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“Daozhang, congratulations!” The old farmer exclaims with a smile on his wrinkled face. “My wife happened to pass by the shrine this morning and she overheard… ah, you’re young! It’s how things are supposed to be! But I will say, I’m glad you and Xiao Hua finally figured it out.”
Xie Lian stares back at him perplexed. Nothing happened in the morning except for him and Hua Cheng hanging paper flowers and the little scrap collecting he’s returning from. “I’m sorry but I’m not sure I know what you mean,” he says, scratching his cheek as he balances the bag of scraps on one shoulder.
“Ah, daozhang, no need to act so coy! We’re all adults here!” The farmer says with a wink. When no reply comes from Xie Lian the old man looks at a loss. After a moment he glances over his shoulder to check the empty road behind them and adds in a low voice. “Daozhang, we’re all adults who know the ways of the world. My wife clearly heard the sounds of two people…erm, taken in amorous delight, coming from your shrine.”
The sweat dampening Xie Lian’s forehead from the effort of scrap-collecting turns icy. His mouth has a foul acrid taste and it takes him a while before he can open it to reply. “It was not San Lang and I,” he says and the bitterness is so heavy in his heart that he doesn’t find room to be embarrassed about the topic. “San Lang has a beloved person he’s been longing for, he must have found them at last.”
A pitying, sad look widens the old farmer’s eyes and his tanned cheeks darken with embarrassment. “Daozhang… if I had known…” he leaves the sentence hanging but Xie Lian feels no need to wait for the conclusion.
“It’s no problem. A simple mistake! I will get going,” he replies with a forced grin and hurries to walk away. He feels the man’s somber gaze on him until he rounds the nearest curve in the road.
He doesn’t return to his shrine until late in the evening, picking up random jobs in sweeping and cleaning the houses of the village in preparation for the festivities. When he finally gathers the courage to go back and steps inside the room Hua Cheng greets him holding a pickle jar and smiling wide. “Gege, you’re back! This one was almost getting worried. How come you spent the whole day out?”
The knot in Xie Lian’s stomach relents only to tighten again at seeing that he hasn’t left yet. He takes a glance around, dreading to find someone else with him, but Hua Cheng is the only person in the shrine. “The villagers asked for help with decorations. I'm here now, San Lang can leave if he wants to.”
The smile on Hua Cheng’s face falls. “Is gege getting tired of having me around?” He asks, putting on a teasing lilt and a grin that looks stiff.
“Of course not. Of course not, San Lang.”
There’s a beat of uneasy silence between them, then Xie Lian asks, “Don't you want to spend the festivities with your beloved?”
Hua Cheng stares at him for a long moment, observing him with a frown between his brows. “I would love to,” he replies in the end, tone serious.
The corners of Xie Lian’s lips feel terribly heavy as he forces them into a pleasant smile. “Then why are you here? You should go to them.”
Once again, Hua Cheng doesn’t reply immediately, eye fixed on him as if to assess whether Xie Lian is testing him. “Does gege want this San Lang to leave?” He asks cautiously. Xie Lian wonders briefly if it is him being tested.
He shakes his head, breathing out a sigh. “Didn’t I just say that I don’t want San Lang to leave?”
Hua Cheng studies him for a moment more then his smile slowly returns warm, though still tentative. “Then this one will stay with gege,” he states easily, as if affirming the simplest truth in the world.
It warms Xie Lian’s heart but it doesn’t manage to stitch it back together, only sharpens the awareness of what he’s going to lose soon. “Alright,” he acknowledges and lays down his bag of scraps.
He has only taken a few steps inside the single room of the shrine when a new detail catches his eye. Just by his feet, the straw mat they sleep on is slightly askew on the floor. The sight of the corner sticking out and the top edge of it not lining against the wall enrages him, conjuring unwanted images of Hua Cheng caught in a passionate embrace on that very mat, rocking against a faceless body in mutual satisfaction. Without thinking, he kicks the mat back into place, splintering the old straws that catch against the wall.
Immediately Hua Cheng’s voice sounds from the other side of the room. “Gege?” He calls, and from Xie Lian’s back comes the sound of a jar being put down. Before he can turn around Hua Cheng is standing next to him. “Gege is angry,” he states quietly. “Did this one do something wrong?”
