With his memories keeping him awake, Xin Lan only fell asleep in the early hours of the morning. Soon after, Hua Lin Yu actually opened his eyes. He gave a hum, stretched and snuggled up back against Xin Lan.
This way of waking up really seemed too beautiful. When he thought back to how he had always woken up alone back at the Jian Yi Sect, he could hardly believe that he had such luck. Actually, he wondered just how long they would have to travel before his father would allow them to get married. Right now, looking at Xin Lan's sleeping face, he felt that he would be prepared to do it right now.
Hua Lin Yu propped himself up on his elbows and then rested his chin on his hands, peering at Xin Lan's face. His lover seemed a little tired. But thinking about it, it probably wasn't strange either. He was the one with the responsibility for the two of them so he might be worried a little. Even if he didn't show it too openly, Hua Lin Yu was sure that Xin Lan cared about him.
He leaned forward and then gently kissed Xin Lan's forehead before he scrambled over him as carefully as he could and picked up his outer robe, putting it on. He went outside to not disturb Xin Lan and went to the next room to get his older brother.
Anyway, people had seen them come together with Xin Lan yesterday so most likely, nobody would have a problem with it if they went to scout out the palace a bit on their own. And even if someone didn't know them, he didn't believe that the people of the dragon race would be so unreasonable to just take offense at their presence.
He knocked on the door of Hua Lin Rong but there was no response. Hua Lin Yu sighed. So much for that. It seemed that if he wanted to explore, then he could only go out on his own. He turned in both directions, trying to figure out where to go. Unfortunately, he knew nobody else so …
Hua Lin Yu stopped at that thought and then glanced back at the room he had just come from, slowly raising his brows. Well, while he didn't know anyone, he did know that there was somebody close by that Xin Lan knew at least.
He turned back around and then looked at the doors around him, trying to figure out which one was the room that that so-called 'nobody' had come from yesterday. It should have been on the other side of the corridor from the sounds of it. So that didn't leave too many options. Most likely … it wouldn't be a problem to just knock on all of them?
Hua Lin Yu's gaze slipped from one side to the other but he finally still went up to the door just right across the corridor and knocked. There was the sound of mumbled voices from the other side and then the rustling of clothes before the door was opened by a man with flaming red hair. Needless to say, that person was Fu Heng, one of Qiu Ling's advisers. And in his typical fashion, he just looked at Hua Lin Yu, not even bothering to speak up.
Hua Lin Yu blinked his eyes at him, wondering what to say. "Uh … Hello there." Unfortunately, he really hadn't thought this through. If he got the right person, it would be great but he didn't even know how the person in question looked. He might recognize the voice but for that, the other person needed to speak up. Otherwise … Well, it wasn't like he could of them if they were 'nobody', right?
Since all of that didn't work, he could only start with the one thing he knew about the person: the fact that they knew Xin Lan. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. I'm Hua Lin Yu and I just arrived here yesterday with Xin Lan."
Before he could say anything else, Fu Min appeared behind Fu Heng, his head popping out behind his shoulder. "Did you just say Xin Lan?"
Fu Heng furrowed his brows and looked at his husband with some displeasure. Hadn't they been over this already?
Hua Lin Yu wasn't quite sure what was going on since he had seen neither of these two before but he just nodded. "Yeah."
Fu Min looked at him, slightly squinting his eyes. "Why did you come here with him?"
"To see the dragon king's palace of course, ah. We're traveling through the dragon realm together."
Fu Min squinted his eyes even further. "Traveling the dragon realm together? Why that? Who are you to him?"
"His fiance."
This time, Fu Min's eyes widened and he turned to Fu Heng. "Did you have any idea that senior Xin Lan's engaged?"
Fu Heng shook his head in response. Well, even if he had known, he might not have brought it up. He really didn't want his husband to think of that idol of his any longer than necessary. Bringing him up on his own accord … No, he likely wouldn't do that.
Fu Min hadn't really expected anything else either so he just turned back to Hua Lin Yu, his expression intrigued. "I had no idea either. Since when have you been engaged? It can't have been that long, right?"
"Mn …" Hua Lin Yu slightly furrowed his brows and pondered. "I'm not quite sure but it should have been a little more than ten years?"
This time, Fu Min's jaw dropped. "A little over ten years?! How didn't I know anything about this?!" It seemed that he would have to work on his skills. Apparently, after getting married himself, they had become rusty.
While Fu Min was worried about his performance, Fu Heng got back to the topic at hand. "So, why did you come to us?" He really didn't think that Xin Lan would want anything from them.
Hua Lin Yu turned back to him and gave an embarrassed smile. "Actually, there wasn't really anything. I was looking for a person that is living on this corridor but I didn't know which room exactly they were living in so I just knocked on one that I thought might be the right one."
Hearing that, Fu Min was interested again. "Oh? Who do you want to see? I'm sure we can tell you which room they're in."
Hua Lin Yu's expression became even more awkward. "The problem is, I don't know their name. I only know that it��s somebody that knows Xin Lan. The two of them were talking yesterday."
Fu Min and Fu Heng exchanged a glance, not quite sure what to say to that. A person who knew Xin Lan … Most likely, the whole dragon king's palace could be counted into that group.
Fu Min scratched his head. "Do you know anything else about him?"
Hua Lin Yu could only continue to look at them embarrassedly. No, unfortunately, he knew nothing at all.