1.6: Under the cherry blossom rain

A day went by and it was finally the cherry blossom outing day. The capital was already bustling with activity early in the morning as common folks busied themselves with their daily routine and stall keepers quickly prepared to set up their stalls for yet another day of business.

It could be seen that the atmosphere in the capital was very cheerful today. After the news about General Zhong Yong's triumph over the xiongnu spread throughout the whole country, the common folks felt their heart settle down in peace and were so delighted over it that they would even wake up smiling happily in the middle of the night.

A victory meant a good fortune for the rest of the year. Ancient people believed in superstitions and felt that their Eastern Long's good fortune was coming with this great news.

As the sun slowly rose to the sky, people grouped in twos or threes sat in the inns and restaurants as they gossiped about the latest news in the capital. They were excitedly guessing which noble personage will be invited to the cherry blossom outing today and who they thought would go.

Every year, the nobles and royalties held banquets and outings for their entertainment or in celebration of something. Although the commoners couldn't participate, they were still very curious and excited about the various noble personages and liked to discuss how the banquet might be served with delicious foods and stuff.

Amidst their discussion, someone mentioned about the four imperial princes who were probably the noblest of the group to be participating in the outing.

"Say, do you think all the four royal highnesses will go to the outing today?"

"I heard that it's his highness Ning Wang who hosted the outing this time. Maybe the other three royal highnesses will also go to the outing to give face to his highness Ning Wang?"

Another person whispered while eyeing the person who just spoke with disdain. "What do you know? There has been rumours around lately that the two royal highnesses, Ning Wang and Duan Wang are currently fighting against each other and have a bad relationship. If it is true then his royal highness Duan Wang might not participate today."

"Is that really true? I think the two royal highnesses have pretty good relationship according to how they act in the public. Maybe the rumours are false?"

The person who talked about the two princes having a bad relationship snorted and said, "How could that be? What do you even know? I heard that his royal highness Ning Wang's carriage once met with his royal highness Duan Wang's in a street. In terms of the status rule, his royal highness Ning Wang should step aside to give way for his elder. Can you guess what happened?"

"His highness Ning Wang gave way to Duan Wang...?"

The man shook his head and replied smugly, "Of course not! His highness actually didn't even bother with pleasantries and directly drove past his highness Duan Wang's carriage. So how can you prove that they have a good relationship now?"

Everyone else were dumbfounded at his words and were left speechless."..."

"Then, do you think if his highness Xiang Wang will participate this time?" someone quickly changed the topic to drive away the awkwardness.

"His highness Xiang Wang? Wasn't there a rumour that his highness had a sickly body and couldn't get out of his fu?"

"To be honest, I don't think I have ever seen his highness before as he is always recuperating in his manor and never heard of him participating in such banquets and outings before."

"Do you think his highness might have recovered his health a bit all these years?"

"I don't know. I heard his illness was incurable and even the imperial physicians were helpless in this case."

"Maybe his highness won't go for the outing this time too?"

"His highness Xiang Wang is really pitiful. Due to his incurable illness, he can't even go out of his manor to get some fresh air."

"Indeed. Sigh.."

Inside a low key and elegant horse carriage which was parked just a bit closer to the inn where the group of men were gossiping, Bai Yu sat on the seat leisurely with no expression on his face. He was dressed in a slightly better clothing of silver lining black robe and his hair was partially held up by his simple white jade coronet with the rest nestling on his back for his outing.

He was in the middle of heading out of the capital to the Fushen temple but had another thought and let Xiao Mo stop the carriage to get him some steamed buns as he hadn't had his breakfast earlier due to not having any appetite until he got inside his carriage.

Just now, he had heard everything the group of people talked about even from inside the carriage. Although their voices weren't loud, his hearing was sharper than normal people so he caught every word they said clearly.

It seemed that most of the common folks didn't have a bad impression of him but didn't have a solid idea of him either. It was also good as he will have a better chance to give himself a good reputation among the common citizens and manipulate his image in their heart anyway he liked.

