Imperial Weight Chapter 15
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 15
Xingyi returned to the bridal chamber quite late. The master bedroom was meticulously decorated—dragon and phoenix lamps, eternal lights, and deep red curtains hanging on the vermillion walls, all exuding a quiet and profound joy.
The newlywed sitting in the center of the room, on the marriage bed, was also very happy. Little Phoenix sat properly with hands folded neatly, maintaining this posture for a long time. Only when hearing the sound of the door opening did he stir slightly, instinctively wanting to lift his veil to look at him, then thought better of it and withdrew his hand, placing it back down hesitantly.
Xingyi noticed his movement and paused in his steps. Then he glanced around, reached for the golden ceremonial rod placed on the table, and used it to lift Little Phoenix's veil. At that moment, Little Phoenix raised his head slightly, the light in his eyes seeming to outshine the candlelight. Against the deep red backdrop, a bright smile bloomed on that exquisitely beautiful face.
Strangely enough, Xingyi's heart had been as still as water. When he had been speaking with his younger brother outside just moments ago, he had been logical, detached, and calm. He was born with such a temperament—merely to dispel the current young emperor's suspicions, he hadn't even taken this sham of a grand wedding to heart. Yet when he saw Little Phoenix's smile, his heart inexplicably... skipped a beat.
This youth wasn't even seventeen yet. He was clearly someone brought out from a brothel, clearly tainted with worldly dust, clearly just someone he had picked casually—even if the prince were to marry a courtesan, it had to be the top courtesan. As long as that title was there, he didn't care about anything else. But this smile happened to be so beautiful.
Xingyi suddenly realized something: now that they were married, the person before his eyes belonged to him completely. If nothing unexpected happened, throughout this long and lonely life ahead, this person would be the one to accompany him.
Without thinking, Xingyi's fingers traced down Little Phoenix's soft, smooth cheek, brushing past the corner of his eye to touch the warmth of his hair. He removed the golden hairpin binding the hair, and ink-black tresses cascaded down like a waterfall, draping over his shoulders.
Little Phoenix blinked and called out softly, "Husband."
Xingyi froze for a moment, then responded gently, "Mm."
Neither of them had been married before, yet Little Phoenix had memorized all these detailed customs by heart—drinking the nuptial wine, eating the half-raw sweet dumplings. Not a single step could be wrong.
Xingyi drank the cross-cupped wine with him arm-in-arm, and seeing that bowl of dipping water sweet dumplings that had almost gone cold, assumed that like the nuptial wine, both of them had to eat it. Little Phoenix quickly stopped him. "These are raw, you shouldn't eat them."
Xingyi frowned. "Raw? I'll call someone to—"
Little Phoenix looked at him with a grinning smile, grabbing his arm. "It's not like that."
Xingyi waited for him to explain. Little Phoenix's voice grew quieter, as if he was also a bit embarrassed. "This wedding custom requires you to actively offer me the dumplings. After I take a bite, you ask, 'Raw or not?' Then I have to say 'Raw,' which is an auspicious phrase meaning we can have children early."
Xingyi smiled. "You're a man. Since I've brought you back to the residence, I won't care about the issue of heirs."
Little Phoenix fell quiet for a moment, then mumbled, "But I heard that when others get married, they all, they all do this... Even though I'm a man and can't bear you children, but, but I..."
Unable to think of what else to say, he looked at him with those bright eyes again. "I like you."
Xingyi was silent for a moment, then finally looked at him and sighed softly.
"Silly."
That night, Xingyi was very gentle. The deep red bed curtains fell, enclosing the two of them in a blissful world where even their breaths were scorching and sweet. When Little Phoenix fell asleep, he initially had his back to Xingyi, but later woke up once in the middle of the night. Glancing at the steady, peaceful face of the person beside him, his own face gradually flushed red.
This person was his husband now.
The person he liked was his husband now. He no longer needed to ingratiate himself or pretend with anyone as he had before. He could even throw little tantrums, could cling to him—wasn't that what husbands were for?
Thinking this, Little Phoenix boldly crawled into Xingyi's embrace, happily wrapping his arms around his waist, and fell into a deep sleep.
The wedding candles at their bedside burned from beginning to end, finally extinguishing with a soft sound. Xingyi opened his eyes and immediately discovered this audacious person nestled in his arms.
