Invitations had been dispatched by the new apprentices of the Sky Kingdom to Qingqiu to invite King Bai Zhi, Queen Bai Fengjiu and Lord Wenchang to Ali's official celebration of his crowning. Being the only child of Yehua and Bai Qian, and due to his great influence in the Sky Kingdom, he had no competition as the Crown Prince, and was next in line for the throne should Yehua decide to abdicate one day.
Wenchang was delighted on discovering that the messengers tasked with delivering the invitations to Qingqiu had been his martial junior brothers Jianwei (Seventy-Four) and Hao Xinzhi (Seventy-Five) respectively, but instead of rushing out to greet them, he instead invited them to meet him at the cottage, with a cool look pasted across his face. Now that he was a Dijun himself, he apparently had taken on a 'cold' demeanour. While he wasn't a heartless god at heart, he had grown to become more mysterious and often appeared emotionless, but in fact he was just becoming an expert in hiding his emotions.
Nevertheless, Jianwei and Xinzhi were glad to be given an opportunity to indulge in the delicacies of Qingqiu with their martial-brother, of whom they have not met in a long time. They had been referred by Mo Yuan to assist with Yehua's duties in place of Seventy-Three after he had been sent to the Sky Kingdom and later ascended to be a lord himself. Their diligence and meticulousness had been what had kept them in the Nine Heavens.
When Fengjiu came around to the cottage, she was perplexed to see the trio lying together in a messy heap atop Wenchang's bed. At the same time, she found it laughable that three grown men were sleeping together and sharing a narrow bed and torn blanket. She left to do her rounds in the Qingqiu market and survey her lands if there were any issues or disputes with her subjects.
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Fengjiu looked exceptionally stunning in her new violet-coloured gown, a gift from Wenchang himself. She had accepted it as a gift for 'living off' her, which he further explained had been a way to pay her rent as he had been living in the kingdom for free, and he didn't want to be dubbed a freeloader. Fengjiu had laughed it off, thinking how his words had been so intelligent, and yet this he was being corny by having to 'repay' her for living in her lands.
She had already missed little Ali's coming-of-age celebration when she had got injured by trying to help the little mortal boy, and disguised as a spiritual fox by Zhe Yan to hide her presence from her fox family. She wouldn't miss his official crowning ceremony, she promised. Anyway, the celebration was only for three days.
In a hidden 'secret' spot in one of the gardens at the Nine Heavens where only she and Little Ali knew of, she saw Little Ali himself link arms with a young female immortal. But he wasn't Little Riceball Ali any more, he was now Bai Chen. He had a proper name, along with a surname, and he was now a grown immortal. He wasn't the child Fengjiu used to hold in her lap as a princess and take with her everywhere when he visited Qingqiu. Perhaps this little lady was the reason that he had not been visiting her after her return from the mortal realm, Fengjiu thought with a giggle.
She approached them slowly from behind and gave Bai Chen a sharp tap on his back. "Surprise!" she shouted, like a child. It was cynical how Fengjiu had been much older than Bai Chen, but simply not grown up. She had been the 'sister' to Bai Chen when he was still a child, and yet she had been so playful and childish even despite the fact that she was now a HIgh Immortal.
"Sister Fengjiu," Bai Chen greeted warmly. "Long time no see."
"It's been such a long time," Fengjiu agreed, greeting him by his old nickname. "How have you been? You've suddenly grown so...tall."
While Yehua shared the appearance of Mo Yuan and the siblings had been blessed with a distinguished appearance with sharp masculine features, Bai Chen had looked more modest like his great-uncle Liansong. Fengjiu thought it was fortunate that Bai Chen looked nothing like Yehua, or there would have been the issue of broken hearts or jealous consorts all over the Sky Kingdom. The Sky Kingdom didn't need another Sujin. However, Bai Chen had yet to be engaged to any female immortal in the Sky Kingdom or in the Four Seas and Eight Deserts. Due to this, upon seeing him with a female immortal, Fengjiu's curiosity had been triggered.
"I have been well, Sister Fengjiu," Bai Chen replied humbly. Fengjiu laughed realising how he had grown from a chirpy and talkative little riceball into a humble immortal. She diverted her attention to the female immortal beside him instead. Though the little lady was nowhere as beautiful as Fengjiu, she had never seen a female immortal carry herself in a flowing dress so well. The thin dress brought out the beauty of her curves and its pale colours blended well with her fair complexion. It was as if the dress had been specially made for her.
"Care to introduce me to your little date?" Fengjiu teased. The lady smiled shyly, looking towards her dainty feet.
"She's Xifan," Bai Chen said. "I met her on a trip to the Western Sea, where she saved me from an attack by a water serpent. She is from the Mei tribe, whom are known to be charmers by nature. She is a true charmer, as she charmed my heart away."
So her cousin was such a smooth talker, Fengjiu thought. The lady turned red and quickly fled the scene, presumably to hide while the cousins were talking about her.
"You probably shouldn't have said that before her," Fengjiu commented. "We girls are after all, sensitive creatures." Bai Chen remained silent for a few minutes, seemingly pondering on her words.
"Sister," Bai Chen finally said after a few minutes of consideration, "There's something I'd like to ask of you."
"What is it?" Fengjiu responded with a concerned look over her face.
"I'm serious about Xifan. I want to marry her someday," he said. "But knowing my parents... well my mother. I don't know if my mother will agree. I'm willing to wait for Xifan till I can marry her, no matter how long."
"I will talk to her for you," Fengjiu said. "I promise, my little Ali."
