CROWN PRINCE'S CONCUBINE

Bai Ying looked out the window, remembering what happened back in the valley just after his family was killed. He wouldn’t forget it, why couldn’t he forget it?

Luo Xiang who was sitting in the carriage with Bai Ying realized what Bai Ying thinking from the look in his languid eyes, he grabbed the boy’s shoulders and pulled him closer to him.

“Come on Ying Ying, leaning on big brother’s shoulder, you haven’t slept since a while ago, we will soon arrive at your house and stay there for a night, what do you think? Do you miss your home?” whispered Luo Xiang as Bai Ying sat back down beside him.

The young man was still looking at the window.

“Your Majesty, what, that house can be still called a home? There’s no one else there anymore, father, mother, sister, uncles and aunts, nothing will be the same as before.”

Luo Xiang grabbed Bai Ying’s fingers, gripping them tightly.

“But, it’s still my Ying Ying’s house, the house where you can go home, the house where all the good and bad memories live, and, big brother also promised that we’ll stay there every once in a while”

Bai Ying raised his head to look at the Crown Prince with his eyes big round, teary from holding back crying.

.....

“Really, Your Highness? Your Majesty wants to stay there with Ying er?”

Luo Xiang nodded, he ruffled Bai Ying’s hair, and tucked it behind his ear, looking at the sad face who looked at him with an innocent look.

Luo Xiang couldn’t help but smile.

“Hehe of course, wherever my Ying Ying goes, big brother will always come with you”

Bai Ying pulled his lips, finally couldn’t help but smile at the face of the Crown Prince who couldn’t stop looking at him with eyes full of light.

“Your Majesty.”

By late afternoon, the group finally arrived in front of the Hua family home. A tall, sturdy red fence stood with a large log bearing the surname Hua. Servants ran out of the house when they realized the chariot group had arrived in front of the house. The men who were employed to take care of the Hua family home lowered their knees to the ground welcoming the arrival of the Crown Prince and their young master.

“Sincerely Your Highness the Crown Prince, Young Master, welcome back to the Hua residence.”

The Crown Prince’s maids and bodyguards lined up in front of the carriage neatly, waiting in an orderly manner. Meanwhile, Bei Yau stood in front of the golden carriage helping the Crown Prince and Bai Ying to get off.

“Please, Your Highness”

“Ying Ying” Luo Xiang stretched out his hand to help Bai Ying who was still stunned for a moment in his place before finally accepting the Crown Prince’s hand. Slowly descending small stairs that have been prepared to steps in front of his own house.

Bai Ying’s chest hurt, don’t know what he felt, a deep sadness when he saw the big door to his house, the house he lived in for his whole life, that he had to leave without saying goodbye to everyone before. The house he loved so much because all the good memories, as well as the bad ones, were there, all of them.

“Brat! Come back here, I’ll hit your ass!” the sound of his mother holding the duster in her hands high as she chased little Ying through the house.

“Ah, Mother, please spare Ying er’s life!” several times the little boy finally couldn’t avoid his mother’s legendary slash. He groan in pain when his mother applied the ointment to his wound.

“Naughty boy, don’t move!”

“It hurt, Mother, why did Mother have to hit Ying er so hard, what if it left a scar? Later when Father comes home Ying can’t hide it”

“It won’t leave any scar, sit still!”

“Akkh Mother!”

Luo Xiang gripped Bai Ying’s fingers tightly, and slowly led him to his house.

“Come on Ying, let’s go in, you’ve come home.”

Even with very heavy feet, Bai Ying finally stepped into the house with the Crown Prince and the servants behind him.

“Father, Mother, Sister, Ying er has come home,” Bai Ying said at the door, until finally, he couldn’t hold back his tears from falling, and cried like a baby.

“Aahhh Father, Mother!”

........

At night.

The new Hua family housekeeper was none other than the locals who mostly knew the Hua family very well. Some of the elders had even known Bai Ying since childhood. The housekeepers, along with Yan and Bi prepared dinner for the Crown Prince and Bai Ying, as well as Elder Yi at the round table in the living room.

And all the exhausted soldiers also got their rooms in the building behind the house where the mess for soldiers and servants was located. The atmosphere in the Hua family mansion away from the hustle and bustle of Chang San city was obviously very calm. Because it was located at the end of the road, that was why no one knew that there had been a massacre in the mansion before the Crown Prince found it.

Bai Ying couldn’t stop smiling as he watched the maids continue to prepare ChangSan city specialities dishes that he really liked, one of which was the fragrant ginseng stewed chicken soup.

“Um, this smells so good, come on Your Highness, Elder Yi, try this dish, Your Majesty must have never tried it before, this is Chang San city’s signature food, and also typical of the Hua family because Father who makes the recipe at first, and this is grandpa Wu, he worked at my house before to learn it from Father before finally opening his own restaurant. And this time grandpa specially came to make Ying er this food, it’s delicious, umm” the boy was impatiently waiting for the old man to spoon the chicken soup into a small bowl for him.

The man in his sixties whose face often smiled lowered his head when the Crown Prince saw him.

“Sincerely, Your Highness the Crown Prince, Please forgive Servant to enter uninvited, but Servant has long wanted to make this chicken soup for Young Master Ying, poor boy, look at your body so thin”

Bai Ying stretched out his hand impatiently when the old man finished to filled his small bowl. Elder Yi couldn’t stop chuckling at Bai Ying’s cute, really like a kid at his age.

“Hehehe Ying er”

“Come on, Grandpa Wu, Ying is hungry, this time Ying will eat a lot.”

The old man whose front tooth was missing smiled broadly as he handed the bowl of hot soup in front of Bai Ying.

“Be careful young master, it’s still very hot.”

??Luo Xiang couldn’t hide his smile when he saw Bai Ying who couldn’t wait to enjoy the soup even though it was still hot.

“Akh it’s hot”

“Bad boy, eat slowly, your tongue will burn”

Bai Ying raised his head and smiled widely at the Crown Prince who saw him. Luo Xiang could only shake his head.

“This kid”

Luo Xiang accepted the soup bowl that had arrived in front of him.

“Please Your Majesty”

The smell is indeed quite tempting, the spices mixed with ginseng immediately entered Luo Xiang’s nose and made his chest warm, his saliva did not stop dripping, no wonder the kid liked it so much, it’s tasty and delicious.

“Old man, eat more,” Bai Ying said turning to Elder Yi who just got his soup in front of him.

“This kid, it’s hot, eat slowly, how about if you’re choking later?”

“No, old man, according to my Father, this is made from spices which are very good for blood flow and breathing, when Ying was younger, I often had shortness of breath due to my poor health, so Father always cooked this for Ying er, once there for several days in a row, Ying did not want to eat nothing else but this.”

Elder Yi chuckled at Bai Ying’s passionate story.

“Hehehe is it good to eat it every day?” he asked.

Bai Ying nodded,

“Of course, it is, it’s delicious and healthy. Isn’t it? Your Majesty? Ying isn’t making this up right?” Bai Ying asked as he saw that the Crown Prince seemed to be enjoying his meal.

“Yes, my Ying, if the food is really that good, you could invite old man Wu to the palace to cook, who knows he could teach the palace chef how to make this delicious soup.”

Hearing that, Bai Ying widened his eyes, looking at old man Wu who was as if he could not believe what he had heard.

“Grandpa, Grandpa, did you hear that? Come to the palace to cook for Ying and the others, Grandpa.”

Elder Wu stuttered, the old man slowly backed away and lowered his body to his knees on the floor.

“It’s really inappropriate, Your Majesty, Servant is not inappropriate,” said the man lowering his head to touch the floor.

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