Fei Li found he was strangely unable to get Zhao Mei’s words out of his head. His betrothed. He had mentioned being betrothed and it was even included in the information Song Lin had brought to him so long ago. He had felt uneasy ever since he had found out but… why?
Fei Li finally tossed aside the brush in his hand. The paper in front of him had remained blank all morning. He left the office and returned to his own room. He skimmed the bookshelves until he found a rolled up paper that had been neatly stored. The report on Lu Qinyi’s background.
He took it to the table and uncurled it, holding it out flat with his hand as he read through it. He wasn’t sure what he was even hoping to find in it, but there was very little information about his fiancée anyway. There was only one line describing the announcement of his betrothal a year before the war had begun. She was from a family of similar status and ranking to the Lu family, so there had been nothing out of the ordinary.
It didn’t specify if it was arranged or not. Lu Qinyi had said something about it, but Fei Li couldn’t recall no matter how hard he tried. Fei Li had quite a good memory, but such information hadn’t mattered to him in the slightest back then.
Fei Li slowly sunk down to sit at the table. His curled finger rested against his lip as he sat lost in his thoughts. Lu Qinyi and Chen Chyou seemed very close. Perhaps it had been a marriage out of love. In that case… would they still wish to be married?
If they did, Fei Li supposed he would help them. It was one of the many things he owed Lu Qinyi at least, even if the arrangement wouldn’t be normal since Lu Qinyi no longer had the rights of a since Lu Qinyi no longer had the rights of even a third-class citizen. But why did he feel a slight resistance to the thought of helping Lu Qinyi be wed?
His brows furrowed. His eyes skimmed the description Song Lin had written by her own hand. Song Lin had an ornate way of writing, it was quite distinct but written in the beautiful strokes of black ink were words like ‘eccentric’, ‘capricious’, ‘unreasonable’ and ‘difficult’. Fei Li’s lips curled faintly. Yes, those had all been very true. Lu Qinyi was all of those things, except he was worse. Fei Li had once wondered how Zhao Mei and Yang Xun could tolerate him, but Fei Li had fallen victim to the same thing that bound Lu Qinyi’s once lieutenants to him. There is a strange comfort in Lu Qinyi’s unruly personality. Fei Li’s once silent house had become a place of chaos and noise because of him, but it never felt empty, lonely, or boring.
Wait.
That was it.
That was what had been bothering him, playing on his mind. If he wed Lu Qinyi to the Chen family, which would have to be the case given the circumstances, Lu Qinyi would leave. And it was likely that Zhao Mei and Yang Xun would leave after him. Fei Li had become used to this new life, to Lu Qinyi’s grumbling and arguing, cheeky remarks and commentary full of attitude. He had become accustomed to his presence in his life, and that of Lu Qinyi’s two shadows. He had become used to the feeling of returning back to a home full of life. He would have to let that all go.
Suddenly Fei Li’s mood wasn’t too good. He released the paper and it sprung back into its rolled shape. With a flick of his fingers, he sent the paper skittering to the floor.
He heaved a deep, conflicted sigh but there was no one around to hear it, and no one to help him decide what he should do.
—
Now that all household members had returned home, Fei Li’s servants had come to him with a request. They wanted to celebrate by putting on a special homecoming dinner.
Fei Li was a dull person compared to others of his rank for he only ever worked and he was rarely ever home. Whenever he did return home, he did so quietly. There were never any special celebrations or dinners held in his honour. As famous as he was, Fei Li resided alone and didn’t host any occasions at all. Even now, daily life was boring since Fei Li ate in his room or office, the dining hall was never used. Who knew his own maids and servants would be discontent with the fact they never got to perform the duties many other households of rank did?
This wasn’t the first time that Fei Li and his housemates had travelled, but the servants could tell they got along better now. It was the perfect time to ask.
Fei Li had felt a little stumped by the unexpected request. He felt it was unnecessary but he found it hard to say no. His servants were all quite diligent and they took good care of the household. It was common sense to reward them, but surely just getting a bonus would do?
They had insisted however. And so Fei Li found himself at the dinner table before plates of freshly cooked meals of pork, duck and chicken. He had eaten with the Southern trio every time they were at the military grounds and he enjoyed the company. So he had expected it to be a comfortable meal time. What he hadn’t been prepared for was Lu Qinyi insisting Chen Chyou join them.
She was the last person he wanted to see as he still felt conflicted and he only felt more so upon seeing the young woman’s face.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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That is, until Lu Qinyi snatched some egg roll right out of her bowl. She gasped and hushed her voice to scold him. “A-Qin you can’t do that!”
