Xiao Zai didn't let any emotion show on his face, waiting instead to hear all Hua Nanyi had to say and withholding his own remarks until then.
"To Chu Yun's credit, Chu Hean has always acted different around him, more agreeable, indulging even, while he could be a little truculent with everyone else." She shrugged. "I didn't think much of it beyond him being a spoiled brat who only respected his older brother, but now I'm not so sure."
"How so?" Xiao Zai prodded. There might be a number of inconsequential things that Hua Nanyi had ignored at the ti but that once reexamined might shed light on Chu Hean's current goals.
"More than being rebellious, it felt as if he was chafing at being a Prince's son, at being an oga. He seed to hate spending ti in the Prince of Jing's estate." She fidgeted with the fabric of her outer robe, adjusting it over her knees. "Things got a little calr once his father sent him to that academy for ogas in the mountains."
Xiao Zai rembered hearing about it when he and Chu Yun went back to pay their respects to his parents as per tradition. At the ti he assud it was so sort of etiquette school, similar to what ogas in Zui sotis frequented.
"What did he do there?"
Hua Nanyi shrugged. "On the surface it's just a place for wealthy oga children to learn the Four Arts."
So, a place to learn how to play the guqin, master the ga of weiqi, and learn proper calligraphy and painting. There weren't many ogas in Zui lucky enough to be allowed to learn the skills associated with scholarly pursuits. Chu Hean had been very lucky.
The frown between Hua Nanyi's eyebrows gave him the impression that wasn't all there was to it. "And beneath the surface?"
"I can't say for sure, but after so ti the positive impact in his behaviour reversed, and he beca more combative. He refused to call Madam Jing 'mother' saying that he already had a mother and wasn't going to recognise her as such just because she was his father's first wife."
Hua Nanyi's charming, lively features took on a complicated look. "I won't lie and say I was ever close enough to him to learn what was going on in his mind, but, I suppose he felt trapped. Maybe after spending so ti with other ogas he realised he wasn't the only one feeling that way and only beca more disillusioned over ti."
Xiao Zai knew well how hopeless an oga's position could be. He had spent many years trapped inside the harem, seeing his father humiliate and brutalise his dam, with no one and nowhere to turn to. Even though Xiao Zai was an alpha, that didn't an anything in the harem where the King's words was law.
Soone was always answering to soone else.
He understood why Chu Hean would find his status as an oga grating, but that didn't give him the right to take it out on Chu Yun, who was neither responsible, nor soone who mistreated him.
Ironically, Xiao Zai now found himself in a very unusual position. For the longest ti he thought that he would one day marry an oga and show them all the care and respect his dam had never gotten. Now, his husband was an alpha, and he was about to go against an oga to defend him.
It was true what the common people said: "in the end, Fate makes fools of us all."
---
Tan Ruo was already waiting for them when the carriage ca to a stop outside the estate's gates.
"The physician arrived just a few minutes ago," she said, guiding Xiao Zai inside the house. "He's already with Miaoyan. I don't even know what to say to his Highness, I- whatever this one can do to assist shall be done at once."
Xiao Zai thanked her for the concern, but at the mont he didn't have the ti to comfort her. He had his own worries to handle. He stepped inside the room Tan Ruo led him to and everything fell silent around him, as if wool had been stuffed inside his ears.
Chu Yun was lying on his back on crisp white sheets, his outer and inner robes loosened around his slender throat and slim chest. The physician was hovering by his bedside, taking his pulse.
In one corner of the room stood Chu Hean, his face bloodless. His eyes barely moved away from Chu Yun's still form when Xiao Zai entered the room.
Ti stood still as Xiao Zai took in Chu Yun's condition, zeroing on the slow rise and fall of his slender chest. His clavicles seed more pronounced than the last ti Xiao Zai had seen him naked, a result of his constant nausea and refusal to eat.
"How is he?" Xiao Zai asked, talking around the tightness in his throat.
The physician's bushy eyebrows knotted for a mont, before his expression smoothed out. "His Grace isn't under any eminent danger, however his condition...how to say this," he cleared his throat, "If I may...could your excellencies leave for a mont so that I can perform so other examinations?"
Tan Ruo clutched her throat, chancing a worried look with Xiao Zai. "Ah, sure, I'll leave at once."
Xiao Zai wasn't so agreeable. "I'm his husband, everyone can leave, but I should stay."
The physician blustered sowhat, clearing his throat several tis. "Please, begging your Highness, this old man isn't as young as he used to be, and it's possible his senses are deceiving him. It would be better if a more thorough examination was perford to ensure an accurate diagnosis."
Xiao Zai stared at Chu Yun's pale face in deliberation. Finally, he relented and left with a silent nod.
He waited outside the bedroom's door for Chu Hean, who almost bumped into his chest.
"The two of us need to talk."
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