A/N: 😂😂 The response to my last chapter has been hilarious! Some of my chattier readers went radio silent, and silent readers turned chatty! 🤣😂🤣 I love the response, regardless!
This chapter has taken time to write because it required a bit of research and I also had to juggle with the dilemma of inserting specific traditions into a romance that isn't accepted in that country. Which is a minefield of thought. I've reached a compromise- the traditions described will be drawn from Chinese culture but will be hybridised with in-game culture from Dreams of Jiangshu 2.
The newly established couple walked in to work, together, the next morning. Mei was yawning and rubbing the back of his neck when he froze, left speechless by the sight in front of him. He blinked. Maybe lack of sleep was causing hallucinations? Or maybe, as his father always used to warn him (or was it threaten?) and too much wan lao er had sent him mad. (A/N: wan lao er = "playing with little brother" or masturbation. Lao er = "little brother" or penis. 😊)
Overnight, the office had been replaced with a sea of red. Painted cardboard charms dangled from the beams, red paper had been shredded for instant confetti, and where they managed to get their hands on gauzy red curtains to hang over the office windows... Mei wasn't sure he wanted to know. The conference room had been cleared out and the retractable glass doors pushed right back, opening the space to the rest of the office. Two office chairs, draped in red, were positioned at the end of the conference room in such a way that anyone sitting in them could have a view of the entire office. The large table had been moved out and several smaller office tables added to either end, creating a space long enough for every single person in Zhi Yi Technologies to sit down together. Someone had managed to find paper plates and cups in white and gold and had even managed to get their hands on gold plastic chopsticks.
Mei took a step back. No one had seen them yet... maybe it wasn't too late to call in sick?
"Ouch." KO's curse as Mei stepped backwards onto his foot, caught the attention of Wang Wei and Mei's stomach did a tango when he realised that there was no avoiding what his "friends" had in store. Yu Ban Shan and Qui Hong You were conspicuously absent from the mob that swooped down on Mei and the unsuspecting KO; proof that it was all their idea.
"The Bride and Groom are here!"
"Finally! What took you so long?"
"Eh! Look at Mei-ge blush. Mr Beauty, did you preempt the wedding night?"
"They never came back yesterday... maybe they eloped?"
"No matter. We can still have the wedding banquet! But if they eloped then we don't need to worry about red packets." Cheers greeted that statement and Mei's head started to pound.
"Crazy. We didn't elope." But they did, kind of, preempt the wedding night. Even after showering, and running out of hot water in the process, they still hadn't gone any further. When Mei had hinted at the possibility, KO had made yet another obscure comment about Mei's virtue and for once, not even sexual temptations had loosened his lips any further on that issue.
Something of Mei's thoughts must have shown on his face because the teasing then turned on KO.
"See him blush... KO-ge... what have you been doing to our Beauty?"
"Eh, you must take responsibility."
"Our Mei was a chaste child before you came along. Take responsibility for your actions."
KO hid it well, but Mei knew his lover too well not to see the twitch at the corner of his mouth. Bastard was enjoying the situation they now found themselves in.
"Responsibility, your arse." Mei pushed at Li Qiang. "I'm not a girl. I can't get pregnant. So what responsibility to take?"
For a brief moment, silence engulfed the office. Into the taut vacuum, KO sighed. "Mei..."
"Eh?" Mei looked up at the man. "What?
"Sometimes... silence is golden."
Mei blinked at him.
"Don't worry, I will take responsibility for you anyway."
Scowling, Mei turned his back on KO. "Why so certain, who needs to take responsibility?"
Wang Wei overheard the muttered comment and burst out laughing. "Who else Mei-ge? You? Take responsibility for KO?"
The crowd around them started laughing and jostling the two men towards the middle of the office. At some hidden signal, Yu Ban Shan and Qui Hong You appeared. Ban Shan was dressed in an elaborate robe, heavy with embroidery around the collar and in the shape of yin yang on the front of the robe. Mei frowned; something about the costume looked very familiar, but it didn't click until he saw Hong You's appearance. His friend was dressed as a warrior from Dreams of Jiangshu 2. In particular, the warrior that he had been the prototype for... and hadn't Ban Shan been the prototype for... Mei turned and tried to flee but eager hands grabbed him.
