[ life has never been simple for chang geng, but that's not hard when you've had the upbringing that he has. surviving to adulthood was something of a miracle, for him, and largely due to the woman that had raised him. and, in the end, making it was thanks to the man who had major influence on his life.
funny, how having your so-called mother planning against a country with an insurgent nation (that half your blood comes from) seems like it'd be the only major plot twist. turns out that the other half of your blood is that of the country's royalty, and finding out the people that gave you sanctuary from rampant physical and psychological abuse were sent to find you and ruin all of those plans, sort of was the cherry on top to that.
medical school was the perfect jumping point for things to kick off, apparently. and yet, he hasn't been able to tell anyone. neither of his close friends, not even his school knows why he was suddenly unenrolled - just that, one day, he was there, and then he wasn't.
ge chen and cao chunhua don't even know. he couldn't tell them, before he was whisked away, staring at gu yun's back and ignoring shen yi's furtive glances between the two of them. he won't think about how betrayed he feels, though he supposes it explains a few things - about gu yun himself, about how the years have been, about their behavior towards his mother and their press to get him away from her as much as possible.
god, whatever plans he had of medicine for the sake of others - for the sake of gu yun - are out the door as he walks through palace halls, is told everything about his personal manor's construction. their plans for his lessons, to be done with another royal brought back home to an allied country. the fact that chang geng isn't even the next in line for succession doesn't mean anything to them. li feng is set for coronation once their father finally dies, having held on long enough to see his lost fourth son, but apparently said son still has to be educated, even with his impeccable manners.
mood sour for a while now, he's running through his last med school studies in his head while waiting for the lessons to start. but being joined by someone else, he glances their way with polite interest, moving to rise when the steps come to a stop, and - ]
... Su Jiuqing? [ he's just as surprised to see her as she is to see him, and it's obvious on a face that's usually passively pleasant. ] Are you the..?
[ the other lost royal, he doesn't say, although there's something under the surprise that's a little wry. ]
[seeing one of the people she'd left behind in medical school was about as low on her list of things she expected to happen today as it was possible for anything to be. it's definitely chang geng in front of her, though, and it's really not possible for her to keep from looking surprised.
surprised, and then incredulous.]
It appears so.
[it's easy enough to fill in the blanks - she knows what she's here for, and she knows she's supposed to be studying with another lost royal who was also brought home recently, so what else could he be asking about? for that matter, what else would she be here for? it's not like most royal courts make a habit of plucking students who haven't even finished med school out of obscurity for any other reason.
she really can't help but laugh, though she does disguise it as a cough, and says mildly:]
...though I must question the capabilities of those who were looking, when there were two of us in the same place for so long...
[the words are biting, but her tone is perfectly pleasant.]
[ a pause, and then he moves to actually push his chair back, rising and neatly buttoning his suit jacket again as he does. easily, he moves around the table to the side he was told was meant to be for his new lessonmate.
they're both on the same page - su jiuqing says that, and he immediately lets the pieces click into place, using them to bridge his way over to the natural conclusion. and, truthfully, chang geng can already see where they might be intending to go with this. the two lost royals, in their minds supposedly still malleable and usable at their ages and their "inadequacy" for having been amongst commoners for their entire lives.
he pulls out a chair for her, smile intact. ]
Supposedly, in my case, they were waiting for the right time to spring this on me. Mid-semester at medical school, which cost me thousands in money and scholarships, was clearly the right moment.
[ his own bite is left out in the open, but he's so composed and polite that it would be easy to forgive him for stabbing someone in the chest with a blatant knife. ]
[she smiles back at him, and moves to take a seat in the chair when he pulls it out for her.]
I'm sure they were intending to be thoughtful in their own way. Perhaps they thought it would be all the more disruptive if they informed you while you were attempting to set up your own practice and had patients.
[chang geng would have made a fantastic doctor, she thinks. she would have, too. honestly, it's practically a crime that they're depriving their future patients of their services.]
But ah, well, you know what they say about the road to hell and what it's paved with...
[ seasons lizard brain: find a quote to paste me: you're not playing kon right now, snow ]
Apparently giving me any kind of notice would have "compromised the mission," or something along those lines. [ primly, while chang geng pushes su jiuqing's chair in once she's seated, a proper gentleman. ] I feel as if this was all a bit of a disservice to the both of us.
