Under The Moonlight (Arranged Marriage)

"I can't wait for tomorrow to come!" Miyojin said upon entering the room. His unanticipated enthusiasm surprised Xia Yu.

Earlier today, they had arrived at the village of Zedong. The old fisherman introduced them to the owners of the tea shop. They are Lu Renshu and Chen Chunhua, who are an old childless couple. After hearing their "story", the old couple took pity on Xia Yu and Miyojin. They welcomed them and gave them the job.

The old couple gave them a room on the second floor of the tea shop's back house. After settling down, Master Renshu oriented the two on their respective jobs. Miyojin will be brewing the tea. While Xia Yu will serve the customers. They will begin working tomorrow.

"You seem to like the job that was given to you." Xia Yu commented as she opened the closet to look for their nightwear.

"Of course, I do. It is something I can do well." The prince said as he took his nightwear from Xia Yu.

"Good for you." Xia Yu said as they both prepared for bed.

Because of last night's event, sleeping on the same bed is no longer awkward for them. They did talk a bit. But soon, they both fell into a peaceful slumber.

"This is not what I had in mind." Xia Yu whispered to Miyojin.

"I agree. This is a bore." Miyojin whispered back. His enthusiasm from yesterday is now deflated.

The two peasant-disguised royals expected this day to be busy and bustling. Instead, they only had two customers and it was already nearing dusk.

"Do you think this has been their situation ever since?" Miyojin asked as both of them stood behind the counter.

The two eyed the old couple who were at the entrance of the tea shop. By looking at their sad longing eyes, the answer was obvious to both of them.

"It seems so."

"What should we do? If the tea shop is not earning enough, they won't keep us here for long."

"That is true..."

Xia Yu looked in the distance as she thought about the situation. Seeing this, Miyojin did the same. The prince racked his brain for possible reasons why the tea shop wasn't earning well.

An idea came to him in an instant.

"Do you think it is the location? This village's population is pretty sparse to me." He said to Xia Yu.

"No. That's not it. Even if there aren't many people living here, many travelers still pass through this village."

"Then what could be the reason why they don't have customers?"

Xia Yu looked at Miyojin with curiosity.

"Have you tasted the tea yet?" she asked.

"No."

As Miyojin gave his answer, he suddenly realized what Xia Yu was trying to find out. He immediately went into the kitchen. Spotting the tea kettle, he poured himself a cup and drank it.

"So... how's the taste?" Xia Yu asked who also followed him to the kitchen.

Miyojin tasted the tea carefully, making sure he would be able to make a fair judgment.

"It isn't bad, to be honest." He said.

"But it isn't the best-tasting tea, right?" Xia Yu said.

"Yes."

"Then, this is the root problem. And I know how to fix it."

Miyojin was impressed that Xia Yu already had a solution.

"How?"

Xia Yu leaned in close to whisper her plan.

"Heavens! This must be what it feels like when they say they wish to relax after a day's hard work." Miyojin said as he and Xia Yu walked to the house at the back.

It has been two weeks since they arrived at Zedong. That boring first day of work seems like a very long time ago. Now, they had so many customers that they had to turn down some just so they could close for the day.

"You just said what's on my mind. Sleep is the only thing I want now." Xia Yu said as she tried to fight off a yawn.

"I can't believe that lemon thyme is all we need to bring in these many customers."

Miyojin looked at Xia Yu with amazement. He remembered the day she told him what they needed to do. She said that the tea can taste better if they can add something to it. Then, she told him that she spotted some lemon thyme on their way here.

The next early morning, she went to the grasslands nearby to harvest some lemon thyme. She even brought some sprouts so she could grow them herself. Miyojin immediately brewed some tea with the lemon thyme. When that was done, they both went to their employers for a taste test.

Needless to say, the old couple loved it. It was immediately implemented in the menu. Soon, word of mouth of their delicious tea spread. They began to have plenty of customers. Most of them never settled for just one cup of tea.

"Those tea cakes you asked them to make are also a nice touch." Xia Yu complimented him.

Aside from Xia Yu, Miyojin also gave a suggestion. It turned out Lijuan taught him how to bake tea cakes. Though he isn't good at baking, Mistress Chunhua is. The tea and tea cakes instantly became the best-selling pair.

"Thank you. But they would be nothing without the delicious tea you'd come up with."

For the days they had been together, the detached married couple became friends. Conversations and pleasantries flow between them as easily as the night's breeze. There was no awkwardness. There was only amiability.

"By the way, did Master Renshu give you our pay?" Xia Yu suddenly asked.

To answer her question, Miyojin pulled out a small pouch and gave it to Xia Yu. Opening the pouch, she saw three taels of silver.

"Oh? This is a lot. I guess we raked in a great amount of money." Xia Yu said while examining the silver taels.

"You mean this is enough for us to travel back home?" Miyojin asked with anticipation.

"Yes... But the bad news is no one I asked knew the way to the Great Yong Empire. They heard of it but they can't point out its direction."

