Chapter 22

"I am Xin XuWei."

"XuWei?" Because of the sudden drop of the bomb Xiao Bai felt that he was hearing it wrong and asked if he really got it right.

"Yes." XuWei smirked and calmly answered.

"You mean that XuWei from the Xin country?" Xiao Bai asked to clear his suspicion however he would be lying if he said that he didn't thought of this possibility.

"Yes. I've heard that you're looking for me? Are you surprised?" XuWei leaned to the table with his hand supporting his cheeks.

"Ah yes. It's just that I imagined his highness quite far different from you so I'm a little shock." Xiao Bai calmed down and came back to his normal self, like he didn't hear something trivial just now.

"Oh? How do you imagine me?"XuWei got triggered all of a sudden.

"I just thought that he would be like quite mature and intimidating. You know? Like how Ming xue usually is?" Xiao bai answered truthfully.

According to the information that his uncle gave him, his highness is a young genius who experienced war and led thousands of troops to victory.

Naturally, one would thought that his highness is a mature young adult. But it came out to be XuWei, one of the most clingiest person he ever made acquaintance with.

"Well. Actually I might quite have an idea of your real identity since the first day." Xiao continued with a chuckle seeing XuWei feeling gloomy all of a sudden.

"Really? But how?" And XuWei's mood has swung into the positive side once again.

Hearing that he actually left an impression on Xiao Bai is enough to melt all his gloominess away. He's feeling down because Xiao Bai said that ming xue is more like a crown prince by the way, hayst.

"You know, in the entrance exam, I noticed that you kept staring at me from behind. You wasted a lot of time so when I finished my article I happened to glance at you while you were writing so I found that you are quite talented in handling your brush which means you compose words often and you didn't even stop to think instead it felt like you already arrived at your conclusion. "

"But that's not enough. What if I'm just a young master from a literary family?" To be honest what Xiao Bai said was pretty much also has a point.

Even though one came from some literary families they are not that well-versed in political issues but with poems and songs instead. And the one they wrote that day is about political literature which is like a piece of cake for a prince who mingles in the court at such a young age.

However, XuWei was getting addicted to how Xiao Bai actually observed him and also praises him indirectly.

Xiao bai, "In the martial arts, sword fight, and archery. You did very well in the three. And yes, there were quite a few who are good in writing and fighting but you are quite different. For the bases, I knew that the crown prince is good at both so it narrows the possible targets in drastic measures. While watching the fight I was observing about 10 people however when you fought in the martial arts match, I knew you were holding back."

"How did you know?" XuWei was now interested. It was like they were gossiping about a complete different person.

Xiao bai, "I knew, because the way you deliver your attacks, you deliberately lower it's attack power when it was about to hit. You also lower the momentum of every attack, I could also see that you are calculating every movements."

"Well that's quite right.. But someone is actually telling me about not fighting seriously when they also played with their opponents." XuWei pretended that he was talking about other people but Xiao Bai knew it was him.

"Yeah whatever." Xiao Bai rolled his eyes towards him, earning a light chuckle from his highness.

"Anyway, you already knew my truth. It's your turn to tell the tale." XuWei said as he look at Xiao Bai in his eyes.

And so Xiao Bai didn't care if he only knew XuWei for a week. He told everything that uncle zhao told him of what happened to Wang kingdom. After he's done he asked, "I've heard that emperor Li went to your emperial palace to make alliance."

"Now that you've mentioned it. Someone did visit us. However emperial father is busy with the affairs in the north so he don't have time to entertain him." XuWei was rubbing his chin while telling him and continued, "Don't worry. We're not forming alliance with a useless emperor."

"I know." Xiao Bai confidently answered.

XuWei, "So what was your and your uncles plan?"

"Li shun didn't made any move yet. But we are preparing for all the possible routes and countermeasures. However we lack in soldiers. As I said emperor Li forces all the young men to serve as a soldier under him.

But uncle's past subordinates are the only ones who turned their back against the Li and also some recruits in the neighborhood. We might win in quality but we will be overwhelmed by the enemy's quantity." Xiao Bai explained.

"You said that they were forced. Then all the reason for them retaliate against the ruler. How about using them?" XuWei experienced countless battles so it was a very good tactic.

Xiao bai sighed, "I thought of that before. But their families. It's an open fact that the lives of the people are in the hands of the ruler. If they retaliate then many innocent blood will be spilled."

"You're thinking too much. You can win a war without blood." XuWei said in a warm voice.

He felt like his heart was washed by spring water. Xiao Bai is such a good hearted angel sent by the heavens.

