Luo Cheng’an and Lu Zhixing would never be able to get along in perfect harmony. But both of them understood that neither would ever again try to beat the other to within an inch of his life like they had in the past.
That alone was already good enough.
*
Even after spring arrived, City S remained bitterly cold. In fact, it was even colder than before, with the weather feeling very much like a sudden cold snap in early spring.
But online, the CP fans were burning with excitement. The reason was that, after obtaining their marriage certificate the day before the wedding, Lu Zhixing had posted a photo of it on Weibo.
Lu Zhixing had been out of the entertainment industry for more than half a year, and his very first Weibo post was a marriage certificate. The photo landed like a thunderbolt, bringing all the CP fans rushing out of the woodwork.
【I’m so happy I’m going to faint!】
【His manager posted too! They said tomorrow’s wedding will be livestreamed. Oh my God, I’m so happy I could die!】
【This is the first CP I’ve shipped that actually got married. I’ve been crying for half an hour. Sob, sob, sob!】
【Me too, but I still want to ask: who’s the top?】
【Top on the left, bottom on the right! Xi Yu is on the left! Raise the Xi family banner high!】
【I refuse to believe my Lu-ge is the bottom!】
【I’ve decided that from this moment on, I’m staying glued to my computer so I won’t miss a single frame of tomorrow’s wedding!】
…
Xi Yu had a black face mask stuck to his face. Shen Qing had come over and forcibly made him apply it, claiming it would help his makeup look better tomorrow. She had completely disregarded his insistence that he wanted to get married bare-faced.
Lu Zhixing was wearing a white mask. The two had been ordered to sleep separately after finishing their masks, because apparently the bride and groom weren’t supposed to see each other on the night before the wedding. Yet even after their masks had dried stiff on their faces, Lu Zhixing was still curled up in Xi Yu’s arms.
“Are they really going to livestream it?” Xi Yu asked.
Lu Zhixing’s face felt sore, so he finally peeled off his dried mask. “Absolutely! I wish I could buy up every newspaper page in the world and put our wedding on it.”
Xi Yu couldn’t talk him out of it, so he took him to wash his face. Once the mask was removed, Xi Yu finally felt comfortable again. He gave Lu Zhixing a gentle push.
“Go to sleep. Mom will be coming to hurry you along soon.”
Lu Zhixing clung to him, reluctant to leave. He kissed Xi Yu’s left cheek, then his right.
“Brother, I’m so excited.”
Xi Yu gave an absent-minded “Mm-hmm.” Lu Zhixing had been happy all day. Ever since receiving their marriage certificate, the smile had never left his face.
Lu Zhixing held the marriage certificate against his chest and blinked at him.
“Brother, do you love me? Do you love me more than anyone? Do you love the me from before I recovered my memories, or the me I am now?”
Xi Yu could produce sweet words effortlessly.
“I love the you who is here with me now.”
Lu Zhixing was finally satisfied. He lowered his head and shared a deep, lingering kiss with Xi Yu. Looking into his eyes, he said almost with a sigh, “I’m so happy right now.”
The last traces of jealousy in his heart finally vanished, swept away by Xi Yu’s indulgence over the past few days and those words.
Lu Zhixing left the room, perfectly content. He pressed the red marriage certificate against his chest, but in the very next second, a violent wave of pain swept through his head.
………………..
Lu Zhixing collapsed heavily to the floor, landing with a dull thud.
Xi Yu was just about to turn off the lights when he heard the noise outside the door. His heart sank, and he hurriedly opened it.
The doorway was completely empty. Xi Yu froze, thinking he must have heard incorrectly.
But the sound just now had unmistakably been the heavy thud of something hitting the ground.
Feeling uneasy, Xi Yu took out his phone and sent Lu Zhixing a message.
When the phone rang, Lu Zhixing was curled up on the bed. A thin layer of sweat covered his forehead. Beneath the bright lights, his face was deathly pale, yet both hands were pressed tightly against his chest. His trembling fingertips could barely hold on to the marriage certificate.
He saw Xi Yu’s message on his phone. With a fingertip drained of color from the pain, he took quite a while to type out three words:
I’m home.
His memories had returned all at once, and his spiritual power had also recovered by thirty percent. However, his soul had not yet fully recovered. As his spiritual meridians awakened and began circulating power again, intense pain spread from his head through every inch of his body’s meridians.
Only after quite some time did the pain gradually subside.
His eyes were bloodshot, filled with red veins from the agony, but a gentle smile played on his lips. His eyes were so wet that they seemed ready to overflow.
“Master…” Lu Zhixing murmured. “I’m back.”
He hadn’t lost the memories of this period. Remembering how he had been jealous of himself and had even wanted to remain without his memories forever filled him with a sudden sense of dread.
How could he have not wanted to remember? All those happy and painful experiences had been things he shared with his Master.
In fact, Lu Zhixing’s deepest memories still lingered at the moment the Annihilation Formation was activated. Back then, his Master had told him that he loved him.
Lu Zhixing opened the marriage certificate. On it were two radiant smiling faces: Xi Yu and Lu Zhixing.
Not Lanxing and Zhuxi.
“He really got a bargain,” Lu Zhixing said with a smile.
He meant the version of himself who had lost his memories.
Strangely enough, he had always thought his amnesiac self was childish and unreasonable. Yet now that his memories had returned, he found himself jealous of that very version of himself.
He had struggled so hard to reach where he was with his Master. He hadn’t even had the chance to enjoy his Master’s love without reservation, yet the version of himself without memories had already enjoyed it.
