apart does not make their love any weaker but also allowed them to learn to value their feelings.

"Imperial grandfather will be going with me. Imperial father and Prince Heng will be here if Gu Dan decides to do anything."

"Don't plant flags around!" Heise roared sensitively and smacked the table, which fortunately was sturdy enough to withstand the latest abuse from its owner.

Unfazed by Heise's outburst, Long Zhu focused on the unknown word instead. "What do you mean by planting flags?" He doubts it was the same act of replacing their enemies' flag with theirs after conquering the enemy's base. 

"...Nothing. Just go and pick up Xiao Hua. I will deal with the stuff here." 

Planting flags, originally known as raising flags, was more of japanese otome game culture, and Heise was not too well versed in it to explain correctly. He himself was not sure if he had used the term correctly, despite being fond of using it to keep himself up to date with his readers in the comment section of his novel.

"The dowry-"

"If you do not leave now, I will make sure to tell Xiao Hua you have a long line of eager women, clinging onto hope that you will marry them once you supposingly come back to your senses!" Heise gritted his teeth threateningly.

Two years of hard work under the sun had not diminished Long Zhu's good looks. His skin was not as fair as before and it reduced his feminine looks slightly. His current mature look had gathered even more women that yearns to marry him!

Not needing more encouragement, Long Zhu quickly headed out and towards the carriage waiting for him. 

Once the door closed behind Long Zhu, Heise wrapped his arms around Heng Xin's waist and buried his face on the latter's chest with a childish pout.

While he was glad that his growing sprout had started working hard, his height still lacked compared to Heng Xin. Even worse was that no matter how much he exercised to build his muscles like those he had on his previous body, he remained slender like a weak chicken!

Heise mourned and missed his previously muscular and manly body!

What added salt onto his wound was Heng Xin became even bulkier now that he was officially given the title as his personal bodyguard. 

Heise swear this was all because of Xiao Hua planting flags around that his body was developing towards a 'Shou' type!

"Your Majesty will be able to meet Miss Bai once she returns to Guilin," Heng Xin coaxed as he patted Heise's back.

Heise could not go along the trip as they had received news that the new King of Gu Dan had started making his move. However, they caught the news late and Gu Dan had destroyed five villages already.

Those villages were targeted for the purpose of creating more green soldiers.

Heise dispatched more guards to protect other nearby villages and the other Three Kingdoms had helped out, helping in carrying the burden. 

Although some of the other Kingdom's officials blamed Guilin for the danger to be in the loose, since Liu Chu Chu was a Guilin citizen, they still had no choice but to help out to eliminate the danger that targeted the whole world.

Heise does not want to think of them right now.

"I wonder what she will think of her present from me this year." The grin on Heise's face was extremely wicked. 

Heng Xin's blush on his face was rather telling that the present would not be anything good.

Thanks to Xiao Liu's expert manoeuvre of the fastest flying horses, they were able to reach Bai land within a day. 

Strangely, while everyone was conscious during the entire ride, they could never remember where the exact location of Bai land was, or which Kingdom the land was closer to. 

They just knew that Bai land was within the Four Kingdoms. Even for today's trip they had to get Doctor Bai's guidance to allow them to reach Bai land.

With a gentle smile and refreshing air, Long Zhu in his best attire stepped out of the carriage and onto the Bai land, accompanied by his paternal grandfather, Long Yuen.

Long Zhu needed his grandfather to come along to guide them to the exact location of Bai land. But the real reason was to play the middlemen in case Doctor Bai refused to part with his daughter. 

Yu Zheng had tightened the security over the Bai land after the demon tried to invade and it grew even more difficult for others to find the place. It was the same case for Long Yuen despite him having frequently dropped by Bai land and recognized by the land.

Without waiting for his grandfather, Long Zhu swiftly walked towards the only living person in Bai land he had sensed.

"Teacher."

Long Zhu was curious about why his teacher would be inside the kitchen, but from what he could see, the ingredients prepared on the table was likely for the birthday feast for his adopted daughter.

Sleeves rolled up, Doctor Bai was holding onto a large ceramic bowl and beating the eggs at a swift and steady speed.

"Xiao Hua, Da Bei, and Yu Zheng had gone to the town to meet Princess Long Lian." And Duan XiYing. "They would be back before sunset."

Normally, one would take at least half a day to reach the town from Bai land, even with the fastest horse. But thanks to Yu Zheng that could distort space, they could travel to the town in a blink of an eye.

Bai Chuan opted out because he did not want to see Duan XiYing and used the excuse of preparing Xiao Hua's birthday feast. 

Yu Zheng could only smile helplessly at his lover's unending grudge towards Duan XiYing's thievery. Truthfully, he could still protect himself even in his ginseng form and Duan XiYing would not be able to successfully kidnap him. But Bai Chuan always got angry whenever he remembered how defenseless Yu Zheng was in his ginseng form.

Happy and thrilled at his lover's protective feelings, Yu Zheng no longer persuades Bai Chuan to forgive Duan XiYing and even once in a while helped to fan the flames to enjoy his lover's protective mode.

Hearing that, Long Zhu considers going to the town too, but Doctor Bai swiftly nips the bud by handing him a clean apron.

"...Teacher?"

"With me alone, I won't be able to finish preparing the feast in time. If Xiao Hua knows that you had help out in preparing the dishes, she will be delighted."

Long Zhu could only laugh at his teacher's words and took the offered apron. He suddenly regretted for not bringing along some of his female servants to this trip.

But even so, Long Zhu turned his sight to where his shadow guards were hiding, motioning them to come out.

Da Liu appeared, along with Xiao Liu, before three more secret guards followed suit. 

"Be useful."

Their master had spoken. They, the shadow guards, can only obey. 

But their cooking skills were almost non-existence! Even so, they should not let their master do everything and drag him down!

Right outside the kitchen with his presence concealed, Long Yuen praised himself for walking slowly and saved himself from being roped into doing kitchen chores.

He was skilled in hunting and roasting games, but cooking fine dishes was out of his expertise. He could not even cook rice.

However, his smugness quickly came to an end. 

Bai Chuan's voice filled the air and straight into Long Yuen's sharp ears. "There are two deers beside the plantation field. I will count on you, Long Yuen."

"...Right."