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When it comes to what the master of Ghost City could wish for his birthday, his answer will always be the same: to spend time with his husband, the crown prince of Xianle, the only god he recognizes. It doesn't matter that they've been married for centuries now, for him, every second away from his beloved will always be a loss of his time.

That's why when the special day finally comes (he has no idea of how old he's turning, it doesn't matter, he can be how old he wants any time anyway), and he wakes up alone, Hua Cheng can't help but feels very disappointed, needing Xie Lian now.

It's not like Xie Lian could have just forgotten. The thought alone is ridiculous, he'd never forget. Also, Hua Cheng heard him whispering to Yin Yu a few days ago to "please make sure San Lang's schedule is cleared" so if this isn't enough prove.. Then Hua Cheng's eye falls on Ruoye.

Alright. This.. this is weird. Xie Lian never leaves without Ruoye, and Ruoye would never allow him to leave without it. If possible, it needs to be glued to Xie Lian even more than Hua Cheng does. So why is it lying there next to Hua Cheng in his bed, where his highness should be?

Already deciding that he's going to hate the day, Hua Cheng finally gets up, looking around for eventual hints of how to find his beloved. Maybe a letter or something. There's nothing. Then again, maybe he's planning on surprising Hua Cheng with a homemade breakfast? Not that Hua Cheng is hungry.. ever. He just likes the thought of Xie Lian cooking for him.

He jumps slightly when the white silk bond goes from perfectly still to throwing itself at him excitedly. He smiles at it, imagining how Xie Lian would scold it gently before saying: "Ah, sorry, San Lang, it just likes you a lot." As if it would ever be a reason to apologize to him.

Ruoye wraps its end around Hua Cheng's wrist, pulling him in the direction of the bedroom's door. He resists for just a second, the time to grab his eyepatch, then gives in, knowing Ruoye is probably following the order of the person he wants to see the most in the world, bringing him in the direction of his beloved.

It doesn't, though, as it stops next to Hua Cheng's dice, moving them a bit with its other end to be sure Hua Cheng understands what he needs to do. And yeah, Hua Cheng could and most certainly should take a moment to get dressed, but if his husband wanted him with more clothes than what he wore to bed last night, he should just have been there to tell him so himself.

He throws the dice thinking of Xie Lian — not like he's not always doing that —, and goes through the door. He doesn't really expect anything in particular; just Dianxia.

What he finds in the other side is.. different. But also not at all.

No, it's not his husband. It's ten meters of white flowers with red ones writing "happy birthday, San Lang!". And Hua Cheng can't stop smiling, feeling tears in his eye as he's overwhelmed by how much he absolutely adores the man his infinite luck brought in his life. By how much he's loved back.

Hands are suddenly clumsily put on his eyes, well known chest crushing against his naked back, letting him feel a familiar ring hanging down from a beloved neck. Two parts of a whole finally reunited.

"Guess who." The prettiest voice asks him, as if every inch of this perfect being weren't carefully memorized, tattooed in Hua Cheng's mind and heart forever.

"What do you think you're achieving by hiding my eyepatch, gege?" He says with a smirk, wishing to just take those beautiful hands in his to kiss them instead.

"It's to hold your head, so you can't cheat!" Xie Lian explains, his breath against Hua Cheng's ear making him shiver.

"I could give E'Ming a twin and still recognize you, you know?" Hua Cheng points out, chuckling as Xie Lian huffs indignantly behind him. The hands leave his head, strong arms now wrapping themselves lovingly around his middle.

"San Lang! Ah, but you could have put something on! You shouldn't just go out like that!" The god argues, hiding his face between Hua Cheng's shoulder blades. He can feel how hot it is, and this itself is enough to convince him he made a great choice by not getting dressed.

"Why not? I thought you liked the view." Hua Cheng falsely pouts.

"I do! But not.. Outside. What if there were guests for a surprise party? What then?" Xie Lian wonders.

"It would have been funny, wouldn't it? Is that why you're wrapped around me? Are you trying to hide me?" He asks, squeezing Xie Lian's arms with his hands.

His husband laughs softly, kissing his back. "Ah, no. That's just because I really like being close to San Lang, hope that's okay."

Hua Cheng smiles. "Hm, let me think about it.. Alright, only if this San Lang is allowed to hug gege too."

A pause. Then: "I don't know, San Lang, what if I want to be your backpack for today?"

"What if I want to wear my backpack on the front?" Hua Cheng offers patiently.

"That's kind of against the principle of the backpack but I guess I can make an exception for today." Xie Lian finally indulges him, loosening his hold on his husband just enough for him to turn around. He doesn't wait a second before raising his arms around Hua Cheng's neck, jumping to wrap his leg around his lover's hips.

Naturally, Hua Cheng catches him, finally able to look at the love of his life. He can see a hint of mischief in his husband's eyes, quickly turning into pure adoration. He breaks eyes contact to look at those beloved lips, and when Xie Lian moistens them, he can't resist any longer and captures them with his own.

"Happy birthday, San Lang." Xie Lian whispers against his lips when they break the kiss, and if Hua Cheng could spend the rest of the day (or the rest of eternity) just like that, he wouldn't hesitate to sign up for it.

Unfortunately, they don't spend the rest of the day like that.

"But for real.. even if you didn't like the clothes I prepared you could have chosen something else, you know? I won't get mad for that, what matters to me is that you're comfortable." Xie Lian explains with a light frown.

Hua Cheng raises an eyebrow. "I'm sure I'd have loved whatever gege chose for me, as gege knows me the best, but I'm afraid I didn't see anything of that sort."

Xie Lian's frown disappear. "Oh. Ruoye?" He looks to the side, and the white silk bond that was happily dancing around them seconds before suddenly wraps itself tightly around the ghost king's arm, as if trying to disappear in a sleeve that isn't there.

