A Second Chance to Live

Sharing Of Wine

As agreed, a royal attendant was present at the An Household camp, bright and early, to lead An Jing Yu towards where the 18th Prince was waiting.

Liu momo was beside herself in agitation.

How can all these people be so hasty? Her young master had yet to finish his morning's absolutions, his breakfast had yet to be consumed!

And now there's already someone pestering him so early in the day!

Her poor young master was all skin and bones, these travelling and change of settings interfered negatively with his appetite. Not that it was hearty to begin with. And now he won't even have the leisure to partake Liu momo's secret recipe conge in peace!

What? Just because you worked in the palace, it was allowed for you to be so discourteous? What? Just that your master's surname is Zhào, you can treat other people like wooden toys?

Liu momo inwardly fumed, even as flowery words tumbled courteously from her smiling lips.

Giving face to the old servant, the Róng wangfu runner agreed to wait for a while longer and settled down on an offered stool, graciously.

And accidentally ruined his wangye's plans to share the morning's meal with his new friend, the 4th An Gentleman.

Meanwhile, An Jing Yu was in deep thoughts as his spoon swirled the contents of his bowl of congee, his mind running similar circles. Completely unaware of the theft of his baozi by the triplets, who had already finished their own share of the steamed buns.

The rambunctious boys blithely ignored the scoldings from their 5th brother Jing Yan, who tried vainly to keep them in line.

With five people sharing room that was meant for two, space was noticeably cramped as pageboys and servants bustled around. But nothing could dampen the utter joy and exuberance of the three siblings. Their nonstop chatter and constant fidgeting was a staunch testament of that. Not even the looming threat of the punishment, waiting for them back at the 3rd Household's courtyards, adversely influenced their current glee.

Finishing their breakfast in record time, the triplets made their escape, speaking over each other about 'plans' and 'new friends' and 'fishing' in discovered rivers and the possibilities of 'shrimps', of all things.

An Jing Yan sighed at their rapidly disappearing back, as several long-suffering stewards responsible for their safety unhappily ran after the boys, and looked to his 4th Brother for some form of moral support.

It was only then that he noticed Jing Yu's state of  sombre preoccupation.

"4th Brother, is something amiss? You haven't been eating at all."

An Jing Yu surfaced from his unresponsive daze. His eyes met the clear ones of his 5th brother.

In his customary careful nature, he wondered aloud to his patient younger brother, misgivings over forming a friendship with the 18th Prince.

He had managed to overcome the surprise over the prince's uncanny similarity to the one he had loved so ardently in his past life, after a night of serious contemplation, only to be interrupted by an issue of possibly impaired judgement. Due to the same reasoning.

The overwhelming resemblance between the two.

"Isn't it pitiful, to be liked merely as a replacement?" An Jing Yu asked, softly.

What if my attention was attracted merely because of this freak coincidence?  Will it be fair to His Highness? Will I spend another lifetime chasing after him that left me too soon?