Author's Note: Hello, my lovelies! Here I am, back with a new chapter. I don't really know much about a Chinese Wedding but I have researched about it a little and decided to combine a Chinese and English wedding. I just hope it's up to your expectations! Have fun and enjoy this Chapter!
Chapter 4: In Sickness and In Health
Wei Wu Xian's POV:
It had been three days since the two of us had arrived in the Cloud Recesses. And today was the big day. Wang Ji and I were getting married in a few hours. And then we would move into Jingshi together as a married couple. As I waited here, dressed in my red wedding robes, waiting for my other half to come and pick me up, I thought back to the day I had arrived in the Cloud Recesses with Wang Ji.
Flashback:
We had just entered the shields guarding the Gusu Lan Sect and were welcomed by A-Yuan and Jin Ling.
"Uncle Wei!" they screamed simultaneously. A-Yuan looked at Wang Ji and immediately straightened up.
"HanguangJun," he said with a bow. Still as formal as ever.
It seemed like Jin Ling was least bothered by the presence of my lover as he threw himself at me. Thanks to my nonexistent Golden Core, I stumbled due to the force of his hug and if it weren't for Lan Zhan who immediately wrapped his arms around my waist, the two of us would have gone rolling down the steps.
"Oh Uncle Wei! I missed you so much! I tried to find you so many times but I couldn't. Where were you?!" Jin Ling continued to ramble.
"Uh. Just here and there. I missed you too, you little troublemaker. I hope you guys are continuing my legacy of causing trouble here," I said with a grin.
"Don't get me started about that," I heard Lan Zhan say. "He's worse than you! And the three of them together are a nightmare."
They smiled sheepishly.
"That reminds me. Where's the third musketeer?" I asked.
"He's getting punished by ZewuJun for bragging about his sword skills. I think ZewuJun is making him clean the library," replied A-Yuan.
"That's it? When I was a student here they used to make me write the 3000 Gusu Lan rules a hundred times! He got off easy," I said.
"Well, now that Brother Xi Chen has taken over, he decided to bring about some new rules and punishments. I think you will like the Cloud Recesses at least a little bit now," Lan Zhan said, smiling.
"Is he smiling?" I heard Jing Ling whisper to Sizhui.
Before A-Yuan could answer the shocked boy, Wang Ji took a hold of my hand and lead me towards his brother's house.
Jin Ling gasped while I heard A-Yuan mutter, "It's happening! It's finally happening. The heavens have answered my prayers."
They scurried after us trying to keep up. As we passed by the various corridors, disciples stopped to stare at us. To be precise, they were staring at our entangled hands. I felt my face heat up with all the attention we were receiving.
Lan Zhan stopped to look at his disciples.
"Gossiping is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses," he said to them. "So get over it and get used to it."
As we reached Zewujun's house, I suddenly felt nervous. I was going to meet him as his brother's lover. Should I have prepared a gift?
"Don't worry. He already likes you," whispered Lan Zhan.
He knocked on the door and opened it after hearing a soft 'come in'.
We walked inside and bowed at Lan Xi Chen aka Zewujun. He greeted us with a smile and lead us to the guest area. The two boys following us had stopped near the door. "Ask permission before you enter an occupied room," I thought to myself. God! How I wished I could forget these rules that are ingrained in my head. Jin Ling cleared his throat to gain Zewujun's attention.
"Ah. Come in boys."
As we seated ourselves around the table, Zewujun poured us some tea.
"So, how was your journey? Did you encounter any trouble?" he asked with that ever present smile on his face. Contrary to the smile on his face, the man looked a little awkward. Obviously, he would be awkward. It's not every day your loving, little brother comes home holding another man's hand.
"It was fine," replied Lan Zhan. "We actually had something to discuss with you, Brother."
Looks like Lan Zhan was diving in head first. Now Zewujun looked downright uncomfortable. He knew what was coming next.
"Wei Ying will be staying with me in Jingshi, from now on. And we want to have a private wedding. Just with you, A-Yuan, Jin Ling and Jing Yi," he said.
While A-Yuan and Jin Ling clapped with excitement, Zewujun's expression went from surprise and shock to adoration really quick.
He smiled as if he shouldn't have been shocked in the first place. "You couldn't just ease your way into this conversation, could you Little Brother?" he asked.
"Well, you know me. I don't beat around the bush," replied Lan Zhan with a smile.
"I will be happy as long as you are, Wang Ji. And I know Wu Xian feels the same way about you," he stopped to look at me. I nodded. "If a wedding is what you want, then you can have it. Just don't ask me to officiate it because I really don't know anything about officiating."
"We just want you to be there as family, Zewujun," I said.
"If you are marrying Wang Ji, then you better stop with that Zewujun nonsense. Just call me Brother," he said with a smile.
I smiled back. I was glad that we had at least one person completely rooting for us. I looked at the two troublemakers sitting beside me. They looked like they were holding in their screams of excitement. Looks like there were three people completely rooting for us.
