"I’ve already told you it’s not a wedding photo." Ruan Tang corrected, her face blushing. "It’s just an ordinary picture!"
After helping their good friend Xu Yaoyao and her fiancé Liu Beiming pick out wedding attire, the group had headed to the photo studio downstairs. Xu Yaoyao and her husband went to take their photos, while Xu Lai and Ruan Tang went to pick theirs up.
"Sorry about that," the photo studio staff apologized. "It was scheduled to be couriered tomorrow. We’ve troubled you to make a special trip."
"It’s no trouble, we were coming this way anyway," Ruan Tang said with a smile.
After another round of pleasantries, she finally looked at the huge picture fra Xu Lai was holding. It was about a ter long and half a ter wide, featuring a photo of him and Ruan Tang holding hands. She was taken aback for a mont. In the fra, she looked gentle and elegant, while Xu Lai was devastatingly handso. No one would object to calling them a match made in heaven.
Ruan Tang snuck a peek at Xu Lai. He was holding the fra, looking as smugly content as a child who’d just been given candy.
Soon, however, Xu Lai let out a sigh.
Ruan Tang asked in surprise, "What’s wrong?"
"Our wedding photo is nice, but sothing’s not quite right."
"...What’s not right?" Ruan Tang had already given up on correcting his use of the term ’wedding photo.’
"Look at the qipao you’re wearing in the picture." Xu Lai pointed, his brow deeply furrowed as he alternated between shaking his head and sighing.
Ruan Tang looked, completely bewildered.
What’s wrong with the qipao? I look dignified and proper in it, gentle and elegant, a perfect example of a well-bred young lady from Jiangnan. My figure, my face... there’s nothing to criticize. It’s perfect. What on earth could Xu Lai be dissatisfied with!?
Ruan Tang said flatly, "I’m afraid it’s not the clothes that are wrong, but the woman in the photo with Mr. Xu. Have you been reminded of so ex-girlfriend?"
Xu Lai was speechless.
He flicked Ruan Tang on the forehead, making her cry out in pain. As she glared at him with her beautiful, pouting eyes, Xu Lai said helplessly, "Honey, what nonsense are you talking about? I was just thinking that when we get married, your wedding dress will have to be infinitely more magnificent than this. This qipao... it’s too plain."
"This is plain?" Ruan Tang was astonished. Not every woman dared to wear a qipao-style wedding dress; it required a certain confidence in one’s figure and temperant.
Xu Lai nodded earnestly. "Plain!"
In his mind, as the matriarch of the Heavenly Court, Ruan Tang’s wedding dress ought to be inlaid with at least a hundred galaxies, right? The twinkling, swirling stars would surely be beautiful.
But when Ruan Tang heard his idea, she couldn’t help but feel a longing for it too, though she ultimately refused. "Putting aside that such a thing doesn’t exist, even if it did, I could never wear it."
"Why not?" Xu Lai asked in surprise.
"A hundred galaxies! Think how heavy that would be. Even if I am a fairy, I couldn’t bear that kind of pressure." Ruan Tang was uncharacteristically playful.
Xu Lai couldn’t help but chuckle. "Galaxies aren’t that heavy. Made into a dress, it would only weigh a few dozen grams, even lighter than a Plain Gauze Zen Robe."
Ruan Tang rolled her eyes at him. "Are you stupid, or am I?"
Xu Lai was stunned.
Since his dear wife didn’t believe him, he would just have to make one. She’d need to wear it for their wedding anyway, so he might as well prepare it in advance.
A sliver of his Divine Sense shot out toward the Heavenly Court.
「In the depths of the universe.」
Suspended above the Nine Heavens was the Heavenly Court. Taotie’s eyes were bloodshot; he hadn’t slept for seven full days. After processing the last docunt, he let out a long, turbid breath, feeling dizzy, his vision blurry, and his back aching.
So tired!
