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Hua Cheng didn’t technically need to sleep. There had been times over the centuries when he had not stopped the search for his god and his efforts to gain more power, wealth and knowledge to even rest, and he had felt the effects of that, messing with his spiritual energy, tripping him up and slowing him down. It had made him so very frustrated, enraged at his own weakness, and often it had made him feel like he was truly descending into madness. Sometimes, when he’d burned himself out completely, the ghost king would curl up at the feet of one of His Highness’s statues, the way he’d done when he was a scrawny child in dirty rags, and let oblivion take him for a little while. He didn’t know if that counted as sleep.
When Hua Cheng had been Wu Ming, he had not slept for a moment. Wu Ming had followed His Highness, had watched him day and night as his grief and his pain and his hatred ate him alive, his own sorrow, love and wrath making him feel like he was burning.
Wu Ming had to watch as Xie Lian slept hardly at all, tossing and turning when he did, waking up screaming from a nightmare every time. The ghost had tried to comfort his god, lying down beside him and touching him carefully, helplessly, wishing he could take on the full burden of his beloved’s pain. He always withdrew before Xie Lian woke up, unable to hold him close and keep holding him the way he wanted to. He didn’t deserve to anyway.
For a long time after finding Xie Lian at last, even for a good while after they were married, Hua Cheng still didn’t sleep much. He didn’t want to waste time on it, when his god (his husband, now) was right there next to him. Watching Xie Lian sleep was so different than it had been all those centuries ago, his face now peaceful and without worry lines, as he slept soundly on red silk sheets, on a self-made bed, or on a straw mat. Night after night, Hua Cheng had taken in every tiny detail of Xie Lian’s face, his whole being alight with joy, thinking to himself he could never quite do his god’s beauty justice with his art, even now.
Over time, Hua Cheng had started to give in, letting himself sleep with Xie Lian in his arms. The thing was, he had never felt this comfortable before, lulled by Xie Lian’s soft breaths and even heartbeat - he was inevitably pulled in by this seemingly gentle but deceptively strong current.
And, most importantly, it made Xie Lian happy to sleep together.
“San Lang looks so cute when he sleeps,” he’d said softly, the first time Hua Cheng had slept through the night and woken up to see Xie Lian looking at him. Xie Lian had looked bashful, having been caught staring, and he had been positively glowing with contentment. Sleeping had easily become a habit from that moment on.
Still, Hua Cheng loved mornings like this, when he was the first to wake up, so he could watch Xie Lian rest the way he deserved to, and take in all the changes to his sleeping form after decades of peaceful days and marriage.
Xie Lian was wrapped up in Hua Cheng’s arms, wonderfully warm, snoring lightly. His hair was sleep-mussed and soft, and he was drooling on Hua Cheng’s chest.
Hua Cheng grinned, and tenderly stroked his husband’s side, over the silk of his red sleeping robe.
Xie Lian’s skin looked healthy and smooth, he had no bags under his eyes, no perpetual worry lines etched onto his face. He had a lovely tan these days, and there was not a single trace left as a reminder that his cursed shackles had ever been there. There were only the marks that Hua Cheng had left on him the night before. He grinned smugly at the memory of Xie Lian’s gasps and overwhelmed tears, very pleased with himself as he brushed aside Xie Lian’s long hair to admire the bruises forming a ring around his god’s neck.
Xie Lian’s long, brown hair was smooth and silky, freshly washed in the bath after their… activities the night before. Hua Cheng pressed a kiss to the top of his god’s head, inhaling his scent and tucking a stray lock of hair behind his ear.
He took Xie Lian’s hand, which was resting on his stomach, and laced their fingers together. Xie Lian’s nails were healthy, no longer chipped and cracked and chewed on. His husband had had a habit of picking at his nail beds and scratching dry patches of skin on his hands without even realising it, whenever he was uncertain or nervous. Now, his hands were in perfect condition, and when he was deep in thought Xie Lian would simply play with the red string on his finger.
Hua Cheng loved caring for Xie Lian's hands, the hands that covered his face when he was shy, that held Hua Cheng’s own as often as they could, that had once caught a falling child, and fought and bled and protected, collected and fixed up old, well-loved and broken things and given them a new life, and defeated Bai Wuxiang. Hands with the strength to wield a sword and the gentleness to hold a flower. He loved indulging in the worshipful act of sitting down with Xie Lian and slowly rubbing fragrant creams and special oils into his skin, kissing his fingertips and not missing a single one.
