Ch88 - Peach Orchard

Gu Huaiqing was acting very mysteriously in the capital. According to Hao Dadao, Gu Huaiqing had been leaving early and returning late these days, but he didn’t know where he went. Jing Shao urged Gu Huaiqing to hurry up and leave, but he always used all sorts of excuses to push it back to the next day.

“Are you sure that man is the Huainan King?” the fourth prince asked with a frown after hearing the words reported back to him.

“It’s absolutely true.” The speaker, still in his court uniform, whispered to the fourth prince from a palace corridor, “Yesterday, he came to visit us in person. We’ve been in contact for so many years, this subject is sure that he is Gu Huaiqing.”

The fourth prince thought for a bit. “Where is he staying right now?” 

“This subject doesn’t know,” said the man, a bit embarrassed. Gu Huaiqing was always cautious. Even a trusted aide might not know where he was for sure. “However, he told me that he will be in the capital for the next few days. If you want to look for him for something, you can leave a note at Intoxicated Immortal restaurant in the city.”

When the fourth prince heard these words, he immediately made a mental note. The Huainan King came to the capital without being summoned; catching him would be a great achievement. Although it wasn’t a serious crime, his imperial father had been worrying over not being able to find any information to use against the Huainan King. Now, he was bribing court officials and secretly entering the capital and conspiring errantly; this was irrefutable evidence and truly a good opportunity. Thus, he turned and headed for the imperial study.

“Really, why are you here in the capital?” Jing Shao looked at Gu Huaiqing who was sitting across from him and leisurely enjoying the wine, and felt the veins on his forehead throb non-stop.

Gu Huaiqing took a look at Jing Shao, who was about to brandish his fist, and slowly said, “Because of lovesickness.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Jing Shao said with wide eyes. “Hurry up and tell me, what on earth are you trying to do?”

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Mu Hanzhang took the few stewed dishes he had ordered and wove his way through the peach orchard. He saw the two people in the pavilion glaring at each other again, as if they were about to get into a fight. “I just left for a little bit; why are you arguing again?” 

When the two saw him, they switched to a pair of smiling faces and said in unison, “We were just kidding around!” Then, they glared at each other again.

Mu Hanzhang looked at their expressions and couldn’t help chuckling. He opened the oil paper packages in his hands. Other people finding out about Gu Huaiqing’s special identity would be troublesome, so even Yun Song was left outside the garden. To buy something, Mu Hanzhang needed to go out and get it himself.

“It’s the spiced stewed dishes from the south of the city. Jing Shao likes them very much. He always says that if elder brother comes, he must invite you to taste them,” Mu Hanzhang said, taking each dish out of the oil paper packaging and arranging them neatly on plates.

“Hanzhang is still so glib.” Gu Huaiqing smiled widely and picked up a chicken wing. 

“Elder brother, that’s enough!” Jing Shao gripped the chicken wing in his hand so tightly that the bone snapped with a crunch.

“Wawu!” A ball of black and yellow fur scuttled out of the orchard and pounced on Jing Shao’s knee, reaching for the stewed chicken wing in his hand.

“Oh! You even brought him with you?” Gu Huaiqing took a look at the little tiger that had grown even more robust, and teased it with the chicken wing in his hand.

“If we shut it up at home, we’re afraid he’ll develop into a housecat, so I brought him out for a walk.” Mu Hanzhang reached out to rub the fluffy head. Xiao Huang rubbed against his palm, then turned back to rush at Gu Huaiqing. 

“This orchard is quite nice; too bad the peaches aren’t ripe yet.” Gu Huaiqing put the chicken wing close to the tiger’s mouth, and his hand almost got bitten.

Xiao Huang seemed very hostile toward Gu Huaiqing. Unable to bite him, it stretched out its paw to scratch him. Mu Hanzhang rubbed the back of its neck, which calmed it a little, but it still gave a low growl, and looked like it would pounce at any time.

