A Day in the Life

The Start of Happily Ever After

      The wedding between Heaven's Crown Prince Ye Hua and High Goddess Bai Qian of Qing Qiu was said to be one of the most magnificent weddings of the last tens of millennia. Gods and Goddesses from all across the Four Seas and Eight Wildernesses had come to get a glimpse of the number one beauty and the cold heartbreaker prince. Even the previous master of the universe, Donghua Dijun, had descended from his Taichen Palace to attend the wedding, along with High God Mo Yuan both of whom were notorious for being aloof and uninvolved in any social gatherings besides matters of peace for the world.
       
       The celebration lasted for 10 days, starting in Qing Qiu then finally ending in the Ninth Sky. Upon reaching the Heavens, the bride was carried to Xiwu Palace to await her now husband to "consummate" their wedding. Although most of the servants that worked in Xiwu palace knew this just to be a formality as they had often seen a swift white fox jumping over walls and climbing the window into the Crown Prince's Zichen Hall almost every night leading up to the big day. The rest of the wedding procession continued to the Grand Hall of Heaven to attend the banquet hosted by Tianjun for his grandson.
     
         Tianjun was feeling very pleased with himself, thank you very much. Not only had his beloved grandson returned from the dead he was also still able to secure the alliance he so desperately wanted with Qing Qiu. He hadn't been sure if the Fox Emperor would still agree after hearing all about that "unfortunate" SuSu business. It turned out he needn't have worried as the little fox seemed to be completely enamored with his Crown Prince, and rightly so, Ye Hua was his pride and joy. Of course there had been more compromises in favor of Qing Qiu in the wedding agreement than he would have liked but all in all a fair trade he felt. Tianjun always had the power of Heaven first in his mind and he would use any means to secure their superior position in the world even if he had to use his own children and grandchildren to do so. However losing Ye Hua had truly shaken and pained him. During the three years of Ye Hua's supposed death the Heavenly Emperor really felt his age. He had expected to feel sorrow but he never imagined the overwhelming regret he would feel after the loss. He knew that he had been hard on the boy, grooming him since birth for the throne, Tianjun made sure the Crown Prince was provided with the very best of everything, from tutors to clothes everything was selected with the utmost care by Tianjun. But in hindsight even though Ye Hua was given the best he had always been a solemn and reserved child, Tianjun remembered being very proud of the fact that Ye Hua showed little to no emotion. But today he again questioned and regretted the way he had raised his grandson. Looking at Ye Hua today was almost like looking at a completely different person. Although the prince still had a relatively bland expression, there was a warmth in his eyes that had never been there before, his posture a bit more at ease. And when the Third Prince raised his glass to toast the bride, a small smile of pure contentment had shown on the princes's face before he drained his cup. It was at that moment that Tianjun decided he would not step down from his position as Heavenly Emperor in the next 500 years as he had planned. Hadn't he taken enough time from Ye Hua and Bai Qian already? He'd made so many mistakes as a grandfather, but this was something he could do for both of them. To atone for his sins of the past and keep that warmth and smile of Ye Hua's a little longer.
     
         Ye Hua impatiently waited for an opportunity to slip away from the banquet. All of the grandeur and rituals seemed superfluous to him. For in his mind his true wedding took place 300 years ago in the mortal world on Mt. Junji. And all he wanted to do was cloud-jump away to his palace and finally be with the woman he loved. Though they had been together nearly every night before the wedding it had still been five days since he'd been alone with Qianqian since the beginning of the wedding ceremonies. He hadn't even been able to see her face, except for a glimpse of her chin and luscious lips while taking a sip of ceremonial tea. It was customary for the bride to keep her face covered until the husband removed it in the bedroom and Ye Hua was eagerly looking forward to ripping the veil and many other items off his bride the moment he could get away. Finally the moment seemed to be drawing near, his grandfather claimed to be feeling tired and excused himself from the banquet. Perfect! Once Tianjun left there really was no one who could stop him from leaving except maybe Dijun but he seemed to be distracted by Qianqian's niece belatedly sneaking her way into the banquet at the moment. What great timing my new lovely little niece has, perhaps I'll gift her some new cooking utensils as a thank you since she enjoys making food as much as I do he mused. I'll have one more glass of wine, then use my low alcohol tolerance as an excuse to leave and no one would be the wiser he smugly thought.

       Here it comes! He felt his impatience spike as his fourth brother in law Bai Zhen stood up to make another toast welcoming Ye Hua into the family. Ye Hua was momentarily distracted from his urgency by the sincerity and warmth in Bai Zhen's voice, of all Bai Qian's family members mainly he and Fengjiu had been the ones to make him feel like family since his return. Though the second glass of wine was mainly a means of escape, with his brother-in-law's toast in his heart the prince downed his glass whole heartedly. He waited a few moments for the warmth to spread from his chest to the rest of his body before unsteadily rising to his feet. He then turned to bow to his third uncle citing his low alcohol tolerance was affecting him greatly and that he was excusing himself before he could embarrass the Sky Kingdom. Liansong gave his nephew a knowing look and nodded his assent with a smirk. Walking away Ye Hua thought he distinctly heard his uncle mutter "impatient little brat" under his breath. And with a smirk of his own the Crown Prince exited the Grand Hall before cloud-jumping right into his own courtyard of Zichen Hall.