Work Text:
“Is gege sure he doesn’t want any more paintings? 1 seems like such a low number to capture how perfect gege looks today. Completely insufficient.”
Xie Lian paused, hand on the door, but he did not around. If he turned around, he would see Hua Cheng’s face, which would probably be turned down into a pout. And if he saw that pout, he wouldn’t be able to leave at all! “We slept in this morning,” he tried explaining. “And then we went to the market and ate lunch at that nice restaurant while we were out. And then we saw that impressive acrobatic performance. And then we came back home and cooked and ate dinner, then we braided flowers into each other’s hair, and then I posed for a painting.” The painting had turned out so well, too. Hua Cheng was so terribly talented.
“Are you trying to say that was enough gege time?” Hua Cheng asked, voice sulky.
Xie Lian sighed. Leaving was so difficult. Already, he felt his resolution failing. He steeled himself. He absolutely had to go this evening. Everything depended on it. “San Lang! It’s just that I have so many prayers piled up, and I think you’ll have a riot in Ghost City if you don’t take a few bets at the Gambler’s Den.” There! That came out surprisingly evenly. He was a little proud of himself.
“As long as I get to hold gege when he’s ready to sleep,” Hua Cheng acquiesced reluctantly.
“Yes, of course!” He’d gotten so spoiled, and he hated sleeping alone now. He felt a flurry of butterflies at his back, and then a profound emptiness in the little cottage they’d made a home in. He checked his hair for any extra butterflies, and, finding none, pulled out his set of dice and rolled them.
He opened the cottage door into the small room an elderly couple lent to Shi Qingxuan in exchange for his help. To his surprise, Shi Qingxuan was not alone. Feng Xin, Mu Qing, Pei Ming, and Ghost City’s best tailor were all crammed into that tiny space. He didn’t have time to greet everyone before Shi Qingxuan started bossing everyone around. “Alright people!” He snapped his fingers. “We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it.” He seized Xie Lian by the shoulder and pushed him into the only chair in the room. “Let’s start with the clothes.”
On cue, the tailor handed over a heavy, layered robe. It was beautiful, made of rich white fabric, accented with red and embroidered with silver thread. “I didn’t expect all this!” Xie Lian gasped, flustered. “Where did all this come from?”
Feng Xin indicated Mu Qing with a tilt of his head. “He commissioned the robes and did the embroidery himself.”
Mu Qing rolled his eyes but did not deny the statement.
Xie Lian had to blink tears out of his eyes. “Thank you so much.”
The tailor finished dressing him and gazed at him with a critical eye, then started violently readjusting the layers of fabric. Xie Lian shifted awkwardly under the ministrations and the intense focus of all his friends. He hated to ask, after everything they were already doing for him, but this really was important! “Ah,” he coughed, more out of embarrassment than any tickle in his throat. “There’s just one thing. I heard a prayer I was particularly worried about. It was a mother who was missing her two young children—”
“Quan Yizhen already took care of it and got the children back home,” Feng Xin said. “Stop worrying about all that. We have everything taken care of. You focus on this.”
Pei Ming snorted. “That punch-happy puppy was thrilled to get a ghost to beat up.”
“And you were supposed to go with him,” Mu Qing snapped. “What are you even doing here?”
He grinned. “Are you kidding me? I wasn’t going to miss something as delicious as this.”
“Ok, time for makeup!” Shi Qingxuan interrupted. “You all need to stop yapping and get to work.” Shi Qingxuan approached Xie Lian’s chair with a delicate brush. “Hold still.” Xie Lian held very still when the brush made contact right above his eyes. His heart was so full with the goodness of his friends.
Then he felt Mu Qing settle in on the bed behind him to do his hair. He deftly started to pull the hair up in an elegant style, while still leaving in the flowers Hua Cheng had twisted into the locks. Meanwhile, Feng Xin was going through the jewelry Xie Lian had brought with him, squinting at each piece.
Xie Lian felt the tears threaten to spill and ruin the makeup Shi Qingxuan was painting on. “You didn’t have to do all this. You’re not my attendants.”
“No,” Feng Xin said, holding a pair of earrings up to the cloth of Xie Lian’s robe. “We’re your friends.”
“Shut up,” Mu Qing agreed, somewhat more harshly. “And, Feng Xin, put those down. Those earrings do not match that robe, and it’s pathetic that you can’t see that. You should’ve been put on prayer duty.”
