Ye An tensed, anticipating a cleverly-concealed insult. Surprisingly, that was not what left the Empress Mother's mouth. Instead, she acted somewhat grandmotherly for once. "It was the same for me during my first long-distance travel. But I'm glad that you seem to be better now."

"Thank you." Ye An replied tightly which was followed by a charged silence. Where did the Empress Mother even hear about her being sick from? Ye An knew that the Empress Mother would never take her meals outdoors with the soldiers and servants because of her aversion to those she considered to be below her. So someone must have tipped her off. 

As the silence between them continued, Ye An noticed that the Empress Mother seemed to be a little bit different, thinner and paler. Frail, even. Ye An furrowed her eyebrows in concern.

However, the concern flew out of the window once the Empress Mother continued speaking. "I heard that you have a new.. pet who's following you around."

Ye An's eyes hardened in a heave of a breath.

"Your Majesty. Adlai is a person of his own right. And he is my friend. So I would appreciate it if you treat him with respect and don't refer to him with such disdain." Ye An bit on every word that she said.

The Empress Mother's eyes narrowed disapprovingly. "Oh? You're on first-name basis with that barbaric Northerner now?"

"Again, I do not appreciate the slur. But, yes, we're on first-name basis with each other. Just like how you and General Shao are." Ye An replied tactlessly. She was already tired from the conversation and didn't care if her words offended the elderly royal. If Ye An were to be perfectly honest, it was even better if it did. Where in the world is the head monk?

Again, the Empress Mother didn't act the way that Ye An was expecting her to. She only stared at Ye An quietly. The way the elderly royal was acting was giving Ye An goosebumps. She knew something was up, but couldn't put a finger on what it was.

Ye An then tried riling the Empress Mother up again. "So where is General Shao? I didn't see him earlier when we were in the courtyard. I thought you two were inseparable."

"He has some business to take care of in the capital so he stayed back." The Empress Mother replied calmly.

"Huh. Isn't he by your side at all times? Or as you like to put it, your pet?" Ye An made sure to mimic the tone that the Empress Mother was using earlier and emphasized the last word.

The Empress Mother chose not to answer which only left Ye An feeling awkward. Just as Ye An was thinking whether she should just leave the room, the head monk entered with a pot of tea. Just in time.

To Ye An's relief, the head monk joined them for their tea session which helped her dodge any further one-on-one interaction with the Empress Mother. As they made small talk, the sky was slowly blanketed by the shadows of the night and it was already time for the ceremony.

The head monk escorted both royals to the courtyard where they disembarked from their respective chariots earlier. Unlike the emptiness from hours before, an altar was set up in the middle of the courtyard in the direction of the moon. The moon was exceptionally bright tonight, contrasting with the ink-black sky so much so that there was even an illuminated halo surrounding the moon.

On the altar, there was an incense pot in the center with red candles placed on both sides with flames already dancing on their tips. The rest of the altar was surrounded by food of all sorts which included fruits cut into the shape of lotus flowers, beans, grains, glutinous rice balls in syrup, porridge, boiled whole chicken, and roasted suckling pig to name a few.

Ye An took a few steps towards the altar and kneeled on the cushion that was prepared by the servants. The elderly Empress Mother kneeled on another cushion that was only a few steps behind Ye An with the help of one of her servants. The head monk then lit up some joss sticks with the flame of one of the red candles before handing three lighted joss sticks each to Ye An and the Empress Mother.

Both royals gave their silent prayers as they closed their eyes while holding the joss sticks close to their hearts. Once they were done with their prayers, they stood up to bow ceremonially before placing the joss sticks in the incense pot. The head monk then handed Ye An a cup of wine which she poured over the floor in front of the altar and proceeded to burn a piece of paper with prayers for a good harvest for the coming year with the flame of the candle. As the piece of paper caught fire, Ye An let it float in the air as it burned out. The ceremony ended with a prayer of gratitude to the gods while the royals held their palms together and bowed once more.

Immediately after the ceremony ended, the royals were ushered to the residences on the temple grounds that were restricted from public access. Then, the gates of the temple were opened to the public for anyone who wanted to offer their prayers to the gods at the altar as well. Most of the people were locals, with a handful who traveled from other districts dotting the crowd.

Ye An was unstrapping her beaded crown in the chambers that she was assigned to when she heard a soft knock at her door.

"Come in." She answered without thinking much about it.

Xi Chen stepped into the room and greeted Ye An. "Your Imperial Majesty."

Ye An cursed at herself inside. She did her best to avoid Xi Chen during the entire ceremony, even going as far as making sure that she never made any eye contact with him throughout the entire event. Now that he was standing here and they were alone, there was no way to avoid him.

"Lieutenant Yun." Ye An greeted tersely.

Noticing that Ye An was back to using his official title, Xi Chen felt a twinge of disappointment. "Uh, Ah Lin invited us to join him for the festival in town. I thought that you might want to join us."