[ they're cleverer than most of the people in their classes, let alone anyone older than them in positions of power. keeping a secret, in his case? easy. uprooting them from their lives, where they were on their way, slow and steady, towards doctorates? terrible. ]
At least we hadn't made it to practices, yet. Now, though, it's a bit like when celebrities study something as a hobby - how quaint that royalty has a passing interest in the medical field. Perhaps they'll find a niche charity to create.
[jiuqing raises an eyebrow at that. "compromised the mission," her foot; chang geng is better at keeping his mouth shut than most people she knows and probably better at it than most people she doesn't know, too. if there really is someone out there who evaluated the situation and said it was better not to tell him, she has to question their intelligence.]
I'm inclined to agree with you.
[this is certainly a disservice to them both, although perhaps for different reasons.
from the bits and pieces she's heard of chang geng's - or, rather, the other lost royal's - situation, the whole matter is complicated. in her case, it's much less complicated, but no less inconvenient. having their entire lives uprooted because of someone else's choices is not something she wanted to have in common with anyone, least of all someone she actually likes.]
This might have delayed my studies a bit, but I don't intend to allow it to derail them entirely. I'll take great pleasure in seeing the looks on their faces when they realize that rather than being quaint, getting treatment from either one of us would be entirely necessary for them.
[for their survival. she's not going to wish illness on anyone involved in this, but she'll definitely feel better about it later if any of these idiots comes crawling back for treatment later...]
[ as he makes his way back to his seat, chang geng's smile ticks up in a way that clearly says i know, right? at this great insult that's been given to him. but there are... a lot of complicated feelings right now, between him and those involved in the mission. he's been spending the past few weeks wondering if everything that he's known, for years of his life, has actually been a lie, and if anything was ever real between him and the "shen brothers."
(he's less mad at shen yi than he is the acclaimed gu yun. he'll get over it, eventually, but it stings right now. it's too personal.) ]
I can't imagine the gossip at school right now, with both of us suddenly gone.
[ "scandal," probably, is the main read on all of this. in a way it's true, though not in the way he bets their young adult minds are running rampant with. but there's quite a bit of scandal attached to both of their cases, from what he understands - in different ways, but still there - and once their discovery hits the mainstream news...
they're not going to know any peace. he misses school already. ]
My, ah, eldest half brother is slated to take the throne soon. He has sons of his own, and we have another living brother older than me in the naval forces. The likelihood of me being crown prince is abysmal, so if I can spend my time returning to my studies once this entire fiasco is over, then I will. I've no interest in playing at being yet another court puppet.
[ none of their babysitters are around to chastise him or tell him to hold his tongue, so he doesn't. at least chang geng's not saying his thought of let them rot in response to treating pleading members of royalty. ]
oh, boy. come to think of it, he's right. they vanished at pretty much the same time, so there's pretty much no way their former classmates aren't going to think they vanished together; it's technically right, although it's not as though either of them knew that was going to be the case until five minutes ago.]
My half-sister - who, it seems, is also my cousin... [her dad has very specific tastes, apparently] ...seems to have gotten into some sort of trouble... so it became convenient for my father to remember he had another daughter. [she wrinkles her nose.] I imagine the intent is for me to become someone who dances to his tune, but I'm not particularly inclined to do so.
[jiuqing @ her dad: please go back to forgetting i exist, thanks!]
Of course I'll learn whatever I'm presented with as best I can, but I'll learn it for my own benefit and my mother's benefit, not for his.
[ some humor can be taken, he guesses, since they'll likely make a public appearance or two or five together, come the time the news rolls out. if their two nations want to continue the good relations, then surely they'll come to some kind of arrangement while they're at it. chang geng can see it playing out easily.
their former classmates would lose their absolute minds over it, and he knows it. "we knew them!" coupled with "we knew it!" how tiring. ]
Daughters of royalty, more often than not, are meant to be seen and not heard in old fashioned opinion. Act a certain way, marry a certain person, speak little but from a script... I think I'm largely meant to stay out of trouble, but not expected to do much, if I'm gauging from Li Feng's general attitude towards me. It puts us into very interesting positions.
[ please just let them both go back to what they were doing. ]
But learning for our own sakes will benefit us, while they think it benefits them. And there are always loopholes to exploit.
[but it's a blink-and-you'll-miss it expression; a moment later, she's just smiling pleasantly, the very picture of a compliant princess. she can fake it, at least.
...
and, well, despite all the rumors that will inevitably crop up, it'll be easier to do this alongside someone she knows and gets along with. that's one good thing about this, she supposes; much better to be facing this with chang geng rather than some pompous prince reveling in his newfound importance.
it's fine. they'll be fine.]
