Langhua: The Codependence of a Prince and His General

Status Quo

"Of course." Hua Yuheng thumped his chest confidently. "I never break my promises."

Xuanyuan Lang chuckled. "We'll see."

"Why won't you believe me?" Hua Yuheng whined, giving Xuanyuan Lang a tug to pull him to his feet. Just then, however, they heard an audible gasp.

"Your Highness!"

It sounded like a handmaiden on the verge of panic. Her little scream took the boys off-guard, and the next thing Xuanyuan Lang knew, his foot had slipped on a mossy patch on the stone.

"...!" He treaded air and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact. But rather than plunging into the lake underneath, he felt himself hanging in the air. It took him a moment to realize that he was not falling.

He looked up.

Hua Yuheng's face was red and contorted with the effort of keeping him suspended off the edge of the rock mountain. He had still been holding Xuanyuan Lang's hand in one of his own when the latter slipped, but now he was clinging onto Xuanyuan Lang with both hands, his own body hanging precariously over the side.

"Climb back up!" Hua Yuheng said through gritted teeth.

"I can't, the side's too steep!" Xuanyuan Lang called back. "It's okay, just let go."

"Are you kidding?! I won't!"

"Master Hua..." Xuanyuan Lang was moved... but also somewhat exasperated. "I can swim. It's fine."

"So what?!"

The fierceness of Hua Yuheng's reply took Xuanyuan Lang by surprise. At the same time, the boy's stubbornness was starting to grind on him. "What do you mean, so what? I'm saying, just let me jump down and I'll swim to safety. At this rate, instead of helping me, you'll just fall in with me!"

"I can swim too!"

There was no reasoning with him.

Frustrated, Xuanyuan Lang tried to wriggle his hand free, but Hua Yuheng only held on tighter. The prince put a little more force into it-- and finally, he felt the resistance give.

Both boys plunged into the lake below, to a chorus of screams from the crowd that had gathered on the bridge during their little stand-off.

Xuanyuan Lang had hit the water first, and he was also the first to break the surface. Immediately after he took his first gasp of air, he wiped the water off his face and looked around. "Master Hua!"

There was no response. His voice rose.

"Hua Yuheng!"

There was a splash behind him as Hua Yuheng emerged, panting and splashing. Xuanyuan Lang barely had time to register the weight of his relief, so strong it threatened to send him under again, before he found himself swimming toward Hua Yuheng.

In swimming, at least, Xuanyuan Lang was better than the boy from the plains.

Two minutes later, both boys were catching their breaths on the bank of the lake, still soaked from head to toe. Their hearts pounding from the adrenaline, they exchanged a glance and began to giggle, only to choke.

"Explain yourselves."

Their laughter was abruptly cut short by a voice much colder than the water.

They had caused a bigger commotion than they realized, and it had caught the attention of the leader of the imperial harem. Xuanyuan Lang caught a glimpse of that exquisitely-embroidered hem and scrambled to his feet, almost slipping again on the puddle he had created underneath him. He bowed low.

"Your son greets you, Your Majesty the Empress."

"The Empress?" Hua Yuheng murmured in a voice only Xuanyuan Lang could hear. A couple of beats later, he was bowing in a clumsy imitation of Xuanyuan Lang's form. "This humble peasant greets you, Your Majesty the Empress."

"This is very unbecoming of you, Seventh Prince." Empress Wang looked down at them coolly. "And who is this boy?"

Without her command to rise, they had to remain bowed. Hua Yuheng did not know if the water dripping from his forehead was pondwater or sweat. "Your Majesty, I am—"

"I did not ask you. Seventh Prince, answer me."

"This is Master Hua Yuheng, son of General Hua Meng from the western borders. He visited the palace with his father today. I took the liberty of showing him around." Xuanyuan Lang bowed even lower, his form impeccable. "We deeply apologize for troubling you, Your Majesty."

"Do not attempt to defend him, Seventh Prince. He endangered the life of an imperial prince."

Hua Yuheng paled, and he stole a glance at Xuanyuan Lang. The prince's small back seemed to be trembling slightly.

"Qilang!" Another cry added to the chaos. Xuanyuan Lang looked up to see his mother running up to him, with her meagre retinue of two handmaidens trailing behind her. "Heavens, what happened to you?"

"Your son fell into the lake, Concubine Liang. All because he was fooling around with this savage son of a border general."

"Your Majesty the Empress..."

"Mother, Your Majesty!" Xuanyuan Lang said, his back still bowed but his voice firm. "It wasn't Master Hua's fault. I was the one who suggested that we climb the rock mountain, and I was the one who clumsily slipped. I am sorry for worrying you and behaving in a way unbecoming of an imperial prince. Master Hua merely followed along with my folly."

There was a long silence. Hua Yuheng could hear nothing but his heart pounding in his ears, and he could not even look up to see their expressions. All he could see was Xuanyuan Lang's back, small yet strong.

"...Very well. You may rise."

Finally, the Empress broke her silence. Hua Yuheng slowly straightened up, feeling like he had just been practicing his stances for hours. There was something about the tension in the air, something about the aura of the Empress that just weighed down on him, constricted him, as though determined to bring him to his knees.

Xuanyuan Lang looked unperturbed, at least on the surface. Hua Yuheng had to admire him for that.

"For your unseemly behavior, Seventh Prince, I hereby order you to complete two additional hours of lessons every day for the next month. You evidently have time and energy on your hands to spare, so you might as well put it to good use."

Xuanyuan Lang gave the Empress a brief but proper salute. "It is as you say, Your Majesty. Your son thanks you for your wisdom."

Hua Yuheng stole a glance at Concubine Liang. It was only custom for the children of secondary wives to greet their father's lawful primary wife as their mother in name, if not in blood. That applied even to normal civilian families, so the rules must be stricter in the palace. Still, Hua Yuheng came from a simpler place with simpler people, and it rubbed him the wrong way to hear Xuanyuan Lang call himself another woman's son in front of his own mother.

Only Concubine Liang noticed how Xuanyuan Lang's fist was clenched tight and slightly pale as he clasped it in his other palm for just a fleeting moment.