“Hey! I have every right to be here, same as you!”
“Ok! Ok!” Xie Lian said, hoping to head off the upcoming argument. At least their arguing had saved his eye makeup, which had definitely been on the verge of getting ruined. “I appreciate you all so much, and I am so glad that you are all here. Thank you, truly.”
Finally, everyone stepped back to survey their work. Xie Lian smiled awkwardly at his friends. “Do I look alright?”
Pei Ming whistled. “I have no clue what all of you see in men but you’re starting to change my mind.”
Shi Qingxuan slapped Pei Ming’s arm. “He’s taken.”
“I’m not into men!” Feng Xin and Mu Qing yelled with one voice, then glared at each other.
“Of course not!” Xie Lian agreed hastily before this turned into a weirdly homoerotic brawl. “Do you think I’m ready?”
Mu Qing eyed him with artistic criticism, then nodded.
“You’ve never been more ready,” Shi Qingxuan reassured him.
Feng Xin smiled at him. “We’re going to leave to take care of the rest of your prayers and make sure Quan Yizhen doesn’t beat up any of your believers. Not that you need it, but good luck.”
Xie Lian smiled and waved at his oldest friends as they left, then shivered with a rush of anxiety. This was all starting to feel very real.
Pei Ming didn’t follow Feng Xin and Mu Qing out the door. He shrugged when Shi Qingxuan looked at him. “What? I already said that I wasn’t missing this.”
The tailor brushed her hands briskly. “Well, neither am I. But you two need to wear masks if you’re going to come. We can’t have heavenly officials or humans causing mass panic on the streets.”
Pei Ming put his on and gave it a jaunty little tilt, but Xie Lian didn’t miss the delicate way Shi Qingxuan hesitated. The mask did have a mustache on it, and Xie Lian recalled a slightly drunken late night discussion he’d had with Shi Qingxuan about how they preferred different genders on different days. On the off chance his friend was feeling that discomfort now, he offered them his hand.
Shi Qingxuan gave him a small smile. “Are you sure?”
“I’m very sure!” Xie Lian insisted. “Besides, you always loaned me spiritual energy when I needed it. I’m happy to help!”
Shi Qingxuan took his hand and instantly shifted into a woman, the mask also gaining feminine features. She hugged him, then brushed out the newly-formed creases in Xie Lian’s robe. “All right, all right, let’s go!”
Xie Lian took them all to the outskirts of Ghost City, and then Pei Ming, Shi Qingxuan, and the tailor went on ahead of him so they could scout out the situation. Meanwhile, admiring ghosts crowded around him, having noticed that their Granduncle was all dressed up. They called out various questions and suggestions that had him blushing so heavily one wouldn’t have even been able to tell that he was wearing rouge at all! He nodded hastily at the ghosts and scampered to get away, but of course they all followed him.
Shi Qingxuan’s voice broke through his mind. “Good news! Crimson Rain is currently taking bets.”
Pei Ming joined in. “He’s definitely noticed us, by the way, but he’s ignoring us.”
“It’s time,” Shi Qingxuan encouraged.
The anxiety that had been building up inside him all dropped in an icy plunge to his stomach. “Maybe I should wait for a different day?”
“Absolutely not!” Shi Qingxuan said. “Today is the day.”
“Don’t be a coward,” Pei Ming added helpfully. “Go get your man.”
“You’ve already dragged us all into this, and so we’re all holding you accountable! Now get out here!”
Xie Lian laughed nervously to himself. This was starting to feel like a very bad idea. Maybe he should do this a different way? Maybe Hua Cheng wouldn’t like it this way. Or...maybe he’d say no. Xie Lian shuddered. That would break him.
Yes, good thing he’d taken this chance to think it through! This was a terrible idea! He was leaving and pretending none of this had ever happened, thank you!
Almost like she could see Xie Lian turn on his heel and walk away with his shoulders hunched, Shi Qingxuan piped up in the group array. “Sometimes being a good friend means saying ‘get your butt out here before I find you and drag you here myself.’ You’ll do great!”
Xie Lian paused and considered. He definitely didn’t want to get dragged out there. And besides, he couldn’t let all of his friends’ efforts go to waste. And, most of all, he wanted this more than anything else. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he walked away now. Shi Qingxuan was right. Today was the day. He’d been planning this for months. His friends had gotten him ready. Everything was in place. He needed to stop being a coward and do what he needed to do.
