9 1.9: Under the cherry blossom rain

Xiao Mo had been waiting for Bai Yu to come back for a while until he only saw the Ninth prince come back alone with no sight of his master who had left together with him.

Worried, he asked the Ninth prince where his master was when the prince replied with an awkward face, "I had something to deal with and Qi Ge also said that he wanted to wander around alone for a while. Don't worry. Qi Ge said he will come back before the guests arrive."

Although he said that, Xiao Mo was still a bit worried about his master after thinking about his condition. He wanted to go back and find him but was stopped by the arrival of the host of this outing, Ning Wang and Ning Wang Fei¹ as well as Duan Wang and his Wang Fei.

He had no other choice but to stand at the side and bow respectfully. Before, his master would always avoid Ning Wang wherever he went out because every time they met, his master was overtly or covertly ridiculed and humiliated by him.

Just because he was now the favoured imperial prince and that his master was still the true legitimate prince birthed by the late empress even after falling from favour, Ning Wang had always treated his highness as an eyesore and would always pick on him since small.

Xiao Mo had followed Long Ji Wei since small so he knew what he had gone through and also bore the same feelings as his master towards those who trampled on them at their lowest. Inside, he was cursing for the untimely entrance of the two princes but he didn't dare to say anything as he will only bring trouble to his master if he did something wrong and provoked them.

But no matter how much he wanted to avoid the two princes, trouble still knocked on his door.

"Since this prince has invited you all in this outing, as the host, this prince cannot let my guest be slighted in anything. You may forget about unnecessary formalities and enjoy the scenery." Ning Wang, Long Ji Jing had a smile on his face as he strode over to the crowd of people. Ning Wang Fei followed behind him quietly with a gentle smile on her beautiful face.

Everyone quickly expressed their thanks and straightened their back. The guests one after another went up to greet the two princes with smiles plastered on their face. Duan Wang, Long Ji Ling had a cold straight face but he properly returned back the greeting to those who approached him and exchanged a few pleasantries.

Seeing that it was finally over, Xiao Mo also straightened his back and wanted to go and find Bai Yu when an annoying voice suddenly called his name from behind.

"Oh? Isn't this Xiao Mo, that eunuch who serves besides Seventh brother? How come you are also here? Did Seventh brother also come for the outing today?"

That annoying voice was from none other than the ostentatious Fifth prince, Long Ji Jing.

Xiao Mo cried out 'What a bad luck!' in his heart as he slowly turned back and reluctantly bowed at Long Ji Jing.

"This servant has seen his highness, Ning Wang."

Long Ji Jing waved his hand nonchalantly at him. "You may rise. You haven't answered this prince yet. Where is Seventh brother? Didn't he come here with you?"

With a somewhat forced smile, Xiao Mo calmly replied, "Answering your highness' question, this lowly servant was just about to go and call his highness back as he had gone to enjoy the scenery around the temple just a while ago."

Long Ji Jing exclaimed in an exaggerated way, "Really? That's very rare, ah. It's been so long since Seventh brother came out of his house that this prince nearly forgot about this brother of mine. This prince didn't know that wang fei had sent an invitation to the Xiang Wang fu too. Really quite a pleasant surprise."

"Fifth brother is right. This younger brother had been sick and recuperating in my fu all this time so I couldn't come to visit elder brother and fifth brother. It's this younger brother's fault for not being healthy enough to help my two elder brothers in anything."

Just when Xiao Mo gritted his teeth at Ning Wang's mocking words and wanted to say something, a calm voice interrupted from behind.

Turning around, he saw Bai Yu walking over to his side as he cupped his hands at the two princes. Finally finding his backing, Xiao Mo immediately cheered up and calmly stood by his master's side.

A little taken aback by his sudden arrival, Long Ji Jing stopped the words at the tip of his tongue and looked at him with a look of surprise in his eyes.

The man before him was still as beautiful as ever and his sickly pallor remained the same but he somehow felt different than the last time. He couldn't tell what was different but this strange feeling still bothered him. The man still had his usual calm and indifference as if nothing could enter his eyes and everyone else was nothing but lifeless objects in his eyes.

It was precisely this indifference of his that annoyed him every time he met him. Since small, the man before him seemed to have no affection and attachment left in this world as his eyes were always vacant and stagnant like an ancient well. Whenever he saw those eyes, he would be caught in a trance then become upset for his blatant indifference.

Why wouldn't he look at him differently than others? Was he just as insignificant as others in his eyes?

It really was an eyesore, those eyes of his.

"I really wonder if the sun rose from the west today? It's really hard to see Seventh brother nowadays that seeing you here can be seen as rare as seeing a unicorn." He mocked with a chuckle but his words weren't as prickly as before.

"Fifth brother jests. This younger brother isn't worthy to be compared to something so great as a unicorn. Since it's fifth brother's invitation, I will definitely not not give you face. Because of my sickly body, I already cannot help fifth brother to share your burden so I can only do my best to at least encourage you from the side." Bai Yu smiled lightly and said without flinching.

As expected, hearing what he said, Long Ji Jing's mocking smile showed a small crack which he quickly covered with a low chuckle.

"Seeing how much Seventh brother cares about this prince is already enough. You must take care of your health instead of over-exerting yourself."

"Since it is what fifth brother suggests, this younger brother will be more careful. Thank you for caring about this younger brother." Bai Yu cupped his hands at him with a smile.

"It seems seventh brother has been recovering well to see you in a rare mood to come out to have fun. Seeing this, this prince can finally relax." Long Ji Ling, who had been staying silent all this time, spoke up with a sincere tone from which no one could pick any falsehood.

