99 Dark Night with Some Stars
FuYa took her daughterâs hand and sat down at the table, both of them were dressed like ordinary citizens now, there were only two maids serving them, this was no longer a palace, and FuLan wasnât a concubine there, but for sure, both of them were still alive.
âFather is indeed very stupid, hehehe this is because your stupid father loves my beautiful and innocent daughter very muchâ
FuLan pulled her lips, wiped her tears, and looked at her father for a moment.
âFather, going back to DuShan?â
FuYa nodded.
âHeh yeah, father, it is not appropriate to occupy the position of a palace official, after what happened, it is good that your father still can keep his head and only lost the position, His Highness the Crown Prince gave father an early retirement, and, father will return to our village, and like what your father has always wanted to do, we will have our own gardens and fields, we will become a very rich fruit merchant.â
FuLan smiled, she held her fatherâs round hands which were starting to wrinkle.
âMother must be so happy that father can finally go back there, um, Lanâer come with you, okay?â
FuYa flicked his daughterâs forehead.
.....
âNo, you are the Crown Princeâs concubine, stay in the palace and carry out your duties, father out of the palace for the sake of this fatherâs beautiful daughterâ
FuLan took a deep breath, she was tired of being the Crown Princeâs concubine, apparently, the competition was bigger than she thought, she had no strength to resist and could only be eaten by the strong, how could she return there, but, she remembered what Concubine Hua had said to her while escorting her out of the palace.
âSister, donât forget to come back and accompany Yingâer for beauty treatment again, Yingâer, will be waiting for you sisâ
FuLan pulled her lips into a smile, not everything in the palace made her depressed, at least Concubine Huaâs sweet smile that day gave a lot of cheers for her, a simple smile but so precious for her more than anything else.
âHehe, Lanâer, will come back when Lanâer is ready, but now, let Lanâer accompany fatherâ
The girl put her head on her fatherâs big shoulder, FuYa laughed.
âHehehehe, this kid, has grown up and is still spoiled like thisâ
FuYaâs laughter was heard out of the room where several bodyguards were seen standing guard vigilantly, anything could happen at this time, itâs better not to be careless.
..........
The night birds were singing again in the valley behind the Peony field, sounding as far as the Plum pavilion where BaiYing sat outside the main house with a distant view of the dark sky with a few stars hanging above. For a while, his mind wandered, about what had happened these past few days, crazy and unreasonable things that were hard to believe had happened to him.
BaiYing turned his head when he saw the Crown Prince approaching, and immediately sat beside him very closely, BaiYing frowned and slightly shifted his seat away.
âPlease, Your Majesty, donât get too close.â
The Crown Prince looked at BaiYing with narrowed eyes, he shifted his seat towards the young man again.
âWhy canât I? Itâs so cold tonight. Itâs better if we sit together and share our body heat.â
BaiYing shifted his seat again and put something between them, the teacup that BaiYing brought from inside when he was about to enjoy the stars quietly alone.
The Crown Prince was annoyed, he lifted the cup and placed it somewhere else so he could come closer and held BaiYingâs shoulders so he wouldnât move away from him again.
âYour Majestyâ BaiYing exclaimed, the Crown Prince licked his lips, looking at BaiYing with eyes without giving up.
âItâs cold, YingYing, and youâre still not well. Letâs sit together and enjoy the sky, um, the sky, itâs so dark, what are you seeing in the dark sky?â
BaiYing felt that it was useless to fight back, the Crown Prince had always forced his will on him, that person was truly heartless.
âWell, just look, donât really need a reason.â
The Crown Prince took a deep breath.
âHeh of course it needs a reason, otherwise you wouldnât be sitting here alone, erm, what was YingYing thinking? Is it about concubine Ye?â
Bai Ying nodded.
âYeah, who else, servant, still canât believe it, Muâer sister who is so sweet and gentle, could do such a bad thing, were it not for the FuYa official who said it himself, servant, itâs still hard to believeâ
The Crown Prince lowered his hand from Bai Yingâs shoulders. He took BaiYingâs cold hand and held it.
