Your Ninth Royal Highness, Please Change Your Clothes

Paying Visit

In the days of confinement, Wen Chan lived very comfortably. He spent his days bathing in the soft light of the moon, enjoying the fragrance of the flowers in his courtyard. He was practically living the life of a royal princess1—it was luxurious and relaxing yet bounded by the limits of the palace. Wen Chan was only halfway through the three-month period, but he was already getting so bored that he was becoming restless.

It was sunny and cloudless, accompanied by the singing of birds and the fragrant flowers2. He stood under the porch with his hands folded and a solemn face, “Ah Fu, if we escape over the wall, how likely are we to be caught? ”

After hearing this, Afu glanced outside the hall and said, “Your Highness, you might as well just ask the servant how likely it is to escape. ”

So Wen Chan indeed changed his words, “Then how likely do you think it is for us to escape?”

Ah Fu seriously thought about it for a while, and then he lifted up his right hand and made a gesture comparing the size of soybean and said, “This big.”

Wen Chan looked multiple times at the size which was being compared by Ah Fu’s hands. He couldn’t help asking, “Are you sure? There are only six guards at the doorway.”

When Ah Fu heard these words, he thought about it again. But now he closed his fingers. And now it was even less than the size of a soybean, “Or maybe it is this big.”

Wen Chan slightly frowned. He let out a deep sigh and said, “Ah Fu, your speech is getting more and more unpleasant to listen to.”

He shook his head and turned around. He wanted to go back to the hall to read a book for a while, but then he heard Ah Fu say, “Your Highness if you are really bored, you can ask Master Liang to come in and accompany you for a while. ”

Wen Chan’s eyelids twitched, and the handsome face of Liang Yanbei with a slight smile appeared in his mind, “Call him to do what?”

“At least he can relieve your boredom. Are you not friends with him, your majesty? You guys can talk about some interesting things.”

“Who is friends with him? He isn’t my friend!” Wen Chan couldn’t help raising his voice, which startled Ah Fu.

“Oh… this is bad. Yesterday, master Liang handed in a notice that he will be coming to visit. And I already answered it for you! ” Ah Fu clapped his hands anxiously, “If Your Highness doesn’t want to see him, I will now go to Si Yan Palace Hall to turn down the request for the visit.”

Wen Chan’s face was covered with disbelief, “Liang Yanbei handed a notice that he will be paying a visit? When did this happen yesterday? ”

“Liang…” Ah Fu was speechless for a while, then he glanced at Wen Chan cautiously, and said, “Your Highness, this servant was talking about the son of the Liang Jiazhang, not the one of Liang Shilang. ”

On hearing Ah Fu’s words, Wen Chan’s expression slowly melted and blended into a calm expression, “Oh…… So it was Liang Shuhong. You can accept his proposal to pay a visit. Let him come see me.”

On seeing his master’s mood change from being stirred up to a calm one with great waves in a short period, Ah Fu seemed to understand something. He hid his thoughts and bowed his head in response.

On Liang Shuhong’s notice, it was written that the time on which he will come to visit will be in shenshi3. But since he hadn’t met Wen Chan for a long time, he impatiently left half an hour early. When he came outside the door of Wen Chan’s Hall, Ah Fu was already waiting for him.

He saluted Liang Shuhong first and then welcomed him into the hall after giving a respectful smile. After passing through the long hallway of vermilion color, they caught sight of the youngster who was wearing a blue-gray brocade gown and was standing in the courtyard.

Wen Chan didn’t think that he would come this early. So he asked, a little surprised, “Brother Shuhong, why did he come so early? ”

Liang Shuhong answered in a half-true half-false manner, “I haven’t seen your ninth royal highness for a long time and I have been thinking of meeting you all this while. That’s why I wanted to come early.”

Wen Chan said in his mind that he shouldn’t make such irresponsible remarks. Otherwise, people would think that they were in a gay relationship.

Even though Wen Chan had Liang Yanbei hidden in his heart in his previous life, he covered his two sleeves tightly until he died, and no one was able to see his cut sleeves4 from the beginning to end.……

“Come. Let’s have a chat while sitting.” Wen Chan motioned him to sit at a table and chair in the courtyard.

