You looked down at yourself disapprovingly. Your makeup was a mess and the dress was a bit scrunched up. Also, the foundation felt really uncomfortable on your face.
'Why was makeup such a problem to you anyways?' Xu Mao asked mockingly. 'Didnt you do the princes makeup and dress him up everyday?' You glared at the ground. 'Doing it to yourself is hard, okay!?' 'Yeah, sure sure.' You could practically hear Xu Mao roll his eyes.
You shyly decided to step out from the building. And were soon greeted by the horrified faces of Fu Yao and Nan Feng and Xie Lians dumbfounded face, yet he still smiled. To him you still were beautiful.
You coughed into your sleeves, hiding your face embarassedly.
"What a sorry excuse for a bride, if I were the ghost..." "You'd string her up?" Nan Feng continued Fu Yaos words. "It'd burn down her village!" You just side-eyed him, while Xu Mao fumed inside your head.
"Now, now. Don't be so rude." Xie Lian softly glared at both of them, crossing his arms. Giving you a smile. 'How dare they insult my beautiful Qīn qīn..' Xie Lian disapprovingly thought in his head, but shaked those thoughts away when he heard a timid voice from behind him.
"Excuse me, sir.." The lady from before stepped infront of them. You awkwardly turned around, not wanting more people to see your face. "Oh it's you!" Xie Lian exclaimed in surprise. "From yesterday..." he then glanced at you, feeling your uncomfortableness, so he stepped in front of you.
"Oh please don't get the wrong idea! This is just to lure out the ghost groom." Xie Lian said as he slyly patted your back. "Listen..Im really sorry. I wanted to make up for what happened before... The tea house mister said you were staying here, so I brought some food as a token of my gratitude.." 'how kind!'
"No, it's alright.." 'No it's NOT! I want the food! Give me the food! Food food food!'
"By the way, Im good at sewing, perhaps I could help you with your dress..." You turned your head around. "...and makeup, you might look prettier with alterations!" You silently nodded.
After some time you were finally finished. You pleasedly looked at yourself in the mirror, it looked way better now. Xie Lian approached you and smiled.
He grabbed some of your hair and said; "Qīn qīn looks even prettier like this.." you blushed slightly and shyly looked away. "Uh...th-thank you..." he smiled at you with his eyes closed and grabbed your hand.
"Well, it's time to go now." He held your hand all the way to the carriage, even helping you get in, and soon you set forth. Nan Feng, Fu Yao and Xie Lian walked alongside the carriage.
„Everything okay, qīn qīn?" you nodded but then realised he couldn't see you, „hmm. Yes." „that's good." „the sedan carries we hired a very capable. They are skilled in martial arts and are familiar with the area, don't worry." „just focus on your safety." finished Fu Yao.
You deadpanned at their worry. „I am not worrying..." Xie Lian chuckled and shook his head. The rest of the ride was more silent, no one exchanged a word.
„Excited about your wedding? It's a big day~" Fu Yao teased 'Oh god is he serious?' Xu Mao complained in your head, annoyed. „Sigh. There is something missing here..." „there's something missing? Like what?" „two maids for the bride." both you and Xu Mao chuckled at the imagination of Nan Feng und Fu Yao as your brides.
Both men huffed. „Im afraid your family is to poor for maids, what a pity." Xie Lian chuckled aswell.
„Nan Feng. Where are we at the moment?" „We've been on mount Yujun for a while." you sighed in annoyance, hearing you are nowhere near your destination. But then your ears suddenly perked up as you heard a giggling voice.
'Stay alert.' Xu Mao warned, you then knew the voice was nothing good. You tensed up. The voice started singing and you gasped in curiosity. „Is something wrong?"Xie Lian asked worriedly. „Do you all hear that as well? The singing voice?" You asked them.
„I didn't hear a thing." Nan Feng replied. „Nor did I." „I didn't hear anything either qīn qīn." You furrowed your brows. „So it is only for me..." you mumbled. The voice sounds nice tho, it's just really spooky... you shivered.
„It's singing." „about what?" you could hear Xie Lians tone laced with worry. „Cross the mountains, in tears, never smile, before the ghostgroom." „A message? Or warning?" Nan Feng asked. „If not a trap, better not to cry" you laughed quitely.
