"When will you even stop nagging?" Emperor Yin Renshu asked a rhetorical question to her sister as soon as he slides the door of the emperor's hall open.
So, the annual ceremony ended 'somehow successful' by sunset. Yes, just somehow successful because his majesty made a little... just a little mistake during the ritual. It's just he worshiped the wrong god.
Actually, this mistake is understandable... if everyone knows that he's not the one who's doing the ritual every year.
The grand empress dowager was at a loss of words. Never in the history of their dynasty did something like this happen. Despite the disappointment, she remained silent. By then, she realized it wasn't the first prince who performed the ritual.
She asked herself silently, "Where is he? Are they up to something I don't know again?"
On the other hand, the princess general at that time was torn between feeling angered with his stupidity and having a secondhand embarrassment.
Her poor maids panicked and didn't know what to do to calm her down. They could only let a sigh of relief when she walked out. Good thing, her self-control improved or else, there will be a deadly battle between her and her brother during the annual ceremony for a good harvest.
"Can you really blame me?" Princess Yin Xiulan pointed at him with her fan. "Renshu, you worshipped the god of war instead of the deity of soil and harvests!"
"He's the one I worship these past few years." The emperor reasoned out as he closes the door. "Xiulan, don't you think you're at fault too? You didn't tell me beforehand."
The princess can only massage her temple to keep her cool. "Renshu, for goodness sake! We were having a ceremony for a good harvest. Why the hell would you worship a war god?!"
She opens her fan and tries to cool herself. She worships the god of war too but she knows good harvests are out of his hand. She rolls her eyes and walks across the hall.
"Wenyan, Wenyan!" She calls out. "Renshu messed up the ceremony! If the deity for soil and harvests got angry, and we got a bad harvest this year, it would be his fault!"
No one answers. Yin Xiulan looked for her brother in the entire hall but even his shadow can't be seen. The two look at each other and seem to arrive at the same conclusion.
"I'll look for him in the Lotus Hall." Emperor Yin Renshu said.
"Don't. Stay here. Have you forgotten? Eunuch Xu is there. What if Wenyan really is there? No one can see you both at the same time." Princess Yin Xiulan said as she folds her fan. "I'll go take a look. Wait here."
Meanwhile, in the Lotus Hall, Prince Yin Wenyan and Eunuch Xu are in a meditation position, facing each other.
The spirit herb YueguangHua is floating mid-air as Xu Zhengming absorbs the energy from it. The prince also gives it support through passing his own spiritual energy.
The truth is, the flower doesn't have the same abundance of spiritual energy as the time Prince Yin Wenyan picked it. It is because a big portion of it was already consumed to preserve the body of the deceased empress. Also, for reasons unknown to them, it lacks one petal. As of the moment, it only has four petals left.
He's been passing spiritual energy for quite some time now so he hopes it helped the eunuch at the very least. He opens his eyes to check the other and sees Xu Zhengming with his eyes close. He wears a calm expression on his face.
Prince Yin Wenyan finds it amazing how he could look so attractive without even doing anything. He could effortlessly enchant anyone without knowing it. Despite the current situation, he's in, he's still as charming as ever.
He's beautiful and he knows it. He's tough but a strong feeling to protect him arises upon almost everyone. He's easily annoyed but it's easy to gain his favor back. He's smart but dumb in some ways.
The prince couldn't find a negative word to describe this beau. He finds it funny that even the word 'dumb' seems to be a compliment too.
He took the flower mid-air and extended it to Xu Zhengming.
"Eunuch Xu." He calls.
"What?" The other replied, still with his eyes close.
"Open your eyes." He said with his usual gentle smile drawn on his lips.
"Shhh! I'm concentrating." He replies with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
The prince chuckles. "It's alright. You're absorbing the spirit herb's spiritual energy for some time now. Let me see the progress."
"Oh. Okay okay."
Eunuch Xu's long lashes slightly tremble as he slowly opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is the white flower that the smiley face prince extends to him. On the other hand, what the prince sees is not a pair of crimson red irises anymore but a pair of natural brown eyes.
"You're back to your original appearance!" The prince exclaimed in both amusement and joy.
Eunuch Xu gasps in delight, "Really?!"
He thought he can go out and leave this boring hall! Now, all he has in his mind are women. Where should he start? Hmm?
The prince's amusement didn't last long. His hand which holds the spirit herb subconsciously dropped as his facial expression went confused then to a disappointment.
"Eunuch Xu..." He forced a smile to the other. "I'm afraid I have to retract my words. I'm wrong. It's only your eyes that went back to normal. You still have your fangs."
"Huh?! No way!" The eunuch immediately feels his pair of canine teeth with both hands.
Confirming that the sharp teeth are still there, his visions of him being with women once again trampled down like a tower of cards.
He looks at the prince with a disheartened face. "Whyyyy?!"
Prince Yin Wenyan scratches his cheek with his forefinger. "Perhaps you still need to absorb more energy from this spirit herb?" He extends the flower to the other again and said, "You should keep this with you all the time. it would greatly help you to regain your initial appearance."
