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Li Xiangyi’s actual wedding wasn’t quite like the wedding he had always imagined.
First of all, his shixiong Shan Gudao should have been there, happy to celebrate a life milestone with him regardless of any arguments they may have been having about sect business, not confined to his bed back home as he recovered from an attack that nearly cost his life.
He should have had time to wait until Shifu was out of seclusion and Shiniang no longer had to stay up on the mountain to keep an eye on him. He would have had ample time to plan his clothing, the decorations, banquet menu, and seating arrangements, instead of this affair which, while adequately grandiose to match the reputation of his sect, was clearly put together on short notice, and in many places rather too opulent to suit his tastes.
His friends should have been drinking and making merry, smiles on everyone’s faces, no one sullenly staring at the ground or glaring off into a corner or holding their faces carefully blank. It would, of course, have been held on home territory within the grounds of his own sect, and not in a grand banquet hall belonging to the Jinyuan Alliance, leading to half his guests rejecting their invitations for fear that they were walking into an ambush and not a celebration.
Last but not least, well. Up until not too long ago, he thought he would be marrying Qiao Wanmian.
The door to the banquet hall swung open, sending a momentary hush through the room as the other participant of this wedding finally deigned to make his appearance. Di Feisheng, leader of the Jinyuan Alliance—Li Xiangyi’s soon-to-be husband—stalked in through the door, cutting a striking figure in wedding red.
Di Feisheng swept his gaze over the assembled guests with a smirk, before finally locking eyes with Li Xiangyi from across the room. He didn’t look away even as he addressed the whole gathering. “Why so grim? I thought everyone was here today to celebrate the union of your Sigu Sect and our Jinyuan Alliance, not to hold someone’s funeral.”
Li Xiangyi stood and schooled his face into a dignified half smile. “Indeed. All of our friends are gathered here today with fine food and wine for all, I hope everyone will partake to the fullest.” He looked back at Di Feisheng and extended a hand in his direction. “Shall we?”
---
It had all started with A-Mian’s letter. Li Xiangyi had thought that everything was going right with his life, that becoming the newly-recognized leader of the martial arts world meant that all the minor skirmishes would soon calm, that he could finally make good on his promise to give A-Mian the wedding of her dreams with the sweetest wedding candy in the world, just as long as he worked one more long night, hurried off to mediate one more dispute—only to have the consequences of his actions be thrown in his face, spelled out word by word in that beloved elegant script.
What a fiancé he was. He hadn’t even noticed her frustration and exhaustion until it was too late, despite all the times she had tried to keep him for just one conversation, caught up as he was in all the trivial affairs he thought were so much more important.
Along with the letter, their shared friends had also brought news that Qiao Wanmian had returned to her family’s estate to take a break from jianghu affairs, and that she did not wish to be contacted until her return.
At the time, he had already gotten in contact with Di Feisheng to begin negotiating a temporary truce between their factions. Heartbroken, deeply disappointed in himself, yet still mindful of the new responsibilities sitting heavy on his shoulders, when Di Feisheng had approached him with new information about a peculiar compatibility between their neigong techniques and an expanded offer, he had jumped on the idea like a lifeline. An agreement from the leader of the Jinyuan Alliance to not only call a ceasefire with Sigu Sect, but also curb his subordinates from harming ordinary commoners, was worth its weight in gold. And all it would cost was Li Xiangyi’s hand in marriage to seal the deal. A bargaining chip which had conveniently just become available.
They had gradually worked out the rest of the details of the arrangement. Li Xiangyi would step down from his active duties as sect leader, but his friends had insisted he at least keep his nominal title. The actual responsibilities of leadership would be taken up by them as a council, then handed over to his shixiong Shan Gudao after his recovery.
After a few rounds of back and forth, just like that, the rest of Li Xiangyi’s life was signed away in the name of peace for the jianghu.
–--
Somehow, none of it had felt quite real until he found himself standing here in the middle of the Jinyuan Alliance’s territory, the place that was to be his new home. Regardless, if this was to be his last event as the acting sect leader of Sigu Sect, there was nothing for it but to put his all into his chosen course of action as he had always done. When the master of ceremonies called for the start of the wedding rites proper, Li Xiangyi shoved all his doubts to the back of his mind and stepped forward to take his place.
At the very least, Di Feisheng hadn’t made any ridiculous demands such as forcing him to wear a bride’s dress or a wedding veil, though Li Xiangyi was currently questioning if he would have rather had the option to hide his face and absolve himself of having to control his expression as the night went on.
The official wedding rites themselves went by mostly in a blur. The Jinyuan Alliance attendees began to grow rowdy as everyone got deeper into their cups, clearly eager to boast in their new “madam”’s face, though Li Xiangyi was spared of most of the toasting as his friends settled into an unspoken rotation to intercept any attempts to get him to drink.
