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Upon coming back from the overseas expedition, making up for all of the lost time with their friends became Cao Chunhua’s primary goal. As much as they enjoyed the trip and made quite a few new friends and acquaintances, — not to mention paramours, — they ended up bitterly missing their old companions.
The last few months of staying in the Western lands were nearly unbearable; even Chang Geng’s nephew, who had been nothing but excited about the travels, sighed along with his Cao-jie about Great Liang’s unparalleled dishes and teas, not to mention the sense of familiarity and comfort that came with being at home. Cao Chunhua was ready to jump into the arms of the first intimately familiar face they set eyes on as soon as the journey was over and Lin Yuan Pavillion’s ships docked to Great Liang’s port.
After sorting through leftover work, and the ensuing week of coddling a sick Ge Chen, — and flustering him in the process, which Cao Chunhua was very satisfied with, — they began making their rounds around the capital. They first dropped by the home of Chen Qingxu and Shen Yi.
Cao Chunhua cooed over the couple’s tiny son while fretting that they couldn’t visit any earlier and marveling at how big the little boy has grown already. The baby stared up at them with big eyes, making little babbling sounds; after a while he tightly grabbed Cao Chunhua’s fingers to hold in his little hand, and they nearly burst into tears. Chen Qingxu smiled and patted their shoulder, watching with a careful eye to make sure Cao Chunhua was holding her precious baby son correctly.
“He’s very affectionate,” she said gently, and her son, hearing his mother’s voice, gave her a bright mostly-toothless smile.
Shen Yi was very awkward around Cao Chunhua, hovering close while they talked to Chen Qingxu but not quite joining the conversation. The two of them were not too close to begin with, and any shreds of friendship they may have shared already faded away with the time apart. The thought was bittersweet, but the man was, nevertheless, permanently tied to Yanhui Town in their memory, not to mention that he was now married to one of their best friends. Cao Chunhua promised themself, internally, to make an effort.
Chen Qingxu’s kid deserved a doting aunt to spoil him, after all.
-
It was a bit trickier to meet up with Gu Yun. The man seemed to constantly be busy elsewhere, although Cao Chunhua had a nagging suspicion that he was spending his days glued to the emperor’s side.
Cao Chunhua stopped by the Marquis Manor several times anyways, if only to talk to Huo Dan and keep the old servants company, if they were up for it. Huo Dan would smile and refuse to accept any wines that Cao Chunhua brought, but humbly accepted gifts of tea leaves and pastries; he would then say he only had a few moments to spare, but ended up chatting with them for hours. They spent a few evenings like this, drinking tea and, mostly on Huo Dan’s part, reminiscing about times long gone.
“I miss you kids,” Huo Dan sighed at one point. “It’s very quiet here. The Marquis and His Majesty are still around, but it’s not quite the same anymore.”
“Not even General Shen comes by to visit?” Cao Chunhua raised their eyebrows, taking a sip.
“Not much,” Huo Dan shook his head. “Now he’s busy with his family, of course. Ah, don’t mind me.” He waved a hand and pushed his cup away. “It’s natural for an old man to hold on to the past.”
Cao Chunhua wasn’t sure what to say, so they offered a smile and a change of subject.
The next time they passed the Marquis Manor, they did happen to run into Gu Yun. He looked much healthier than he used to, glowing and undeniably beautiful; Cao Chunhua had to lower their eyes and struggled to hold back their blush.
“Is this xiao-Cao?” There was a smile playing at the corners of Gu Yun’s lips. “Huo Dan has been telling me about his very kind visitor.”
“Ah, Marquis, why have you been hiding from me? I have been looking for you, you know!” Cao Chunhua pouted.
Gu Yun smiled, shifting the box he was holding from under one arm to the other. “How shameful of me, letting a beauty go so long without seeing me.”
Cao Chunhua was flustered enough to almost tear up. “Ah, please don’t tease a young woman like this! The red will never come out of my face!” They shyly looked up at Gu Yun through their lowered lashes. “Is da-ge here, too?”
“No, not today.” Gu Yun regarded them thoughtfully. “Do you have important business with him?”
“Mn, no,” Cao Chunhua looked away. “Just the business of an old friend wanting to see His Majesty.”
“Have you not already seen him after coming back?” Gu Yun sounded amused.
“Ah, but can one ever get enough of looking at him?”
“Well,” Gu Yun smirked. “I really can’t argue with that.”
