After Suyin's discussion with Teacher Zhou Lin, Suyin wanted to take the rest of the day to unwind. Suyin wanted to get accustomed to the courtyard, so she wouldn't get lost.
She did want to get to the explanation of why Zheng An wanted to come here discreetly. When Zheng An came back home the last time she saw her, she was gravely wounded, but what was the reason?
Throughout the whole day, Suyin was able to assist Areum and Wu Fei around the house, despite their plea to make her rest in the room, Suyin couldn't stay still and do nothing for the whole day.
The sun was soon setting and the Moon began to gradually raise in the sky. Suyin was weary from helping the two girls wash the laundry-- after discovering what they have been doing since they first came here.
The girls (Areum, Wu Fei, and Suyin) were wondering the same thing: Why did the Prince of Qin's courtyard remain untouched? It was troubling her, but she had noticed that the girls were exhausted from doing chores all day, so Suyin didn't want to disturb them with anything else.
There were little to very few servants around the house-- and all male. It wasn't as vibrant as the other courtyards and pavilions.
Fatigued, Suyin nabbed her robe from her room and steered straight to the bathing room. It was a decent-sized bathing room. You would say, the size of the bathing room was as big as the scholar's study hall. Once Suyin entered the bathing room, two partition dividers with a design of white lotus flowers were greeted a couple of feet away from the sliding door.
Suyin strolled around the screen divider. A large, pool-like bathtub made out of stone was constructed into the ground. Little small white lanterns illuminated by candles to conduct light. It was steaming the room, but a small vent at the top permitted the steam to go out of the room so that there would be no humidity in the room.
At the side of the bathtub, a dark-wooden partition divider was there to hang clothes on. Suyin set her pair of new hanfu there and a light-blue towel (made out of silk and cotton), taking off her current one as she placed it in an empty, large wooden basket in the opposite corner.
Suyin fastened her hair up with a plain, dark-brown wooden pin into a pretty bun that weighed down to the bottom of the back of her head.
"What a day." Suyin sighed with relief before she sank into the bathtub. Her eyelids felt heavy-- she could snooze in the bath if she wanted to.
She allowed the water to reach her shoulder until she was able to sit on a little stone seat that was in the bathtub. She relaxed her head at the edge, closing her eyes as she splashed water on her neck.
"Was I supposed to not be here?"
A deep voice came out of nowhere from the left side of Suyin's ears. Alert, Suyin instantly opened her eyes, flailing her arms in a panic to cover her body as she spun to see who it was.
It was Qin Fuhua, leaning on the side of the wall with his arms crossed. He was wearing a thin, black robe, sufficient to see his body shape.
His broad shoulders came into light with the robe and enough of that, Suyin couldn't resist taking a glimpse of him as she remained in a state of panic.
"I.. uh."
No words could come out of Suyin's mouth. She was in her most vulnerable state and this man had to just stroll in on her like this. Suyin's face was turning red, burning hot in her head at the moment because she was embarrassed.
While Suyin was in the process of shielding herself, little did she know that Qin Fuhua was also flustered at her presence of her in the bathing room.
He had ordered one of the male servants to set the bath up for him, but to his surprise, he saw Suyin resting at the corner of the bathtub.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know that the bath was prepared for you." Suyin apologized, trying to find a way to get out without Qin Fuhua catching any "treasures" of hers.
She quickly darted around for her towel, flustered because of his sudden arrival in the room. She should have noticed how "hot" the water was since it was usually the servants (or maidens) who prepared the bath.
She was so exhausted from the day and used to Areum preparing the bath for her that she had forgotten that Qin Fuhua probably was the one who scheduled it for himself.
"Can you please turn around?" She requested. She didn't know what else to say.
Qin Fuhua still appeared calm while she was there acting like an idiot, freaking out.
"Is there a problem with seeing your body? Didn't I hug you when you were just wearing your undergarment?*" He teased, trying to play off his flustered feelings deep down.
(*Chapter 61 reference).
"S-Stop. That was because I was trying to help you! Not entice you or anything." She remarked, upset and sheepish now.
Pleased with her reaction, Qin Fuhua spun around to permit her to have some time to grab whatever she needed.
As soon as Qin Fuhua turned around, Suyin sprinted out of the water, clutching the towel as fast as she could without slipping and her pair of new clothing.
"W-Wait ok! I'm trying to change. At least let me wear my robe!" Suyin commanded the Prince.
How daring for Han Suyin to order Qin Fuhua to do something like this.
It was only Han Suyin who can do this to the Prince of Qin, after all.
As swiftly as she could, she took off the pin, allowing her hair to fall, not realizing that her hairpin plunged into the ground as she left.
"Sorry again!" She apologized hastily, scurrying out of the door.
