First Meetings

Day 3

Even though Ying had worried about his Highnesses health so far everything was going fine and so she let her guard down for a while and decided to rest for a while. It's not that she wanted to but the prince won't stop nagging her to take rest so much that she finally gave in and right before taking a small nap she turned back to observe at the prince through the window he seems to be sleeping which is nothing out of the usual as he never really enjoyed carriage rides so instead, he slept all the way through at times to avoid boredom.

She really couldn't wrap her head around why it's so boring when you are surrounded by nature but then again, the prince is always way happier with the General so it's understandable in a way.

Xie Yun gently opened his eyes to the sound of the wild he had a very sweet dream, one of the pasts it was them ...both of them standing on the same place they first met

Xiao Yang was the first and only son of prime minister Xiao and being from a scholar family he was expected to take over his father's post one day but the little boy grew up to be more interested in warfare and weapons than scrolls and literature though he marveled at both he chose to go into war instead of the palace.

And this was certainly unusual and thus caught the attention of many including the great general Ying Shang who is the current empress's father and naturally took him as a disciple and this was where Xie Yun's and Xiao yang's fates intertwined.

general Ying was very fond of the little prince Yun and so would often visit him and on one such day he naturally brought his disciple along with him to the palace

And this just so also happened to be the day the prince had decided to sneak out to go watch the peach blossoms.

the general had asked the now 14-year-old yang to wait near the peach blossom garden while he visited the young prince and he was more than happy as he has always had a love for peach blossoms as his mother loved them as well, he nor his sister ever got to meet their mother who had died at childbirth but has heard many stories about how wonderful of a woman she was from their father who never took another wife after his beloved passed away which was yet again very unusual in their time.

he had raised both of them all on his own and his father used to use peach blossoms to describe their mother and due to his stories growing up he had a great amount of love for peach blossoms.

people say peach blossoms are very delicate and are only for the weak but that is far from the truth, they are delicate that is true but they still single handily survive the harshness of the winter when almost all the other hide. while on his way to the garden, he heard soft cries from somewhere deep into the garden intrigued yang quickly decide to locate the cause, and there he found a very delicate little boy not that younger than himself perhaps around 11 or 12 sitting on top of a not that high branch both his hands filled with ripe peaches.

Yang almost wanted to laugh it seems the boy is in a dilemma if he has to get down the has to let go of the peaches but he doesn't seem to want to let go of them ever judging by the way he is holding on to them for his dear life not being able to hold it any longer he let out a laugh and this was only when the little boy noticed another presence his face flushed with embarrassment making him appear even cuter than he already looked.

They both looked up and their eyes found each other and the sunlight seeping through the branches of the trees almost made it seem like both of their eyes glowed for a second.

and at that moment the prince knew that with this strange boy around he had nothing to fear or worry about and yang suddenly felt the need to protect this little boy from the world.

he quickly moved closer to the prince who just kept staring at him the whole time and told him to throw him the peaches one by one. When he heard that the prince was quickly brought back to his senses, he was hesitant at first but he trusted the boy in front of him and so he threw them one by one and watched and the other boy catch them all with an incredible speed. He felt so excited watching him and then, at last, he looked at the prince and instructed him to jump ..all the emotions left the princes face and he stared dead faced at the other boy.

Yang simply smiled and asked, " don't you trust me? " to which the other simply nodded and then closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was in the hands of the other who was looking at him with nothing but adoration.

The prince quickly regained his composter and ran towards the peaches that were piled up neatly in a corner and then picked two up and turned to the strange boy and offered one to him with a cute smile while the other just chuckled while he accepted them.

he opened his mouth to say something but only a sign came as he heard his master's voice who seems to be looking for him?

Yun shook his head while laughing as he remembered how uncle Shang scolded yang for no reason and his silly faces while calling him ' your highness' and how he would visit him more often from then sometimes even sneaking away from uncle Shang only to be caught by him at the end and the times when they couldn't sneak out so yang would buy everything from the outside and gave them to him while telling him stories.

He suddenly felt like writing a letter to his husband and so he peaked at the sleeping little ying with a gentle smile and took out his paper and ink

Dear Yang,

I am now on my way to meet Imperial brother, and the ride there is as boring as always but I have been getting more than enough sleep so that's good right? and I know what you're thinking yes, I've been taking care of myself I am well and I know you are too.

these days I've been spending way too much time going back to the past like when we planted peach blossoms together and to when we first met and all it does is make me miss you more than I already do now. This is my third day writing to you I have four left till the wait is over but time passes slower than ever these years but our time together ran out way too fast... I wonder why but that's okay at least we will meet again soon.

I should wake our Ying up soon she hasn't eaten anything all day take care love I'll write to you soon.

as always, he took a red thread and tied the roll close, and kept it in the box so that he can give it to ying later