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However, before Yang Guang could walk any further, the crown prince's body fell limp. In a panic, he set the boy down, hoping he wasn't injured, only to see that he was gently snoring. Shaking his head, Yang Guang realized that it was probably pretty late by now and he should probably take a rest before setting off tomorrow.
Half carrying the crown prince, Yang Guang dragged himself back to his house, almost tripping over himself along the way. It was evident that the crown prince had been well pampered, his body weighing maybe even as much as Yang Guang despite being much shorter.
"Granny, grandpa, I've brought back a guest," Yang Guang called out when he got back home. He kicked the door open, dragging the crown prince inside before setting him down.
The old couple immediately stood up from their chairs and walked over to Yang Guang.
"Er Lang, who is this?" granny Yuan asked.
"The crown prince of Xi, Ming WanFeng," Yang Guang replied, casting a look at the sleeping crown prince. He was snoring gently, a calm look on his face, the tear marks from earlier streaking down his cheeks.
Grandma gasped, her jaw nearly dropping on the ground. In a worried voice she asked:
"What happened? Why is his face so dirty?"
"Oh. Earlier the horses went wild and killed themselves for some reason and the crown prince had a cut on his arm so I decided to bring him here," Yang Guang replied, his voice strangely nonchalant. Maybe it was because he had witnessed so much he didn't care anymore.
"That's terrible. We can let him stay at our house until he's ready to leave," granny said.
"Well, actually, I'm planning on going with him to Luoyang tomorrow," Yang Guang said.
"Er Lang, that's a horrible idea. He's still injured and not well, at least rest him for a while," granny said.
"It's not that bad," Yang Guang said.
"Er Lang, just because you can stand it doesn't mean he can. You've nearly died before," grandpa interjected.
True, Yang Guang thought. He had been hurt a lot more than this "crown prince," especially in his earlier years. His hand instinctively went toward the bandage on his forehead which covered his scar.
"Well, I guess we can let him stay here for a week before I leave with him for Luoyang," Yang Guang said.
"Fine, that's fine."
"Ey, Er Lang, he took you blanket, where are you going to sleep then?" grandpa asked.
Yang Guang thought for a second.
"Well, I guess I'll just sleep next to him," he said.
"Are you really fine with that?" granny asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Yang Guang replied.
Granny took a look at Ming WanFeng before nodding.
"Okay, well, it's pretty late. You should sleep," granny said as she slowly walked back over toward her and grandpa's room. Yang Guang looked at the sleeping crown prince before slowly sitting down next to him and pulling the blanket over himself.
For a while, Yang Guang lay awake, thinking over what happened today.
Why did the crown prince carriage crash? What Ming WanFeng said was true. The royal horses were quite well trained. I wonder.
This was one of the first times Yang Guang didn't have an answer, though probably not one of the last. Tired of his ignorance and feeling sleep overcome him, Yang Guang closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless slumber.
When he awoke, the sun was barely coming out from behind the hills and the birds had not yet started singing. Ming WanFeng was still sound asleep, the gentle rise and fall of his chest the same as ever. Yang Guang shrugged and grabbed his basket and shovel before walking out of his house like yesterday.
Along the way, quite a few people asked him how the crown prince was doing, and a few of them even gave him food.
"He's fine," was what he said to all of them.
Yang Guang took one of the hot steamed buns from one of the villagers and bit into it, savoring the sweet bean. The crown prince probably didn't need it anyway. Yang Guang arrived early at the field to see that Mr. Yu, the hardworking leader was already there, watering the plants with water from a nearby well.
Yang Guang had always admired Mr. Yu's perseverance, even from day one. He was always the first one at the field, and always the last one to go home, helping everyone grow the food they needed. In fact, when Yang Guang first came to the village as the nearly dead Yangdi, he was the one that brought him food and water every day.
"Hey, Mr. Yu, good morning!" he called out, running down into the field and setting his basket down on the thin walkway between the two halves.
"Hello Er Lang. How's crown prince Ming?" he asked, still watering.
"Fine, doing pretty okay actually. Grandma and grandpa are both pretty fond of him for some reason," Yang Guang respond.
"That's good to hear," was all Mr. Yu said.
Yang Guang nodded and got to work, picking up a bucket and walking to the well. Once he got there, he dipped the bucket in, lifted it up, and carried it back toward the fields. On the way back, he saw many more of his peers coming to get water, all of them waving to him.
Before long, all the wheat had been watered and it was time to plant the other crops. There would be a short break before everyone started working again. All the farmers sat down in a small dirt circle, laughing and chatting, all except Yang Guang.
He sat silently at the side, listening to the middle aged men joke about the most trivial of things. He was never one to socialize on his own, and that day when he tried to openly help the crown prince was one of the most awkward decisions he had made.
Dumbass, Yang Guang sighed. Their talking was interrupted by a loud shout.
"Oh, there you are!"
Yang Guang looked up to find a figure in tattered golden robes, a jade hairpin fastened in his hair. Yang Guang's eye twitched in annoyance, thinking: him again?
He walked down, trying to look commanding and regal, but his small stature and doe eyes didn't help.
"The guy with the b-bandages, what's your name?" he asked.
"Tsk, tsk," Yang Guang clicked his tongue under his breath.
"Your Majesty the crown prince, my name is Er Lang," he said.
"Yes, Er Lang. For s-saving me yesterday, I will re-reward you," the crown prince said, still stuttering.
He dropped a money pouch in his hand, the cloth silky and smooth. Yang Guang weighed it with his hand and rolled his eyes slightly.
"Thanks," he said.
He went back toward the circle, putting down the money pouch.