"..." Xiao Bai kept silent waiting for XuWei to continue. "You could send someone to poison him. If an emperor is a manipulative ruler, using his people in his own leisure, the odds that many insiders in the palace have the will to end his life. What you need to do is take advantage of that and ask them to cooperate with you."

Xiao bai suddenly felt the urge to hit himself. Why didn't he think of that? It always happened in the dramas he watch, how could he forget such an overrated solution?

"Your strategy is quite good. But since Li shun knew that I am alive the security in the kingdom was tripled. Even to the point that they cut off all kinds of transportation and the citezens cannot go in and out as they please." This was an intel they got when they tried to plant a spy inside. The spy his uncle planted years ago was plucked out when Li shun did a thorough cleansing of the palace.

"Don't worry. Since the Li emperor came to us that means he is willing to do anything to please us. We could send an expert agent to infiltrate the palace, I'm thinking of letting one of our trusted minister to visit their palace to let the agent enter without hinder." XuWei was quite confident about this.

He could immediately talk to his father since he, himself, is in the academy. Xiao Bai was in deep thought, and eventually nodded in agreement to Xuwei's plan.

"By the way, my father is in the academy right now. It's better to get on his good side as well, getting me to be your backer is already quite a big deal but having my father will give you more benefits." XuWei smiled.

He felt like he was introducing a lover to his parents and made him look forward to it. But Xiao Bai on the other hand was shook of what he said.

"What do you mean? That— is quite impossible." This is a real deal you know? According to the dramas and novels he encountered, emperors are very intimidating.

Besides Xiao Bai lacks the courtesy and rules on how to properly meet someone with a higher position in a palace. Well XuWei is an exception.

"Ahh don't worry my father is not that scary. Let me tell you a secret. He just looks like someone who would rather break than bend but he was able to kneel in front of my mother. He may be the most powerful but to him his wife is far more powerful than him." He said with a chuckle, feeling that he now understand his father.

XuWei as a general needs to show his power, intellegence and courage in order to gain the loyalty and respect of his soldiers, in order for them to trust their lives in his hands.

But for some reason he becomes powerless in front of this man, the man who managed to get his attention since the day he laid his eyes on him.

For this man XuWei was willing to throw his tall and over-bearing image just so he could keep accompanying Xiao Bai.

"Well that was some secrets you got there. You sure its okay for me to know?" Xiao Bai said with a laugh, grateful that XuWei was easing his troubled heart.

"It's fine." XuWei answered joining him in laughing as well.

Xiao bai, "By the way, besides me, who else knew about this?"

XuWei, "Lets see. Besides you, there's Ming xue."

Xiao Bai, "I guess so."

XuWei, "He was actually the one who said that I should tell you as soon as possible. And also the one who planned to go to this garden maze since there's no one that could eavesdrop on us here."

Xiao bai, "So that's why Ming xue suddenly offered to team up with a bunch of handful people. I mean, he was clearly annoyed by those two and yet he pulled them along. I wonder if he was silently suffering right now?"

"Maybe." And he laughed once again and continued, "Let's go, he said that we should meet at the end of the maze, so we should get going."

Xiao bai nodded and was about to leave when he noticed something on the roof of the pavilion. "Wait!"

"What is it?" XuWei turned around to look at him, confused.

"Look, there's some kind of paper on the on the roof." Xiao Bai pointed at it while looking up. XuWei followed where he was pointing at and indeed there was a paper that was inserted at the wood.

"I'll get it." XuWei stood on the table and with a little jump he got hold of the paper and gracefully landed. He handed the paper on Xiao bai as soon as he did.

Xiao bai carefully opened it. It was a map, the map of the maze is written in here. However what surprised him the most was a short note written on below.

"Congratulations on finding this secret peize! At the end of your journey a wonderful gift awaits you." Xiao Bai handed the map to XuWei to let him see the note.

"Well let's go and claim it." Xuwei pulled Xiao Bai and guided them throughout the way.

Finally after half an hour they arrived at the end of the maze, well rather, they came back to where it started. The maze doesn't really have an end but it was extremely hard to retrace your steps once you entered and arrived at the middle.

"President Zhou, we found this note on the pavilion it said that there's a prize so we want to ask if it's real." XuWei said to Zhineng and gave him the map they got.

"So the two of you found this huh? Quite lucky. This was something that the owner came up with, she was testing if someone could find it. Since the both of you are able to find it then I'm sure it will be a go."Zhineng congratulated them.

He called out the owner and enthusiastically reported that someone found the map.

There was suddenly a loud squeal outside followed by running footsteps.

"Are you the couple who found it?!" A loud voice asked even though she didn't arrived yet. Xiao Bai frozed at what he heard.

"Hello, are you the owner?" Xiao Bai awkwardly asked when she arrived.

