Chapter 21: When There Were Dynasties/Arc 3.4

Wang Tao returned home and walked up to Madame Wei who was gardening.

"Mum?"

"Ah, my son, you're home! How was your day?"

Madame Wei turned around and held her son's hand. Under the observant gaze if his mother, Wang Tao forced a smile as he replied.

"It was good. I'm doing well."

Madame Wei stared at her son for a moment before a frown appeared. Taking his hand, she brought him to the nearby pavilion and dismissed the servants.

"What's wrong child? You seem a bit down."

Wang Tao fidgeted a bit at this. He thought he hid it well but once again she saw through it.

Wang Tao had been feeling suffocated holding everything back but it wasn't like he had anyone to talk to.

Well, there was Zhou Jian but how could he say those things to his face if it's about him? And Zhou Yuan wasn't here, not that he would tell him anyway since it's about his brother.

"Mum are you sure? You won't mind?"

He was a bit worried as he'd grown to love his adoptive parents. He didn't want his parents to be disgusted.

The people here were fine with a man and gers being together as they didn't exactly see gers as men, hence gers were given female servants.

But when it came to two men, it wasn't accepted as well. Like two alphas instead of an omega and an alpha. As Wang Tao grew more and more unsure, he remembered something.

From his adoption till now, they had always been there for him haven't they?

- - - - - - - -

It was a bright and early morning, as Wang Tao sat at the table, silently eating his breakfast. Minister Wang and Madame Wei looked at each other as they tried to see who would speak up first.

Finally, Madame Wei spoke to the twelve year old boy,

"Umm, Wang Tao, how are you adapting so far?"

The boy looked up at her before lowering his eyes. He mumbled out a fine and continued eating. There was an awkward silence as the couple wondered what to do. Minister Wang cleared his throat and said,

"If you don't mind spending time with me, I could bring you to the palace more often and show you a few things."

The boy slightly lifted his head once the word palace left the man's mouth. They seemed to have finally got his attention as the boy nodded in agreement.

"Since that's settled, how about you tell us more about yourself? We'll do so too."

Madame Wei exclaimed as she saw more hope in deepening the relationship. She's always wanted a child she could dote on so she wasn't going to miss this chance.

"Like?"

"Like, what's your favourite colour?"

Wang Tao glanced at Madame Wei before answer a moment later.

"Black."

"Oh, it is a lovely colour. Um..."

Sensing that she was a bit stuck, the woman nudged her husband gently. Clearing his throat, Minister Wang threw out another question.

"Are you interested in any instruments?"

"...I...don't know."

"Ah, then how about I get you a tutor?!"

The madam exclaimed with a smile, jumping on the chance. When the boy hesitatingly nodded, her face lit up with glee.

The couple asked a few more question but soon realized that the boy wasn't going to talk anymore. They didn't mind as they knew he needed time to be more comfortable so instead, the two took the initiative to talk about themselves.

Wang Tao wasn't trying to be rude but he'd always been one of few words. He rarely spoke unless necessary and unless he was doing his job which came with his position, he was often alone.

He started speaking more to Zhou Jian as the decades went by because of their closeness. So of course he wouldn't speak too much to a pair of strangers.

But since he knew that they would be his parents now, he tried to push himself out of his comfort zone to speak with them, just as he did with Zhou Yuan. It was a bit harder in this case, especially since he had no idea how to act like a son.

All Celestials were created in isolated galaxies, so none had parents. Not in the way of being orphans (parents died) but in the way of having no one who gave birth to them at all. As a result, no Celestial had fully or half blood related siblings either so there were no such things as families for them.

Celestials could experience families in other worlds but Wang Tao had never seen the need to do so. This was the first time he had parents in a world he visited. Due to this, he has no idea how to react to the love and care being shown.

Snapping out if his thoughts, he did his best to listen attentively. As the conversation came back to him, he focused on answering questions carefully in hopes of not seeming too awkward.

___

Wang Tao walked through the garden inspecting the various flowers planted there. It has now been years since he was adopted and he was now 14.

Madame Wei spotted her son and hurriedly walked up to him. The two greeted each other and took a stroll. Madame Wei tried to start up a conversation

"May I call you Tao Tao?"

"...If you want."

Wang Tao played with his fingers as he answered. Over years of spending time with them, he was no longer skeptical about the couple's care and had started to enjoy.

Though it took a bit of convincing from the two princes to let his guard down. The princes assured him that his parents were good people and that he would enjoy the love. After following their advice, it seemed they was right.

"Ah, I'm so happy! Wait till I tell your father about this! Anyways, are you doing well Tao Tao?"

"Y-yeah. I'm good."

Wang Tao was unused to someone calling him so affectionately and was a bit startled.

Madame Wei noticed this but her son said he simply wasn't used to it. He encouraged her to use it more often so Madame Wei knew he was fine.

"Tao Tao, I baked you some sweets. I heard from my husband that the crown prince said you loved them."

"He told you?"

"Yes, yes. I didn't know you two were so close. Now I know why you were always so excited to go to the Imperial palace. Are you also close with the second prince?"

Madame Wei smiled at the embarrassed boy who nodded as he was munching on the sweets.

She had realized that he was more talkative whenever they asked him to tell them about his day after he returned from the palace. Her husband also told her that he found the trio talking whenever the father and son pair went.

