Xianyu roused late, as usual, his arms above his head and somehow hanging halfway off his alcove bed.
…
"Jiang-ge…" he whined softly, rubbing at his eyes like a recently woken toddler.
Almost as though summoned via magic, the eunuch servant seemed to appear by his side almost immediately. Absolutely delighted by this, the little prince lit up instantaneously and grabbed playfully at his servant's sleeves.
"I'm bored…"
He opened one eye to peak at his servant sneakily before kicking his feet around again like a child. When he received no reply to his pleas for entertainment, Xianyu wailed loudly and instinctively tried to bite.
This wasn't at all the behaviour expected of a sixteen-year-old prince who was in possession of his own residence and considered one of the Emperor's favourites. Though, it wasn't as though Xianyu had ever cared all that much about what other people did or did not expect or think of him.
If he had, he wouldn't have been known as the renowned Moon Spirit Dancer: Yuehua.
"Play with me, play with me, play with meeee…" as he wailed, Xianyu nearly rolled straight out of bed mid-sentence, due to his lack of attention to how he was moving. Had his beloved servant not caught his arm, he might have landed right on his face on the hard, cold lacquered floor.
"Ahhh, Jiang has such good reflexes," Xianyu blearily cheered, wriggling free and rolling over toward the inside of the alcove bed, away from any chance of a cold awakening.
This wasn't at all abnormal for the prince. One could even say this was something that happened at least twice a week. Sometimes far more.
It was only once he was dressed that Prince Xianyu might start to even vaguely resemble Yuehua in any sense, and even then, there would never be a moment where he, dressed as himself, acted with even a whisper of as much dignity as his persona had. Xianyu considered himself far too cute and lovely for a thing as stifling as propriety.
Nearly an hour later, Xianyu was sat obediently at his carefully carved vanity table, head flopping forward weakly as two female servants combed and styled his hair into that of a woman's updo; all while another two helped His Highness into today's robes.
Hair was braided, looped into intricate details as he nodded off in his seat. Pins were inserted with care — jade, gold, and assortments of flowers alike each placed with immense attention. Earrings were inserted into his lobes, each a flower carved of delicate green jade, with matching white-green drops attached to the bottom. And on his shoulders, a pale green woman's robe was draped over him with gentle hands.
Next, the two servants who had done his hair move on to his makeup, applying rouge to his pale lips and drawing on a lotus bloom on his forehead like a princess might have done.
This was indeed how a woman would dress on a daily!
Perhaps he might have dressed more effeminately that many of his sisters themselves. However, this was in no way his disguise as Yuehua. No, Yuehua did not dress in pale greens or do her makeup so childishly, with a different adornment on her forehead each day. The Moon Spirit dancer was cold and dignified, dressed in deep reds with a look that said she was unendingly amused by those pathetic enough to chase her.
This delicate outfit was Xianyu's and Xianyu's alone.
Even so, the little prince did wonder how not a single soul and yet to connect him to her. The Moon Spirit dancer was tall for a woman, Xianyu was on the shorter end of being a man. Didn't they line up perfectly?
It wasn't as though he always wore a veil when performing. He found it quite disappointing.
Of course, who would connect them? A mystery such as Yuehua wouldn't ordinarily be placed beside a childish, outright immature, prince like Xianyu. Yuehua was intimidating, unwavering, and willing to hit nobles who dared cross her; Xianyu wasn't friendly, utterly lacking in discipline, and known to be far too lenient with servants. What did they have in common, besides being beautiful.
Had they not both been beauties who were compared to the moon spirit herself, one would have rarely been able to bring them up in the same conversation.
"It is about time you woke up," Jiang tapped his young master on the head gently to wake him properly. "You have already sat through a bath, and had your makeup and hair done, all while half dozing. Is it still too early for you?"
"Is it late?" Xianyu mumbled weakly, using his finger to dab at his eye in order to avoid rubbing the makeup. "It feels early."
"It is early afternoon, Your Highness."
Xianyu's face beamed with joy, taking the words as an agreement with his statement. Early afternoon still had the word 'early' in it!
"Do I have things to do today?" the young prince's head lolled backward awkwardly, causing Jiang to instinctively move to support his head.
Under normal circumstances, a prince like him should have responsibilities, lessons to attend and such. And perhaps they should be fully aware of them. But, Xianyu was, unfortunately, not very good at acting as a proper noble prince. Maybe in another life, he would have been; if only he weren't overly indulged by everyone who crossed his path.