And alright, that makes more sense. Of course Xie Lian wouldn't suggest he goes out almost naked.

"I guess he got too excited and forgot that step. We should go back for that, then I want to bring you to somewhere fun!" Xie Lian announces, all worries forgotten.

Hua Cheng smiles at the thought of what's to come. "Really? I can't wait then." He takes his dice again, throwing them once more.

"Yeah, Shi Qingxuan helped, actually." Xie Lian adds, making his husband freezes.

"Suddenly, I'm not excited anymore." He says, deadpan.

"San Lang! Oh, actually E'Ming helped too, he dug the holes for the flowers! And He Xuan helped chose the place, and Feng Xin and Mu Qing are taking care of my work for me today!"

Hua Cheng huffs, smirking. "I was afraid for a moment that you were going to announce they were coming too."

He takes back his dice, bringing Xie Lian to their room with him, still carrying him.

Xie Lian chuckles. "Ah, no, only Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan, it's somewhere funnier with a lot of people, you'll like it, I swear!"

And yes, Hua Cheng would 100% prefer to be alone with his lover, but he's weirdly okay with the idea of spending this day with the other two too. Shi Qingxuan is.. hard to hate, though annoying, and He Xuan.. Well, at least he shuts up most of the time.

"Alright, I trust you." Hua Cheng says, as if there ever was a doubt about it.

Xie Lian smiles and after a last kiss, he unwraps his legs from around Hua Cheng. But the ghost king isn't about to let his husband go so easily and holds him close still. "You said you'd be my backpack for the day, right?"

Xie Lian laughs. "San Lang, how are you planning to get dressed if you don't let go?"

"I can get dressed without moving a finger, not a problem." Hua Cheng reminds him.

"But it's a specific dress code! Very important! It took me a lot of time to choose those clothes, you know?" Xie Lian says, puppy eyes staring at Hua Cheng. So what other choice does he have? Say no?

He finally let go, really seeing what Xie Lian himself is wearing for the first time. And it's..

"Gege, I love you but what the fuck are you wearing?" He asks, unable to stop staring.

Xie Lian raises his hands to play with a strand of his hair, smiling sheepishly. "Ah, this? You don't like it? Shi Qingxuan swore you'd love it, haha.."

Hua Cheng would love and worship Xie Lian in anything, really, but what on earth made Shi Qingxuan think he'd enjoy the view of a white tee-shirt with "his hubby" written above an arrow pointing to his right? That made him even more scared about what they advised for his own clothes for the day.

"I-I do, it's great, don't worry." He hurries to reassure Xie Lian, who immediately claps his hands excitedly.

"Good! Here, wear these!" He turns around, putting clothes he took from god knows where into Hua Cheng's arms.

The ghost king obediently gets dressed and his first reflex is to recite He Xuan's spiritual array's password. "Are they making you wear something ridiculous too?" He asks as a greeting, having no time to lose.

"Good morning to you too. Happy birthday." He Xuan answers right away, sounding as dead as he really is.

"You just doubled your debt. Congratulation. Now answer."

"Why? Scared to be the only one to look stupid?" Because of course, Hua Cheng would never think Xie Lian could look stupid, ever.

"Tripled."

"Fuck you. Yeah. It's 'Black Water Sinking Sheep' written in a font that could be used by a 10 years old kid for his presentation at school."

Hua Cheng can't not burst into laughter at this. Alright, maybe Shi Qingxuan gave him his best birthday present ever here. "They're so creative. What's theirs?"

"I don't know yet, they just gave me the package and fled before I could say no."

"And yet you're still wearing it." Hua Cheng mocks him.

"So are you. They're here."

Hua Cheng doesn't answer, knowing it'd be as good as talking to the wall.

"San Lang? Are you okay?" Comes Xie Lian's voice, back from the bathroom in which he went to clean E'Ming.

He looks one last time at his own reflexion, the red tee-shirt and a chain hanging off his pants making him very noticeable. On second thought, he kind of likes it. So he turns around, smiling at Xie Lian. "Never been better."

The god smiles back, showing E'Ming in his hands. "Good! Look, all cleaned!"

Hua Cheng kisses his forehead, fondling his cheek lovingly. "Amazing. It's staying here, though."

Xie Lian's mouth opens in a 'o' of surprise. "But.. But San Lang!"

E'Ming starts shaking violently, so Hua Cheng hurries to take it away from Xie Lian's hands before one of his finger get cuts off. "Gege, are we going somewhere no common people go to?"

"No.."

"Somewhere no one would get me arrested because of it?"

"No.." Xie Lian admits with a pout.

"Then..?"

"Alright!" Xie Lian sighs, taking E'Ming from Hua Cheng's hands, gently putting it down on the bed. "I'm so sorry E'Ming!"

As Xie Lian tries to comfort the scimitar, Hua Cheng can feel Ruoye tightening its own embrace around his arm. He strokes it to reassure it: he doesn't know if Xie Lian remembers it's there, but he sees no reason why it should stay at home too.

"We'll be there in a sec, sorry for the wait!" Hua Cheng hears Xie Lian exclaims suddenly, two fingers pressed against his temple as he finally stops giving too much attention to E'Ming. Then he turns back to Hua Cheng. "I hope you don't mind being away from Ghost City? Though they kind of planned something for later when we'll come back?"

Hua Cheng grins, amused by Xie Lian's frenzy, blessed by how much he cares and is trying his best for everything to be perfect when Hua Cheng would have already been happy if he asked him to clean the house with him. Anything as long as it's with his highness.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be great." He says instead, winning himself a happy smile from Xie Lian who then takes his hand before looking around and reaching for the dice Hua Cheng abandoned earlier.

