Oh My, How Extra!

A Hairy Situation 10: Only Your Beauty

The Mei Xin festival slowly reached its climax and the gods poured back onto the square in front of the Heavenly Emperor's palace. It was finally time to crown the most beautiful person of the Nine Heavens.

The board displaying the ranking had been taken down three hours ago to make sure there was still some surprise to who the winner would be. Those who had voted early and then gone off to enjoy the festival hadn't noticed the uproar around the fallen god. In fact, they didn't even know yet that there was one in the capital. With so many people around, not even those standing close to Xiang Yu and Xin Lan noticed that there was a fallen god among them. They were all busy with themselves and their assumptions on who would get the crown this time.

Most people guessed it would be crown prince Jing He. After all, he had always been beloved in the Nine Heavens and with his husband being the dragon king, the dragons that came to visit the festival should have voted for him too. There were those that cautioned that there was also the previous dragon king who was hailed as the greatest beauty of the dragon race. Wouldn't the dragons rather vote for one of their own? And there were certainly a few gods that liked his exotic golden hair and eyes too and would cast their vote for him. Some people couldn't help but bemoan that both beauties were already married and very happily at that which led to people considering if that might have influenced their votes negatively. Could it be that a new beauty would be crowned today?!

Behind them, Xiang Yu pursed his lips and looked up at Xin Lan. He felt wronged! His name had clearly been on that board as well. Why was nobody mentioning him? Were the gods so stupid that they didn't even consider that?

Xin Lan glanced at him but didn't speak up. Honestly, this guy should be happy that he was even at the bottom of that list. After all, he was a fallen god. If he hadn't registered himself and threatened not to leave if he didn't vote for him too, then he wouldn't have received a single vote. That kind of thing ... Xin Lan didn't want to bother with it. If he could, he would leave right away but this fallen god had insisted they stayed until the end. He still seemed to believe that the gods would be awed by his beauty and flock to vote for him. Simply delusional!

While the gods discussed happily, the Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Empress finally got up from their seats in the pavilion behind the palace. Rong Su straightened out his sleeves, rubbed his beard to make sure there were no crumbs from the pastry stuck in there and motioned to the palace. "Let's go then."

Bai Fen nodded and together, they entered the palace, walked through the corridors and finally reached the staircase in front that looked over the square where the gods and guests had gathered.

The Heavenly Emperor smiled brightly. Ah, soon, he'd be able to show off his son again!

The gods cheered before quieting down at his cue.

Rong Su cleared his throat. "As always, today's Mei Xin festival will end with what you might have awaited most: The announcement of the most beautiful person in the Nine Heavens!"

Another round of cheers erupted. In the audience, Xiang Yu tugged at Xin Lan's sleeve, pointing at himself. Maybe this beauty would be him?

At another spot on the square, Qiu Ling hugged Jing He. The most beautiful person was, of course, his beloved! He would naturally gain first place. There was no question about it?

Jing He could imagine what his husband thought but he didn't care either way. Even though he still thought it important what impression he left others with, he wouldn't overthink it like before. What did it matter to him who the most beautiful person was? He was already happily married and nothing would change that. He gently patted Qiu Ling's arm and leaned against his chest. In his opinion, he'd much rather go home and spend a quiet evening with his husband.