Bai Yu shifted his eyes at him and said,"This younger brother has made dear elder brother worry. It's all thanks to elder brother's efforts that I could recover well. Thanking elder brother for your well wishing."

Long Ji Ling's eyes flashed at his words but he didn't find anything wrong from the man before him so he just ignored the strangeness and quickly replied," Seventh brother doesn't have to thank this prince. It's good as long as you are healthy and well."

The two went back and forth with words as Bai Yu finally listened to Long Ji Ling and 'reluctantly' didn't thank him further.

The guests had been watching the show from the side as it was really quite uncommon to see the four princes gathered together at one place. Long Ji Rui hadn't said anything other than greeting them and stayed at the sides acting like an invisible pole.

He really didn't like to get along with his two elder brothers and was only close to the calm and easy-going seventh brother since small so he didn't speak more than necessary when in front of the two princes.

"It's been long since us four brothers gathered together to have fun. I toast this cup of wine for our reunion!" Saying that, Long Ji Jing held a wine cup on his hand and poured it till full then raised it at Bai Yu and others. They also followed suit and said,"For our reunion!" then downed the wine in one go.

Because his health wasn't good, the wine given to Bai Yu was one with very low alcohol content and was made from herbs which was mixed with the taste of sweet flower. It was good for sick people and was also liked by the ladies.

After toasting wine at each other, the other guests also joined them and they gulped one cup after another. When the others still wanted to toast to him, Bai Yu calmly and politely refused with the excuse of his illness which greatly worked and no one dared to toast at him again.

Surprisingly, the always bullying Long Ji Jing also didn't force him like he would with other things when he said that. Feeling a bit suspicious, Bai Yu raised a brow at him but then didn't mind it anymore.

The noble ladies and men were separately entertained by the hosts Ning Wang and his Wang fei. The ladies had already gone to take a stroll around the forest to enjoy the scenery while the men side were busy drinking and chatting. Most of the young men were trying to cozy up with the two princes and some were chatting with their companions or enjoying the refreshments on the table.

Bai Yu felt quite bored after listening to the men trying to flatter the two princes from the side and made up an excuse of going to relieve himself to get out of there.

He slowly walked past the corridors and finally found the toilet after getting directions from a priest. After relieving himself, he cleaned his hands and went out to find Xiao Mo waiting outside. Without any word, he handed over a handkerchief to dry his hands.

After drying his hands, Bai Yu wanted to go back to the front hall when he suddenly heard a loud scream coming from one of the side rooms meant for guests to rest in. It was a female's voice.

Furrowing his brow lightly, Bai Yu walked over to the direction where the scream came from with Xiao Mo following behind him, his face showed his doubts and shock.

When he arrived to the side room, the front door of a room was crowded by the group of noble ladies who had gone to stroll around and the men who heard the scream from the front yard also quickly arrived at the scene.

Some of the women were a bit pale as if they had seen something they shouldn't have and some had the face of watching a show. But the most conspicuous was the livid Ning Wang fei who usually had a gentle smile on her face. Right now, her face was contorted with barely suppressed rage and her slim figure swayed a bit as if it was about to topple over. Fortunately, her maid quickly caught her and supported her to regain her balance.

He could hear some murmurs like "How can this happen?", "doing such a thing in a temple? What a sin..." and "...poor Ning Wang fei." coming from the women guests as some sounded more like they gloating over someone else's misfortune.

Heading closer to the crowd, he noticed that Chu Ming Lan was also there so he quickly went to his side and asked,"Young master Chu, do you know what happened here?"

Chu Ming Lan finally noticed him and hesitated at his questioning, "Well, this..."

Seeing his reaction, he could guess that this matter wasn't something good to be said aloud.

He pulled him to the corner where there were less people and asked again, "I was only gone for a bit but something happened. Can young master Chu tell me what the situation is?"

Seeing that they were out of other's sight, Chu Ming Lan finally answered him, "When your highness went out, his highness Ning Wang was a bit drunk and said he was going to relieve himself too then walked away by himself. But who would've thought that a maid would suddenly find his highness Ning Wang together with a young lady in one of the side rooms meant for women folks..."

Bai Yu finally understood why everyone acted so weird and why Ning Wang fei was so angry. To think such a scandalous thing will happen...and even in a temple at that.

But as much as he knew Long Ji Jing, although he was unrestrained and did whatever he wanted, he wasn't brainless enough to make such a mistake that could ruin himself quite badly.

The matter of having an affair with an innocent young lady of an official's house inside a temple's side room meant for women was a matter that could leave stain throughout his whole life and the opposing parties could use it to their advantage to attack him. It would also make fu huang disappointed at his son after receiving the complaints from the censors and officials. It was a very serious issue and it cannot even be suppressed as almost everyone who came to the outing saw it.

Bai Yu knew that this matter probably had a hand of an outsider. As for who...who else but his elder brother?

A smirk formed on his face.

Quite a clever plan. He could smear the Fifth prince's reputation and make fu huang start disliking his overly unrestrained son and also make the officials disappointed at the tyrannical prince who might then shift their loyalty to the other side. It was really three birds with one stone.

His elder brother was really not an easy opponent. Cunning and ruthless, it will be fun to play this game of chess with him, it seems. First the poison and now this, such decisive scheming is truly frightening.

Although he thought that in his mind, his lips still hooked up into an amused smile while his eyes were shining with an icy cold light like a hunter waiting for his prey to fall in the trap.

***

1) Wang Fei = The wife of a Qin Wang.