Fengjiu was shocked when Migu called to her that Si Ming was in the Fox Den. She immediately began pouring tea and setting the table with cakes.
"We don't need all of that." He sent her a pained smile.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked and he asked her to sit down.
"I know what you did." He told her and she felt the breath leave her lungs.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She attempted to bluff.
"I checked the three lives rock. Your name is not there." He told her and she shook her head.
"You should not know that! I made Mo Yuan promise!" She cried out, her eyes filling with tears.
"Little Jiu, what have you done?" He asked her, leaning over the table.
"I did what was right. Look how peaceful the realm is now. How could I be a good queen knowing I had not done my best?" She asked, composing herself.
"But you have given too much." He told her and she shook her head.
"I gave no more than Dong Hua Dijun." She made the comparison and he let out a pained chuckle.
"Are you happy now? That you have given as much as he did?" He asked and she covered her eyes with her hands for a moment.
"Of course I am not happy." Her voice shook with despiration. "My chances of happiness left me a long time ago. All I can do now is be a dutiful queen." She told him calmly and he felt her pain.
"Does he know?" She asked in a whisper and he nodded.
"You know Dong Hua can find out anything he wants." He told her and she felt her lower lip begin to quiver.
"I am sure he will judge me harshly." She predicted and he sighed, reaching over the table to take her hand.
"He is the only man who has known this pain. He would never want this for you." He told her and she nodded.
"I had no choice. The thought of loving another was too painful to bear." She admitted and he squeezed her hand.
"I can't fully understand why you did it. But, the realms are grateful."
Fengjiu stood to leave with Si Ming.
"I'm coming with you." She told him and he raised his brows.
"Why would you do that?" He asked and she looked him in the eye.
"I have to ask Dong Hua Dijun to keep my secret. I cannot have Gugu knowing what I have done." She told him and he let out a nervous laugh.
"I'm not sure that is the right thing to do." He thought about Dong Hua screaming at her about the dire mistake she had made.
"I don't care. I have to try to protect my reputation." Si Ming could not deny her anything, especially this. So he silently nodded, and led her to the heavens.
Si Ming asked Fengjiu if he could tell Dong Hua about her presence before she entered but she shook her head.
"I have to see him now." She told him and he sighed, watching her wade into the palace. Before Dong Hua Dijun could say anything, Fengjiu knelt and bowed her head to the ground.
"Dijun, I am asking you to please keep my secret." She begged and he walked over to her.
"Do you know what you have done?" He asked her, as she remained bowed.
"It was a small price to pay." She told him and he laughed loudly.
"I will ask you again in ten thousand years, when you are still alone." He told her and she raised her head.
"I believe it was a small price to pay." She repeated, looking into his eyes.
Dong Hua had attempted to be strong and plead indifference. But when she looked at him with such assurance that her heart was worthless, he had to compose himself. He turned his back to her.
"You don't know what you're saying." He told her, feeling a tear touch his cheek. He had hoped he would gain some enjoyment from watching her be in love with another one day. But she had cursed herself to the same existence he had endured for millenia.
"I am just asking for you to keep my secret, Dijun." She reminded him and he nodded, his back facing her.
"I will keep your secret. But I cannot forgive you for what you have done." He told her and she sighed.
"There is nothing for you to forgive. It was my price to pay." She told him and he seethed, turning to her, rage in his eyes.
"You gave me your heart! And now you throw it away like it means nothing! Do you have no respect for me?!" He shouted at her and although she had expected to cry and be frightened of him, she became enraged, standing.
"What good is my heart in the possession of a man who cannot give his own?! Now we are equal! You have promised to not tell anyone. I will leave now." She turned and stomped out of the palace.
Si Ming had not seen the Dijun so animated for hundreds of years. His essence pulsed around him in an ambient glow.
"Dijun, your essence-" Si Ming noticed.
"Leave, now!" He screamed, making Si Ming take a step back. He nodded and left the Dijun alone.
Dong Hua had never been so angry before. He stumbled back, sitting, letting his head fall into his hands. This was his fault, he was sure of it. He should have never told her that he had erased his name. But she had been so persistent and he was so in love with her, even now, when they screamed at one another, he loved her. He knew that watching her live her life alone would be the most painful experience he had ever faced. Perhaps this was his punishment for playing the game with her for so long.
Si Ming walked about the lily garden, thinking back to what had happened. No one had ever spoken to Dijun like that before. No one dared to. But he couldn't stop thinking about the essence that grew in Dong Hua when he was fighting with the little princess. It was similar to the rush of energy he had seen in him when they had gone to Ye Hua. His eyes grew wide with realisation. It was the little princess that was aiding him to heal. Every time he was around her, he became more revitalised. He couldn't comprehend why, but she was healing him.
