Nine Tails of Twin Brothers

Big Brothers are like that

Mo Yuan looked at his brother and sighed, Ye Hua looked overworked, even more so than usual. He'd been angry when the younger twin showed up to interrupt his time with Bai Qian but that had quickly vanished at the sight of the deeply concealed fatigue on his brother's face. Bai Qian had spent a little time with them before excusing herself and Ye Hua had attempted to tease him about making a move so quickly but the statements fell flat. Ye Hua seemed to be trying too hard to stay positive. Mo Yuan took one more deep breath and let it out loudly.

"Is da ge alright?" Ye Hua asked, finally looking up from his work table

"I should be asking di di" Mo Yuan replied, staring directly at said twin

"Oh." Ye Hua replied before schooling his face and picking up his tea "I am alright. I just have a lot to get through but your awesome di di will be done soon"

Mo Yuan sighed "Ye Hua, did you take on more responsibilities again?"

Ye Hua's ears and face went pink for a second before returning to their usual color, he looked like a toddler caught with their hand in the sweets jar.

"Just a little, the heavenly emperor is getting old, he can't be expected to continue doing a lot of work" he replied. Trying but failing to not sound like a defensive child.

"why haven't any of the other princes taken on the work? Or better yet, why haven't you assigned them more work?" Mo Yuan continued

"The heavenly emperor doesn't trust them to do the work, he would not let anyone but me take it off his plate"

"Then give them some of the ones you've handled since you were young, surely they can handle that" Mo Yuan pushed

"Yes, but..."

"Delegating is not slacking off" Mo Yuan said, then muttered as he stood "I should have sent you to Bai Zhi for training when you were younger"

"Da ge"

"Fine, you're an adult. Do what you want but make room for yourself before nature forces you to. I'm going to make lunch and you are going to put away those papers and eat it" Mo Yuan concluded as he left the room.

Ye Hua stretched as he walked out of the house after lunch, he'd decided to take a break to please his brother. He wasn't entirely certain what had annoyed Mo Yuan and why his twin was is a bad mood but lunch had been delicious and even if he had refused to acknowledge it on his own, this break, although in its early stages was entirely necessary. 

His mind was happy to be free of demands even for a short while as he mindlessly followed a trail of peach blossoms until he found himself outside Zhe Yan's peach forest and at the entrance to Qing Qiu's royal compound. He paused briefly to consider his next steps, he didn't want to barge in but going back seemed like a cowardly thing to do so he took a step in and waited. He knew from experience visiting Bai Zhen that someone, usually Mi Gu, would show up to escort him in, He would usually go in directly when Bai Zhen was waiting for him but this was a surprise visit and not even aimed at his friend, he also didn't know in Bai Qian was available so this approach made the most sense.

Mi Gu greeted him and informed him Bai Qian was in the fox den then escorted him there while they made small talk along the way.

"Ye Hua greets Bai Qian" Ye Hua said with a small bow as Mi Gu left the room.

"Bai Qian greets Crown Prince Ye Hua" Bai Qian replied. She was already standing and had been about to leave the den. "What brings the crown prince here" She asked, hoping she did not have to go back to work due to this visit.

Ye Hua glanced at Bai Qian's standing form and wished with all his might that she was not about to head out for a function.

"Ye Hua and da ge have been staying in Zhe Yan's house and I thought this would be a good time to learn more about Qing Qiu. I've never had a chance to walk through the territory before" He said with a face the showed none of his excitement.