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When Jiang Cheng wakes up he’s surprised to find Jiang Xiuying not in bed with him. It causes him to grumble, because Jiang Cheng really prefers to wake up to his love in his bed, but he guesses there is nothing to do about it.
So he gets up, and gets ready for the day alone, same as he normally would—as he did for years before Jiang Xiuying became a fixed point in his routine—but he hates every second of it.
It must be evident in the frown on his face, because when he makes his way to breakfast, people keep out of his way and Jiang Cheng is glad for it.
He had no problem functioning in the morning for the last years, but now that he usually has Jiang Xiuying by his side in the morning he forgot how to be a normal human being without him.
Jiang Cheng is almost ashamed to admit it, but he misses his morning kiss and he is not at all too happy that he has to do without it, apparently.
His angry frown turns into a confused frown when he sits down for breakfast and finds a box next to his bowl of congee.
“What is this?” he asks into the room, because someone is bound to be around, but he doesn’t get an answer and Jiang Cheng heaves out a sigh.
He tugs the box close and opens it and he’s surprised to find that his favourite tea is in it. It’s hard to come by lately, as it is entirely seasonal and only grown in a small spot in Sect Leader Yao’s territory, and after everything that happened at the Cloud Recesses a few months back, he already mentally said goodbye to it.
He wouldn’t be getting any more supplies from Sect Leader Yao after all.
“What is this?” Jiang Cheng asks again, but it’s softer this time, more questioning, and he’s not at all surprised when arms suddenly encircle him from behind.
“Good morning,” Jiang Xiuying says into the skin on his throat and follows it up with a short kiss as well.
“You left me alone,” Jiang Cheng immediately says, entirely aware of how whiny he sounds, and Jiang Xiuying squeezes him.
“I know, and I’m sorry. But there was a problem with Fu Zhihao and she didn’t want to talk to anyone else.”
That immediately makes Jiang Cheng tense.
“What happened?” he asks, already half up in case there is anything he has to do, but Jiang Xiuying pushes him back down.
“She had a flashback or something similar,” Jiang Xiuying tells him. “Woke up terrified out of her mind and Jiang Sushan is out of town as you know. They thought it would be best to call me.”
“Good thinking,” Jiang Cheng says because Jiang Xiuying’s calm presence has helped Jiang Cheng with dealing with volatile demonic cultivators a lot in the past, so he gets that urge.
“How is she now?” Jiang Cheng asks when Jiang Xiuying doesn’t volunteer more information and he shrugs.
“As well as you’d suspect. She remembers where she is now, but the episode left her shaken,” he says and Jiang Cheng nods, because of course it would leave her shaken.
“Anything I can do?” he asks, even though he trusts that Jiang Xiuying would have already told him if there was anything for him to do.
“I trust you to know how stupid that question is,” Jiang Xiuying says, rather predictably, and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes at him.
It brings his gaze back to the box with tea and Jiang Cheng pulls it close again.
“Do you know where this came from?” he asks Jiang Xiuying, who pouts at him.
“You’re not even asking me for a kiss?” he says and Jiang Cheng feels that is entirely unjustified.
“You’re the one who left before I woke up and who made me get ready without my morning kiss. It only feels fair,” Jiang Cheng gives back and Jiang Xiuying tugs him close, just like Jiang Cheng secretly hoped.
“Duly noted,” Jiang Xiuying whispers right against his lips and then finally brings their lips together.
Jiang Cheng is aware of how cheesy it is, but it’s only then that his day starts to feel right.
“You’re entirely too spoilt,” Jiang Xiuying mutters when they part and Jiang Cheng shrugs, totally unrepentant.
“And whose fault is that?” he wants to know, because it is Jiang Xiuying who spoils Jiang Cheng with his love, and who seems to know that well enough because he doesn’t reply to his question.
“So the tea?” asks again when Jiang Xiuying settled down across from him.
“I’m not sure,” Jiang Xiuying says, which means he damn well knows where this tea comes from but is entirely too unwilling to tell Jiang Cheng.
“Rude,” Jiang Cheng says but he keeps the box close by his side.
It is damn good tea after all.
~*~*~
Jiang Cheng doesn’t entirely forget about the tea, but it goes very far into the back of his mind with how much he has to do.
There are a few of the minor Sects who want to make up for their previous mistakes, so Jiang Cheng hosts them as graciously as he can with a glowering Jiang Xiuying to his right, but he’s glad to see that a few relationships are mended.
When two minor Sect Leaders come by shortly after another, Jiang Cheng is almost too busy to notice the bottle of his favourite alcohol that somehow turns up at dinner.