Lu Qinyi didn’t lower his voice at all. “And why not? Either you eat, or I’ll eat your serving too. Then I’ll eat his.” Lu Qinyi threatened playfully, pointing the end of his chopsticks at Fei Li.
Chen Chyou looked absolutely mortified that Lu Qinyi could say and do something so rude. Fei Li only met Lu Qinyi’s look before taking a particularly juicy chunk of meat and popping it into his mouth. He maintained eye contact the entire time he chewed on it, as if to defiantly dare Lu Qinyi to try to steal his portion. He knew how Lu Qinyi’s shenanigans go by now.
Lu Qinyi had a faint smirk of amusement as he turned back to Chen Chyou and arched his brow. Chen Chyou had to remember to close her mouth that had fallen open in shock. But after seeing how nonchalantly Fei Li reacted, she did gradually relax, much to Fei Li’s gratitude as he didn’t particularly like being watched as he ate.
Lu Qinyi returned to his previous conversation, catching up with Zhao Mei and Yang Xun about their trip. Chen Chyou had cast a couple more worried glances Fei Li’s way, but when he simply quietly ate his meal and listened to the chatter contently, she eventually joined the conversation.
“Let me tell you, I’ve never met a bunch as uptight as Zhao Mei’s family. We ended up seeing them first, and I see why she never talks about them. I’d leave my family for my husband’s if my parents were like that! And her brothers are worse, what an obnoxious bunch of donkeys. They must be mad they don’t have half the talent she does.” Yang Xun wore a sour expression as he recounted their run in with Zhao Mei’s own family before they met with her in-laws. Zhao Mei sipped her tea, looking rather unperturbed, like she couldn’t be bothered to care about them but she silently enjoyed hearing Yang Xun curse them out.
The conversation seemed to have sparked a thought for Chen Chyou as she lit up with a grin on her face as she tugged at Lu Qinyi. She murmured something into his ear and he burst out into laughter.
It was so sudden and unexpected, it had drawn the gaze of the others.His laughter rang out, neither quiet nor loud. The room seemed to have stilled with even Yang Xun falling silent.
Lu Qinyi was still giggling but he quickly noticed that all of the sudden, all the attention had seemed to have fallen on him. He returned each of their stares with a questioning look. “What are you staring for? Is there something wrong with my laugh?”
“No, it’s just been a while since you last laughed like that.” Yang Xun replied before a warm smile curled at his lips.
Even Zhao Mei’s expression seemed warmed, hidden by the rim of her teacup as she pretended to be occupied taking another sip.
Chen Chyou seemed surprised to hear this as she looked with wide eyes between Lu Qinyi and his companions.
Lu Qinyi shrugged, trying to make light of it. “I suppose so. Perhaps you should try harder to be funny.” He joked as he shifted in his seat as he felt a bit restless in the much too sincere atmosphere that had formed. He ate another mouthful of rice and tried to ignore the looks he was being given.
Fei Li looked at Chen Chyou, who was refusing to answer Yang Xun’s questions about what she had said that made Lu Qinyi laugh. She pressed her lips together to pretend that they were sealed like that while she shook her head like a rattle drum toy. “If everyone knew, it wouldn’t be funny anymore and he wouldn’t laugh!” She then winked and wiggled her eyebrows at Lu Qinyi, who was very obviously trying not to choke as laughter filled his lungs again.
He then looked at Lu Qinyi as he contemplated. He felt that discomfort in his gut grow as he cast his gaze down, no longer wishing to look at them. Surely they were meant for one another if they got along so well.
—
He had meant to ask them if they wished to be wed still. That had been the intention. But when he came to look for them that day, they were on their way out to go look at the markets. Fei Li had offered to go with them just so he would have the chance to ask them.
But somehow, he never felt like he got the right situation to ask them. Instead, he ended up trailing not far behind the two as they explored the market stalls.
“A-Qin, isn’t this one so pretty? A-Qin I really want it!”
Lu Qinyi only scoffed at her puppy eyes and mercilessly plucked the bracelet from her fingers to drop back onto the table. “I’m poor now, you think I can buy you such things anymore? Your older siblings work, don’t they? Get them to buy you trinkets and useless pretty things.”
Chen Chyou pouted sulkily. “They won’t let me buy anything nice!”
…This was at least the fourth, maybe even the fifth time this same exchange had occurred and Fei Li couldn’t stand it any longer.
