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One day on his way home from visiting Shi Qingxuan, Xie Lian spotted a little girl by the side of the road, playing in the dirt.
“Mud pies! Fresh mud pies!” she called playfully, patting them out and showing them off in her palm. She already had several stacked up around her. The travelers on the outskirts of the capital were too busy coming or going; they didn’t have time for a child playing pretend in the mud.
Xie Lian, however, had all the time in the world.
Seeing someone actually stop, the little girl perked up and honed in on her potential buyer.
“Mud pie, daozhang?”
With a small smile, Xie Lian walked over and crouched down to take a better look at her “wares.”
“They look delicious,” Xie Lian commented.
“Best mud pies in the capital!” the little girl said, chest puffed out proudly. Then she rubbed her nose sheepishly, getting a smear of dirt on her face in the process. “Even if we kinda aren’t still in the capital out here.”
Xie Lian laughed; the girl may be young but she was charming and quick-witted.
“That one looks pretty good,” Xie Lian said, pointing out a round disc of half-dried mud that honestly didn’t look much different from all the rest. “How much?”
“Well, you know, these are authentic mud pies, handmade with love, best in the capital—”
“Even if we aren’t actually in the capital anymore,” Xie Lian said wryly.
The little girl grinned, then put on a serious face, ready to haggle. “So they’re usually three. But since it’s you, daozhang, I can knock it down to two a piece.” She held up two pretty filthy fingers for emphasis.
“Much appreciated,” Xie Lian said, fighting a smile as he tried his best to play along. Then he frowned, genuinely a little unsure. “Two what, though?”
The industrious little businesswoman just shrugged, “Two of whatever you got. Two rocks, two leaves, two frogs or crickets. Whatever.”
Xie Lian laughed, airy and amused. Per usual, he didn’t have anything much of value—or anything much at all, really—tucked into his sleeves so he just grabbed a couple pebbles by his feet and set them in her waiting palm.
“Will that do?” he asked.
“Pleasure doing business with ya!” she chirped, carefully handing over Xie Lian’s chosen mud pie.
Thinking it would be fun, Xie Lian used a combination of a bit of magic and sleight of hand to make it look like he tossed the crumbly mud into his mouth. He swallowed exaggeratedly and smacked his lips a little.
“Delicious!”
The little girl stared at him wide-eyed. “Daozhang, you didn’t…” she whispered, rightfully appalled.
Then Xie Lian broke into a mischievous grin and the little girl slumped in relief. After her little “whew” she immediately switched gears, looking all over for where the mud pie had disappeared to.
“Was that magic? How’d you do that? That was so cool! You really had me tricked for a minute! Is that your husband?”
The last question gave Xie Lian a little start; he wasn’t sure when, but at some point Hua Cheng had appeared and was leaning against a tree on the other side of the dirt road, watching them.
Xie Lian felt a little embarrassed that Hua Cheng had seen the whole thing, or most of it, anyway. And even after all this time he still got a bit blushy when people used the word ‘husband.’
“W-what makes you think that?” Xie Lian asked, cheeks warm and pink.
The girl just shrugged like the question wasn’t all that complicated. “He just feels like it.” She looked at Hua Cheng again for a long moment before turning back and whispering to Xie Lian, “He’s handsome.”
“He’s incredibly handsome,” Xie Lian agreed.
“You’re handsome too, daozhang. Wait, no…” With a thoughtful frown, the little girl looked Xie Lian up-and-down in appraisal. Finally, she gave a satisfied nod. “Beautiful, is more like it.”
“Little miss has great taste,” Hua Cheng said smoothly, suddenly behind Xie Lian’s shoulder. He held out two hefty gold coins.
“Oh, I’m not begging! I don’t need—” the girl hurried to clarify. Then she registered the actual amount in front of her and her eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. “I can’t take this!”
“It’s not charity. It’s payment for my wife’s mud pie.”
“But…” Now the little girl had a dilemma on her hands, bizarre in more ways than one. “But daozhang already paid,” she said feebly, holding up the two pebbles Xie Lian had “paid” with.
“In that case, how about I buy those pebbles from you?” Hua Cheng offered. At the girl’s speechlessness, he continued, “Oh right, for him it was two, for everyone else it’s three.” Hua Cheng flipped one of the coins over his fingers, across his knuckles, and where there had been two coins, there now were three. “Is this enough?”
