Episode six:

The first thing Jaejoong did when they arrived at the first village at the border of the Songnisan forest was to take his Yunho to have a good meal in order to nourish back the young man's strength. And thankful to Changmin, or he should call the other extra pound on their luggage, the walk was more smoother for them as the young monk was the one who carry the wounded and exhausted man on his back.

Sitting at a table in the famous inn of the town, Changmin and Yunho were stunned at the way Jaejoong was debating with the poor young waiter who did not know about all the dishes the young boy was talking as all the names coming from the child's plush lips sounded unfamiliar to them.

"I... I don't know what they are." The poor boy stuttered, bowing to the pretty young lady who was pursing her lips in front of the young waiter. And that said boy found the gesture adorable. However, the smug smile painting on the boy's face was not gone unnoticed by Yunho who was not pleased to see how much effect his young wife had on other men.

"But..." Jaejoong heaved a sigh and continued, "...people say that your inn is the best in town. Even the head of the council of Baekje Kingdom travels every day from his quarter located in the Grand Palace to have his meal in this establishment. So, how could you not know the dishes I enumerated to you which are served in all the famous cooking establishments all around the Samguk Sagi?" Jaejoong said as he was looking at the young waiter with his puppy like-eyes.

"I'm sorry my lady." The young boy bowed again, feeling depressed not knowing how to satisfy the beautiful young girl.

"Jaeha?" Yunho called out his wife as he took Jaejoong's hand in his, smiling at the boy tenderly. "Just order a simple dish. I don't need so much."

"No! You need nutrition. And I can't let you only eat a simple chicken noodles soup." The young boy said quietly as he shook his head lightly.

"Love. A simple chicken noodles soup is better than I could imagine to have for a meal."

"I'm alright with everything." Changmin suddenly stated as he was playing with a pair of wooden chopsticks in his hands, liking the spectacle in front of his eyes. The white Yong's son was trying to have everything he wanted by using his charm. The harbinger of destruction was trying to put a property tag on the latter. And the poor waiter was feeling dejected as he was now aware of the fact that the beautiful girl was not a maiden.

"I do not want your opinion." Jaejoong hissed. "Yunho-yah! You're injured." The young boy added with a sweet smile as he played with his husband's fingers. "And you need good nutrition to gain back your strength. I will not be a careless wife."

"I carry your husband. I also need compensation." The tall monk grinned as he looked at the pretty boy who was ignoring him.

"Jaeha!" Yunho pressed his other hand above his wife's hands with a smile ghosting on his lips, feeling content to have this boy at his sides and mostly to have someone who cared for him. "I know you will not be a careless wife. You will be the best I have. However, with our financial state, we do not have the luxury to be demanding when it comes to food."

"No! You need to feed on meat." Jaejoong said stubbornly.

"I know, I need to eat meat to gain back my strength. But, chicken is considered as meat as we know. So why not having some chicken noodles soup for our meal? And I think it's a good beginning for someone like me who had fed on fruits and vegetables for almost all his life."

"Alright!" Jaejoong sighed, resigned to be the obedient wife his Yunho expected from his person. He turned to look at the young waiter who gulped at the determinate stare the pretty girl landed on him. "Miso soup seems to be not in your menu." He muttered softly with a crease marring his forehead. "However, we could settle for a bowl of baechu doenjangguk (cabbage and soy bean paste soup). The dish could be a good replacement." The waiter nodded eagerly, feeling relief that the dish was in the inn's menu. "Give us a bowl of Seolleongtang (ox bone soup). Also a bowl of Soegogi-yachaejuk (beef and vegetable porridge). Add rice and some fermented radishes."

"For three." Changmin said quietly.

"Only rice for three." Yunho corrected, looking up at the waiter who nodded at his order.

"It will be ready soon." The waiter said as he bowed politely to the young man. And the poor boy had the feeling that this man did not appreciate the way he was leering at his young and beautiful wife.

"I give you ten minutes." Jaejoong replied.

"Yes, my lady!"

"Ten minutes!" The pretty boy insisted as he showed his index finger following with a 'O' shaped forming with his thumb and forefinger, indicating that the people in the kitchen of this inn had only ten minutes and not more to have all his orders ready at their table.