Dong Hua needed to rest after the day's events. The rush of emotion was too exhausting for him. The moment he laid his head down to slumber, he was greeted by a white light he had not seen in hundreds of thousands of years.
"Why are you here?" He asked, wondering why fate would be suddenly paying him a visit.
"I am impressed." She told him.
"You know, when you erased your name from the three lives rock, I forced you. But she came to me, offering such a high price so freely." She told him and it pained him to think of Jiuer willingly offering her heart.
"I have offered this price to so many before. You were the only one willing to make the sacrifice." She remembered.
"Until now."
There was a pause before she began to speak again.
"I have always waited for you to find your equal." She told him.
"I had hoped it would come sooner. You have been alone for so long." She lamented.
"I don't understand." He told her in confusion and she laughed liltingly.
"Your time has come. Can you not feel it? Your essence returning?" She asked.
"What is fated for me?" He asked, wondering what was in store.
"All these years, no one had turned your head, you never once tried to avoid your fate." She reminded him and he agreed.
"I knew what price I would pay if I did." He told her.
"Bai Fengjiu is the only one who made you tempt your fate." She stated and he sighed in guilt.
"I should not have been tempted by her." He admitted.
"After you removed your name from the three lives rock, I was impressed. No one before had given up so much." She remembered.
"I wrote your fate that if another made the same sacrifice, that you would deserve one another." She revealed to him and he felt a deep calmness come over him.
"So that means-"
"Having your names next to each other on the rock is not the only way to be fated." She told him and he gasped.
"I can be with Jiuer?" He asked.
"You have paid your price, as has she. Now, you can be rewarded." She told him, before disappearing from his mind.
He awoke with a start. His whole life he believed he would be alone. But now, all of the years of sacrifice, they seemed to be worth something. He ordered Si Ming to the palace to tell him about the dream.
"I cannot believe it, Dijun. Perhaps you and Bai Fengjiu can be happy." He beamed, wondering if everything would eventually right itself.
"It is not that simple." He told Si Ming, much to his confusion.
"Why? From my perspective Bai Fengjiu is in love with you and now you can be together." He smiled, happy for his friend and master.
"You forget, I have not had ownership of my heart for milenia. I do not remember how to love." He stated simply and Si Ming felt his heart break for Dijun.
"I have never seen you struggle before." He noted and Dijun sent him a stern look.
"I will not struggle. I just have to study the art of romance, before I can make my move." He spoke systematically.
"I don't quite think love works like war, Dijun." He advised him but Dong Hua was determined to do this right.
"This is my only opportunity for love. I must not fail." He vowed to himself.
It seemed that now was the perfect time for Dong Hua to learn about love. Bai Qian and Ye Hua were as in love as any two people had ever been. Their love radiated over the heavens. It felt unnatural for him to observe two people. But, he wanted to study Ye Hua's mannerisms. When they walked out in the garden, he watched as Ye Hua pinched the back of Bai Qian's skirt between his forefinger and thumb, to remain close to her. He watched as he brushed her hair away from her face. These actions felt so unnatural to him. He was born of rock and stone, and the closest he had come to being romantic was with Jiuer in the mortal realm. But he had not been himself then, he had a mortal lifetime of romantic experience at his disposal. But now, in the heavens, he had no knowledge on how to woo her.
Si Ming was humbled by Dijun's patience. If it had been him, he was sure he would have flown to the Fox Den and professed his love to the little princess. But he knew the stakes were high for Dijun and he guessed that he was also nervous, because his indifferent nature seemed to be what had made the little princess so enamoured with him, and if he changed his personality so drastically, she would be shocked and unimpressed.
Dijun was patient as the plans for the weddings continued. He knew he would see Jiuer at the ceremony and the celebrations that would follow. She had been so angry when she left, he wondered if she would be happy to see him or not. He wondered what he would say to her, how he could let her know that he could openly pursue her without telling her.
"Why don't you just tell her?" Si Ming asked him as they played a game.
"I don't want to tempt fate. I must make her fall in love with me again." He told him and Si Ming thought that would be a very easy task, based on how besotted the princess had been with Dijun before.
Fengjiu had been kept busy the week before the wedding, planning gifts and ceremonies. As the leader of Qing Qiu she had the responsibility to pay homage to her Gugu. She sewed dresses and tested fruits, planning what dishes needed to be made and delivered. She was so busy, she almost forgot about herself and her role to play at the wedding.
Migu made sure that she stopped at least once a day to rest and eat a good meal. He worried about her, taking on so much.
"You work too hard." He told her and she shook off his comment.
"I have to support Gugu." She would tell him every time. The last dress she began sewing was her own, made of a pastel purple fabric.
"You will match Dong Hua Dijun." Migu commented as he walked past. She hadn't even considered it. She wondered if she should pick a different colour. But she could not let her life be ruled by how he viewed her. Those times were over and she was allowed to live how she pleased.