“N-no, no, that’s plenty—it’s more than enough!” the little girl said, still flustered. “For daozhang it’s two…so of course for daozhang’s husband it’s just two too.”
Maybe it was her imagination but it seemed the rich man’s smile got a bit warmer and his eyes a bit happier when she called him ‘daozhang’s husband.’ Too soon she realized no, it wasn’t her imagination at all, he really liked it:
“Oh but I want both pebbles, so…” Another flip of coins over his knuckles and now he had four gold coins fanned out, offered to the little girl. “Two per pebble, right?”
“No! Two coins for two pebbles is more than fair…one coin is too much, actually…” The little girl trailed off, looking to Xie Lian with eyes pleading for help dealing with this complicated but slightly boggling rich husband of his.
But seeing how cool and smooth Hua Cheng was, and how nice and generous…Xie Lian fell in love all over again. He just stayed hypnotized in place, crouched in the mud and staring up adoringly. The little girl could practically see the hearts in his eyes.
It was a little embarrassing to watch, to be honest.
Seeing Xie Lian wasn’t going to be any help, the little girl looked back at Hua Cheng, a little wary. Hua Cheng just smiled that mirthless smile of his and set down the little stack of four coins onto her upturned palm. Without waiting, he swiped the two pebbles Xie Lian had used as payment.
“Shall we go, gege?” Hua Cheng asked, gently helping the still somewhat dazed Xie Lian stand up.
“Wait! Wait, please!” the little girl came back to her senses much sooner than Xie Lian did, holding out the coins toward Hua Cheng. “This is too much, I can’t take this—”
“Oh don’t worry,” Hua Cheng said with a playful smirk, holding up the two very normal, boring pebbles in his fingertips. “You actually got the raw end of the deal. Even at two coins a piece, these pebbles were a bargain. Because they’re magic.”
And with that, he snapped and the pebbles disappeared, transformed into a giant whirlwind of sparkling silver butterflies. When they finally dispersed, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng were nowhere to be seen.
Now rendered invisible to mortals by Hua Cheng’s power, they watched as the little girl alternated bowing and waving in all directions, calling out, “Thank you! Thank you, daozhang! Thank you, daozhang’s husband!”
As they casually strolled home, Xie Lian laughed lightly.
“To think, we will never see that little girl again but now she’ll remember you for the rest of her life because you gave her such a gift. Isn’t that amazing!”
“You’re the one she’ll remember, gege,” Hua Cheng said. “Because you’re a beautiful daoist who stopped on his way simply to play in the mud with a child. That’s far more meaningful. And whether your paths will ever cross again—isn’t it too soon to tell?”
“Oh! The beautiful daoist and his rich husband!”
Xie Lian startled; he was (mostly) used to hearing things like that back in Ghost City but this was the mortal capital. Still, something about it tickled his memory a bit…
“Ah!” Xie Lian said, clapping his hands together as he finally remembered. “It’s you! The mud pie girl!”
Somehow or other a good ten years or so had passed and that little girl by the side of the road “selling” mud pies had turned into a lovely young woman.
The young woman laughed, setting an armful of dishes on their table. Diners at a couple of the other tables were giving them strange looks but Xie Lian paid them no mind; he was pretty used to strange looks by now.
“You know her, Your High—Ol’ Xie?” Shi Qingxuan asked. Even after all this time, he was adamantly against accepting Xie Lian’s charity…but he never turned down a free meal.
“The last time I saw her she was quite small,” Xie Lian explained fondly. Then his eyes crinkled in a smile. “Selling the ‘best mud pies in the capital.’”
The young woman laughed again, maybe a smidge embarrassed at the old memory. “Well, for what it’s worth, what I served you today should taste a lot better than that mud pie you ate.”
Shi Qingxuan looked at Xie Lian in shock. “Your High—Ol’ Xie, is that Crimson—er, San Lang of yours not keeping you properly fed? You had to eat actual mud?”
Previously silent and mostly uninterested, Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow as if he’d make sure Shi Qingxuan would be the one eating mud after this.
“No no!” Xie Lian laughed, one hand waving in denial and the other just maybe patting Hua Cheng’s thigh underneath the table to placate him. “We were just playing! I just used a little sleight of hand to surprise her and make her think I ate it, is all!”
