Fanfic: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan 2.0 - Chapter 6 (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)
Chapter 6
written by kakashiediting/consulting by LigayaCroft & Panda
279’800 years ago
“What are you two doing?” Shao Wan put her chin over Zhe Yan’s shoulder. Writing a list? How very strange. But way better than studying in any case. She settled down between Donghua and Zhe Yan cross-legged, ready to be entertained.
“Meimei,” Zhe Yan acknowledged her, “can you keep a secret?”
She nodded eagerly. She loved secrets!
Donghua lifted his eyebrows. “Like the one time you immediately went and challenged Yao Guang to a duel when we warned you in confidence she had said certain things about you?”
“Well,” Shao Wan bristled, “I couldn't just let somebody slander me like this! As if I’d ever pay for sexual favors! Just because she is eternally frustrated and pining after a certain someone… Oh, has somebody done it again? Tell me who it was!”
“No, no,” Zhe Yan appeased her, “no slander, they don’t dare anymore. This is a different kind of surprise. We are planning a birthday celebration for Mo Yuan.”
Ha! That was unexpected. “Does he even know how to celebrate?” she asked curiously. She tried to imagine Mo Yuan in a merry mood, singing and dancing, but that hurt her head. No. Mo Yuan and celebrations did not go together, she was certain.
Zhe Yan chuckled. “Well, that’s why we are planning this as a surprise for him. With snacks and drinks. Just his friends and him. Talking and not caring about anything for a whole night.”
“Oh, can I come?”
“Of course you can,” Zhe Yan generously said, “we wanted to invite you anyway. You two have grown really close recently, haven’t you?”
“I suppose we have?” she said slowly, thinking about how she sometimes caught herself looking forward to seeing him, which confused her a little. More often, however, she still wanted to smack or kill him, which was familiar and comfortable territory.
“Fuxi was very pleased about how well you two handled your recent mission,” Zhe Yan continued.
“Yes,” she nodded. She had noticed Zhe Yan’s endless curiosity about this subject before and she was a little wary about it. What was it he insinuated? “I saved him from a dire situation… again.” Having learned his lesson the hard way, the Celestial had not contradicted her this time. He had even let her have all the merit. Why did Zhe Yan not believe it?
“You said already,” Zhe Yan nodded. “And ever since, you two smile at each other often.”
They did? Shao Wan thought about it. Maybe she had smiled once or twice upon seeing the Celestial. And it was true that when she smiled at him, he often smiled back. Yes, she had come to realize that if there was a choice of seeing his smiling face versus his sour and displeased face, she preferred the smiling one. When his eyes became all warm while looking at her, she felt… warmed.
“Who else is coming?” she changed the subject.
“Only us three... so far.”
“Oh, I like it,” she clapped her hands. “Please don’t invite anybody else. I’ve observed it, he really doesn’t like that other woman, that… Snake Princess. And definitely not Yao Guang! Have you seen how stony his face becomes when she fawns over him?”
Donghua started chuckling and wouldn’t stop. “You have observed this, you say? You sit there and observe this? Oh dear… oh dear... ”
What was so funny about that? Throwing him an annoyed look, then deciding magnanimously to ignore him instead, she asked Zhe Yan: “When is the celebration?”
“25th of September. Two days from now. But remember, this is a secret! You are not to tell him anything, alright?”
***
“Celeeeestial,” she purred and stepped in his way.
Fuxi’s son had been moving along the corridor with confident and as usual, determined strides. Seeing her appear in front of him so suddenly startled him a little, as she noticed with pleasure. “Demon Queen,” he greeted her with a dip of his head.
“Where are you going?” she demanded to know.
He frowned at her. True, maybe this was none of her business. But it was his birthday today and she wanted to make sure he would not find out prematurely about the surprise planned for him tonight after dinner.
She lifted her eyebrows, inviting him to tell her. He lifted his too, shaking his head a little. “Have you been following me around all day?”
“Presumptuous,” she blustered. “Why would I do that?”