They aim to make us pawns on their board, I believe. [a pause, and then, pleasantly - ] Well, they're welcome to think they've succeeded in that, but you and I both know they never will.
[ the look on his face in response to hers, just as fleeting, is amusement. but more in the way that implies that they don't know what they're in store for, trying to make su jiuqing into a demure puppet. ]
[ and then he's right back to pleasantries, humming a soft and thoughtful noise. ]
A pawn which makes its way across the board after biding their time can so easily turn the tides. [ after all, the promotion of a pawn can decimate the opposing team. and if they're going to try and put him into a position he'd rather not be in, chang geng has no issue with baring his teeth in response - when the time is right, when it's too late for them to do anything. he's not the reckless, impulsive, angry teen anymore.
it's worse when all of that still exists at his core, but he's starting to learn the patience and spitefulness to plan for years. ]
I'll certainly enjoy watching them pat themselves on the back, as if they've done anything that matters. Perhaps you and I can make the best of this situation, Su Jiuqing.
[both of these countries really have no idea what they signed themselves up for by plucking these two out of medical school...
she smiles, nodding her agreement. he's right on all counts, and although she's of half a mind to be contrary with this situation in general - really, she just wants to go home and see her mother, not take lessons on how to be a princess! - she can acknowledge that there are potential benefits to this. so she'll bide her time, as he says; she'll play along, act as though she's delighted with her good fortune, and be so studious and hardworking that they think she's just as invested in being the very picture of a princess as they want her to be.
(and then what...? well, she'll cross that bridge when they come to it.)]
I believe that we can. Well - here's to doing our best, right, Chang Geng?
[their instructor chooses that exact moment to walk in, hears "here's to doing our best," and assumes from the upbeat words and the pleasant looks on their faces that they're both pleased to be here and are ready to buckle down and get to work.
looking pleased with how diligent his pupils will be, he clears his throat.
"I see the two of you have made your introductions." jiuqing looks amused; this man has not done his homework, or he would know that they already knew each other. "Very good. I'll be instructing the both of you on court etiquette over the next few weeks."]
[ the absolute levels of spite that are about to come out of this, but politely, for all the inconveniences that've been shoved in their faces.
in his opinion, there's times to be civil and obedient. and then there's times to be contrary against what someone wants of you. chang geng has seen it in spades with gu yun, and has done it himself. they don't know what they're in for - even if it were just him alone, it would be bad, but by taking su jiuqing from her home, her studies, her mother...
well. they're an allied front in this. whatever they expect the two of them to do, they'll work through it and figure out how to contend with the courts, suitors, requirements. whatever it all might be.
he glances up when the instructor comes in, and just continues to smile politely. ] We'll be fast friends, I'm sure.
[ nothing in his face gives away the fact he thinks this man is an idiot. let the lessons begin. ]
jiuqing, for her part, plays nice. she's politely neutral all throughout the lesson, even though she, too, thinks their teacher is an idiot; she's never been the type to shy away from hard work, even if the work isn't something she particularly wants to do.
it's only the first day. maybe this man will prove to have something useful to teach them.
(he will not.)
at the end of their lesson, she smiles brightly.]
My, that was enlightening! Thank you for your instruction.
[what she thinks, but doesn't say, is now get out of here and leave us alone.]
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no subject
funny, how having your so-called mother planning against a country with an insurgent nation (that half your blood comes from) seems like it'd be the only major plot twist. turns out that the other half of your blood is that of the country's royalty, and finding out the people that gave you sanctuary from rampant physical and psychological abuse were sent to find you and ruin all of those plans, sort of was the cherry on top to that.
medical school was the perfect jumping point for things to kick off, apparently. and yet, he hasn't been able to tell anyone. neither of his close friends, not even his school knows why he was suddenly unenrolled - just that, one day, he was there, and then he wasn't.
ge chen and cao chunhua don't even know. he couldn't tell them, before he was whisked away, staring at gu yun's back and ignoring shen yi's furtive glances between the two of them. he won't think about how betrayed he feels, though he supposes it explains a few things - about gu yun himself, about how the years have been, about their behavior towards his mother and their press to get him away from her as much as possible.
god, whatever plans he had of medicine for the sake of others - for the sake of gu yun - are out the door as he walks through palace halls, is told everything about his personal manor's construction. their plans for his lessons, to be done with another royal brought back home to an allied country. the fact that chang geng isn't even the next in line for succession doesn't mean anything to them. li feng is set for coronation once their father finally dies, having held on long enough to see his lost fourth son, but apparently said son still has to be educated, even with his impeccable manners.
mood sour for a while now, he's running through his last med school studies in his head while waiting for the lessons to start. but being joined by someone else, he glances their way with polite interest, moving to rise when the steps come to a stop, and - ]
... Su Jiuqing? [ he's just as surprised to see her as she is to see him, and it's obvious on a face that's usually passively pleasant. ] Are you the..?