In this little beauty's opinion, responsibilities were for other people to worry over, not someone as delicate as he.
"Of course not, Your Highness," Jiang patted his master's head again.
Delighted, Xianyu perked up at once and clapped his hands down on the vanity table with, just a little, too much vigor.
"Then you agree that I should go visit my gege," he declared excitedly, already standing to run off. "We'll set off immediately!"
This was not at all Jiang's intended suggestion.
It was unfortunate that Xianyu was awfully good at getting what he wanted, no matter what others said. Today, it seemed the pretty little prince wanted to visit people. This wasn't abnormal, being amongst his most frequently conducted activities, along with running through the palace gardens, summoning a dance instructor to come teach him, and occasionally playing with the younger servants who worked around the residence.
Of his most frequently visited people, one particular prince was highest on the list. His Highness Prince Jingrui, the third son of the empress.
From a young age, the younger boy had tailed after his gege like a lost little puppy who had nowhere else to be. Now, years later, he had yet to grow out of the habit. Behind closed door, people even claimed the reason Xianyu was so childish still was because he'd been overly pampered by his older half-brother.
And, as a child, Xianyu had indeed been indulged to quite a far extent by his gege. At four, he'd been first introduced to the older prince as a form of training to the empress's third son. Somehow, over the years, that training had never ceased and Xianyu simply became a permanent fixture of the other man's life. A beloved pet, many called him, for the young prince's childishness served no role in making him seem important enough to be an equal.
Even now, Xianyu made no attempt to prove them wrong as he bounced through the palace corridors, attendant close behind. Xianyu resembled an excited young girl far more than a prince.
"The flowers are so pretty today," he marveled, stopping abruptly in his tracks. Had Jiang been less observant, he would have almost certainly crashed face first into his master. "Can we take a closer look?"
"Of course, Your Highness."
Without waiting for further words, the delicate looking prince leapt over the side of the corridor and ran off in the direction of the furthest trees, his long silk sleeves trailing after him. From afar, he looked mildly like a deranged flower spirit. No one could be quite sure that that wasn't his intention.
"Look!" Xianyu yelled out from afar. "Aren't they pretty?"
In his hand, he held a particularly delicate bloom with all the pride of someone who had done something amazing — which he had not.
"Can we plant some in our gardens?"
"If you wish, Your Highness," Jiang replied, making his way over to his master with much less overflowing enthusiasm.
The prince nodded excitedly before showing the bloom into his servant's hand. "Yay!"
Then, with no regard for the rules and etiquette of palace life, he ran off again, in search of the correct path to his brother's location. A path that he should have known like the back of his hand, and one he did not know in the slightest. In fact, with how little he knows about how to get there, one might think he walked around blindfolded, with his ears muffled.
The real reason as to why he didn't know the way to his brother's unofficial office was because he simply never paid attention. Which seemed impossible, except for the fact that they took a different path each time. Reason behind this? Well, Xianyu had a tendency to run off at random times and also the shortest memory one could possibly possess — personality traits that has persisted since he was four.
By the time they finally arrived at their destination, Xianyu had already long forgotten about the flowers from earlier, his mind set on one thing and one thing alone.
"Gege!" he barrelled through the front doors with no regard for the guards at the front door. And with Xianyu's reputation, they had no reason to stop him.
Jiang bowed low to them as he passed, as though in apology for his own master's naughtiness.
Down the hall, Xianyu had already disappeared into one of the rooms. As for how he knew which to enter, it was simply whichever one contained his brother. For these kinds of things, he almost seemed to have a sixth sense, maybe to make up for his lack of a directional one.
As for his attendant, Xianyu wasn't too aware what Jiang did while they were here.
The room he had just entered was a study room, shelves filled to the brim with bound scrolls and small intricate ornaments. A desk sat on the left of the room, with the window right behind it. This was a room Xianyu visited often, though he was aware it didn't entirely belong to his gege.
At the desk, a beautiful young man sat. One who's beauty Xianyu claimed could rival his own.
This was his beloved Jingrui gege.
The young man sat at the desk had beautiful long, dark hair that trailed down to his waist, tied up in only a casual half-up half-down style that looked so very elegant that made even Xianyu feel jealous of its elegance. His features were fine and sharp, but his expression soft. Even the clothes on his back seemed to carry an immense sense of royal beauty, despite their relative simplicity.
"Ahhh, gege!"
The moment he looked up, the first thing he saw was likely a blur of green charging at him.