“This orchard belongs to my brother. We can eat the peaches in half a month.” Jing Shao took a look at a peach branch that stretched into the pavilion. There were several fluffy peaches on it, but they were small and green.

“This is Jing Chen’s garden?” Gu Huaiqing heard this and was stunned. He looked around. The peach orchard was lush and green, and the grass on the ground was like exquisitely woven green jade brocade. He could imagine how splendid the scene would be when the peach blossoms were in bloom. “Is he coming today?” 

“He’ll probably be here soon.” Jing Shao picked up the wine pot on the table and poured a cup of green plum wine for his Wang Fei.

Mu Hanzhang’s wine cup was different from theirs. It wasn’t one of the bamboo cups made by the green plum maiden, but an exquisite wine cup made of white jade.

“Second brother, although your wife is delicate, isn’t the difference in treatment too obvious?” Gu Huaiqing looked at the bamboo cup with rough edges in his hand, and then at the almost transparent white jade cup, and immediately felt that being an elder brother was truly miserable.

Jing Shao ignored him. Jun Qing was used to rubbing the things in his hand when he thought about things. After Jun Qing pricked his finger on a bamboo splinter last year, Jing Shao began to carry a small white jade cup on him. When there were no suitable cups, he would take it out for his Wang Fei to use. From then on, the small cup and the box of fragrant ointment became things that Jing Shao had to always carry on him. 

Mu Hanzhang took the white jade cup and felt a warm feeling spread from his fingertips all the way to his heart.

“Wawu!” Xiao Huang suddenly gave a cry, and ran a few steps out of the pavilion. It lowered its body and hid in the grass. Its butt stuck up slightly and its back paws shifted lightly, as if it would pounce at any moment.

“Is someone here?” Jing Shao took a look at Xiao Huang and stood up.

When Gu Huaiqing heard this, he also stood up, and soon, they heard two voices coming from the orchard. 

“Second imperial brother is so elegant. The peach blossoms are all gone and the peaches are not yet ripe. You’re still interested in drinking wine here?” It was a young voice with some undisguised arrogance – the fourth prince, Jing Yu!

“Feel free to come and have a look.” The steady and pleasant voice belonged to Rui Wang Jing Chen, but his voice was slightly louder than usual, obviously warning the people in the orchard.

Oh, no! Mu Hanzhang looked around. The entry to this orchard could be blocked to others, but it couldn’t stop the fourth prince who had come with Jing Chen. Although Jing Yu didn’t know Gu Huaiqing, seeing a stranger in Rui Wang’s private garden was suspicious. The fourth prince would seize the most trivial of mistakes and hammer upon it, let alone when it came to a stranger he didn’t know.

When they could already see the dark yellow attire of the imperial princes, Jing Shao suddenly had a bright idea. He whistled at Xiao Huang and threw the chicken wing in his hand at Jing Yu. 

“Wawu!” The little tiger had always loved this game. When he saw Jing Shao throw out the delicious food, he immediately jumped three chi high, like a black and yellow arrow, and rushed out with a whoosh.

“Ah!” When the fourth prince saw the tiger suddenly pounce at him from the shrubs, he was so scared that he cried out. Suddenly, he was hit in the face by a greasy thing. He was so frightened that he stumbled over a protruding peach tree root. At the same time, the ferocious tiger lunged at him.

The fourth prince fell to the ground, and the already very heavy tiger jumped on him. It pressed down on his shoulders and opened its large and blood-red mouth that was full of teeth, each one incomparably sharp.

“Save me!” The fourth prince was so scared his face turned white. He saw the tiger open its mouth and bend down to bite him on the neck, and he struggled to reach for his weapon. 

“Don’t move!” Jing Chen suddenly stopped the fourth prince from pulling out his sword, and the tiger found the chicken wing in the hollow of his neck, picked it up in its mouth, then turned around and ran away.

Jing Yu got up, and only then was he able to clearly see that it was just a half-grown tiger only about two chi long, which ran into the pavilion in the peach orchard, its butt sticking out. In the pavilion stood Cheng Wang and his husband.