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So it goes like this;
On the 10th anniversary of Hua Cheng and Xie Lian's marriage, the two decided to visit Jun Wu with the hope of pissing him off by being flirtatious. Mei Nianqing, the saint but not really he is, allows the couple to do however they wish with the exchange of them playing cards with him.
At noon, the two arrive in front of the cave that contains Jun Wu. Mei Nianqing immediately greets them and begins talking about how he hadn't told Jun Wu about their arrival. And when they see Jun Wu sitting at a table with his calm demeanour, Xie Lian goes ahead to scare him from behind. Let's just say Jun Wu can't do anything against him.
After the lame greeting and boring conversation, they finally get to play the new sets of cards Mei Nianqing got from a merchant recently.
And now Xie Lian is staring blankly against his former master like the man just crushing his entire world by existing. Lies, but his face says otherwise so it counts. Probably. Mei Nianqing had his lips thinned while he stared at the child clinging to His Highness with pained expression; one where it fights in between disgust, happiness, confusion, and horrifies.
Xie Lian knows he can't just let his former master do whatever he wants when it revolves around any cards game, but he just wants to annoy Jun Wu that it slips out of his mind. Not to mention Hua Cheng didn't say anything when the older man pulled out that little box proudly, one would say nothing is wrong until something bad actually happened.
And then suddenly everything went black before he woke up to the shouting of people from buildings to buildings. It was rather bizarre how when he looked down he was met with a child that has bandages over his head, similar to how his husband's look back in Xian Le.
And then another flashes-before-his-very-eyes happened to him when he sees Mu Qing in a black-clad demon and monstrous mask covering his face.
Damn, he thought, this feels so very nostalgic.
And so, Xie Lian played his part.
After a few minutes of surprised gasping from Honghong-er, both Mu Qing and Xie Lian stopped their performance and went backstage alongside the little child that Xie Lian hadn't let go yet. Surprisingly, Mei Nianqing had his terrified face when he sees Honghong-er in Xie Lian's arm.
"Your Hightness... That... It... This..." Look, he can't even forming a single sentence right! If Xie Lian were in his 17 years old mind, he would just be confuse as to why Mei Nianqing suddenly got lost in words. But Xie Lian is not naive, he'd seen shits not even Shi Qingxuan had seen. And it's terrifying as fuck.
"Master, please refrain from using such pronouns at him." He complained slowly, as to not jolt nor scared the little Honghong-er away. Yes he's confused as hell, but no he will not let it out on a child(let alone his future husband).
"Your Highness, what are you doing bringing that child in too?"
"What? You expect me to leave him in the street? He's such a tiny creature, he'd get trampled to death." Xie Lian hushed while stroking Honghong-er's head, the child only had the mind to lean in and it honestly reminds Xie Lian of Eming's clinginess. Well, now he kpart its origin.
"Your Highness, we need to talk. Like, right now." Mei Nianqing said with his look. Xie Lian can't pinpoint the meaning.
"Can't it wait, Guoshi? His Highness just finished performing, he nee—"
"You shut up! This is the matter between him and me only! You can join when you're older." Mei Nianqing replied with a bit too loud, causing the others to wince but complies. His Highness must've pissed the Guoshi so much that he'd wanted to talk to him alone, they'd prayed he'd live though.
After the majority of disciples leave the room, leaving only three individuals in the room, Mei Nianqing posed his blank expression while looking back and forth from Xie Lian and Honghong-er. It wasn't particularly intimidating whatsoever, nor was it weirding him out since the older man likes to act a little...uniquely, but it must've been weird to little Honghong-er who just saw death for a second today.
So Xie Lian did the only thing reasonable, aka tightened his grip onto the child.
"Your Highness, what do you know about a smiling mask?" At that, Xie Lian raised an eyebrow whilst he could hear the slightest gasp from Honghong-er. And it was honestly the cutest thing he'd heard since the last opening of mount Tonglu, how could anyone wished to banish this little thing? They're all insane.
"I could ask the same to you, how are your friends, Guoshi?" The old man in question gasps as if someone just offends his ancestors.
Xie Lian stared at little San Lang that is now clean from dirt and dressed like a literal young master, the bandages around his right eye that are replaced with a black eye patch made him look similar to how his future self looks like. Truly, nothing could compare with how handsome his future husband's looks.
Behind him, he could feel the stare of his friends(Feng Xin and Mu Qing) looking completely flabbergasted and Guoshi's tired stare burning through the back of his head, but how can he care when his future husband is looking like a son he might birthed?
(That might be a bad idea though, since Hua Cheng didn't like children at all. But come on, a man could dream as much.)
"I don't know if it's just me, but i don't think we should be doing this least something will happen." Said Mu Qing.
"Ah, who cares? Bad luck will happen sooner or later anyway, what difference does it make?" Xie Lian answered with probably too much content in his voice. He picked up San Lang into his arm whilst the child lay limply like the obedient soul he is. Just a moment after he turned around to face his companions, someone knocked on the door.
"Guoshi, there's someone asking for your presence."
"Me? I don't remember... Who is it?"
As Guoshi gets to the door, his attention diverts onto Feng Xin and Mu Qing. His two friends stood with hesitation and he couldn't help but miss the time when they would just ask him questions and do what they think is necessary without any shame nor fear.
“The homeless street urchins of the imperial capital all run together in a gang, and they come to my neighborhood frequently to beg for food. I know all of them, but I’ve never seen this child before.” Mu Qing looks distressed, Xie Lian forgets what it looks like on his friend's usual aloof face.
Feng Xin was doubtful. “Who do they beg for food from? You? And you’d give it to them?” Mu Qing glared at him.
“If they pester relentlessly, there’s no other way.”
Feng Xin still thought the notion rather unbelievable but didn’t make any further commentary. “Oh.” He said.
He huffed a sigh of fond disappointment to their usual bickering, when he gets more and more warm familiar feelings with just their personalities. Little San Lang just snorted, knowing very well of the prince's daily expression.
Guoshi enters the room with a gloomy expression (but somehow also relaxed? He couldn't be sure) alongside a man behind him. The two immediately stopped when they spotted the foreign man and decided to burn a hole with their stare in him instead.
"You two can go, i... Me and this totally stranger needs to have a talk with His Highness." Guoshi pushed the two away, and immediately put on a silencing talisman on the door. Both Xie Lian and little San Lang watched with caution, who knows what that old man decided to do now?
The man, who is apparently wearing fake skin, changed his appearance into that of a familiar face that causes little San Lang to gag while Xie Lian sighs heavily.
"Oh come on, don't be like that. Just because i look better now doesn't mean you should complain about it, Xian Le." Jun Wu said with a pout, Guoshi let out a laugh behind him.