[Prince Top x Little Grass Bottom]
Ye Shiji had only been a blade of grass for a year since taking human form, and still couldn't bloom.
He'd heard the emperor was blessed with extraordinary fortune. If he stayed by his side and absorbed a little of it, perhaps he could finally find a way to bloom.
The night before he set out down the mountain, a strange group came searching the woods. They were looking for the very spot he'd chosen as his home after much deliberation...
The crown prince was ordered to find an immortal herb, and the immortal herb turned out to be me!
Ye Shiji was terrified. In the dead of night, a man crashed down beside him, vomiting blood.
He sprang awake and realized the man was brimming with fortune. Absolutely brimming!
So he saved the man's life and stayed by his side until dawn.
When he asked, he learned the man's name was Su Chi, and that he was also headed to the capital.
Ye Shiji's eyes lit up. “Can I come with you?”
*
Ye Shiji came up with all kinds of ways to absorb fortune.
He stayed right by Su Chi's side, secretly tugging at his sleeve and touching his hand while he slept.
His true form grew strong and healthy, and a flower bud even appeared!
That day, he turned back into grass and admired his bud in the damp soil of the courtyard.
Suddenly, he heard someone call Su Chi the crown prince and ask whether he'd found the immortal herb.
The crown prince replied in a low voice, “Of course.”
Oh no, it seemed he'd been tricked...
Ye Shiji stuffed one of Su Chi's garments into his pack and slipped away under cover of night.
*
Without the crown prince's fortune to nourish him, Ye Shiji grew pale and weak. Even the flower bud he'd struggled so hard to grow was about to wither.
Using his spirit arts of plants and trees, he saved a dying orchid and was fortunate enough to be summoned to the palace.
There, he discovered that the emperor had even less fortune than the crown prince!
As his flower bud withered more and more, Ye Shiji developed a fever that wouldn't break.
The palace was in chaos that night, but he lay sick in bed, unaware of what was happening.
The door swung open. Ye Shiji looked up to see the crown prince clutching the letter he'd left behind and striding toward him.
Burning with fever, he was so dazed that his tears nearly drained all the moisture from his grass.
“You lied to me. My flower bud...”
“My flower bud is dying.”
The crown prince lifted him into his arms, pulled the garment from his embrace, and asked, “Where's the flower bud? Let me take a look.”
*
The emperor was critically ill.
The palace physicians came and went frequently, but not to prolong the emperor's life.
The elderly physician wiped his sweat and glanced at the delirious patient on the bed. “I... I can only diagnose a fever. I don't know what else is wrong.”
The crown prince held the patient's hand, his voice cold. “Then why hasn't he gotten better after two days?”
The physicians fell silent.
The old physician trembled as he spoke. “Perhaps holding him at night and wiping away his sweat might help.”
With no other options, the crown prince dismissed the servants, held Ye Shiji in his arms and patted his back, then wiped his hands and feet with warm water.
In the middle of the night, the person in his arms suddenly opened his eyes and burst into tears. “My flower bud. Rub it for me.”
1. The flower bud here is a real flower bud.
2. One-on-one romance, both characters are devoted to each other.
The crown prince didn't lie to the little blade of grass! It was all a wonderful misunderstanding.
Theme: Helping a little blade of grass bloom