“Aww, but you said it was delicious! You were lying?” the young woman pouted. Then she gave up the act and grinned. “I knew you didn’t really eat it—I may have been a kid so you had me going for a second but I wasn’t that dumb! Besides, there’s no way that rich husband of yours would let you eat mud, I’m sure of it.”
The corners of Hua Cheng’s lips curled into a satisfied little smirk. “To think, you’re still so young and you’re already so much smarter than this old thing over here,” he said, eyes flickering toward Shi Qingxuan (as if he could be referring to anyone else).
Shi Qingxuan squawked indignantly, nearly choking on a mouthful of food.
The young woman blushed a little in spite of herself. Xie Lian couldn’t blame her; even after all these years he couldn’t help blush a little at Hua Cheng’s compliments and little smiles. Heck, sometimes he blushed just stealing glances at him—he was too attractive, it just really couldn’t be helped.
Thinking about how lucky he was to have found such an amazing person to spend his life with, Xie Lian smiled as he took a sip of his soup. Then his eyes widened in pleasant surprise.
“This is wonderful!”
“I told you it was better than that mud pie!” the young lady laughed.
“Did you make this, miss?” Xie Lian asked. He’d originally thought she was just a waitress, responsible for serving the dishes that someone else made. But the way she stuck around to see them take a few bites made him suspect otherwise.
“I did,” the young woman said proudly. “The old cook won’t let me do too much on my own back there but I’ve at least managed to talk her into letting me cook a few things.” Her confidence faltered slightly and she asked in a whisper, “Does it really taste okay?”
“It’s delicious,” Xie Lian said earnestly. “I mean it this time! Here, San Lang, taste it—”
“I can bring another bowl,” the young woman said. “No charge, I still haven’t forgotten your generosity last time—”
“You can bring another for him; I’ll take this one,” Hua Cheng said smoothly, fingertips brushing Xie Lian’s as he took the bowl of soup.
The young woman frowned slightly, unsure. “But you haven’t even tried it—”
Just then Hua Cheng took a sip. The young woman happened to notice that he’d deliberately sipped from the exact spot the Xie Lian’s lips had been.
She pretended not to see it.
“You have a real gift,” Hua Cheng said. For a moment the young lady thought that he meant a ‘gift for observation’ or a ‘gift for tact’ because he knew that she knew but then she realized he was referring to the soup. “It’s very good.”
“Gege’s in a good mood,” Hua Cheng commented that evening. “Not that I’m complaining, but you’ve been smiling ever since lunchtime.”
“I have?” Xie Lian asked, genuinely surprised.
“Mm. Does it make you that happy to visit the former Wind Master?”
“Ah…I do like to catch up with him and chat, but…”
“But it’s the mud pie girl,” Hua Cheng finished for him, tone a little too perfectly neutral. “Gege really likes her.”
Neutral or not, Xie Lian wasn’t an idiot and gave his inwardly-pouting San Lang a kiss on the forehead. Then, since his lips were already in proximity and Hua Cheng looked like just one wasn’t enough, Xie Lian kissed the tip of his nose and the corner of his mouth for good measure.
“I was happy to see she’s doing well,” Xie Lian explained. “Though it’s none of my business, I did wonder for a moment what she did with the money you gave her; with that much gold she probably shouldn’t have to work.”
Hua Cheng shrugged, appeased by Xie Lian’s kisses. “The moment I gave it to her, it became her money to do with as she pleased. Maybe she lost it or bought mountains of sweets.”
Xie Lian laughed. “Perhaps but I don’t think so. I think she’s smarter than that.”
“Gege does really like her,” Hua Cheng grumbled, sounding extra sulky.
“For some reason I can’t quite explain, it made me happy to see her again, that’s all.”
“It’s you!” they said at the same time.
It had been years since Xie Lian visited the capital; he had spotted a new restaurant (though so much time had passed it might not be new to anyone but Xie Lian) so Hua Cheng encouraged him to try it out. Business was bustling and Xie Lian hadn’t even bothered looking at a menu, just simply requested two dishes of whatever the server recommended—he never expected his order to be delivered by a familiar face.
“Mud pie girl!” Xie Lian exclaimed.
The woman—no longer a ‘girl’ or ‘young’ woman anymore—laughed. “Even after all this time, I’m ‘mud pie girl’? Everyone else in this building calls me ‘boss’!”
Xie Lian lit up, delighted at this turn of events. “This is your restaurant then?”