With one question, realization washes over Xie Lian like a bucket of cold water. His shoulders sag and he shakes his head, plastering on a weak smile, more genuine than the ones he’s tried before. When he looks up, the anxious expression on Hua Cheng’s face makes guilt stab him deeper. He considers himself a friend but hasn’t acted like one all day, with his thoughts fogged by what he recognizes as jealousy. “San Lang has done nothing wrong,” he says warmly. “I’m tired, that’s all. I will lie down now.”
“Without eating?” Hua Cheng immediately asks, face still clouded and unconvinced.
Xie Lian’s heart pangs at the preoccupation for a skipped meal, as if his stomach couldn’t handle days without even the scent of food. “I ate something while I helped cleaning.”
It’s not a complete lie but it’s not truthful either, he ate a cut apple that a grandma offered him in thanks, much more than he’s used to on most days but much less than what Hua Cheng considers a proper meal.
Hua Cheng seems to sense the insincerity but he only observes him grimly before giving a dejected nod. “Let’s go to bed,” he agrees with a sigh.
He walks back to the kitchen, puttering around for a while as he stores away the food he’s cooked and washes the old pot. When he lies down next to him, Xie Lian is already curled up on a side with his eyes closed.
At least half a shichen passes before Xie Lian opens his eyes again. Hua Cheng is still awake when he does, lying on his back and staring at the mouldy beams over them. Xie Lian rolls on his back and gazes at the ceiling just as pensively.
“Have you been waiting for your beloved for a long time?” He asks without turning to look at Hua Cheng.
Next to him, Hua Cheng laughs a bitter chuckle, one that sounds scared. “You can say that, yes.”
“How long?” Xie Lian is not sure where he’s leading the conversation but curiosity spurs him on.
“Since soon after I died.”
Xie Lian is silent, he turns his head to observe Hua Cheng as if committing him to memory for when he will leave for his beloved. The purity of such love makes him even more sour about his jealousy. The face he makes must push Hua Cheng to continue because he lets out a deep breath and adds, “Eight hundred years.”
Xie Lian hums thoughtfully. The irony of the timing is mocking like his luck always manages to be. He briefly realizes that they must have been alive at the same time and the thought leaves him even more disappointed, as if what he desired had been snatched from right under his nose. To distract himself he decides to pursue another line of questioning. “And you finally found them back, you must be very happy.”
At his side Hua Cheng tenses. A long moment passes before his reply comes; he doesn’t deny it. “I am.”
Xie Lian lets out a sigh, releasing with it the last hope of being wrong. The mat underneath him feels filthy even though he’s slept in the dirt more often than on a bed. The straws poking his spine feel derisive, an annoying reminder of the images that can’t seem to leave his mind. “Then I haven’t misunderstood,” he says finally.
As soon as the words are out Hua Cheng sits up next to him, for the first time looking at him with open distress. “Your Highness, this one apologizes. Whatever you’ve heard, let me explain. It isn’t anything improper.”
At that Xie Lian only has the strength to sit up and observe him with raised brows.
Seeing it Hua Cheng’s eye truly grows desperate. “I acknowledge it, it is improper, but my devotion never was clouded by my desires. This one never expected anything.”
“Didn’t you tell me you hadn’t won them over /yet/?”
“Your Highness, I admit, in some moments my heart nurtured a bit of hope but my mind always knew better.” He kneels on the floor like a soldier pledging his loyalty. “Your Highness, I would have you dismiss me as your lowest servant if it were your wish. To die in battle for you has been my greatest honour, to serve you in whatever form you bid me would be the second greatest. I never presumed for Your Highness to reciprocate any of my feelings, I only want to serve in the way that you need most.”
Xie Lian’s mind blanks. “What?!”
After his monologue it’s comical how quickly Hua Cheng goes silent and very still. He doesn’t move a muscle, just stares back as if he hadn’t spoken a word.
Xie Lian, on the other hand, can’t find any word to begin addressing his confusion. In the end, the first question he asks is the most stupid. “You’re from Xianle?”
Hua Cheng is still frighteningly silent but he nods.
As if that single information clarified everything, the pieces begin to fall into place in Xie Lian’s mind. Clearing his throat, he finds the strength to ask another question, the last and the first of many others, he hopes. “San Lang, don't you want to spend the festivities with your beloved?”
Hua Cheng draws in a deep breath then lets it out fully. “I do,” he says evenly.
“Then why are you here?” Xie Lian’s heart beats quickly against his ribs as he waits for an answer.
“Because I want to spend the festivities with my beloved.”
Xie Lian smiles so widely his cheeks ache. A rush of relief and earth-shattering joy envelopes him so fully that for a moment he thinks he’s going to ascend again. Then, an unbidden thought crosses his mind and it leaves his lips before he can restrain it. “THEN WHO WAS WITH YOU THIS MORNING!?”