"Put me down!" Kicking and squirming, Mei soon found himself spread eagle in the air; two of his peers (see if he ever called them friends again) holding each limb, suspending him in the air and making it quite impossible for him to run. KO hadn't fared much better. At the first sign of violence directed towards Mei, the hacker had moved to help him only to have a large sheet thrown over his head. While he fought to free his arms and head, the sheet had been bound in place and he was dragged, trussed up, to stand in front of Ban Shan.
"We have the bride and groom before you, Yue Lao." Mei's protest was muffled when a hand covered his mouth. "What should we do with them?" (A/N: Yue Lao is the marriage celebrant AI from Dreams of Jiangshu.)
Ban Shan smiled, and Mei would have shivered had he not been held too tightly to move. "We can't have a wedding with the Bride and Groom is such a state... get them dressed!"
It wasn't easy for them to get Mei dressed. KO had pushed Li Qiang to the ground in retaliation for the sheet, but had otherwise restrained himself. While he made no move to help the rowdy group change him, he also made no move to hinder their actions. Mei, on the other hand, had taken one look at the outfit prepared for him, and baulked.
"No."
"Mei-ge... see how well KO lets us dress him... be more like him, eh?"
"Shit. No."
"Such language from such a beauty. Mei!" Wang Wei sounded scandalised but the grin splitting his face in half was mirrored on every face around them.
"I'm not wearing that." Mei refused to look at the costume draped over the back of his chair. "If you're going to force me to wear an outfit for this farce, then why not one like KO's?"
Hong You chuckled. "You can't have two grooms at a wedding. And look at KO... so handsome in traditional robes. Yang Ying from the Art Department even has a wig for him to wear to match his outfit. He will look just as handsome for you, as you will look beautiful for him."
"Beautiful my arse. I'm not wearing that."
With that last refusal, Hong You nodded at the men standing near Mei and they grabbed him. At that, KO finally spoke up. "Let this be my first duty as husband."
As Mei shot him a dirty look, KO grabbed the costume for the bride, took Mei by the hand, and commandeered Xiao Nai's office. As sea of faces pressed against the glass and he glared at them before closing the blinds.
Putting the costume on the table, he slowly approached a pacing Hao Mei. "They don't mean any harm. It's just jest."
"You think I don't know that?" Mei stopped his pacing to push his fingers through his hair. "It's not the jest that bothers me... do you think they'd all be doing this for fun if they knew the truth?"
KO frowned. "Your brothers won't care. The rest don't matter."
"But how do you know?"
The broke through the clouds as KO suddenly realised what was bothering Mei so much. "Xiao Nai already knows what you mean to me. He gave me his blessing. If laosan approves, then the other two will as well."
Coming up behind the smaller man, KO wrapped his arms around his waist and leaned his check on Mei's soft hair. "Those costumes weren't made overnight. Your brothers have been planning something like this for a while... they've just taken advantage of the situation and turned it in to what we have to face today."
His words made sense. Darn it. It was easier to rail against the whole thing before logic was brought in to play. Mei sighed. "So, what? We just go along with it?"
"Hmm..." KO tilted Mei's head back, pressing a soft kiss on his lips. "To an extent. No one else needs to know how we really feel about the words they make us say."
Closing his eyes, Mei leaned against KO's chest. "True... but..."
"I will promise you this: I will not say anything I do not mean. Hmm? They can not make me speak, only you know that secret." That startled a laugh out of Mei.
"I will promise the same to you: I will not say anything I do not mean."
The pair shared a gentle kiss before KO gently pushed Mei towards the costume on the table. Now that he looked at it, the blue silk looked remarkably like.... he lifted it up... his Heavenly Healer's costume?
"A dress? Those bastards have given me a dress!!!!!!"
In the main office, Ban Shan shivered. Did someone just walk over his grave?
A/N: this will be continued in the next chapter and possibly even the one after that. Either way, the office wedding scene will be completed by the end of this weekend. 😊 It just got too large to put in the one chapter (my eyes are starting to blur and autocorrect is acting like a cow so that's getting frustrating- time to sleep and recharge and finish it off tomorrow).
What do you think Xiao Nai will say about it all? In the series, he has the day off with Wei Wei but for the sake of this story, they're both coming in to work.