“Sure is.” The woman nodded proudly. “I saved the money your rich husband gave me all those years ago and finally used it to open this restaurant. My old boss liked my cooking but wouldn’t let me name the dishes, so I went out on my own.”
“Good for you!” Xie Lian beamed. “It looks like your customers like your cooking and the names of the dishes; you’re impressively busy.”
“I am,” she admitted. “Should probably be back in the kitchen but when my serving girl came in and was swooning about the beautiful immortal wearing white and handsome man in red I just had to see if my hunch was right. I’d be an ungrateful wretch if I didn’t come out to personally serve my benefactors.” She grinned.
For some reason Xie Lian found the laugh lines as she smiled and the crow’s feet where her eyes crinkled to be incredibly beautiful. He didn’t quite understand it but his heart ached at the sight.
“Benefactors?” Xie Lian asked uncertainly, slightly off-balance from his strange reaction.
“You gave me the confidence that my food was good,” she said to Xie Lian, then nodded toward Hua Cheng and added, “and you gave me the funds. I probably should have named the restaurant ‘Beautiful Immortal Daoist and His Rich Husband in Red’ in your honor!”
It was then that Xie Lian realized he hadn’t paid attention to the name of the restaurant; it really could’ve been named that for all he knew. He snuck a peek at the menu just in case…
“With naming sense like that I can see why your old boss wasn’t a fan,” Hua Cheng said dryly. “Though I know someone who has a similar style, and I find it quite endearing.”
He glanced over at Xie Lian, expecting him to chuckle or blush or…something. But instead Xie Lian was just staring past his bowl, face suddenly pale and his eyes glued to the little menu on the table.
“…Gege?”
Even the woman could tell something was suddenly a bit off. “Is something wrong with the food, daozhang?” she asked with a concerned frown.
“What? Oh, no, not at all!” Xie Lian said hurriedly. “I just…it smells wonderful. I’m just so hungry that I guess I got distracted. How embarrassing.”
“Nonsense, I’m the one embarrassed for yapping on and keeping you from your meal. Seeing you just always makes me happy for some reason—oh listen to me, there I go again. I’ve got to get back to the kitchen but please don’t hesitate let me know if there’s anything at all you need, okay?” She paused, smiling softly at Xie Lian. “I’m so glad you came to eat today, daozhang. Eat and enjoy!”
“We will,” Xie Lian said with a weak smile.
“Even if it has a funny name, I promise it’s good!” she assured him, then called over her shoulder as she left, “…And of course it’s on the house!”
Being a Ghost King, Hua Cheng didn’t actually need to eat but he went through the motions anyway. He would be plenty content just watching Xie Lian enjoy his food but when he thought of all the years that Xie Lian spent eating alone, with no one to chat with or share the meal—when he got to eat at all—it felt all the more important that they eat together. So even if it was technically unnecessary, Hua Cheng still at least took a few bites of the dish he’d been served.
“Pretty good,” Hua Cheng mused after a bit. “But I much prefer gege’s cooking…”
He looked at Xie Lian, ready to gauge his reaction, only to see Xie Lian shoveling in food almost faster than he could eat it, tears silently streaming down his cheeks.
“Your Highness, what’s wrong?” Hua Cheng asked urgently. “Is yours not good? Have mine—”
Xie Lian shook his head and kept eating, not looking up at all and still just staring into his bowl.
“It’s delicious,” Xie Lian whispered. “It’s my favorite; I never thought I’d ever get to have it again.”
“Then what’s wrong?” Hua Cheng asked again. He was aware that Xie Lian’s statement had really made no sense (how could a dish only recently invented be an old favorite?); combined with the tears and odd behavior it was all Hua Cheng could do to keep from panicking.
Xie Lian still didn’t look up. “I’ll tell you later,” he said around a mouthful.
Hua Cheng believed in Xie Lian and knew he was strong, knew he could take care of himself.
…But just because he could didn’t mean he should have to. Ever again.
So Hua Cheng tried to back off and give him space but he could hardly pretend to eat anymore, he was so concerned. At a loss of what else to do, he cast a quick illusion to hide them from the other diners and any server passing by would see them enjoying their meal, not wanting to be bothered. No one else would see His Highness’s tears.