“Indeed, why… I’m on my way to see my Father,” he informed her. “I cannot be late.”
“Oh, can I come?”
“Why would you…”
“Is it about a mission? Are we being sent on one again?”
Now he laughed, though only briefly. His face turned solemn again too quickly; the mere mention of his father did that to him. “I doubt that. No, it’s personal business, Demon Queen. Have a good day.”
He shouldered past her and soon disappeared around the corner. She stood there for a while, trying to decide what to do next, when a voice behind her made her whip around. “Ancestor, here you are! I’m back.”
It was Fong Hung, whom she had sent on a little errand earlier. She saw that he had been successful in purchasing what she had told him to get.
“You did well, toad,” she said and patted his arm. He looked rather tired these days. Was he chasing a lady again? She squinted at him. “You have the day and the night off, I won’t be around. I advise you to sleep a little. You look terrible. A bit like a ghost?”
“Thank you, Milady,” he said and looked offended.
“If you do not take care of your face, how will you ever find a Demon woman willing to marry you?” she said with a shrug.
“My powers…,” he sighed, “they’re a bit messed up again.”
She nodded absentmindedly, because she heard familiar footsteps approach. “Ah, that problem again. I will look into it after…”
Mo Yuan was already back, turning around the corner and walking towards where she was still standing. Quickly, she hid his present in her sleeve pocket.
“What are you doing now?” she asked when he had approached.
“Studying, of course,” he replied curtly. “And you should do the same. We have a lot of text to learn and I doubt you...”
“Can we not study martial arts together instead?” she asked, quite unable to keep the excitement from her voice. “I’ve seen you practice a special move recently, a wrist flick you use to disarm your opponent? I’m eager to learn it too.”
He looked at her quietly. It made her a little uncomfortable to be stared at like this... she had issues reading his still face. Had she said something inappropriate? Martial arts were a subject too! Granted, the one she was already very good at, but still…
“My father just told me something to do with you.”
“Oh?” her ears started burning. Fuxi talked about her?
“And it made me realize I must work harder.”
Harder? Didn’t he already work without rest all the time? “But not tonight!” she blurted out, “tonight, we have planned to….” Luckily, she remembered in time that she had promised not to spill the secret and clamped her mouth shut forcefully. Behind her, Fong Hung coughed.
Mo Yuan blinked, once, twice… and then, he smiled. “I see. Fine, I’ll teach you that move. Let me go change into more appropriate clothing.”
How about not wearing so much? She thought when she looked at his retreating back with a huge grin on her face. But Celestials were not like Demons and in a way, it made it all much more interesting.
***
“Ganbei!” the yelled in unison and downed more of the delicious peach wine Zhe Yan had procured somewhere. They were down to two bottles, Shao Wan saw with regret, and very low on food too. Donghua had found a lovely small house in the mortal realm that they could use, at the outskirts of a small town. True to what they had told her, it was just them, not even servants were around.
She did not want this night to end too soon - it felt magical.
“Outrageous lies!” she yelled at Donghua, who had just boasted that all Demon Ladies were absolutely defenseless against his good looks and flocked to him by the thousands.
“You’re an exception,” he chuckled, “quite strangely and rather contrary to a normal Demon, you seem to favor, well…” he looked at Mo Yuan, “pretty boys? Not sure that will go down well with your Demon Lords...”
Shao Wan felt her face grow hot. They had been teasing them all night and the more drunk they got, the more indecent their suggestions had become. It galled her quite a bit to be the butt of their jokes, but since Mo Yuan was obviously too drunk to care, she decided to shrug it off too. He just sat there, smiled at his friends and looked… happy. It gave her a strange feeling to see him like this. As if...
Oh right. She had almost forgotten.
“As your Jiejie,” she said, “and according to Demon customs, I got a present for you, Celestial. I hope you like it.”
She fumbled around in her sleeve pocket and after a few attempts managed to find the wooden box she had put there earlier. She moved towards the Celestial on her knees and bowed, the present in her outstretched hands. The room grew quite a bit more quiet.
