Through it all (a ten miles of peach blossoms fan fiction)

Chapter 29

Ye Hua left Kulun with a heavy heart, he'd known before asking that Qian Qian would not return with him that night and even though it was just a few hours before he returned with the official delegation from the nine heavens, he still felt like he was taking a big risk. He'd only left because he realized he'd need to put pressure on his grandfather to make the visit early so he'd have a chance to come back. Also because news of Si Yin's identity would spread soon enough and he wanted to make sure his grandfather heard it from himself and Mo Yuan. He'd been able to grab only a few moments privately with Mo Yuan after their initial chat and he spent that asking him to make certain no one punished Qian Qian for her actions as Si Yin, he would do his best and if that didn't work, he'd bear the punishment for her but he was still young enough that despite his status as crown prince, he was still regularly overruled by nine heavens. Mo Yuan was however treated as the son of the father of gods and even his grandfather did not dare go against him so the best protection for Qian Qian would come from Mo Yuan. As expected, Mo Yuan agreed with him.

The delegation from the nine heavens was the first to arrive the next day, arriving before Bai Qian woke up. Ye Hua knew she'd spent the previous night chatting with her fellow disciples and catching up on everyone's lives which meant she'd have gotten to bed later than usual and unless someone woke her, she'd be asleep even later than she usually was. He'd told Die Feng to make certain no one woke her, he wanted her to miss the delegation entirely, explaining her presence to his family when she was not part of the delegation would take too much effort. He arrived with his father, uncle, grandfather and Dijun who had joined the delegation last minute simply stating that he wanted to speak with Mo Yuan, nobody argued with him.

After everyone was seated and greetings and pleasantries had been exchanged, heavenly lord launched into a long tirade about Ye Hua, how he looked so much like Mo Yuan but had bested Mo Yuan's records time and again.

"I expect nothing less from my twin, given how long he had to prepare" Mo Yuan replied taking a sip of his tea

"Twin?" the word was chorused by multiple parties

"Yes, did the signs accompanying his birth not match mine?" Mo Yuan asked then continued when everyone nodded "Ye Hua is the son of the father of gods, his soul was almost lost in mother's womb when the pillars of heaven fell so father put him in an immortal embryo to heal. Were you not surprised at how short the pregnancy was before he was born?"

Yang Cuo nodded "it was extremely short, we thought it had something to do with the energy on Kulun"

"Time to update the history books, the father of gods had two sons not one" Dijun said, effectively wrapping up the commentary and questions on the topic.

Struggling both to fill the silence and to process the bombshell Mo Yuan had dropped on them, Yang Cuo wondered where Si Yin was, "I thought he'd already be back here but we've yet to hear anything about him"

"Seventeen is here and I'd like to make it clear now that everything that happened to me and my body since the war was in accordance to my wish and anyone who tries to punish Seventeen in any way will have to go through me"

There was a collective sigh, SI Yin was Mo Yuan's favorite disciple before he died, it seemed 70,000 years of being dead had not changed that.

"Even with that, Si Yin disobeyed the directives of the nine heavens. He needs to be held accountable for that" Yang Cuo continued, he was well known for being the rules man, everything had to be as written in the book which is why his father never made him crown prince, he was ruled by rules and would never be one to see past them

"Assuming Si Yin had given you Mo Yuan's body 70,000 years ago, what would you have done to keep it for him so that today, we would still be celebrating as we are" Dijun asked the man

"I... I..." Yang Cuo stammered

"Weighing the good Si Yin has done in the last 70,000 years and the presence of Mo Yuan now against his not giving in to the directive you delivered on behalf of your father, there is merit rather than punishment owed to Si Yin. Besides even though he prefers not to say it, if Mo Yuan's orders are counter to those of the nine heavens, we all know which takes precedence so I suggest we drop this issue"

Again put in his place, Yang Cuo let the issue drop and Lian Song drove the coversation to major events Mo Yuan had missed.

As they began to make their excuses and set to depart, Mo Yuan turned to Ye Hua "I will be going into seclusion in a little while, I understand you have duties as the crown prince but it would please me if you were to make Kulun your temporary base for the period, I would like to get to know the person you have become"

"Indeed, brothers should be close" Dijun added

Individually, Mo Yuan and Dijun were rarely disagreed with; collectively, it was near impossible to even voice dissent so everyone nodded their acceptance while Ye Hua sighed internally. He was happy yo have a chance to be there, it would also give Qian Qian a chance to spend more time in Kulun without questions but he still worried about his brother's motivations. Was this just a way to ensure he could spend the time with Qian Qian?

"I will put my affairs in order and be back here later today" Ye Hua responded.

When Ye Hua got back with A-Li, they were immediately dragged by Bai Qian to meet the other disciples leaving the Tian Shu and Nai Nai with Second Disciple to sort out logistics. He was about to apologize to the other man when he smiled and shook his head "Seventeen has always been impatient and she has been talking about A-Li for the last hour. I'll take care of the arrangements"

Ye Hua followed her to what appeared to be the residence of one of the disciples, he wasn't quite sure which and he couldn't tell from the way they all spread across the room making it seem like they all owned it. The conversation had stopped when he walked in as everyone bowed in greeting, he responded in kind and then someone picked A-Li from his mother. Ye Hua watched them fawn over his son, A-Li loved being the center of attention and right now looked like he was king of the world; Ye Hua on the other hand felt awkward, he'd never been in the company of this many people except as part of an official function and he had no idea what to do until Die Feng and others started regaling him with stories from their time with Qian Qian. In little time, he'd started to pick up on the dynamics of the relationship between all of them and the Ninth disciple who even though was dead, they still talked about like he was with them in spirit. There was rarely a time when all the disciples were in the room but they came in and went out without disrupting the flow of the conversation, like no matter who was in and who was not, it was there was a complete group in the room. He'd always known his world was lacking but he hadn't been sure what he was missing was something he wanted to have, now he was. He wanted friends, he wondered if it was too late to be come his brother's disciple and become part of this family.

He could not get to Mo Yuan until after dinner. Every time he started heading towards the main hall where Mo Yuan was, he'd bump into one of the disciples who either had something to say to him or something to show him. He found Mo Yuan playing the Zither in the small room Qian Qian had pointed him to, he had no idea what she expected of him, she'd simply pointed and said "go talk to your brother". He wasn't even sure Mo Yuan wanted to talk to him, the zither's tune was sad and mournful and made you want to curl up in your bed to escape the bitter pain that echoed through it.

"Mother played this a lot during her final years" Mo Yuan said and Ye Hua realized his brother was aware of his presence. He could not stop the sharp breath he took at the words before Mo Yuan continued "I'm not about to die, I've only just started this lifetime. I've been thinking of our parents a lot as I thought of what to tell you. Hence the melancholy"

"Don't do so for my sake" Ye Hua responded

Mo Yuan smiled "You have questions"

And so Ye Hua asked until late in the night, until he had some idea of the circumstances behind his birth. He bid his brother farewell to return to the his bedchamber but Mo Yuan's voice stopped him at the door.

"If you're always scared she will leave you for anyone no matter who, the question is not whether she loves you or someone else but why you do not believe yourself worthy of her love"

"I just don't understand how she can love me after everything"

"Tomorrow is another day" his brother replied