Xia Yu let out an exasperated sigh. Though they made remarkable progress with their jobs, they fell short of making any progress with their real mission. She wondered how far they were from home that no one here knew the way.

"It's okay. I guess we had to wait for a bit more."

Miyojin gave Xia Yu an encouraging smile which Xia Yu returned. Together, they went into the house. But to their surprise, they found the old couple by the stairs waiting for them. They both had happy smiles on their faces.

"Jin, Yuying, there you are! We have great news." Master Renshu began, addressing them with the names they gave him.

"What is it?" Miyojin asked.

"Remember that man who ordered four cups of tea from us today and the day before?"

"Yes. He said he loves tea and would like to drink it every day." Xia Yu answered remembering that particular customer.

"Yes. We had talked with him earlier. It turned out that he was a merchant from Gudong. He offered us to open a tea shop there."

"That is great news indeed! But where is this Gudong? Is it a nearby village?" Miyojin asked.

"Oh? No, it is a town up north. It is much more civilized than here with lots of people. It is a two-day trip to get there." Renshu answered.

"Oh... That sounds great. We assumed you must have accepted such an offer." Xia Yu said.

The old couple gave them smiles as they answered in the affirmative.

"Of course, we did. That is why we waited here to tell you that we'll be leaving the day after tomorrow. You both will be coming with us." Master Renshu explained.

And because of that, Xia Yu and Miyojin prepared themselves to move into a bigger town.

"That's excellent work to the both of you. You should have a good rest now." Master Renshu said.

Xia Yu and Miyojin both bowed in respect to their employer. It has been more than a week since they arrived in the town of Gudong. Unlike in Zedong, the tea shop had some established competitors. However, because of Xia Yu's experience in business, she was able to come up with some tactics to win over the people of Gudong.

After bidding the old man good night, they both went out of the shop. They went to the large house where they had been staying since. The room they were given is a lot larger than the one they had in Zedong. They even had a kitchen space in their room.

Though the old couple hired two more people to help them, the two royalties still felt very exhausted. After making their preparations for bed, Xia Yu was the first one to lie down. On the other hand, Miyojin was drying his hair with a towel. As he was hanging his towel to dry, a thought occurred to him. He went to the window and opened it.

There he saw the full moon shining with enough luminosity to light the night sky. It was beautiful. He used to watch the moon with Lijuan. They would talk about its beauty and how it gave their surroundings such a romantic ambiance.

However, she is not here with him. Instead, he had Xia Yu, his lawfully wedded wife. He wondered if Xia Yu also found the moon beautiful. She might have not noticed it when they walked back to the house. After all, she was pretty silent this whole time.

"Xia Yu, are you still awake?"

"Yes... what is it?" Xia Yu answered even though she already had her eyes closed.

"Have a look at the moon. It's a full moon!"

Xia Yu can hear the excitement in Miyojin's voice. But despite that...

"No, thank you. Please enjoy it for me instead." She said without even opening her eyes.

Miyojin felt something stung within him. He didn't understand why she openly refused to watch the moon. Was she too tired to get up? Or maybe she didn't want to watch the moon with him.

"I mean... the moon looks so beautiful tonight. Are you sure you wish to miss this?" Miyojin asked one more time.

"Yes, I am very certain." She replied in an instant.

"You don't find the moon beautiful, do you?"

This question made Xia Yu open her eyes. She turned to her side so she could see the prince who was looking back at her.

"There's beauty in everything around us and that includes the moon. I did moon-gazing a few times before. But tonight, I do not want to see it." She said, a hint of frustration in her tone.

"And why not?"

Xia Yu let out a frustrated sigh before answering.

"It is a clear indication that it has been a month since the attack on the ship. I made a promise that we would both get back to the palace safely. But a month has passed and still, I haven't made any progress in finding our way back."

Hearing Xia Yu's explanation, Miyojin finally understood what was going on. Throughout this ordeal, he only just went with the flow. On the other hand, Xia Yu was very stressed out. It was no wonder she easily got tired and irritated these days.

Miyojin looked at the moon one last time before closing the window. He made his way to the bed and sat on it.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, making Xia Yu soften her expression.

"I'm sorry too. I ruined your moon-gazing with my frustrations."

"No, what you did was what I needed. I have been very distracted by everything lately. While you continued to search for our way home. I didn't do anything to help you with that."

"No, that's not true. You have been helping me by keeping our act going. It made my search for information less suspicious."

Miyojin smiled at Xia Yu.

"Do you really think that way?"

"I wouldn't say that if I didn't."

Feeling happy for the appreciation, Miyojin lay down on the bed beside Xia Yu. They haven't slept yet. Rather, they began talking about the past month. Xia Yu expressed her amazement at how well Miyojin adapted to this. He made things easier for her. She didn't have to worry about the prince adjusting to a commoner's normal life.

Throughout the conversation, Miyojin felt giddy. He had a smile on his face as he listened to Xia Yu. His brother was truly right. Xia Yu was someone worth getting along with.