CROWN PRINCE'S CONCUBINE

Luo Xiang lowered his head seeing Bai Ying’s face close, how he was very much in love with every bit of Bai Ying’s shady gaze from his beautiful pair of eyes. He raised his hand to caress the boy’s cheek.

“Why do you like to shop so much, look at that cart full of all your stuff, where are we going to sit later?” said the Crown Prince poking the tip of Bai Ying’s nose.

Bai Ying smiled faintly, the Crown Prince’s face and gaze were so close, he could feel the tremors every time those gazes fell on him, who knows how long his heart would beat so fast every time the Crown Prince saw him like that with all that love, never-ending.

“Your Majesty, Ying has a lot of needs, Ying has to buy things for everyone, for grandma, old man Pai, for sister Me Ma, for sister Yan and Bi, em, for... oh well, if I find something unique Ying also going to buy it for Her Majesty the Queen, she likes everything unique and pretty, for the Second Prince too, look, how busy is Ying right?”

Luo Xiang straightened his body, holding back the excitement of wanting to laugh out loud at Bai Ying’s adorable face, he hadn’t even finished speaking yet.

“Oh well, for Hong Hong too” Bai Ying pulled Xiao Hong’s hand forward, the young man smiled broadly as he was already in front of the Crown Prince.

“Hehehe”

“See Your Majesty, Hong Hong only has one or two clothes, Ying wants to buy clothes for him, it will be easier to change clothes if he has some spare, poor, Your Majesty, Xiao Hong’s body is still growing you know, should Ying lend Ying clothes to him?”

.....

Luo Xiang glanced at Xiao Hong who didn’t stop grinning beside Bai Ying, he pulled his hand away from Bai Ying and tied it behind his waist.

“Ehem, that, no Ying, all your clothes are only for Ying Ying, no one else is allowed to wear them, we’ll just ask the tailors over here to bring some of their best clothes, no need for my Ying Ying to step into their shop which is probably full and bustling with people”

Bai Ying widened his eyes.

“Your Majesty, what’s the fun of shopping like that, after all, how many shops do you have to come here? What if Ying doesn’t like the model? It would be complicated for them, Your Majesty.”

“Who would think like that? For my Ying Ying, no one should think like that, what’s so troublesome from serving my lovely concubine?”

“Your Highness”

......

Night comes. The cold air made everyone stay warm in their own house to avoid the bad weather, or, even something else other than that.

Bai Ying was already fast asleep in his room while Luo Xiang and Bei Yau, along with Ge Lu were still discussing in the living room downstairs. The innkeeper had just placed a small snack on the round table in the centre of the room and withdrew, excused himself.

“Tomorrow we can go through this route, according to the guide, the road to the east is still safe to pass and it’s quite wide enough for the golden carriage to pass through, but Your Honor, according to residents, there’s a possibility that landslides in the area due to heavy rain on the cliffs still can happen, although it’s still safe so far.”

Luo Xiang nodded, looking at the road map that Ge Lu got.

“This Yang Chou City has a lot of access to get in and out, but why at a time like this it’s even difficult to get in and out?” he asked.

Bei Yau pointed at the map.

“This is because the main route on this side had a flash flood which limited access, Your Majesty, but Governor Cai Lo was very concerned about this matter, as soon as the route was closed he ordered the entire city’s army to clear the route, he was acting so quick”

Ge Lu glanced at Bei Yau.

“Of course, Guard Bei, Governor Cai Lo doesn’t want to lose any advantage because it will be difficult for newcomers to enter the city, but the problem now is that the path we are going on has not been cleared yet.”

Bei Yau looked at the Crown Prince.

“Em Your Majesty, do you need me to show them my order plaque? It surely can make that governor deploy his men to clear the path.”

Luo Xiang glanced at Bei Yau.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Bei, don’t make an unnecessary fuss, after all, we can still go through this eastern route”

Bei Yau nodded.

“Yes Your Majesty, You’re right, forgive servant for thinking too careless”

After that the Guard is silent, just bowing his head deeply.

Bei Yau peeked at Ge Lu as if they were holding back something that made Luo Xiang frown, his bodyguard seemed to be hiding something.

“Bei, is there something you want to say?”

Bei Yau turned his head, finding the Crown Prince’s gaze deep on him, he lowered his head deeply.

“My majesty, I don’t know whether I can convey this or not, because according to Your Majesty, what happens in this city is none of our business, so, I am a bit hesitant to passing this matter”

Luo Xiang raised his teacup, lowered it slowly, and grabbed the baked peanuts brought by the waiter earlier, it tasted quite good.

“Just say it Bei, I think I already know what you want to say”

Bei Yau raised his head, somewhat stuttering at the words of the Crown Prince who was enjoying his evening snack leisurely, like the Crown Prince usually, who was always calm in any situation, except for all the troubles that have any relation to Bai Ying of course.

“Your Majesty, already know?”

Luo Xiang looked at Bei Yau for a moment, his intense gaze made Bei Yau lower his head quickly.

“Eh, Please forgive Servant, Your Majesty, the problem is, uh, I heard from the inn’s owner, that the blackened and dried corpse was not only found once or twice, but this matter also happened since months ago, but no one knows what the Governor did, because until now, there is no clarity about what actually killed those people. It said a week ago some people at the northern area were found like that too, but from what they heard the Governor only burn their corpses”

Luo Xiang stood up from his seat, walked slowly and stopped in front of the window where the atmosphere outside the two-story building of the inn was very quiet without a single person passing by. The rain that fell earlier still left puddles of water in several places, water was still dripping down from the flag which was slowly fluttering by the cold wind that passed.

“I’ve heard stories about corpses turning black and dry, Uncle Li once told me in one of the books he recommended, but that was a long time ago. About a hundred years ago, there was a story about the small country of Ku Ye being destroyed overnight and all its citizens were killed by its assailants who came from Wu Ku, all adult Palace family members were all slaughtered and hanged above the city gates, small children were exiled and even the man was castrated so that they would not have offspring in the future. It is said, all members of the royal family were wiped out after some time, and the most beautiful princess of the country was kidnapped and made slaves of lust by her occupiers. I thought it was just a story, there was no such thing, until when I saw the body this morning”

Bei Yau and Ge Lu opened their eyes wide.

“Y-Your Majesty, so, that, is it true? If, Ku Ye’s Princess curse, happens again?” asked Bei Yai.

Luo Xiang turned his head, he saw his two men one by one.

“That’s not necessarily true Bei, at this time there are so many poisons that can cause such a reaction to occur, the body is blackened, and the body dries up, however, and whatever it is, Governor Cai Lo’s decision to burn the body immediately is very appropriate, because the poison in the body too long will cause a plague, it is said because one body died in this condition and was left overnight, one Wu Ku nation’s army base was killed in a horrific way”

“That, very frightening Your Majesty, then what should we do? If it’s really a plague that attacks, is there any chance it will spread to other cities?” asked Bei Yau.

Luo Xiang raised his hand, clenching his fist in front of his waist while his other hand was behind his back. He thought.

“This isn’t something we can deal with Bei, if it’s true what I think, then we can’t do anything about it, hopefully, it’s not getting worse”

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