Still not fully satisfied by this answer, Kesi wanted to probe A'Hong a bit more. After all, revenge wasn't simply returning what was lost but rather asking for something more in order to compensate for what was taken. But much to her disappointment, a little head popped out from between the bushes, interrupting her entire chain of thought.
"Boo!" A branch caught on Mu Luming's sleeves as he tried to squeeze through the untrimmed hedge. And although he was tiny, he still had to duck as a branch almost smacked him straight in the middle of his face.
Barely making it out of the bush, he patted the loose leaves away from his robes and cleared his throat, pretending that he had not suddenly jumped out from behind a bush.
"I'm the owner of the Eastern Palace! So I can and have to be in on all of these secret conversations!" Tugging the sulking A'Hong with one hand and the bloodthirsty Kesi with the other, he closed the gap. "How dare you guys not include me in these conversations about palace secrets!"
Kesi and A'Hong exchanged a glance, not sure how to hide A'Hong's unfortunate backstory from the excited Crown Prince.
Neither of the two spoke the word, and Mu Luming seemed to obviously take the silence in a wrong way.
"Oooh… let me guess…." He pretended to be stroking a long beard. "You guys were talking about the best places to visit here in the palace."
There was only continued silence.
"Hmmm… or the best way to steal the best food from the Imperial Kitchens? I heard that the thousand layered sugar cake is the best!"
Compared to the ray of sunlight that he carried everywhere, a low gloomy cloud seemed to hang over Kesi and A'Hong.
"Hmph. How come I can't be in on this secret!" Finally coming into acceptance that neither Kesi nor A'Hong was going to disclose the contents of their conversation, he suddenly dropped to the floor in a low squat, hugging his knees to his chests.
"Fine!"
As if suddenly struck by some brilliant idea, he sprang back up, almost as if there were springs attacked to the bottom of his shoes.
"I know! I'm going to interrogate you both separately!"
A devious smile on his face, he gestured for A'Hong to leave the scene.
"Ladies first," he smiled at Kesi.
Seeing A'Hong's stretched shadow grow fainter and fainter as he returned to his room, Kesi closed her eyes.
Somehow, she wanted to taste blood for A'Hong's tragic past. She could almost taste the telltale metallic taste at the tip of her tongue.
"Kesi, what are you planning on doing for A'Hong?" A soft voice forced her violent thoughts to disperse.
Surprised, she looked down at Mu Luming. She had surely heard something wrong, or maybe the little kid had meant something else.
"What do you mean?" She feigned a smile. "He's just tired from his work. It takes a lot of effort to sweep up this ruined garden, you know?"
He only shook his head and began pacing back and forth.
"If he really listens to you and tries for revenge, what if he feels guilty for harming his family?" He shook his head again. "And if he doesn't take full revenge, what if he feels that he didn't do enough to justify his wrongs later in the future?"
A frown over his face, Mu Luming let out a long sigh.
"Who would have ever guessed that A'Hong has such a family from the surface? I never even noticed that he barely ate and saved his food for his family." Half-mumbling to himself, he crinkled his forehead in concentration. "How could I not notice? I should have noticed… I'll just give him more food in the future! Some of my portions are too large anyway…"
Seeing a little crease form between the ridges of his eyebrows, almost as if an invisible force willed her to do so, Kesi reached out and smoothed Mu Luming's forehead.
Such lines of worry should never have crossed his face. Or rather, she wouldn't allow them to somehow ruin his otherwise perfect features. They just seemed to terribly out of place.
But by that point, she wasn't sure why she was even justifying such a small action to herself.
And more importantly, she realized that the little boy had somehow heard the entire conversation without her ever noticing his presence.
"How much did you hear?"
"All of it, of course! It went on for so long, and I thought people were surely going to find a skeleton in the bushes years in the future. Wait stop changing the conversation! I was thinking on ways to best help A'Hong!"
"Well, these are issues that are for adults like us to solve, not little kids like you to become involved! So don't worry about it. I have it all under control."
RUMBLE.
In the most awkward of moment and the middle of this serious conversation, Kesi's stomach let out a low rumble. At first, Mu Luming looked around in confusion, not sure where the near growling sound came from. But after a few times, he soon caught on.
"Wait, what punishment is there for stealing food from the Imperial Kitchens?"
Kesi looked at him blankly. She knew absolutely next to nothing about the palace rules, but she was sure that it wouldn't be something punishable with death or a serious offense.
"Hmmmmmmm….." A flicker of something unreadable flashed before Mu Fuming's eyes.
"Let's stop thinking about this issue and go on a little tea party instead," he suggested.
A bit exasperated, Kesi reminded him that they were on the topic of somehow saving A'Hong from his family. Although she had told Mu Luming that this issue wasn't for a child like him, she hardly expected him to suddenly pivot a hundred and eighty degrees and to start thinking of breakfast.
Instead, he only looked up with a guilty smile.
"But I'm hungry," he protested. "Plus, I was going to invite A'Hong's family to the party as well!"