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Taizi Dianxia has been feverish and drifting in and out of sleep the past few days. This humble physician will do his best, but all things are up to heaven’s will.”

“Replying advisor Shen, fortunately, the crown prince’s vital organs have not been pierced, but the wounds are not shallow, moreover, the arrowheads were coated with poison. An antidote has been administered, but Taizi Dianxia’s body is weak and susceptible to infection.

inside, the imperial physician MQF tends to the unconscious crown prince, removing layer after layer of blood-soaked bandages from his exposed back, covered in wounds from arrow tips as numerous as the seeds within a lotus pod

“How is he?!”

acting quickly, SJ makes the brute go on thankless errands, ordering him to investigate an imaginary threat, then taking the chance to slip into the clothes of a palace maid he’d prepared to make his getaway

“Where is Taizi Dianxia?!”

messy-haired and frantic, SJ demands, banging on the closed doors of the crown prince’s residence, surrounded by countless guards

“I want to see Taizi Dianxia!”

“Let him in.”

a solemn LQG clears the path for him

with everyone on tenterhooks, if not for the token of the crown prince’s he’d stolen in case he’d need it for an emergency, even SJ, Taizi Dianxia’s infamous favorite, would not have made it into the palace

hearing the rumors on the street swell as the days go by, SJ, heedless of everything, the punishment he might face for escaping the palace, rushes back

fleeing the capital in the guise of a woman, he, having made it to the city gates, finds the populace in an uproar

“The crown prince, on his hunting expedition, was ambushed by assassins and suffered grievous injuries!”

“ - heard he was carried into the palace in the dead of night - “

acting quickly, SJ makes the brute go on thankless errands, ordering him to investigate an imaginary threat, then taking the chance to slip into the clothes of a palace maid he’d prepared to make his getaway

not me coming up with another historical AU but consider unhinged prince YQY, obsessed with promising scholar SJ (who’d saved him as a child) determined to make the empire his after SJ expresses his desire to leave, because where would Xiao Jiu go?

if he succeeds, this will be the last time he’ll see YQY in this lifetime

“Have a smooth journey.”

SJ calls out just as the crown prince turns, unwillingly, to leave

the crown prince leaves at dawn

SJ does not send him off

“I won’t be back in the capital for some time. I still can’t let go of my worry for you, I’ve told Qingge to look after you while I’m gone. Xiao Jiu ah, I’ll make sure to bring back your favorite meats from the hunt - “

“There’s no need.”

“Alright.”

“Xiao Jiu, Qi-ge will leave the palace tomorrow.”

the night before the expedition, he, like a starving stray beast, crawls back to SJ, looking for the slightest remnant of affection left

at the same time, he makes his own plans, packing a bag of clothes and valuables, gold and precious jewels gifted by the prince - WYZ had had a point

after a long night’s deliberation, SJ, in the end, unable to harden his heart, writes a letter in a disguised hand to LQG, warning of a plot against the crown prince, reminding him to keep his guard up on the hunting trip

“You - have you swallowed the heart of a bear and a leopard’s gall?!”

“Very well. Have it your own way.”

If an untoward accident were to occur, this, can only be said to be the will of heaven!”

for a moment, SJ wavers

“Taizi Dianxia listens to you in everything, how simple would it be? The filial crown prince will soon leave the palace on a hunting expedition to hunt a rare beast for its medicinal properties to cure his father emperor’s ailment.

“People say, as indigo dye comes from the indigo plant, the student surpasses the master. This, my good disciple must be smart enough to know.”

🤔💭 shen twins but they have opposite tastes in men

SY and SJ watching the same period drama but each thinking the other has sh💩tty judgment for rooting for the demon lord with an inferiority complex / the repressed heavenly emperor

SY gleefully points out all the similarities between the drama’s heavenly emperor second lead and a certain Qi-ge (“Nonsense! YQY is not that imposing!”)

also, each of them being the first to clock the other’s preferences irl - SJ calls SY out for his feelings towards LBH, which he doesn’t even bother to hide (“It’s pure and simple admiration!”) while

One glance at the stricken expression of Qi-ge beside him, his furrowed eyebrows, has SJ viciously snapping back before that fool can say “sorry, Xiao Jiu” again, apologizing needlessly for burdening SJ, when it was because of SJ that he’d initially ended up in that sorry state!

🤔💭 shen twins but they have opposite tastes in men

SY and SJ watching the same period drama but each thinking the other has sh💩tty judgment for rooting for the demon lord with an inferiority complex / the repressed heavenly emperor

bsky.app/profile/yxyu...

“Don’t go?”

SJ sneers, one hand tightening her grip on YQ’s back while the other cups her head, lest she run off impulsively

“This sentence, shouldn’t I be saying it to Qi-jie? YQY, I never went anywhere, back then, the one who left was you.”

“Incorrigible! You’re still as willful as ever! All this for a rotten scholar, is it worth it?!”

she chastises, slapping some sense into Qi-jie

yet, YQ only clings to her harder, arms winding around SJ like ropes, incoherently muttering

“ - Xiao Jiu, don’t go - don’t go - “

“I’ll marry you! I’ll marry you, alright!”

taking advantage of YQ being distracted, SJ grabs her waist, knocking them both to the ground

bsky.app/profile/yxyu...

in this aspect, YQY’s similar to SJ - both of them don’t make empty threats

that name she’d called out…

not SQQ, or Shen-gongzi, but Xiao Jiu -

“YQY, come down!”