Ye An did plan to attend the festival and she even brought an extra attire for the lieutenant. "Alright, I'll join. I did plan to go out while we're here." Since Xi Chen was going to be following her when she traveled out of the temple grounds anyway, Ye An thought that it was better to go in a large group instead of only with him. Ye An shuddered on the inside at how awkward that would have been.

Xi Chen smiled. "I'll wait for you at the temple gates then."

"Wait. Here's your outfit." Ye An stopped Xi Chen and offered him the clothes that were packed in dark grey silk.

Sensing Xi Chen's apprehension, Ye An continued. "Don't worry, it's a normal hanfu. Nothing weird. And make sure you don't bring your sword. The people here are mostly naïve villagers who probably have never even seen a combat dagger before. The sight of a sword might be too much for them."

"Oh, alright. Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty. I understand. I'll see you later then." Xi Chen took the clothes with a soft smile on his face which nearly started Ye An's hiccup fits again.

Once she was left alone, Ye An let out the breath she didn't know she was holding, the temperature on her cheeks rising despite the chilly night. She patted her chest roughly as she tried to steady her breath. Thank heavens she had ordered the grand eunuch away to deliver Adlai's hanfu and he wasn't here to see her in this state. "This is ridiculous, Lee Ye An. What is wrong with you? It's not the first time you see him smile."

*******

"Yo! Xi Chen!" Ah Lin waved a hand over the crowd from the temple gates to attract Xi Chen's attention.

Xi Chen noticed that Prince Adlai and Minister Sze were already by Ah Lin's side and nodded to them in greeting. "Adlai. Minister Sze."

Prince Adlai and Sze Chang nodded back at him.

"Oooh, you're all dressed up tonight." Ah Lin mused as he looked at Xi Chen from top to bottom which made Xi Chen feel self-conscious.

"Well, you did too." Xi Chen rebutted, seeing Ah Lin in hanfu for the first time as well. "And I see that you had the sense to not bring your sword."

"I need to be well-dressed to wow the ladies. And even though a sword is impressive, I'd like to appeal to the ladies with my tender gentlemanly side." Ah Lin gave a playful wink. Before anyone could give his statement a response, he lowered his voice. "Where is His Imperial Majesty?"

"He should be here in a while." Xi Chen said as he gazed past the crowd to search for Ye An's silhouette.

Ye An was having some trouble navigating the crowd. She had heard of how crowded the temple would be during Mid-Autumn and thought that the crowd would work in her favor to slip out of the temple undetected, but it was currently working against her. With the fumes of the joss sticks limiting her visibility, it was difficult to know the specific direction of the temple gates. Ye An decided to follow the human flow and hope for the best.

There she is! Xi Chen's eyes brightened as he spotted Ye An in her dark scholar outfit. But worry immediately glazed his gaze when he saw that she was coughing. Without saying anything to the rest of the party who had proceeded to make small talk, Xi Chen cut through the crowd to reach Ye An.

"Your Imperial Majesty." Xi Chen mumbled as he took Ye An into a half embrace and escorted her out of the crowd while her coughing fit continued.

Ah Lin was puzzled when he realized that Xi Chen had left without a word, but the lieutenant returned with Ye An almost instantly.

"Your Imperial Majesty, are you alright?" Ah Lin asked worriedly when he saw that Ye An was coughing non-stop.

"I'm fine. It's just the fumes. Let's get out of here." Ye An said through watery eyes as she escaped from Xi Chen to the far side of the group and settled beside Prince Adlai.

Once they were a few streets away from the temple, Ye An could finally see and breathe better. "Adlai, I'm glad that the outfit fits you. You look dashing."

Xi Chen felt a pang of jealously tugging at his chest when his ears picked up on Ye An's compliment from the far side of the group, but he quickly pushed that emotion deeper into himself until it was nowhere to be seen.

Ah Lin who was on the other side of Prince Adlai hooked an arm over the foreign prince cheekily. "Yes, with your looks, you'll probably be able to pick up more ladies than me."

Ah Lin, don't teach bad things to the child." Sze Chang shook his head disbelievingly.

"A child? How old are you, Adlai?" Ah Lin's eyes widened as he turned to Prince Adlai curiously.

"Seventeen." Prince Adlai answered timidly.

"Seventeen?!" Ah Lin let go of Prince Adlai in shock.

Ye An intercepted, "Oh, I knew that you were young. But I wasn't aware of how young you are."

On the other hand, Ah Lin was still in shock. "Huh? I thought you're already an adult! You're almost the size of Xi Chen!"

"It seems like we're built bigger in the North." Prince Adlai smiled shyly at all the attention that Ah Lin was giving him.

"Well then. Forget what I said earlier. But if you'd like to have fun once you're of age, you can come to me anytime. I could teach you a trick or two." Ah Lin raised his eyebrows suggestively at the young foreign prince.