The young waiter bowed and ran toward the kitchen not without a last glance toward Jaejoong with a dreaming stare which irritated Yunho.

"You should correct him when he called you my lady." Yunho stated quietly. "You're a boy. So you should behave like the boy you are." He added as he released his young wife's hands to cross his arms on the surface of the wooden table.

"But..."

"Jaejoong! Do not take advantage of your ambiguous feature in any kind of situation. It is pleasant for you to trick people. But what are you going to do if the situation is inverted? You will not like a bit. I am not wrong?"

"You..." The young boy pursed his lips into a moue of resignation. "Okay. I won't do it again. However, if the situation allows me to be a girl, I will not think twice. Sometimes it could save our lives."

"As it saved your life before?" Yunho asked as he turned to face the young boy. Jaejoong nodded. "I do not want to know what kind of life you have before meeting me." The man heaved a sigh. "But from now, you should only depend on me. I'm your husband. And if I can't even do a simple thing for you, I don't deserve to stand by your side."

"Don't be so harsh with yourself." Jaejoong said with a smile. "I'm happy to know that you care for me."

"God! Please young people. You're in front of a man of God." Changmin spoke in with a grimace painting on his face. "You know, your wife being a boy or a girl nothing will change the fact that people will leer him from head to toes. And he isn't someone defenseless either. The first time I met Jaejoong goon, this fairy of yours was hunted by soldiers from the authority established in the south of Gogureyo Kingdom." He added with a nod.

"I did not do anything bad. That ert old man was the one who had started everything." Jaejoong muttered.

"What did he do to you?" Yunho asked with a frown crept on his forehead as he dreaded the thought of that man doing inappropriate things to his Jaejoong.

"The old and ert man who belongs to the aristocracy of Gogureyo had omitted a decree to have your wife, here, as his property." The man of the white Yong's shadows answered with a smile as he pointed his finger toward the pretty boy. "And he wasn't pretending to be a girl. I only helped him escape from his pursuers."

"And I had to tolerate you for almost a week until you were satisfied with the food we had stolen from the Palace of Gogureyo." Jaejoong replied. "After that you left me in my journey to Baekje. And there, I meet those stupid beggars who had tried to sell me for a few chôn to an official of this Kingdom. Fortunately I was able to run away from them. And it's not thank to you."

"Why did you not stay with Jaejoong?" Yunho asked with an inquisitive tone.

"Hey! I have to come back to the temple." Changmin defended himself as he held his hands in midair.

"Come back?" Yunho snorted. "I never saw you more than two or three days in the precinct of the Beopsuja temple. So why not staying with him for a while?"

"Well, if I stayed back with your beautiful wife, I don't think you would have a chance to meet him." The monk snickered. "And instead of being your wife, he could be mine."

"As if I would let myself being infatuated with the kind of you." Jaejoong mumbled under his chin. "You're really not my type of man. Truth be told, I never thought of myself having a man as my companion. I dreamed of having a wife like my late mother. However, it seems that fate has another path for me."

"Sure, from now, your life will never be a quiet one." Changmin stated with a smile plastered on his face as he was shaking his head lightly.

"You know things we don't know."

The young monk looked at this beautiful boy who glared at him suspiciously. The son of the white Yong was a clever boy. He was not a child that people could trick so easily. Knowing the boy's background and the kind of father he had, it was not a surprise to see Jaejoong being alert and noticing every change from his surroundings.

"You're a clever boy. I don't have to tell you anything."

"I would like you, Changmin, to never be familiar with my wife." Yunho said quietly.

"Don't worry Yunho. What I like about your wife is his cooking skill."

"Don't think about that idiotic man of God. He only thinks with his stomach." Jaejoong said as he turned to look at his husband with his most beautiful smile, but he was aware of the two boys who was ogling at their luggage since they had stepped in the dining room of this inn.

"Yes! I can only work good with my stomach full. And-"

Changmin did not finish his sentence as he moved his arm quickly and grabbed the small wrist of the child who was trying to steal their luggage, specifically Yunho's linen laying on the surface table next to him. He faced the poor child who was trying to pry away his small arm from his tight grip.

