XH 86 - Scientific curiosity

"Turns out the King of Munzhu had rejected the second daughter of Minister Bin! He even says she's too ugly to be his maid!" The Eighth Prince laughed as he retold what had happened during the celebration to Xiao Hua.

The Third Prince and Eighth Prince had surprisingly returned early. The Third Prince checked how she was doing before leaving to do something important, leaving the Eighth Prince to keep the 'sick' Xiao Hua's company, who was forced to remain on the bed.

To make conversation easier, the Eighth Prince had dragged a stool next to the bed for him to sit down. Eunuch Heng was forced to wait outside with Da Bei, who was right outside of her room, acting as a bodyguard.

"Don't be mean," Xiao Hua chastised lightly.

"What? Do you pity her? Did you forget it's the eldest daughter that tried to harm Long Lian?"

"You repeated that so many times that even if I don't want to remember, I would," Xiao Hua said dryly. "But the younger sister is rather pitiful."

"This is called karma! The evil father and the evil elder sister is the one that harmed her!"

"I know, your novel did include Bin Tang, the heroine's sidekick, with a crazy younger sister."

The Eighth Prince tsk-ed in annoyance. "Right now, we are in the Third Prince and Long Lian's side so we must not pity them!"

"Luckily your novel is full of plot holes or else Long Lian won't be able to counterattack," Xiao Hua remarked and even gave him a grateful smile.

"Shut it! Who's the one that says this world is not my novel?"

"Me," Xiao Hua admitted without a shred of embarrassment. "But it's a good reference."

"Hmph! That's because my novel is awesome."

Xiao Hua rolled her eyes and changed the subject. "Where is Long Lian?"

"She says she will come later. Why are you being moody?" The Eighth Prince suddenly asked, catching Xiao Hua off guard.

"What?"

"You are still okay earlier but halfway through my story, you suddenly look gloomy."

"I...I did?" Xiao Hua touched her face nervously. She thought she had managed to hide her feelings, but who would have expected the terrible poker face Heise could see through her mask?

"Spill!"

As if this young lady would admit I'm depressed at the thought of the Third Prince getting married in future! (°ㅂ°╬)

"You should spill instead. What's with those dark circles under your eyes?"

The Eighth Prince's face suddenly crumbled like quicksand, his whole posture wilted like a flower deprived of sunlight. The dark circles around his eyes looked even more prominent on the rapidly paling face.

"What...what's wrong with you?!"

"The Empress caught us." The Eighth Prince covered his face in despair and she barely caught what he said.

"Caught what?" Xiao Hua asked in panic. Did the Empress find out they were transmigrators? "How did you get caught? Aren't you supposed to be careful!"

"I am being careful! I made sure it's night time with no one around before I made a move!"

"Then how the heck did the Empress find out, huh?!"

"How was I supposed to know she would suddenly visit me during late night when I should be asleep! Who would visit a sleeping person!"

"What did she see? Did you spill everything?" Xiao Hua hissed urgently. The Empress had not sent anyone to haul her in for questioning so maybe the Eighth Prince managed to lie his pants off about his trip to the library.

"Of course I did not spill everything! She only saw us kissing!"

(￣_￣)・・・ Huh?

"Luckily I didn't do anything more than kissing but just kissing is enough to drive the Empress crazy!"

(￣_￣)・・・Huh??

"So I just made up some bullshit about kissing Eunuch Heng because it's a form of affection, blah blah blah and that I just copied what the Emperor did to the concubines-"

"Wait! I don't understand!"

"What do you mean you don't understand?"

"What kissing?" Xiao Hua asked solemnly.

"Are you stupid? I'm talking about me and Eunuch Heng kissing and the Empress caught us. Which part of it that you don't understand, idiot? Or do you mean you don't know how men kiss? Hey, why did you pull out a knife - hey! Hey! Hey! Why are you throwing them at me?!"

"So did you get punished?" Xiao Hua calmly sipped her tea, looking composed and proper in contrast to the slightly ruffled Eighth Prince that was breathing hard with flushed cheeks.

The Eighth Prince glared at her but still replied to her question. "No. She thinks I'm just being innocent so she just punished Eunuch Heng lightly."

"Oh? So the Empress thinks you are to be blamed for everything and viewed your Eunuch as the innocent party."

"Hey! That's not true! It's only because of who Eunuch Heng is!"

"Huh? Who is Eunuch Heng?"

"Hmm... it was supposed to be a secret so don't tell anyone!"

"But you are telling me..."

"You are different. You are my best friend!"

Xiao Hua gaped at the Eighth Prince in surprise, who had also realized what he just said. His face turned red as he stammered. "Don't...don't misunderstand! In this world, I can only talk to you without needing to lie and all, so you are my best friend here! When we return to our world, we will be strangers!"

Xiao Hua smiled, placing down her empty cup at the corner of her bed and reached out to hug the Eighth Prince. "You are my best friend too. But I hope I can still be your friend when we get back."

"Do… Do whatever you want!"

Xiao Hua laughed and pulled away. "So who is Eunuch Heng?"

