A few hours later, dong hua and feng jiu were resting in their chambers at the palace in sarai xingfu. When they had arrived here, from the tao zhu valley, dong hua had brought her back to the rooms for some rest before the guests started arriving for the wedding banquet later. He had magicked away their royal white and purple robes into their regular robes. Realizing this, feng jiu had gotten affronted, saying, "I didn't even have a chance to see the robes properly and now it would take me so long to get dressed again."

Dong hua had looked with amusement at feng jiu's pouted face before tilting her chin up and pressing a small peck on her pursed lips. Gently pressing her chin, he had waved off her worries, "when it's time for us to go, I'll bring them back for you, xaio bai."

Relieved at hearing this, feng jiu had given him a big smile before turning towards the doors to leave. Unaware of what was going through her mind, he had pulled her back against him to stop her from leaving. With her back pressed to his front, he had wrapped her inside his arms and snuggled his head beside hers, before he whispered in her ear, "where do you think you are going?"

Feng jiu had loved the warmth of his embrace and had delved in deeper, before she replied to his question, "there are so many arrangements to be made, dijun. Guests will be coming soon. I was going to look for my mother, to help her with the arrangements."

"Zhong lin will take care of all that. You don't need to worry about it, xaio bai. This time is for you to rest before we go out for the banquet" dong hua had stated.

When she had tried to turn to protest against it, he had pressed a soft, sultry kiss at the point where her neck and shoulder met. He had felt her shudder in response before he had continued to speak against her skin, "if you don't want to rest, then I guess we can start with certain post-wedding ceremonies. Maybe I shouldn't have called them off; what do you say, xaio bai? Should we call your family to arrange for them?"

What dong hua had referenced to here, was the instance when he had told bai zhi to call off the post-wedding ceremonies. Where the bai family thought the reason behind it was dijun's need for privacy, the actual reason had been the fact that he had already relieved feng jiu of her innocence, the last time they were on this island. He had known that her father and uncles won't take kindly to this little detail and would create a huge fuss about it. This would have only ended up hurting feng jiu. So, to eradicate every possibility that may cause her any embarrassment or grief, he had simply called off the post-wedding ceremonies which placed importance on such trivial matters. Even though he teased her about this, it was just to make her settle down for the moment. And his teasing had worked. Since, after that, she had agreed to relax.

So, now a few hours later, feng jiu rested with her back against the curved headboard of the bed and dong hua rested with his head in her lap. She was continuously combing her fingers through his silver hair while he played with the fingers of her other hand. Dong hua looked up at the ruminating expression on her face like she was trying to solve a very hard puzzle. He patiently waited for her to approach him with the subject of her thoughts and soon enough, she spoke up.

"dijun, do you know what happened to our wedding clothes?"

"Why do you ask, xaio bai?"

"there was something important in them. Now, tell me if you know?"

This caused dong hua to take a pause, wondering what she could have lost. "Is there something you missed in them? Everything you carried with you, should have remained untouched. What is missing here, my little fox?"

Feng jiu saw the uncertainty that clouded his face, so she decided to give a more direct answer than her earlier one.

"there was a gift for you in them."

Donghua was intrigued at this and prodded further. "what kind of gift, little love?"

"something for you to unwrap. Now, tell me if you know about them, dijun."

He took in, her turned head and the flushing red face. This made him wonder, what that gift could have been. Though, not giving up the chance to tease her further, he said, "but what I love to unwrap most is you, jiu'er. What would I do with something else?"

Feng jiu turned the same red as her hair. She mumbled, "who said it was something else" before hiding her face in her hands. Dong hua though had heard her clearly. Her words had shocked and pleased him at the same time. He couldn't help the cackle that spilled out.

Feng jiu watched from between her fingers as he gave out a loud, robust laugh. She loved seeing him laugh. It was so rare a sight that she wanted to savor each and every moment of it. Donghua caught her sneaking peeks from the gap between her spread fingers. Quietly, he reached out and pried her hands away from her face. "don't hide from me, little love. If you want the clothes back, I can do that but first, you have to promise me something."

"what is it?"

"Promise me, that you'll give me a chance to unwrap that particular gift, later," Donghua said in a gruff voice.

