Xia Xi sent Xia Hui to the gate of the Palace and watched the carriage carrying her go far away. Even though he couldn't see it anymore, he still stood where he was. It was winter now, the weather was cold, Xia Xi's cloak was thick and he didn't feel cold. Lan Duo'er worried that he'd be sick and urged him to go back. Xia Xi was about to leave when he saw Chu Lan coming from a distance.
Horses weren't allowed in the Palace, the only person who could've been riding the horse was Chu Lan. He was tall, sitting on a tall horse made his whole person look even more majestic. The bright light from the Palace lanterns in the dark night shone on his face, dying him with a cold demeanour, his eyes also looked indifferent and cold but when those eyes met Xia Xi's face, the indifference was instantly broken. Like snow suddenly melting, even the expressionless face showed a bright smile. He even reached out and waved to Xia Xi.
Xia Xi's heart suddenly became warm when he saw him.
Chu Lan got off his horse, he ran to Xia Xi's side in two stepsĀ¹, he put his hat and cloak on him and asked: "Why stand in this weather? Have you finished meeting the envoy?"
Xia Xi nodded lightly, he came to realize and said: "My King knew the person I saw today." Chu Lan held his hand and walked slowly with him, the others followed them after a certain distance. Chu Lan said: "Of course, I need to check people who want to see before you can meet." He was so domineering, but Xia Xi wasn't annoyed. Instead, he thought it was indeed a matter of course, he just complained a little: "Chu Lan, you deliberately didn't tell me that the envoy was princess Hui and made me struggle so much. If I knew that was her, I wouldn't have been so nervous. After all, I told you this once, we talked a lot back in the Xia Palace and have somewhat of a friendship."
Chu Lan held his hand tighter and said, "I did it on purpose, what can you do to me?"
Xia Xi felt a little helpless, his voice softened, "Why is this?" He quickly thought of the reason and his face became a little red, he whispered: "S-She's my sister, and I can't possibly have that relationship with her." Chu Lan pursed his mouth and said, "She took off your pants and saw your body before me. For such a person, if I hadn't endured it, I would've driven her out of the city." He would sometimes ask things about Xia Xi while doing him. Xia Xi was in a daze of pleasure and would confess everything without knowing, even the things that happened when he was a teenager.
Xia Xi's face turned red, and he gently scraped his palm with his fingers before saying shyly: "Princess Hui wasn't sensible at that time." He sighed slightly and said: "It's only been a few years, I didn't expect that she'd become like this. If it weren't for her reluctance to come, she'd be the one with my King now." Chu Lan was dissatisfied when he heard this sentence, "There's no 'if it weren't', there'll always be the red thread of marriage between usĀ². It's you, it'll always be you. How could I like them if it was changed to another person?"
Speaking love words in this tone made people have racing hearts and hot faces, Xia Xi deliberately said: "How does my King know that he won't like her?" Chu Lan said: "I just know."
The two slowly walked into the Palace. Seeing that he was in a good mood, Chu Lan deliberately probed him to say more, so he asked: "What's this princess Hui like now? She's not very popular with the Xia Emperor?"
Xia Xi briefly recounted what Xia Hui had experienced over the past few years, and Chu Lan said indifferently: "I thought it would be a tragedy, it doesn't seem so, doesn't it look like that she had a very happy life? You're sad for her, yes, because she didn't give birth to a son?" Xia Xi was stunned for a moment and quickly said: "I don't think so." Chu Lan smiled and said, "You were obsessed with giving birth to a Prince, I thought you cared about this."
Xia Xi solemnly said: "The King is the sovereign, unlike ordinary people. If there are no heirs, how can the thousands of years of history be passed on? There will be risks of war and chaos. An orthodox son and successor will be good safety insurance." Chu Lan didn't know that he was concerned to this level. Seeing that he was serious, he deliberately teased him, "I'm an orthodox son, but I didn't have full insurance, there were still many people coveting the throne, isn't that right?"
Xia Xi replied, "That's because my King was too young when he succeeded to the throne, but if you weren't the son of the previous King, how could your uncles stop to protect you? Presumably, there'd already be armies raised at that time. The two sides will either stand against each other, or one side will destroy the other. It's bound to be a tragedy for the people." After he finished speaking, he saw the smirk at the corner of Chu Lan's mouth and said helplessly: "You can think of these things, why did you still ask me on purpose?" He suddenly lowered his head and whispered: "Chu Lan, I'm not a person who can never free himself from the past, nor a person who has to always maintain a certain set of rules. If I had built a family with another woman, I won't be dissatisfied if the other woman only gave birth to daughters. It's also fine if there are none at all. I will love and cherish my daughters and protect her. I'll never raise my hand nor voice against her, and live an ordinary life with her."
Chu Lan originally intended to tease him. Seeing his serious appearance and such assumptions, his facial features became a little distorted from irritation, he suddenly held him tight and said fiercely: "No! Don't follow others." Xia Xi was a bit amused, "I'm just assuming." Chu Lan was almost frustrated, "No assumptions!" He paused, his expression softened and he led him to continue walking forward, saying, "You can only think of yourself being with me. Don't care about others."
Xia Xi laughed and softly said: "Alright, then I'll assume that my King was a woman, not born of the royal family, and I not a prince. We'll be married and I'll take good care of you, whether you have children or not. What else... I'll love you with my all, never being half-hearted, and I'll never take in a concubine, is this all right?"
