Ye Hua stifled a yawn as he walked towards the main hall to join the rest of his family for Su Jin's second birthday party. He'd prefer to he beading to his home to get some well needed rest but he had already missed his foster sister's first, public and larger birthday party for work. While he had a good reason to miss this second one as well and would love to do so; he had no motivation for the woman or the party but she was his grandfather's prize grandchild; one he had no expectations for and therefore could spoil. He wasn't mad at her, he just didn't want her trying to crawl into his life.
In the last year, she had become very bold and aggressive in trying to commandeer a portion of his time and attention. His family tended to laugh at her antics and proclamations of marriage; he was more bothered that they seemed to be accepting it than he was by the thought that it could happen, he had a couple of aces up his sleeve to ensure it did not happen. He supposed he had to thank her for that, if she hadn't been so obvious about what she was doing, he would not have built up his defense and may have been caught unawares and unable to do anything when she made her move. Ye Hua had to give it to her, she was patient and was playing a long game. still he could not help sighing as he walked into the main hall where the whole family was already gathered.
Su Jin sailed towards him with a drink in hand, handing it to him before he had a chance to get close to his seat. He took it, nodded towards her and walked to his seat without drinking from it, he knew she would notice but the rest would not, however, she had a penchant for adding things to his drinks and while this one smelled clean, Ye Hua was not taking chances. He could feel a tingle on the back of his neck that had not left him all day, something was bound to happen and there was an above average chance that whatever it was would happen during this event; the two people who drove the all the drama in his life at this time were here so.
"Ye Hua greets grandfather emperor, father, mother, uncles, cousins, sister" Ye Hua greeted as he took his seat, trying hard to not smile as Su Jin fumed both at been the last on the list but at being called 'sister', the moment she became a teenager, she had insisted Ye Hua stop calling her sister. He had initially agreed thinking it would stop her from following him around or at least drive distance between them but when he figured out why she wanted that distance, he'd taking to not ignoring her completely. Now, it was petty but he was tired and it made him feel good.
"Ye Hua, you're late. Your sister was beginning to get worried" Le Xu said
"Let the boy be, he has a lot to do" His father replied
"Yes but Ye Hua, you could have at least come in for a few minutes for Su Jin's party, after all you've just said she is your sister and you know she wanted you there" The emperor said
That was part of the reason Ye Hua did not come, he was busy but he did set up the meeting so that it would run over and overlap with the party time. He did not want to serve as a flagpost for the woman who was sure to drape all over him as soon as he was in the venue.
"Ye Hua apologizes, the strategy session with the northern generals ran long. It would have been insulting to them to excuse myself to come for a party" Ye Hua said, taking a sip from the drink he poured himself.
"Aiya, let's not talk shop. The whole family is here now, lets get on with the celebrations. It's not everyday Su Jin turns 115,000" Third uncle said
The banquet continued with dancers, food and wine until it was breifly interrupted by a message for Ye Hua from the forefront of the campaign against the boar tribe and he had to step out
"Ah, and Su Jin was about to ask father for her birthday wish, guess we'll have to tell him about it later" Second uncle supplied
"Su Jin, what do you want?"
"Grandfather emperor, Su Jin is now ready to be married. Su Jin asks that the heavenly emperor bestows her a marriage into Xiwu palace" Su Jin finished
The banquet went quiet for a moment before the emperor spoke "Su Jin, my child. There is very little I would not do for you and I have promised you that as long as it was within my power and you were unmarried, I would grant whatever you wished at your birthday. What you have wished today is not within my power"
"I...I...Su Jin doesn't understand" Su Jin stuttered, it could not be. The heavenly emperor had the power to grant marriage to all celestial immortals including the next heavenly emperor. The only thing she could think of was Ye Hua being the son of the father of gods. But this was her ace, her trump card, Ye Hua had proven in the past 55,000 plus years that he would not choose her of his own, she had tried everything and it had been hard to give up, to swallow her pride and ask for this. But she had seen something change recently in the past year since his brother woke up, something that scared her, Ye Hua had been interacting with that woman and everyone warned her away from the woman. She could not lose.
"It is true that I can grant marriage to most celestial immortals, however, after the mermaid war. I granted Ye Hua a boon which he used to request that he chose his own marriage. You may wish for something else"
The room went silent again. Su Jin was stumped. Wish for something else? Ye Hua was the only thing she'd ever wanted, everything she had ever asked for was building up to getting Ye Hua in her life and becoming his wife. She would not lose, more than pride, her life hinged on it.
"Su Jin, Le Xu and I have been receiving a lot of proposals for you, many of them are from good families, heirs where you will be in a good position even if you do not marry Ye Hua" her foster father said
"B...But Su Jin doesn't have another wish prepared" She said. What she really wanted to say was that she wanted no one else. How could she, no one came close to Ye Hua, they could all be lumped together as a distant second.
Ye Hua walked into a tense atmosphere that was a far cry from the joyous banquet he left just a few minutes ago. Not only was everyone silent but the celebrant was teary eyed. If they had not all turned towards him as he walked in, he would have walked back out but he was stuck.
"Ye Hua apologizes for leaving. It was an emergency"
When the conversation didn't immediately pick up, he sighed inwardly and cursed himself for what he was about to ask
"What did I miss?" He asked, looking at third uncle
"Su Jin asked for her birthday wish" the man replied
Which told him exactly nothing. It was a stupid tradition that had been around for as long as he could remember. And he could already tell from the tears and the silence that something went wrong this time, if he had to guess, he'd say Su Jin finally found the upper bound of what the heavenly emperor would do and she did not like it.
"and..." Ye Hua pressed. if they were leaving the weight of the conversation to him, he would direct it where he willed
"Su Jin is ready for marriage..." his mother started
Ye Hua could now guess where this was going "I see. Xi Wu palace would be more than happy to provide a dowry for Su Jin, it's the only thing this brother can do for his sister" he said sipping his tea and pretending to interpret Su Jin's tears as tears of joy.
Happy to have a diversion, everyone jumped on the topic of what could be considered a dowry for the spoiled princess who sat silent for the rest of the banquet. Ye Hua made a mental note to put his guards on alert, a quiet Su Jin was scheming and that was never good for him.
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Nine Tails of Twin Brothers
FanfictionTwin brothers Mo Yuan and Ye Hua are both in love with the same woman without realizing it. Unfortunately for both of them, the object of their affection is the beautiful, reclusive and powerful goddess Bai Qian who has no idea that anyone is in lov...
