"You're so pretty, ge," Xianyu was currently wrapped around his older brother, with about as much dignity as a two-year-old might possess. If only he really were a two-year-old and not a perfectly grown young prince.
"And to what do I owe this visit," a hand came up to pat the young prince's head gently. Almost like one might pet a pup.
In response, Xianyu happily clung harder. It was quite a bizarre sight, the way the younger boy was acting. Just by appearances alone, one might have thought this was a brother and sister, not two men.
"I just wanted to come visit," Xianyu let go after a while, collapsing to the ground by his older brother's chair and reaching to poke at his older brother's bare feet. For his efforts, he received a gentle kick and a disapproving look.
"What are you trying to do?" the older prince glanced down at his younger brother with an amused look, sliding his chair back to allow space for Xianyu to crawl out.
"Aren't you happy to see me?" Xianyu didn't move from his spot in the slightest. If nothing else, he was plenty content to just lay there for the rest of eternity, basking in his gege's beauty and patient care. "I came all the way here, just to see you, Jingrui gege."
"You say that as though it were a sacred duty," Jingrui nudged his little brother's side with his foot, trying to encourage the lazy little prince to get off the floor of the study.
Xianyu only smiled in reply and rolled over onto his back.
Though his schedule was certainly not empty, Xianyu still had far more time on his hands than any other prince had. Why? Because he was not a person who could stick to a schedule. And with the amount of favour he held from His Majesty the emperor, who would dare force him to take up responsibilities he did not wish to do?
Because of his vastly empty schedule, it gave him a lot of time to do what he wanted. For example, being here, on the floor of this study. Or, sneaking out of the palace walls to go flirt with men in teahouses — really, it depended on his mood.
Any whim the prince had was fulfilled. It was an unspoken rule of life, and he certainly did not care to enforce discipline on himself. That would just be plain stupid!
"Eh, gege," Xianyu sat up suddenly, only barely missing hitting his head on the edge of the table. Still, the crown of his head did graze Jingrui's knuckles, where the older prince had covered the sharper edge of the furniture to prevent Xianyu from hurting himself. "Do you not appreciate it when I visit you?"
"I appreciate it when you behave," was the reply he received, along with another firm pat to the head.
"Don't I behave very well?" Xianyu pulled himself up onto his knees and grabbed at his brother's sleeves. "I think I make for very pleasant company! Plenty of men agree, you know?"
Of course, in saying this, he wasn't referring to his identity as Yuehua. Though, his gege was one of the few people who knew that he was the famed dancer — Xianyu knew better than to talk about it too openly. And aside from that, Yuehua also never spoke privately with her male admirers. If they tried to make their moves, she almost always shut them down immediately.
No, Xianyu was referring to his teahouse persona: a nameless youth who wandered from shop to shop, flirting with man after man, always leaving before the sun rose. Occasionally, if a man kept her there through the night, he might receive a rude awakening at dawn. He may realise that the beauty he'd spent the night flirting with was, in fact, a man!
And not just any man either. A prince!
It was both a fun story and a warning now, that men should not flirt senselessly with women they didn't know. If they were unlucky, or perhaps incredibly lucky, they might end up flirting with His Highness Prince Xianyu, instead of the naive young girl who's company they were seeking.
And even despite this, it wasn't uncommon for men to visit teahouses, hoping for a chance to encounter the mysterious prince.
"I certainly don't approve of it," was Jingrui's reply to his younger brother's cheer. It wasn't that he disapproved too terribly of Xianyu's actions. To him, it was a small matter, as long as Xianyu did not go after someone too powerful or too easily angered. And, of course, as long as it kept Xianyu happy and content.
At the same time, Jingrui did still hold out hope that maybe his younger brother would one day learn to reign himself in. That was the hope of an older brother. He did not want his beloved little brother to fall into danger because he flirted with the wrong man or played the wrong joke on the wrong person.
Aside from that, he also held out hope that maybe Xianyu could still develop some power to protect himself — learn to control his own finances, manage his staff well, gain the respect of their father the emperor, not just his amused favour. As it was, Jingrui worried that if, one day, his younger brother took the a step in the wrong direction, Xianyu wouldn't be able to protect himself.
Xianyu knew all this of course. His gege had spoken to him about it before; all attempts to get him to learn to act like a proper prince.