With one hesitant step after another, he made his way to the entrance of the Gambler’s Den, his large crowd of admirers melting out of his path and following with excited whispers. They extended out to either side of him and pushed away the crowds massed in the Den, leaving him a clear view of the figure behind the red curtain, who sat up in sudden interest. He smiled nervously at the figure and looked around. Shi Qingxuan, Pei Ming, and the tailor were in the corner. They were all masked, so he couldn’t see their expressions, but they waved at him encouragingly. Shaking, he ignored the courteous shepherding of the croupier and got in the line to make bets instead of going right to the curtain as he usually did. The figure behind the curtain leaned forward intently and everyone in line ahead of him got out of his way like their afterlives depended on it. Just like that, he was ushered to the front.
Xie Lian stared down the figure behind the curtain and tried to gulp, but his throat was too dry to manage even that. He’d practiced this speech for weeks, even saying it out loud to his ox, but he couldn’t get a single word out now. The entire Den waited in tense silence to hear what he was going to say.
Xie Lian said nothing. He fiddled with the hem of his sleeve, then with the dice on the table in front of him. He really couldn’t do this! Had he been this terrified when he’d been locked in the Kiln with White No Face? He really didn’t think so! He worked his mouth and stood there, mute.
Finally, Hua Cheng moved behind the curtain, leaning forward in his chair as far as he could. “Would you like to make a bet?” His voice was low and sweet, but it still carried, and seemed to curl around him like a caress.
He swallowed and nodded, feeling a little unfrozen. Even when he was the reason for Xie Lian’s intense nervousness, Hua Cheng still made everything better. “Y-you see, I’m a humble wanderer, and,”—gods, had his speech sounded this stupid when he’d written and practiced it?—“and I...I traveled here because…” he couldn’t say the next part. What had he been thinking? This was crazy! He never should’ve gotten himself into this! He should’ve stayed right where he was to pose for another portrait!
He looked around at all the ghosts who were staring at him with rapt attention. His friends were in the back, nodding frantically at him. That was right. They were here too, supporting him. He looked back at the curtain, at the one he was doing this for. He was doing this for Hua Cheng, and for the future they could have together. His beloved was worth the gamble. And he was no quitter! He rolled his shoulders and spoke up. “I traveled here because I hope to win what I desire the most!”
He breathed hard. There. Half of the hard part was over with. He squinted anxiously at the dice in front of him, then startled when he heard movement close by. At some point, Hua Cheng had left his place and had descended to stand opposite the table from him. He leaned forward, elbow on the table, chin in his hand, wild hair spilling all over that table, lips curved with mischief, and eye twinkling with happiness. “Well? I am very interested in hearing what this exceptionally handsome wanderer desires most.”
Xie Lian swallowed and made eye contact with the man he loved. “What I desire the most is Hua Cheng’s hand in marriage.”
The Gambler’s Den erupted in cheers, but he only had eyes for the ghost across the table. How had he not recognized Honghong’er in the face in front of him? The teasing grin had been wiped right off his face. His wide eye stared at him with shock and awe. His mouth hung open and quivered. It was so easy in this moment for Xie Lian to mentally overlay Hua Cheng’s expression with the expression Honghong’er had worn when he’d caught him. Disbelief and desperate hope.
But Hua Cheng didn’t say anything, and Xie Lian shook in the wake of Hua Cheng’s echoing silence. He silently pleaded. He wished Hua Cheng would say anything at all.
When it became clear that he was not going to respond, Yin Yu stepped up at his elbow. “Your highness must name a forfeit.”
Yin Yu had naturally been briefed on the plan ahead of time, and Xie Lian had an answer prepared for this line. “I…” he sighed. “I know the value of what I’m asking. All I can offer should I lose is my hand in marriage.”
Hua Cheng jerked like he was being pulled in several directions at once, but his expression didn’t change. His eye stayed fixed on Xie Lian’s face.
Xie Lian twisted his hands. He’d said everything he needed to say, and now all he could do was wait for his answer. But it was such a long time in coming! He didn’t know this would be the very hardest part. He begged and pleaded with all his heart that he’d hear a yes.
