Langhua: The Codependence of a Prince and His General

First Prince

Both Xuanyuan Lang and Xuanyuan Yao stared as the First Prince, Xuanyuan Chen, blew the embers out. Sensing their gazes on him, Xuanyuan Chen looked up and smiled gently.

"Here, Seventh Brother. This is important to you, right?"

Xuanyuan Lang flushed. He was being far too easy to read right now. But before that—

"First Brother," he said weakly, "your sleeve is on fire."

"Ah. So it is." Xuanyuan Chen looked at his smouldering sleeve and pinched out the embers with his fingers. "All done."

"Are you an idiot?" Xuanyuan Yao voiced what Xuanyuan Lang was thinking, his voice full of incredulity. "There were so many better ways to do that."

"Really? Maybe I'll do it differently next time, then," Xuanyuan Chen said, still smiling.

Next time? Why would there be a next time? Xuanyuan Lang looked at Xuanyuan Yao and saw that his Second Brother's attention had been well and truly drawn away from him. While Xuanyuan Yao was still glaring at their oldest brother, Xuanyuan Lang tucked the charred letter into his sleeve.

Meanwhile, Xuanyuan Yao had launched into a tirade.

"You're the First Prince! Have some self-awareness!" Xuanyuan Yao grabbed Xuanyuan Chen's hand from his side and forced his fingers open. "Look, you have blisters!"

"It's just a little red," Xuanyuan Chen said calmly. "You're exaggerating, Second Brother. Compose yourself."

"Me? You're the one who—"

"Yao'er."

Xuanyuan Yao froze for a moment, and then he took a long, rattling breath. "You know what? You're right, I'm overreacting. Pardon me for overstepping my boundaries."

With a sweep of his robes behind him, Xuanyuan Yao turned and promptly left, followed by his retinue of silent eunuchs. Xuanyuan Chen waved goodbye at him, his smile still impeccable, but Xuanyuan Yao did not turn around until he was out of view.

Xuanyuan Lang watched his Second Brother's back disappear down the corridor before he said, "Thank you, First Brother. But did you have to anger him like that?"

"It made him forget about your letter, didn't it?" Xuanyuan Chen said cheerfully. "And it was his fault for teasing you first."

Xuanyuan Lang lowered his eyes. "I was careless."

"I'm glad to see that you understand." Xuanyuan Chen put a hand on Xuanyuan Lang's shoulder. "But at the same time, I'm also glad to see that you have your careless, childlike moments. In his own twisted way, I think your Second Brother was thinking the same."

Xuanyuan Lang pouted discretely. Twisted did not even cover it. Sometimes, his First Brother could be a bit of an idealist.

"It's getting late. You should head back before your mother starts to worry." Xuanyuan Chen straightened up and patted Xuanyuan Lang on the shoulder. When he leaned in, however, he whispered something into Xuanyuan Lang's ear. "I know I said that it's nice to be careless sometimes, but you should keep your guard up for a while. The Noble Consort is getting restless."

Xuanyuan Lang looked at him in alarm, but Xuanyuan Chen's composed smile was back in place. With a small wave and a subtle wink, the First Prince turned around and left in the opposite direction from the way Xuanyuan Yao had gone.

His signature smile lingered in Xuanyuan Lang's head for a while longer.

The First Prince, Xuanyuan Chen. He was the Emperor's first son, but he had been born to a lowly handmaid who had died due to complications of childbirth. After that, he was raised by the Empress, the Emperor's legal wife, but everyone knew that the woman treated him coldly. In this society that prized the firstborn son as the default heir, the First Imperial Prince somehow cut a lonely figure as he wandered down the palace pathways.

For as long as Xuanyuan Lang could remember, Xuanyuan Chen seemed to have accepted his lowly birth. Despite being raised by the Empress, he never stood out or curried for the Emperor's favour the way the Noble Consort's sons did. In that sense, he sometimes reminded Xuanyuan Lang of his own mother.

Xuanyuan Chen was friendly, yet distant. No one understood what the First Prince was really thinking. In the Second Prince's case, though, it might not be for the lack of trying.

Xuanyuan Lang shook his head. That was their problem to settle. Both the First and Second Princes were about more than ten years older than him, living in a world he did not understand. Right now, he had more pressing matters to attend to.

This time, he was cautious enough to return to his room before reading the rest of Hua Yuheng's letter. When he ran his fingers across the burnt corner, he was again grateful to his First Brother for staving off the worst of the damage. Perhaps he should send Xuanyuan Chen some burn ointment as a token of his gratitude.

His eyes scanned through the rest of the letter, his heart pounding in his chest. His earlier suspicions were right— Hua Yuheng said that he might be able to visit later in the year! Things were relatively calm on the western border right now, and if the peace held up, Hua Meng promised Hua Yuheng that they would drop by the capital before the year was out. Apparently, Hua Meng had business with his friend Lord Lin as well.

Xuanyuan Lang clenched his fists in anticipation, only to be awoken by the sound of crumpling paper. He had been so excited that he forgot he was still holding the letter! In a bit of a panic, he laid the letter out onto his bed and frantically tried to smoothen out the edges. Between the crumples and the scorch marks, the letter had already taken quite the beating.

"Tsk." Xuanyuan Lang clicked his tongue at his own carelessness, but there was nothing else to be done. Being extra careful to compensate, he folded the letter up again and put it back into its envelope. Then, he bent down and pulled a wooden box from under his bed. That was where he kept all the letters and gifts he had received over the years.

His hand reached for the wolf-hair ornament at his waist and then paused. Eventually, he decided to keep wearing it. If he was worried that someone would ask about it, then he would just have to stay out of sight where possible, right?

For the next few months, he would hold onto it whenever the anticipation became too much. Eventually, as news trickled in that things had taken a turn for the worse at the western border, he stopped touching the wolf-hair tassel quite as often.

The enemy was attacking again, and the battles were intensifying. Xuanyuan Lang scoffed at himself. He should have known that the lull in the situation was just the calm before the storm.

Hua Yuheng's letters grew shorter and terser. By the tenth month of the year, Xuanyuan Lang failed to receive a letter from him for the first time since they began corresponding.

Xuanyuan Lang wrote him a letter, nevertheless. He had accepted that the promised visit was not happening, and Hua Yuheng probably had too much on his plate right now to write, but that did not stop Xuanyuan Lang from attempting to offer encouragement however he could. It was all he could do.

What he did not know was that he would indeed meet Hua Yuheng by the end of the year, just not under the circumstances they had imagined or hoped for.

That year, they were thirteen.