[ the other lost royal, he doesn't say, although there's something under the surprise that's a little wry. ]
no subject
surprised, and then incredulous.]
It appears so.
[it's easy enough to fill in the blanks - she knows what she's here for, and she knows she's supposed to be studying with another lost royal who was also brought home recently, so what else could he be asking about? for that matter, what else would she be here for? it's not like most royal courts make a habit of plucking students who haven't even finished med school out of obscurity for any other reason.
she really can't help but laugh, though she does disguise it as a cough, and says mildly:]
...though I must question the capabilities of those who were looking, when there were two of us in the same place for so long...
[the words are biting, but her tone is perfectly pleasant.]
no subject
they're both on the same page - su jiuqing says that, and he immediately lets the pieces click into place, using them to bridge his way over to the natural conclusion. and, truthfully, chang geng can already see where they might be intending to go with this. the two lost royals, in their minds supposedly still malleable and usable at their ages and their "inadequacy" for having been amongst commoners for their entire lives.
he pulls out a chair for her, smile intact. ]
Supposedly, in my case, they were waiting for the right time to spring this on me. Mid-semester at medical school, which cost me thousands in money and scholarships, was clearly the right moment.
[ his own bite is left out in the open, but he's so composed and polite that it would be easy to forgive him for stabbing someone in the chest with a blatant knife. ]
no subject
I'm sure they were intending to be thoughtful in their own way. Perhaps they thought it would be all the more disruptive if they informed you while you were attempting to set up your own practice and had patients.
[chang geng would have made a fantastic doctor, she thinks. she would have, too. honestly, it's practically a crime that they're depriving their future patients of their services.]
But ah, well, you know what they say about the road to hell and what it's paved with...
no subject
me: you're not playing kon right now, snow ]
Apparently giving me any kind of notice would have "compromised the mission," or something along those lines. [ primly, while chang geng pushes su jiuqing's chair in once she's seated, a proper gentleman. ] I feel as if this was all a bit of a disservice to the both of us.
[ they're cleverer than most of the people in their classes, let alone anyone older than them in positions of power. keeping a secret, in his case? easy. uprooting them from their lives, where they were on their way, slow and steady, towards doctorates? terrible. ]
At least we hadn't made it to practices, yet. Now, though, it's a bit like when celebrities study something as a hobby - how quaint that royalty has a passing interest in the medical field. Perhaps they'll find a niche charity to create.
no subject
I'm inclined to agree with you.
[this is certainly a disservice to them both, although perhaps for different reasons.
from the bits and pieces she's heard of chang geng's - or, rather, the other lost royal's - situation, the whole matter is complicated. in her case, it's much less complicated, but no less inconvenient. having their entire lives uprooted because of someone else's choices is not something she wanted to have in common with anyone, least of all someone she actually likes.]
This might have delayed my studies a bit, but I don't intend to allow it to derail them entirely. I'll take great pleasure in seeing the looks on their faces when they realize that rather than being quaint, getting treatment from either one of us would be entirely necessary for them.
[for their survival. she's not going to wish illness on anyone involved in this, but she'll definitely feel better about it later if any of these idiots comes crawling back for treatment later...]
no subject
(he's less mad at shen yi than he is the acclaimed gu yun. he'll get over it, eventually, but it stings right now. it's too personal.) ]
I can't imagine the gossip at school right now, with both of us suddenly gone.
[ "scandal," probably, is the main read on all of this. in a way it's true, though not in the way he bets their young adult minds are running rampant with. but there's quite a bit of scandal attached to both of their cases, from what he understands - in different ways, but still there - and once their discovery hits the mainstream news...
they're not going to know any peace. he misses school already. ]
My, ah, eldest half brother is slated to take the throne soon. He has sons of his own, and we have another living brother older than me in the naval forces. The likelihood of me being crown prince is abysmal, so if I can spend my time returning to my studies once this entire fiasco is over, then I will. I've no interest in playing at being yet another court puppet.