"Alright.." He whispers, focused. Throughout the centuries, his bad luck slowly left him, and Hua Cheng taught him enough that most of the time, he manages to open portails exactly where he wants to go. With a margin of error of a few hundreds of meters. For his sake, Hua Cheng discreetly lends him some of his own luck.

The dice fall on a double six, surprising Xie Lian, but the proud smile on his lips when he sees he made it makes it impossible for Hua Cheng to regret anything.

As they arrive on the other side, Hua Cheng finally discovers their destination. A fair? Noises, weird smells, a lot of people everywhere, stuff happening from every side possible? Sounds a lot like his Ghost City. For some reason, it's starting to get dark outside already, so Hua Cheng guesses they're in another timezone, somewhere.

"Sooo.." Xie Lian starts, looking a bit anxious as he waits for a reaction.

Hua Cheng stops him right away by cupping his cheeks in his hands, kissing him gently. "I love it, gege." Then he kisses him again until..

"Hi! Happy birthday, Crimson Rain Sought Flower!" Shi Qingxuan yells, skipping in their direction while forcing He Xuan to follow them, their arms intertwined.

"Don't call him like that in front of commoners, it's weird." He Xuan tries to free himself, without success or motivation.

Xie Lian turns in their direction, forcing Hua Cheng to do the same. "Ah, that's good you found us, I was a bit worried with everyone around.."

But Shi Qingxuan ignores him, still focused on their conversation with He Xuan, casting a glance mischievously at Hua Cheng's tee-shirt. "Should I call him like that, then?"

"Over my dead body."

"Yeah? Then where is it?"

If ghosts could blush, Hua Cheng knows at He Xuan's face that he'd be red right now. Fortunately, they can't, so he only looks sick. Nothing out of the ordinary. Hua Cheng then notices Shi Qingxuan's own tee-shirt, claiming "Winding him up!" with an arrow pointing at nothing as they forgot on which side of He Xuan they're supposed to stand to make it works.

"Anyway," Xie Lian starts again, this time only looking at Hua Cheng. "Huh, this fair is known for having one of the best haunted house so we thought it'd be fun to check it out, you know, as professionals."

Hua Cheng smiles, taking Xie Lian's hand. "That's an amazing idea, gege. But can I haunt it for real?"

"San Lang!"

"I'm joking, gege, I'll behave, I promise." He says with a teasing smile.

"If you say so.. Alright, let's go!"

The walk to the haunted house is.. odd. Hua Cheng is pretty sure some people are looking at him then throwing themselves behind the first thing they find when catching his eye. He considered faking a right eye to take off his eyepatch, but Xie Lian told him he was perfect like that, and who is he to argue with his highness?

But also, even if he's not familiar with commoners traditions, why are some of them so strangely dressed? And why is he pretty sure he saw one losing his hair on the floor? Then again, he generally doesn't care about other people, people who aren't Xie Lian, so maybe they were weird all along.

Finally, Hua Cheng spots the haunted house, huge, dark, lights creating creepy shadows, and a garden looking abandoned but in which it's easy to notice how much work got into it. It's cliché but exactly what you want to see when going to this kind of place.

He squeezes Xie Lian's hand to get his attention. "Gege, thoughts on burning down Paradise Manor to build one like this instead?"

Eyes wide opened, Xie Lian turns his head so quickly in his direction that Hua Cheng is genuinely worried he hurt himself doing so. But of course, when he notices the wicked look on his husband's face, Xie Lian relaxes, nudging him on his side. "Maybe we should have a haunted temple like that." He ends up playing along as they wait for their turn to go inside.

"We can start the plans tomorrow." Hua Cheng offers.

"Deal." Xie Lian says with a small laugh that warms Hua Cheng's inside.

"Almost our turn! Aaaah, I'm so excited, hahaha." Shi Qingxuan nearly yells, looking about ready to pee themselves as they try to convince themselves, their grip on He Xuan's arm so strong it'll probably leave a mark.

A kid behind them starts crying as the haunted house's door opens, then tries to run away when they're invited inside.

"Don't do that." He Xuan warns, holding Shi Qingxuan tightly, who blushes before holding even tightly.

"I won't, haha, I'm a courageous, grown up person."

"Gege, come, let's pretend we don't know them, they're embarrassing." Hua Cheng says, taking Xie Lian's hand to guide him, having no intention of letting go. He knows how things can go in crowds, you turn your head and the person who was next to you disappeared. He won't let that happen.

Xie Lian follows docilely inside, but the darkness makes it impossible to see anything. Hua Cheng can feel him trip and immediately wraps his left arm around his back, using his right hand to hold Xie Lian's. "Be careful."

He can vaguely see Xie Lian nodding in the dark, looking around, prompting Hua Cheng to do the same. It's bigger than what he imagined, allowing visitors not to walk on each other, not that there're a lot of them anyway. It's full of corridors everywhere, making it easy to get lost, surprised, and to never know what you'll find when you turn around a corner. Smart. He should definitely do that with the habitants of Ghost City.

"Ah, Xie Lian, Crimson Rain, wait for us aaah—" Shi Qingxuan crushes into them. "Sorry! He-xiong, why didn't you stop me?"

"It's your fault. Don't walk if you don't know what's in front of you." He Xuan answers coldly, refusing to look around like the rest of them, looking bored already.

"I think we should go this way first, it seems lighter there, it'll let our eyes adjust more easily." Xie Lian says after a few moments of observation, pointing at a small corridor that does offer more light that everywhere else.

"You're right, gege, let's go."

Xie Lian moves to free himself from Hua Cheng's embrace as they start walking, taking back Hua Cheng's left hand in his while their friends follow behind.

As they're about to enter the corridor, some guy looking like he escaped an explosion that destroyed half of his face and left arm appears suddenly, making Shi Qingxuan scream into their ears before throwing themselves into He Xuan's arms.