Xie Lian was heavier on top of him than he’d been before. It filled Hua Cheng’s heart with so much joy that he sometimes thought it would start beating on its own, without him willing it to. When he’d finally found his god, Xie Lian was even more beautiful than Hua Cheng had remembered, kind and wise, silly and brave, strong and capable. But he had also been slighter than he’d been in the past, his robes a little too big for him. Hua Cheng had always loved carrying Xie Lian, holding him close and safe, so real in his arms, but he had wished that carrying him would require a little more effort than it did.
Now, Xie Lian’s face was round, his cheeks full and adorable, one of them squished against Hua Cheng’s chest. His arms jiggled when he waved at the kids from Ghost City or Puqi village, when he wielded a sword, or when he became so wrapped up in whatever he and Hua Cheng were chatting about that he started talking with big gestures. He had lovely stretch marks all over him, particularly on the insides of his upper arms and on his belly. He had gorgeous breasts and fat folds, soft stomach rolls that Hua Cheng loved to bite when they were in bed together and squeeze whenever the opportunity presented itself. His thighs spread out when he sat, a perfect place for Hua Cheng to rest his head, big and soft and strong.
And his backside… Hua Cheng had always been obsessed with Xie Lian's ass, had always believed it to be perfect, but there was so much more of it now. He almost regretted not needing to breathe - he would love to bury his face between those perfect full cheeks until he went lightheaded.
For the moment, Hua Cheng held himself back from worshipping Xie Lian’s behind the way it was meant to be worshipped, and settled for gently digging his fingertips into his soft waist.
There was so much of his god to worship. He was more beautiful than ever.
Thank you, Your Highness, Hua Cheng prayed, for the blessing of getting to see you so happy and healthy every day.
Xie Lian made a noise in his sleep that sounded a lot like “San Lang”, and for a moment Hua Cheng was afraid that his prayer had actually woken him up. He wanted Xie Lian to rest a little longer, and wake up on his own.
But Xie Lian only made another soft, sleepy noise, and continued to dream.
Hua Cheng knew that he would never get enough of seeing Xie Lian like this. It had taken some time and a lot of patience before Xie Lian had become comfortable with letting Hua Cheng pamper him properly.
Gradually, Xie Lian had started to wear robes from his large, room-sized closet at Paradise Manor, which had been a gift from Hua Cheng. He’d started with the plain white ones, which were made of much finer materials than his old robes, and had fine, almost invisible silver embroidery on it, of butterflies that shimmered gently when hit by the moonlight.
Later, he’d started wearing robes with some colour as well. Still mostly white, but with accents of pale gold or light pink. Sometimes, more and more often, he’d even wear red.
Food was another story. The two of them had started with taking the time to eat and drink at fixed times every day. Together, they always had three meals a day, at least, even though Hua Cheng didn’t really need to eat and Xie Lian casually said that he was used to irregular mealtimes. It was because Xie Lian said this that Hua Cheng was so adamant about it.
“San Lang,” Xie Lian had suddenly spoken up during calligraphy practice one morning, the sunlight shining on his loose hair, “what is your favourite food?”
Hua Cheng had put his brush down and turned to his husband, noticing the way he was biting his lip.
“Anything gege makes is my favourite.”
“San Lang, don't be insincere.”
“This San Lang is always sincere with gege.”
Xie Lian glanced at Hua Cheng’s face before looking down at the calligraphy scroll, fiddling with the end of the brush.
“I don't really have a favourite food.”
Hua Cheng looked at Xie Lian silently for a moment and moved a little closer to him still, so that their hips were pressed together.
“Oh?”
“Well, you see, for a long time… for a very long time, before my third ascension, I didn't always… have much to eat.”
Hua Cheng's heart clenched, and Xie Lian kept his eyes on the scroll and swallowed before continuing.
“There was never really enough food… on good days, people would give me a warm meal when I took their scraps or fixed things for them, but there were times when I didn't really have many good - I mean, I was happy with whatever they gave me. If it was just me, I ate whatever I could find, and sometimes it wasn't -”
Xie Lian trailed off, but Hua Cheng knew what he wasn’t saying. His god had gone hungry, and he'd eaten anything, even if it had been poisonous or covered in mould. He suddenly felt that they weren’t sitting close enough. He wanted to drag Xie Lian onto his lap and hug him, hold him close until his heart stopped hurting.
“I tried growing my own vegetables a couple times, but some disaster always befell my garden, and I couldn’t stay in one place for too long anyway,” Xie Lian continued with a sad chuckle, scratching his cheek.