Relieved that the topic shifted, he answered excitedly, "You won't believe it! He's actually sent by the second male lead to protect the Eighth prince!"

"What? Why?" The second male lead was Duke Heng, a person that does not want to get involved with the princes' infighting for the throne. So why would he want to protect the Eighth Prince?

"Turns out, the Eighth Prince's mother is actually the second male lead's elder sister, so he's actually the Eighth Prince's maternal uncle."

"So the Empress knew about it and let Eunuch Heng stay by your side." Xiao Hua concluded, "She isn't a bad person."

The Eighth Prince shrugged. "She's an okay person."

"Wait... Eunuch Heng, Duke Heng... could it be Eunuch Heng is a family member?"

"No way! How the second male lead could send a family member to... to be a eunuch! He will have to...to..." In the end, the Eighth Prince could not finish his sentence due to horror and he even pressed his thighs together as if his family jewel could be cut off just from talking about it.

"How old is Eunuch Heng anyway?" Xiao Hua asked curiously. "To be so brave and agreed to be a Eunuch," the Eighth Prince flinched, "and he looked quite young."

"...I just realize I don't know how old he is..."

"So you could be seducing a jailbait for all you know. Tsk, you dirty old man."

"I'm twenty-two years old! Besides, I'm in a ten years old body so I'm not old!" 

"Whatever. So how did he react to your kiss?" Xiao Hua leered.

The Eighth Prince sighed dreamily as he reminisced. "During the early days, he looked disturbed but he never pushed me away. Now he just let me do whatever I want to him, so that means he feels the same way towards me."

"Or you are his master so he has no choice but to go along with you or else he will be punished." Xiao Hua mercilessly poured cold water on him.

"Hey! Why are you always being mean to me?"

"I'm not being mean. I'm just thinking realistically." Because it's fun, duh? "Did you ask if he likes being kissed?"

"I did not ask him."

(⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄) So her best friend prefers to steal lips, huh?

"But there is something weird. I...I felt something below him when I hugged him."

"Huh?" Xiao Hua blushed in realization. "The...The male part?"

"Don't eunuch supposed to have... that part got… chop off?" The Eighth Prince asked hesitantly.

"Do you know how it works? Is it really chopped off?" Xiao Hua asked in a morbid curiosity.

The Eighth Prince stared at her in horror. "How on earth would I know?! I won't even dare to find out something like that! But history did mention eunuchs no longer have that part as they were chopped off."

"Oh...but is it true? Don't you ever wonder about it?"

"The heck...why would I wonder about it?! I'm a guy and it's a sensitive topic to me!"

"But you love Eunuch Heng, don't you? That means you have to accept all of him, including his… absent part! So what if you are the 'gong'? Even a 'shou' would need a working part. Oh, can he still have release? If you are the only one having fun, it's not so nice, isn't it?"

The Eighth Prince's face was funny to look at, alternating from red to white with a scrunched up expression. "I...I don't know! We still don't know if he really got... chop...chop...argh!"

"Then we will just have to ask Eunuch Heng, right?" Xiao Hua proposed with an innocent expression.

The Eighth Prince was contemplating it before standing up and marched towards the door, not noticing Xiao Hua doing fist pump gesture behind him. He opened the door and wavered slightly when he saw Eunuch Heng immediately approached him eagerly.

"Er... you come in!"

"The Third Prince said he's not allowed to enter," Da Bei declined strictly.

"Da Bei, can you let Eunuch Heng in? We would like to ask him something, privately." Xiao Hua asked in such a sweet and innocent way that Da Bei softened slightly.

"What do you want to know from Eunuch Heng?" What does she want to know that he can't answer?

"Like what's his age… and stuff." Da Bei stared at Xiao Hua until she fidgeted uncomfortably before he finally allowed Eunuch Heng in.

"Thank you Da Bei!" Xiao Hua gushed before Da Bei closed the door with the three of them inside.

"What do you wish to know, Your Highness?" Eunuch Heng asked enthusiastically.

The Eighth Prince looked embarrassed and Xiao Hua realized this was not something she should be seeing. "Erm, the two of you take your time." She dropped the bed curtains and covered her view.

"Hey, what are you doing Xiao Hua?" The Eighth Prince asked in disbelief.

"It would be wrong for me to look!" Xiao Hua's voice ended up in a high pitch in nervousness.

"It's...it's for science! So why are you hiding?!"

"Science your head! I'm not going to see a man's p...p..."

"Penis."

"Shut up! This is embarrassing!"

"Do you think that's not embarrassing for me? You will see it with me!" The Eighth Prince marched over and pushed the curtain apart roughly.

"My lovely curtain!"

"Tie it back up or I will rip it!"

"You meanie!" But Xiao Hua still tied up the curtains.

"Your Highness?" Eunuch Heng stared at his master in confusion when the Eighth Prince faced him with a determined look.

"I...I order you to strip!" The Eighth Prince ordered with an overly red face and Xiao Hua facepalmed.

Are they satisfying their scientific curiosity or are they asking a gigolo to strip?! ∑(O_O;)