Ahead of them stood four or five white-robed trainees, each with a basket in hand, appearing to have come to pick fruit. However, they weren’t circling any fruit trees but rather a person. Even from afar, their hearing was keen enough that they could clearly hear the particulars of the quarrel.
One of the young men said, “No wonder there’s seemed to be less fruit in the woods lately. So someone’s been squatting here and stealing.”
A soft voice replied, “The fruit growing on Mount Taicang can be picked by any disciple at the temple, so how is it stealing? Besides, there are hundreds, thousands of fruit trees here. There’s no way there’s less fruit by my power alone.”
The voice belonged to Mu Qing. From the sleeve corner that could be seen through the crowd, it seemed he had already taken off the black demon costume and changed back into his usual plain training outfit.
The trainee humphed. “Of course, if you were only picking fruit for yourself there wouldn’t be noticeably less, but you don’t just pick for yourself, do you? You sneak them down the mountain for other people. Exploiting your benefits—how shameless.”
Xie Lian understood now. The trainees who couldn’t stand Mu Qing were picking on him again.
Mu Qing came from a very poor family. His mother, who lived in the city at the foot of the mountain, led a meager life. In the past, she made a little money from occasional seamstress work, but after her eyes deteriorated, she could no longer even do that. She had to wait for Mu Qing to bring home the money he earned running errands on the mountain. Sometimes, he would pick some fresh fruit from Mount Taicang for her to try. It wasn’t anything major since there weren’t any rules against it, but when said out loud, it still sounded dishonorable. To publicly mock him over it like this was even more embarrassing.
Mu Qing’s voice was chilly. “Zhu-shixiong, we rarely speak, but you pick on me again and again. Yesterday, you wouldn’t let me through to Sixiang Palace to pass on my message. How have I offended you?”
That young man named Zhu was indeed the trainee who had guarded the door to the Sixiang Palace, and when he heard the incident from the day before mentioned, his anger flared.
“You’re the one who carelessly messed up your job and almost botched that event, so why are you blaming me? You should blame yourself for acting all secretive and making people think you’re up to no good. If you had just said outright what you were doing, nothing would’ve happened. Thanks to you, His Highness almost messed up his important duties, and I got yelled at by the State Preceptor!”
As he griped, he threw the basket on the ground and motioned for everyone to surround and attack.
Xie Lian couldn’t watch anymore and shouted, “Stop!”
The trainees were all shocked at the sound of his voice. They turned their heads and called out, “Your Highness!”
Xie Lian and Feng Xin approached. By then, Zhu-shixiong had already grabbed Mu Qing by the collar and pushed him against the trunk of a tree, though the brawl had not yet started. If they really did fight, Mu Qing would’ve gained the upper hand, even one against twenty. Nevertheless, if he wanted to stay at the Royal Holy Temple, he knew he must never raise his fist.
Xie Lian smiled. “What’s everyone doing?”
Zhu-shixiong was a decent, plain-looking young man who looked up to the crown prince. Hearing Xie Lian’s inquiry, he froze and quickly let go of Mu Qing.
“Um, this, we were…”
Xie Lian continued to smile. “Although I don’t know why everyone is quarreling, Mu Qing is my personal attendant. Anything he does is generally under my command. I didn’t realize offense would be taken if I had him pick some fruit for me?”
The trainees all bowed. “No, no! So it was His Highness who asked him to come! We misunderstood!”
On the side, Mu Qing leaned against the tree, at first taken aback to hear Xie Lian say he’d come under His Highness’s command. He quickly fixed his collar, lowered his head, and didn’t speak. Cold sweat was rolling down the backs of the trainees as they profoundly apologized to Xie Lian, then to Mu Qing, and finally picked up their baskets and hurried away, escaping the cherry wood.
Xie Lian saw the basket Mu Qing had brought on the ground and bent to pick it up, passing it to him. “Want some help?”
Mu Qing didn’t take the basket, but he raised his head and watched Xie Lian with an unreadable expression for a moment before he spoke. “Your Highness.”
“What is it?” Xie Lian asked.