"Welcome." The guy says in a hoarse voice so forced that Hua Cheng almost offers him some syrup.

"Oh, thank you! Have a good day!" Xie Lian smiles brightly, and Hua Cheng can't help but laugh at the man's face.

"Haha, you got me there.. I was totally faking it, I'm not scared actually." Shi Qingxuan pretends, letting go of He Xuan with an embarrassed laugh.

They enter the corridor, in which they start hearing a child calling for his mother and chains noises.

"It's just Crimson Rain's chain.. It's just Crimson Rain's chain.." Shi Qingxuan keeps whispering to themselves, making Hua Cheng roll his eye. He turns to them.

"Funny how you try to reassure yourself against a loudspeaker with a very real calamity who could destroy you in the blink of an eye." He says with a smirk, turning his eye red for a second.

"You-you wouldn't! I'm one of Xie Lian's best friends! Right?"

Hua Cheng glances at He Xuan, sliding into their private communication array. "Thoughts on his highness being used as a shield against me instead of you."

"Fuck you."

"I guessed it'd be something like that."

"Be nice, all of you, and look! I think the chains noises were coming from that dead prisoner! Or, undead, to be more precise." Xie Lian interferes, pointing at some dead man two meters away from them as they exit the small corridor. He's not moving, but Hua Cheng would bet his left eye that he's going to suddenly run towards then in the next two seconds.

Shi Qingxuan yelps, running to hide behind He Xuan as the prisoner indeed comes to life, rushing in their direction, losing one of his legs on the way, falling on the floor before trying to crawl to them..

"That's a lot of dedication." Hua Cheng has to admit. "Maybe try to cut your hand so you're not attached to the wall next time?" He suggests to the man, who stops moving, perplexed.

"But you're doing a very great job otherwise, don't worry about it, it's just details!" Xie Lian reassures him with a kind smile.

The lights suddenly turn off. Hua Cheng hears Shi Qingxuan whine before laughing like a maniac. "Is-is that normal?" They ask, voice shaking.

"I'm sure it is! Let's all hold hand not to lose each other!" Xie Lian suggests, and Hua Cheng can feel him shift, reaching for Shi Qingxuan behind them.

That's the moment the lights choose to come back, revealing how they've been encircling in the dark silently. Or, maybe they could have heard them come if Shi Qingxuan wasn't so loud. It's.. zombies, he guesses? Why are zombies in a prison? The first one didn't look like a zombie, isn't each room supposed to have a precise theme?

Xie Lian squeezes his hand in surprise, then again, it could be because Shi Qingxuan is once again yelling and probably also crushing his highness's other hand. Can't they just do that to He Xuan? Maybe he should find a way to accidentally lose them as soon as possible.

Xie Lian frowns while looking at the zombies, though. "Wait, you.."

But before he could finish, the zombies look at each other in panic before running away, all arguing with the others in a cacophony preventing them to understand anything they're saying.

"I.." Xie Lian tries to continue but stop himself, visibly lost for words.

So Hua Cheng leans to kiss his cheek. "You probably scared them away, gege, well done." He congratulates him proudly. There definitely was something weird about this, but what else were they supposed to do? Fight them? Maybe it was supposed to scare them and make them run away? Who knows, it's not like anything could scare Hua Cheng anyway.

They keep going, voices and creepy noises surrounding them as the lights flicker. Strangely, they see almost no other visitors around. They're about to enter another tiny room when Hua Cheng spots something falling from the ceiling. Xie Lian seems to see it at the same moment as he throws himself on Hua Cheng, moving them both in a dark recess away from the line of sight of whatever that was.

Immediately supporting his beloved with his arms, Hua Cheng helps Xie Lian find his balance. They both look back, but on an explosion's noise, the floor quickly drops under their feet. "What the-" He can hear Xie Lian exclaims in his arms, but the noise make it useless to try to communicate.

Luckily, it's over in a few seconds, and a small trapdoor opens on a wall next to them, close to the floor. They look at each other. "Gege, is it supposed to do that?" Hua Cheng asks, perplexed as to why the people in charge of this house are trying to kill their guests. This wouldn't be.. A real haunted house, right?

"I guess? Probably? Let me just-" Xie Lian starts to lean in the trapdoor's direction to take a look, which is not happening because Hua Cheng stops him right away.

"I will look first." He says.

"But-"

"It's my birthday, I get to see the creepy things first." He argues before kissing Xie Lian's pout away. Then, he gets on his knees, slowly coming face to face with.. A doll? And okay, it's very ugly and probably from a horror movie but.. it's just standing there so even people who are easily scared would just jump a bit and move on. Why would they do suck a show for that?

"San Lang? What is it?" Xie Lian asks, kneeling next to him to look for himself. "Oh, looks like.. Whatever." He adds, making Hua Cheng chuckles. He's about to just kick the thing off his way when it comes to life, throwing itself at them in an inhuman scream, holding a weapon twice its size! A very real weapon full of essence of evil!

"Fuck!" Hua Cheng exclaims, startled, jumping in front of Xie Lian to shield him, hoping his body will be enough to stop his beloved from getting hurt.

"San Lang!" Xie Lian shouts, curled up against his chest, waiting with him for an impact that.. Doesn't come?

Hua Cheng looks back to see E'Ming playfully dancing with Ruoye that left his wrist.. God knows when. He gives it a death stare, moving to give Xie Lian space and allow him to see for himself. "I'm going to destroy you." The ghost king warns his weapon. "How are you even here? I thought.. Gege?"

His glare then turns to his husband, now sitting on the floor with an embarrassed smile, playing with a strand of Hua Cheng's hair. The glare immediately softens. "Ah, you see, San Lang, it was just too sad to leave E'Ming home alone! It just wanted to play a bit! So i told it to turn tiny to hide it. I don't know when it left, though, and I didn't know it planned on scaring you, I swear."