“Xiuying?” Jiang Cheng calls out when he realizes that it is really the alcohol from a small town in Qinghe and he takes a moment to savour the flagrant smell of it.
“What, my beloved?” Jiang Xiuying says, completely unashamed and Jiang Cheng flushes slightly, like he always does.
It’s kind of a problem, if Jiang Cheng is being honest.
“Stop that,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, and Jiang Xiuying dutifully nods, even though they both know damn well that he will not stop it.
“Where does this alcohol come from?” Jiang Cheng asks to distract himself and Jiang Xiuying smiles before he shrugs.
“From Nie Huaisang maybe?” Jiang Xiuying suggests and Jiang Cheng frowns.
“Unlikely,” he gives back. “He would have given this to me personally, because if there’s a gift from him, there’s also something he wants,” Jiang Cheng says, because Nie Huaisang has never given him anything without a demand.
“I don’t know then,” Jiang Xiuying replies, his tone implying that he does know where it comes from and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.
“You’re lying to me,” he accuses him and Jiang Xiuying is by his side a second later, pressing an apologizing kiss to the corner of his mouth.
“I promised to keep it a secret, until you figure it out,” Jiang Xiuying explains, and that is a bit better than being outright lied to.
“I see,” Jiang Cheng whispers and pulls the bottle close to pour a cup out for Jiang Xiuying as well.
Jiang Cheng has an inkling of what is happening, especially given the date today, but it doesn’t quite make sense, so he keeps his thoughts to himself.
“You already know,” Jiang Xiuying slowly says but Jiang Cheng shakes his head.
“I suspect,” he corrects and Jiang Xiuying laughs.
“But you don’t trust it,” he says, and Jiang Cheng is surprised to hear a wistful note to his voice, almost as if he’s sad.
“Not yet,” Jiang Cheng says and mentally calculates when the next gift should arrive if his suspicion is right.
He almost hopes it’s not, because he doesn’t understand why that would warrant being given a gift. But he’ll just have to wait and see.
~*~*~
When the next gift arrives, Jiang Cheng is not entirely too surprised, because it goes along with his expectations.
Especially when he sees that it is a small vial of a potent cream Jiang Sushan has developed that soothes the scars on Jiang Cheng’s chest when they act up.
It’s hard to make and Jiang Sushan always loudly declares she doesn’t have the time to make more should Jiang Cheng have even a tiny fraction left but Jiang Cheng knows that Fu Zhihao has been working in the infirmary almost since she came to Lotus Pier.
It’s not entirely impossible that Jiang Sushan taught her how to make the cream. And it’s not entirely impossible that Fu Zhihao took entirely too much time out of her schedule to make it for Jiang Cheng.
“You look unhappy,” Jiang Xiuying rightfully says when he finds Jiang Cheng holding the pot of cream and he comes over to smooth the frown out from Jiang Cheng’s forehead.
“Is this from Fu Zhihao?” Jiang Cheng asks, even though he knows the answer already.
“Maybe,” Jiang Xiuying says with a small shrug and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“This is so stupid,” he complaints. “What is it even for?” he demands to know and Jiang Xiuying levels him with a look.
“Do you really have to ask?” Jiang Xiuying wants to know and Jiang Cheng nods.
“This is so time-consuming to make, I should know, because Jiang Sushan bitches to me about it every single time she has to make it. Fu Zhihao has only been helping Jiang Sushan for the last few months; why would she focus on this, instead of learning some practical things?”
“You are really goddamn stupid sometimes, do you know that?” Jiang Xiuying shoots back and Jiang Cheng pouts at him, because he has found that it is a very effective way to stave off Jiang Xiuying’s ire.
“Do not even start with that,” Jiang Xiuying grumbles but leans in to kiss Jiang Cheng, just like he had hoped. “You truly are spoilt.”
“By you,” Jiang Cheng gives back and threads their fingers together, because Jiang Xiuying is close enough and because he can.
Jiang Cheng has half a mind to go and find Fu Zhihao to ask her why she feels the need to make this, but he figures it might not be the best idea.
Fu Zhihao is still skittish, doesn’t trust anyone but Jiang Sushan and Jiang Xiuying, though she doesn’t seem to mind Jiang Cheng much, but Jiang Cheng still thinks it would be a bas idea to go there and question her.
And besides, if he is right about this, then the next gift should show up in a few days and it should be from Jiang Xiuying who he can question that much more easily.
For once in his life, Jiang Cheng decides to wait.
~*~*~
Jiang Cheng realizes his mistake when he wakes up to beautiful red wedding robes on his bed. Jiang Cheng’s breath catches as soon as his eyes fall on them, and Jiang Xiuying takes the opportunity to slide back into bed behind him, and hug him to his chest.
