Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 75: Birthday Scolding...

Chapter 75: Birthday Scolding...

Tan Bowen, who had been subjected to this torture before when he mistakenly unravelled her chest binding while she was performing a sword dance, began to pull at his collar and fan his face vigorously, knowing from hard experience how uncomfortable he would soon become.

On the last occasion he had been subjected to a whole-of-body flush of unnatural heat which persisted for far longer than seemed reasonable.

He gestured to a servant, "iced water please, hurry," he requested urgently.

Bai Li glared at Sofya, knowing that the little devil had been very calculated in her planning, and that she had put Meili on the spot by gifting her that costume at the last minute.

He, more than any man here, knew all about the girl’s voluptuous charms and tantalising figure, and selfishly, particularly given he was still fighting to make her his bride, it was not something he wished anyone else to see.

The Second Prince’s mouth twisted into a crooked little smile as he watched the two beautiful girls dance. Mei Meili’s ’assets’, which had become apparent to him for the first time when they sparred together, were on more than fulsome display, and he ground his teeth in jealous irritation.

He had told her to return to whatever practice she had in place to hide those jade rabbits from the view of other men, and here she was, not only flaunting them, but leaping about and posing, so that they wobbled and bounced, drawing men’s eyes like bees to honey!

He would be having some serious words with this little vixen before her birthday night was through...

He turned to one of his guards and whispered something.

Bai Li noticed that the Second Prince’s command was immediately followed by the removal of all of the male servants and guards from the vicinity. He nodded in satisfied agreement with his friend on his approach to the situation.

First Brother had briefly considered calling a stop to the performance when he first saw Meili’s outfit, but in the end, he was constrained by the fact that Prince Nur had gifted her the entire outfit and the jewellery, and Princess Sofya had sought and gained their mother’s approval for his meimei to learn this dance.

She was a clever little fox, this princess, he thought with grudging admiration; and a very beautiful one too.

As he watched her dance, he realised she was watching him back.

She raised her sheer veil to cover the lower half of her face and fluttered her pretty hazel green eyes at him.

He nodded at her in defeat, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

When the girls spun at the finale of the dance, their full skirts flew up high, showing off their shapely legs.

Well, there was the cherry on the bullshit sundae, First Brother put his head in his hands, looking up at Sofya on the stage. As if Meili didn’t already have enough young men interested in her at the same time. This ought to shift them all up a notch in the intensity of their pursuit, he thought despondently.

The girls curtsied and their audience clapped politely. None of the men dared to be too enthusiastic in case their enthusiasm was misread as lechery.

The girls expertly wrapped their veils around their midriffs and arms and rejoined the dinner.

The Second Prince slowly nodded at Meili. "That was very good Mei Meili, but," he leaned in closer to her ear, "I think you forgot a critical piece of clothing... or maybe two".

Her eyes widened. "Yes, I was quite concerned about the short top, but Sofya kept insisting it was authentic, and given it was also my birthday gift, I didn’t feel I could refuse to wear it."

"You were correct to be concerned. Just because an outfit is authentic doesn’t mean you should prance about it in public. There are tribes in Africa that wear nothing but a loincloth. I hope you won’t decide to do an African dance next?"

"What? No! Of course not your highness!"

"You also forgot to wear whatever it is that you used to wear in the past to," he shook his hands across his chest area, "you know, disguise the fact your rabbits are... very greedy".

Which rabbits were greedy, she thought? She didn’t have any rabbits, just a dog. She looked at the prince, clearly perplexed.

"Don’t make me spell it out," he growled.

"What greedy rabbits, your highness?" she whispered.

"Your jade rabbits need to be put back in their hutch," he tried again.

She understood jade rabbits as a euphemism for breasts well enough, and she pulled up her handy veil across her face to hide her blush.

She couldn’t trust herself to speak to him any longer she was so mortified, so she turned to Bai Li.

Bai Li had a fair idea of the nature of her conversation with the Second Prince. He only needed to see the prince’s gestures and Mei Meili’s sudden covering of her face to get the gist of what had been said.

"Don’t be upset Mei Meili. Birthday girls should only be happy. It was a very beautiful dance," he complimented her.

"Thank you, Bai Li," she said gratefully. "The Prince told me my costume was inappropriate, but I already knew it was. I just felt very obligated because it was a gift from Sofya and Prince Nur."

And the grasslands princess knew full well you would feel that way, thought Bai Li.

"It was very kind of you to think of your friend’s feelings. Sometimes, though, you must put your own feelings ahead of others, and also your sense of what is right and wrong. Don’t let anyone compromise that," he looked at her tenderly. "You looked very lovely, so don’t be too hard on yourself."

"I don’t think I looked lovely," she sighed, "how can anyone look lovely when they’re so disproportionate?" She blushed when she realised Bai Li would take that comment as a direct reference to her chest size. She looked up at him furtively, "it’s not what you’re thinking Bai Li," she whispered.

"How do you know what I’m thinking?" he smiled a rare, closed lip smile at her, raising his eyebrows slightly so that she could guess exactly what he was thinking of.

"Oh!" she dropped her veil and picked it back up again to cover her embarrassment. "Don’t tease me Bai Li!" she cried.

"Alright, alright," he laughed. "Hopefully you have learnt something from this whole episode, so it doesn’t happen again."

"I have," she said wholeheartedly.

"What have you learnt Mei Meili?" ask Tan Bowen, who finally trusted himself to join in the conversation again, after downing three cups of iced water in quick succession.

"Mother was right to ban me from wearing grasslands costumes," she said, accepting that once again, her mother had known best.

"Yes, she was," said Tan Bowen seriously.

"Listen to your mother next time," said Bai Li affectionately.

"Why would you defy your mother?" asked the second prince, incredulous.

Mei Meili sighed and dropped her veil from her face, looking between her three dear friends.

Seeing the three of them in such violent agreement on a topic told her all she needed to know.