Qian Qian was so deeply in love, her mind was not as sharp as it had always been. But when Si Ming came asking about little Jiu, she knew something was afoot.
"When will Bai Fengjiu come to stay with you?" He asked and she gave him a sideways look.
"Tomorrow evening. Why do you ask?" She asked him and watched as his face blushed.
"You know she is an old friend of mine. I always enjoy being in her company." He responded and she nodded, appeased for the moment.
"I hope that the business we had with Dong Hua is nestled in the past. Little Jiu has already been through enough." She warned him and he looked down at his hands.
"Oh I completely agree, more than any of us can truly know." He told her and she furrowed her brows.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked and watched as Si Ming began to sweat.
"Oh nothing, just that the woes of a young woman's heart are not for me to know." He bluffed, but Bai Qian was not satisfied.
"What do you know that you are not telling me?" She asked and he chuckled, shaking his head.
"Me? Nothing, I would never keep anything from you." His speech was quick now, as he stood to leave.
"Si Ming, sit down." She ordered him and he sighed, sitting.
"I cannot tell you. I promised her I would not." He told her and she huffed.
"What secret could Little Jiu tell you, that she could not tell me?" She wondered aloud.
"I am sorry, you know if I could tell you, I would. But I promised her." He told her and she relented, nodding.
"I understand, you are a good friend to her. I will have to ask her when she comes." She huffed, hoping Little Jiu had not put herself in danger.
Si Ming recalled his conversation with Bai Qian to Dong Hua.
"Did I do the right thing?" He asked and Dong Hua pondered for a moment.
"She was always going to find out, one way or another. Jiuer should not be ashamed of her sacrifice. But this means that Ye Hua will forever be in debt to her." He told Si Ming.
"There are less favourable positions to be in." He deduced and Dong Hua nodded, sipping his tea.
"Yes, many would like to be in her position. But why does she not want anyone to know? Perhaps she wishes to be humble, but she is not like anyone here, I cannot predict her motivations." He massaged his forehead, dumbfounded by her.
"I am sure she will tell you if you ask her." Si Ming told him and he nodded, concluding that he would ask her when he next saw her.
Mo Yuan beamed when he saw Seventeen creep into the wine cellars.
"The amount of times I have caught you in here." He chuckled and watched as she reminisced on the times they had fallen asleep in each other's arms, the love he had felt but never recognised.
"Your wedding is so close. Why are you wasting time here, seeing me?" He asked, wondering what motivation she could have.
"You were the first person who showed me the grace of restraint. It has helped me in many situations. I will always come here, to see you before I take a step in my life." She promised him and he smiled warmly down at her.
"Your love for Ye Hua is unmatched." He noted and she nodded.
"I was mad with heartbreak these last three hundred years. I have only recently been gifted with clarity." She told him and he sighed, sitting with her, opening a bottle of Zhe Yan's peach wine.
"I believe the fox girls are destined to love deeper than any creature in all the realms." He professed and Qian Qian furrowed her brows.
"What do you know about Little Jiu?" She asked and his head snapped up, looking at her with wide eyes.
"Why would you ask me that?" He questioned her and she looked down into her cup.
"I saw you walk off with her in the peach gardens, and what you said just now, you weren't talking about me alone." She deduced and he nodded.
"You are correct, these last three hundred years, I have become acquainted with Bai Fengjiu, I believe she is the most unfortunate young woman I have ever met." He lamented, thinking of her heartbreak.
"How did you meet?" She asked and he pressed his lips into a straight line.
"I am not sure if I should tell you that." He wondered aloud and jumped when she slammed down her cup.
"What is going on with Little Jiu that everyone knows?!" She was so angry that he couldn't deny her. There was no time worse than a few days before her wedding for Seventeen to be enraged.
"Fine, I will tell you. But only if you swear to me that you will not look at Fengjiu differently." He could see the worry in Seventeen's eyes.
"Just tell me." She ordered and he huffed, finishing his cup and told all.
He had expected her to scream, to break all of his wine bottles, but instead, she sat in silence, mouth agape.
"She did what?" She asked for clarification.
"She told me her heart was useless in Dong Hua's possession. He is an unavailable man. She knew she could save the realms, and save you, by bringing back Ye Hua." He watched as tears began to well in Seventeen's eyes.
"But she was fated to another. She could have loved again." Her speech was frantic and confused.
"Why did you let her do it?!" She was wailing now, her hands balled into fists, hitting his chest.
"Why? Why would you let her throw her life away?" She kept asking, desperate for an answer.
"You know the foxtails, they love for life. She would have never loved the one she was fated for." He told her, trying his hardest not to cry with her.
"You don't know that!" She lamented.
"Yes, I do." He told her flatly. He caught her fists and pulled her to arms length.