Fei Li kneaded at his temple and let out a slow sigh before digging out a few coins from the small drawstring bag in his sleeve. He passed the two and placed the coins down on the market table with a light metallic tinkling of taels. He took the bracelet and tossed it carelessly at Chen Chyou before turning and walking away. He had the hope that perhaps they’ll shut up now and end their bickering now.
Lu Qinyi looked rather bemused by this. Chen Chyou however looked mortified as she stared down at the bracelet in her hands.
“What? Don’t want it now? He was so kind, to buy it for you like that.” Lu Qinyi hooked the bracelet and spun it around his finger as he strolled after Fei Li.
“I want it! But, I… I don’t want to owe Mister, I mean Sir.. I mean.. General Fei. It’s fine if I get it from you but not him, anyone but him!” She looked like she sincerely regretted having nagged and whined so much now.
Lu Qinyi scoffed. “How come you’re so scared of him, and not the slightest bit afraid of me? I held the same ranking as him. I’m capable of most of what he is.”
Chen Chyou snorts. “Why would I be scared of you? You aren’t even slightly scary! I remember the time when you slept in Yanlin’s bed every night because you were scared the Wutou Gui was haunting you.”
“I. Was. Young!” Lu Qinyi glared at her.
“Oh yeah, then how about the time-” Lu Qinyi cut her off by cupping a hand over her mouth. He then stared daggers into Fei Li’s back. He had noticed the subtle way Fei Li’s pace had slowed and knew he’d been listening in.
Chen Chyou’s laughter was muffled but still audible behind Lu Qinyi’s hand.
When they finally arrived back home, Fei Li paused halfway along the open walkway of the courtyard. He turned to face the two, still uncertain what words to use but the duo had stopped their conversation and were now looking at him expectantly.
“Do you both… still wish to be wed?”
There was a moment of silence.
“EWWWW, no way! Me?! Him?!” Chen Chyou covered her mouth with one hand and her stomach with the other, as if she were queasy at the very thought.
Lu Qinyi also wore a similar look of disgust. “No! Absolutely not!”
“I’d rather marry a dog than marry him!”
This time Lu Qinyi looked a little offended, giving her a dirty look. “And I’d rather go through all 18 levels of hell before I’d marry you. But maybe you should go marry a dog, Chyou. It would be fitting for you.”
Chen Chyou glared back at him and hit his arm, but her small thin hands didn’t have any strength so he fended her off easily. “Maybe I will, and I’ll feed you to him!”
Fei Li looked utterly confused. “But… Weren’t you betrothed?”
Lu Qinyi gave him a strange look. “Wait… are you really an idiot? Did you really believe we were a couple? It was fake.”
“It… was?”
Even Chen Chyou was confused, blinking a couple times as she looked up at Lu Qinyi. “Maybe our acting was too good and it fooled him?”
“Yeah right, I thought he was meant to be clever yet he fell for such a simple trick?”
Fei Li did feel a little foolish now, but he had been sincere! He had been sincerely troubled about this, and he was really going to help them to don red clothes and get married. Wasn’t this a bit mean of them to talk about him like this?
Right then, Yang Xun had been walking by and Lu Qinyi called him over.
“Yang Ye, get this, General Fei thought Chyou and I wanted to get married!”
Yang Xun started laughing. “You? And her? You’d sooner die than marry one another!”
“Isn’t it funny?” Lu Qinyi replied, much to Fei Li’s chagrin. Why was it he was being bullied now?
Yang Xun shook his head. “General Fei, you misunderstood them. Qinyi and Miss Chen are cut from the same cloth, but not the way lovers are. They are more like siblings. Only, no mother would be able to handle them both. They have been a terrible combination since young. Their mothers were good friends, so they were bosom buddies and grew up together.”
…So they were just good friends all this time?!
Author’s Note:
I have been consumed by my nonstop need to write lately. Rae has very kindly supported this. I finished this chapter, and she had it reviewed the same day. But then I immediately had the next chapter written by the following morning, and she had to review that one too! I’ve finally gotten the chance to edit and upload them, and now I’m starting on the next one!
I just really need to show you guys what will happen next. This next arc will be very fun, and finally the gay seeds that have been planted have begun to root! Prayers for Fei Li, he will need them shortly c;
On another note, I was originally going to use the Gall Ghost from here instead of the Headless Ghost, as it is horrifying. I would genuinely be scared of that ghost. But sadly I couldn’t find any other references or information on it, so I can’t be sure of its legitimacy. Please let me know if anyone can find anything else on it, I’m curious now.
I don’t know much about ghosts, but super excited two chapters are coming up! Thank you!!!