"It's great that you've made friend's, do make sure to visit them often, okay?"

"Mm-hm."

As the mother looked at her son, she soon noticed that the boy's mood had sunk a bit. Wang Tao was remembering Chen Xiang as Zhou Jian had mentioned him today.

"What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

"Huh? No nothing's wrong. You didn't do anything. I told you I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine. Please talk to me. I'm your mother, if you're ever feeling down I'm here for you."

Wang Tao looked up at her and froze. He wondered if he'd finally understood what a mother was like. He smile brightly and said,

"Mm, okay. One day…one day I'll try that."

- - - - - - - - - - -

Wang Tao took a deep breath before admitting,

"I'm…I'm not fine."

"What happened? Did someone hurt you? Just tell me who and I'll deal with them."

"That's not it. It's just…Emperor Jian."

"What about him?"

"Well, what if I was in…love with him?"

Wang Tao clenched his robe as he stared at his mother. He wanted to catch any little emotion. Madame Wei went from confused to deep thought before realization.

"You're in love with the Emperor?"

"Y-yeah. Do you mind?"

"Of course not Tao Tao. Did you think I'd hate you?"

"A bit…"

Madame Wei chuckled and softly patted her son's hand as she held it. Comforting him, she asked the fatal question,

"But it's the Emperor we're talking about. I know that he doesn't care for his harem, but didn't you say that he had fallen for one of them? Chen Xiang right?"

"Mmm. He deeply loves him."

"...And there's also the fact that you're not a ger… ah, my poor son."

Madame Wei felt as if her heart was being pricked. Her cute son was in a one-sided love, no wonder he would seem so depressed at times. Suddenly she thought of something,

"Does he know?"

Seeing her son nod, she realized he did. She sighed in relief to know that. Why?

Because everyone knew that the two had a good relationship and that Emperor Jian trusted his right minister deeply. If he knew that meant that he wasn't treating her son badly or avoiding him.

"As long as he treats you right. If he'd hurt you I would've given him a piece of my mind!"

"Mum, shhh. You can't say those things. This is the Emperor we are talking about. What if you get in trouble?"

"I'm sorry son but your happiness is of utmost importance to me."

"I know mum, thank you for listening."

Madame Wei smiled and lightly patted her son's head, thinking of how thoughtful he was. She hadn't done this before but felt he needed it.

Wang Tao reacted a bit slowly but smiled at her.

The two talked a bit more about it and then parted as Madame Wei rushed to tell her husband.

"Dear, dear!"

"What is it? Why are you in such a rush?"

Madame Wei calmed down and quickly told her husband what happened. When Old Wang came out of the shock, he was immediately furious.

"That bastard! Is he blind? My son is so perfect yet he's looking at some ger."

"Exactly!"

"Is he as handsome as my son? No!"

"Is he as cute as Tao Tao? Impossible!"

"Is he as talented as Tao Tao? No!"

Nodding her head enthusiastically, Madame Wei backed up her husband's words.

"No!"

"Good!"

"But dear...we probably shouldn't say these things. Also Tao Tao said Chen Xiang wasn't too bad."

Old Wang scrunched up his face at this.

"Who cares about 'too bad', is he like our Tao Tao? No!"

Madame Wei wanted to join in once more but quickly stooped the words form leaving her mouth. Thinking as rationally as possible, she advised.

"I agree dear but...but how would we know. We've never met that boy. Besides, it isn't up to us who the Emperor loves. It's already great that he isn't shunning our boy."

"So you're fine with our son being depressed?"

"Of course not! But what if the Emperor gets upset because of us and hurts Tao Tao?"

"That's true..."

Seeing his attitude soften, she patted his back lightly as she continued.

"Besides, Tao Tao said he doesn't want to interfere with the two. Shouldn't we respect his wishes?"

"...I guess if he said so...Do you think I retired too early?"

Old Wang had agreed for his son to become minister when the crown prince became Emperor. His then 20 year old son had pleaded with him for a long while before he agreed. He knew his son was capable but he didn't want the boy mixed up in that mess in the palace.

He now understood that it was a way to be able to see the busy Emperor more often. Though that also meant being around someone who would never love you back.

Madame Wei thought of this also and a helpless expression rested in her face.

"I'm not sure dear, but it's too late to regret."

"Yeah, you're right. All we can do is try to cheer up the boy."

The next day, Wang Tao ate his breakfast with his parents. The two were especially caring today and he realized that Mum must have told Dad.

"Tao Tao, eat some more. Look, you're much thinner than yesterday."

Madame Wei nagged as she placed food on her son's plate. Wang Tao felt a bit helpless and could only allow his mother to stuff him.

Meanwhile, his father asked about his day, giving him some advice on the recent case he was dealing with. The dam of a village in the south had burst, causing the village to be flooded.

The villagers had no food, so relief funds were sent. However, upon receiving complaints, Wang Tao had discovered that the funds had never reached the people. He quickly had some trusted people bring more money as he investigated who embezzled the funds.

He was only a a few steps away from knowing the full story. This was what he spoke about with Zhou Jian yesterday.

After he finished his breakfast, he said farewell to his parents and headed to the palace. The Celestial wondered how far Zhou Jian and Chen Xiang had reached in terms of intimacy while he was away.