"Look at me." He ordered her and she took a moment to compose herself.
"Could you ever love another, one who was not Ye Hua?" He asked her and she let out a sob as she shook her head.
"Of course not." Mo Yuan felt the stab in his heart then.
"And are you not made of the same blood as Fengjiu?" He asked, attempting to keep his composure.
"I am." She answered.
"Then how would she be capable of loving anyone but Dong Hua?" He asked his final question.
"She could not." She concluded and he let go of her.
"You saw Fengjiu, she was not sad, she was not sorrowful. She has been freed from any fate that forces her to lie to another. She can live knowing that she has saved the realms and saved you, just as she set out to do. She is one of the bravest people I have ever met." He praised Fengjiu and watched as Seventeen let her head fall into her hands.
"I don't deserve her, I don't deserve this." She cried and he hushed her.
"That is not your decision to make. Fengjiu gave her heart willingly, and she told me she never once regretted it."
Mo Yuan comforted Seventeen until she saw the light of the situation.
"I am nothing compared to her. She is the strongest woman in the Foxtail family." She decided in the end and Mo Yuan could not disagree.
"She will make a wonderful Queen." He agreed and she sighed.
"How will I face her now? Knowing the debt that is owed?" She asked and he smoothed her hair.
"She made me swear to never tell you. But, you know I always think of you first and you deserve to know. She never wanted there to be a debt, so I think your best way to repay her is to never tell her you know." He suggested. She shook her head.
"I can't, I cannot do that." She admitted and he chuckled.
"I am sure you will find something else."
She sat with Ye Hua that afternoon, her mind still a blizzard of confusion and anger and appreciation.
"Do you know how you returned to me?" She asked and he furrowed his brows.
"Why do you ask this question now?" He pondered.
"I wondered if you knew. I am curious." She told him and he sat in deep thought for a moment.
"I am not sure. I was wondering in the dark for so long, never with any destination in mind." He began and she listened intently.
"And then one day, I saw a white light. I felt attracted to it and followed it. At first I walked and then I ran, until I began flying, following the light, until I felt my soul re-enter my body." He described it for her and she nodded, attempting to hold back her tears.
"It felt like someone wanted me back here, someone sent that light to me." He told her and she couldn't hold it in any longer.
Ye Hua was shocked when he saw the tears pour down her face. He had never seen her cry in such a way before. He immediately took her in his arms and smoothed her hair.
"Do not cry for me, my love. I will never leave you again." He assured her.
"It's not you." She sniffled and he pulled her away to look at her.
"Then who?" He asked, mildly offended, wondering who else she would be weeping in such a fashion for.
"Who do you think called you back?" She asked and his brows furrowed.
"You, of course." She shook her head.
"I couldn't pay the price. I couldn't even think straight for three hundred years." She admitted and he looked down at her with pity in his eyes.
"Who then?" He asked and she shook her head, her face in her hands.
"Little Jiu." She whispered and he gasped, wondering why the youngest girl in the Foxtail clan would want to resurrect him.
"Why?" He wondered aloud.
"You will have to ask her yourself. I cannot speak on her intentions. I am just glad she did it. But I am so angry at the price she was willing to pay." She stood, pacing around the room. Ye Hua looked up at her with a stunned look on his face.
"She removed her name from the three lives rock." She admitted and his eyes grew wide with realisation.
"I must go to fate and ask what can be done." He stood, determined. She placed a hand on his chest, shaking her head.
"No, we cannot. She wanted this. Mo Yuan told me she begged him to help her. She thought about it for a hundred years. This is what she wanted." She told him and he looked off into the distance in confusion.
"But why would she do such a thing?" He asked, dumbfounded by her selflessness.
"She believed her heart was useless." She told him and he sighed.
"Dong Hua?" He asked and she nodded.
"What use is a heart given to a man who cannot love?" She posed to him and he sighed.
"I owe her my life." He told her and she nodded.
"I know. I will speak to her about it. We must be discreet. She didn't even want me to know." She assured him and she sighed.
"I was in the mortal realm, drinking with fourth brother, while she actually found a way to bring you back. Perhaps you fell in love with the wrong woman." She pondered and he was there then, wrapping his arms around her, squeezing her tightly.
"Soon, you will be my wife. What will people say if they hear you doubting my love for you?" He asked and she chuckled, shaking her head.
"I don't doubt you, it is myself I doubt." She sighed and he turned her to face him.
"You doubt your love for me? He asked, looking her in the eyes.
"Never. I doubt if I deserve you." She told him and he placed his hands on the side of her face.
"Don't ever ask that question again. I have married you once before and I will marry you ten more times if that is what it takes to prove you are the only woman for me." For the first time that day, Qian Qian smiled and remembered that she was going to marry the love of her life.