They immediately excused themselves and bolted out the door while Brother, Lan Zhan and I stared at their retreating backs. A minute later, there were three high pitched screams followed by a lot of hushing.
We looked at each other and laughed.
A serious look suddenly appeared on Zewujun's face. He looked at the both of us and said, "I know that the both of you want this wedding to be a private ordeal. But Wang Ji, you are my only brother. I just want all the rituals and customs to be followed. Which means no seeing the groom until the wedding."
"But Brother-"
"No!" he said with finality. "This matter is not up for discussion. You will live with me until then and Wu Xian can Live with Sizhui or Jin Ling. And since Wu Xian is getting married into the Gusu Lan Sect, I want you to pick him up from wherever he decides on staying and escort him to the main halls. You will then get married there." He stopped to look at us and we nodded in agreement. "Then there will be a banquet-"
"Oh my God," I groaned.
"- which you can skip if you want," he ended.
"Oh Thank God," I said, rolling my eyes.
"There's nothing much to celebrate in the Cloud Recesses and this is a once in a lifetime occasion. I want the disciples to have something to celebrate," he added.
"Fine," said Lan Zhan.
"There's something else that I wanted to speak to you about, Wu Xian. Since you will officially be a member of the Gusu Lan Clan, I was wondering if you had any future plans," he asked.
"Future Plans? The last 2 days have been such a wild ride, I have barely had time to process half of the things happening," I replied.
"Well, in that case, I'd like to run a proposition by you. What do you think about becoming a teacher here?" he asked with uncertainty.
"A teacher? You want Me"- I pointed a finger at myself- "to become a Teacher?" I laughed. "What am I going to teach the students? Demonic cultivation?" I asked with a ridiculous laugh and Zewujun shook his head at me as if he expected me to say that. I looked at Lan Zhan who seemed to be deep in thought. I poked him with a finger. He looked at me and his eyes softened.
"He's right, Wei Ying. If you are going to stay here, then you need to find something for yourself. Otherwise you will not be able to live here. You will eventually get bored and then you might even resent me. For you, right now this is my house. But it's up to you to make all of this yours too. It doesn't have to be teaching. It can be anything. You can do anything," Lan Zhan said.
His words got me thinking. He knew that I never liked the Cloud Recesses. And even I knew that I would get bored of this place eventually.
Finally, I said, "I can teach talisman making to the students."
Looking at the skeptic look on Brother's face I immediately added, "Talismans that have nothing to do with Demonic Cultivation. Talismans are the only thing I am good at, now that I don't have a Golden Core."
"That's another thing that I wanted to talk to you about," added Brother. "A few days ago I came across a book in the library that had something to do about the Golden Core. Something about repairing the Golden Core."
"You can repair a golden core only if you have one, Brother," I said with a frown.
"That's the thing, Wu Xian. You do have a Golden Core. Golden core is something that exists in your body. Your previous body gave its Golden Core to Jiang Cheng but your new body still has its Golden Core. To be precise, Mo Xuan Yu's Golden Core. I know that your body is pretty weak but with Wang Ji's help, you can definitely cultivate your Golden Core. It may not be as strong as your previous core but it will be enough to protect yourself," he said.
"Fine. I'll go through the book and give it a try then," I said.
"You must be tired from your journey, Wu Xian. Go take some rest," he said to me. "Wang Ji, you will be staying with me. The wedding will be in two days."
Damn it! I was hoping that he'd forget about that arrangement.
End of flashback –
And here I was, waiting in A-Yuan's room, for my to-be-husband to come and pick me up. A-Yuan came running into my room screaming, "He's here! He's here!"
This whole thing was pointless. But nevertheless, I walked to the door and waited for my love to climb up the stairs. He looked like royalty in his red robes and all I wanted to do was kiss him and tear off his robes. Calm down, Wei Wu Xian. You can't be horny during your wedding. We'll have plenty of time for that later. Let's go get married!
When Lan Zhan looked at me, his eyes widened. For once in my life, I looked neat and trim and completely put together. And then he smiled a smile so lovely, I felt butterflies in my stomach.
"Ready to do this?" he asked, holding out his hand.
"As ready as I will ever be."
I placed my hand in his and together we walked to the Main Hall. Students stopped to gawk at us. They were almost getting used to seeing us together and now seeing us in red robes, they must have figured out what was happening. Some looked shocked but most of them were clapping and hooting with joy. I could feel my face heating up and I looked at Lan Zhan. Although we had decided not to give a damn about what others thought of our relationship, I could see that the acceptance from his disciples genuinely meant a lot to him. His smile was contagious and I couldn't help but smile back.
As we continued to walk, I realized that the students were now following us. By the time we reached the main hall, we had a huge entourage behind us.
Brother Xi Chen's eyes widened seeing the procession that we had unintentionally brought with us.
"Change of plans, Brother," I said with a hearty laugh.
He just shook his head at us and moved aside, so that we could enter.