At a glance around the room, Shi Shui was getting well and truly flushed with all the toasts she had drunk on his behalf, Yun Biqiu seemed to have disappeared, and Xiao Zijin was one of the few Sigu Sect guests who had managed to summon any appearance of merriment.
Di Feisheng had also been refusing toasts, though the cold look he had given the crimson-clad girl who had been the first to be brave enough to ask had been sufficien to deter the rest of his guests.
Li Xiangyi cast a look at the door. Many of his guests had refused their invitations, his closest friends and some other brave or fearlessly curious souls had accepted, but there was a certain one from whom he had never received any response in the negative or affirmative. He knew she didn’t want to hear from him, but he thought something like this merited an exception. It was getting late, but if there was any chance she was simply late to arrive…
A girl dressed in servant’s attire materialized at his side and gave a polite curtsey when Li Xiangyi noticed her presence. “Sect Leader Li, the night is getting on. Would you like to retire?”
Li Xiangyi looked back up—at some point, his new husband had disappeared without his noticing. He understood, this inquiry was just a politely-phrased summons.
With a last lingering look at the front door, Li Xiangyi turned to follow the servant girl from the room.
---
They passed through a couple of courtyards and through a winding hallway before the servant girl politely deposited him at the door to his new room.
The bedroom was still sparse and simply furnished, clearly leaving space for its new owner to fill it with their belongings over time—it seemed they hadn’t yet gotten around to moving in the small selection of things Li Xiangyi had decided to bring with him. A few pieces of red drapery tastefully ornamented the walls and furniture, highlighting the wide canopied bed placed against one wall, draped in crimson sheets. On the bedside table sat a tray holding a pair of cups and a pitcher of wine.
For lack of anywhere else to sit, Li Xiangyi lowered himself onto the bed, plucking a few of the extra ornaments he was wearing from his hair. A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over him, as if he had spent another day rushing about from dawn to dusk to put out one fire after another.
However, he knew this night wasn’t over yet. Shi Shui had slipped him a few manuals on dual cultivation between men—not unheard of in the jianghu, though certainly rarer than the usual—so he wouldn’t be caught utterly unprepared in this aspect of married life. He had dutifully read every page, hiding away in a corner of his room as his cheeks flamed, but he still couldn’t quite reconcile the thought of himself in such… situations.
He was startled from his musings when the door was thrown open and Di Feisheng stalked inside, a concerning gleam in his eyes. Before Li Xiangyi could say a word, Di Feisheng tossed a bundle into his arms—his sword Shaoshi and what seemed to be a set of clothes. When he looked back up in confusion, Di Feisheng was already sweeping his way back out of the room. “Get changed. We’re going to the training field.”
…On their wedding night?
There had been another term to their agreement—Di Feisheng was clear that marriage or not, he wanted his chance to claim the title of first in the jianghu for himself. Still, he hadn’t expected the man to be so impatient as to drag him off to fight on the night of their wedding. Though at the very least, it was more familiar territory than the alternative.
Li Xiangyi quickly peeled himself out of the cumbersome wedding robes, checking that Wenjing was still secure in its spot tucked up his sleeve. When he spread out the bundle of cloth, he found that it was one of his usual outfits, a tighter cut meant for moving and fighting in—and nearly the same shade of bright red as his wedding robes, a color he had always favored. He felt much more himself with the familiar weight of Shaoshi secured at his hip, where its absence had been tugging at him all day.
When he left the room, he found Di Feisheng waiting right outside the door. Li Xiangyi hadn’t gotten a good look at him earlier, but now he noticed that he had also changed from his wedding robes to a set of his own daily wear in the same red—that must have been where he had disappeared off to earlier.
Seeing Li Xiangyi emerge, he inclined his head and swept off down the corridor without a word, clearly expecting to be followed.
It was full dark when they emerged into the night, the stones of the courtyard pale under the light of a full moon hanging large and low in the sky. A chilly breeze had picked up, rousing Li Xiangyi from the last of his fatigue as it whipped through the ends of his hair, loosened from its more complicated updo into his usual ponytail.
After walking some distance, they emerged into a wide open space to the rear of the main compound, the packed dirt surface lightly marred with scars from recent matches that had yet to be filled in.
They took up positions on opposite sides of the training field as the wind whistled between them. Li Xiangyi drew his sword and bounced its familiar weight in his hand. “Since it’s our first fight, are there any rules you want to set?”
Di Feisheng scoffed as he unwrapped his double-edged blade. “If you absolutely insist, no killing or maiming. Good enough for you?” He didn’t wait for an answer before launching himself into his first attack, a wide sweeping blow.
Li Xiangyi ducked under the swing and pivoted to launch his counterattack, metal clashing against metal as Di Feisheng predicted the angle of his swing and caught it with a backwards sweep of his weapon.
They exchanged a rapid sequence of blows, both attempting to gauge the other’s strength and sword skills, before springing apart with a screech of metal on metal.