Xi Chen gave out a small laugh. Even though he knew Ah Lin for a long time now, he was still amused by his inhibition even in the presence of someone he barely knew.

On their way towards the town square where the festival was held, the group passed by buildings that were covered with modest thatched roofs instead of arched tiled roofs that were favored in the capital. The architecture style here was completely different from the capital. Compared to the complex multilevel buildings with numerous rooms that were gaining popularity in the capital, the buildings here were all simple one-room, one-level structures. The simple structure of the buildings gave out a strangely calming ambiance of the countryside and the sparsely lit streets only added to the tranquility of the night.

Ye An was so engrossed with the scenery that she didn't realize Ah Lin was beside her until he whispered into her ear. "Your Imperial Majesty, did Xi Chen tell you that it's his birthday today?"

Ah Lin's sudden whisper gave Ye An a fright that she didn't get to give a response before he continued. "Of course he didn't. Well, I'm letting you know now."

"Why are you telling me this?" Ye An didn't even know why she was subconsciously whispering back at Ah Lin like they were plotting a scheme when they weren't. At least not from her side.

"Eh. No reason." Ah Lin answered with a shrug and a smile that clearly said that he absolutely had a reason for passing her that information but they had arrived at the brightly lit town square before Ye An could pursue the matter.

Unlike the streets that they had traveled from, the town square was lined with brightly colored lanterns and filled with a flurry of activity. Small children held even smaller lanterns as they zoomed past adult ankles with their friends in glee.

Ah Lin pointed at a stall not too far away that was selling an assortment of pastries. "Let's have some! I heard that the pastries here taste different because they use freshly-grounded flours!"

"Sure." Ye An said, curious about the local delicacies as well.

When the group arrived at the stall, the vendor was cutting into a pale-colored pastry that was rolled into a log on a surface that was dusted with fine yellow powder.

"What's that?" Prince Adlai asked Ye An timidly in a low voice.

"I'm not too sure.." Ye An instinctively looked at Xi Chen to see if he knew anything about it but he only shrugged.

Ah Lin was the one who asked the vendor. "Good sir! What is this you're making?"

"Oh! It's called Rolling Donkey!" The vendor replied cheerfully, saying the pastry name in the southern dialect.

"Rolling Donkey? What a peculiar name!" Ah Lin was obviously delighted by the unique name.

"Yes, it is, isn't it? It's named after its appearance of looking like a donkey that has had too much fun out rolling in the sand." The vendor smiled in a friendly manner while he arranged the neatly cut pastry into a tidy line on the display tray.

Ye An was intrigued. "I assume that the yellow powder is the 'sand'? What is it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, I don't mind, my lord. Everyone here knows how to make these, but a lot of them just choose to buy from vendors like me because of how much effort it takes to make these. It's actually our local soybean flour." The vendor declared proudly.

Ye An saw that the pastry had a wheel-like pattern that was made with a dark red-colored paste. "What about the red paste that's swirled into the dough?"

"Oh, that's red bean paste. My wife made it from the red beans that are also harvested here. She's also the one who helped me prepare the glutinous rice dough that makes up most of the pastry." The vendor smiled warmly at the thought of his wife back home. "Would you like to try some?"

"Yes! Give us five Rolling Donkeys, please." Ah Lin replied instantly.

"Did you all come from other districts to pay your respects at the Temple of the Full Moon?" The friendly vendor asked as he packed the pastries.

"Ah, yes." Ah Lin replied smoothly. "We're also here for the festival because we've heard so many great things about it!"

Sze Chang and Prince Adlai nodded in agreement.

"Ah, I hope the southern plains are treating you well, gentlemen." The vendor said as he passed the pastries to the group.

Xi Chen smiled at the vendor kindly. "Don't worry, we're thoroughly enjoying ourselves."

When each of them had a pastry in their hand, they bid the vendor goodbye to explore the rest of the festival. Ye An bit into her pastry and did a double-take. It felt like the dessert just melted into her mouth.

Before she could say anything, Ah Lin turned to them from the front of the group and exclaimed loudly. "This is so good! It's like biting into a cloud!"

Except for Prince Adlai who was busy stuffing the whole pastry into his mouth, the rest of the group agreed and the pastries were gobbled up in no time.

As they walked deeper into the festivities, a small stream made its appearance. The stream snaked through the town and was currently lit up by hundreds of small colorful floating lanterns that the festival-goers were releasing. The floating lanterns had the wishes and prayers of those who had released them written on their body.

Ye An tried to discern the words on the floating lanterns but they were all floating to the other side of the stream in the gentle night breeze. "Let's go to the other side. I'm curious about what the people wish and pray for."

The group crossed the stream via the arched stone bridge that connected both sides of the bank. When they arrived on the other side, Xi Chen was instantly on high alert as a slender figure swiftly approached their party.

Ye An was also nervous because she couldn't make out the person at this distance but quickly recognized her when she was only a few steps away.

"Xiao Yan?"

+*Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow if you like what you've read <3*+