Back down: In Chinese this would be ‘tui xia’, which means back down. It is used when those with power (ie. Royal family) tells their palace maids and eunuchs to leave them alone, as their servants must always follow them. This does not only refer to their own servants. For example, if 2 concubines were to meet, and they wanted to have a private conversation, one concubine would say ‘back down’ and both of the concubines servants would have to leave.

Chengqie: In Chinese, ‘Cheng’ essentially means the emperor, and ‘qie’ means ‘close to’, ie. Lover. The emperor’s concubines and the empress would refer to themselves as Chengqie as they are the emperor’s lovers. Keep in mind, that when talking to the Emperor, no one ever speaks in first person, it is always third person. And there is usually a title that they would address themselves with. Just like how palace maids address themselves as ‘Nubi’.

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When Zitao stepped back into Consort Jia’s room, the surprised and shocked looks Minying and Xiuzhi gave him told him that clearly, they hadn’t expected that he would return. Zitao smirked on the inside, luck must be on his side to have given him 2 victories in one day.

“Consort Jia, Nubi has brought the tea…” Zitao murmured, keeping his eyes focused on the floor. He bowed, keeping the tray held high above his head though. Consort Jia made a small sound of approval, gesturing for her two palace maids to take the tray from Zitao. They did so, and Zitao bowed again, retreating to his position next to Minying and Xiuzhi, who were lined up against the wall near Consort Jia.

“It’s been so long since the Emperor has visited Bengong…” Consort Jia sighed, propping her chin up using her arm, her elbow on the table.

“The Emperor must have been busy these past few days, Consort Jia, do not worry yourself.” A palace maid stated.

“But the Emperor has been visiting other women, namely Imperial Noble Consort Qian.” Consort Jia said, twisting up into an ugly sneer. It was evident that Consort Jia was jealous of Imperial Noble Consort Qian, for receiving all of the Emperor’s attention.

“Consort Jia, would you minf if Nubi made a suggestion?” Zitao asked. He had an idea, and if his plan worked, Consort Jia would promote him to the position of her advisor. If that happened, he would have more rights to command more people, which meant it could be easier for him to find that tree, when the portal opened again. Then he could finally go home.

“Go ahead. Bengong is listening.” Consort Jia said, turning her attention to Zitao. Her gaze was hard, and still mean from the previous thoughts of Imperial Noble Consort Qian. Zitao swallowed nervously under her gaze. He could feel the stares of Minying and Xiuzhi, both of them evidently praying that it wouldn’t work and that Zitao would be kicked out of the Forbidden City.

“Nubi wants to know, which aspect of Consort Jia, was the Emperor most attracted to, at first?” Zitao questioned, meeting Consort Jia’s gaze.

“He loved my dancing. Why?” Consort Jia said.

“If Consort Jia was dancing in the garden, coincidentally at the same time that the Emperor was walking there, the Emperor would be reminded of when Consort Jia and the Emperor first met and---“ Zitao started.

“And the Emperor would fall in love with Bengong all over again. Bengong is so smart. And…” Consort Jia said, pointing a finger at Zitao.

“Zitao.”

“Zitao, you have Bengong’s appreciation for reminding me.” Consort Jia smiled, for the first time.

“Eh, that’s such a silly idea that Zitao said.” Minying protested.

“Exactly! Things can only happen once!” Xiuzhi added.

“You two, shut up! The nerve of you, to talk to Bengong like that!” Consort Jia yelled angrily. Minying and Xiuzhi cringed from the loud noise.

“Nubi didn’t mean it. Nubi won’t do it again, please have mercy Consort Jia!” Minying and Xiuzhi said simultaneously, dropping to their knees. Consort Jia sniffed, turning her attention away.

“Zitao. Arrange it for me.” Consort Jia said. Zitao smiled, his plan was working perfectly.

“At once.”

***

“…and then he helped me up, and picked up all the pieces…using his bare hands! I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing, he’s just as nice as they all say he is.”

Zitao smiled weakly at Junmian’s unusual gushing over 4^th prince Yixing. Junmian was always such a calm and composed girl, but she was fangirling… okay perhaps fangirling was not the best word to describe her, since sh e wasn’t nearly as hyper and jumping around, spazzing like normal fangirls do. But in her own sense, since she was always so subdued, seeing Junmian talk using exclamation marks was counted enough.

“That sounds wonderful.” Zitao said, a bit dejectedly. Junmian got to hang out with the guy he liked all day. He shouldn’t be jealous over her happiness, but things happen, don’t they?