„I could never cry. Whats the worst that can happen anyways?" „You could be kidnapped." Xie Lian replied seriously. „Don't worry. Ive been smiling the whole time. Im strong!" Xie Lian sighed and shook his head.
Now more strange noises from the forest were heard. Then a howl. „It's a pack of wolves! Wolves don't live here!" „Oh?" You sighed and leaned back as you let the other fight the wolves, feeling Xie Lian staying close to you.
„Do you think you can handle these things?" you asked them. „They're just mutts." Fu Yao replied. Suddenly someone yelled.
„Monsters!" you raised a brow and were tempted to go outside, but were gently pushed back by Xie Lian. „Stay inside qīn qīn." a hand then grabbed your dress and you furrowed your brows in disgust, still keeping a smile on.
You harshly cut the hand off, kicking it out of the carriage. "Slave Goblins! Annoying things... they just keep...coming!" Fu Yao complained as he slashed Slave Goblin after Slave Goblin.
"You sure you don't need my help?" You asked. "As if you could do much!" Nan Feng replied and you huffed. "How many are there?" You asked, although a bit grumpy. "About a hundred. Perhaps more." You gasped in shook as another hand grabbed your foot, shivering in disgust. "Ten...is already a handful!"
You were stressed already, desperately trying to shake the disgusting hand off. Xie Lian saw this and glared at the creature, breaking the Slave Goblin in half with Rouye. "Tha-thank you..." you thanked him, releasing a sigh.
Xie Lian smiled a bit before coughing into his fist, commanding Rouye to kill the Goblins, which it did. "I thought you couldn't wield magical weapons!" Nan Feng exclaimed. "There are always exceptions." Xie Lian replied calmly.
"Gege is so amazing!" You praised, Xie Lian blushing slightly.
"Anyways. You guys should retreat.", You commanded. "Retreat?" Nan Feng asked. "They'll keep coming, it's no use. So just go. I can handle them.....I think..", you mumbled the last part. "And you?" Xie Lian asked worriedly.
"I'll simply just wait until the groom comes." Xie Lian hummed hesitantly. "I won't argue with him, we should come back later." Fu Yao said. "Fine...just take Rouye with you." Xie Lian sighed, Rouye hurrying into the carriage to wrap itself around your waist, making you giggle.
Xie Lian smiled at your giggles. "Come on let's hurry!" Fu Yao urged. And with this they finally ran away, all of them, the Slave Goblins following them. Now it was quiet.
You played with Rouye to entertain yourself, Rouye slithering around your chest. You must admit, it is really touchy.
Suddenly a strong wind came up, fluttering the carriage silk. You heard the jingle of bells and foot steps, furrowing your brows.
'Oh! A butterfly!' You awed in your head. 'Oh god. Not a butterfly again.' Xu Mao groaned. 'Huh?' You wondered why he was reacting like this.
You jumped slightly when a hand reached into the carriage, luckily it was a human hand. You hesitantly put your hand in the other. You must admit this person was very patient.
The hand helped you out of the carriage, unlucky you tripped. But the person caught you. You felt warm. 'No one but Gege has ever caught me..'
You looked up at the persons face, disappointed to see that half of the persons face was covered by the mist. You furrowed your brows, the persons smirk fell slightly. The person started to escort you, careful of their step.
The jingling was very satisfying to hear. You watched in astonishment as just with a mere smirk, they scared the wolves away. This person must be like a top predator. Like sharks!
The person stopped for a bit, taking out a beautiful red umbrella, that did look kind of similar.. Your ears perked as you heard a crushing sound, looking behind the person to see what it was, only to see nothing.
'Huh? It's raining?' You wondered as you heard rain drop on the umbrella, glancing up at the person. You must say, alone the smirk of the person looked handsome.
'This persons jingles are so funny they couldn't possibly be the ghost groom!' You happily laughed in your head. 'Oh my god are you dumb..' Before you could start an argument with Xu Mao the person closed the umbrella and stepped infront of you, letting go of your hand which saddened you quite a bit.
The person then lifted the silk that covered your face, you just let them. Looking up at them curiously. Yet suddenly, Rouye hurried out of your sleeve and started attacking them.
"Wait! Rouye!" Yet before Rouye could do any harm, the person disappeared in butterflies, making your eyes widen in astonishment. "Woah... Beautiful..."