Work Text:
To Xie Lian, getting married was something for other people. The ceremony was nice enough, if a little stiff; the idea behind the concept was beautiful, if a little claustrophobic; the future the newlyweds would have together was bright, if a little boring. During the beginning of his teenage years, before he became really serious about abstinence and cultivation, his parents would parade beautiful girls of good families in front of him, hoping fervently that he would fancy one of them. They were dressed in colourful silk, looking like flowers and butterflies, truly an awe-inspiring sight. These scenes were the big guns: the queen was getting desperate — after all, he would be the king! How could he carry on the legacy of his royal house without a wife? Without children?!
Sometimes she thought that she would just have to drop dead on the spot.
It was terrible, but true: she wouldn’t be blessed with grandchildren. She only had one child, surely at the time it seemed like enough, and now that she realized — it was too late! She wasn’t able to bear another, and so she was cursed with watching all her friends running around, chasing babies after babies after babies… And she, with such a heavy crown resting on her head, pulling at her hair mercilessly!, her hands empty and her heart cold…
It was really too sad.
Xie Lian, why did you have to be like that?!
It was already past sunset, and Hua Cheng still hadn’t returned. Xie Lian rested his face on his right hand, the left one too busy toying with the ring and the necklace, a nervous tick that he got after that time when Hua Cheng went seriously missing. He sighed, and kicked a little rock away from the pile he made earlier; unfortunately, he immediately started thinking, maybe this little rock is now friends with the others, and is crying silent tears of despair after being so rudely kicked away from everything it knew? Being so, he picked it up and fixed the pile like it was before.
“Gege, what are you doing on the ground?”
“What? San Lang, you’re back! Nothing. I’m doing nothing. What would I be doing here. Nothing.”
Hua Cheng smiled, looking maybe around seventeen years old. It was his favourite appearance to shamelessly scam things out of the villagers, who always get very distracted very suddenly when he showed up. There’s a bag full of round oranges by his feet, looking fresh and sweet; Xie Lian, who’ve been craving fresh fruit for days, felt like he could cry a new river.
“Oh! San Lang got oranges! It’s been so long since we eat some… So resourceful, as expected of a Supreme Ghost King.” Xie Lian praised, earnestly.
Hua Cheng chuckled, looking modest. “It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Gege said that he wanted to eat some two days ago, pray he’ll forgive this San Lang for the delay.”
“I made some soup early, if you want to taste it? It’s a little cold now… Let me reheat some for you.”
The shrine was very small, barely big enough for one bedroom which is also a kitchen, if you ignore the fact that Xie Lian also bathes there, so when he opened the pot suddenly the smell was everywhere, truly inescapable. He felt a little awkward, but Hua Cheng made no signal that anything was amiss, so his heart felt full of confidence yet again. The color was better than the previous attempts, looking like a healthy red instead of the usual weird green. It was true — Xie Lian had made that recipe multiple times, truly someone who never learns. Still, every time Hua Cheng would say something like “oh, it’s good, just a little light on flavor, maybe more pepper”, all very good criticism, so Xie Lian felt that he had to give it another go.
After a while, the soup was reheated, and Hua Cheng was tasting it. Xie Lian stared at him, almost fixedly, trying to guess if it was good or bad. He knew that he was not the best cook, but he had been cooking for eight hundred years, there had to be something that he knew how to do, and didn’t everyone say that practice makes perfect?
“It’s very good, gege.” he said, after finishing a bowl and going for a second. “Definitely better than the last time. The amount of water makes all the difference.”
“I think so too!” Xie Lian nodded enthusiastically. “One of the aunties who likes to bring us steamed buns said that the reason my food was bad is that I use too little water. I felt humbled and enlighted by her knowledge.”
“Gege shouldn’t just listen to everyone on the street…”
“Nonsense, nonsense. The one whose heart is closed to learning is already dead.”
Hua Cheng laughed softly. “Who said that?”
“Well, it was me… I was very young at the time…” Xie Lian blushed pink like sunset, and his robes, white as always, only made the situation worse. Still, his face was pretty thick, and this phrase was probably the only reasonable thing he said during his first hundred years, so he wasn’t embarrassed.
“Gege, as always, showed an impressive amount of wisdom at a young age.”
“You’re too kind, San Lang, much too kind.” he paused, and just couldn’t hold back anymore, “so, you really liked my Blossoms of Love??”
They were very close, laying side by side, touching everywhere. Xie Lian wanted to giggle, which was a common feeling when he was around Hua Cheng. He had said, once, I didn’t know how simple it is to be happy before meeting you, and it was the truth. Sad, yes, but isn’t it better to know happiness at a later age, cough, than never knowing it at all?
“The ring San Lang gave me is the prettiest thing in the world.” he said, carefully, looking at Hua Cheng. It was the new moon, and everything was darker than usual; his eyes were good, but his luck wasn’t, so he couldn’t really see any details on Hua Cheng’s face.
“I made it for you.” he answered, and his voice was warm as summer. Xie Lian wasn’t nervous, exactly; wasn’t the day he was gifted this necklace just a little after he met Hua Cheng for the first time in eight hundred years? Some people liked to move slowly in new relationships, but Hua Cheng runned like it was a marathon and the prize was the sun, and Xie Lian was more than happy accompanying him. Still…
There’s a custom in the ghost realm…
“Sometimes I worry.” he said, and sighed, resting his head against Hua Cheng’s chest, right over where his heart would be beating if he was alive.
“About what?”
“If something were to happen to this ring — to you —, I would die.” Xie Lian told him, his voice full of steely certainty. “I would kill the person responsible and then I would for sure die.”
“You can destroy it, if you want.” Hua Cheng answered, sounding nonchalant as if saying the winter is too cold, the summer is too hot, the spring always make me sneeze. “I gave it to you because I don’t want anyone else, anything else, to have it, but I didn’t make gege the guardian of it. It’s not your job to look after this ring. It’s a gift.”
(Like my heart).
“San Lang is too trusting.” Xie Lian said, sighing. “It’s a terrible habit, please don’t go around trusting everyone, it’s bad for you…”
Hua Cheng smiled against Xie Lian’s forehead, radiating happiness and contentment. There, feeling comfy and safe and warm, for some reason Xie Lian couldn’t help thinking,
Mother, did you see how I got married in the end?