The saying of 'a good monarch is made by the people' is not a lie. No matter how good a monarch is in handling the court affairs, as long as they don't leave a good impression on the common folks then they are only seen as a so-so monarch. Sometimes majority wins. It applies even in this age of monarchy.

While he was thinking all this inside his head, the curtain was lifted up by a hand and Xiao Mo's head poked in from the gap. With a bag of oil paper in his other hand, he got in and said, "Wang ye, I asked around and finally found the best stall that makes tasty steamed buns. I bought quite a few in case you liked them."

Saying that, he quickly unwrapped the oil paper and five steaming hot buns came in sight. The tender and smooth white skin subconsciously made people salivate. Bai Yu didn't show any reaction and only said,"En." then picked one steamed bun and elegantly bit on it.

The soft and tender bun seemed to melt in his mouth as the taste of the meat filling lingered in his tongue. It was indeed very tasty. He quickly finished two more buns and gave the rest to Xiao Mo to eat which he happily accepted with a heartfelt thanks.

Meanwhile, the left out Little Star was feeling a bit upset at only being able to watch them eat while he sat beside Bai Yu. He suddenly had an urge to grow mushrooms in the corner.

'Sniff, This baby is sad. This baby is hungry. This baby wants to eat buns too. (ಥ﹏ಥ)'

Unaware of his little system's inner grumbles, Bai Yu wiped his hand clean with the handkerchief given by Xiao Mo then finally commanded to continue on their way.

The Fushen temple was located at the suburbs where they had to ride their carriage for half an hour and had to climb up the cherry blossom hill surrounded by river and greenery at both sides. The hill was connected to the forest where the main road stretched out to and they had to follow the side road up the hill then walk up a few stone steps to get to the top.

One could already see the beautiful cherry blossoms halfway through the steps which almost covered more than half of the hill, like a cherry pink sea of flowers.

It was both aesthetically pleasing and relaxing to one's mind. It was the type of place where men recited love poems to their beloved. Although ancient people were very reserved and cared too much about distance between men and women, they were still romantic people with a slightly different way of expressing their affection.

The carriage traveled for half an hour and stopped at the bottom of the hill. Xiao Mo got off his coach seat and walked back to help his master get off the carriage.

There were many other luxurious and elegant carriages parked nearby where some of the noblemen and noble ladies who also just got here were getting off. Seeing an unfamiliar carriage stop at the entrance, all of them directed their curious and doubtful gazes towards it as they watched the male servant quickly head towards the back and heard him report to the person inside respectfully.

"Wang ye, we have arrived."

'Wang ye?!'

Hearing how the male servant called the person inside the seemingly low key and inconspicuous carriage, the surrounding people were surprised and confused even further.

The person riding inside this average-looking carriage was actually a royalty? But they don't seem to have ever seen the insignia drawn in the carriage before. Did they hear him wrong?

Without letting their mind wander around their doubts, a slender snow-white hand with distinct joints and long fingers gently pushed aside the curtains of the carriage door.

Just the sight of the beautiful pale hands made one unable to shift their eyes elsewhere as their whole attention was suddenly fixed at it and a strange mixed feeling of shock, curiosity and anticipation to see the owner of that beautiful hand bubbled up inside their heart.

As many pairs of curious and heated stares were directed towards the carriage door, the person inside slowly and elegantly came out. With a slightly lowered head, the tall and slender figure of a man in black robe came in everyone's sight. Raising his head slowly, the crowd of nobles gasped in shock as they stared at the otherworldly beautiful countenance of the man with wide, infatuated eyes.

The man was very tall with broad shoulders and narrow waist. His pair of perfectly long and slender legs were hidden behind his robe. His long knee-length jet black hair flowed behind his back like a waterfall as a simple white jade crown held half his hair high up on his head, showing off his smooth and wide forehead.

His long eyebrows were like sharp swords while his phoenix eyes looked very enticing to anyone who came in contact with them. He had a high nose bridge and thin lips which were currently slightly upturned at the corners but they were slightly pale which showed that he was suffering from some illness.

