Hualian, Stargazing

"On the seventh night of the seventh month we celebrate the annual meeting of the cowherd and the weaver girl stars. That's the Qixi Festival", Hua Cheng explained to Xie Lian, with a smooth voice and sweet smiles at times. Xie Lian loved it, and listened attentively. His San Lang was always so knowledgeable, and happy to tell his Gege anything there was to know.

He continued, "The stars are named after Zhinu, the weaver girl, and Niulang, the cowherd, lovers that couldn't be together, as Zhinu, a celestial maiden, had to return to the heavenly realm. However, because their love moved The Heavens, they were allowed to meet once a year, crossing The Heavenly River on a magpie bridge".

Both of them kept looking at the sky, following the stars that were slowly making their way to each other through The Heavenly River – The Milky Way.

Hua Cheng and Xie Lian were at the little crown – fashioned as a balcony - of Xie Lian's gigantic divine statue sculpted by Hua Cheng inside Mount Tong'lu. On this special night of stargazing, they spared some spiritual energy and took the statue to the top of Mount Taicang, so they would be surrounded by complete darkness, save for the starlight.

He looked at Hua Cheng, and The Milky Way reflecting on his handsome face, white as snow. He got himself closer, and Hua Cheng put his arms around him tenderly.

Xie Lian said softly, "I always thought these folk tales were just tales, never thought too much about them. After meeting you San Lang", he paused, then added, with a beautiful but sad face, "I feel really sorry for these unhappy lovers".

Hua Cheng didn't move, and kept looking at the sky. Then he said, "For 800 years, when Gege was nowhere to be found, I felt pretty much like an unhappy lover from these folk tales".

Xie Lian pushed his face against Hua Cheng's chest, taking his scent in, slowly, and, with a muffled voice, said, "And you didn't know how I would feel towards you either...", and sighed.

Xie Lian remembered that hot day when they went to help at the rice fields. The Puqi Villagers were asking him about Hua Cheng, and Hua Cheng himself told them he liked someone; how so very disappointed and unhappy Xie Lian felt. Then happy, when Hua Cheng said it as a lie! And he wasn't totally aware of his feelings for San Lang at that time...

Hua Cheng stepped back slightly, to look at him, and with raised eyebrows and a surprised tone, said, "This never ever concerned me Gege".

Hua Cheng went on, "I wanted to protect you without you even knowing I existed, so how could I expect you to like me, and worry if you didn't?"

Xie Lian fell in love with Hua Cheng after having met Hua Cheng, and knowing, maybe unconsciously, that Hua Cheng was in love with him too. Even though he never hid or concealed his feelings; only Xie Lian had never thought there could be someone who'd ever love him this much. Someone who'd make his soul crawl out from its hiding place.

He just waited; he knew it didn't do asking Hua Cheng about his past; he always told anything Xie Lian wanted to know on his own time. Maybe it was the nature of ghosts. And Xie Lian loved to listen. Indeed Hua Cheng carried on,

"When you ascended for the third time, remember Black Water was already up in The Heavens?"

"I remember", Xie Lian said.

"That's when I saw you again. After looking for you everywhere for 800 years! You looked all humble and sweet, being pushed around by the other officials. It made my blood boil!"

His expression was hard, probably from these memories; probably from other memories too, of when he utterly destroyed 33 gods who humiliated Xie Lian in the past. He said, "Your talk was gentle and you smiled a lot, but your eyes didn't smile. You looked so sad and lonely Gege. That's when I decided I had to come to you, and you needed to know you had me".

His face softened, and he smiled. Xie Lian had always though Hua Cheng was incredibly handsome, but he specially loved these tender smiles Hua Cheng had only for him – only when they were close together like this, and only when he was talking about Xie Lian. He replied,

"You were right. Didn't I tell you? Only after having met you did I rediscover that it's such a simple thing to be happy..."

"Were you unhappy then?", Hua Cheng asked with a soft voice.

Xie Lian replied, "I wouldn't have called unhappy, because I didn't know any better".

Then he remembered something else. The first time he went to Paradise Manor and Hua Cheng said he didn't call it a home. At the time Xie Lian thought he was sad and lonely too, even if he didn't look like it. He had just spent 800 years looking all over the mortal realm for the one person who was his home.

"Right when I met Gege, he was friendly and gentle, but he never looked me in the eye; he was a bit wary too – and I even took the form of a young boy as for not scare Gege off", Hua Cheng said.

Xie Lian smiled. Who was Hua Cheng trying to fool with that "disguise" of his? The truth was, Xie Lian always knew who that young boy was – it wasn't that hard to guess – and was already mysteriously attracted to that ghost king he had met on a romantic night stroll at Mount Yu Jun!

He said, "Yes, I wasn't used to have people around me for long. So I just expected you to make some polite conversation, get bored of me and be off".

Hua Cheng kept looking at Xie Lian's face tenderly, and flashed him a sudden smile, "Little did you know I would stick to you forever!"

Xie Lian burst out laughing, "That's all I want my San Lang to do".

Hua Cheng touched Xie Lian's face lightly with his right hand, and, rubbing his thumb softly on his cheeks, said, "Ah Gege! The way you're laughing now, your eyes lit more than The Heavenly River".

Both of them looked up to the stars, and then at each other, smiling brightly.

"And your face... more beautiful than the whole sky".

Xie Lian didn't know what to say when Hua Cheng said such things to him, and being himself the sole reason Xie Lian was smiling as such. He knew everything Hua Cheng was saying was true. He felt there was neither death nor immortality; a pressure on his chest, as if it was about to explode, of overflowing, pure happiness.

Hua Cheng looked back at the sky and quoted,

Across the Milky Way the Cowherd meets the Maid.

When Autumn's Golden Wind embraces Dew of Jade,

All the love scenes on earth, however many, fade.

Their tender love flows like a stream;

Their happy date seems but a dream.

Hua Cheng embraced Xie Lian tenderly, and said with a sweet voice by his ear, "It's just a tale Gege. Don't feel sorry for them. If you want to think of lovers, think of us".

Xie Lian embraced him back, hiding his face – and his tears – in Hua Cheng's raven black hair flowing around his shoulders. Tears from thinking how Hua Cheng overcame that nameless terror, death, never leaving this world because of him; how he endured so much pain and loneliness, trying to protect him, falling into the depths of hell, breaking through the abyss...

Xie Lian just had to give in to love, or live in fear.

Thanksfor reading, I hope you enjoyed this little romantic one-shot. ❤️

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