It's Hua Cheng’s turn to be confused. "Who?!"
Xie Lian’s neck heats up like a furnace. "The one you...." He gestures wildly to the mat he's still sitting on. "You!" Hua Cheng follows his hands as they move like Xie Lian's lost all control over them. "You've /been/ with this morning!" When Hua Cheng still doesn’t understand, he adds, “In bed.”
Hua Cheng’s expression goes from focus to disgust in an instant. He looks horrified as well as enraged by the insinuation. “Who told you that? I would never be with someone else.” The words leave his mouth angered and rushed, they are out probably quicker than he had meant them to and they get to Xie Lian immediately.
“Oh.” He replies. He doesn’t question the declaration, it’s natural to believe it as true.
Like a flame doused by a bucket of water, their fervor dies down as fast as it has begun.
“Your Highness believes me, right?” Hua Cheng asks after a moment.
“Of course!” Xie Lian almost doesn’t realize he’s replying. The revelations start to settle in his mind as dust floating after shaking a carpet. They drift down slowly, one by one, piling on his heart comfortably and leaving him calm at last, like a pond after a ripple in the water.
Hua Cheng, on the other hand, still wears a frown between his brows. It’s a long moment before he murmurs into the quiet. “Your Highness didn’t know…”
With a content smile that has newly found its way back on his lips, Xie Lian replies easily. “Ah, San Lang! Of course I didn’t! How could I have when I didn’t know… did we know each other in Xianle?”
A long explanation follows his question. It’s one reluctantly given and it seems to pain Hua Cheng to reveal the ways in which they have met during his youth but every word soothes Xie Lian like a balm. He listens to the recounts of Hong’er’s short life and even shorter after-life as Wuming. When the name is first spoken Xie Lian cries. He shakes and trembles where he sits in the dimly lit room until Hua Cheng asks him not to.
“Your Highness, don’t be sad. I’m here now.”
At that, Xie Lian smiles again. It’s tremulous at first but it grows steadier as he passes all the new things he’s learnt through his mind like with a sieve. He lets out a chuckle when he realizes how everything started.
Hua Cheng’s mind seems to have gone back to the same moment. He observes Xie Lian strangely for a moment before he asks. “Was gege…jealous?” The grin he gives him is teasing but there’s an obvious wonder in his tone.
“Of course I didn’t want to lose San Lang,” Xie Lian says, even though it’s not a proper answer. Hua Cheng takes it as the affirmation it hides and scoots closer, legs brushing against Xie Lian’s on the mat while a hand comes to rest on his knee. Hua Cheng’s face moves closer until he presses his forehead to Xie Lian’s.
For a moment they just breathe, exchanging the air that passes between the small space separating their mouths. Warm air fans over Xie Lian’s lips and he breathes it in until the sound of their breathing fills the entire shrine. When Hua Cheng leans in, Xie Lian doesn’t wait for their lips to touch before he surges forward.
It’s not their first kiss but it is the first one that’s not hidden behind a pretext. Xie Lian doesn’t need air, nor spiritual power, nor does Hua Cheng need to let out a ghostly force driving him mad. It’s not slow and neither tame but it is tender. Their lips push and pull, closing the distance between them every time it forms and caging it with fingers that sink into the hair at Hua Cheng’s nape and hands fisted into the fabric on Xie Lian’s back.
The darkness of the room is already softening when Xie Lian lies back onto the mat, dragging Hua Cheng down with him without parting. The light is starting to blush pink when they separate for a moment and Xie Lian gazes into a heavy lidded eye that’s staring down at him with a blown pupil.
“Gege - ”
A sudden knock comes from the door. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE, YOU BRUTE!? OPEN UP!” A woman’s voice yells from outside while pounding on the thin wood.
Xie Lian jolts at the sound and Hua Cheng’s head snaps to the door, his eye is still half closed in pleasure but it glares with a murderous glint.
From the other side, the hushed voice of a man tries to mollify his companion. “Honey, it’s still too early to be waking up the whole village. Let’s come back later, I’m sure there…”
“Ah! Don’t try to placate me! That Xiao Hua, acting all nice and helpful when really he would play our poor daozhang like this. Gege this, gege that! Pah! His ears will fall right off when I’m done with him.” The knocking increases in vigor. “I can hear you loud and clear! Doing those things in his shrine! Where did you send him to have the room to yourselves, uh? OPEN UP!!”