Hua Cheng did his best to keep his grief off his face and he put his hand on Xie Lian’s back, softly stroking up and down.
He took a moment to collect himself and said: “Let's find gege's favourite food.”
The next day, he had taken Xie Lian to the garden, to show him his brand new vegetable patch. The soil in Ghost City wasn’t ideal for growing vegetables, but Hua Cheng had provided beautiful, well-constructed raised beds, and he’d made damn sure that those vegetables grew plentiful and big for Xie Lian.
Paradise Manor had a special pantry for Xie Lian’s pickled fruits and vegetables, every shelf packed full of jars.
Xie Lian still loved cooking, and Hua Cheng always insisted he would be heartbroken if he had to go without Gege’s cooking for too long, so they found a happy balance between Xie Lian cooking and Hua Cheng introducing him to new flavours.
For the first time, Xie Lian had unlimited access to any ingredients he might require for the dishes he wanted to make, and it made his dishes more interesting and unique than ever, as Xie Lian tried to incorporate some of his new discoveries into his cooking, sometimes all at the same time.
Over the years, no matter where they were staying, no matter what they were doing, they always took the time to eat together. Simple dishes, fancy dishes, riverside picnics, complete banquets - Hua Cheng made sure that Xie Lian tasted a wide variety of cuisines.
Xie Lian ate, and he ate, and he enjoyed it. He enjoyed eating together with Hua Cheng, he enjoyed the comfortable companionship of it, and he enjoyed the food itself. He loved discovering new tastes, new textures, new combinations. Over time, he'd started developing likes and dislikes.
When Xie Lian had first started showing signs of becoming a little bit picky about food, Hua Cheng was so happy he thought he might cry.
And then there were the snacks. Xie Lian loved snacks. Sweet, savoury, sour, spicy. He loved steamed buns with all kinds of filling, tanghulu, shrimp dumplings, jianbing, marinated peanuts, steamed rice noodles filled with beef, almond jelly, osmanthus cakes, yuanxiao, egg yolk tarts, all of these and more became his favourites.
At first, Hua Cheng had always been the one to bring snacks along when they went anywhere together to explore a new place or handle prayers, watching happily as Xie Lian would eat everything he gave him and go on and on about how tasty it all was.
Xie Lian didn’t go up to Heaven if he could avoid it, but if he couldn’t, or when he occasionally went to handle prayers alone, Hua Cheng would make sure to slip him some snacks before he left.
Eventually, Xie Lian had also started packing snacks for himself.
When they were spending time in Puqi village, he could often be seen enjoying a bag of crisp, juicy water chestnuts as he gave the villagers instructions on how to protect themselves from evil or listened to Xiao Hua tell the village children a wild, unbelievable story that was actually mostly true. More and more offerings of water chestnuts were left at the shrine.
It hadn’t taken the residents of Ghost City long to pick up on their granduncle’s newfound love for snacks, and naturally it had unleashed chaos. Hua Cheng and Xie Lian couldn’t walk down the street without being surrounded by a large group of ghosts, all clamouring for attention and trying to get Xie Lian to accept the food they’d brought for him. It had been a lot like that first time he was there on a visit, but it lasted a lot longer.
The ghosts turned it into something of a competition, to see who could please their granduncle the most with the tastiest snacks.
Ghosts popped up on every street corner, forest spirits in the woods who were slowly but surely becoming one with the trees would suddenly wake to offer berries and nuts, and water ghosts with fish eyes and gills popped their heads above the surface or flopped onto the shore of the lake surrounding the manor whenever Hua Cheng and Xie Lian went for a walk there. Xie Lian accepted their offerings more often than not, no matter if it was food fit for human consumption - Hua Cheng’s god was just too polite and gracious. And he always made time to talk to the ghosts, to ask them about their afterlives, to ask the shopkeepers how business was going, to ask the ghost kids if anyone was bullying them. He smiled at them and showed his dimples, which were becoming prettier and prettier as time went on, and Hua Cheng was so in love with him that he usually forgot to be annoyed at the interruptions from his citizens.
It pleased him, of course, to see his god so loved, laden with offerings, and Xie Lian was just adorable when he got flustered by the attention. But sometimes Hua Cheng wanted to be alone with his husband - really, enough was enough.
They didn’t even back off until Hua Cheng snapped and ordered them to scram! In the old days, a look from him used to be enough to get rid of them, but with Xie Lian around, it really seemed like their affection for the god outweighed their respect and fear for their Chengzhu.