Lu Zhixing stared at the marriage certificate for a long time, unable to fall asleep. By the time the sky began to pale with the first light of dawn, he simply gave up on sleeping altogether.
Xi Yu, meanwhile, slept soundly, completely unaware that Lu Zhixing next door had recovered his memories and spent the entire night awake.
Lu Zhixing was far too excited. The fact that he hadn’t slept all night had left dark circles beneath his eyes, but he used his magic to adjust his appearance to its best possible state.
The pain the previous night had been so severe that he hadn’t dared tell Xi Yu at the time, afraid of making him worry. He and Xi Yu still had a long, long time ahead of them. There was no need to rush to tell him immediately.
Later, when the pain had subsided, Xi Yu had already gone to sleep. Lu Zhixing thought about it all night and decided to wait until their wedding night to give Xi Yu a surprise.
A mortal wedding and marriage certificate meant very little to immortals, but Lu Zhixing was still looking forward to it.
*
Xi Yu was hauled out of bed early in the morning by Luo Cheng’an. A few burly men carrying cameras came along with him.
Xi Yu’s bedhead was still sticking up in all directions. It was such a joyous occasion that he couldn’t afford to let his morning grumpiness get the better of him.
“Are you filming me brushing my teeth too?” Xi Yu asked, his mouth full of toothpaste foam.
Luo Cheng’an was dressed in a well-tailored gray suit, with an iris pinned to his chest. His expression was unreadable.
“We’re filming you getting changed, too.”
?
Shen Tan poked his head out from behind Luo Cheng’an and smiled.
“He’s joking, Brother Xi.”
Xi Yu raised his eyebrows when he saw Shen Tan, but didn’t ask any unnecessary questions.
Lu Zhixing’s side had also started filming early that morning. Unlike Xi Yu, who had been dragged out of bed, Lu Zhixing had gotten ready long ago. By the time the cameramen and his parents entered, he was already dressed in his white wedding suit, looking confident, radiant, and impeccable.
【Did Lu-ge not sleep last night? Xi Yu had only just gotten up, but he’d already changed into his wedding clothes.】
【Those two faces are ridiculously handsome. Cameraman, get some spicy footage, understand?!】
【You can tell Lu-ge is even more in love now. He must have stayed up all night. I’m crying.】
【Seeing them happy makes me cry even before they do. Sob, sob, sob!】
【Wait, is it just me, or why is Shen Tan there too?】
【Didn’t a blurry photo from a makeup room surface last time? It was so blurry you couldn’t tell who the two people were, only that two men were embracing and kissing. At the time, some marketing account claimed they were the male leads of a popular recent IP. Some people guessed Luo Cheng’an and Shen Tan, but Luo Cheng’an personally came out to deny it. Now, why do I suddenly feel like… Never mind. I won’t say it.】
【…If you won’t say it, I won’t either.】
【If none of you will say it, then I will! Zhixing and Xi Yu are REAL!!!】
【Yes! YES! This is so satisfying! I’m so happy my CP has finally tied the knot!】
【The person above… Are you sure you can say that out loud?】
…
Since Lu Zhixing had been ready for quite some time, he had plenty of time to keep an eye on the comments online. Seeing them, the corners of his lips curved into a faint smile.
This could also count as one good thing his amnesiac self had done.
Lu Zhixing knew he wasn’t a perfect person. But his Master had carefully and patiently smoothed away his obsessiveness, gloominess, and fiercely possessive nature.
“Lu-ge,” the cameraman asked, “how are you feeling right now?”
Standing in front of the camera, Lu Zhixing answered, “I’m very nervous.”
As he spoke, he pressed his palm against the camera.
“My palms are sweating, but I’m also incredibly happy. It feels like I’m standing on clouds made of cotton candy.”
While Lu Zhixing was calmly chatting with the cameraman, Xi Yu was being held down in the makeup room by Shen Qing, while the makeup artist repeatedly dabbed his face with a powder puff.
But Xi Yu’s face hardly needed any touching up. The makeup artist applied only a thin layer of powder and styled his hair. The whole process took no more than twenty minutes.
The wedding venue had ultimately been chosen as a private castle in City A, one that was not open to the public.
The solemn, stately castle had been brought to life with flowers. Even the sky seemed to be favoring them that day, with sunlight making the lawn look soft and inviting.
The amnesiac Lu Zhixing had originally insisted on sending invitations to everyone he knew, but Xi Yu had stopped him.
Xi Yu’s preference was to keep things simple and avoid making too much of a fuss, so they invited only a small circle of people they knew well.
It wasn’t a large wedding, but thanks to the livestream, countless people were able to witness it.
Only after getting out of the car did Xi Yu begin to feel nervous.
“Do I look all right?” he asked. “Is my suit wrinkled? Has my makeup smudged?”
Luo Cheng’an shook his head, his gaze calm.
“You look perfect.”
With Xi Yu’s face, this was exactly how perfect he could look.
He could also tell himself that he was simply Luo Cheng’an now, simply Xi Yu’s family.
Luo Cheng’an held out his hand.
“Come on. He’s waiting for you.”
Luo Cheng’an had volunteered to escort Xi Yu. As his younger brother, he would walk him over to Lu Zhixing.
He lowered his eyes to look at Xi Yu. The perfectly tailored suit outlined Xi Yu’s slender waist and long legs. A red pear blossom was pinned to his chest, and his appearance was breathtaking.
Xi Yu’s gaze fell on Luo Cheng’an’s open palm. After a moment, he slowly placed his hand in it.