"But Your Majesty--"

"Not another word, Advisor Zhou." the Emperor sighed, hands flying up to halt what the court officials had to say, "My mind has been made. I will not change what I have decided. Concubine Zi Yu shall be named as the Imperial Noble Consort Huang Zi Yu, and will occupy the Red Chamber. This is merely a menial decision, why do we have to blow it up?"

"Your Majesty! You have to understand that the chamber has always been occupied by first consorts, and has been so for the past few decades! Even the Empress Dowager used to occupy the very same chamber for it is said to bless the habitant with fertility. It has been more than half a year that Your Majesty has wedded First Consort Modu, but a child has yet to be on the way. All the more she needs the luck!" Minister Lü said, a little too angry to care about his morals.

"That is nonsensical." the entire court fell into silence.

"Concubine Huang Zi Yu will occupy the Red Chamber with effect from tomorrow. Get the First Consort notified and have the eunuchs move her items out."

"Yes, Your Majesty." a choir of disgruntled officials said begrudgingly.



"Zi Yu, how do you like this chamber?"

"I like it very much, My Lord." Concubine Zi Yu smiled as she took her seat next to the Emperor.

Oh, what was there not to like about the Red Chamber? The slight aroma of top quality sandalwood wafted in the air, and the view of the pond with several koi fishes right outside of her chamber was comfortably soothing, especially when it was complemented with the night sky .

"However, Zi Yu does not understand why the chambers have to be changed. The Pink Chamber was fine in my opinion." the humble concubine murmured, her lips parted as she took a sip of the tea that had been brewed earlier.

"There is of course, a very big difference. The Red Chamber has only been used by first consorts ever since the first day the palace has existed, and it is said to be blessed by high monks from Tubo, in terms of fertility."

"My Lord..." Zi Yu turned away, her rosy cheeks flushed with pink in comparison to her usual pale skin.

"You are the only one whom I want to have a child with, and I want you to see that. You no longer have anything to be afraid of, Zi Yu. You are now the Imperial Noble Consort, second to Princess Modu Esen. I will bring in your family into the palace soon, so you do not have to pine for them as I have always noticed that you do." the direct Emperor said, pulling the new noble consort up towards her bed.

"Zi Yu does not deserve the flattery Your Majesty is showering her with right now... Zi Yu is neither pretty nor clever like First Consort Modu..."

The Emperor only expressed his unhappiness by sighing -- a small habit that was beginning to turn into something he would do daily ever since he had taken over the throne. "I do not understand why you will not accept my compliments about you. As the Emperor, I do not lie. Are you saying that I am merely patronizing you?"

"No! My Lord! No! Zi Yu apologizes for what wrong words that have been uttered! Please forgive my crude self!"

"Good. Come here then, I have a gift for you. It was made in honor of you being crowned the Imperial Noble Consort."

Imperial Noble Consort Zi Yu stepped forward, eyes flashed confusion as the Emperor grabbed her hand, opening it and placed something on them. A jade with the Emperor's name.

"I have one that holds your yu. This means that from now on, we belong to each other. There are inscriptions carved into them, and they will show over time. It is the newest thing in the western countries now. It is told that when they show... the owners of the item will once again be reunited, the love between them will blossom and bloom like the plum flowers." he whispered lowly into Zi Yu's ear.

"So what did you have them to engrave on the inside?" Zi Yu stared at the piece of jade.

"I had them carve, My beloved concubine Zi Yu..." he trailed off, whispering the rest into her ears.

The words which were only meant for Imperial Noble Consort Huang Zi Yu to hear, and their reunited spirits to see.

Zi Yu giggled, onto to push herself away from the warm embrace, and went to grab pieces of rouge paper. Dabbing the brush in the ink of the slab, she started writing on both papers.

"These are two of the few words which I know of. A Zi for you, in remembrance of my name, and a tao, for me. Zi Yu still remembers having to find the sheath of your sword after you woke up. It was raining heavily, and My Lord had decided to risk whatever little energy you had left to find it." Zi Yu uttered, smiling to herself with the memories she shared with Jia Heng, in before she knew he was the First Prince, Li.

"Rouge paper?" the Emperor asked quizzically.

"This way you will always be reminded of me when it stains your fingers!" Imperial Noble Consort Zi Yu laughed.










"You came..."

"Yeah. We weren't really able to talk yesterday, so... That Lu Han dude insisted on tagging along, but I pushed him away, saying it was private." Kris scratched the back of his head.

No. His head wasn't really itching, but it was just so awkward.

So familiarly awkward.

"That sounds like the Lu Han I know, all right." Zi Tao laughed, his hands clasped together.

"You've got a very... beautiful laughter." Kris murmured.

This most definitely has Zi Tao caught off guard, eyes widening and head casted down.

"T-Thank you..."

They fall into another bout of competition for inarticulateness.

Zi Tao fidgets on his feet, side-walking like a crab a little here, then scratching his non-existant mosquito bites another moment later. He knows that he should be the one to say something, just anything, since after-all, he was the one who asked the foreign exchange student to meet him...

The only problem would be: The sight of the tall Canadian renders him totally speechless.

Maybe this was what his grandmother had meant! Love is a sacred thing that is not defined by gender, but the feelings involved! How was that poss-

"-endant too."

"Huh?" Oops, so he wasn't really listening.

"I said, you've got a jade pendant too."

Zi Tao sees Kris reaching into the neckline of his shirt, grabbing a jade pendant similar to his threaded to a red string out. He had left it dangling in front of his shirt -- the jade was very much faded like how his was. Only that Kris's was of 'yu' while his was of 'heng'.

"O-Oh. Yes. It is a family heirloom back from the Li Dynasty. Don't tell anyone though." and he placed both his index fingers on his lips.

"Wow! Mine's a family heirloom too! What a waste that none of my family members know when it had actually started. It is rather washed out though, so we aren't sure if it's made of real jade or just polished stone. But we're told that it's at least two centuries old, sooooooo-- Oh god -- I'm boring you with my family history, aren't I? I'm so sorry. I tend to ramble a lot -- ."

Zi Tao giggled, nodding his head and then shaking it. "I mean- no! You weren't boring me at all! I think it's... interesting. Really!"

Did Tao mention that the way Kris said '' had been utterly adorable?

No?

Well, it was utterly adorable then.

"Oh. I really don't have much to say about the jade, actually. It was passed down to me when I was five, in a red silk pouch with another piece of tattered red paper. Funny though, the paper had the word 'zi' and the jade was 'yu'. Moreover, I had this weird dream about a female named 'Zi Yu' and stuff... Zi... Tao?"

Zi Tao had blanked out -- because all he could process was the fact that a total stranger (whom he had strangely been attracted to but only known for a day) knew of Zi Yu.

So he also had a jade. Which was common.

Which came in a red silken pouch like his. Everyone in the olden times had silken pouches -- red was common.

It also came together with a red piece of paper with a writing on it. It's just a red piece of paper.

So what if it all came together, just like his?

So what if Zi Tao was irrevocably attracted to the exchange student?

So...

Now what?



--
The wordcount is getting lesser... but I can't help it! I just couldn't get anything into my brain no matter how much I tried squeezing ;_; Okay, so THIS IS MY TUMBLR and I'm a big shameless self-promoting since I'm really lonely there ;__; 
So let's get serious, who'd thought the entire story was going to be set in the traditional times? |D Naw lol.
Tillnexttime~