As soon as the door slid closed, Qin Fuhua took a deep breath.
For a man such as Qin Fuhua to see someone he is attracted to like that, it was hard for him to calm himself down. His eyes had already drawn the line of her body shape, but he couldn't bare to let his manhood let him get to him.
With another breath, he went into the bath, picking up the hairpin before he went into the bathtub.
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[ Next Day ]
Suyin impatiently reached the Scholar's Courtyard, barely making it in time to head into the manor. She's doing her best to make it in time for Teacher Zhou Lin's lecture, after acquiring the message from Weizhe about Teacher Zhou Lin's class every other day.
Teacher Zhou Lin advises that she can come, but it is optional for her.
Suyin didn't realize that Teacher Zhou Lin's class was going to start soon, so she barely had enough time to dress up as a male before steering to the scholar's courtyard to head to the manor to attend his class session.
The class session was on the west side of the scholar's courtyard outdoors. It was in a large pavilion, enough to fit about fifty students if they wanted to.
Suyin entered the scene, and as soon as she came in, all of the other male scholars turned around and glimpsed at her.
The scholars knew that she was the person that discussed with Teacher Zhou Lin-- something they didn't dare do.
Suyin tried to look for an empty seat next to the other students but all of the desks were preoccupied.
The only empty seats were the ones farthest to the back of the teacher's seat, so Suyin decided to sit at a vacant desk.
The other scholars began to mind their own business.
Teacher Zhou Lin entered, fixing his voice as he held his white fan to his right.
"Welcome again, students." He greeted them. He skimmed at all of the students in the back row and detected Suyin's face. He then bowed his head a little, as a way of welcoming her.
Suyin shyly lowered her head back in return. As Teacher Zhou Lin began lecturing about the body's yin and yang, a figure came by and sat next to Suyin.
From the corner of her eyes, she didn't notice that it was Qin Fuhua sitting next to her because she was too distracted by Teacher Zhou Lin's lecture.
"Ahem." Qin Fuhua corrected his voice.
Surprised, Suyin shifted to him before glancing up at Teacher Zhou Lin.
"What are you doing here?!" Suyin whispered, dropping her head, and giving him a why-are-you-here expression.
There was an empty scroll of paper, an inkstone that hasn't been ground, and a brush on each table (even the empty ones).
He tugged his sleeves back, grabbed Suyin's brush and ink stone that she had ground up, and composed a couple of characters down on the scroll.
He then gave her an odd smile (an awkward one) and then passed her the paper.
Confused, Suyin glanced at the scroll.
"Don't cause any trouble now."
"I'm Tienzheng. Nice to meet you." He beamed.
Now, this smile was a creepy one. It felt as if Qin Fuhua was trying hard to look 'kind,' something out of his character. Suyin gave him a sarcastic smile back with a little chuckle.
Maybe he would have looked fine if Suyin could see his other identity, but unfortunately, all she could see was the Devil Prince himself.
"Hi. My name is... Um. Su Yi." She stammered for a second because she didn't realize that she needed to make a name for "herself."
She's been using Ren Feng's name, so it was more manageable.
At this moment, she recognized that Qin Fuhua wasn't the Prince of Qin right now.
He was using his "magical" mask that concealed his identity. He was now using his other identity, Tienzheng. Although he may look different to others using the mask, Qin Fuhua still looked the same to Suyin.
"Sun Yi?" Qin Fuhua uttered. He bobbed his head. "I came here as a student, too. Just to look around, as usual." He added.
Teacher Zhou Lin's eyes were delighted with the sight of "Tienzheng," as if knowing him for a long time, he bowed his head to him too.
"Hey, aren't you going to get in trouble sneaking in here?" Suyin questioned Qin Fuhua who didn't bother to worry at all.
"I'm pretty close to the teachers here. After all, I donated some of the educational and medical scrolls from where I live." Qin Fuhua responded, relaxed as Suyin's mouth lowered in astonishment.
Suyin should have detected that he would have his way around the Palace, too. But why would he be roaming in his own Palace like this instead of himself?
"Ahem. You sir, in the back. Please present yourself to our scholars and please respond to the question."
Suyin was barely paying attention, taking a second to recognize that Teacher Zhou Lin was calling on her.
"Ah." Suyin immediately stood up, smiling. "Hello. My name is Sun Yi and..."
Suyin had to think about what to say next, "A person's body of yin and yang must mix together. These two cannot be without each other because it is a symbol of harmony and balance." Suyin replied.
"Good, good. Please be kind to our guest. He will be coming here and there to learn along with you all." Teacher Zhou Lin declared.
Some of the students turn to glance at her, then shifted back to the teacher, paying attention to the lecture as Suyin sat down.
