CROWN PRINCE'S CONCUBINE

717 Headed Home

It was raining heavily. Several large horses were led into the stables of a large inn not far from the city of Sui Lian. After passing through the Pai Hua valley that stretched all the way to the end of Sui Lian City and finally arrived at the small town at the foot of the valley.

The transit city is not very large. But at least it has several lodging buildings that are deliberately prepared for travelers.

It was seen that Luo Xiang, who had been traveling since yesterday morning, stopped at the inn after nearly two days of non-stop riding from Xin Hua Palace. The young man stood in the middle of the balcony looking out of the inn, not even thinking about resting even though he was also tired. Thinking of where Bai Ying was now it was obvious that he couldn’t do anything right, not even be able to stay still. This made time, the longer they stayed there, the farther away Bai Ying would be from him, who knows where the child was now?

He turned when he heard someone approaching. Shin Ya who was already standing beside him lowered his head in salute.

“Your Majesty”

Luo Xiang straightened his body. Putting his hands behind his waist.

“Please, sir Shin, we are outside the palace, no need to be so strict”

Shin Ya stutters. He nodded and raised his head to see Luo Xiang’s face which looked quite tired. In order to shorten the search area, Chen Ming and Xiao Hong, with Su Lang headed south to find the Pink Deer, who knew Bai Ying would head there first. While Luo Xiang and Bei Yau, as well as Shin Ya, headed toward the West. If Shin Ya’s guess was right, Bai Ying would also head to the country of Li where it was rumored that the White Fox was last seen about fifty years ago, although, that wasn’t necessarily true.

“Master Shin, shall we continue on this journey?”

.....

The question made Shin Ya stutter. He saw Luo Xiang’s face whose gaze was far away towards the city street which was still quite busy even though it was late at night.

“Er, pardon me, Your Majesty, for not understanding what Your Highness means. Shouldn’t we find His Highness the Viceroy, that’s the point of this trip, isn’t it, Your Highness?” he asked somewhat doubtfully.

Luo Xiang didn’t answer, he held his breath for a while after pulling it long enough earlier. Looking far out at the city, and up at the already dark sky, there were no stars that night, not even the Moon. It’s dark with black clouds that don’t show shape and form.

Luo Xiang remembered what was in the long-written letter from Bai Ying, he had to make the trip himself, or else it would be difficult to find the White Fox as well as the Pink Deer. Had he forced himself to look for him? Even though he couldn’t let the boy go outside on his own, no matter how good his martial arts skills were. Let alone a petty bandit or the attack of the number one warrior in the martial world, all the beasts in this world would be subdued to him. He didn’t need to worry about it, however, his longing was so great, for the concubine he loved so much, even though he didn’t meet him for only three days, it had made his life like entering a dark hole without any light at all, he could die desperately in that darkness.

Luo Xiang finally let out a heavy breath, clenching the two hands that he had behind his waist.

“Heh, looks like we have to get back to the palace, mister Shin, Ying Ying will be very angry if we catch up with him now”

Shin Ya stuttered. He is afraid of mishearing. He turned to Bei Yau who was already standing not far near the steps, carrying a basin of warm water for the Crown Prince to rinse, he also listened to all the Crown Prince’s words.

“Your Majesty”

Luo Xiang’s eyes looked far into the sky. Letting the wind blow his hair far. The heavy rain was also carried by the wind and hit his face a little. He didn’t move and let the rain get him wet.

Luo Xiang’s mind drifted.

“Ying Ying, will you be able to rest easy if you find them? Even if it doesn’t work out, then, will you come back to me? Can I wait that long?”

Heavy rain fell almost everywhere. Even in the trading city of Chang San, not far from the capital.

Hua’s residence that night. Bai Ying arrived at his house shortly this afternoon, and young master Su who keeps following him left Bai Ying no choice but to invite him to stay at his house, at least for the night before they continued their journey to Li country the next day.

Bai Ying touch his chest, and the pain was still so clear that it made his chest hurt, not because of the wound outside, but maybe because of the pressure he got from the journey, and for missing the Crown Prince so much. He never thinks about one day he would feel this, but, this is not for good, isn’t it?

He stood in front of the balcony of his room watching the rain falling on the garden beside his big house. The park where he spent his childhood. All the beautiful memories that he will always find in every corner of his house, even the sad memories of when his whole family died miserably that night. At that time, the rain had also just fallen and stopped, leaving a large pool of blood in his yard.

“Father, Mother!” he could still hear his own screams and imagine the screams of horror when his family members were brutally murdered. The sound of swords slashing until blood spurted in the air, the glaring eyes of the Hua family members who didn’t even have time to close when their lives suddenly flew away. It is unimaginable how scared his family would be when that happened.

Bai Ying had just visited the Hua family tombs outside Chang San City, cleaned the tombs, and served fresh fruit and flowers at each of his family’s tombs. The graves of his father, mother, and older sister, as well as the elders and servants of each family, were all very well maintained since the Crown Prince asked someone to take care of them.

He couldn’t even shed his tears anymore while visiting their graves, was he starting to forget about them? All of his family members, the people he loved most in his life, and now, are all starting to be forgotten. Would he really forget them?

Bai Ying remembered, while in Queen Yu Yan’s dream world, he had talked to his Mother, who held his hand and smiled broadly at him, only looking deep into her eyes. A pair of eyes that seemed to know how hard the journey Bai Ying had been through so far. The woman lifted her hand caressing Bai Ying’s cheek, smiling.

“Sweet child, my poor little child, you have come so far, mother’s small and weak child has struggled so far. Mother is very proud of you, sweet child”

Bai Ying, who was only going to listen to his mother’s words, finally couldn’t stop his tears from falling. Unable to control it, he cried like a child.

“Huks, Mother, Ying er missed you guys so much, please forgive me that all this happened, sob” he hugged San Niang tightly and buried his head into the beautiful woman’s slender shoulder.

San Niang smiled. She patted Bai Ying’s back hair and kissed him on the cheek, hugging him so tight. The woman was crying too.

“Good kid, it’s all not your fault, don’t ever think like that. Everything will be fine. sweet child, it’s all going to be so fine. Just, never let the Crown Prince’s hand go from you, not even once, you must remember that, okay? Sweet child”

Bai Ying burst into tears. He stood on his balcony and unconsciously let out tears. He let the tears roll down his smooth cheeks and clenched his fists remembering how stupid he had been for trying to let the Crown Prince’s hand go from him.

Bai Ying turned around to get in the room but stopped when he saw that young master Su was already standing behind him. Did he enter his room without permission?

“Young master, Su”

Su Li Ming scratched his head.

“Eh please forgive, me for entering before you allow me, but I’ve called you earlier, em, what are you doing here? Look at your clothes, they’re wet like this”

Bai Ying shook off Li Ming’s hold on him. The young man had entered his room without permission and was now holding him as if they knew each other quite well. From the start, he didn’t really like that man, don’t know what made him think that, was it because the young man was flirtatious towards him? He looked at him as if he was another good delicious food for him.

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