Hua Cheng cups his cheek, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "I believe you, it's not your fault, don't worry."

Then, he turns back to the scimitar, now a bit less proud of itself, starting to fear for its safety. It shifts to a dagger size before rushing to hide in the front pocket of Xie Lian's tee-shirt. The god chuckles, putting a protective hand over the pocket, petting the scimitar. "Want to go explore the doll house?" He asks, changing the subject, and of course, Hua Cheng lets it go.

"Sure. I'm still going first." He says, kicking the creepy doll that welcomed them with a stronger punch than necessary. Ruoye rushes back to his wrist, deciding that if E'Ming gets to hide in Xie Lian's clothes, it can do the same with Hua Cheng. It's right.

He starts by looking out, searching for any immediate danger that could show up. The sight he's met with is.. particular. There're random stuff everywhere, he's not even sure of where they're supposed to stand. The furnitures are twice tinier than they should be, but the toys and dolls are twice bigger than usual, creating a disturbing ratio. It's falsely dirty, with insects that, Hua Cheng is pretty sure, are fake.

There're a few people walking carefully not so far, but they look as scared as they're supposed to be in that situation, so he supposes they're just visitors like them. Then again, who knows.

"It looks safe, gege." He says, moving with difficulty to the other side of the trapdoor. Except when he turns around to offer a hand to help Xie Lian, the opening is gone. "Gege?!" He calls, trying to calm himself and not to freak out. It's part of the game, to scare them, isolate them. Hua Cheng is ready to accept every rule except this one.

"San Lang? You're still there?" He can hear Xie Lian's muffled voice on the other side, surprised, but okay.

"Yes, I'm here! Gege, use E'Ming to open this." He instructs immediately, his hand on the trapdoor keeping him away from his beloved. He needs it gone.

Xie Lian laughs. "I don't think we're supposed to make holes.."

"I really don't care. I'll repay them. I'd punch it myself but I don't want to risk hurting you." He says, toying with the red string attached to his finger, eye fixed on where it disappears in the now closed wall.

"Alright. Move away, please." Xie Lian demands.

Hua Cheng chuckles. "It can't hurt me, you know that." He doesn't want to move away. He doesn't want to put any more distance between himself and his husband.

"San Lang.." Xie Lian sighs, waiting.

Understanding he has no choice, Hua Cheng finally complies. "It's done, gege." He says docilely. Immediately, the tip of E'Ming emerges, cutting through one side after the others before disappearing again. Then, the trapdoor is thrown away and the foot that hit it comes into view. If someone screams, frightened by the noise, it's not his problem.

Hua Cheng rushes back next to the hole, kneeling to offer a hand to help his beloved stand up again.

"Thank you." Xie Lian says, still holding a full sized E'Ming and the sight is waking something up in Hua Cheng that shouldn't be awaken in public. But soon enough, E'Ming goes tiny again, back in hiding, and Hua Cheng mentally slap himself to go back to his senses. "It's a bit creepy, here." Xie Lian comments as he looks around.

"Yeah, it's less funny when there isn't real people trying so hard, though." Hua Cheng says, because making fun of them is the best part of this whole experience.

"You're a meanie." Xie Lian says fondly. He takes Hua Cheng's hand, maybe to make sure they don't get separated again, maybe just because he wants to. "We should try to find the others! Can you, huh, lend me some spiritual power to send a message to Shi Qingxuan?" He asks sheepishly and Hua Cheng immediately frowns worriedly.

"You don't have any already? What happened? What did you do?!" He frantically kicks some dolls off some couch next to them, making place for Dianxia to sit. "Gege, are you alright?"

Xie Lian resists, though, blushing. "Ah, no, San Lang, I'm fine.." He mumbles, looking away. "It's.. Whatever, I'll just, huh, I probably have enough, haha, forget I said anything please.."

Xie Lian seems desperate for anything to happen and put him out of his misery and that's when it hits Hua Cheng. His sweet husband doesn't actually wants spiritual power. He chuckles, reassured, amused, loving that man, that god, a bit more every passing day.

He forces him to look his way by cupping his cheek, then he leans to kiss him, smiling into the kiss. He can't believe he gets to have this. After hundreds of years, he still can't believe his luck.

When they part, Xie Lian's face is unnaturally red and he doesn't dare meet Hua Cheng's eye, preferring to hide his face in the ghost king's chest. "I need to contact Shi Qingxuan." He mutters, straightening up a bit. He recites the password then asks tentatively: "Shi Qingxuan? Are you there? Can you hear me?"

There's a pause in which Hua Cheng assumes his husband is receiving an answer, probably some yelling as he makes a face. "Don't worry about us, we're fine! Huh, if you find a doll house come in, it's where we are. What's around-" He stops in a pained whine, then sighs. "They started screaming and cut the connection." He lets Hua Cheng knows, even though he guessed that much.

"You tried your best. I'm sure we'll find them eventually." Hua Cheng tries to reassure him, but he can see on his lover's face that he's still bothered. So before Xie Lian has the great idea of using the soul shifting spell and he has to witness Shi Qingxuan run away with his husband's body, he offers: "Do you want me to try with He Xuan?"

Xie Lian immediately looks at him with puppy eyes, nodding quickly. It's so adorable that it's almost worth the eternal suffering of a conversation with the other calamity. "Alright." He says, opening the communication array. "Where the fuck are you? Dianxia is worried."

"Zombie apocalypse." He Xuan informs him without emotion.

"Sounds fun. Do you think the zombies from earlier escaped from there?"

"Not the same kind of zombies."

"Oh so now there're different breed of them? Anyway, we're-"

"Doll house." He Xuan cuts him. "Qingxuan yelled we needed to go there and there's no reason why they would go to such a place except to find his highness."