Finally, Hua Cheng straightened and seemed to come back to himself. “Your highness…” he gasped, his voice sounding husky and choked. “There aren’t words to tell you how overjoyed I would be to accept this bet.”
Xie Lian’s next breath felt like the air around him had been hit by lightning.
“Lowest roll wins,” Yin Yu intoned, upon realizing that the two players were frozen again.
Hua Cheng snatched the cup and dice from Yin Yu’s hand like he needed them right this second. He shook the cup with what Xie Lian knew was not proper dice shaking posture, powered more by the trembling in his hands than any deliberate movement. Finally, Hua Cheng lifted the cup to reveal the dice, adoring eye on Xie Lian instead of his result.
“Eight,” Yin Yu announced. He took the cup and handed it to Xie Lian.
The warm, teasing smile tentatively found its way back to Hua Cheng’s face. “Your turn to roll, gege. This poor ghost will await his fate.”
Xie Lian blushed and shook the dice the way he’d been taught. All the same, he shamelessly thanked his terrible luck for guaranteeing that he would lose this round. The idea of losing his betrothal to Hua Cheng in public sent a bolt of embarrassed heat through him. He was thus very surprised when he lifted the cup and Yin Yu announced, “Two. The challenger is the victor.”
Hua Cheng grinned and lowered his head, placing his hands palm up on the table. “I have lost. Come claim your prize, your highness.”
That was what made the situation real. Hua Cheng had said yes. Had agreed to marry him. They were engaged. Engaged to be married. Married to the man he loved the most. Married. Married?!!!
He rushed to his fiancé’s side, stumbling and catching himself on the table. Hua Cheng took him into his arms and kissed him, uncaring of the riot breaking out in the Gambler’s Den. Xie Lian couldn’t bring himself to close his eyes. He couldn’t take his eyes off his fiancé. They were going to get married! He squeezed.
Hua Cheng gripped him back, even harder. “Take me home, my betrothed,” he whispered.
Xie Lian didn’t use the dice. He hefted a surprised Hua Cheng up into his arms in a bridal carry and walked the old-fashioned way back to Paradise Manor. He truly felt like he'd just won an immense prize! He didn’t watch where he going, grinning like a fool at the ghost in his arms, but Ruoye held him up when he tripped and pushed him along.
“You said yes!” Xie Lian gushed, once the doors closed behind them.
“Of course I said yes! Gege, was it ever in doubt?”
Xie Lian smiled. “No. But I was nervous anyway.”
“Then I’ll prove that I love you so much that you’ll never be nervous again,” Hua Cheng promised.
Xie Lian blushed and sat them both down on a ridiculously large ottoman. “Alright.” He breathed and laughed a little. “I’m still shaking.”
“Me too,” Hua Cheng admitted easily. “So gege was scheming against his poor fiancé this entire time!”
“San Lang! That makes it sound so nefarious!”
“Gege!” Hua Cheng grabbed him in a tight embrace. “It was nefarious! What a skilled attack! I’ve never come so close to collapsing in public, you know. How many people knew about this scheme?”
“Well,” Xie Lian said, counting them off on his fingers. “I told Shi Qingxuan, and then they told everybody! She and the tailor and Mu Qing got me dressed, and Quan Yizhen and Feng Xin helped with prayers, and Pei Ming helped with...well, emotional support!”
Hua Cheng buried his head into the crook of his neck. “It was well done. You look gorgeous.”
“Did you like it?” Xie Lian babbled nervously. “I wanted it to be perfect for you, but I just wasn’t sure...I know you like gambling, so I just thought maybe if I did it like that...”
Hua Cheng made a muffled sound, and suddenly he was...laughing? No, no he was crying!
Xie Lian stiffened. “San Lang? San Lang? Are you ok? Did I do it wrong? Because I just wasn’t sure if—”
“It was perfect.” The words somehow squeezed themselves in between heaving sobs. “It was too perfect. His highness proposed to me. To me. In the way I liked the best. I never once thought—I never could’ve even dreamed—I couldn’t—” He buried his face even more firmly into Xie Lian’s neck and sobbed.
This time, Xie Lian’s eye makeup was ruined. “I love you,” he whispered.
“Forever?” Hua Cheng questioned, not showing his face.
“San Lang, yes! That’s what marriage means, at least to me. I’ll love you forever.”
Hua Cheng’s response to that was muffled, so he just squeezed his fiancé very very hard.