The fated ones

Chapter 51

Feng jiu stared at donghua with incredulousness in her eyes. She couldn't believe how easily he had tricked her. He had manipulated her words with such precision that she was left with no other choice but to accept the ring without uttering a word about it. Shocked at what he had done, she spoke in his mind, "you cheated me. Was that all a play?"

Both of them turned to take their seats on the throne while, donghua, replied to feng jiu, "I didn't cheat and no, that wasn't a play. I warned you against taking Zhong lin's punishment on your head but you refused to heed my warnings. I just saw a situation in front of me and changed it to favor my needs. Are you objecting, xaio bai?"

Even though, he had spoken in her mind, she could still feel his arched eyebrow that went along with a sentence like this. Not knowing how to decipher his words or meaning behind them, she called out a soft, hesitant "no" in response to his question.

Donghua watched as feng jiu was busy reflecting on what had happened. He didn't want this to subdue her happiness and excitement for today. So, trying to lift up her spirits again, he said, "let it go, little love. That ring was a gift intended to show you how much I love and adore you. My little fox, my entire being revolves around you. So, what use do I have for life, if I do not have you. Don't question my love for you, jiu'er."

This time she could feel the heart wrenching emotions behind his words. The genuineness of his words moved her soft, compassionate heart. She felt his hand reach out for hers, gingerly as if he was worried, she would retract her hand. Shaking her head at his hesitation, she gave him her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. With a gentle voice, she replied, "I will never question your love, donghua. No matter the situation, that will never happen. You should not entertain such absurd thoughts, my love. Even though, I do not agree with the magic of the ring, I love the ring itself. So, I will accept it as a token of your love."

Rendered speechless by her words, he just blinked to take in the marvelous beauty that was his wife, both inside and outside. He raised her hand to his face and pressed a loving kiss on the back of her hand. Donghua turned back to face the now seated guests and called out, "begin."

After his declaration to commence, the banquet began in the earnest. Several performances took place, among which even Zhong lin brought out a zither and played a beautiful piece in celebration of his lord and lady. Cheng yu also, performed a breathtaking dance that highlighted on the union of once separated lovers. Feng jiu noticed that though the focus was on separated lovers, the story was much different than hers and dong hua's, it seemed to her the story was based on someone else. To verify her doubts, she turned her head to see lian song's reaction to the performance and sure enough, sky kingdom's third prince was having a tough time in controlling his emotions. They need to sort themselves out now, it's been long enough for them, feng jiu though to herself.

After the performances were over, it came time for the gifts. The lords and ladies in the banquet brought presents from all over the realms. The assortment was huge and invaluable but for feng jiu it held little importance, since most of these gifts were a way for the lords to show off. But this was the way, the world worked. So, she bore through it. With such invaluable gifts coming in, the red packets had to be equally as prized if not more. Since, it was dijun's wedding banquet, Zhong lin spared no expense. The nobility from all over the realms was given the most exorbitant gift of multiple pure white jade pieces in their red packets whereas the people of qing qui got huge pouches full of gold pieces. When the oohs and aahs over the packets, sounded all over the room, Zhong lin gave himself a mental pat on the back for a job well done.

After the highlights of the event were out of the way, everyone focused on enjoying the food and wine. Zhe yan had fondly provided the most delicious batch of his peach wine for feng jiu's wedding and the effects of that could be seen clearly after just an hour. Since, the party was about to get exceedingly robust with the consumption of such alcohol, donghua was edging to leave. He signalled this to bai zhi. He waited as bai zhi gathered the whole family and came their way to talk to feng jiu before they left.