And try he had. In the end, Xianyu didn't remember even the smallest faction of he was supposed to have learned. He could barely remember the names of the subjects he'd take lessons for. Was there maybe finance in there? Probably.
"But they love me," Xianyu whined, pressing his cheek to the side of the desk, causing his cheeks to squish to the side dramatically. "And you love me. And my servants love me. Everyone loves me!"
"Certainly they do," Jingrui agreed, having already resumed his work.
Curiously, Xianyu poked his face closer to the various scrolls laid out on the desk, trying to catch even the vaguest glimpse of what it said. "What're you doing?"
The words on the scrolls were all varying, some neat, some messy. All the words looking very formal and serious.
Unfortunately, Xianyu was reading sideways, with his barely complete ability to read formal court characters. What any of the words said, he couldn't tell. Of the seeming mass of words, he could only maybe pick out the characters for grains and food at a glance. Which already told him enough to know that he didn't actually care.
Of course, Jingrui too knew that his younger brother gave very little actual care for this kind of text. Xianyu had a grand affinity for love poems and plays. Unfortunately, when it came to court documents and formal write ups, Xianyu seemed to lose all literacy.
Not even waiting for a response, knowing full well his gege wouldn't dignify his question with a response, Xianyu moved on to new thoughts and ideas.
"Gege, at the next season's banquet, do you think Yuehua be allowed to dance?" he stood suddenly, already moving to peruse the shelves, his movements as fluid as a dance.
Without seeming to mind the apparent lack of focus from his brother, Jingrui answered the question seriously. "As a prince, you must attend the dinner as well, remember? You are an adult now; you will be expected to take on the role of a proper prince."
"Since when have I ever been a proper prince, gege," Xianyu was busy leafing through a novel he'd knicked off the high shelves.
Even now that he had technically come of age, the young prince certainly still did not act the part of a dutiful royal. Many whispered of his insolence, others gossiped that he was a lost cause who would never grow into anything useful.
In his own opinion, Xianyu believed his own beauty plenty useful. What was more important that somethin pleasing to they eyes, especially in times of distress and danger? Absolutely nothing! If others did not agree with him, then that was their wrong, not his.
It was because of because of this view that he took so much pride in dressing as a beautiful woman. Court ladies were, after all, the prettiest of the bunch!
By the time Jingrui had looked up from his scrolls to give a response, Xianyu had already found his way to the other side of the study, haphazardly clinging to the side of the shelves in order to reach the higher shelves.
…
"Xianyu."
"Hmm?"
"What are you doing?" Jingrui rose to his feet gracefully, making his way over to where his younger brother was. Just in case Xianyu, despite his nimbleness, lost his footing.
It necessarily that he didn't trust Xianyu's agility, but more that he didn't trust his brother's attention span. There was almost no doubt in Jingrui's mind that Xianyu had a high chance of jumping without checking where he was going to land.
"I'm looking for something," was the reply the pretty little prince gave, shimmying over to the other side of the shelves and grabbing a random book.
There didn't seem to be much reasoning behind his choice of books, aside from his random tapping at their various spines.
Jingrui caught Xianyu's wrist when the younger boy landed, ensuring the younger prince didn't topple over and break anything — himself or otherwise.
"Be careful," Jingrui scolded, though his tone was far too calm to truly contain any anger. "Don't go jumping from high places without looking where you'll land."
In reply, Xianyu only grinned and waved the book in front of him with far too much joy.
"Guess what this is!"
"Oh?" Jingrui reached a hand out for the bound book, to which Xianyu very willingly handed it over. "What is it you were looking for?"
On closer inspection, the novel was not something Jingrui would have ever personally owned. In the first place, he wasn't someone who owned many novels. Most of the ones he owned were purchased with the sole idea that one day, Xianyu would read them.
However, this novel in particular, was not in the shelves he'd specifically reserved for Xianyu's small library of books.
"Xianyu, how did you know this was here?" Jingrui's voice was mild as he opened the novel up and skimmed over the characters.
"Because," Xianyu grinned, reaching for the book again, "I put it there. I much prefer your study over my own. Mine's too messy, I can't find anything when I want to."
To that, he received a disapproving look before the novel was returned to him. Of course, the young prince unapologetically took that as his gege forgiving his actions.
No harm done if gege isn't angry! This was Xianyu's kind of mindset.
"Don't stick things where they don't belong," Jingrui only gave him a light warning in response. "That's how you lose things."