Somewhere in the corridors of the Imperial Palace, the first prince named Li Fu Wei was running at full speeds to a particular room. Several maidservants yelped in surprise as he rushed by.
Coming to a skating stop in front of a golden door, Fu Wei opened it and entered.
Immediately after he entered, all sorts of sounds came rushing into his ears, evident that the room was soundproof.
Aside from hearing people talking and the footsteps of people walking around the room, the most prominent one Fu Wei heard was the sound of a baby screaming his head off.
After entering the room, Fu Wei looked in the direction of the baby's cries and saw the old midwife standing over his little brother with a blob of water conjured from a spell hovering over her index finger.
"What's with the second prince? Is he already hungry? It's not even been long since he was born."
The midwife standing over the second prince said in a perplexed tone. Meanwhile said prince was all red in the face from his screaming, even throwing in arm and leg movements in his tantrum.
Fu Wei closed the door behind him and made his way through the servants who were carrying bloody sheets and basins of water.
They all looked towards him, but seeing who it was they only smiled and went back to tend to the paled face woman on the bed.
Fu Wei only took a glance at the woman on the bed, before he made his way to the table-like structure that held his brother.
Despite his screaming and flailing, the midwife had still managed to clean him up enough to wrap a blanket around him.
Before Fu Wei could get any closer to look at his brother, the midwife swept him up and carried him off to the woman on the bed.
Fu Wei's expression became slightly annoyed.
"Crown prince you have to wait, lady Ying hasn't met her son yet." said the midwife as she went to the bedside of the woman called lady Ying.
Despite her disheveled hair and deathly pale face, the woman's beauty could not go unnoticed. As a matter of fact, even the Empress herself would be slightly inferior to her when she's in her top condition.
Fu Wei not having anything to do, only sat on a chair off to the side kicking his legs, while having an impatient look on his face.
Over at the bed, the baby had stopped his crying when he was handed over the smiling woman.
After a moment of cooing and rocking, the woman name lady Ying began to cough a little.
The midwife who was next to her said, "Lady Ying don't force yourself, even though the delivery was successful, your body is still weak from the exertion."
As she said that, she gently took the baby from her.
Lady Ying was slightly reluctant, but she could only nod her head.
"Don't worry, the second prince will be in the room next door, when you've recovered you'll have all the time to be with him then."
Lady Ying again nodded at the midwife's words.
Then, the midwife began walking to the exit with the second prince.
Seeing this, Fu Wei jumped up and followed her out. Just like the midwife said, she went to the room next door that was already prepared for the second prince.
A baby bed was situated in the middle of the room, with child-like drawings sprawled across the walls of the room.
After placing the second prince into the small bed, she turned to the Fu Wei and said, "Now Crown prince you should be careful with your brother, don't pick him up least you drop him and cause an injury."
Fu Wei nodded his head at the midwife.
Despite being the crown prince, he didn't dare be disrespectful to this old woman.
He didn't know what position she held in the Imperial Court, but when all the ministers and court officials speak with her, their deference wasn't any lower than when they were speaking to his father.
Even his father, the Emperor, spoke to her with slight respect in his voice.
After Fu Wei nodded, the old midwife turned to leave.
Fu Wei watched as the door close with a slight smile on his lips. He stood there and waited for a moment.
When he was sure she was gone, his slight smile fell from his lips, as he turned to his brother who was in the crib.
The demeanor he once had of a naïve and immature child was completely gone. His cold and somewhat emotionless eyes bore down at the newly born second prince.
For a ten-year-old to have such a cold and detached look in his eyes was actually frightening to see. His immature features also didn't make things look any better, he just stood there staring down at his brother.
After a while, his voice that sounded nothing like before echoed in the room.
"Why couldn't you have been a girl?"
As the question left his lips the only reaction the second prince had was to stare at his older brother.
Fu Wei then bent down over the crib and place his hand on his brother's belly, his cold and emotionless demeanor suddenly vanish like it was only an illusion, and then a warm smile started to spread across his lips.
"And the worst thing of all, people are saying that you were born with the blessings of the heavens, isn't that just ridiculous?"
Fu Wei began to slide his hand slowly upwards towards his brother's throat.
Despite Fu Wei's hand being a small, ten-year-old's hand, he was still able to wrap it around his brother's neck.
The second prince showed no reaction at this, though as a baby who was just born, he couldn't possibly know what was happening.
With the warm smile still on his face, Fu Wei continued to speak.
"If it turns out that your talent is greater than mine, father might just take away my title as the Crown prince and give it to you."
Killing intent flash across Fu Wei's eyes as he said, "That title belongs to me, and only me. If you ever surpass me in cultivation in the future, I'll have you killed."
As Fu Wei spoke, his hand slightly tighten around his brother's neck, but before he could squeeze down any harder to do any real damage, he heard footsteps echoing outside of the door.
