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Liu Chu physically restrained himself from biting into his nails like he would when he was younger when his anxiety spiked, looking over the crowd to find a glimpse of his friend. His concern only grew when the air grew even more tense as his brother “talked” with Xuechen, he could literally feel the sparks coming between them enough to blow the entire courtyard. Did the rescue not succeed yesterday? He had personally escorted Huo Dao to be safely treated, yet there was no news of Xuechen whatsoever the entire night, so all he could do was wait and fail to sleep.
He thought he saw Xuechen enter this pagoda when he overheard familiar voices behind the walls:
“Did I press too hard?” Wait. Was that…his brother’s voice?
“You did well. That should keep their suspicions off of us for a bit.”
“You know that wasn’t my question-”
“A-Jiao. I’m not made of porcelain.”
“Of course I know that, but—”
“I’ll be fine,” Xuechen’s voice noticeably softened. “The medicine you gave me helped as well. It barely hurts now, see? You better go before people start to get suspicious at your absence.”
A sigh. “…Fine. I’ll ask Huo Dao for updates later.”
“Alright, alright. Go on.”
Liu Chu stood there, mouth open in shock. Medicine? A-Jiao? What the hell happened in the span of a night?!
He waited until his brother had left (thankfully from the other direction) before cornering LXC.
“Are you alright?” he fussed over him, helping him pour tea when he winced.
“I was shot on the shoulder last night, but everything’s fine now. Prince Hengyang…I was captured last night and-”
“WHAT?!”
He hissed. “Keep it down. Like I said, I was held against my will but…it also cleared up some misunderstandings between us. You were right—he had nothing to do with the saltpeter case.”
Just like that? “Just like that?” He echoed his thoughts stupidly. Wasn’t Xuechen always the one who told him to stay wary of his own brother? What was this sudden change of heart after being captured??? It made no sense.
“He didn’t coerce you or anything did he?” cried out Liu Chu, leaning close to find traces of mind control of some kind.
“Aish, it’s nothing like that. Do you think I’d really let something like that happen to me?”
Liu Chu narrowed his eyes with a frown, still unsure.
“Trust me,” Xuechen smiled. “I’ll tell you everything once we’re back home.”
Later on after LXC told him everything that happened that night…
“Xuechen, I still don’t trust him…what if he truly was trying to get you to talk and blindsided you? I think we should still keep at least one eye out, just in case it really was a ruse.”
“…I understand your concern, A-Man, and…you’re right. I trust I can leave you to that?”
“Of course. It’s not like he still doesn’t suspect me, after all…”
“A-Man…”
He waved his fan with a scoff. “Let’s not talk about this anymore.”
~0~
Prince Changyi was strolling across the market trying to find something to give Zibo-xiong as a gift for his private lessons only to stumble upon his brother by accident, dressed plainly in an attempt to blend in better (except his height and demeanor clearly set him apart from the rest…).
They stared awkwardly at one another, and Liu Chu saw a glimpse of what appeared to be a beautifully elaborate fan his brother tried too late to hide behind his back.
He cleared his throat. “Qi-di. What brings you here?”
“I could ask Wu-ge the same thing.” He smiled a tad too sweet to be genuine. “Shopping for someone? Or just looking around for yourself?”
He sniffed. “It has been ten years since I was last here, after all. Is it wrong of me to see what wares my people offer nowadays?”
“Certainly not.”
“Then I’ll leave you to browse by your lonesome, Qi-di. Come, Huo Dao.”
His faithful second hand man scurried to follow his master who looked more like he was running away than the grand exit he loved to make. Liu Chu couldn’t help the incredulous huff of laughter watching his brother act all secretive—it really wasn’t in his nature. Maybe Xuechen was right after all…
A few days later in the Lu Mansion…
“Damn it! I swear you always get me with this move,” Xuechen scowled, glaring at the Go board as though he could will it to change with his mind alone. Liu Chu chuckled, looking from above his fan as he calculated the moves he would need before he inevitably won. Xuechen had been more distracted than usual today, but he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he will gracefully take this win streak while he can.
He was about to taunt his friend again when his eye caught something at the edge of his vision. He froze. Isn’t that…?
“New fan?” He found himself asking before his mind caught up, nodding at the object in question as his mind screamed at him. Why, oh why had he asked that?! Morbid curiosity truly was the bane of his existence.
“Hm? Ah, right. Someone gifted it to me.” Xuechen replied half-distractedly, his eyes still boring into the board as though there was a hidden passage they both weren’t aware of.