The previous blush hadn't even faded off her face yet when another red blush crept up on her cheeks. Unable to formulate a response, she merely nodded her head in answer. This must-have satisfied dong hua because the next minute, their complete wedding ensembles appeared on the stand beside the dresser.

Pleased at having her clothes back again, she heaved out a sigh of relief and went back to combing her fingers through dong hua's hair. Playing with his soft silver strands tended to soothe something primal inside her. It was the one thing that could calm her down no matter the situation. So, as she played with his hair, he spoke up.

"tell me something, xaio bai. Did you know, I could hear everything that you and Zhong lin talked about earlier?"

She nodded her affirmation. "I did."

"and why was that, little fox?"

This time it was feng jiu who smirked. "you are not the only one who can read minds, dijun. I purposefully left the barriers open, when I was talking to Zhong lin. I wanted you to know what I had told him to do, in case there was some issue with it. I didn't want to do something that could cause problems for you."

"It doesn't surprise me that you know I can read minds. Somehow, you always end up unearthing all my secrets." He shook his head at this before he continued, "but I am surprised that you can do it yourself. How did you learn that, xaio bai? Because from what I know, even mo yuan hadn't been able to cultivate this skill."

"you are right. But mo yuan, also didn't spend nearly a thousand years in the mortal realm. It wasn't him, who was trying to run away from everything he held dear, only to fill up every second of every day with meaningless things to distract himself. That was me, dijun. In those thousand years, I learned and practiced everything that I possibly could. Distraction was a means of survival for me. Also, practicing on humans was far more interesting than practicing on immortals. They have so much going through their minds, at any given moment that it was hard to keep up. Some were too easy to read while some were so hard to crack that it would take me hours to poke inside. When I first started, a lot of the mortals detected my presence but they were so focused on not believing the existence of gods and magic that they blatantly refused to acknowledge, what they had actually seen and felt. Over time, I mastered the art. Having control over such a powerful skill, though made me understand, why you have kept it under wraps for so long."

"and what did you understand, little love?"

"unfettered access to someone's mind is more of a responsibility than power. The brain is a very complicated thing. Too much foreign tampering can cause extreme damages to both persons. At the same time, what goes through a person's mind is sacred to him/her. No one wants to make their thoughts public; everyone loves their privacy. To me, it felt like a responsibility to protect the sanctity of others' freedom to privacy. The moment I realized this; I created an impenetrable barrier around my brain. And not for the protection of my own thoughts but, for the protection of others' around me. I don't want to use this skill, not even accidentally. Unless and until I absolutely have to. No one knows about this, well, except for you, now."

Dong hua brought the hand he held in his, up to his face, and tenderly kissed her palm. "I'm proud of you, my wife and I am, even more, proud to be your husband."

Feng jiu bent down and placed a kiss on his forehead before saying, "I love you, dong hua and nothing gives me more pleasure than the feeling of calling you, my husband."

He was staring into her eyes when he saw the expression of love and tenderness turn into excitement. He watched as an eagerness spread over her face like she was waiting for something. Confused, he asked, "am I forgetting something?"

Feng jiu bit her lip in an effort to temper down her excitement as she spoke in a sweet shy voice, "it's just that I heard you had something for me..."

As her voice trailed off, he realized what she was waiting for. He wondered if this was the right time to give her the ring. But any doubts he had, fled his brain the moment she looked up at him with big hopeful eyes. No matter how wrong the timing might be, he couldn't bear to kill that hope and admiration, he had seen in her eyes. So, he got off the bed and pulled her up with him.

Feng jiu followed dong hua's every movement with her eyes as he rummaged inside his sleeve. A minute later, he pulled out the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. She gazed at the ring with wonder and delight before gazing up at him. He bore a soft look of adoration on his face that appeared seldomly.

Donghua reached out for feng jiu's left hand. Bringing it up, he gently slid the ring on her finger as he said, "I am giving you my heart, little fox, don't ever take it off. I am afraid, I won't be able to take it if I ever saw you without this ring. So, never take it off, my love."

