"Be careful, the midday sun is very hot today."
The brim of a paper umbrella cast a soft shadow over Yan Zheyun as he strolled along the meandering paths of the imperial gardens. It was too warm for any of the concubines to be out and about and Yan Zheyun, with only his trusted Xiao De for company, was a rare sight at this hour. Ordinarily, he would prefer to curl up next to the large bowls of ice that his station afforded him and take a nap to while away the uncomfortable heat but today Liu Yao had a task for him.
"Please watch your step, we're almost there." There was a section of old cobblestones that was more uneven than others, signalling that they were in an old part of the gardens before the newer generations of emperors expanded upon it. Yan Zheyun didn't trip but Xiao De was there by his side to negate the possibility altogether.
(1) Eastern and Western Six Abodes: the residence of the princes that were above the age of 5 (before this they would stay in their mother’s palace unless removed from her care for some reason or another) and below the age where they could be granted a rank. These abodes (not called palaces and direct translation is more like ‘place’) follow the structure of the Qing Dynasty. This fictional imperial city has a lot of different parts borrowed from different dynasties. XD
(2) Jianzi: a game that has been around since the Han Dynasty (and is still played now, known in the west as ‘shuttlecock’) that involves keeping a shuttlecock in the air using any part of the body apart from the hands.
A/N: Thank you very much for reading and the comments, gifts, powerstones and golden tickets! <3 Sorry this chapter is late, the fans on my laptop finally died and I took ages to get them replaced thanks to a crazy work schedule (': Luckily I didn't lose anything and have now backed up all my writing files ><
Anyone can guess who the mysterious maid is? (((: Or what's going on with Liu An? (((((: