Ch: 22
Bai Qian
A-Li, the Crown Prince, hugged Bai Qian tightly around her waist. She could see the tears running down his face. Bai Qian didn’t want to seem rude, but this surprised her, and she was stunned by the boy’s behavior. Bai Qian felt sorry for the young prince as well realizing that he too was confused by her resemblance to his deceased mother.
Bai Qian gently pushed him away, wiped his tears off his face and said,
“Please call me Gugu. I will be marrying your uncle High God Mo Yuan shortly, so we will soon be family. We’ll see so much more of each other.”
A-Li eyes rapidly blinked when he heard Bai Qian and looked back at his father confused, but Ye Hua just smiled and motioned A-Li to him. Ye Hua lovingly caressed his son’s hair and said,
“A-Li, your mother will return to us soon. I promise you.” Ye Hua turned his gaze on Bai Qian and asked, “Qian Qian, would you like to go with us to the mortal realm? Today is a special day for A-Li.”
Bai Qian couldn’t hide her delight at going to the mortal realm but then remembered Mo Yuan’s request before going into seclusion. Bai Qian smiled and replied, “Heavenly Lord as tempting as your offer is, I’ve been asked to stay in Qing Qiu until my Shifu returns.”
Bai Qian quickly added, “Perhaps we could all go when Mo Yuan returns?”
Ye Hua studied her face and said in his soft voice, “Please call me Ye Hua. I don’t care for how formal Heavenly Lord sounds. Well, if your Shifu, Mo Yuan has instructed you to stay in Qing Qiu then you must. We’ll just have to celebrate A-Li’s birthday without you, won’t we A-Li?”
The young prince turned his sad, disappointed eyes towards Bai Qian making her feel guilty. Bai Qian knew Mo Yuan wouldn’t be pleased, but it was at the request of his only nephew, so she smiled and replied, “Allow me to change my clothes, and I’ll join you for A-Li’s birthday.”
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Every time Bai Qian had seen Ye Hua in their previous meeting, he’d always worn only black, but today he wore a light cornflower blue robe with a simple topknot. Suddenly, he appeared thousands of years younger which made Bai Qian snicker because he was thousands of years younger than herself, exactly 90,000 years. Ye Hua heard her and asked why she was laughing, so she just replied that she suddenly felt extremely old standing next to Ye Hua due to his young age.
Throughout their day together, there were many moments when Ye Hua seemed to know more about her than she knew about herself. Bai Qian stopped to buy hazel nuts, but Ye Hua grabbed her hand when she reached for them. He smiled at her, pushed her hand towards the sunflower seeds instead and said, “Qian Qian, you are extremely allergic to hazel nuts. They give you a terrible rash, and you have trouble breathing after consuming them. You prefer sunflower seeds anyway.” Ye Hua instructed the nut vendor, paid and handed the bag to Bai Qian.
When they went to dine, Bai Qian requested fish soup and Ye Hua stopped the server and changed her order to vegetable soup with tofu slices instead. Ye Hua only said that she couldn’t stomach anything that smelled remotely fishy. He said that Bai Qian didn’t even enjoy going to the Sea Palaces for that same reason. Ye Hua also smiled and stated that he recalled a pleasant memory that he’d forgotten for years.
Ye Hua told Bai Qian that he had discovered his wife was pregnant with A-Li when they were on a journey to one of the Sea Palaces before the Mermaid Wars.
Ye Hua’s wife apparently disliked the smell of seawater also, and her pregnancy only made her hate the scent more.
The day had begun pleasantly but soon became awkward and uncomfortable. When Ye Hua took Bai Qian to the thatched cottage, she began to feel a sick internal foreboding feeling telling her to leave. Bai Qian was waiting for a moment when A-Li was no longer with them. When A-Li finally headed towards the forest, Bai Qian heard Ye Hua instruct his bodyguard Tian Shu to follow A-Li because he had the same terrible sense of direction as his mother.
Ye Hua stood beside the steps to the cottage, and a tiny smile came to his full lips. “This was the very spot where SuSu found me and saved my life. She didn’t know it, but I was already secretly in love with her. I had to make myself appear injured. She was a compassionate woman and couldn’t walk away from anything or anyone in need of her help.” Ye Hua said.
“She asked me to marry her while I was trying to buy time so I could stay with her longer. My wife was like that. Honest, trusting, and extremely lovable.” Ye Hua smiled, sat on the top step in front of the hut and patted the spot beside him indicating Bai Qian should sit next to him.
Bai Qian smiled politely, explained that it was getting late and that she was tired. Bai Qian tried to excuse herself when Ye Hua suddenly asked, “Qian Qian, may I court you for marriage?”
Bai Qian chuckled and replied, “Ye Hua you do indeed have an odd sense of humor. Your jest is not appropriate. I’m marrying Mo Yuan as soon as my father returns. If you’ll excuse me now, I’ve suddenly become exhausted Heavenly Lord Ye Hua.”
Bai Qian turned to leave when Ye Hua blurted loudly, “Qian Qian…you have a beauty mark on your left shoulder, a small birthmark on your right breast, that resembles the shape of a heart and another one on your left lower buttock. You start to sleep on your back but always roll on your side, precisely your right side. Your sleeping habits are so unruly that you must sleep on the inside of the bed or you’ll roll off the bed.”
Bai Qian masked her fear and asked without turning back towards Ye Hua, “What are you trying to do? What do you expect to gain with your outrageous behavior?”
Ye Hua continued, “You have four older brothers, but you’re closest to High God Bai Zhen because he raised you. You’re the youngest out of your siblings and only daughter of the Fox King, High God, Bai Zhi. You can drink most men under the table and will never admit when you’re wrong. You are the most stubborn person that I’ve ever met in my life.”
Ye Hua added, “You studied under High God Mo Yuan disguised as the male immortal Si Yin for 20,000 years. Your first heartbreak was Ghost Lord Li Jing when he was the second prince of the Ghost Realm. Li Jing betrayed you with the sister of one of your brother’s wives. Xuan Nu the current Queen of the Ghost Realm.”
Bai Qian turned to face Ye Hua, smirked and replied, “Those are trivial facts almost everyone knows about me Heavenly Lord Ye Hua.”
Bai Qian let out a single mocking laugh and turned to leave again when she heard Ye Hua say, “You’re highly ticklish inside your inner thighs, so much so, that receiving oral pleasure is challenging for you at times. You love to have your hair brushed, and it usually puts you to sleep. Qian Qian, when you had bodily pleasure with Mo Yuan, did you experience any pain? You should have as a virgin, am I not correct?”
Fright rose within Bai Qian. Flashes from her dreams of Ye Hua came to mind as her lips trembled, but she faced him and replied sneeringly, “I bled with Mo Yuan, so yes I was a virgin. I didn’t experience any pain due to my Shifu’s mastery of intimacy.”
Ye Hua threw his head back, started laughing and asked. “Did you say mastery of intimacy? Qian Qian, you failed to feel any pain with Mo Yuan because I deflowered both your mortal and immortal body. Let me clarify for you that not only did you bleed heavily but you experienced severe pain both times.”
Ye Hua looked smug when he added, “Then again you preferred, no, you love painful sex.”
“Qian Qian, do you still climax hardest when you’re taken from the behind while on your knees? Do you still love to swallow essence when a man comes in your mouth? Since Mo Yuan and I are twins, have you ever experienced unexplainable glimpses of me or dreamt of me making love to you?” Ye Hua had a little smile on his face when he was through.
“Shut up! I don’t know you. I’m not who you think I am. I’m not your dead wife!” Bai Qian screamed as her cheeks flushed and turned to a dark shade of pink. She was breathing heavily from both rage and fear. “Ye Hua, I will not mention this to Mo Yuan as a courtesy but know this is my last act of kindness towards you. If you continue with your indecent behavior, you leave me no choice but to tell Mo Yuan of your lack of respect. Ye Hua, your sister-in-law, will be me once I’ve married your older twin brother. I know you’re young and immature but learn some restraint and mind your manners to your elders.” Bai Qian spoke down to Ye Hua as if he was a child.
Ye Hua stood and walked towards her as she stepped back. Ye Hua said while still walking towards her, “You can’t marry Mo Yuan because you are still married to me. Qian Qian, that bed in the hut is where I made you a woman, you conceived A-Li on that bed and where you brought Mo Yuan the other night. You had bodily pleasure with your husband’s twin brother. You begged Mo Yuan for his manhood like a tramp, on the bed, where your spouse, Ye Hua, Heavenly Lord of Celestial Heaven, not only deflowered you but also at your pleas penetrated and filled you with my seed at least a hundred times.”
Ye Hua reached out, lightly touched her quivering lips with his fingertips and whispered,
“Qian Qian, you are my dead mortal wife, SuSu. You are also my immortal wife Bai Qian Queen Of Qing Qiu and now Bai Qian the Heavenly Empress of Celestial Heaven.”
Bai Qian was overcome with panic and fright, couldn’t breathe, so she grasped at her throat before passing out in Ye Hua’s arms.
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When Bai Qian woke up in Qing Qiu, she looked around terrified and burst into tears. The dream had appeared so real that she could still smell the piney scent of the forest around the thatched cottage. Bai Qian splashed her face with cold water to clear her clouded mind.
She would never return to Mount Junji. Heavenly Lord’s wife’s ghost was telling her not to go there with such a frightening dream. Bai Qian must have offended and confused the spirit by making love to Mo Yuan in her home. She worried that the ghost had thought Mo Yuan was her husband Ye Hua and showed her dissatisfaction by sending such a horrifying dream to scare Bai Qian.
Bai Qian was just starting to feel relieved when Migu handed Bai Qian a royal decree from Celestial Heaven for her father, the Fox King. Bai Zhi, the Fox King, was still in seclusion recovering from feeding Bai Qian his heart’s blood. Bai Qian worried that it was a matter of great importance and read the decree.
Bai Qian dropped to the ground when she read its content.
The order accused Bai Qian of adultery. The document stated that Heavenly Lord Ye Hua and Heavenly Empress Bai Qian, who was then known as the mortal SuSu during her heavenly trial had married privately on Mount Junji 10,300 years ago. It declared that before her untimely slumber that she had been Ye Hua’s Princess Consort.
There was a list of immortals who were witnesses willing and ready to testify to this fact. The proclamation stated that if she did not return to Celestial Heaven, that Heavenly Lord would immediately attack Qing Qiu with the support of the Kings of the Four Seas, their armies, and the Ghost Realm.
It also declared that if Qing Qiu refused to return Bai Qian, The Fox Clan, her family, would be executed. She would be brought up to Celestial Heaven by force to be punished per the laws of Celestial Heaven. Bai Qian’s crime was deceiving her husband the current Heavenly Lord of Celestial Heaven and fornication with God Of War, High God, Mo Yuan.
to be continued