Overwhelmed with the love she saw, swirling like a storm in his eyes, Feng jiu nodded earnestly. She gasped as he suddenly pulled on her hand and caught her in his arms. He bent down his head and kissed her with all the love she had just moments ago, seen in his eyes. Slowly, the soft loving kiss turned hard. She moaned as he bit hard on her lower lip and then sucked on it. He continued to ravage her mouth, swallowing up all her moans until they heard a knock against the chamber doors. Tearing away from his kiss, she hid her face in his chest, embarrassed at almost being caught. She heard him chuckle before he called out for the person to enter.

With her face buried in dong hua's chest, she heard Zhong lin's voice, "everyone has arrived, your majesty."

If Zhong lin felt any shock at the way they were standing, his voice depicted none of that. Feng jiu heard the sound of the doors being closed before she pulled her face off of dong hua's chest and took control of herself. She was working on regulating her breathing when she detected the energy that surrounded the ring. She was trying to place it when she heard dong hua's voice.

"We need to go now, xaio bai. Everyone's waiting for us."

Donghua saw when she noticed the traces of his spell on the ring. He magicked them back in their white and purple, royal robes, fruitlessly trying to distract her from recognizing the spell. He didn't want her to know that the ring had a detection and binding spell on it. This particular spell will allow him to tune into her emotions and health, anytime he wanted to check. Though, this wasn't what he was concerned about. He knew she would object to only one thing, and that was the power drain it could potentially cause in him. The fact of the matter was that, because of how the ring was made and the subsequent spell he had placed on it, the bond between them had become so strong that if something were to happen to feng jiu, then the ring will continue to support her life force by channeling his. It basically meant that if she ever stood on the verge of life and death, the ring would end up sucking all the life from dong hua, in the process of saving feng jiu with it. This was the reason, why he had hesitated in giving her the ring before the banquet. A thousand years earlier, he could have easily slipped such a complicated spell past her defenses, without her ever knowing about it. But now, he knew it wouldn't take her long to detect the enchantment he had placed on the ring. He had been prepared for the opposition that was sure to come, though he still wanted to delay the debate by a bit.

"dong hua, please tell me this spell isn't what I think it is?" He heard her say in a stern yet cute voice. He watched as her face scrunched up in determination.

Feng jiu meanwhile, was trying her level best to control the anger she felt rising at the stupid spell, he had placed on the ring. She stared at him with the hardest glare she could manage but he ignored her glaring eyes and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. She heard him whisper in her ear, "we can talk about this later. Everyone's waiting to meet my wife, right now. Does she want to embarrass her husband by being late to her own banquet, hmm? I guess I can just tell everyone that my little fox doesn't want to be introduced as my wife to the world."

Dong hua had dangled an extremely pleasing bait in front of her that he knew she won't be able to resist. He knew being acknowledged as his wife by the whole world, was something she had been wishing for so long. So, he had used it to borrow himself some sweet time. And as expected, a few moments later, she relented.

"We need to go, it's bad to let the guests wait for too long. But we will talk about this, dong hua. You are not getting away with your shenanigans, this time."

Donghua wanted to laugh at the eagerness clearly displayed on her face; one, she was deliberately trying to hide behind a stern façade. But not wanting to provoke her more, he merely nodded.

Leaving the chambers, they arrived outside the castle's grand court. They waited as Zhong lin went inside to announce their arrival. It was the first time feng jiu would be presented to the world as the wife of dong hua. So, as the newly wedded king and queen, they would have to be formally announced with all their titles for them to enter. Zhong lin's voice carried out the door when he announced their arrival.

"the unifier of the realms, the first ruler of the heaven and earth, the wielder of canghe, the almighty god, and the master of the universe, his majesty, dong hua dijun graces us all with the presence of his divine self and his beloved wife, his queen and his empress, the granddaughter of the fox emperor, the youngest ever queen in all the realms, the epitome of beauty, the only red nine-tailed fox in the universe, the queen of qing qui and our dihou, bai feng jiu"

The moment Zhong lin finished on feng jiu's name, dong hua held out his arm for her. After she securely took hold of it, dong hua pushed open the doors with a strong gust of wind from his hand. As they entered the room, every single guest kneeled in respect to their dijun and dihou.