“A present?” the Celestial said. She looked up and their eyes met. A jolt went through her body and she almost gasped - they were full of emotions she had no name for, emotions that made her stomach churn and her head spin. Had it been a bad idea? She wanted to pull it back, but he had already moved forward to take it from her hands. Where his fingers lightly grazed her skin, energy sparkled. It was a little painful, but also very exciting.
“Are we out of alcohol?” Zhe Yan coughed, but nobody paid him any attention.
Mo Yuan opened to wooden box and took out the knife she had bought for him. It was a very fine knife, one used by Demon royalty to skin small animals after a hunt. Definitely not cheap. But for someone who appreciated weapons like the Celestial, it would be a fine addition to his collection.
“I know it’s considered bad luck to gift knives,” she hurried to explain, “but not in the Demon realm - we do not believe in such superstition! In any case, since you’re a stuck-up Celestial, I have also brought a coin…” she dropped it into Mo Yuan’s still outstretched hand. His eyes had not left her face and he did not move. “You must give me back the coin against ill-luck,” she whispered and swallowed compulsively. Was he too drunk to understand what was going on?
“What if I want to keep that too?” he said, his voice strangely husky.
“Right! That’s it!” Zhe Yan declared and jumped up, swaying dangerously, “Donghua, up with you! We’re getting more drinks and food. We’ll be right back!”
“Behave,” Donghua mumbled to no one in particular and stumbled after Zhe Yan, who seemed to be in quite a hurry to get out of the house.
Shao Wan’s heart was beating so fast, she feared she had caught some strange illness. “You can keep the coin,” she stammered, “I just thought… you… ”
He suddenly moved forward and his arms came around her back, pulling her close in one swift move. Her breath caught in her throat as his scent overpowered her senses. “My heartfelt thanks,” he whispered into her ear, “it is a beautiful gift. I will cherish it.”
She tried to move, but he held on to her tightly. He was very strong and very warm. She turned her face a little so that her nose could caress his ear. She heard him draw in a sharp breath.
“I won't sleep with you tonight,” she told him sternly and with quite some regret, “you're much too drunk.”
“Good,” he replied, “because I won't sleep with you either. You haven't begged me yet.”
“You…,” outraged, she pushed against his shoulder and he released her and fell backwards, laughing so much his whole body shook.
“You're even drunker than I thought,” she observed. But his laughter was contagious and she felt her mouth move into a broad grin too.
“I don't have a particularly high alcohol tolerance”, he agreed and hiccuped as he sat back up. “I bet you our two friends won't return at all,” he observed, his face flushed. “How I hate to be manipulated. I want to do things at my speed, at my own volition. I… are we really out of wine?”
Zhe Yan and Donghua, the bastards, had taken the remaining bottles with them. “Do you want to go out and find something else to drink?” she suggested. “That is… if you can walk.”
“I can walk,” he replied and tried to get up.
“Want me to help you, Celestial?” she asked sweetly.
“You’re just going to tease me about it later, won’t you,” he murmured, pulling himself up on one of the furnitures, standing there swaying from side to side, though with his usual determination.
When she stood up and the room lurched dangerously, she realized she, too, had drunk way too much. “Like ships on the high sea,” she murmured.
They managed to walk out of the house. The cold night air felt pleasant against her heated face. While she was pondering whether they had come here wearing coats or not, since it was a bit fresh, the Celestial queried “is the town to the left or to the right?” and turned his head from side to side.
“Why don’t you throw your coin,” she suggested.
“No, I want to keep it,” he insisted and turned to the left.
“Throw it to determine whether to go left or right, not throw it away,” she laughed at him, “why did you go left?”
“It feels like the village is that way?”
He strode forward with the staggering confidence of a drunk. Since she had no favorite when it came to walking left or right, she just followed him. It was pitch dark and not falling took quite some concentration. When she bumped into him painfully, he took her hand. “Just stay close,” he said, “but not too close. I carry a knife.” That made both of them chuckle mindlessly.
