Dong hua appeared back in the fox den after completing up his tasks in the sky kingdom. The mess that had been created today could have been avoided easily had ye hua stepped up to the mantle of his responsibilities. But since this was the first error, the young crown prince had made in so long, dong hua had let him off with just a warning. There was also the matter of the woman who had acted as a witness during the whole hearing, so he had to ensure her safety, too. With the way hao de was going now, it was hard to predict as to far how we will go just to satisfy his own vanity. Resultantly, donghua had handed over the responsibility of the wise lady to his trusted steward, Zhong lin. After hearing out all the other reports, si ming had for him, it had taken him quite a few hours to get back to the fox den.

Still, absent as he was, he knew everything that had gone down in the fox den. Just like he had done for feng jiu, by allowing her entry to his mind and be a spectator for everything that happened around him during the court proceedings similarly, Feng jiu had also shown him every single moment of her conversation with lian song and cheng yu. To say he was extremely proud of his little fox would be an understatement. She had handled such a tedious and delicate task with such efficiency and had come out nothing but stronger from it. The hand he had given her had been faulty at best and dong hua was well aware of that. But the way she had played it out had proven once again, why she was the only one that could have been worthy of being his dihou, even if the fates hadn't played out the way they had.

Standing in the doorway of her study, leaning against the door, he felt seamless contentment at seeing her smile and hearing the melodious, bell-like sound of her laugh. As he watched her, he softly called out, "oh, it looks like I'm no longer needed here, now that you have your friends."

Feng jiu looked up surprised at the sound of dong hua's voice. As his words registered with her, she noticed that the usual expressionless face now held a pursed set of lips on it. This little deviation indicated his unhappiness at being ignored by feng jiu which was something she could never handle. Immediately, she flew out of her seat and towards dong hua. On reaching him, she completely wrapped herself around one of his arms and rested her chin against his tricep muscles. She looked up at him as she spoke in a soft lilting voice, "how can I not need my dijun? I will always need you."

"it doesn't seem like it. You don't even remember who I am to you. Maybe I should just go." Dong hua said in a despondent voice. He made to leave while trying to get her off his arm but she just held on tighter. Wrapping herself even more tightly around his arm, she shook her head fervently and said in a louder resonating voice, "no, you are my husband, my dong hua, my love. And you are not allowed to leave." For extra effect, she even added a little huff at the end.

Donghua was amused at the way she had said that but this was all he had wanted to hear. Content and happy, he placed a finger beneath her chin and propped her head up a little further to look into her eyes while he spoke "you should get used to saying it then."

Bending down, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before he turned towards their, now standing, audience. He took in both of them for a moment, not saying anything. Reading the room, feng jiu extricated herself from dong hua and extended her hand to cheng yu. Smiling towards her, she said, "let us leave these two to their boring tea and go. You still have so much to tell me about how the slow prince over here, finally got it right." Giggling at feng jiu's comment, cheng yu took the proffered hand and left the study with her.

Lian song waited for dijun to say something but the old god just went and settled down in the place feng jiu had vacated, moments ago. Taking his cue, he also moved back to his previous seat. He waited while dong hua swept his hand above the table and refreshed the tea and quietly, analyzed the lily cakes. Lian song felt as if a day had passed before he heard him speak.

"xaio bai makes such good cakes, doesn't she?" At a loss for words, lian song gawked as djiun bit into the cakes with no heed to the earlier problems. He had been expecting a severe threatening down and a few choice words at his lack of propriety which could have caused some serious damage in the almighty god's plans. But in none of the scenarios that had been running through his mind, did he imagine the old god silently enjoying cakes.

Unable to take the stress anymore, lian song kotowed to him. "forgive me, your majesty. I was careless. Please forgive your poor servant."

Dong hua watched his general bang his head once, before he called out, "that's enough, lian song. You can get back up."

Hesitant yet still deferring to his direct command, lian song sat back in his seat with his head hung low. He couldn't get over the guilt of the problem he had caused. So, again he waited for dong hua to berate him for his misdeeds and faults but nothing like that ever came. If anything, what dong hua said next was the complete opposite of that.

"that matter is done and over with. Unless you don't like the position xaio bai has offered you? Then we might need to look at other proposals for you."