“…And you accepted it?” He knew how popular his friend was among the ladies, but he also knew how he never accepted their gifts, let alone bring them with him outside in public.
Xuechen seemed to have finally caught onto what he had admitted. He froze. “Uh—”
He raised an eyebrow.
“It’s- er, I got it from um- Miss Luo, of course,” he smiled, but the edge felt too strained.
“Uh-huh…” he drawled. “And I just happened to find the exact same fan a few days ago in the market?”
Xuechen stopped for a suspiciously long second before scoffing. “What? Do you think only one of these fans exists in this world?”
“So…let me get this straight: You accepted a completely ordinary gift from Miss Luo when she explicitly said she wanted nothing more to do with you?”
“…”
“A sudden change of heart, hm? How romantic…I’m sure Miss Luo would be overjoyed to know her gift has been-”
“Alright, fine! It’s not from her!” snapped Xuechen, a deep flush blooming across his cheeks.
Liu Chu gaped before catching himself and whistled. “Xuechen, ah Xuechen…in all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen your face turn into that shade before.”
“Are you done teasing me, Your Highness?” the other man gritted out.
Truth be told, Liu Chu was still processing the fact that his brother was (has been?) courting his best friend right under his nose and he’d only realized it today. He wasn’t sure he was surprised because it took him this long to make a move, or because Xuechen is clearly receptive towards it.
“Whatever happened to you and Miss Luo anyway? Not that I wish to pry-”
“Cut the bullcrap, you’re a huge gossip and we both know that,” Xuechen rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing between us, and that’s it. She holds no interest in m-…me, and I respect that. Is that not the most basic human courtesy?”
Liu Chu caught the slip of tongue but mentally shelved it for later; there was a much more important matter at hand now…
“I suppose…”
“What do you mean ‘I suppose’?! What, do you expect me to keep on pursuing her like a ruffian?”
“Well, of course not, but- I’m just a bit surprised. You were pretty adamant on winning over her affections before…”
“And now I’m not. What kind of person do you think I am?” Xuechen scoffed. “I’m nothing like you who would force a young woman to marry me just because it would benefit the country. Just because you don’t care doesn’t mean the lady doesn’t either.”
“Xuechen, you—!” His chest puffed before deflating. “…Alright, alright. I apologize, I overstepped a line. Don’t be mad, okay?”
“…I swear you’re just as annoying as your brother sometimes.”
Being compared to that brute triggered a specific childish streak in him but he held it back. But he supposed he did deserve it.
“Alright…knock it off. Considering how you’re currently in a courtship with another, it is quite inappropriate of me to insinuate that you still have feelings for Miss Luo…”
“C-Courtship?!” He scoffed. “You- you have no idea what you’re talking about, A-Man. Stop reading those damn romance novels, it’s polluting your mind.”
“This isn’t the first time a man’s made a move on you,” he continued as though the other hadn’t said a thing, eyes wide open in presumed innocence. “So I don’t know why you’d act so shy about it, especially with me.”
“…”
He glanced at the other and held back a laugh—Xuechen’s face was so close to bursting into literal flames.
“A-Man…” muttered the other man, his eyes murderous. “If you don’t wipe that stupid grin off your face, don’t blame me for punching it out of there.”
“Yes, yes. My bad.” He adopted what he would call his ‘coaxing Yuechen voice’ that seemed to always work since they were kids. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk to me about it?”
The other tapped the fan against his nose, eyes darting everywhere except at him.
“Well…it…might be a bit awkward…”
“I already know who it is.”
Xuechen looked at him like he’d just proclaimed himself a ladies’ man.
“I met him in the city yesterday," he said wryly. “I had a feeling he wasn’t anticipating meeting me either. You should’ve seen the way he ran to escape, it was honestly priceless.”
Xuechen repeatedly thwacked the closed fan against his forehead, groaning. “I guess that saves the trouble of me telling you who it is…”
“Hey. Did you know that one of the main reasons Wu-ge’s always been so unsociable towards me is because he’s jealous of me and you?”
“Well, that’s obvious-”
“No, no. Not just of our friendship. He thought that you and me...”
“…No. No way. But we’ve never-”
“Xuechen, ah Xuechen…you really are clueless when it comes to men,” he laughed. “No wonder you accidentally accepted all those gifts from those dashing young men years ago before I had to literally peel them away from you.”
Another bright blush exploded across his cheeks as he scoffed, his posture proud yet sweetly bashful: “Well…I can’t help that I’m beautiful, after all.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” he rolled his eyes in familiar exasperation. “Lu-San Langjun is the most eligible bachelor in the entirety of Suzhou and everyone knows it.”