As the First Divine General of the Heavenly Court and the most formidable brute in the universe, Taotie had once looked down on its literary generals. Each one of them was so arrogant. Solving problems with your brain—who can’t do that? How could it possibly be harder than grappling with enemies in life-or-death struggles?
But in the days since The Supre Emperor’s departure, having handled every official matter personally, Taotie had developed a sincere admiration for the Heavenly Court’s civil officials. The only thing that frustrated him was that the Second Divine General, Baize, still refused to erge from his seclusion, spending all his days in his cave dwelling studying chess manuals or in closed-door cultivation.
But no matter. Today, he was finally free!
Just as Taotie was about to find The Seventh Divine General for a cathartically intense battle to relieve the frustrations of the past few days, he saw two more literary generals striding toward him. They respectfully handed over a Storage Jade Pendant.
He probed it with his Divine Sense—and his vision went black. It was a mountain of official Jade Slips!
I cannot betray The Supre Emperor’s trust...
With a trembling hand, Taotie took out a few Jade Slips and began to work, but he was so drowsy his eyelids kept fighting to stay open.
Just then, a familiar voice sounded in his ear. "Taotie."
Taotie froze. Then, tears began to stream down his face. It was a Divine Sense transmission from The Supre Emperor! The Supre Emperor still rembers !
"Taotie, Ni Xing—"
Xu Lai’s transmission hadn’t even finished. Taotie’s breath caught.
Ni Xing... Is he comnding for my hard work?
Taotie’s heart was in turmoil. How could he possibly be worthy of such concern from The Supre Emperor? He hurriedly said, "Supre Emperor, I am not weary! It is my duty to lay down my life for the Heavenly Court!"
"Uh." Xu Lai was taken aback. That’s not what I was asking... But he nodded anyway and said, "As expected of my right-hand man."
"You flatter , Supre Emperor!" Taotie was secretly overjoyed. The Supre Emperor praised ! Hehehe, I’m so happy. Suddenly, I have the energy to work again!
"Right," Xu Lai said, "I’m sending you a list. Have Divine General Ni Xing find the materials and send them to when they’re ready. I’m going to make a wedding dress for your mistress."
Materials for the wedding dress? Taotie said solemnly, "Supre Emperor, making a wedding dress is such a trivial matter. How could you trouble yourself with it? Please, leave it to us."
"I owe her this."
Xu Lai’s voice was very quiet, but it sent a tremor through Taotie’s heart.
He truly is The Supre Emperor! So full of love and righteousness, a true model for our generation! No wonder there’s a saying in the Immortal Domain: ’If you’re to marry a man, marry Xu Qingfeng.’
And so, Taotie replied, "Yes, Supre Emperor!"
Then, the Divine Sense vanished. Humming a little tune, Taotie sped across the sky. He was off to notify the sixty-second Divine General, Ni Xing. This gentle-natured Divine General rarely participated in the Heavenly Court’s affairs, nor did she ever fight in its wars. Her primary responsibility was the census and tracking of changes across all star systems. To put it in Earth terms, she was the director of the census bureau.
If one wanted to weave a wedding dress from the Milky Way, there was no one who knew more about it than her.
「At six o’clock in the evening.」
Xu Yaoyao and Liu Beiming had finished their wedding photos. They offered to treat Xu Lai and Ruan Tang to a celebratory dinner, but the couple declined and drove ho, because Xu Yiyi and Ruan Lan were still at ho with empty stomachs.
When they returned with the picture fra, Ruan Lan’s eyes went wide at the sight of the photo. "Are you two getting married?"
"No..."
"Then why did you take wedding photos?" Ruan Lan asked, baffled.
"It’s not a wedding photo!" Ruan Tang cried, exasperated.
"It’s not? Then why are you wearing what looks like a wedding dress? And holding hands, and standing so close to each other..."
Ruan Tang was about to scold her unfiltered sister when Xu Yiyi gently caressed the photo, her smile innocent and radiant. "Mommy is so beautiful!"
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