The King's Mate - Part 1: Banyue

Chapter 13

The very next day, Hua Cheng showed Xie Lian the way to the ancestral hall of the palace. He would have been surprised to see absolutely nothing there if he hadn't known Hua Cheng's story already, as well as the fact that he didn't even know the names of his parents.

However, Hua Cheng had organised two proper urns for his parents' ashes, and once they'd entered the ancestral hall, they made a bit of a ceremony out of transferring the ashes into their final vessel. Once that was done, they carefully placed the urns on one of the small tables, waiting to be used as shrines.

"Even if it's just temporary, I'll see to it that somebody engraves the urns, as well as that tablet properly", Hua Cheng said quietly, once Xie Lian was done with his prayers and stood on his feet again.

Xie Lian could only smile softly once he heard that.

"Thank you, San Lang. That really means a lot to me."

"I know", his alpha smiled back at him, before he pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

"Will you come to the infirmary with me, or are you royally busy today?", Xie Lian asked after a few more moments had passed in silence, which he'd used to mentally prepare himself for the next task at hand.

"What's in the infirmary?", his alpha asked curiously.

"The girl who protected my parents' ashes. And her friend", Xie Lian explained, and only then realised he'd never told the king any relevant information on how their attack had gone.

"Oh... San Lang... I never told you, but the blitz was successful", Xie Lian said, and promptly blushed.

Hua Cheng just laughed at him, looking incredibly amused.

"I figured. I thought that, if gege possessing the ashes of his parents is what's at the forefront of his mind, surely our plan must have worked. After all, I doubt you would have had the time to find them in the middle of battle."

Xie Lian could only nod at Hua Cheng's logic, too embarrassed for words. He was so embarrassed in fact, he couldn't even look at his alpha when he called him again.

A moment later, he felt Hua Cheng's big hand on his waist, pulling him closer to the king.

"Gege doesn't need to be embarrassed, but if you want a reason to feel embarrassed, I can give you one", his alpha said in a dark, low voice, directly into his ear, before he gently bit his earlobe.

It made Xie Lian gasp, and he felt so scandalised, he didn't even know how to react.

"S-San Lang, y- you're-! You're insufferable!", he stammered, and protected his bright red ear with his hand from Hua Cheng's assault.

"Only because gege won't look at me", he countered, and sounded like he was pouting.

But before Xie Lian could think of a way to reply to that, Hua Cheng used his arm to put so much pressure on his waist that Xie Lian couldn't do anything but let himself get manhandled until his face was pressed flush against his alpha's chest, and he was enveloped in a tight, comforting hug.

They stood there like that until Xie Lian calmed down a bit, and eventually managed to hug his alpha back.

"I'm sorry", Xie Lian mumbled. "That was very unprofessional of me yesterday."

They left the ancestral hall a while later and made their way to the infirmary, once Xie Lian's massive blush had gone down to a healthy degree.

When they arrived, Shi QingXuan was apparently busy tending to somebody, but a nurse led them into the boy's room.