"Sorry for mistaking you two as a couple. You know? This is actually a preparation for the QiXi festival [1] the garden maze is famous as a dating spot, especially the pavilion. Many lovers would hang out in there, so I thought that maybe they'll notice the prize that way. By the way, this was a test run, since it was successful, I'm planning to scatter and hide prizes in random corners for them to find. It will make the maze more fun, right? And yes I am the store owner. " She babbled on and on without stop.

"That was not a bad idea, I'm sure they'll like that." Xiao Bai gently smiled, she stared at him like staring at a goddess that descended in the mortal realm.

"Aherrm.." XuWei cleared his throat pulling the store owner back to her senses. The store owner is actually quite young, probably in her late 20s.

Despite her age she still managed to makw this business well-known, she is even very energetic and full of vitality.

"Anyway, you are here to claim your prize right?" She smiled at XuWei. In an instant her woman intuition told her that there is something about them. And women intuition is always 97% right.

"The prize we give are of course flowers, especially roses. Since you are the first winners I'll give you 99, just tell me what color you want. And in addition, I could give you a candle light dinner date at the Pavilion of Hearts [2]! Just give me the date and I'll prepare it!"

"White china rose." The store owner was surprised, she was pretty sure that he would choose red or pink but it turned out to be white. He looked at Xuwei's eyes and saw that he was confident with what he wants and was sure that this meant something more than she knew.

So she excitedly went inside and prepared a 99 white china roses boquet. Suddenly she had an amazing idea, aside from the 99 pure white roses, she inserted a white but tinted with red rose in the middle giving it and illusion of a blood dropping in a snow.

She came back the two with a grin on her face, "Here you go." She said and gave it to XuWei. A while ago he let Xiao Bai sit and wait for him in the flower bed.

XuWei immediately noticed the white tinted red rose in the middle, "Thank you, it's perfect... Do you have an ink, brush and paper? I want to write a poem."

She immediately called Zhineng to get the things and gave it to XuWei. She left him to let XuWei concentrate and write his masterpiece, just after 2 minuted, XuWei was able to make his poem for Xiao Bai. He gently folded it and inserted it at the bouquet until it couldn't be seen.

He ran towards where Xiao Bai is and gave him the flower. "Here, take it."

"Thank you." Xiao Bai took it then caress the soft petals. "They're beautiful."

XuWei, "Yeah. The store owner is quite talented. Adding a red tinted one to add some highlights."

Xiao bai, "yeah. It looks like a blood that dripped in the snow."

XuWei, "Yeah, just like you."

Xiao bai laughed, "Why would you say so?"

Xuwei, "Your name means snow but you are the most vibrant red color one could see in that cold and white powder."

Xiao bai remembered the time when he got hit by the truck. Isn't this the most perfect example? In the road covered in white, his blood spilled like a rose blooming in winter.

"Your right." He answered XuWei, intently staring at the mixed colored rose. Somehow, he felt that XuWei knows everything that happened to him.

Although everything was indirectly mentioned, it was all pointI ng at his past. From the lotus flower to the orchids and now to roses. XuWei acts like he knows something but also acts like he doesn't, it makes Xiao Bai confused.

"Anyway, be sure to unfold that wrapper and put them on a vase when you got home, okay?" XuWei said.

Xiao bai, "why?"

XuWei, "It's a surprise."

Xiao bai wants to ask more but Ming xue and the two kids arrived cutting him off. Dingwu and ruo lan inquired hiw they got flowers and of course Xiao Bai told them from start to finish, except for the revealing part.

After that they went home and called it a day.

................

QiXi Festival— its a chinese valentines day and it's not celebrated on February but often on August.

August is summer on chinese by the way and we are currently on spring season in our story.

Pavilion of Hearts - the name of that oavilion in the center of the maze.

☘Mini theater☘

*what XuWei was thinking when the store owner was talking 101*

Store owner: So you're the couple who who found it?

XuWei: yes

Store owner: sorry for mistaking you as a couple.

XuWei: no. You are not mistaken.

Store owner: What color of roses to you want?

XuWei: I would like red but let's go with white.

Store owner: I'll add red cuz my intuition says I should add it.

XuWei: nice choice.

Store owner: thanks.

XuWei: by the way, store owner. Don't pretend anymore. I know you are doing this so I could confess to Xiao Bai.

Store owner: what are you talking about? *cold sweats"

XuWei: store owner or I should say dear author? Don't worry, I won't let you down.

Author: hahahaha Jiayou!! There will be a lot of me's in my story so beware hahahaha

XuWei: well thanks for paving the way.

Author: its fine. I got you bro..But I still wonder what that poem is. *says in whisper*