Fu Wei released his brother's neck and quickly rose, but his brother who hadn't reacted at all, suddenly grabbed onto his index finger before he could fully pull back his hand.
Fu Wei suddenly felt something entering through his finger from his brother's small palms. That something he felt caused pain to shoot through his entire right arm. He grunted and immediately try to pull his finger from his brother's grasp, but to his astonishment, his brother's grip remained firmly clamped onto his finger and he was lifted slightly off of his back from his pulling.
The footsteps came closer and Fu Wei began to panic a little.
"Let go you freak."
He growled out and was about to pull harder, but before he could, he stared with wide eyes at his baby brother as a golden aura suddenly appeared around his entire body.
Within a flash, it condensed onto his little palms and entered his index finger.
Fu Wei almost let out a scream from the pain coming from his arm. That pain suddenly moved from his right arm to the middle of his forehead, causing him to bite down on his lips. What followed, was a plum blossom with six petals appearing between his eyebrows.
Each petal was different in color, one was golden, another one was pink, the third was red, the fourth was violet, the fifth was azure, and the last one was black.
After glowing for a second they faded away from sight.
The grip on Fu Wei's finger was released, as the door was pushed open.
Unbelievably, Fu Wei was quick enough to compose himself before the old midwife came in.
"Alright Crown prince, visiting time is over, it's time for the second prince to get some rest."
A sad expression appeared on Fu Wei's face before he reluctantly said, "Fine"
He then began walking towards the door with a downcast expression. He went to leave the room, but not before turning around to look at his baby brother.
He was standing up in the small crib staring straight at him. The weird thing was, since entering the room he hadn't reacted or made a single noise, he was just staring at Fu Wei like he was now.
The voice of the midwife suddenly sounded out, "Oh look at you! Already standing despite just being born, what a strange child you are."
"More like a freak."
Fu Wei thought to himself as he closed the door behind him with his left arm. His right arm was still in a bit of pain, confirming that what had just happened wasn't his imagination.
*******
In most reincarnation novels, it usually always starts from the mc's perspective. So I thought why don't I change things a bit and show it from someone else's perspective.
You as the readers would have the knowledge that he was reincarnated, but seeing everything unfold from someone else's POV would make things more interesting.
*Almost Fourteen Years Later...*
"Server, one more over here!!"
A loud shout of a young boy echoed in the small bar.
What followed after was a large burp.
One of the three lady servers in the small bar strutted over to the table the youth was sitting at. She placed a knew full wine jug in front of him and took away the two empty ones on the table.
The youth who looked no more than thirteen, shakily poured the contents of the wine jug into a small cup, before he raised it to his lips and swallowed everything with one gulp.
His already flush face became even redder as he smacked his lips and said, "Good, good, good."
Licking his lips, the youth poured himself another cup and gulped it down.
The occupants in the small bar just ignored the youth as if this was a regular occurrence.
However, a quite burly fellow who was on a stool in front of the bar's counter, couldn't help but frown upon seeing such a scene. The space between his brows had righteousness written all over it and seeing the bar willing to serve such young child wine made him feel disgusted.
Turning to the male bartender and current owner of the bar, the burly fellow said with condemnation dripping from his lips, "Mister Chen, is this really what your establishment promotes? How can you serve such a small child wine, are you that greedy for money to do such a despicable thing?"
Mister Chen who was behind the counter absentmindedly cleaning a cup with a cloth, was taken aback by the scolding words of the burly man.
He glanced at the burly man, before looking at the youth, who was raising another cup to lips.
Mister Chen looked back at the burly man and began to chuckle.
This reaction from mister Chen angered the burly man even more. Just when he was about to curse out this greedy old man, mister Chen finished chuckling and said, "Big Dong, this is the first time you visited my bar since last week, right?"
Hearing mister Chen's question, the burly man called Big Dong frowned, but he nodded nonetheless.
Mister Chen chuckled again before he said, "That little kid over there isn't drinking wine, it's just water with coloring in it."
Upon hearing mister Chen's words, Big Dong became dumbfounded. Then, as if realizing something, his expression became angry again and he said, "Mister Chen, do you take me for a fool? The boy is obviously drunk from drinking your wine, look how flushed his face is, he can barely even sit straight on his chair."
Both men looked in the youth's direction to see him on the edge of his seat almost about to fall off, along with a completely red face. Clear signs of someone highly intoxicated.
Mister Chen only shook his head and said, "I've never heard of someone getting drunk from drinking water with coloring in it, have you?"
Hearing mister Chen's refusal to admit his wrongdoings, Big Dong couldn't help but become enraged.
Realizing Big Dong was about to fly off the handle, mister called over the server who had just taken the empty jugs from the youth's table.
"Here."
Mister Chen placed the two empty jugs in front of Big Dong.
Big Dong took up one of the jugs from the counter and with an angry expression still on his face, he place it under his nose and sniffed.