By the time Cao Chunhua was skipping away from Marquis Manor, they managed to pull a promise out of Gu Yun for him and Chang Geng to join them for a minor reunion dinner with all of their old friends. Maybe he would even tolerate Liao Ran’s presence in that case, but that remained to be seen.
-
When Cao Chunhua stepped foot in Ling Shu Institute, they quickly, — and quite literally, — ran into Ge Chen. He caught them by the elbows to keep them upright.
“I should have just snuck in to your home again and waited,” Cao Chunhua sighed, patting imaginary dust off of their sleeves. “But I’m wearing my nicer robes today.”
“You can visit without sneaking in, you know.” Ge Chen’s eyes travelled down Cao Chunhua’s body, and he raised an eyebrow.
Cao Chunhua narrowed their eyes. “What?”
“Nothing, you just…” Ge Chen gestured at their entire frame. “You look somewhat, erm. Fancy?”
“I was just at the Marquis Manor, I needed to look good in case I saw Marshal Gu,” Cao Chunhua said.
“Right, makes sense.” Ge Chen nodded, unfazed.
“Good thing I did, because I did see him!” Cao Chunhua pulled on Ge Chen’s sleeve. “He said da-ge would be happy to see all of us again. It can be like it was in Yanhui! Chen-jie is invited too, of course. Did you see their baby?”
“I did, yes.” Ge Chen looked amused.
“He is so cute,” Cao Chunhua sighed. “He looks just like Chen-jie!”
“He sure does.” Ge Chen glanced to the side, then grabbed Cao Chunhua’s hand and led them to a quiet corner where they wouldn’t be in the way of the other workers milling about. “Is that what you found me for?”
“Well.” Cao Chunhua let go of him and crossed their arms. “Maybe I’m also here to check in with you and see how you are.” Ge Chen’s expression turned timid, and he lowered his eyes, completely avoiding eye contact.
“Xiao-Cao, I’m not sick anymore,” he eventually mumbled. “You don’t have to —“
“It wasn’t an obligation,” Cao Chunhua huffed. “Can’t I just come here and look at you?”
“What’s there to look a—“
“I’ve been gone for years and now my old friend isn’t even happy to see me,” Cao Chunhua sighed loudly, closing their eyes and shaking their head in disappointment.
“You already saw me— wait.” Ge Chen froze. “D-did I actually upset you? I didn’t —“
Cao Chunhua quickly hid their smile behind a hand. “Well, no, I’m just teasing. It’s quite mean of me, I’m sorry.” They stepped closer, their arm deliberately brushing his. “My acting has gotten so much better, wouldn’t you say?
“You are a menace.” Ge Chen rolled his eyes, clearly relieved. Unlike Cao Chunhua, he could never hide the emotion on his face entirely, and they could not resist teasing him, just to see his face change. Studying other people’s faces was an important part of perfecting their acting, after all.
“I can’t help it,” Cao Chunhua quipped, petting his arm; sometimes, Ge Chen could be so earnest that they felt disarmed by it, enough to turn soft. It was up to debate whether Ge Chen did that on purpose or not. “Have you eaten? We can get dinner, if you want to.”
“Sounds good.” Ge Chen lightly gripped Cao Chunhua’s wrist and removed it from his arm, but did not let go. “I’ll treat you.”
“Oh?” Cao Chunhua studied Ge Chen’s gradually reddening face, then smiled. “Alright! How kind of you to spoil a young lady.”
“Yeah, well,” Ge Chen caught a strand of their hair and lightly tugged on it, and this one time Cao Chunhua very graciously allowed it. “I can be nice every once in a while.”
“Isn’t it because you missed me?” Cao Chunhua giggled. “I know you did, you told me, and you can’t take it back.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Ge Chen said, letting go of their hair. “I’m gonna assume you’re ready to go now?”
“Ah, it seemed like you were busy just now,” Cao Chunhua said. “You don’t have to drop everything for me, I can wait.”
“No, no, we were just finishing up here,” Ge Chen protested. “I just didn’t expect you to visit again so soon.”
“Aw, but I like visiting you,” Cao Chunhua whined, pressing their cheek against his shoulder, no doubt leaving a smudge of blush on the cloth. “And I still haven’t told you everything I want to. Do you know how rough it was, to want to gossip but not having anyone truly appreciate it?”
Ge Chen huffed out a quiet laugh. “Is it really that difficult to find someone?”
