Xianyu contemplated the proposition for a while. He wasn't very aware of his own finances. How much did people usually bet at these kinds of gatherings? Was it typical for people to bet at all. Knowing Jingrui gege, Xianyu was almost sure his brother would tell him not to do anything impulsive.
"How about this?" he said after a while, tapping his finger to his cheek teasingly. "I'll give you any accessory from my person, if I lose."
"Sure," Leyang agreed.
The younger prince had a reputation for commissioning expensive jewelery from various craftsmen from all over the kingdom. Not only that, but it was also said that he also received many gifts from his dear Jingrui gege in the form of these accessories. Naturally, there was a good chance to gain a lot from this!
"Then, what do you want as your prize?" the elder prince asked. "I'm feeling generous, so I'll let you choose."
To this, Xianyu tilted his head curiously to the side. He wasn't very sure what he wanted either. At first, he'd only brought up the idea of a prize as a joke. He'd assumed that, if there was a prize to be had, his half-brother would be the one to offer him something. Anything he wanted was too broad a scope.
After some not-so-careful contemplation, he finally spoke. "How about a new custom dress? You can design it however you like and commission it from whoever you wish. All of my current clothes all look too similar. But you have to put effort into it. Something I've never seen before!"
The nobles in the room seemed amused at the thought. Imagine that, a prince like Leyang designing a pretty garment for his half-brother. Many of them laughed at the thought.
It seemed impossible for anyone to come up with a design Xianyu did not already own. A son beloved by a high ranking son of the empress — the crown prince's full brother — and even the emperor himself. Not only that but clearly neither men disapproved of Xianyu's love for women's wear. Surely they had already gifted him every possible design out there!
"No problem" Leyang finally replied. "It may take some time, of course."
To that Xianyu nodded in reply. He didn't mind at all. He himself had spent months trying to find a new design of clothes that he did not already own. If Leyang ge could come up with anything, he was willing to wait quite a while.
With that, the topic moved on, and eventually the dancers entered the hall.
Xianyu found himself very easily drawn in by the performance. He'd always been a fan of this kind of thing, which was why he had decided to become a dancer in the first place.
Each dancer moved exquisitely, each one clearly extremely skilled in their craft. These were people whom Xianyu had once spent days on end watching, studying their movements and trying to replicate them, as a child. Watching them now felt almost like stepping back in time. Back to late nights when he'd still lived within the palace walls. Back to when he'd sat beside his servants and made them watch the dances with him because no one else would.
The first time he'd seen the court dancers, Xianyu had still been very small, living amongst concubines and other royal children one day, and running after Jingrui the next.
It had been one of those rare nights where, instead of sleeping with his gege in the older boy's living quarters, Xianyu had found himself back amongst the concubines and the royal children born to them.
He remembered sneaking out of his sleeping quarters he had, at the time, shared with little Xiuying. Following the sound of music, he'd found himself peeking into the window of a high ranking concubine whom he'd never spoken to in his life. Inside had been a vivid blur of colours he could no longer remember clearly. Still, the memory stuck quite fondly in his mind.
It was that night that Xianyu had decided he wanted to make himself as beautiful as possible. To strive toward a kind of beauty no other man desired to have. From then on, he'd worked hard toward his goal.
Afterward, noticing his younger brother's fascination, Jingrui had encouraged Xianyu to try out the idea of learning to truly dance. Which was where the image of Yuehua had been born.
Even now, watching the show unfold before him, Xianyu almost felt like he was back in his childhood: watching the dancers through the window; sitting in the dark in his room, surrounded by Jiang and other servants, watching the dancers he'd summoned to his brother's residence far too late at night.
When the performance finally came to an end and the dancers had bowed, Xianyu found himself clapping quite delightedly.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Xianyu heard his half-brother saying as the older man gestured for the dancers to come relax with them.
"Now, how about that bet, Xianyu?"
Xianyu's blinked, having almost forgotten about it during the performance. Still, he didn't back down either. He was quite excited about imitating Yuehua, knowing full well that he and she were the same person.
"Ladies," the older prince addressed the dancers. "My younger brother here would like to borrow a robe from one of you. Would you mind?"
Gazes of the dancers turned toward Xianyu, who Leyang's arm was extended toward.