[ none of their babysitters are around to chastise him or tell him to hold his tongue, so he doesn't. at least chang geng's not saying his thought of let them rot in response to treating pleading members of royalty. ]
no subject
oh, boy. come to think of it, he's right. they vanished at pretty much the same time, so there's pretty much no way their former classmates aren't going to think they vanished together; it's technically right, although it's not as though either of them knew that was going to be the case until five minutes ago.]
My half-sister - who, it seems, is also my cousin... [her dad has very specific tastes, apparently] ...seems to have gotten into some sort of trouble... so it became convenient for my father to remember he had another daughter. [she wrinkles her nose.] I imagine the intent is for me to become someone who dances to his tune, but I'm not particularly inclined to do so.
[jiuqing @ her dad: please go back to forgetting i exist, thanks!]
Of course I'll learn whatever I'm presented with as best I can, but I'll learn it for my own benefit and my mother's benefit, not for his.
no subject
their former classmates would lose their absolute minds over it, and he knows it. "we knew them!" coupled with "we knew it!" how tiring. ]
Daughters of royalty, more often than not, are meant to be seen and not heard in old fashioned opinion. Act a certain way, marry a certain person, speak little but from a script... I think I'm largely meant to stay out of trouble, but not expected to do much, if I'm gauging from Li Feng's general attitude towards me. It puts us into very interesting positions.
[ please just let them both go back to what they were doing. ]
But learning for our own sakes will benefit us, while they think it benefits them. And there are always loopholes to exploit.
1/2
2/2
...
and, well, despite all the rumors that will inevitably crop up, it'll be easier to do this alongside someone she knows and gets along with. that's one good thing about this, she supposes; much better to be facing this with chang geng rather than some pompous prince reveling in his newfound importance.
it's fine. they'll be fine.]
They aim to make us pawns on their board, I believe. [a pause, and then, pleasantly - ] Well, they're welcome to think they've succeeded in that, but you and I both know they never will.
/2
no subject
A pawn which makes its way across the board after biding their time can so easily turn the tides. [ after all, the promotion of a pawn can decimate the opposing team. and if they're going to try and put him into a position he'd rather not be in, chang geng has no issue with baring his teeth in response - when the time is right, when it's too late for them to do anything. he's not the reckless, impulsive, angry teen anymore.
it's worse when all of that still exists at his core, but he's starting to learn the patience and spitefulness to plan for years. ]
I'll certainly enjoy watching them pat themselves on the back, as if they've done anything that matters. Perhaps you and I can make the best of this situation, Su Jiuqing.
no subject
she smiles, nodding her agreement. he's right on all counts, and although she's of half a mind to be contrary with this situation in general - really, she just wants to go home and see her mother, not take lessons on how to be a princess! - she can acknowledge that there are potential benefits to this. so she'll bide her time, as he says; she'll play along, act as though she's delighted with her good fortune, and be so studious and hardworking that they think she's just as invested in being the very picture of a princess as they want her to be.
(and then what...? well, she'll cross that bridge when they come to it.)]
I believe that we can. Well - here's to doing our best, right, Chang Geng?
[their instructor chooses that exact moment to walk in, hears "here's to doing our best," and assumes from the upbeat words and the pleasant looks on their faces that they're both pleased to be here and are ready to buckle down and get to work.
looking pleased with how diligent his pupils will be, he clears his throat.
"I see the two of you have made your introductions." jiuqing looks amused; this man has not done his homework, or he would know that they already knew each other. "Very good. I'll be instructing the both of you on court etiquette over the next few weeks."]
no subject
in his opinion, there's times to be civil and obedient. and then there's times to be contrary against what someone wants of you. chang geng has seen it in spades with gu yun, and has done it himself. they don't know what they're in for - even if it were just him alone, it would be bad, but by taking su jiuqing from her home, her studies, her mother...
well. they're an allied front in this. whatever they expect the two of them to do, they'll work through it and figure out how to contend with the courts, suitors, requirements. whatever it all might be.
he glances up when the instructor comes in, and just continues to smile politely. ] We'll be fast friends, I'm sure.
[ nothing in his face gives away the fact he thinks this man is an idiot. let the lessons begin. ]
no subject
jiuqing, for her part, plays nice. she's politely neutral all throughout the lesson, even though she, too, thinks their teacher is an idiot; she's never been the type to shy away from hard work, even if the work isn't something she particularly wants to do.
it's only the first day. maybe this man will prove to have something useful to teach them.
(he will not.)
at the end of their lesson, she smiles brightly.]
My, that was enlightening! Thank you for your instruction.
[what she thinks, but doesn't say, is now get out of here and leave us alone.]