Xie Lian sighed in his sleep and made soft little smacking noises.
Hua Cheng moved a hand from Xie Lian’s waist to his thigh, brushing aside the red sleeping robe and tracing his pretty stretch marks there with his fingertips.
Contrary to what mortals often thought, they did get birdsong in Ghost City. Birds that those in the Mortal Realm didn't even believe existed outside of stories; dangerous birds that would occasionally cause havoc in the city streets; ghosts who were at least half bird - they could all be heard in the relative quiet of the early morning hours. Not all of their songs and cries were very pleasing to the ears.
Regular birds also visited the city, free and unafraid as they were.
The lark singing outside the window at that moment was a frequent visitor. It seemed to have become attached to Xie Lian recently. Hua Cheng had noticed it, as he noticed everything going on around his beloved. He had checked, of course, if it wasn’t some nefarious creature or cursed mortal, but no, just a bird. Xie Lian often had this effect on animals. Hua Cheng could understand them, of course.
The lark had actually flown up to them when they were reading together in the south garden by the pond, under the willow tree, Hua Cheng’s head pillowed on Xie Lian’s soft thigh. It had sat there in the grass for a few minutes, and when XIe Lian had extended a hand to it, it had actually hopped up and perched there, right beside the red string on Xie Lian’s finger.
“It’s so cute,” his husband said, stroking the bird’s head with one finger. The lark looked quite pleased with itself. It sure was audacious, coming to his home, completely ignoring his killing aura and stealing his husband’s attention. That hand it was occupying had been petting Hua Cheng’s hair just before!
Hua Cheng huffed, and Xie Lian stifled a laugh behind his hand.
“Is San Lang jealous?”
Hua Cheng put his book down on his chest and made a show of looking wounded.
“Gege is bullying his San Lang, but if it makes gege this happy, San Lang will gladly suffer.”
Xie Lian laughed harder then, loud and undignified, and the bird, no doubt thinking that the god's laughter was a song, replied with his own.
“San Lang should know by now that he is always my favourite,” Xie Lian said fondly, going back to petting Hua Cheng’s head with his free hand.
If Hua Cheng thought that the lark’s singing would disturb his husband’s sleep, he would use an array to block the sound, but he knew that Xie Lian loved waking up to it.
“Mm, San Lang?” Xie Lian’s voice was still sleepy and soft, but he was waking up this time, his golden eyes fluttering open, still fuzzy with sleep.
“Good morning, gege,” Hua Cheng said, brushing a hand through Xie Lian’s hair and kissing his forehead. “Were you dreaming about this San Lang?”
Xie Lian lifted one hand to rub his eyes and yawned adorably.
“I always dream about San Lang,” he mumbled, completely earnest, too comfortable and still too lost in the fog of sleep to really think about it. Hua Cheng grinned.
“And what does San Lang do in gege’s dreams?”
Xie Lian narrowed his eyes.
“Calligraphy practice.”
Hua Cheng blinked innocently.
“Ah, gege, this one is just curious. Maybe this one could learn a lot from the San Lang in gege’s dreams. It would be fun if I could enter gege’s dream so he would have two -” Xie Lian quickly lifted his head and moved closer, hurrying to stop Hua Cheng’s words with a kiss before he could say more outrageous things.
The kiss was soft and sweet, Xie Lian’s hands buried in Hua Cheng’s hair, his nails lightly scratching his scalp. Hua Cheng’s tongue gently probed against the seam of his lips, and Xie Lian opened his mouth with a delicate sigh. He hooked one leg over both of Hua Cheng’s, and Hua Cheng loved how soft and big his thigh was, and the way it covered so much of him.
Their lips moved together, and Hua Cheng couldn’t hold back a soft moan when Xie Lian’s tongue brushed against his. His beloved’s lips were soft, and Hua Cheng’s nose was brushing against his pillowy cheek. He licked into Xie Lian’s mouth with a little more intent, swallowing the little noises he made.
Hua Cheng stroked both hands over Xie Lian’s back, down and down and down, slipping them under Xie Lian’s sleeping robes, until they finally reached those perfect plump mounds. And then he squeezed with both hands.
“Mmph!” Xie Lian protested weakly into the kiss, wriggling against Hua Cheng’s body.
After a few moments, Hua Cheng let go with a satisfied hum and Xie Lian bit his lower lip in revenge, pulling back to pout at him. Hua Cheng rubbed his hands over his ass in soothing motions, far from remorseful.