Unperturbed by the attention, the little prince's smile only grew brighter as he leaned forward and waved a hand to them.
Perhaps it was because Xianyu resembled a woman enough, or perhaps they simply wished to please the powerful young men in the room, the dancers did not seem against the idea at all. It barely took more than a few minutes to figure out who was closest in size to Xianyu and for him to be escorted to a side chamber where he would change.
There, Xianyu was presented with a few options for outfits to change into, all seeming to be different costumes the performers had brought to change into.
It didn't take very long for him to pick out a red robe from the sparse selection. After all, Yuehua often appeared in deep reds and blues. If he really thought about it long enough, Xianyu thought he might have never, as Yuehua, worn an outfit which did not consist of the colour red.
Perhaps it was because he did not get the chance to wear red often as 'Xianyu the prince' that he gravitated toward the colour more when in disguise.
Along with the elegant robe, he also donned a veil to cover the lower half of his face, just as Yuehua often did. This was partly to lend to the illusion, and also to make sure that no one noticed just how similar their features truly were. Having someone notice the resemblance would certainly cause more trouble than it was worth.
With Jiang's help, getting dressed wasn't all too difficult, though it certainly took much longer than usual. Still, the little prince was grateful to have his servant with him. He even made a note be less difficult in the coming days to show his gratitude.
Stepping out of the side chamber, Xianyu noticed immediately how many eyes were on him. The feeling pleased him more than anything else! He had always been the type of person who enjoyed attention.
"What do you think?" he asked, trying to find the correct pitch of voice to use. If he went to close to Yuehua's tone, he feared someone might find him out, and if he didn't get close enough, he feared they'd say he wasn't trying hard enough.
On a daily basis, the tone he spoke in was quite a believable tone for a young girl of his age — much too high for Yuehua. Because of this, he actually had to pitch down instead of up. As he spoke, his tone fluctuated quite a bit, even dipping down to his natural register for a split second.
Eventually, he settled on a breathier woman's voice. Xianyu figured, for these men who'd only ever heard snippets of the renowned dancer's voice, a caricature of her tone should be believable enough for him to win the bet.
"Pretty, aren't I?" Xianyu also chose to speak in his normal manner. No point mimicking Yuehua's style of speech when no one here had ever spoken with her.
There was a short silence that followed the question. No one wanted to admit that they could see why Xianyu had a few suitors himself.
"Sure you're plenty pretty," Leyang finally said, "but that wasn't the point of the wager, was it? It's not a secret you have a pretty face, but can you really replicate Yuehua's presence?"
A few nobles whispered their agreement.
"Right," one said. "Yuehua has more than just a pretty face."
Another nodded. "I doubt His Highness could replicate her as well as he claims. They're not alike at all."
Some others disagreed, choosing instead to believe in XIanyu's ability to replicate and effuse beauty.
"I bet the prince will succeed," a third man said. "He's quite an unusual individual to begin with."
A couple others nodded in unison.
Xianyu smiled at this, pleased to have everyone's attention on him. "Well there's no need to speculate. We're about to find out." He took on a speech pattern slightly closer to Yuehua's, though still carrying a hint of his own teasing nature.
Bending down to the ground, Xianyu extended his arms gracefully and took a step forward. His long hair fell in waves down his back and stretched toward his lower back.
By now, the late afternoon light from when he'd first arrived had melted away into evening. The sun hung low in the sky, casting a warm light through the window in thin strips. It was beautiful was what it was, serving only to enhance the elegance of Xianyu's every movement as he brushed a finger over his own face, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.
Xianyu's lips parted ever so slightly, knowing exactly what he was doing. There had always been a level of seduction in the way Yuehua was designed to move. That was how Xianyu had always intended her to be: a beauty who could do anything she well pleased and not suffer the consequences for any of them. He touched a finger to his own bottom lip, his eyelashes fluttered as he looked up, and a smirk formed on his face.
"Do I look like her?"
The silence that followed was almost overwhelming. Even the dancers, who had been invited to stay by Leyang, stood frozen with their gazes fixed unwaveringly on him. No one could even dare to look away. This was the effect that Yuehua had always had on people. And now, Xianyu was the one everyone's gazes were fixed on.
Not even the nobles who had been rooting for Xianyu had quite expected this level of effect.
There really was something spectacular about a beautiful person who knew they were beautiful.