Chapter 32

As donghua had instructed, bai zhi gathered the whole bai family and zhe yan in the great hall before dinner that night. They had been gathered for a few minutes when donghua and fengjiu entered the fox den. Hearing the commotion in the great hall, feng jiu dragged donghua with her to see its cause. On entering, she was immediately greeted with the sight of her family sitting together, laughing and making merry. But what attracted her attention was the sight of her mother and grandmother. The sight of their faces had made her pull away from donghua and run into their arms. It had been a long time since she had seen them both. As she ran, she turned into her fox form and jumped onto them. Luckily, they had quick reflexes and were used to such displays from her. They caught her fox form and snuggled and petted her heavily, showering her with love. After feng jiu had had her fill of affection, she turned back into her immortal form on the floor and leaned between their legs. Happily, she exclaimed, "you are back. You are really here."


Caressing her hair, her grandmother said, "of course we are back. When we heard how powerful and queenly our xaio jiu had become, we had to come back to see for ourselves."


On the other side, her mother caressed her face, "we also heard you got yourself an exceptional mate, so we wanted to meet him, too."


Feng jiu blushed and pressed her burning cheeks against her mother's leg, trying to hide them but then her grandmother grabbed her ear and pulled her up. "but it seems like the news was fake. You are not queenly at all with your jumping and snuggling between our legs"


She looked around at the laughing faces around her, pleading for help but instead of help, her mother also grabbed hold of her other ear and pulled.


"and it seems the news about your mate was also false since you haven't introduced him to us."


With the reminder about donghua's presence, she called to him for help.


"who am I to help, xaio bai? They don't know me, yet." He called out amidst the laughter in the room. Even with all this sound, she could still hear the chuckle behind his unhelpful comment.


"traitor", she muttered under her breath.


But her grandmother heard and pulled harder on her ear, "what did you say?"


"I said later, I would have introduced you but I wanted to see your beautiful faces and enjoy your warm hugs first. Please let me go, grandmother, mother. I just wanted to have you all to myself first. I missed you both so much." Feng jiu said with so much sweetness in her voice, that it was enough to give diabetes to the entire qingqui but her sweet tongue worked as both her ears were released a moment later. Feng jiu was quick to take benefit of the moment's reprieve as she ran towards donghua and hugged him from behind. She could feel his chest move from the motion of his laughter and wanted to take in the sight of him laughing but at that moment, self-preservation came first.


She heard his mother's voice, "come back here, lassie."


Feng jiu peeked out her head from behind donghua's arm and teased, "you can't touch me here."


At this donghua laughed harder, which seemed to have silenced others. No one had ever seen dijun laugh before, the man was famous for being expressionless so, the sight of him laughing sent them in a tailspin.


Donghua, though, paid no attention to their silence, he was far more amused by his little fox that was wrapped around his back more like a monkey, right then. He extricated her limbs from his body and pulled her towards the front. Putting her in front of him, he said, "you still haven't introduced us, xaio bai." He pushed this point because he was curious as to which title, she would use to introduce him, since he had many.


Confused, feng jiu looked up at him and saw a seriousness in his eyes that made her believe that this really mattered to him for some reason. So, she clasped their hands together and pulled him with her towards her mother and grandmother. Stepping in front of them, she said, "grandmother, mother, I would like you to meet donghua, the man I love."


Donghua was caught off guard, he hadn't expected her to say that but hearing that had felt so right, so impossibly perfect. The way she had introduced him was the best title that had ever been given to him. The man xaio bai loves, he repeated to himself, with a gleeful feeling.


Her family on the other hand was horrified that she had overlooked all his titles and referred to him by name but one look at the loving gaze between them, their temper calmed down. Still, her mother and grandmother weren't that cheeky, so they immediately got up and bowed, greeting him with proper etiquette and courteousness. He nodded his greeting and told them to take a seat while he pulled feng jiu along with him towards the empty seat at the head of the room. As they sat down, everyone looked expectantly up at donghua. She was puzzled at this and asked, "what's wrong?"


Donghua claimed her waist and pulled her against him, saying, "nothing's wrong, xaio bai. I called for this gathering. Everyone's waiting for me to state it's purpose."


"and what is that purpose, dijun?" She asked, sweetly.


"our wedding, my love." He said, earnestly. "but first," he turned towards her mother and grandmother, addressing them directly, "I would like to ask for your blessings for this marriage."


Both the ladies were shocked, unable to understand why he was asking them and somehow her grandmother had found a way to say it eloquently. "we don't understand, xaio jiu's grandfather and father had already agreed to this marriage, so why ask us? Moreover, you never need to ask us for anything, your station is so above our little ranks that by asking, you are humbling your lowly subjects."


"This is not and never will be a matter about stations. As xaio bai said earlier, I am not asking from the position of my rank or title, I am asking from the position of a man that is hopelessly in love with your daughter. You are her mother and her grandmother, you love her just as much as every other family member in this room, if not more, so, your blessings matter just as much theirs had when I asked them the same. And most importantly, xaio bai loves you, so, your blessings matter very much to her and whatever matters to her is my top priority." Donghua said calmly but with no less fervor.


Grateful and flattered at the respect that the great ruler had just accorded them they nodded their heads zealously. Her mother managed to speak out, "we gladly give you our blessings."


Feng jiu, took his arm off her waist, grasped his hand tightly, hugged his arm, and spoke in his mind, "thank you".


Donghua squeezed her hand and addressed everyone now, "moving on to the matter of our marriage. I understand that as the queen of qingqui, xaio bai has to adhere to certain rituals and obligations of a ruler's wedding and I am happy to accommodate them. I will never stop her or be the cause that hinders her from the fulfillment of her queenly duties. You can arrange every custom and ritual as per the laws of your lands, I just ask that you allow her the freedom to choose what she wants in her wedding and what she doesn't. She is the bride, and her happiness is the only thing that matters to me. I don't want her to be saddled with rituals all day and forget to enjoy her own wedding."


"then comes the matter of the wedding banquet. As I understand qingqui holds no custom of a wedding banquet or reception. I wish to hold one on my own terms. Even retired, I still have to fulfill certain duties towards the realms. As such with our wedding, xaio bai will not just become my wife, she will also become my dihou, my empress. And one of the duties that I need to fulfill is to properly introduce the realms to my wife and their dihou. For such an enormous event, tai chen palace will not suffice, so instead, I offer-"


"donghua, wait."

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