However, while the young monk was busy with the young robber another one had grabbed the linen, startling the couple as the fellow boy fled from the crime scene. And soon, Yunho did not waste his time as he ran after the young robber to retrieve their belonging, knowing that their only fortune was in his linen. His impulse made Jaejoong growl angrily at the sight of his exhausted husband chasing after the child beggar.

"If something happens to my Yunho I will make sure that Xiah will break you into pieces." The pretty boy hissed before running after his husband.

"I was looking forward for a good meal. But you and your little friend have some guts to disturb my time."

"You never catch him." The child boy smirked. "He's best runner among us."

"So, you're not only two." Changmin sighed then released the poor boy who seemed to have a hobby of robbing people for his living. "Don't assume anything my young friend. I like my life and will never fail in my mission." He added as the right corner of his mouth curled up into a devilish smile.

Not long after, the young monk ran in the same direction where the young couple had run into. After a few steps, Changmin jumped swiftly on the rooftop of some shop house, preferring to cut the road in an easy way without any kind of disturbance in his path as he earned a few gasps from the people surrounding him. The man ran and jumped from roof to roof  with so much ease until he saw his charge trying to catch up with his husband who had succeeded to overtake the robber's path. However, the young robber sidestepped his pursuer and took into another direction, making Yunho run after him again.

"It seems that this foolish lad is not really a weak one." Changmin mumbled under his breath. Even in his condition, Yunho had some abilities to be a good warrior. Smiling, the young monk drew his sword from its sheath. And in an impulsion on the last rooftop, the man flew to the ground as he cut the road of the young robber. "You have no escape." He said as he pointed his blade toward the child.

The boy stopped in his tracks and turned to look at his back. The other tall man was behind him and soon, he will not be alone.

"You don't have any solution. Surrender."

"What you do to me?" The boy asked without fears in his voice.

"It depends on my young master." Changmin smirked as he got in his guard, sensing a danger lurking in the corner of this abandoned road. So, it was a trap for them.

And for what purpose? Knowing Yunho, the man had never made any kind of enemy outside the temple. All the people living around the Songnisan forest and the Beopsuja temple, be it at the border of the Silla Kingdom, of the Goguryeo Kingdom or of the Baekje Kingdom, knew how the young man was helpful. On the contrary, they would be the ones to use him for every thankless tasks. As for him, being a servitor of their Creator, he was not the kind of person to play with the misery of the poor people. Then, the only remnant person among them was Jaejoong.

"Tell me. What do you want from Bocchan?"

The young monk threw his sword behind him as a man coming from nowhere blew a on his back. In a swift move, he kicked his opponent on his stomach making the latter step back a few inches from his person. But another man flew into his right trying to slash him on his head. Changmin blocked the blow with the blade of his sword before punching the fellow man on his side, then tackled his opponent to have him fall on the ground.

He turned to look at Yunho's direction before taking care of another assailant. The ex-apprentice monk did not need his help. Yunho was having a fistfight with his own opponents coming from nowhere, and he was doing well. A bit tired from his internal wounds, but Yunho could manage to put down his enemies one by one.

As for Jaejoong, the young master was trying to take back Yunho's linen from the child boy. Nothing to be worried for now, so the young monk could fight with all his might against his own opponents.

"To think that a mere robbery turns to be this mess." Changmin laughed softly as he dodged a blow from one of his three opponents.

Meanwhile, Yunho was trying his best not to harm his contenders. They weren't his enemies but only poor fellow lads who only wanted a few chôn to survive in this society. He blocked a punch as he gripped the man's wrist and twisted the arm behind the latter's back.

"I will not hurt you. If you want a few chôn, we would gladly give it to you."

"We do not need your money."

"What do you want?"

"The pretty boy with you." The young beggar smiled devilishly at the young man after he kicked the latter on his stomach which put Yunho in so much pain that he was not be able to stand and fell on the ground, coughing some blood.

"What... what do you want from Jaejoong?" Yunho asked as he looked up at the robber.

"Oh! That pretty boy is going to make us rich." The beggar said with a satisfied smile on his lips.

Yunho narrowed his eyes at the words the man uttered to him. "You... you are those beggars who had tried to sell him before