Xie Lian looked exquisite. His gaze was a little unfocused, he was slightly breathless, and there was a pink blush on his cheeks.
“Apologies, gege, this San Lang has been wanting to do that since he woke up. Gege is simply irresistible, it was torment to wait for so long.”
Xie Lian squirmed again as Hua Cheng’s massaging hands moved closer and closer to the cleft of his ass. He huffed and poked Hua Cheng’s cheek.
“San Lang is insatiable. Really too spoiled.”
Yes, they were both spoiled. They had been like this for long enough now that all the pain and loneliness of the past seemed like a distant dream.
Hua Cheng considered his options for a moment, and then brought up a hand to take Xie Lian’s and brush featherlight kisses to each of his knuckles.
There would be plenty of time to devour him again later.
Xie Lian sighed happily and rolled onto his back. Hua Cheng followed and supported himself on one arm, gazing down at Xie Lian reverently. His husband’s sleeping robe was fully open, exposing his chest.
Xie Lian’s soft breasts were Hua Cheng’s favourite place to lay his head. They were so plump and comfortable, and the ghost king loved hearing his beloved’s heartbeat and feeling the way his chest rose and fell.
When Hua Cheng had first started sleeping regularly, nightmares had disturbed their blissful peace at times, and putting his head on his god’s chest, Xie Lian’s strong arms securely around him, had helped Hua Cheng calm down every time.
He was tempted to put his head down now, but he had other important things to do first.
Hua Cheng pressed another kiss to Xie Lian’s mouth, and then kissed a trail from his jaw to his neck to his chest, playfully kissing every bite mark and bruise he had left on his husband’s skin. Xie Lian moaned and twitched under his soft display of devotion, one hand grasping the red sheets and the other buried in his husband’s hair, his belly jiggling with every movement in a way that Hua Cheng found so sexy.
The ghost king stopped his onslaught of soft kisses and pulled back to look at Xie Lian, giving him just enough time to start believing Hua Cheng was done playing with him… And then he dove in, nudged his nose under Xie Lian's armpit, into the dark curls there, and sniffed.
Xie Lian gasped. “San Lang!”
He wiggled, and Hua Cheng looked up, grinning delightedly at Xie Lian's now tomato-red face.
“San Lang, th-that tickles!”
Hua Cheng hummed happily, squeezing Xie Lian’s belly.
“This one apologises, gege just smells so divine. I could never find a perfume that smells better even if I searched all Three Realms. I'm tempted to venture into the city and have a perfume commissioned based on gege’s scent.”
All the perfume makers in Ghost City would get intensely competitive about it, Hua Cheng knew. Half the city might go up in flames within a week.
Xie Lian shook his head and snorted out a laugh, and then giggled when Hua Cheng pushed his face under his armpit again and inhaled deeply.
“San Laaang, it really does tickle! Have mercy on this old god.”
“Then again, I don’t think I could bear to share gege’s scent with others.”
Hua Cheng grinned, and kissed his way from Xie Lian's armpit, across his chest, to his breasts. He took one of them and kneaded it, licking under the other, groaning appreciatively as if he was tasting a delicious meal after starving in the Gobi desert for two weeks.
“Gege tastes divine too,” he murmured against Xie Lian’s skin, pulling back to smile up at him with a wicked sparkle in his eye.
“San Lang is teasing me again,” Xie Lian scolded. “Didn't he get enough of that last night?”
“This San Lang will never get enough of anything to do with gege,” Hua Cheng replied sincerely.
Xie Lian shook his head fondly, brushing Hua Cheng's bangs back to fully reveal the scar where his right eye once was. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to it, and Hua Cheng realised that he didn’t feel even the smallest impulse to turn away or hide.
Maybe he himself had changed a lot too.
When Xie Lian pulled back, he was beaming at him, and Hua Cheng was as always stunned to see devotion just as boundless as his own reflected in his god's eyes. There was no getting used to some things. One of those things was the fact that he was worshipped, too.
Hua Cheng put his head down on Xie Lian’s chest, right next to where the ring made from his ashes was resting. That ring was now safer than ever, tucked between Xie Lian’s perfect breasts every day.
“Let’s stay like this for an incense time, and then we can get breakfast. What do you say, gege?”
Xie Lian brushed his fingers through Hua Cheng’s hair, showing his dimples in their full glory.
“Breakfast with San Lang is my favourite.”