We stood at the altar and stared at each other. Okay. What now? Lan Zhan looked as clueless as I did. So we turned to his brother.
Brother let a huge sigh escape from him as if he expected this to happen. He came forward and stood at the front of the altar.
"Are you ready?" he asked us.
We nodded.
"We are gathered here today to witness the marriage between Lan Wang Ji and Wei Ying Wu Xian. Do you Lan Wang Ji take Wei Ying Wu Xian, to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death do you apart?" he asked Lan Zhan.
I frowned. Oh come on. We even defeated death.
"I do," replied Lan Zhan. "Even after death, I will."
Lan Xi Chen smiled at his Little Brother and turned to me.
"Do you Wei Ying Wu Xian take Lan Wang Ji, to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death do you apart?"
"I do. And even after death, I will," I replied.
"Lan Wang Ji and Wei Wu Xian, pay your respects to the Heaven and earth by bowing to them."
We bowed to the Heaven and Earth.
"Lan Wang Ji and Wei Wu Xian, pay your respects to the elders of your family by bowing to them."
Lan Zhan's eyes locked with mine and we smiled. We turned to Lan Xi Chen and bowed to him.
For a second he looked taken aback and then realization dawned on him. He was the only older family member present in the room. Hell, he was the only elder present in the room.
"And lastly, Lan Wang Ji and Wei Wu Xian, pay your respects to each other by bowing," he said once he recovered from his momentary surprise.
We bowed to each other.
"By taking the Heaven, Earth and your Family as witness, I now pronounce you man and wife? No wait"- he stopped with a frown-"man and man? No no. Husband and husband? Oh God! I did not think about this," he said in desperation.
Wow. Lan Xi Chen's discomfort was kind of funny. I never thought that a day would come when I had to see the great Zewujun so agitated. We could hear snickering from the disciples standing behind us.
"Okay. I got it. Let me rephrase that sentence. By taking the Heavens, Earth and your Family as witness, I now declare that you are officially married. Congratulations!" He looked relieved as If a huge burden was off his shoulders.
Brother then hugged the both of us and gave us his blessings for our future. The disciples behind us cheered and clapped. A-Yuan, Jin Ling and Jing Yi came forward to hug and congratulate us.
"Does that mean I can call you uncle now, Hanguangjun?" asked Jin Ling.
"I guess," replied Wang Ji. "But as long as you are a disciple here, I'd prefer it if you called me Hanguangjun."
Jin Ling nodded and went to join his friends.
"Welcome to the family, Wu Xian," Brother Lan Xi Chen said with a warm smile.
"Thank you, Brother," I replied. And then I remembered something that he had said two days ago. "I thought you did not know anything about officiating? That was a wonderful ceremony."
"I didn't. I had to learn so that I could get the two of you married. Somebody had to do it," he said.
He then turned to all the disciples and said in a loud but still pretty soft voice, "On the occasion of Hanguangjun and the Yiling Patriarch's wedding, there is a banquet arranged in the dining room"- the students cheered- "and for the remainder of this day, all rules will be disabled." The cheers turned into shrieks and screams of surprise and everyone started jumping and clapping. "But that does not mean you can misuse this freedom given to you. Don't do anything stupid or harmful. Make the most of it and have fun." With that, he walked out of the hall.
I looked at Lan Zhan with wide eyes. "You guys can do that? Disable rules? Just like that?" He nodded. "Why didn't you guys do that before?!"
"There was no occasion that required disabling of rules. Moreover, uncle was very strict and he hated disabling the rules," he replied.
Of course, I should have expected that. Lan Qi Ren was such a party pooper.
As everyone filed out of the hall, Wang Ji looked at me and raised a brow. "So… how about we ditch this dinner and go home instead?" He stared at me with smoldering eyes that made my heartbeat skip. He leaned forward and with a low voice, whispered in my ear, "How about we go back home and I show you how much I have missed you the last two days?"
"That would be perfect, my dear Husband!"
Holding hands, we walked towards Jingshi. I stared at the beautiful house and reminisced about the time that I had stayed here. I had been injured and Lan Zhan had brought me to his house. I knew that this house belonged to his mother and it was the only piece of her that was left with him.
As we entered the house, Lan Zhan turned to look at me.
"This is only the beginning," he said. "We have our entire lives to make up for the 16 years that we have lost. So we shouldn't waste any more time and just get started. If you know what I mean," he added with a wink.
I shook my head at him and then laughed. "Who knew that the ever so calm and poised Hanguangjun would be such a sex addict? It's like you're insatiable."
"I haven't touched you in two days, Love. I don't think I can hold back anymore." No faster had he said that, he pulled me by the waist and placed his lips on mine.
With moving tongues and roaming hands, we carelessly stumbled our way to the bed.
The rest of the day was then spent christening every corner of the house.
Author's Note: I hope everyone liked the wedding! Please let me know of your thoughts regarding this fanfiction in the reviews.