Sitting alone at his table, in the exact same way Chu Yun and Xiao Zai had left him, was Gu Wei, oblivious to both the previous commotion, and now Tan Ruo and Chu Yun’s stares fixed on him.

Now that Chu Yun was looking at him, he could see how the First Prince’s manservant bore a passing resemblance to Gu Wei’s cold beauty, although his was a mere drizzle to Gu Wei’s roaring blizzard.

“Fuck,” Chu Yun said again, this time with feeling.

This wasn’t the kind of information he thought he would find out today, but boy was he glad to have stumbled up on it all the same.

His mind was coming up with possibilities at a dizzying pace. The First Prince was older than Xiao Zai, anywhere from five to ten years, it was hard to tell exactly — he was most definitely already born when Gu Wei married the king.

His mother or dam, whoever they were, were conspicuously absent from the ceremony — another mystery for Chu Yun to dig at.

But could the little First Prince have looked to his father’s beautiful young concubine for comfort, and could that childish affection have turned into something more? Something that now made him look for lovers who resembled him, since he couldn’t have the real thing?

He narrowed his eyes at Gu Wei’s straight back, eyeing his perfect posture. Someone that beautiful, that refined…it made no sense for him not to be favoured. Could this be the reason why?

An amused giggle brought him out of his reverie. “Brother seems lost in indecorous thoughts.”

That’s because he had been. “And…is he, ‘aware’ of the First Prince’s affections?” Chu Yun asked, trying to get more information out of Tan Ruo.

She hid a smirk behind her fan. “That’s just it. No one knows. By now you must have realised that Bailiu only reveals as much as he wants to.”

Yes, but he let some information slip on occasion. “I’ve noticed he doesn’t like being addressed by his courtesy name,”– in fact, Gu Wei had told him as much–, “why is that?”

Tan Ruo shrugged. “I don’t know, but his Majesty gave him that courtesy name when he came of age…maybe it’s tied to that?”

White Willow wasn’t the worst thing a person could be called, in fact, the name fit Gu Wei surprisingly well.

Another thought flashed through Chu Yun’s mind, obliterating anything related to Gu Wei’s name.

“I know my husband has a younger sister borne from his dam,” Chu Yun said, keeping his voice low. “However, I haven’t had the opportunity to meet her.”

Tan Ruo took his elbow and steered him towards an emptier side of the hall. This clearly merited more careful discussion that the First Prince’s unsightly infatuation.

“Nor has anyone else,” she lowered her voice, “as far as I know, the little princess was taken out of the palace shortly after her birth. Bailiu visits her from time to time, I assume your husband does as well. No one else has ever laid eyes on her.”

That was shocking for a number of reasons, but together with what Chu Yun had just learned, it painted a vivid, sordid picture.

Chu Yun’s eyes drifted towards his father-in-law again. He couldn’t see much of him now, beyond his regal profile, and the sleek curtain of his hair, half of it pinned up in a neat topknot.

Could the First Prince be the father of his younger daughter? Chu Yun shuddered just to think, but it would certainly explain the King’s dismissive treatment of both of them

Lusting after one’s father’s spouse was an immense taboo, a violation of filial pity of the highest degree, and reason enough for the First Prince to merit the King’s scorn…

To actually sire a child of his father’s concubine…absolutely unthinkable.

“Oh, no I’ve said too much,” Tan Ruo said, looking up at Chu Yun’s stormy expression. “Lan Lan always tells me I should quit talking about things that don’t concern me.” She folded up her fan and hit herself on the forehead. “I always get carried away when it comes to gossip.”

She took Chu Yun’s elbow again, and smiled, chagrined. “We should probably return to our spouses, they must be wondering where we went.”

Chu Yun nodded, still distracted by his own thoughts.

He had no idea how to broach these subjects with Xiao Zai, and it was unlikely that Gu Wei would volunteer the information himself.

However, Chu Yun had to get to the bottom of it if he had any hope of seeing Xiao Zai take the Zui throne. The idea of his younger sister being the child of his elder brother and his dam would kill any support Chu Yun managed to whip up for him.

Especially considering that without the king naming another Consort, it meant that upon his death, Gu Wei would be the Dowager Consort, by virtue of being the dam of the reigning monarch.

Chu Yun stopped Tan Ruo. “I would really appreciate it if Ruomi could keep this conversation between ourselves,” he smiled. His tone was friendly but with a warning note tacked on the end of the sentence. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea for unfounded rumours of this nature to be spread around…some people might take them seriously.”

He arranged his features into a mask of consternation. “And then where would we be?”

Tan Ruo’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “Of course, I usually don’t talk about this, but,” she sucked in a breath, “I thought brother Chu deserved to hear about it…unfounded or not…”

Chu Yun patted the back of her hand. “Oh, I’m really glad Ruomi told me this, really glad.”

Now he knew he had to prepare for the eventuality of it all blowing in his face. Hopefully it would never come to that.

—

They found Xiao Zai and Minister Song exactly where they left them. Except that now the two of them were chatting animatedly.

About…botany, it seemed.

“I find that at times less intervention is best, nature knows what its doing,” Minister Song said.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Xiao Zai said. “The more you try to fight a shrub into the shape you want the more it resents you for it.”

Chu Yun was glad that Xiao Zai had been enjoying himself, but he couldn’t seem too permissive just yet. People were watching them.

He slid right up to Xiao Zai and draped himself along his side, stretching one arm across his back, and lifting his chin just enough to reach his earlobe and bit down on it, gently, teasingly.

“I missed you, husband,” Chu Yun said, whispering the words in a puff of warm breath against Xiao Zai’s skin.

—

A.N: I think some of you might have gotten confused by what’s going on… the rumour isn’t that the servant is Gu Wei’s son! He just kinda looks like him! Which leads people to suspect that the First Prince is obsessed with Gu Wei, and some even more scandalous things….