As Big Dong sniffed, one could his expression turn from anger to confusion. He quickly took up the other jug and sniffed it like the previous one, but his expression only become stranger.
The two jugs didn't have the smell of wine in them, just a hint of coloring.
Big Dong saw when the server took them from the table, and he was confident she didn't switch them with different jugs somehow.
Big Dong place the two jugs back onto the counter and looked at mister Chen.
Mister Chen had an amused smile on his face as he saw Big Dong's strange expression.
"Do you believe me now?" mister Chen asked Big Dong.
Big Dong could only smile wearily and say, "Mister Chen, I hope you can forgive me for questioning your morals. As an apology, I'll purchase a jug of your high-quality wine."
As Big Dong said that he gulp down the last bit of wine he had in the cup in front of him.
Seeing Big Dong being so straightforward and apologizing, mister Chen couldn't help but admire him.
Despite his brutish appearance and blunt way of speaking, he was still a righteous man who was willing to admit when he was in the wrong.
After Big Dong finish his cup, he turn to mister Chen and said, "So, what's with the kid? His clothes aren't something normal people could afford, is he from one of those affluent families?"
Mister Chen shook his head and said, "No idea, he just came in here one-day last week and order a jug of wine. The kid looked like he was still wet from his mother's milk, so I just poured some coloring into a jug of water and handed it to him. Thought he wouldn't know the difference."
Mister Chen then put on a weird expression before he continue to say, "But I didn't think he would start acting like he was drunk. As a matter of fact, you're not the only one who had reacted like that when they first saw him. Now everyone just pretends as though they didn't see anything."
Mister Chen shook his head at the absurdity of the situation.
The youth both men were speaking of had a completely flush face, while he was sprawled on top of the table, hiccupping ever so often.
Picking up the jug in front of him, he poured the last remaining 'wine' into his cup. Just as he was about to lift the cup to his lips and drink its content, a plump brown cat suddenly hopped on top of the table and began licking the wine in the cup.
The youth frowned and shoved the cat away while saying, "Bad little Tai, this is daddy's wine, it's not for you."
The plump brown cat let out a hiss as it was shoved off the table by the youth.
The people at the tables next to the youth, couldn't help their expression from becoming weird after hearing the cat's name, some even had amused expressions on their faces.
"Meow"
Another cat, who was smaller and had white fur, appeared by the youth's foot, clawing at it while purring.
The youth looked down and asked, "Little Snow, what are you doing here too?"
As the youth said that his expression suddenly changed as shouted,
"Wait!"
The youth suddenly sat up, his fake drunkenness vanishing.
As soon as the youth sat up, a loud swooshing sound could be heard coming from outside of the small bar.
Everyone in the bar became stunned upon hearing such a loud sound.
The youth, however, had a look of panic on his face.
As quick as lightning he stood up from his chair, and like a specter, his body moved towards a window.
His leg movements were strange and erratic but if someone with a cultivation level were here to see this, they would become stunned upon seeing such an exquisite movement technique. The obscure profundities with it were numerous, but the way this youth executed the technique was smooth and flawless as if it was nothing more than breathing to him.
The very instant the youth made for the window, the swooshing sound appeared at the bar's entrance.
The source of the loud sound turns out to be a handsome young man in his early twenties. Looking at the dazzling and luxurious clothes of the young man, everyone in the small bar took a large gulp. The pressure this man emanated made them feel as if the world around them were collapsing.
As soon as the young man enter the bar, he let out a cold snort before he stretched out his hand in the direction of the youth, who was in the middle of leaping through the window.
Immediately afterward, a translucent golden hand materialized out of thin air in front of the young man and then pierced the void appearing behind the youth.
The golden hand instantly began to wrapped its five fingers around the youth's waist, however, the youth's specter-like body suddenly evaporated like smoke and the hand grabbed nothing but empty air.
A laugh then echoed from another window in the bar. The youth's figure appeared there with a grin plaster across his face.
"Stupid elder brother, I'm definitely not joining the Celestial Academy!!"
Before the echo of the youth's voice could fade away from the bar, he was already out the window.
The young man who the youth had called elder brother had a frown on his face, but deep within his eyes there was a look of amusement.
His body suddenly vanished from the bar, along with the translucent golden hand.
Everyone in the bar who just saw the series of events play out had mild looks of shock and horror on their faces.
"Those were legendary cultivators, right?! I can't believe I just saw two of those legendary cultivators with my own eyes, am I dreaming right now?!"
A shout suddenly echoed in the silent bar.
Mister Chen and Big Dong were staring at each other in astonishment.
If it wasn't for the golden petal that was floating where the young man was, they both would've assumed they we seeing things.
The golden petal in question, was about to touch the floor, but before it could, it suddenly began breaking apart piece by piece until it was completely gone.
*******
~Fun Fact~
Tai in Chinees can be translated as 'great extreme', or 'big'.
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