“Junmian-jiejie, I’m going out for a walk, ok?” Zitao said, not waiting for Junmian’s reply as he opened the door, putting his shoes on and taking a walk. It was late at night, after their masters had gone to sleep, the eunuchs would take the job of guarding the rooms, while the palace maids were excused to their quarters. Most of them were in bed, but Junmian and Zitao had gotten back later than the others, and Junmian had been talking non-stop since she had entered.

Zitao breathed in the air, noting how much fresher it seemed, compared to the air in the 21^st century. But that was to be expected, after all, electricity had not been introduced, as of yet. He took a quiet walk around the Outer Court, marvelling at the buildings. The Forbidden City was even more beautiful than it was in modern times.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

Zitao almost screamed, jumping away from the source of the noise and whipping his head around, to find out who it was. It was 4^th prince Yixing. Zitao instantly flushed from the embarrassment, having been caught in such an ungraceful situation.

“4^th-prince…” Zitao muttered, preparing to stoop down into a bow. But Yixing stuck a hand out in front of Zitao’s face, when his knees were almost going to touch the ground.

“No need to be so polite when it’s just us two.” Yixing smiled. Zitao blushed even harder. ‘Us two’, it had a nice ring to it.

“Thank you, 4^th-prince” Zitao said, looking up to meet Yixing’s eyes.

“No need to thank me, Zitao.” Yixing said.

“Y-You remember my name?” Zitao stuttered.

“Of course. Why would I forget the name of such a pretty girl?” Yixing chuckled, reaching out with his hand to ruffle Zitao’s hair. Zitao pouted, fixing his hair back into place, blushing at the compliment Yixing had given him.

“Well, Zitao, it is late. What brings you here?” Yixing said.

“I wanted some air.” Zitao replied.

“Ah, you too. Sometimes, the atmosphere inside the palace can get quite suffocating. Sometimes, I just want to break away from it all.”

“So…would you give up your position as a prince for that?”

Yixing laughed. “Heavens no. Being a prince is the best thing for anyone. I wouldn’t give it up for anything. I would rather be a prince, than not be a prince and have freedom. I wonder why I can’t be a prince with freedom, it would be simply fulfilling.”

Zitao was silent, trying hard to ignore the things Yixing had implied. But it’s too hard to ignore something, when it is so blindingly obvious. The way Yixing had said it, and how Yixing had said that he would never give up being a prince, to Zitao, Yixing sounded greedy for a moment there. He shook his head, trying to shake off such demeaning thoughts about his favourite historical figure.

“Oh, I see.” Zitao said.

“Sleep now, Zitao. You need some rest.” Yixing said, giving Zitao a pat on the head and pushing him onwards. Zitao nodded, walking back to his quarters in a daze.

***

“Are you sure that the Emperor will be in the garden today?” Consort Jia demanded.

“Nubi is certain.” Zitao replied. He was escorting Consort Jia to the garden, where she would be dancing coincidentally at the same time as when the Emperor was in the garden.

“Here will do. Back down*” Consort Jia said.

“Yes.” The 5 palace maids said in unison, bowing their heads and backing away from Consort Jia. Zitao walked off last, hiding behind some bushes to see if his plan would work. He could feel stares on him, and when he turned around, he saw Minying and Xiuzhi shooting glares at him. As expected.

Consort Jia started dancing. It was a traditional dance, that to Zitao, just looked like her walking around, flapping her arms so that her wide sleeves would look pretty. But then again, views on dance had changed in the modern times, it wasn’t like Zitao expected her to start Bubble Pop-ing.

“Oh?” Emperor Hangeng said, as he rounded the corner, followed by his eunuchs. He raised a hand, the eunuchs instantly taking the hint and backing off. Emperor Hangeng started to make his way towards Consort Jia, walking slowly, a smile on his face. Consort Jia could see the Emperor in her peripheral vision, smirking as she turned her back, pretending to be oblivious as she finished her routine.

“Wonderful. Just like the first time I met you.” The Emperor said, clapping his hands. Consort Jia jumped, to be more like the act of being in shock.

“Emperor! Chengqie* didn’t see the Emperor there.” Consort Jia said, going to bow. The Emperor raised his hands, telling her that bowing was not necessary.

“You haven’t changed at all, still the same woman that I fell in love with all those years ago.” The Emperor smiled. Consort Jia flushed a dark red, smiling shyly. The Emperor put on the crook of his arm, and Consort Jia gladly took it.

“Will you walk with me?” The Emperor said, with a gentle smile.

“Of course, Emperor.” Consort Jia replied. The two of them left, going to explore the further corners of the garden. Zitao silently cheered. His plan had worked, Consort Jia would think favourably of him now.

