Brothers

Yao Ling stares at the back of the Empress in pure betrayal as he leaves him behind. Alone. With these children. This is not what he thought would happen; admittedly, he didn't think this far after seeing that bastard.

How did he get here, though? Why is he here? Nothing comes to mind when Yao Ling thinks about those questions. He didn't know him well enough to know his motives or goals during their fights, nor when they were grouped. Now he's suddenly a palace concubine, one with a child at that. Yao Ling finds these all too suspicious; a warrior of that bastard's caliber would find it hard to just adapt from active battle to the cushy lifestyle that a concubine has. He could be planning something, but what? What does that bastard gain from all of this, other than a luxurious life? 

Yao Ling moves to the corner of the room, grumbling to himself. He stares at the children, the first prince is playing with a ball in the middle of the room with the third prince, both arguing about who's better at doing tricks. While the second boy is sitting on a low table, drawing from the movements of his hands. They are all ignoring him, they haven't even acknowledged his presence. Yao Ling is fine with that, he only wanted to see how the brothers of this body looked. Now that his curiosity has been met, he can move on to more important things, like finding out about that bastard's true reasons for being here.

Unfortunately, two older maids, who were not wearing the green robes of the jade palace, barred the room. He needs to find a way to leave.

"Fourth prince." Yao Ling looks up to his side, and a maid with brown hair and a bubbly, cheerful expression bends down to his level. "Would you like to play with your other royal brothers? I bet they wouldn't mind having you in their team."

Yao Ling stared at her in bewilderment before he was about to say no, she slightly pushed him towards the boys.

The boys both looked up at him, one in disgust in the other with mild annoyance. Jin Hua, points at Yao Ling, "Keep him away. I'm not playing with him." He demands.

Jin Zhou squints at him, "I'm not playing with a baby." 

The maid smiles, though a little forced, Yao Ling can tell. " First Prince, Third Prince. You could give Fourth Prince a chance, and show him how to do all the tricks you do. I bet he'll like that." She puts her hands on Yao Lin's shoulders, giving him, again, a slight push forward.

The boys stay silent. Jin Hua opened his mouth, no doubt about to demand to leave them alone, until Jin Zhou interrupted him. 

"Fine."

Jin Hua looks at him, shocked, "Huh? I don't wanna play with him! He's a baby, he's gonna slow us down." The boy in gold robes stumped he's feet down.

Jin Zhou shrugged, ignoring his brother, he looked at Yao Ling. "Can you kick the ball?" He kicks the ball to Yao Ling's feet. Yao Ling stares. He wishes he could sigh tiredly and roll his eyes, but it would probably look out of place on a three-year-old, so he just holds himself and kicks the ball with all his little might. It wasn't much, but good enough. It reminds him of days he used to live on the streets playing with the other street rats when he wasn't working as a servant. 

The kids soon started kicking the ball at each other, Jin Hua reluctantly kicking the ball to Jin Zhou and Jin Zhou to Yao Ling and so on. Until Jin Zhou kicks the ball hard enough for Yao Ling to gasp at the sharp pain on his leg. Jin Zhou just continues kicking it to his brother, and when it's Yao Ling's turn, Yao Ling kicks hard, hoping to hit back just as hard, but his body is small and weak and does nothing. Instead, Jin Hua seemed to catch on his brother's actions and did the same, causing both of Yao Ling's legs to burn and ache from the friction. 

But Yao Ling was stubborn, hit after hit, he didn't show it on his face, and let them continue hitting until they got frustrated enough that they stopped. Yao Ling wanted to rub his legs badly, but that would give away that whatever this weird method of bullying they were doing was working on him. 

Jin Hua perked up, he went to one of his maids at the end of the room and said something to her too far for Yao Ling. She bowed and nodded, and Jin Hua looked toward them, smirking. 

"Let's play outside." 

Yao Ling has a bad feeling about this.

__________

Once outside, the sky was clear, but the grounds were still slightly covered by snow, though most was cleared away by the servants. Both kids immediately skipped outside with the ball, and Yao Ling walked slowly, mostly due to his sore legs, but also now that he's outside, he can find a way to the other courtyard where the consorts were. He looks around, tch, the older Momos had positioned themselves at the end of the halls, not letting anyone in or out. 

Yao Ling continues walking until he meets up with the older boys in front of one of the small ponds, though still big enough to house quite a few large fish. Jin Zhou is poking the frozen surface with a stick. Jin Hua stood proudly, looking at Yao Ling with a mischievous look. Yao Ling looks from the pond to him, and he can already guess what the kid wants him to do. 

"Jin Hua, the ice looks pretty thick. Mother said that as long as the ice is not clear, you can walk on it." Jin Zhou still points at the pond with his stick. Jin Zhou took a step forward, before he set his feet on the ice, a maid in blue quickly walked over and pulled him back.

"Third Prince! That's dangerous! You don't know if that is safe to walk on. You could fall in!" 

Jin Zhou pulled himself off the maid. " Don't touch me! I know what Im doing!"

"Third Prince. Please-"

Yao Ling walks over to the pond, looking at the ice. The kid was right, the ice isn't clear, but that doesn't mean it's thick. He knows from experience that white ice doesn't mean it's safe; he's fallen enough times to know the hard way. 

Jin Hua stepped closer, making Yao Ling look up suspiciously. What is this kid up to? 

"Jin Zhou said that the ice is thick and his mom is the second smartest in the palace." He says proudly. Then unexpectedly, Jin Hua grabs the sleeve of Yao Ling's robe and, with him in tow, marches onto the ice. Yao Ling stares in horror as the ice creaks and snaps every step of the way. "See. Me and the baby here are standing and its not breaking." He stomps he's feet in demonstration.

!!!

" First Prince!" 

"Oh no! First prince!"

Two maids in gold quickly run towards them. Yao Ling stands very still, amidst his vibrating fury. If he hits this kid, will he get in trouble? It might not matter in the end, as long as it teaches this brat a lesson, it'll be worth it.