Xie Lian scrambles up from under Hua Cheng’s weight, patting his clothes down a couple of times and hoping it will fix them enough. Hua Cheng stands up next to him and, without the same worry, walks to the door with his hair mussed, the string of his eyepatch slightly askew and one sleeve of his tunic slipping down his shoulder and exposing his white inner robes. He opens the rickety door with the grace of a king and Xie Lian rushes to follow behind him.
As soon as Hua Cheng emerges the woman standing outside starts yelling anew. “Here you are! Ah, look at you! No shame at all! First yesterday morning, now this, all under our poor daozhang's nose! Don't you see how he suffers?”
She reaches out a hand to fix the sleeve that had slipped off Hua Cheng’s shoulder like a fussing aunt but Xie Lian’s hand stops her before she can adjust it. He steps forward to stand next to Hua Cheng on the threshold. "Ah, I’m grateful for your trouble but it turned out that it was all a big misunderstanding. No need to worry about it."
The woman’s eyes land on him and immediately widen. Next to her, the old farmer that talked to him looks him up and down with a gaping mouth. His eyes dart between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng as shamelessly as his wife’s do.
“Daozhang!” The woman exclaims, slapping a palm on her chest. “Aiya, who would have thought that our daozhang was such a sly fox! Lying about being with your lover? Really!” The chiding glare in her gaze has morphed into a pleased luster and she observes them without hiding her amusement.
"It wasn’t a lie! Yesterday nothing happened… it was just a misunderstanding!" Xie Lian rushes to add.
With her brows raised the woman looks him up and down, mouth pursing in clear disbelief, but before she can say anything Hua Cheng speaks.
“Actually,” he begins in a calm but cold voice. “I would like to know what it is that you heard yesterday and told him about.”
Many gods would scatter in fear and call for their mothers upon hearing such a tone on the Ghost King, the woman instead levels him with a stare and tuts like a displeased grandmother. “Xiao Hua, how old are you? Behave properly! At least in front of him… don’t you want to show that you have good manners? If you want to know what I heard, I have no problem telling.” With that, she pressed a hand to her cheek and started talking in a dreamy, fakely labored voice. “How’s this? Oh, maybe a bit higher… How does that feel, gege? Mn… Don’t move! That’s good…”
“Honey…” The old farmer calls feebly, pulling on his wife’s sleeve, while Xie Lian’s skin heats from the top of his head to the back of his neck.
Unhelpfully, next to him Hua Cheng pipes up. “Gege, wasn’t that what you said yesterday while we were hanging paper flowers?”
Embarrassment washes over Xie Lian like a wave. “It…looks like it,” he says while he wonders if Hua Cheng would ever let him dig up a ditch and die there.
The woman, on the other hand, looks close to laughter. “Ah what’s the use in making up excuses? It’s not like it’s shameful!”
“They’re not excuses!” Xie Lian rebuts. “We truly were just hanging paper flowers!”
In all reply, she shakes her head smiling. “Daozhang, there's nothing to be embarrassed about! Everybody - " Midway through the sentence she seems to take pity on him. " - hangs paper flowers. It’s a perfectly normal thing to do with your beloved."
At her words Xie Lian nods, though he can’t bring himself to meet her eyes. Surprisingly, even Hua Cheng stays silent at his side.
The woman looks at them with clear amusement. “I will let you young people sort out these decorations’ matters alone.” She turns to her husband and gestures to the shrine’s entry gate, already walking towards it. “After all, we should hang some paper flowers ourselves!”
Behind her the old farmer balks. Then, he swiftly hastens his pace, taking her by the hand and waving a rushed, “Many thanks, daozhang! I mean, you’re welcome! We will take our leave now.”
Xie Lian watches them retreat with his mouth hanging open and a temperature on his face that must mean spring truly is coming.
Once they get inside, Xie Lian stares firmly at the lattice windows for a while. The silence stretches with a touch of embarrassment between them before he clears his throat and turns to face Hua Cheng. “Uhm, San Lang, I was thinking that your luck truly is remarkable but mine is awful, it might be able to unbalance even your good fortune. Don’t you think…we could use some more paper flowers?”
Hua Cheng’s eye goes wide for an instant, then his expression turns carefully thoughtful. He brings a hand to his chin and turns this way and that, scanning their decorations, before striding towards the sleeping mat and sitting down. “Mn, gege is very wise. We definitely need some more,” he says and smiles as Xie Lian walks over to him and leans down.