Whether it had been pure luck or his magical senses guiding them the right way was unclear, but they did soon reach a low wall with lanterns and that led them to the main road. It must be very late, she realized, for everything was shuttered and there were no lights in any of the houses.
“Should we…”
“... go back to the school?” she suggested. “... cloud jump somewhere else?” he said, pulling at her hand the same instance, simply dragging her with him as he jumped.
“Dammit, Celestial!” she shouted at him, because it felt horrifying to fly through the air at such speed when feeling so unstable, but he grabbed her waist and steadied her. “I’ve got you,” he said and sounded way too satisfied. Showing off skills, was he now? She snorted in amusement. He was a man after all.
“That looks like a bigger town,” he said, peering through the clouds and spotting a sea of lights below. “Coming?”
He pulled at her hand again and went down, landing much more elegantly than her. Okay, she was impressed. A little. Was he sobering up?
“That looks like the sort of inn we won’t be murdered in,” he declared, stopping in front of a fairly tall, well-lit building. “To the Golden Dragon,” she read the sign above the door out loud. “So, basically mine,” he smiled and walked forward.
It was clean enough inside and even though she was the only woman, people more or less minded their own business and let them continue drinking at one of the corner tables without any interruptions. The Celestial ordered sweet wine and something to eat and it came to her that he still looked happy and that she still felt like that expression just did not belong on his face, even though she liked it a lot.
She noticed his still immaculate hair and snickered. Some things never changed. Or did they?
“Celestial,” she challenged him, “do you want to play a game?”
“That sounds like a trap,” he murmured.
“It’s a simple game,” she continued, licking her lips. “You ask the other a question. If he doesn’t want to answer, he has to do something you order him to do. Like… drink a cup of wine.”
He seemed to think about it for a bit. “Still sounds like a trap,” he then said.
“It’s fun!” she declared. “Let me start. Celestial, have you slept with Yao Guang?”
The Celestial gasped. “Outrageous!”
“You do not want to answer? Fine, then I want you to…”
“No,” he said.
“No? You haven’t?”
“I haven’t. I won’t.” Was he… blushing? Ah, she had temporarily forgotten about how uptight and proper Celestials were. But she didn’t mind scandalizing him. No, she actually liked it.
“Good. Now you,” she said confidently.
“How… how many… many men (she started counting in her head)... have you had to beat to become Demon Overlord?”
Oh. She started counting again. “Some… some yielded, does that count?” she asked him.
“I guess?”
“You have to ask me more precisely,” she sighed, “I had to beat a lot of rabble before I even got access to the real Lords. Do I count them? I guess. Then it’s… seven hundred… fifty… three?”
“Impressive,” he breathed and looked at her with eyes that made her stomach flutter.
“Could have been more,” she shrugged, “I don’t really count those.”
He blinked.
“Now me!” she said and grinned. He looked very uncomfortable. “Have you… been with a Demon Woman before?”
“You are the only Demon Woman I know,” he answered.
Ha! “Then you’re in for a treat,” she grinned more broadly.
“Don’t forget to beg,” he murmured and downed another cup. He fell silent after that, looking thoughtful.
“Your turn,” she reminded him.
“Why do you hate philosophy?” he asked.
“What kind of question is that!” she blustered. “This is not the purpose of this game!”
“I can’t change who I am, Demon Queen,” he said and she hated to hear a trace of bitterness in his voice. “And I don’t want to change it. Even though I do not think my father will pass the reign to me, I am not at liberty to live my life carefree like you. I may be unworthy to be the Heavenly Lord, but there is purpose to my life, one I will not question once it reveals itself to me.”
Always so grave, the uptight Celestial. She had been right to think he did not know how to celebrate. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy. She had no burdens put on her by any parents, but she thought she understood his burdens nonetheless.
“How stupid you are to think you are unworthy,” she scolded him, “you’re such a lucky bastard. Whatever purpose in life there is for you, it’s going to be glorious. One knows that just from looking at you.”
“Lucky?” he snorted.
“I hate philosophy because it bores me to death,” she said. “And I don’t want to live my life following the words of old men.”