Harried at the turn in the nonexistent conversation, lian song shook his head, negatively. Afraid that he wasn't clear enough, he said in a gratified voice, "that couldn't be far from the truth,your majesty. I feel so grateful and indebted to her majesty for giving me such a chance even with the colossal failure I had just been. I get to serve my king and queen, freely and honorably. Nothing can offer me more honor and gratification."

Giving a firm, satisfied nod, dong hua said, "good, then it's done. You and cheng yu can go find yourself a place to live here in Qing qui. Take migu if you require any help. I believe xaio bai told you that you will need to renounce your title as the third prince if you're taking a seat in qing qui's imperial court. This way no one would ever question your loyalty and devotion. Inform ye hua of the development and discuss how he wants to handle the repudiation of your title. Only after that is done, can we announce both your and cheng yu's official titles. Xaio bai will decide the details for that later."

"I understand..." lian song wavered. He was trying to piece together his thoughts and was finding it extremely hard to do so.

Noticing his inner turmoil but not one to coddle, dong hua gave him a figurative nudge, "it is only us, lian song. No need to stand on ceremonies. Speak freely. "

Still trying to form a coherent sentence, lian song replied, "it's just I don't understand one thing. Aren't you angry with me? What happened today, could have, no, would have ruined everything you have worked so hard for, had you not come in at the right time. Your plans, the spies, the whole network, and with the task I was working on, the safety of the realms, everything would have been in danger. I understand the carelessness I had exhibited today and I was waiting on my punishment for that. But the calm you are exuding is a little too unsettling for my mind, right now."

Dong hua quietly sipped at his tea for a few moments before he finally answered, "tell me, will raging at you solve anything?"

Lian song pondered over his statement before shaking out a no. Dong hua gave a short nod as he continued, "there's a lot that you don't understand here, lian song. First, something like this was bound to happen the day cheng yu stepped foot back in heaven. When I gave her immortality, I knew that she would never amount to anything in hao de's eyes. So, this was inevitable. You should be grateful that it happened now and not a few years ago, I would have had a hard time extricating you from a mess back then. Second, I don't think you understand how the concept of loyalty works, especially in my case. Lian song, I have always awarded those who are loyal to me and you have been nothing but that. And you are right I might have swung you around for what you did today, in the past but let's just say, you should be thankful to xaio bai for that, too."

"as for the matter of my plans and the safety of realms, do you think I unified the realms just by leaving everything to chance, do you? When you have lived as long as me, you learn to plan out for every little contingency you can possibly and impossibly imagine. And even if something happens which is out of that predetermined area, you learn how to adapt. That's all life is lian song, you either mold a situation according to your whimsies or you adapt to the situation, you have been given. Working this philosophy into our particular scenario, I will write to ye hua, informing him about how you will now be working as my place holder in the celestial court and si ming as the chief informant. Since I would now be residing in qing qui permanently, all matters should be gone through either you or si ming in my absence. While I will continue to sit through the important proceeding and manage the necessary matters, the two of you will take lead in my stead for the other matters just like the seal list you are worried about. So, you can continue with your task with some minor adjustments to it." Dong hua shrugged at the last part.

"if that answers your question, I believe that two beautiful ladies are waiting for us. So, it would not be prudent of us to make them wait anymore." Dong hua spoke as he gave lian song a nod.

While he was getting up from his seat, lian song chuckled, and finally, with a free heart he reached to pick an appetizing piece of cake from the plate feng jiu had placed on the table. He had just gotten hold of the cake before it vanished from his fingers along with the plate beneath his hand. He turned to watch dong hua snacking on the cakes while he walked away. On his way out, he called behind him, "these are mine. Get cheng yu to make some for you."

Lian song laughed at the sweet stealing, possessive master of the universe. He had watched as the hard, cold stone of a god had slowly opened up and gotten soft around the edges just because of one daring and loving little fox who had refused to give up on him even when all others had. It was because of the same little fox and this newly reformed deity, again that he and cheng yu were together again with essentially no hair off their back but instead with a new and happy life waiting for them. Now, lian song even shivered to imagine what would have happened to them all had that little fox given up on the old rock. Shaking his head clear, lian song called behind dijun and rushed ahead to join him in his pursuit of looking for their ladies.

A/N

Sorry for the late update.