The minute Xie Lian scraped his bowl clean, he reached over and grabbed the half-eaten dish in front of Hua Cheng and devoured that too. Finally, not even a bit of food left, Xie Lian sat back with his hands over his slightly rounded, too-full belly and gave a shaky sigh. Mustering all the patience he had to remain calm and not just whisk Xie Lian back to Paradise Manor, Hua Cheng reached over and very gently dried the tears from his cheeks.
“San Lang?” Xie Lian asked in a tiny voice.
“Yes, gege?”
“Do you have money?”
Even worried, Hua Cheng couldn’t help a small laugh. “Of course. How much do you need?”
“I know she said it was on the house but I want to pay. Please.”
Hua Cheng smiled and barely resisted kissing Xie Lian on the cheek. Instead, gold coins flashed between his knuckles, appearing as if by magic.
“What was the price again?” Hua Cheng asked. “Normally three apiece, but only two for daozhang and daozhang’s husband?”
The second the last coin settled on the table, the illusion vanished and the beautiful immortal in white and his handsome husband in red had completely disappeared. The only things left behind were four hefty gold coins, two empty dishes, and a small note with impeccable handwriting:
Thank you for the delicious meal.
“I’m sorry for making such a scene—”
“You never need to apologize to me, gege.”
Xie Lian smiled gratefully. “You’re too good to me.”
“I could never be as good to you as you deserve,” Hua Cheng said. Since they were back home in Paradise Manor, Hua Cheng indulged himself and kissed the corner of Xie Lian’s eye, though any traces of those earlier tears had long since been wiped away. “Will gege please tell me why he was crying?”
“Affinity is a strange thing,” Xie Lian began. “Why we meet someone for the first time and feel like we’ve known them forever, whereas with other people we may know them our whole lives and never particularly care for them or feel close. But I usually just accept it as a mystery of life and so when I met that little girl on the road all those years ago, I didn’t think too hard about it.”
He paused and finally looked Hua Cheng in the eye.
“San Lang, did you happen to notice the name of the dishes we ate today?”
Hua Cheng had glanced at the menu when they’d first sat down and of course he’d paid it more attention after Xie Lian’s reaction to seeing it. Plus the names were so bizarrely endearing he wouldn’t forget them in a lifetime.
“I believe mine was Lovebirds Upon a Branch Meatballs. And yours was…”
“Blooming Flowers and Full Moon Stew,” Xie Lian finished for him. “That’s when I knew. San Lang…that woman was my mother.”
Xie Lian had cried when she died, cried again when he found her body had crumbled to dust in her coffin. He’d even cried just today, just eating that bowl of stew! He honestly thought after so long he didn’t have any tears left.
But when Hua Cheng pulled him into his arms, Xie Lian just buried his face in the safety of Hua Cheng’s chest and sobbed.
Of course Xie Lian never said anything directly; the woman was his mother’s reincarnation, not his mother—telling her would serve no purpose.
Instead, about once a year they visited her restaurant and Xie Lian ate Blooming Flowers and Full Moon Stew. Every time he eagerly, enthusiastically scraped the bowl clean.
This lifetime his mother wasn’t royalty, wasn’t a noble queen wearing the finest silks and powdering her face with expensive cosmetics.
Instead she wore a stained apron and the only thing dusting her wrinkles was an occasional smear of flour.
But those wrinkles were beautiful to Xie Lian because it meant this time his mother got to grow old, happily surrounded by kids and grandkids, biological ones as well as those she affectionately referred to as her ‘kids’: a collection made up of new customers and old regulars…
…And one beautiful immortal daoist and his handsome husband in red.
The final time they met, she had smiled and said, “You haven’t aged a day.”
Even if he hadn’t visibly aged, decades had passed for both of them and Xie Lian knew in his bones that the next time he visited the restaurant, she would be gone. So he didn’t offer any pointless excuses as to why she was now an old granny yet he still looked the same.
Instead, heart overflowing with love, he simply said, “Thank you for so many delicious meals. Even the first one. …Especially the first one.”
In that moment, she looked at him as if somehow she knew. Knew that ‘the first one’ wasn’t referring to the mud pies but something far older, something even more inedible. Knew that there was a reason from the moment they met there had been a connection. Knew why it made her so satisfied every time she saw him eating heartily, looking healthy and so obviously adored by his husband.
And maybe she did know, deep down in her heart, because she then did something she’d never once dared before—
She hugged him.
“Promise Mother you’ll eat well, even after I’m gone.”