“Good morning,” Jiang Xiuying whispers and peppers kisses over Jiang Cheng’s shoulders, even as Jiang Cheng reaches out with a shaking hand to touch the robes.
“What is this?” Jiang Cheng asks, his voice trembling and Jiang Xiuying huffs out a laugh into Jiang Cheng’s neck.
“I trust you to be more clever than this,” Jiang Xiuying says and Jiang Cheng cranes his head to look around to Jiang Xiuying.
“Why? Why today of all days?” Jiang Cheng asks because that he doesn’t understand.
“What better day than today?” Jiang Xiuying shoots back and Jiang Cheng breaks out of his arms to turn fully around to him.
“You do know the significance of the dates,” Jiang Xiuying says when Jiang Cheng stays silent and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.
“I know the dates, but I don’t understand.”
“What’s there not to understand?” Jiang Xiuying asks, his whole face going soft in a way that Jiang Cheng is entirely too weak against. “Tell me.”
“The first gift was from Luo Ganting,” Jiang Cheng starts and it makes sense, that he would get that tea for Jiang Cheng, because after the whole thing at the Cloud Recesses, he reconciled with his sister, as far as Jiang Cheng knows.
“The alcohol came from Zhou Nuan,” Jiang Cheng goes on.
Zhou Nuan is one of the few Nie disciples that turned to demonic cultivation and that Jiang Cheng reached soon enough to save her.
“The cream is from Fu Zhihao and the robes are from you,” Jiang Cheng finishes with a whisper and he reaches out for the robes again.
“I just don’t understand why,” Jiang Cheng admits.
“But you do know the dates,” Jiang Xiuying says again, and of course Jiang Cheng knows the dates so he nods.
“It’s the dates I found you, when I took you to Lotus Pier,” Jiang Cheng confidently says, but he frowns when Jiang Xiuying shakes his head.
“No, this is where you’re wrong,” he says and pulls Jiang Cheng into his embrace again. “It’s the dates you took us home,” he says with emphasis.
And this, Jiang Cheng doesn’t understand.
“Those were the worst days of your lives,” he argues. “I really shouldn’t be getting gifts for this.”
“Those days are the start of our new lives,” Jiang Xiuying gives back and presses a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s temple. “We nearly died on those days, yes, and it was objectively the worst, but then you saved us, and you took us home with you. You gave us a home, and so those days also mark the starts of our new lives. Our lives as your disciples. And that, my beloved, is something to celebrate.”
“You are all so sentimental,” Jiang Cheng sighs out but he has to bite back some tears as well.
“You’re one to talk,” Jiang Xiuying chides him. “You’re the one who remembers when all of us came to your Sect.”
Jiang Cheng has nothing to say to that, because Jiang Xiuying is right, after all. He remembers all of the dates.
But it still leaves one question.
“So, what is this?” Jiang Cheng asks, leans more firmly back against Jiang Xiuying, and he tugs the robes close.
They are exquisitely made, Jiang Cheng knows enough about clothes to know that, and Jiang Xiuying huffs out an annoyed breath.
“Really? You really have to ask that?”
“Well, I don’t want to reach the wrong conclusions,” Jiang Cheng says with a small smile and Jiang Xiuying warningly squeezes him.
“What wrong conclusion could there possibly be?” Jiang Xiuying demands to know and Jiang Cheng slightly turns to smirk at Jiang Xiuying.
“You could always be asking for my blessing as a Sect Leader to marry someone else,” Jiang Cheng says, and the words don’t even hurt that much, because Jiang Cheng is not so insecure to think that they are the truth.
Jiang Xiuying is probably going to have his head for even daring to suggest this and going by the angry flush he can see on Jiang Xiuying’s cheeks, he’s not that far off.
“Sure, I usually am in the Sect Leader’s bed to beg for some blessing,” Jiang Xiuying bitingly gives back and then he deflates. “Don’t be stupid, my beloved,” he whispers.
“I’m not,” Jiang Cheng reassures him. “I just maybe want to hear you say it,” he then admits and puts his hands on top of Jiang Xiuying’s. “Indulge me?”
“Always,” Jiang Xiuying says and presses a kiss to the soft skin under Jiang Cheng’s ear. “My beloved, will you marry me?” Jiang Xiuying then asks without hesitation or sweet words and Jiang Cheng turns around in his arms at that, straddling his fiancé and he puts his arms around Jiang Xiuying’s neck.
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng tells him and then immediately leans in for a kiss.
There is not much to say between them after that, and they are too busy trading kisses to even think of something anyway.
The red robes get a little bit wrinkled that day, but it’s not as bad as it will be on their wedding day, Jiang Cheng is sure of that. And he’s definitely looking forward to that.