After many years, Wen Chan forgot about how he got along with Liang Shuhong. The only thing that he could remember was that he had a special identity those days and that he was born in a fickle imperial family. And nobody wanted to come into contact with him. Wen Chan also had a lazy temperament. So he didn’t go by himself to provoke others, therefore, he never had any friends.

Liang Shuhong was the first person who took the initiative and had the patience to approach Wen Chan. Both of them had warm personalities and got along peacefully. Over time, in the eyes of everyone, the two became friends.

Liang Shuhong’s behavior was good too. Apart from Liang Yanbei, he never judged anyone else. He seemed to be having a problem with the cousin5 of his family. Every time Liang Yanbei was mentioned he would have a few sentences to tell. In his past life, Wen Chan had believed his lies for a period of time and even avoided Liang Yanbei as well.

Even though the current situations were about the same, there were still some differences. Now, Wen Chan wholeheartedly believes in the moral conduct of Liang Yanbei.

“I have heard that the improper answer written by your ninth highness in the test had led to you being confined. I wonder what your ninth Highness wrote about in the test?” Liang Shuhong didn’t plan to talk about his irksome cousin this time. But instead, he wanted to talk about something else.

In fact, he had clearly inquired about the confinement of Wen Chan before coming. But at this moment he played dumb6 and wanted Wen Chan to say it by himself. He must be extremely bored and depressed because of the answer sheet matter. So a few words of comfort at this moment will definitely bring the relationship between the two people closer.

But Liang Shuhong’s calculations crackled.

He saw Wen Chan’s expression turn into grief. He said slowly, “Brother Shuhong, I don’t want to talk about that day…”

Liang Shuhong, “…Oh, so it’s like this. ”

The surroundings became peaceful in an instant. Liang Shuhong thought for a while and decided to change the direction of the conversation, and asked, “A few days ago during the lantern festival, what conflict did you have with the young miss of that Zhao family? Later, rumors spread in the capital. I asked many people but wasn’t able to know what happened.”

Everywhere in the city, at every place, you could hear about the ninth highness making the young lady of the Zhao family kneel for a colored lantern and that he smashed the stall of the vendor who sold the colored lanterns. Liang Shuhong was puzzled. With his understanding of Wen Chan, how could a person like Wen Chan do such a thing?

But even after asking a few people, he got the same answers. So he decided to ask directly to the person himself.

Wen Chan raised his eyebrows, feeling a little annoyed, “Brother Shuhong, don’t you know that the young miss of Zhao family is really too much! ”

Liang Shuhong’s eyes glistened. He immediately got ready to listen.

He saw Wen Chan opening his mouth and then closing it again. He soon after sighed and said, “Forget it. It’s all over. let’s not talk about it!”

Liang Shuhong: “…”

The atmosphere again sunk into an awkward silence. After a moment Wen Chan sat upright with his hands on his knees, thinking that he should say something. As soon as he raised his hand, Liang Shuhong, who was sitting opposite, quickly cast his gaze, with a little starlight of expectation in his eyes.

“Ah Fu, make a pot of hot tea. “Wen Chan said.

Ah Fu was quick-witted and he moved quickly. He served a pot of hot tea, poured half a cup for each of them, and then retreated to the side.

A light wind blew. The fragrance of the flowers and the aroma of the tea mixed together. The tea was steaming hot with white fog coming out of it. Wen Chan lightly blew at it and was about to drink it when he heard a voice from the opposite side, “No…let’s talk about my cousin. ”

 

1

The term “royal princess” is used to for showing the luxurious life that he was having. It was actually a young miss in the raws but it made more sense to use princess.

2

lit. birdsong and fragrant flowers (idiom); fig. the intoxication of a beautiful spring day

3

3-5 pm (in the system of two-hour subdivisions used in former times)

4

Cut sleeves mean homosexual. There is a story behind it as well.

5

younger male patrilineal cousin

6

to pretend to not know / to play dumb