The smile on Chu Lan's mouth deepened even more, he shook his hand with some pleasure and said, "Pretty much the same."
As the little Prince grew up day by day, one could see that he was very lively and loved to laugh, especially when being held by Xia Xi, he would "chuck". He was weaned when he was one year old, and Xia Xi finally found a chance to "wean Chu Lan". The process of weaning for adults was more difficult than that for children. Weaning children would only make them cry for a few days at most, after a few days of feeding, they'd gradually get used to it. However, it wasn't so easy for Chu Lan to be "weaned". He was too domineering, possessive and clever. Whenever Xia Xi wanted to be cruel, he would act wronged and stick to him, arching and drilling into his clothes. Xia Xi couldn't bear it, so he had to untie his clothes obediently and let him suck till full. However, the "weaning" still happened due to a certain state event. The Barbarians held a martial arts tournament in another city, Chu Lan had to leave for a while and when he came back, Xia Xi's milk had already been cut off, even though he wanted to eat there was nothing to eat. But when Chu Lan felt regretful, Xia Xi became pregnant again after half a year.
This child was a little easier to conceive, it caught Xia Xi off guard but he was also very pleasantly surprised. On the contrary, Chu Lan was very reluctant to just hold him at night and complained, saying: "This little bastard takes so much of your time. It practically hoards you, where could you still have time to care about me? After getting pregnant, your stomach was too small to endure it, and then suddenly became too big to do it, and you still can't do it after giving birth. How can I bear this?"
Xia Xi helplessly said: "My King isn't allowed to say such things, the baby will be sad to hear it."
Chu Lan gnawed at his collarbone and said, "It's not even a person now, how can it hear me? How can it be sad? Xi'er, you're favouring someone over me." Xia Xi laughed and hugged him to kiss his lips. When he kissed, his eyebrows were softly bent, "I gave you a baby, don't you like it?" He said again: "If you don't want me to have a baby, touch me less so that I won't become pregnant."
Chu Lan bit him angrily, "Are you going against me? When this thing's born, I'll ask the imperial doctor to find some secret medicine for me to eat, so that even if I touch you every day, you won't become pregnant." He hugged the person in his arm even tighter. His tone turned solemn, and he whispered: "Xi'er, I'm just afraid. When you gave birth for the first time, I went in to see you and saw your pale face. It scared me so much that I thought that my soul had separated from my flesh. Many women die of childbirth, and there's no small number of people who die for the sake of having children. Moreover, your physique is different. I... I really am afraid."
Xia Xi was startled, he got teary after a while. Chu Lan had always been fierce, acting coquettish, complaining, and showing off in front of him, but he had never looked as intimidated as he was now. He once again realized how important his position was in this man's heart, perhaps even more important than he thought. Thinking of this, Xia Xi stretched out his hand and gently stroked the top of his head, he said softly: "Don't be afraid, I'll be fine, don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
Chu Lan took advantage of the situation and buried himself in his arms, saying dully: "I am the King, if you don't love me, I'll lock you up and make you see only me every day, even in your dreams my shadow will linger. If you don't belong to me, then I'll snatch you fiercely. Even if you want to betray me, it's fine, I'll tolerate your heart... but you must never leave me. So, Xi'er, you must be safe, and there can only be no mistakes." He added: "If you accidentally fall, eat something bad, or something else that'll threaten your life, then I don't know what I'll do. What can I do?" He raised his head and looked at Xia Xi with determination, he slowly said: "Maybe I'll bury this whole Palace with you."
His tone wasn't harsh, but Xia Xi had every reason to believe that if there were any accidents or mistakes, Chu Lan would make this understatement a very real "threat."
Xia Xi wasn't afraid, but he still paid more attention to his safety, especially after his belly got noticeably bigger, he was especially careful where he went or what he ate. After several months of this, he safely gave birth.
The second childbirth almost made Xia Xi half-dead with pain, but he still delivered the baby smoothly. The second child was still a boy, with darker skin and facial features vaguely similar to Xia Xi. After his full moon banquet, the great witch-doctor foretold his fortune and gave him a name. His Barbarian name meant the bright moon in the night sky, and Xia Xi gave him the nickname Yue'erĀ³.\n____
Notes:
1- Not very sure about this, there was a rolling part in the middle but I can't possibly think what it's there for.\n2- It's believed that the person you'll marry is decided by Yue Lao. He would connect the two of you with the 'red thread of fate/love' and no matter what you would always end up together.\n3- Yue means moon\n<b>____</b>
<b>PastTimer: I had always been faintly annoyed whenever Chu Lan says: 'Don't go!' 'Don't leave me!' 'Don't do this/that' probably because I had felt that he had too little trust in Xia Xi. But then I suddenly realised that Xia Xi was lonely in the Barbarian Palace, he missed his motherland and the familiar things that came with it. If he had another personality, the things Chu Lan may have been worrying about might've come true. Xia Xi wasn't exactly fond of the Barbarians, it was all responsibility. He wasn't fond of being locked up in the Palace or the temple either, he endured it because he loved Chu Lan. Chu Lan knew that and although he knew that Xia Xi would never leave, he knew that somewhere deep down he wanted to, so his best course of action would be to at least limit ideas of these things. Moral of the Story: Just talk, man.</b>