CROWN PRINCE'S CONCUBINE

652 The Pillars

Luo Xiang smoothed Bai Ying’s hair and helped him put on his outer clothing after the wound on his arm was bandaged.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked in a soft voice. The facial expression was vastly different from the time he had knocked down the young man Xiao Ye just now. Bai Ying smiles while holding Luo Xiang’s big hand on his cheek.

“It’s better, Your Highness, Young Master Xiao Ye is indeed so great”

Xiao Ye stood up from his seat, and for some reason, a sudden feeling of heat spread in his palms all over his body. His eyes widened, was this because of the young man’s punch earlier? Or because of the beautiful young man’s touch on his hand.

Luo Xiang and Bai Ying looked at the young man in confusion. Until suddenly Xiao Ye approached the table where he put his medicinal equipment, put everything in and hurriedly went out.

“E-excuse me, Young Master”

Bai Ying was too late to stop him, the young man’s behaviour was quite strange, what else could it be if it wasn’t for the Crown Prince’s punch earlier? He looked at Luo Xiang sharply.

“Your Highness, why did Your Highness beat him? He must be really shocked and scared. What made you do that?”

Luo Xiang pursed his lips.

.....

“Um, no reason, I just want to test his abilities, at his age, Du Gu Ye Hua has already mastered the medicinal aura that allows him to follow Prince Yen Hui to build the current Xin Hua Palace. But he doesn’t have it at all, looks like he might not be the person we’re looking for, even though he’s physically similar to Du Gu Ye Lu, that, maybe just a coincidence”

“Oh, so they just look alike, if great-grandfather wasn’t the current King, he should be around the same age as Ying er, then, where and when would he meet the pillar builders? Your Highness, should we start by finding the guardians of the pillars first?” he asked.

Luo Xiang thought, he nodded slowly.

“It seems so, Ying, but, can we meddle in the affairs of this era? What if, something changes because we intervene?” he asked.

Bai Ying thought, he wrinkled his forehead in thought.

“Em, that could happen Your Highness, but, if we don’t do anything, can we meet great-grandfather here? And, there is a possibility, His Imperial Highness Luo Wang is also of the same age as Your Majesty right now, right?” he asked.

Luo Xiang nodded.

“That’s right, it is possible that he also travelled this far when he hasn’t throne as the Emperor yet”

Outside the bungalow.

The young man Xiao Ye who came out hurriedly ran towards his house, almost tripping due to not paying attention to the path. His palms were hot, radiating up to his wrists to his arms. Even his body started to feel strange as if many small ants were swarming his body.

“Oh what happened?” the young man panicked and ran as fast as he could towards his house, did he catch a contagious disease when the boy touched him? What disease is this?

...........

Large butterfly with bright colours flying above the growing flowers in the yard of the small house behind the Wang family’s main residence. The sound of birds singing perched on the tallest tree trunks was loud and clear, cheerfully flying to and fro enjoying the fresh morning air

The sun just emerged from the eastern horizon shyly breaking through the thick leaves growing on the trees around the bungalow’s grounds and hitting the bed in a room no bigger than Bai Ying’s small room in his palace. The wind gently caressed the brightly coloured curtains which were decorated with the beautiful handcrafted embroidery of the hostess far away. The bright sunlight manage to hit Bai Ying’s face who was still fast asleep on the bed. While the Crown Prince already wake up and supporting his head with his hand, smiling broadly at Bai Ying’s so gentle and beautiful face, even when he was sleeping.

Gently so as not to wake him up, Luo Xiang stroked the hair on Bai Ying’s forehead and kissed it.

“Chup”

“Sweet child”

Bai Ying slowly opened his eyes. A pair of big round eyes with a clear light brown colour looked at the Crown Prince who was very close to him. He smiled.

“Your Highness, Your Highness is awake?” he asked.

Luo Xiang smiled, lifted Bai Ying’s hand over his stomach, and kissed it gently.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

Bai Ying smiled. Lifting his free hand touched the Crown Prince’s cheek which was very close to him. There was nothing more beautiful in this world than waking up to a view like this for the rest of his life, he couldn’t possibly get tired of it.