"It's actually a very chill place, boring. I want the zombies. Where are they?" Hua Cheng demands, smiling at Xie Lian's amused face. He knows his beloved wants to see them too. He has to.

"When you guys disappeared behind a wall or whatever we went left. There were stairs so we went up. People were screaming on the right so Qingxuan ran left. Bad decision."

"Alright, amazing!" Hua Cheng says, breaking the communication. "Gege, I know the way, come!" He takes Xie Lian's hand and hurries in the direction of the back of the dolls' room, in which he's pretty sure he saw stairs earlier.

"San Lang, wait!" Xie Lian yelps, tripping on a weird toy on the floor. Hua Cheng stops right away, turning back to lean a bit in front of Xie Lian, guiding him on his back to give him a piggyback ride. "San Lang.." Xie Lian mumbles, embarrassed, nestling his head in Hua Cheng's neck.

"It's okay, gege, I'll bring you quickly to your friend." He promises, squeezing Xie Lian's legs before walking again, jumping above the toys on their way.

"Yeah, sure, you're so worried about them." Xie Lian teases him, barely holding himself, trusting that Hua Cheng would never let him fall.

Right after he has that thought, the ghost king is ironically put in a position in which he has to choose between risking to drop his beloved, or acception the attack of a crazy doll throwing itself at him. He could reduce it to a pile of ashes with one look, but then Xie Lian would be upset they destroy yet another thing.

Then again, Hua Cheng forgot he doesn't have to fight alone anymore. Ruoye unwraps itself from his wrist, just enough to kick to doll and send it flying in another direction. Right after, it goes back to its place as if nothing happened. "Well done." Hua Cheng congratulates it, winning himself an affectionate squeeze from the white silk bond.

"That house is kinda intense, right? Can they detect where we are? They can't possibly monitor everyone." Xie Lian says, and of course the god would be analyzing everything instead of just enjoying himself.

"Probably triggers." Hua Cheng offers, even though he didn't notice anything. It's not like he's really paying attention to that anyway, even him can be surprised.

"But that's weird, why does it feel like there's barely anyone even though we keep hearing people screaming?" Xie Lian wonders and Hua Cheng has to admit he also thought it was odd earlier, how deserted it looks every time they get into a room.

"Maybe the screaming are fake and only there to make us feel threatened. Maybe everyone else got eaten." He jokes, jumping above a few dolls. One of them tries to catch him but its strength doesn't even slow him a bit.

"Nothing tried to eat us, though." Xie Lian reasons.

"Don't curse it, gege." Hua Cheng says as they finally get to the stairs, dodging one last crazy doll and sending it flying with a kick for good mesure.

He doesn't slow down in the stairs, even when a giant creepy doll emerges from god knows where. He's confident this is a real person and wants to test what they'll do if, instead or running away screaming, he just plows into them.

"San Lang!"

The doll / person starts yelling in a last attempt to scare him, but it doesn't work because he joins in the yelling, going even faster than before, and soon enough, Xie Lian does too.

Finally, the person gives in and disappears out of their sight. "You did a great job, he's just a bit.." Xie Lian tries to tell them but finds himself at lost about what to call the man he chose to spend most of eternity with.

"Insane?" Hua Cheng provides, letting go of Xie Lian's legs at his silent demand.

"Be nice. Where to?"

They're on a tiny platform, three dark corridors in front of them. "Left." He indicates, going in that direction after taking Xie Lian's hand once more, just to be sure they wouldn't get separated again.

The corridor is long, quiet, another kind of creepy and unsettling. They can't see anything until a white figure crosses the corridor in front of them, appearing and disappearing in a matter of seconds.

It's so cliché, but not for the first time today, there's something odd about it. As if-

A door suddenly opens right next to them, green spotlights moving without a precise pattern, blinding lights and fog making it almost impossible to see what's just three meters away. "Gege, this house doesn't make any sense."

Xie Lian chuckles. "I noticed, but it's fun, right?"

"It is. Come, let's see if a zombie apocalypse is happening here."

As some kind of alien comes running at him screaming, Hua Cheng realizes it is not, in fact, a zombie apocalypse. It's a very messy alien attack, with both aliens and visitors yelling and running from all sides. Hua Cheng bursts into laughter, holding Xie Lian close as he moves out of the alien's way.

"San Lang, there!" Xie Lian points to a piece of alien ship not far from a wall, creating a hiding space. Hua Cheng follows him to safety, hurrying before anyone else notices them.

"Wait a moment." He asks Xie Lian, opening the communication array. "Hey, is your zombie apocalypse happening in a place with green spotlights?"

"Yes and Qingxuan just punched one of them." He Xuan's answer comes right away.

"It's aliens not different zombies you stupid-" He's stopped by Xie Lian's hand on his mouth.

"San Lang, nice." His god demands again, standing guards for them both as Hua Cheng is supposed to get informations as to where their friends are.

"Anyway, we're here." He sums up. "Where are-"

A familiar screaming voice stops him, seemingly coming from the other side of the room. Alright, they just need to cross it. No big deal.

"Whatever, I heard them. Try not to move too much." Then he turns his attention back to Xie Lian. "Gege, let's go." He takes Xie Lian's right hand in his to guide him, starting to run in the direction of Shi Qingxuan's scream.

Except Xie Lian's eyes open wide, stopping on his feet, all his strength focused on forcing Hua Chang to do the same, pulling him to his chest. "San Lang, careful!"

The odd, ridiculously tall alien rushing their way is suddenly hit by Ruoye and makes an inhuman noise before disappearing out their sight. Xie Lian breathes again, frowning at Hua Cheng. "You can't just run without looking!"

"I'm deeply sorry, gege, but how was that dude so tall?"