Xu Zhengming looks at the flower with contempt. "Fine. I don't have anything that could help me other than this anyway." He takes the flower in the other's hand.
Suddenly, the door slides open. The princess general made her way across the hall.
"I'm back, Eunuch Xu! Is my brother he---"
Princess Yin Xiulan froze when she saw her brother and Xu Zhengming with their hands touching the other, holding a flower. She suddenly felt unusual warmth in her cheeks. Her heart becomes excited as well.
"Xiulan, you're---"
"I'm leaving!" Without letting his brother say another word, she turns her back and leaves the hall with a loud bang on the poor door.
"... finally back?" The prince could only whisper his words left unsaid in the thin air.
Thinking about why his sister acted like that, he realized their current position. The tip of his ears got a tint of red. He immediately withdraws his hand.
"P-please don't mind my sister. She's... she... maybe she forgot something and have to leave so sudden after coming in here." He tries to explain to the other.
"Okay?" Xu Zhengming is still confused by her but didn't say anything anymore.
"General? Are you alright? What happened?" Lieutenant General Liu asked his superior. He's finally back from a failed mission to find the empress.
The general is quiet for a while, trying to calm her heart that's beating rapidly. She also has the urge to grin but she tries her best not to or else, she might scare Liu Chen.
"General? General? Can you hear me?" He leans closer to her.
To his surprise, the princess general suddenly grabs his lapel and shakes him violently, yelling, "I'm calm! I'm caaaaallllmmm!"
He also yells, "Yes! The general is calm! Truly calm!"
He doesn't have a single idea as to why she's suddenly acting strange but if she says she's calm, then she's calm.
Then she stopped shaking him. "Right. I forgot to tell him."
"Tell, Eunuch Xu what?" He asked with worry and at the same time confusion..
"Not him." The princess replied immediately.
Liu Chen's slender eyes widen in surprise and confusion. "There's someone else inside beside Eunuch Xu?"
She lightly slaps him in the face with her fan. "Don't talk to me."
Then she turns her back and entered the hall again.
"Um..."
Although she talked to him about something Liu Chen doesn't know, she still told him not to talk to her. But not that it matters. If she says she doesn't want him to talk to her, then he wouldn't talk to her. The princess general's words are absolute!
She walks across the room again but didn't go past behind the screen that partitioned the emperor's resting area from the rest of the hall. She peeps on the other two beyond the screen.
"We have important matters that we need to discuss but not that it needs immediate action. Take your time and meet us in your hall." She said in her unusual soft voice.
"Actually, I'm going now. Eunuch Xu just got the healing effect of Yueguang Hua." Prince Yin Wenyan emphasized the name of the flower. He knows she misunderstood something lately and it doesn't make him comfortable at all.
The princess is quite surprised about what she heard. "You got it?"
The prince nods. "They already used it so the healing effects aren't as effective as it should be. For now, it only managed to change his eye color back to normal."
Princess Yin Xiulan looks at Eunuch Xu. "It's only his eye color? I think we can do something for his long fingernails but as for his teeth..."
Eunuch Xu forces a smile on her. Good thing, she's treating him a lot nicer now compared to back then.
"Oh?" The princess's phoenix eyes seem to have a glint on them. She walks closer to Xu Zhengming to have a better look at him.
Xu Zhengming silently thought, "Is she falling for me too? Well, I can't blame her. I am good-looking!"
Even Prince Yin Wenyan follows her with a gaze similar to that of seeing a formidable rival.
"You look cute! Eunuch Xu, you don't have to regain your initial appearance. This look will do." She exclaimed.
With his red eyes turned to natural brown, and his not-so-long fangs thanks to the spirit herb, he looks innocent and at the same time a troublemaker. A child-like appearance, a little bean!
"What?!" Xu Zhengming got caught off-guard.
Cute? Like kittens and puppies? Like a bear cub?
Never in his whole life did someone call him cute. Even in his earliest memories, he's praised as a good-looking child, a handsome young man but never cute!
"..." Her brother remained silent. He doesn't know what to say. Should he consider her as an enemy or...
Eunuch Xu clears his throat. "I'll take that as a compliment, your highness but I'd rather regain my old appearance."
"Aww... that's a shame!" She said with a tone of regret.
"He's still recovering and hoping he'll have his old appearance back. Xiulan, let's go and let him rest first." He pushed her sister away from Eunuch Xu.
"Uh... yeah. That's fine too." When they're far enough, she said to her brother in a low voice, "Liu Chen is outside. Can you take a different route to the emperor's hall?"
"Okay." He affirmed.
Since he couldn't take the main door and thinks it's not the right time to let Xu Zhengming learns any of their secrets yet, he's left with no choice but to sneakily head to the emperor's hall through the window.
"Eunuch Xu, we need to deal with some important things for now. I'll be back soon." He said in a voice enough for the other beyond the screen to hear.
"Okay." He replies casually.
Princess Yin Xiulan can't help but grin. In a low and teasing voice, she said, "You sounded like a husband leaving his wife temporarily."
"Nonsense." He said with his cheeks becoming warm.