“Don’t get too full of yourself.” Minying snapped.

“Yea, just because of one thing, you think it’ll make that big of an impact?” Xiuzhi sniffed.

Zitao smirked. “Jealous es.” He laughed.

“What did you say?!” the two of them shrieked. Zitao laughed, turning his back on them and walking away with a purposeful stride, his nose in the air to tell them that he was clearly the winner of this round.

***

Zitao was walking along the Inner Court. Since Consort Jia was occupied with the Emperor for now, he had free time for a while. He stared at the red walls, which lead to giant red doors, with golden knobby things on them. They looked heavy, Zitao wondered how the eunuchs had the strength to push them open when escorting a royal member, probably seated on those chairs that were lifted by eunuchs.

Zitao came to the realisation that his hair felt heavier, all of a sudden. In particular, the area when his bun was. It seemed to be weighing his head down slightly at the back. He frowned, whipping his head from side to side, so try to see what it was that clung to his hair. When he heard a screech on the right, where the object had evidently hid the wall, he reached a hand up, feeling a thin object in his grasp and pulling it out. It was an arrow.

Laughter ran in his ears, Zitao gritted his teeth, identifying the laughter immediately.

“8^th prince!” Zitao yelled angrily.

“Do you like my aim? Accurate isn’t it?” Yifan replied, smirking, walking over to where Zitao stood.

“Oh very accurate.” Zitao said sarcastically, holding the arrow in his clenched fist.

“Why thank you.” Yifan said, with a mock bow, but he kept his eyes trained on Zitao. Zitao stiffened a bit under Yifan’s intense gaze, but tried to ignore it. Yifan stepped closer, until he was less than 10cm from Zitao’s face. Zitao kept his eyes on the ground, trying to wave off the unusual feeling that had come over him.

“You know… you’re unusually tall for a girl. Are you really a woman? You hardly look like one.” Yifan remarked, observing how he was taller than Zitao by only a little. And that was saying something, since Yifan was bordering the 190cm mark.

“W-What are you talking about? Of course I’m a girl, I mean why would a palace maid be a girl in the first place?” Zitao said nervously. Yifan raised an eyebrow at him, leaning closer, close enough that Zitao could feel Yifan’s breathing on his face.

“Really?” Yifan said, his breath ghosting over Zitao’s face. Zitao flushed red, unable to move, all of a sudden.

“8^th-di, what are you doing to the poor palace maid?” the voice of the 4^th prince said. Yifan straightened up, glaring hard at nothing in particular before smoothing his expression and turning around to face Yixing.

“4^th-ge, I was simply telling her to be more careful when she walks, or she might trip again.” Yifan smoothly lied. Zitao opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it, closing his mouth and looking very much like a goldfish in the process.

“How kind of you 8^th-di. Oh, it’s Zitao. Aren’t you grateful to have 8^th-di looking out for palace maids?” Yixing said, yet another smile on his face.

“Very grateful…” Zitao said, turning his eyes to the ground. He couldn’t bear to look Yixing in the eye after lying, he would probably give it away in an instant. Yixing opened his mouth to say something else, but was stopped by Yifan putting a hand out to stop him from advancing towards Zitao.

“I heard that you have a meeting with the Emperor?” Yifan said, raising his eyebrows at Yixing. Yixing stared at Yifan, bemused.

“Of course. Thank you for reminding me 8^th-di. Well Zitao I guess I’ll talk with you some other time.” Yixing said, walking through the heavy doors Zitao had been looking at, towards the Emperor’s quarters. The minute the last shadow of Yixing had disappeared, Yifan turned to Zitao, anger burning in his eyes.

“You’ve been talking to him?” Yifan said, raising his voice. Zitao flinched at the noise, but stood his ground, glaring back at Yifan.

“And what of it?” Zitao said.

“I told you to stay away from him.” Yifan growled.

Zitao’s anger rose at that statement. “And why should I listen to you over him?”

“Because…!” Yifan started. He stopped for a while, eyes darting around before settling back on Zitao. “Because it’s my job to keep worthless palace maids like you from getting near someone like him!”

“I don’t really think he wants that protection 8^th-prince.” Zitao said. He glared angrily at Yifan before stalking off in a huff.

Yifan sighed, turning to lean against the wall, staring up at the sky. “Why did I say that…” he muttered.

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A/N: WTF did I just write... sorry I know it sounds awkward and I didn't want to read through it and think about it more. So whatever, just posted a chapter as soon as it was done. Enjoy! Hopefully...

- Lulu <3