"Hey, guys, have some, have some," Yang Guang said, taking out some gold from inside and splitting it among his peers.
"Ha! Er Lang, you're so lucky! Good riddance," another farmer said. Torrents of gratefulness and thanks came rushing at him from the farmers. Of course they were so happy, they had never seen something so valuable in their life! However, after being the scum emperor for so many years, Yang Guang was almost indifferent to the color of gold, its splendor was just like any other thing to him.
Yang Guang nodded. He looked behind him to find Ming WanFeng looking very unhappy, his cheeks puffed out in a pout. He looked like he wanted to say something but was too afraid to say it. YangGuan shook his head and turned back toward the circle, wondering how a boy with the mental-and physical- age of a baby could become crown prince.
After a short while, the break ended, and everyone got back to work. Nearly nobody paid attention to the crown prince still standing at the edge of the field looking very out of place with his fancy jewelry. Nobody except Yang Guang, who was very disturbed at the crown prince's gaze following him around wherever he went. Even though he was pretty sure the prince wouldn't do any harm to him, the way he stared at him brought back some rather unpleasant flashbacks.
However, Yang Guang pushed those to the back of his head and continued to take a dried gourd and gouge out the seeds to put in his basket. He continued this for about ten minutes before he just about had it with the weird staring from the crown prince.
"Your highness the crown prince, aren't you going back?" he asked.
"No, I-I'm staying here-here with you," Ming WanFeng said.
"Why?" Yang Guang asked.
"It-it's interesting watching you work," he said.
Rolling his eyes, Yang Guang turned around and sauntered back to his basket, sprinkling a few seeds here and there. He took a few more gourds and pried out their seeds at a surprisingly fast pace, depleting the supply of gourds about 20 minutes later.
Yang Guang took his basket and walked around the field, sprinkling seeds while his eyes- or rather eye- peeked out from under his hair to track the movement of the crown prince. He was walking around the place, looking very uncomfortable.
Night fell and everyone was getting ready to go home, packing up their baskets and getting ready to leave. Ming WanFeng was still there, sitting on the ground now, crossing his arms and looking like a child.
Yang Guang slowly walked away from the field and up the hill, dragging his shovel and basket behind him.
"Your highness, it's time to leave," he said as he passed by the boy.
"Okay," the crown prince muttered.
When he looked up and found that Yang Guang was already a good 15 steps away, he scrambled up and ran after him
"Er Lang, w-wait!" he yelled.
Yang Guang turned around and looked at him, face cold.
"Oh, I'm sorry, your highness," was all he said when the crown prince caught up to him and they started walking side-by-side.
After a while of awkward silence, Ming WanFeng looked curiously at Yang Guang's bandages, and even reached a hand out to touch his forehead. Yang Guang flinched, resisting the urge to push the boy onto the ground. He never liked people touching his scar, especially not random clingy royalty he met a day ago.
"Er L-Lang ge, what happened here?" Ming WanFeng asked.
"I went just went blind in my right eye, nothing much," Yang Guang lied casually.
"That's horrible!" Ming WanFeng yelled.
"Hahaha, it's not that bad," Yang Guang said.
Ming WanFeng looked toward the ground and back toward Yang Guang.
"Er Lang g-ge, I'm h-hungry," he said.
Yang Guang nodded and reached down into his pocket to pull out a small piece of gold which he tossed into the prince's hand.
"Go buy your own food," Yang Guang said.
"Ah, ge, why don't you come with me?" Ming WanFeng asked.
Yang Guang's eyes twitched again. This boy needed someone to help him buy food. To buy food for heaven's sake! How well must he have been treated?
"Why?"
"This place is s-scary," Ming WanFeng looked around and inadvertently shivered.
Yang Guang's would have slapped himself in the face right then and there to make sure this wasn't a dream, but because he was in the presence of someone he was supposed to be polite to, he suppressed that urge. The real imperial system and power struggle was much, much more scary than this quiet, harmless little village.
"Fine," Yang Guang grumbled.
By now, the streets were slightly crowded with people going back home. Along their way to get food, someone bumped into Ming WanFeng, not noticing at all and just walking past. However, Ming WanFeng winced in pain and nearly toppled down onto the Yang Guang besides him.
Yang Guang cursed under his breath and helped the boy up, observing that he was holding his arm. Yang Guang took his arm and led him toward the local medicine shop, which the owner wasn't present at*.
*A/N: mainly because the author didn't want to write dialogue.
Yang Guang tossed a few coins into a small jar and took a roll of bandages and a few herbs before grabbing Ming WanFeng's hand and leading him out of there. Yang Guang unwrapped the already bloody bandage and rubbed some herbs on it before taking the new bandages and slapping it back on his hand.
"Ok, let's go now," Yang Guang said, acting as if nothing just happened. Ming WanFeng timidly walked by his side and held his hand inside and tried to avoid touching other people. A few times, he tried reaching for Yang Guang's but retracts his hand at the last moment, almost afraid to touch it.
They got some food and headed back home, where grandma and grandpa were waiting for them. Yang Guang smiled and set down the steamer full of buns, enough to feed the whole family. It was probably the best dinner Yang Guang had his whole life, and probably the only dinner for the past three years.
"Er Lang gege, c-can we leave for Luoyang t-tomorrow? Father said I was supposed to be back by tomorrow, and I don't want to worry him."
Yang Guang pressed his lips together and sighed.
"Ok, that's fine. We might be a day late though, at the earliest." Yang Guang knew this from personal experience. After running nonstop for two days on end, he found his way to this small village, which nobody would of noticed unless it suddenly exploded with the force of a million stars. And after the charge of Luoyang, Yang Guang wasn't even sure he could go back there.
Weekly Power Status
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