“Ha,” he said. “That's a good answer.”
“Will you be married off by your father?” she demanded to know. “How many wives will you have?”
“That’s more than one question,” he frowned. “You are cheating.”
“I get two questions because yours are too lame,” she nodded, “that’s the rules.”
“As you know, we Celestials are married according to the wishes of our parents. In terms of numbers… ten at least? I don’t know for sure.”
“Ten women! That sounds exhausting. What if they all feel lusty at the same time?”
He let his head sink into his hands. “Celestial women don’t feel lusty.”
“Hahahahaha!” she laughed. “All women feel lusty. Anything else is a lie to make you men feel in charge.”
“I feel sick,” he said. He did look a little pale.
“Ten lusty women can do that to a man,” she nodded. “Your turn.”
“What is it you want to achieve in life?” he asked her after taking a few deep breaths.
That made her pause. “I want… many things. But… if you mean the one thing that I strive for, then it’s peace and happiness for my people. Yes, that.”
He looked at her with those emotional eyes again and she decided she did not like that at all. It made her feel extremely uncomfortable.
“You are… remarkable,” he breathed.
She liked that even less.
“Tell me your biggest sexual fantasy,” she challenged him angrily.
His eyes changed to anger in a flash. “Why do you keep pushing me like this?”
“Because you make me angry. You and your always perfect hair,” she said. “Open it.”
“What?”
“Open your hair. I bet you won’t answer this question, so I want you to pay. Open your hair!”
He stared at her across the table. Furious. “No. I won’t.”
“Cheaters are punished in this game,” she hissed, “so help me the Heavens.”
“I will have to tell you then, won’t I. Last question, last answer.”
“Fine!” she got up and glared at him angrily.
He got up too. He stood there swaying, but as always, his determination won. “My biggest sexual fantasy is…,” his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper, “to tie you up. Naked. To have you helpless in front of me. To have you beg me. But I won’t listen. I won’t bend to your wishes. Never.”
She growled at him. “You bastard!”
“You know what, I like to be called bastard by you.”
“Then I’ll find another insult!” she yelled.
“Go ahead, Demon Kitten,” he challenged her. “If you think insults ever get to me, you are mistaken.”
“Customers,” the innkeeper behind them addressed them politely, “please keep your voices down. There have been complaints.”
“We’re leaving,” Mo Yuan said and started rummaging in his sleeve for money. She was faster. Throwing a bunch of coins on the table, she turned around with a huff and stalked out of the inn. She felt like murdering him. She felt like… to tie you up. Naked. He was behind her before she could move and for reasons she could only blame on the alcohol, she froze when he put his arm around her waist instead of beating him to a pulp.
“I have no idea where we are,” he slurred. “We’ll fall off a cloud or get lost or both. I got us a room with the extra money you threw on the table. Come.” He chuckled. “The innkeeper said: Your wife sure has a nasty temper.”
“I won’t…”
“Oh, shush,” he sighed, “I have such a headache. You can sleep on the bed.”
He guided her up some stairs in the courtyard, peering closely at the closed doors upstairs, finally finding the right one. He unlocked it and waved her in. “Light… where is the light…,” he flicked his wrist and some candles lit up. “Oh, right, no magic in the mortal realm, I forgot…,” he eyed the bed with blatant longing.
“I think I’m going to pass out any minute,” he said. He was still holding on to her hand, she realized. With a quick movement, he pulled her towards the bed and they fell on it in a tumble of robes and limbs.
“Hmmm,” he made, and pulled her close, “when you stop pestering me, you’re so endearing.”
She lay in his warm embrace with a fast-beating heart and an even faster turning head and listened to his soft snoring … wondering why it felt so wrong and at the same time so right to lie in his arms like this.
He said not a word to her in the morning, stuck-up, nasty Celestial that he was and they returned to the quiet and dark school in utter silence. It was like it had always been between them, she told herself, and that was good. But as hard as she tried, she could not forget how it had felt in his embrace. How safe it was there, how warm, and how wholesome.
Chapter 7