Liu Chu could privately admit to himself that years ago, he had harbored some attraction towards the other man at the height of his puberty. But…he wasn’t his first crush, and he felt that it was irrelevant to mention, especially when so many other adolescents clearly were bold enough to directly show their interest towards him. (And Liu Chu would never admit this even to himself, but the image of his brother’s jealous gaze did play a part in dissuading him too…he shivered. That damn brute of a brother of his and his explosive temper.) Besides, now he knew that Xuechen wasn’t really his type.
In the face of hundreds of fawning women at his feet, Lu Xuechen was like a statue of buddha, impassive and unaffected by their shower of affections. Liu Chu honestly thought for the longest time that his friend was just like him had he not grown feelings for Miss Luo during her stay in Lu Mansion.
But his attitude towards the men who showed him interest…Liu Chu thought (and feared) that his friend would react the same way others did when he showed interest in them, yet what happened had blown up all of his expectations. He still remembered the sweet blush the other had back during those early days, after he had to sit him down and explain exactly what was happening; why so many noble men were suddenly flocking the vicinity of his manor with invitations to “have a chat” with him.
Xuechen had turned them down, disappointed thinking that all they wanted was to get closer to him to get access to the prince. And on any other occasion, that might have been true—but Liu Chu had seen the way they looked at Xuechen and recognized it immediately.
They wanted him, either carnally or romantically. Or both.
And sweet, innocent Lu Xuechen kept accepting their gifts because they were always practical things he could use, not realizing the weight of his actions.
Far be it from Liu Chu to claim himself to be a saint, but he felt rightfully protective over his closest friend, especially seeing him throwing himself into a pack of overeager dogs without knowing it.
“…Oh,” Xuechen said dumbly.
“Yes, ‘Oh’.”
“…Like…the way you…?”
“Yes, Xuechen.”
“…But I- I’m not- …I don’t think I…”
“It’s alright,” soothed Liu Chu with a gentle smile. “Don’t worry about all this—leave it to me. Take your time to figure it out in the meantime, there’s no rush.”
Lu Xuechen, freshly 18, had looked at him with big, uncertain eyes, a trace of vulnerability in his wobbly soft lips and Liu Chu knew without a single doubt all those men dreamed of a glimpse of this.
Well, too bad for them. He wasn’t going to let them.
Who would’ve thought that after all these years…it was his own brother who would successfully capture Lu Xuechen’s heart? He wondered if things would have gone differently had his father’s injustice hadn’t completely consumed Xuechen’s mind…
“Am I right to assume it all started when you were held captive at his mansion?”
Xuechen groaned. “It sounds so terrible when you say it aloud…”
“Do I even want to know what happened? You’ve always been so cagey on the details…did you two…?”
“No! Get your mind out of the damn gutter,” Xuechen scowled at him. “We just- talked, mostly. And he…he…”
“…Yes?”
“…Never mind.”
“I know I shouldn’t encourage him. We’re still trying to find more clues to my father’s mysterious disappearance, and I have no time for this. But…”
“You couldn’t bear to not accept it either,” Liu Chu nodded. He understood his dilemma completely.
“I told Jinchuan to put it away with the others,” he muttered. “But for some reason that damn kid set it aside once Huo Dao was gone and specifically put it on my table while winking. If my threats of docking his pay isn’t enough, I’m forcing him to pay for his own meals after this…”
Liu Chu couldn’t help it—he laughed, loud and bright.
“Oh Xuechen…you should be increasing his wage with how in tune he is to your emotions. Where else could you find someone who can literally read your mind? I wish I had a right hand man that knew me that well…”
Xuechen rolled his eyes. “You’re free to take him if you’re so desperate. Anyway, enough about me. What about you and your beloved Zibo-xiong?”
“Unlike you and Wu-ge, there really is nothing going on between us,” he said calmly. “The relationship between us is purely between two kindred scholars, somehow brought together by fate itself…”
“Mmhmm,” Xuechen rested his head on one hand, a sly smile on his face. “I’m sure.”
“I’m serious! Besides…I don’t think he’s interested in men.”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Xuechen lifted a shoulder in a flippant shrug. “You’d be surprised. Although…”
“Hm…?”
A complicated look crossed over Xuechen’s face before he shook his head with a smile. “…It’s nothing. I’m overthinking a little.”
“Huh? What do you-?”
“Stop wasting my time and make your move. It’s been your turn since forever now.”
“…Fine.”