The Red String

Epilogue: The Pool of the Horizon

Six years later.

A Shu, are you mad?"

"No!"

"Really? You seem mad. Are you mad?"

"You flashed them, A Xing!"

"Flashed them? A Shu, how could you say such a thing. I'm a filial husband!"

Zhou Zishu glances over at him, breath puffing out harshly. "A Xing, you couldn't choose another town to do that in?"

Wen Kexing grinned, giving up the innocent act. The shouts increased from behind them but he paid it no mind. Eyes flashing crimson, he shrugs, or at least the best he can whilst running from the villagers bearing pistols and pitchforks. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. How was I supposed to know he was a reverend?"

"Oh, I don't know, the big cross he was wearing while he stood outside the church?" Zhou Zishu shouted, ducking under a branch and veering to the left.

Wen Kexing has to give him that one. It really had seemed like a good idea at the time, or rather, a very fun bad idea. It was fine. This little town had merely been a stopping point where they settled down for a few nights, but it turned out that the villagers were highly religious. How was he supposed to turn down the opportunity to live in their nightmares for a few months.

They burst through the clearing and skidded to a halt, dirt and grass spraying up around their boots. "End of the road I guess." Zhou Zishu sighed out, the cliff in front of them dropping sharply down into the ocean. The sun was just rising over the horizon, spilling over it in golden pinks and making the dark water shine anew.

"A Shu, maybe it's time to go home." He said, his hand slipping into Zhou Zishu's. Shouts could still be heard behind them but they hovered there watching the sunrise in all its majesty. It never got old, not Wen Kexing seeing the sun again, and not Zhou Zishu seeing it with the man he had waited lifetimes for.

A shot pinged out behind them and splinters showered down from a tree nearby. He tilted his head, a grin slowly overtaking his features until Wen Kexing was blinded by the beauty of it.

His two suns in one place, how did he get so lucky?

"Yes, I think you're right." Another gunshot sounded, closer this time. "For now, jump!"

Wen Kexing let out an elated laugh, one so loud it carried to the heavens, and hand in hand they plummeted into the big blue sea below.

⊰ ⊱

It had been six years, six quick years. It was astounding how fast the time had gone by for Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu, but it seemed that everything became easy when you were with the one you loved.

In those six years, they traveled the world. Hitchhiked and gambled their money away, earning it back the next day when Wen Kexing insisted he could distract the men at the tables if he dressed up as a woman.

It worked, but Zhou Zishu had to rescue him from his own hairbrained scheme later on once he'd learned his lesson.

Gu Xiang used her husband's spells to send letters while they traveled, and Wen Kexing always found time to write back with the amulet Cao Weining gifted him.

After six years, they had seen many sights, experienced an endless amount of beautiful things, and dabbled in just about everything they could. In all those years, they had bathed in each other's loving, if sometimes exasperating, presence, but perhaps it was time to settle down for a bit. To experience another sort of exhilaration.

The gate opened smoothly and Zhou Zishu was happy to see the grounds well maintained. Their bikes purred lowly as they followed the winding road, but Zhou Zishu slowed, and gazed at the cherry blossom trees that were in full bloom. Wen Kexing pulled up beside him, waiting for him to make a decision before speaking.