The whole time as he got off his carriage, Bai Yu was very calm and didn't seem to notice the numerous eyes staring at him in a daze. Only after he coughed a few times did the others get out of their trance, quickly withdrawing their infatuated stares.

The group of people felt a bit awkward after finding themselves lose their senses at the sight of the beautiful man and tried to hide their embarrassment under their polite smiles.

A courageous person stepped forward and greeted him politely, "Greetings. I am Chu Ming Lan, the second son of the Chu family. May I know who you might be as I don't seem to have seen you before?"

The person named Chu Ming Lan was a good looking young man around the same age as Bai Yu. He seemed to be someone from an affluent background judging from the quality of his clothing and his good mannerisms.

Bai Yu remembered that the Chu family was a second-rate noble family with a second rank marquis title. Although their status wasn't very high, it wasn't low either. The first branch of the Chu family had two court officials with decent post and the second branch was prominent in the business field. They were both wealthy and prestigious and were quite respected in the capital. They were one of the neutral parties.

As for this Chu Ming Lan, he was the second legitimate son of the master of the first branch. He was quite a good seedling with an honest and gentlemanly personality.

It only took a very short time for him to recall the information about the person before him. Bai Yu nodded towards him and was about to greet him back when a pleasantly surprised voice called out from behind.

"Qi Ge*?"

{Qi = seven/ seventh, Ge = big brother/brother}

Everyone, including Bai Yu, turned their heads to see a lively young man dressed in a pale yellow robe with white embroideries heading towards him.

His shoulder length black hair was tied into a ponytail and he was holding onto an embroidered fan with mountains and rivers drawn in it. His looks were only above average but his pair of round black eyes were quite adorable which gave him a cheerful feeling like a butterfly in a flower garden.

Bai Yu examined the young man and finally remembered his identity.

There was no one who addressed him as Qi Ge other than the Ninth prince, Ming Wang, his younger half-brother.

"Ninth brother." Bai Yu nodded at him calmly as a greeting.

"Woah, Qi Ge. You also came to attend the outing today? Is your illness getting better?" Long Ji Rui* was surprised to see that it really was his seventh brother who usually stayed inside his fu to recuperate and never cared about the affairs of the world.

{Ming Wang's given name.}

Although he was happy to see him after so long, he was still concerned about his health.

Bai Yu could see that his concern was genuine and no falsehood could be seen from his adorable round eyes so he gave him a slight smile and replied, "Don't worry. I'm doing fine. I just felt a bit stifled staying inside my fu all the time so I wanted to come out for some fresh air."

Long Ji Rui made a guilty face and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, Qi Ge. Fu huang* had sent me to QingZhou province for a case and only came back the day before so I wasn't able to visit you all this time."

{Fu huang = father emperor.}

"You don't have to apologise for it. Since it's fu huang's order, you must of course do your best to complete it. You can come to visit me now that you are back." Bai Yu raised his hand, wanting to pat his head but then realised there were others so he shifted it to his shoulders and gave two warm pats.

Hearing his words, Long Ji Rui finally felt a bit relieved and immediately flashed a cheerful smile at him.

"Thank You, Qi Ge! I have brought back some local specialities from QingZhou for you. Later, I will bring them to your fu."

Bai Yu only nodded with a smile as agreement.

Only after they finished speaking did they realise that the way the others looked at Bai Yu was a bit strange. There was shock, admiration, disbelief and pity mixed inside the spectators' eyes.

The extraordinary beauty was actually the sickly seventh prince, Xiang Wang! Who could've ever guessed that he was actually so different from the rumours and their imaginations?

What 'so sickly that he looked like a dried wood'? What 'deathly yellow and wrinkled ugly face'?!

Just look at that almost perfect countenance! Look at his tall and great stature! Look at his noble and elegant bearing! Even his sickly paleness only made him have a soft and delicate charm. Where was the supposed 'ugliness'?! He was clearly a world-toppling beauty ah!

Whoever started those nonsensical rumours was clearly a blind fool who couldn't tell right from wrong!