Moments later, Fengjiu was painting when Wenchang entered the living room. Upon hearing that Bai Qian had invited her to extend her stay for a few weeks at the Sky Kingdom, her fiancé had offered her to take up temporary residence in one of the guest rooms of Taichen Palace. While she knew Taichen Palace held a lot of her memories with Donghua, she was determined to help Bai Chen in persuading Bai Qian that Xifan was a reliable wife. Only by residing in Taichen Palace as its future mistress, she was sure that she would not be inviting suspicion from the Bais and the immortals in the Sky Kingdom.
They would often be seen together, either reading together in the library, practicing swordplay in the training halls and having a stroll in the open garden-like area of Taichen Palace. Fengjiu would also accompany Wenchang fishing in the lake nearby. Pretty soon, they became the talk of the Sky Kingdom. Of course, they had to make the act seem real, by holding hands in front of the other immortals. As the saying in the Sky Kingdom went, a match made by the Heavens is the best matched couple ever, because the Hong Luan star shines above them. The immortals had observed that this saying had aeemed to be particularly true for the Feng-Chang couple.
While nothing would ever change her love for the immortal who she had no destiny with, she had to admit that ever since she had the boat trip with Wenchang, their friendship had definitely improved. It had been six months since the boat trip, and though she could not reciprocate his feelings for her, she felt that he did make a good companion and friend. Even if they weren't truly husband and wife, him being around was a great help to her.
Bai Qian did not question Fengjiu's relationship with Wenchang, mainly because she had never been supportive of her niece's admiration for Donghua in the first place. She was the only person who had dared to raise her voice before Donghua in the past, and it had been in defence of Fengjiu when she had severed her tail. She had even blamed him for not sending the message to Fengjiu earlier, to let her that he could have not loved her. Of course, Bai Qian, like the other members of the Bai family, had not known what had transpired between Fengjiu and Donghua behind closed doors during her wedding celebration. Perhaps she thought that since Wenchang looked a lot like Donghua, he would heal Fengjiu's broken heart.
After the celebration to commemorate Bai Chen officially becoming a Crown Prince of the Sky Kingdom had concluded, Fengjiu and Bai Chen had a picnic by the waterfall (Donghua's Miaohua Mirror in disguise, but they didn't know), to discuss their plans and to reminisce on their old times. Not long after, Wenchang joined them.
"I see you have received my message," Bai Chen said with a smile. In his mind he was wondering if every lord of Taichen Palace shared the same appearance. All of a sudden after not hearing of this Wenchang for some time, he started looking like Grandpa Donghua to him. It must be the powerful spiritual energy from Taichen Palace that had caused him to turn into Donghua, he thought.
Bai Chen was older than Wenchang by 600 years, but Wenchang, with Donghua's striking resemblance, now looked older than him. Did immortals suffer from growth spurts at this age? Bai Chen thought. Aside from all the gossip about the Feng-Chang couple, the immortals were baffled by the sudden change in appearance and striking resemblance of Wenchang to Donghua's image. The fact that he had evolved into Donghua had been so unexplainable, but the truth was lying before their very eyes.
They discussed on life in the Kunlun Mountains, as it had been Yehua's desire to send Bai Chen there for training after the ceremony. Bai Chen wished to know about his future cousin-in-law's experience in Kunlun, but at the same time he was concerned about his lover as it would be a very long time before he could finally return.
Another topic Bai Chen brought up was regarding the mortal realm. He was able to recall how his father brought him as a child to the mortal home where his father had married and lived with his mother, and how he had celebrated his birthday as a young immortal at Junji Mountain in the mortal realm. Now that he was studying hard, he would only visit once an immortal year, and he was aware that one day in the immortal realm was equivalent to one year in the mortal realm for that particular world. So every time he visited, that place in the mortal world had changed so much. He was curious about the mortal realm.
Then they talked about his love interest and what did he plan to do now that he was going to Kunlun. Bai Chen openly spoke of his concerns, but halfway into the discussion, Fengjiu was refilling Bai Chen's cup of tea when she spotted a white-haired figure in a purple robe materialising not far from them. Unable to contain herself, she quickly called out loudly, "DIJUN!!!", dropping the teapot in the process.
Shocked by her sudden cry, Bai Chen and Wenchang turned their heads to face the direction where Fengjiu was looking at. Upon realising that there was in fact a purple-robed figure before them, they quickly got up to their feet and bowed to pay their respects to the Dijun. After tens of thousands of years of hearing of the legends of the Dijun, it was the first time that Wenchang had the opportunity to witness this Dijun with his own eyes. It was no surprise that Wenchang was curious, as he had known of his fiancée's love story with the Dijun of the past. Despite having his head bowed low, Wenchang managed to take a peek at Fengjiu from the corner of his eyes. It hurt him to see her sprawled over the picnic mat with tears in her eyes, presumably still in shock.
As the purple-robed immortal walked past them, he suddenly stopped and glanced at them for a few seconds. Fengjiu quickly got to her feet and rushed to him, slightly distraught. "Di..Jun, where did..you go?" she bawled, tears flowing from her puffy eyes. "All these years, where have you been?"
The purple-robed immortal seemed to be oblivious to her cries, as he continued to walk for a distance of about a few metres from them and eventually teleported away. Wenchang realised how much he himself had resembled the immortal, and at that point he felt like a nail had been driven through his heart. Had she been so happy with him, because he had looked like her old lover that had vanished? Now that he was back, was he going to lose her?
At this point, Wenchang realised how painful losing Fengjiu was.
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Forenote: stay tuned for the revelation of the mystery behind the purple-robed figure, to be revealed in subsequent chapters.
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