"I don't know, it was weird, how did you not see him?! Let's just.. I'll go to your right." Xie Lian decides, trying to let go of Hua Cheng's hand to take his other one. Normally, Hua Cheng would indulge him, seeing he was a bit upset, but..

"Gege, I'm sorry but I can't let you do that." He says, stopping him.

Xie Lian frowns again. "Why not?"

As an answer, Hua Cheng only points at Xie Lian's tee-shirt. "I can't let people think you're someone else's hubby." He announces with a smirk, winning himself a look halfway between amusement and exasperation.

"I can't believe you just said hubby."

"Said the one wearing a hubby tee-shirt."

"Do you want us to talk about your own tee-shirt?" Xie Lian teases back with a smug look.

"Absolutely not. Gege, let's go." He ends the conversation, going more carefully this time, but still hurrying, Xie Lian right behind him as they slalom between both visitors and aliens.

It's the messiest place they've been at so far. There're people everywhere, the aliens are crazy, throwing themselves at visitors screaming and crying. Hua Cheng can't help but laugh a bit when one of the aliens tries to catch him, just asking them: "Now what?" Raising an eyebrow until they let him go.

It turns out some pieces of alien ships are moving. Randomly crossing the room, going up and down, forcing them to kneel or jump. Hua Cheng can hear some visitors yelling that it's definitely not normal for a haunted house, that it doesn't make any sense, but he's almost certain he understood what's going on already and well, he's too lazy to do anything against it for now.

"Crimson Rain Sought Flower!" He hears in a desperate voice when he finally gets to the other side or the room, eye falling on a terrified Shi Qingxuan trying to push everyone away from them with a piece of.. He doesn't even know and definitely doesn't want to know how they got their hands on it but it's definitely part of a decor from.. somewhere.

He Xuan is leaning against the wall next to them, arms crossed, looking bored, leaving to Shi Qingxuan the care to make sure nothing comes close to him.

"W-where's Xie Lian?" Shi Qingxuan asks as Hua Cheng gets to them, and the ghost king's blood runs cold as he looks back to find no one behind him.

"Shit." He curses, desperately looking in the crowd for his beloved. He knows Xie Lian is very powerful and that nothing here could be a danger for him. Still, if Xie Lian isn't by his side, it means someone or something prevented him to follow. And he didn't notice.

Suddenly, dozens of wraith butterflies are flying around, quickly spreading in the room and the corridors leading to it.

"Wait! Crimson Rain, you can't-" Shi Qingxuan is forced to be quiet by He Xuan, who just shakes his head to tell them there's no use.

"Gege? Gege, where are you?" Hua Cheng calls in the communication array, hating every second he has to wait for an answer. Luckily, he doesn't have to wait for long.

"San Lang! Ah, it's a funny story.." Xie Lian says sheepishly.

"Gege." Hua Cheng's nerves relax a bit hearing Xie Lian's voice, but he's still ready to destroy everything standing between him and his god.

"San Lang, please don't be mad, it's not what you think." Xie Lian says after a pause, as if talking to someone else at the same time.

"What do I think?"

"I've been abducted by aliens." Xie Lian says, and Hua Cheng would laugh if he didn't want to cry.

"Gege, it that what I think or what happened?" He asks, feeling as if he's been sent to another dimension.

"Huh." Is the only answer he gets.

So Hua Cheng raises his hand, the red string tied around his finger appearing to show him the path. It's hard to see it clearly, though, with the amount of people, objects and lights coming on his way. It doesn't mean he won't try, obviously.

He slaloms once more between people, pushing more or less violently the aliens he sees, even if most of them seem to take flight at the sight of him. Good.

Thankfully, they couldn't have taken Xie Lian far, and if Hua Cheng is right (and he's almost certain he is), then it's understandable that his husband probably hasn't resist much, except if he knew all along and plotted with them..

He crosses a small corridor, almost immediately seeing another room, tiny. Without an hesitation, he's about to get inside when he's surprised by someone throwing themselves at him. And of course, he recognizes the love of his life right away, holding him tight, taking in his scent. "Gege, I missed you so much." He kisses his hair, his forehead, his nose and his cheek as Xie Lian laughs softly. He's forced to stop when Hua Cheng finally kisses his lips.

"Who do I need to kill?" He asks once he's done, breaking the embrace but keeping hold of Xie Lian's hands.

Xie Lian chuckles. "No one! They're inside but-"

Hua Cheng doesn't wait for the rest of his sentence to rush in, keeping Xie Lian's right hand in a firm hold. The decor inside is one of a torture chamber, but whoever was supposed to be in is now gone, leaving their place to a few aliens. When they see him, they start shaking uncontrollably, but it doesn't stop them from yelling: "Happy birthday, lord Chengzhu!!!" Not totally synchronized, with wonky smiles.

Hua Cheng glares at them, wraith butterflies rising around himself and Xie Lian, threatening. "Were you invited here?" He asks in a calm, cold voice.

They look at each other, pushing the others to answer, begging not to be the one who'd have to say it. "N-no.." One of them ends up mumbling, looking down. Now that Hua Cheng sees them unmoving and really pays attention, he can see how flawed their disguises are, full of blurred points, seemingly about to fall apart any time soon.

"Then why are you here?"

This time, they all want to talk at the same time:

"We- huh, someone heard that grand-uncle was planning to bring your old lordship here and it sounded so fun!"

"We wanted to celebrate your birthday with you and make it really fun!"

"We knew living people don't know how to create fear!"

"Yeah someone suggested we made a bet!"

"What's going on here?" Comes Shi Qingxuan's voice from behind them, looking above Xie Lian's shoulder. "Oh, hello." They say, waving at the ghosts.

"Grand-uncle's friend! Hi!"

"Hello!"

"How are you?"

Hua Cheng raises a hand to get their attention and silence. "So, you're telling me you were spying on his highness and that you made a bet.. Against me?"