Suyin began to attend to Teacher Zhou Lin for a while until she glimpsed someone in the front of the row trying to grab her attention. Suyin noticed it at first but ignore it, thinking it was for someone else until she looked.
"Yuan Fu." She whispered, waving at him. This meant that he made it.
Suyin was pleased to see his face, smiling big because she was delighted that he was closer to his dreams now.
With a big grin on Suyin's face, Qin Fuhua darted to her eyes where he observed a male student in the middle of the row.
How did she know someone from the academy?
He took a glance at Yuan Fu and noticed that he was probably a new student.
"Ahem." Qin Fuhua fixed his voice. As if a dark cloud was on top of his head, he was frowning now.
Suyin quickly sat up, settling in her seat before she attended to Teacher Zhou Lin again.
After Teacher Zhou Lin's lecture for an hour, Suyin remained behind to look for Yuan Fu, to congratulate him.
Most of the scholars were fairly tall, and all of different ages.
Suyin had to tiptoe to see if Yuan Fu was still in the front of the row.
"Excuse me." one of the younger-looking scholars walked up to Suyin, who looked playful. "Were you the one who held hands with the Prince of Qin the other day ago when you came out of here?" He questioned.
The other guys were observing him, sneering.
Suyin was speechless. As she opened her mouth, nothing came out of it because she didn't want to cause any trouble to Qin Fuhua.
"I was just wondering! Is there anything special between you two? Like... close relationship or relatives?" He asked.
Suyin instantly turned around for Qin Fuhua's help, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn it! When I needed you the most right now, you disappear on me! What am I supposed to say so that I don't cause any trouble?!!" Suyin thought in her head, distressed for a second until Yuan Fu stepped up.
"Hey, that's just all rumors. Whatever you heard, everyone's been circulating it around here. Aren't you all afraid of being in trouble with the higher-ups?" Yuan Fu expressed in a bitter tone. "You don't mess with my buddy here like that. We made it here together."
Suyin was thankful for Yuan Fu to be present at the moment. She was concerned that if she said something wrong, Qin Fuhua would have killed her off. Maybe even threw her off the cliff or something, as she imagined in her head.
The scholar backed off, giving him a displeased expression.
In Suyin's head, Yuan Fu right now was like an angel emitting some halo of bright light around him at the moment for coming in to save the day.
Although Yuan Fu was a new student in the manor, he wasn't afraid of standing up.
"It's nice to see you!" Yuan Fu smiled. As the scholars began to exit the room, Yuan Fu bent closer to Suyin, placing his hands behind his back.
"Why didn't you tell me that besides your ability to fake your name and your medical knowledge, you knew such powerful people?" Yuan Fu asked in a teasing way.
Suyin shook her head. "Trust me, I'm just bad luck with people sometimes," Suyin responded, giggling it off.
Yuan Fu took out his little wooden badge holder with his name on it, proudly revealing it to her. "Look, buddy. I made it. Now I just have to keep working hard." He grinned.
Suyin beamed at him, proud of him. "That's great! I'm glad that things worked out this way."
She then lowered her head to apologize to him, "And sorry for causing so much trouble for even being partnered up with me. It seems like trouble likes to follow me." Her voice was a bit down, feeling wrong for having Yuan Fu partake in some unnecessary drama.
He chuckled, shaking his head. "Hey, that's the pleasure in life, isn't it? You just gotta go along with it." He then patted Suyin's shoulders, "If you need help or anything, don't forget about your partner."
Qin Fuhua strode in between Yuan Fu and Suyin, carrying out a fan in his hand left hand. He used it to block their conversation between the two.
"I apologize for being late. I left to talk to Teacher Zhou Lin." He diverted to take a glimpse at Yuan Fu.
Suyin didn't recognize it, but Qin Fuhua was taller than Yuan Fu, but despite that, Yuan Fu gave out a youthful, energic kind of young adult aura.
Whilst, Qin Fuhua (of course, in Suyin's point of view, she only sees him as the Prince and not "Tienzheng" because she doesn't know what he looks like), was gazing deathly at the male.
Yuan Fu wasn't terrified of him, gaping directly back at him.
"Is this a friend of yours?" Qin Fuhua questioned Suyin. Suyin looked at the two of them and shook.
"Yes. He's a friend and he was the only one out of all of the other scholars during the competition to converse and help me." She glared.
Suyin didn't realize that Qin Fuhua's energy was vibing off of jealousy. Instead, she felt like he was being too overprotective of her.
"As long as he isn't posing a threat to you," Qin Fuhua declared, walking right next to Suyin from the opposing side of Yuan Fu.
Qin Fuhua leaned in closer to Suyin's ears, enough for Suyin and Yuan Fu to hear, "You are very important to the Prince after all."