“Everyone either already knew the gossip or didn’t care enough,” Cao Chunhua sighed. “Things were so hard for me!”
“Sure, fine, I’ll listen to you,” Ge Chen conceded.
Cao Chunhua smirked. “That’s what I like to hear.”
-
Despite their earlier words, Cao Chunhua was fairly quiet during the dinner. The food was good, the wine was even better, and they ended up sitting in a relaxed posture, chin in their hands, sleepily listening to Ge Chen recount something about the improvements to the new train model Ling Shu Institute was currently working on. They started out genuinely invested, even asking a few questions, but eventually their mind began to wander against their will.
“Oh, sorry.” Ge Chen stopped gesturing and laid his hands on the table. “I’m not boring you, am I?”
“No, not at all,” Cao Chunhua shook their head to clear it and covered a yawn with their hand. “Ah, I apologise, I’m just a little tired. And it’s warm here.”
“No, it’s fine,” Ge Chen reassured, fiddling with his fingers. “You, well… seem like you have a lot on your mind.”
“Not particularly, it’s just a sudden topic, I suppose,” Cao Chunhua murmured, keeping their eyes on the wine bottle in front of them.
“I will listen, if you want me to,” Ge Chen offered. Cao Chunhua glanced up at him, lips pursed while they thought.
“What do you think our parents would say, if they saw us now?” they asked finally.
Ge Chen was silent for a while, mulling over the question. Then he shrugged. “My father would probably fret that he has no one to leave his butcher shop to now.”
Cao Chunhua smiled softly, eyes fluttering shut. “Ah, of course. His only son decided to run off and play with machines, hm?”
“Something like that,” Ge Chen mumbled. “And you decided to run off wherever the wind takes you. Selfish, aren’t we?”
“Quite,” Cao Chunhua agreed, folding their arms on the table and resting their cheek on top. “We should come back soon.”
“Mn, yes.” Ge Chen’s wine-flushed face quickly turned melancholic. “They deserve a direct visit, especially after all this time.”
“Mhm, they do.” Cao Chunhua’s eyes slipped open, quiet as they turned over a thought in their mind. “I always thought my parents would be there to see my wedding,” they said eventually. “Silly, isn’t it?”
Ge Chen quickly shook his head. “Not at all.”
“There is so much I could miss about them, but somehow, right now, that hurts the most.” Cao Chunhua sighed, blearily staring at their almost-empty wine bowl. “I don’t know why. It’s not like there is anyone trying to marry me.” They could hear Ge Chen shift in his seat, but did not bother to raise their eyes.
“I’m sure there’s someone,” Ge Chen said after a lengthy pause. “You just don’t know it yet.”
“Perhaps.” Cao Chunhua glanced up at him from under lowered lashes. “I am, unfortunately, very picky.”
“Don’t I know it,” Ge Chen said while filling up their bowl with the remains of the wine bottle. “Let’s finish this one off.”
Cao Chunhua hummed and sat up just enough to clear the bowl, then pushed it aside and folded themself back on top of the table. Ge Chen reached over to kindly brush their hair out of their eyes, and they smiled sleepily in acknowledgement.
“Are you comfortable like that?” Ge Chen asked quietly.
“It’s fine,” Cao Chunhua mumbled, shrugging one shoulder. Their neck and spine will surely not thank them the next day for this, but at the moment, they could not be bothered to care.
Ge Chen cleared his throat. “Come here.”
“Hu-uh?” Cao Chunhua lifted their head, futilely blinking sleep out of their eyes. “For what? You— oh. Right now?”
“You’re going to be sore if you keep sitting like that,” Ge Chen pointed out. “I’m not insisting, though.”
Their spot was in the line of sight of a few other tables, but no one there seemed to be paying attention to them, too engrossed in their own food and conversation. Cao Chunhua smoothly slipped around the table to settle down next to Ge Chen.
“Will you feed me if I ask?” they murmured, cozying up to his side. Ge Chen slipped an arm around them, which made Cao Chunhua feel even more comfortable and drowsy.
“Don’t push it,” Ge Chen grumbled good-naturedly. “I’m already being generous here.”
“Mhm, you certainly are.” Cao Chunhua took a quick glance around, and, satisfied that no one was paying any attention to them, pressed a quick kiss to Ge Chen’s cheek. “Thank you for your generosity, a-Chen.”
Ge Chen’s face colour turned to a deep red.
-
“Do I have to carry you home?”
“Aw, will you?~”
“I— no.”