"Ah, my lord.. It's not like that-"

"We were so worried when we saw grand-uncle leaving alone!"

"Yeah we wanted to make sure everything was okay!"

"Yes! And then we heard, that's it! Totally unintentional!"

"Exactly! What they said!"

"We just thought it'd be fun to see if one of us could scare you a bit, that's all!"

"Well you did bet a lot on this..!"

"And you haven't?!"

"We all did, shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"You-"

The three ghosts who were arguing are stopped brutally by their sudden transformation into daruma dolls, which also result in the whole room going silent.

"Oooh, so you replaced the employees? That's cool! I knew some things were a bit odd.." Shi Qingxuan comments.

"Well, not all of them.." A ghost mumbles, tensed as if expecting to be turned into a daruma doll too any time now.

"What did you do with them?" Xie Lian asks.

"Nothing! Don't worry, grand-uncle! We just tied them in a cave downstairs! They're perfectly safe!"

At that, Hua Cheng can't help but chuckle. They're tiring but he really likes the habitants of his city.

"We're sorry we captured you, grand-uncle! But we tried everything and grand-daddy just wouldn't get scared so we thought-"

Hua Cheng cuts them, back to being annoyed. "So you thought he'd tell you what I fear?" He mocks them, ready to turn them all into daruma dolls or to just give them to his butterflies.

"Nooo! They knew you'd get scared if you couldn't see Xie Lian!" Shi Qingxuan says. "And it was true! Right, He-xiong?"

They don't get an answer from He Xuan, totally uninterested by the situation. But Xie Lian blushes a bit. "Ah, but that doesn't count! He wasn't startled, just worried!" He squeezes Hua Cheng's hand while saying that. "But earlier, someone did manage to make him jump!" He announces proudly.

All the ghosts look at each other, all lost, unable to claim victory.

"Gege?" Hua Cheng interrogates him, equally perplexed.

Xie Lian slides his hand in his front pocket, taking E'Ming out and raising it happily. "E'Ming did it! It scared San Lang earlier in the doll house!"

E'Ming dances in Xie Lian's hand joyfully and Hua Cheng hates the sight, but Xie Lian's smile is just as glad so he can't ruin it.

"They're here! Quick!" A voice comes from behind, loud footsteps rushing towards them. Six men arrive, muscular, dressed in black, and Hua Cheng wonders, is he supposed to be scared of them? What is happening now? He 100% sure they're human, though.

"You have five minutes to leave this place or-.. What the fuck is happening here?" One of them ask, taking in the view of the wraith butterflies, Xie Lian slowly lowering E'Ming as if trying not to draw attention to himself, and all the weird people who look like poor imitations of their own employees.

Hua Cheng sights, turning to Shi Qingxuan. "How many employees did you hit with pieces of the set?"

Xie Lian leans closer to whisper: "Remember the trapdoor?"

"I said I'd repay that." Hua Cheng smirks, then clicks his fingers, successfully turning the six humans into daruma dolls. "They'll go back to normal in 15 minutes, let's go!" Then he looks at the ghosts. "That's the time you have to get everyone else back to Ghost City."

Once outside, Hua Cheng and Xie Lian part from Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan to go back home themselves. Hua Cheng is tempted to go to Puqi Shrine just to annoy the ghosts, but Xie Lian is excited, and pleasing god is his number one priority. Xie Lian would say he should do what he wants, but what he wants is to see his beloved happy.

So they use the dice again, back to their home, their city.

"Do you want to get changed?" Xie Lian asks him, almost bouncing on the spot, Ruoye and E'Ming back to its normal form doing the same next to him. The sight makes Hua Cheng smile fondly. He doesn't care about what he's wearing, he just wants Xie Lian to never stop smiling.

He shakes his head. "I'm fine like that, do you?"

"I'm good too! Hurry up!" Xie Lian takes Hua Cheng's hand to pull him along, half running backwards, forcing Hua Cheng to walk fast, who chuckles in front of his enthusiasm. "I want to show you the cake I baked!" Then his eyes open wide. "Oops, did I just spoil the surprise?"

Hua Cheng laughs. "No, gege, I haven't seen it yet, but I can't wait!"

"Then come!" He turns to run, Hua Cheng doing the same next to him.

It only takes them a couple of minutes to go from the gates of Paradise Manor to the biggest square in Ghost City, lightened by dozens of lanterns. All the residents are gathered there in what they consider their fanciest clothes, which goes from stuffed animals glued together to glittering clothes that barely cover anything.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORD CHENGZHU!!!" They all yell with everything they have as Hua Cheng and Xie Lian finally come to a stop, Xie Lian's arm finding its place around Hua Cheng's waist, squeezing his side.

At the center of the square, there's a huge table with one of the biggest cake Hua Cheng had ever seen. It tilts to the left, miraculously not falling apart. It's colorful, very colorful, but Hua Cheng thinks it works well like that somehow.

When they get closer, he understands the cake was originally brown, chocolate flavored, then it got painted in green, not always evenly but it gives it personality. The other colors come from multicolored flowers and butterflies, from various shapes and sizes.

"Gege, it's so perfect." He compliments his husband when they make it in front of it, bringing him close to give him a kiss as a thank.

"It's named 'Beautiful Wraith Lighten the Spring Night'." Xie Lian announces proudly, cheeks pink.

"That's such a great name, I love it." Hua Cheng compliments, having a hard time to decide if he needs to look at the cake or at his beloved more. He ends up holding Xie Lian tight while staring at the cake, amazed.

Next to them, E'Ming is bouncing to get their attention while Ruoye is bringing plates that Hua Cheng hopes aren't breakable.

"Oh, I think E'Ming wants to cut the cake!" Xie Lian observes with a fond smile.

And somehow, it's far from being their weirdest thing that happened today.

So why not.