The King's Dancer

Chapter 19

The day after Hua Cheng's rut had ended, Xie Lian was begrudgingly allowed to start dancing again. Which had the side effect of moving back to his own house in the dancer's quarters, since construction was also done there, and he'd only stayed at the king's private chambers in order for Hua Cheng to keep an eye on him while his ankle was healing to begin with.

However neither Hua Cheng, nor Xie Lian had remembered that little detail, and it was only because Feng Xin had come to pick Xie Lian up, effectively disrupting their go match in the process, that they both had been confronted with that reality. At first, Xie Lian hadn't quite known how to react, and he'd even contemplated asking Hua Cheng to be allowed to stay, but he hadn't wanted to impose, and Hua Cheng himself hadn't argued either. So, after the most awkward goodbye Xie Lian had ever experienced, he went back to the dancer's quarters with Feng Xin.

On the way, Xie Lian was trying to make conversation, mostly in order to distract himself from thinking too much about the distance there was going to be between himself and the king again from now on.

"Did you have a day in mind for our shoot off?", he asked casually.

Feng Xin gave him a sideways glance.

"Since we're both rather busy, I was thinking the spring festival would be the best time for it. Everyone will have a few days off, so we won't have to do it in a hurry."

Xie Lian thought that made a lot of sense, and agreed readily.

Once they arrived at the dancer's quarters, Xie Lian was left to his own devices when a small ball of energy in the form of a little girl came barreling towards him, and almost managed to knock him over.

"Xie-gege! I missed you!", Banyue cried, and gave his middle a tight hug.

Xie Lian couldn't help but laugh, and patted Banyue's head indulgently.

"I missed you, too. How have you been doing?"

"Really well! Miss Fang has been kinda grumpy recently, so she's been pretty relentless with our training, but it also helped me improve a lot! Oh, and I kept trying to help Pei Su to improve his martial arts, and taught him all the things you taught me already, but that wasn't going so well...", she ended sheepishly, and scratched her nose.

Xie Lian shook his head, feeling rather amused, but also a bit worried. He definitely needed to have a look at what Banyue had tried to teach Pei Su. But first, he was curious what the workers had made out of their rundown house. When he mentioned it to Banyue, her eyes began to glitter.

"It's amazing! I need to show you before the break is over! Come, come!", she urged, grabbed his hand, and dragged Xie Lian after her at a surprisingly high speed. Xie Lian could only laugh at her enthusiasm, and felt incredibly relieved that she really seemed to be doing very well.

Once they stood in their courtyard, Xie Lian immediately noticed the difference. There were no loose stones sticking out of the floor anymore, nor were there any other tripping hazards for Banyue, the old splintering wood beams had been replaced by new, smooth ones, the paint wasn't splintering off anymore... and that was only the outside!

The inside looked much more welcoming as well, Xie Lian realised as soon as he'd opened the door. It looked much cleaner, much brighter, much more... expensive, for lack of a better word. Xie Lian didn't know if it had been Hua Cheng's direct order, but he could see the high quality of their new furniture. And of course, there was the fact that there were now actual walls separating their respective sleeping areas from the sitting area. Xie Lian absolutely loved it, and was even feeling a little less sad at having to leave Hua Cheng's chambers.