The grand courtroom that had been empty before, except for the majestic red and gold throne which sat steps above the main floor, had been completely transformed into a royal court. The room was filled with beautiful golden seats and tables for the thousands of guests that had been invited and every preparation had been made to cater to all their wants and needs. The ceiling had been magicked into displaying the pink-purple incandescent moon that dong hua had created for her, the first time they were here and exquisite floral arrangements were artfully spread throughout the room. The walls held the multiple banners that had appeared in the tao zhu valley, after their wedding, proclaiming the room as the official court of dong hua and feng jiu, only. It screamed of their sovereignty and lordship of the lands. Among this all, a long red carpet was spread across the court, from the huge doors to the great throne at the top of the room.

As dong hua and feng jiu started their ascent towards the throne, she noticed the anger behind dong hua's eyes. Though his face was completely expressionless, she could feel the rage radiating from him. Pressing lightly on the arm she held, feng jiu spoke in his mind, "what has angered you so much, my love?"

Feng jiu knew dong hua wasn't used to explaining his actions and emotions to anyone. She could see the struggle at her question in his eyes. She saw the need to retreat there but surprising her, he took a deep breath before he explained.

"zhong lin has made many grave mistakes, tonight. Your first introduction as my wife was to be made with all of your titles. So, not only did he leave out the most prominent ones, but by excluding them, he had sought to demean you. And, for that, he will pay dearly."

She could feel the fatal threat behind his words. The place where she held his arm, she caressed her fingers soothingly against his sleeve. Trying to calm him down, she spoke in a soft, lilting voice, "Zhong lin did no such thing, my love. All the words he spoke were specifically written by me. He just followed the orders I gave him."

Since donghua couldn't turn his head to glare at her without alerting others, she saw him glare at her through the corners of his eyes and with everyone still kneeling, no one saw the fire blazing behind them.

"why would you do that? What possible reason could make you do such a foolish thing, feng jiu. You are extremely intelligent, yet you did something, so below your station." The anger and vexation in his voice were one she had never heard being directed towards her. Still, she understood his anger. If someone had tried to undermine dong hua in front of her, she knew she would have reacted the same way. So, with the same soothing voice, she answered him.

"my love, this banquet is the celebration of our love. For me, it is a symbol of us devoting ourselves to each other. I simply wished to be only yours tonight, with no hold of fates and destinies. I wanted to be just the little princess from qingqui that fell in love with the most revered god of the realms and chased after him, with her heart in hand. That little princess fell in love with you without any knowledge of the power and destiny that had been laid out for her. Her love was pure, dong hua. My love for you is pure and unconditional. So, today, I wanted to celebrate the love that little princess finally received back from you. I wanted to be just your little fox today, not the queen of the living and the almighty goddess. I wished that I could just be your jiu'er tonight, dong hua, and nothing else."

The anger bubbling inside dong hua melted away at her words. Pretend as he may, there was nothing he could refuse his dear wife. She was the focal point of his whole world, so how could he turn her away? But what zhong lin had done could not be ignored.

"you are and will always be my jiu'er. Whatever may come, you are my little fox that holds my heart and my whole being in her small little paws. It wasn't only the little princess that fell in love back then. The old rock also went in headfirst. But the same old rock cracked itself open to save his little fox and the gift he received that day could never be replaced. You are as much my little fox as you are my beautiful red phoenix. My love for you is unwavering, it stands firm irrespective of the form you take, xaio bai. So, I cannot forgive Zhong lin for this huge mistake."

"don't punish him, my love. He just followed the orders of his queen. If someone needs to be punished for this snafu, it is the queen that gave such orders. Punish me, dijun. This was a misjudgment on my part. Zhong lin is innocent in all of this. I made the error here, so, the blame of this mistake lies solely on my head."

"do you really want to take on his punishment, xaio bai? You don't even know what it is. I will not go easy on you, little fox."

Even with his warning clear, she replied with complete sincerity, "I await your verdict, my lord."

"as your punishment for today's blunder, you have to accept the ring without any protests, qualms or worries, never to take it off from your finger. You are hereby forbidden from questioning me about any matter related to the ring and bound to wear it for eternity. If you fail to comply with the terms of your punishment, you will be eternally imprisoned in bihai cangling." Donghua delivered his verdict to her with a slight smirk on his face. As they reached the throne, he saw her openly gape at him, while he turned both of them to face their kneeling subjects and called out, "Rise."