“Did Your Highness sleep well too?” he asked.

Luo Xiang nodded.

“Of course, having my Ying Ying in his arms, how could I not sleep well.” whispered the Crown Prince closer to Bai Ying’s forehead, then tilted his head and kissed Bai Ying’s sweet lips.

“Your lips are so sweet, the taste has never diminished one bit, sweet child, don’t ever do something stupid again by leaving without telling me, let alone leave me. You don’t know my chest is tight at the thought of being away from you, what should I do?”

Bai Ying smiled and nodded slowly.

“Yes, Your Highness, please forgive me, I did something stupid by not telling you before leaving. Actually, I also never thought that my strong desire to know the answer to my question had actually brought me here. Until when will I ever have the thought of leaving you”

Luo Xiang lifted Bai Ying’s chin, shifted his body and hugged him tightly.

“Really? Then don’t even think about it, not even once, because if that happens, there won’t be a day when I can’t stop looking for until I find you” Luo Xiang whispered.

Bai Ying held onto Luo Xiang’s chest who was hugging him so tight.

“Yes, Your Highness, I will never even think about it, I promise”

Luo Xiang was even more excited and hugged Bai Ying so tightly that he widened his eyes, he forgot that the young man’s arm was still injured. Luo Xiang immediately let go of his embrace and examined Bai Ying.

“Oh, does your hand still hurt? I hugged you too hard”

Bai Ying thought. That’s right, he should have felt pain in his hand, but, no, his hand didn’t hurt at all. Did Young master Xiao Ye’s medicine really that great?

Luo Xiang got up and rolled up Bai Ying’s sleeves to the part where he was injured. Gently check on the bandage which looks very dry. And open it carefully. There are no traces of blood or fluid like on other wet wounds. And Bai Ying also did not whimper in pain as he undid the bandages from his hands.

“Ying Ying, the wound, is gone.”

Bai Ying widened his eyes. Checking his arm, last night there was still a long wound across from a sword slash. But now, all those wounds suddenly disappeared, and his skin was back to normal, without the slightest scar.

“Your Highness, what happened?”

Luo Xiang thought for a while. Widened his eyes.

“Is there any chance that your inner strength has returned?”

Bai Ying opened his two palms, trying to ignite his white flame if indeed his inner strength had returned. But that’s impossible, according to Bai Guang, he must abandon his power in the outside world to control time to run as slowly as possible. It requires a very large and strong force, is it possible that he can still bring it here? But that’s impossible because he didn’t feel that power coursing through his body like he usually did. And Luo Xiang also didn’t feel anything.

Bai Ying looked at Luo Xiang with big eyes.

“Your Highness, does this mean, that young master Xiao Ye, is really Du Gu Ye Hua?”

Luo Xiang thought.

“Hmm, there’s a possibility”

.........

The sky quickly became very bright, with the sun shining directly on Wang’s courtyard which, although not very wide, was sufficient for farming and raising goats, horses, chickens and rabbits. Two family’s servants were seen, two young men in their twenties who were busy cleaning the stables and picking crops from the small garden that they could take to sell to the market.

A Niu and A San put some vegetables, turnips to potatoes into a shabby but strong carriage that always accompanied old man Wang and a Niu to the city.

Hostess Xi Niang approached quickly carrying a basket with the food she had prepared for her husband.

“Husband, today we harvest quite a lot, don’t forget to buy good cloth for me, no need for silk, I want to make new clothes for Ye er, it will be a new year soon,” said the madam with a beautiful face at her age now.

Old man Wang who was getting ready to get on the carriage took the basket from his wife’s hand while looking at her with narrow eyes.

“My wife now only cares about my son, what about me? Don’t I need new clothes? See all my clothes are all shabby, are you not ashamed that we will celebrate the new year with my clothes in holes?” he asked.

Xi Niang chuckled, she smacked her husband’s arm lightly.

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