âHeh, you knew from the start that she could do anything, including poisoning herself and accusing your servant of doing it, inciting concubine Fu to buy glass wire and setting traps to trick you, hitting a horseâs back with the secret weapon in her palm, let alone, what do you need to make you believe that she has bad intentions towards you?â
YingYing took a deep breath.
âHeh, I used to think that she might just want to get His Majestyâs attention by becoming a victim and hurting herself. I feel sorry for her, but, to trap sister Lanâer, and incite official Fu, thatâs another thing, servant, didnât expect that sister Muâer could be this heartless, and now, sheâs also injured Guard Bei, this is really beyond expectationâ
âIt seems that concubine Ye had it all planned from the start, itâs most likely the culprit who poisoned your food the few days you entered the palace was also herâ
Baiying opened his eyes wide, he had in mind.
âIs it true? So, from the start, Sister Muâer was planning to kill me? T-then, was sister Muâer also involved with the person who killed my family?â
The Crown Prince frowned in thought.
âEm, this is still being investigated, BeiYau may have received information earlier that concubine Ye might be the young daughter of the DuGu family near the Kili border, that clan is famous for all their skills in produce any dangerous poisons, luckily this time she used a common poison that the antidote could obtain in everywhere so that the effect is not too worrying, I think, the original goal was just to paralyze and there was no intention to kill yet, and the chances of the DuGu family cooperating with the Black Water Clan are very small, they are a group that never wants to depend on other groupsâ
BaiYing saw the Crown Prince seriously.
âTh-then, according to Your Majesty, what, their targets are also the same? They, aiming for the Bloodstone too? Could it be because of the Stones? According to Grandpa Ou, the Blood stone will come out by itself when my heart stops beating, they must know that too, right Your Majesty?â
The Crown Prince looked at BaiYing with a deep gaze, raised his hand to stroke the young manâs hair.
âYingYing, why are you thinking there?â
BaiYing looked into the Crown Princeâs eyes, at that moment LuoXiang thought there was something the young man in front of him was hiding now, something that made him see it that way.
âYingYing whatâs wrong? What happened?â
BaiYing opened his collar, revealing something, which was no longer there, the Crown Princeâs eyes widened, that bun, the red rope with the loop that BaiYing was wearing around his neck was no longer there.
âIsnât it because you misplaced it? Or fall somewhere? Do you remember where you last saw it?â asked the Crown Prince,
BaiYing shook his head, he still remembered the morning before he headed to the Cold pavilion following the message in an anonymous letter to him, when he took a bath he still wear the string around his neck, and when he came back after nearly falling victim to the abuse of that disgusting giant, the string itâs gone.
The Crown Prince looked worried, he was deep in thought.
âHeh or maybe fall in the Cold pavilion, we will look for it thereâ
The Crown Prince was about to stand up but BaiYingâs hand held him back.
âYour Majesty, itâs useless, that thing is probably in Sister Muâerâs hands by now, we wonât be able to find it anywhere.â
LuoXiang sat back down, slowly BaiYingâs head lowered and leaned on his shoulder.
âYingYingâ
BaiYing just wanted to sit back on those big and sturdy shoulders and look up into the dark sky with only a few small stars hanging above, very far away.
âHeh, just, can we not think about it, Your Majesty? whether itâs all true or not, we wonât know before the time comes, at this time, I just want to enjoy my time very quietly and comfortably here, heh, it feels like a lot of things happened and I still thought that it was all just a dream, this time, letâs not think too much about it okay?â
The Crown Prince sat down neatly letting BaiYing put his head, even trying to adjust his height so that the young man was comfortable, raising his hand to grab BaiYingâs hand. holding it tightly. Indeed so many things had happened that almost drove him crazy, BaiYing who was injured by falling from the horse, then he disappeared, held hostage by official Fu, BaiYing almost went mad and beat him, he remembered how frantically BaiYing tried to hit him with his hand even though he was so weak because his condition, being the victim of abuse from a disgusting giant, too much has happened to him, donât know if he can still face it all, this poor young man, if he could do something to keep the bad luck away from him, but he canât, all the Crown Prince can, only to protect him with all of his ability.
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