Hua Lin Yu only returned to the room around midday when he had gotten a full tour of the dragon king's palace and managed to meet all of the advisers that were currently living there.
When he went back inside, he immediately rushed over to Xin Lan's side when he saw that he was awake now and jumped into his arms. "I'm back!"
Xin Lan gave him a dissatisfied look. "Back from where I wonder?"
Hua Lin Yu pulled back, a little surprised at Xin Lan's reaction. "What's the matter? I just went to take a look around. You weren't awake yet so I didn't want to bother you." He actually hadn't felt that he had done anything wrong but Xin Lan's mood made him second-guess himself.
Xin Lan sighed and rubbed his forehead, not quite sure where to even begin. In the end, he lowered his head and gave Hua Lin Yu a long look. "While I said that it was mostly your brother that needs to be on his guard around here, that was also under the assumption that you would be at my side and that people would know that you're my fiance. If you go out the day right after we arrived here without me at your side, then nobody will know. Do you really think that you can run into trouble?"
Hua Lin Yu lowered his head when Xin Lan said so. While back at the Jian Yi Sect or in his family, nobody had ever had the heart to scold him, he was able to understand when he did something wrong. And now that Xin Lan put it this way, he could see that this could have ended a lot worse than it had. He probably had just gotten lucky that he met the right people first.
He sighed and then looked back up at Xin Lan. "I'm sorry. You're right. I didn't think it through. But you don't have to worry. Nothing happened to me. I knocked on one of the other doors and asked for some help. I told them that you are my fiance. And they were really nice and took me to look around."
Xin Lan's expression didn't ease at all when he heard that. "You went to knock on one of the doors?" He couldn't help but wonder just which door he had chosen. It wouldn't coincidentally be that of that Bai Mu, would it? Had he seen him? If yes … had remembered anything?
While this normally wouldn't happen was a trueborn god, who knew if a fallen god wouldn't be different? He just didn't want to take any chances. But most likely, that would be impossible if they were in the palace. Each day, there would be a chance that they would run into Bai Mu. Even if he tried to prevent it, it would happen sooner or later. That was just the way it was.
Hua Lin Yu still smiled brightly though. "Ah, it was the door right across the corridor. Actually, it's two advisers of the dragon king living there. I think their names are Fu Min and Fu Heng." His expression became a little subtle when he thought about it. "Actually, who would've thought that I would ever be able to meet an adviser of the dragon king? And then even two at once? And you know what? They even took me to meet some of the others! You could say that I know almost all the advisers of the dragon king now. When I'm going to tell big brother later on, he'll be so jealous."
Hua Lin Yu laughed but Xin Lan was still worried. "Were those the only people that you met? Or did you have any other encounters?"
Hua Lin Yu hugged his neck and pondered. "They definitely weren't the only ones. I feel like I've met half the dragon king's palace by now. There were a ton of guards and their families that are living with them here. Oh, and I also met that 'nobody' that you told me about yesterday." He slapped Xin Lan's chest in mock anger and furrowed his brows at him. "I actually found out that he is the dragon king's cousin-in-law! How can you just say that he is nobody?"
Xin Lan didn't know how to answer that. Naturally, looking at it that way, Bai Mu wasn't a nobody at all. Even if you took the dragon king out of the equation, he was still the son of the God of War, the cousin of the Son of Heaven, and the nephew-in-law of the Heavenly Emperor. That kind of family … Yes, even he couldn't deny that his status was actually quite high. Well, he didn't care about that at all.
He took a closer look at Hua Lin Yu's expression. There didn't seem to be anything strange about it. He just seemed a little curious about the way he had told him about Bai Mu. Seeing that, Xin Lan calmed down a little. It seemed he had worried too much.
Yes, Tian definitely wouldn't have done things halfheartedly for this fallen god. Since he had sent him on a trial, he would let him experience it just like it would be for any other trueborn god. He wouldn't remember anything about being Xiang Yu. He also wouldn't feel any kind of connection just because of that previous husband of his.
Realizing this, Xin Lan finally relaxed and then hugged Hua Lin Yu's waist, pulling him closer. "I'm sorry. I guess I deflected yesterday because I wasn't in a great mood. Coming back to this place … I do have to admit that was quite difficult. Even more so in the dragon king's palace than it was at my own place.
"This building … it just holds way too many memories. There are a lot of good ones but even more bad ones. And I can't help but really feel here just how much time has actually passed. The people I knew … most of them are dead now.
"Meeting somebody that is a rather recent acquaintance reminded me of that even more. So I didn't really want to talk about it. I probably should've though. There's no reason not to tell you, is there?" He brushed through Hua Lin Yu's hair, holding onto one of the black strands with a pensive expression.
Hua Lin Yu shook his head. "It's not a problem. I can imagine that this is rather difficult for you. Anyway, you can answer a lot of other questions for me. I have about a million after seeing so much." He kissed Xin Lan's cheek and then leaned back, looking at him excitedly.
Xin Lan gave a smile and then pushed Bai Mu out of his thoughts completely. Anyway, he didn't need to worry. So for now, he should focus on this relationship completely. "Alright then. Go ahead and ask. I'll explain anything I can."