Di Feisheng wiped at a fresh cut, leaving a small smear of blood across his cheek, as a few severed locks of hair fluttered free from Li Xiangyi’s ponytail. The keen interest in Di Feisheng’s gaze when he looked at Li Xiangyi had only sharpened after he got his first taste of the other’s skills in the most direct of ways. “Your reputation as the jianghu’s best is well deserved… until I take it from you, of course.”
It had been a long time since Li Xiangyi had fought such a closely-matched opponent, since he had to put so much of his attention into every movement. Still… he gave the other an answering smirk. “I wouldn’t be so sure that’s happening anytime soon.”
This time, he was the first to break the standoff and launch himself across the circle they had been treading around each other. He let the feint glance lightly off his opponent’s sword before launching himself into the air to strike at Di Feisheng’s back. He landed as the other was twisting out of the way and lashed out with a sweeping kick to knock his legs out from underneath him.
Not to be defeated so easily, Di Feisheng pushed out with both hands to catch the downwards swing that followed with the flat of his blade and quickly rolled to the side, lashing out with a sideways swing to try and keep Li Xiangyi at a distance as he got back to his feet. Unfortunately, Li Xiangyi was just a step faster as he spun out of the way and stopped him with the tip of Shaoshi pointed at his throat.
Li Xiangyi smiled at him down the blade of his sword, before stepping back to let Di Feisheng get to his feet. “Told you so.”
Despite his loss, Di Feisheng didn’t look much discouraged. “I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before I can best you too, Li Xiangyi.”
“You’re welcome to try. I do enjoy training with a competent opponent.” Li Xiangyi tossed his hair back over his shoulder and dusted off his clothes.
“Then, what are you waiting for?” Di Feisheng lifted his sword into a ready position again.
“Want a rematch already? Bring it on!”
As it turned out, Di Feisheng was far from satisfied with one rematch, or two, or ten. He was also an incredibly quick learner, adept at picking out an opponent’s rhythms and attacking any mild weakness in their form, which explained his meteoric rise through the martial arts world. All of this should have made him a perfect sparring partner… if not for the fact that he also possessed an inhuman amount of stamina and didn’t believe in breaks.
Li Xiangyi won the second, third, and fourth matches, but in the fifth he was forced to draw Wenjing after Di Feisheng hit his wrist hard enough with the flat of his blade to make him drop Shaoshi mid-fight. He was bruised, battered, and had given up on counting by the time they had been forced to stop after he stumbled into one of the slashes in the ground, eyes blurred out of sheer exhaustion, and twisted his ankle.
After a long a frustrating several weeks spent on working out logistics deep into the night, it had been refreshing to drop into the zone and fight out some of his frustrations at first. Still, even he had his limits.
Li Xiangyi gave up on maintaining any semblance of dignity and sprawled out on his back on the dusty ground of the training field, heaving to catch his breath. By this time, the moon was already high in the sky and making its way over to the opposite horizon, the velvet night flush with stars. The air was cool on his skin as it slowly coaxed the red of exertion from his cheeks.
Di Feisheng also sat down on the training field an arm’s length away, having slung his sword across his back again. He rummaged around in his lapels before producing a small red box, which he dropped into Li Xiangyi’s outstretched hand. It wasn’t especially heavy, and its contents rattled upon landing.
Li Xiangyi’s fingers half-heartedly clenched around the box, before he decided sitting up to open it was simply too much effort at the moment. “What is this?”
“Wedding candy.” Di Feisheng leaned back on his elbows and also looked up at the sky. “You mentioned wanting to have some.”
It had only been an offhand remark, really. He hadn’t expected Di Feisheng to remember. “Why are you giving this to me now?”
Di Feisheng gave him a smirk in response. “To celebrate the consummation of our marriage, of course.”
Li Xiangyi let out a startled laugh at that. Full of surprises, yet just the same as ever. The first piece of the candy melted sweet on his tongue.
Both of them caught their breath in an amiable silence, before Di Feisheng spoke again. “Not that I haven’t slept under the open sky plenty of times before, but I do have a bed.”
“I wouldn’t begrudge you your rest, just—” Unfortunately, Li Xiangyi’s ankle failed to take his weight when he tried to stand. He quickly caught himself by stabbing the tip of his hilted sword into the ground, but his momentary stumble didn’t go unnoticed.
Di Feisheng gave him a considering look, before unslinging his sword from his back and holding it out to him. “Here—”
Li Xiangyi automatically took the strap, still confused why he was giving him his sword. But then, Di Feisheng turned around and offered him his back. “I can carry you.”
More than happy to not have to limp back on only one fully-functioning leg, Li Xiangyi let him hoist him up, looping his arms around the other’s broad shoulders. Di Feisheng’s stride stayed steady even carrying a full-grown man after fighting late into the night, and Li Xiangyi was quickly lulled into a doze. He barely stirred as he was deposited in bed, nor at the sound of retreating footsteps closing the door behind them.