He thought for a while, unable to figure out what he should do in this situation, so he reached out and held Little Phoenix even tighter.
—---
"What are you calling me?" Xingyi asked.
This time Little Phoenix was completely shameless and called out even louder, putting his little wings on his hips and hopping a few steps. "Husband!"
Xingyi: "...No, change it."
Little Phoenix tilted his head. "I won't call you this in front of others. I'll only call you this when it's just the two of us, okay? I'm very well-behaved."
Xingyi was about to remind him that based on the experience and lessons learned so far—having been caught by Xingyi himself one, two, three, four, five times—the moments Little Phoenix considered "just the two of us" probably didn't count.
Apart from the two times he bragged in front of the Golden-Winged Bird, there was also the time Little Phoenix secretly tasted the ten-thousand-year bamboo shoots that Xingyi had prepared for forging weapons, the time Little Phoenix used Xingyi's thousand-year ink brush to put on makeup, and the time Little Phoenix used the thousand-year ink brush to put makeup on Xingyi while he was sleeping.
Thinking of this matter, Xingyi was ready to grab Little Phoenix and give him a squeeze: thousand-year ink doesn't dissolve in water—he had almost gone to court with thick eyebrows and two large mustaches. Little Phoenix was even harder to wash clean; that day he had used thousand-year ink paints for his dance, and afterward Xingyi had spent ages scrubbing before finally washing this round, fluffy colorful egg clean.
Little Phoenix said pitifully, "You won't go back on your word, will you? You said that if I could slim down after transforming into human form, you'd let me be your empress. What's wrong with me calling you this in advance?"
Xingyi rubbed his temples. "When did I ever promise you that you could be my empress?"
Little Phoenix immediately squatted down in front of him looking aggrieved, whimpering twice. "You clearly did. You just think I'm fat, I know it. Everything you say is just to deceive me. You definitely still want to throw me out. I am fat, but I like you! I had no parents when I hatched, no siblings either. When I was working, people often bullied me. No one has ever pampered me or cared for me."
Little Phoenix lowered his head, pretending to choke up as he delivered his signature line. "I'm very pitiful. Just let me call you husband once, okay?"
Xingyi: "..."
Xingyi: "Fine, call me that."
Little Phoenix's eyes lit up, and he pressed his advantage. "Then, then when there are people around, I can't just call you by your name directly, or call you 'you'—that would be so rude."
Xingyi glanced at him, immediately seeing through this little troublemaker's new scheme. "So when there are people around, what do you want to call me?"
Little Phoenix ingratiatingly lifted one little claw and placed it on his fingertip. "Can I give you a nickname? I see that mortals, besides their given names, also have courtesy names. I heard that calling someone by their courtesy name is a very intimate and polite form of address. Can I give you a courtesy name?"
Xingyi looked at him.
Little Phoenix demurely craned his neck forward and asked, "Weijian—can I call you that?"
Xingyi asked, "What does it mean?"
Little Phoenix flew to his shoulder to perch, nuzzling his cheek and speaking as if sharing a secret. "Look, your name is Xingyi, the person who plays chess with the stars. Everyone knows right away that you're very impressive. The stars are so vast, you're an all-powerful emperor, but you can also attend to small matters—for example, you raise phoenixes quite well. Accomplishing great things while also attending to minute details—see, isn't this courtesy name very meaningful?"
Little Phoenix always delivered flattery quite effectively. Xingyi was too lazy to hear him continue rambling, knowing he was probably making it all up—but it didn't sound bad, so he'd let it be.
He said, "Fine."
Little Phoenix chirped happily several times.
When Xingyi was previously in the mortal realm, his surname was Lin, with the given name Xie—pavilions and waterside pavilions. His courtesy name was indeed Weijian, taken from the phrase "mist finely veils the pavilions as they barely catch the sun; ripples subtly rise as fish are about to stir." Little Phoenix first called him husband, then also addressed him by his courtesy name. Xingyi liked both very much.
With the agreement reached, it was still early. Today Xingyi hadn't skipped the morning court session, but with all this back and forth, being late was inevitable.
Xingyi asked Little Phoenix, "Will you come to court with me?"
Little Phoenix expressed, "Husband, I want to sleep."
So Xingyi carried him back to the bedchamber, tucked him into the quilt, carefully wrapped him up snugly, and warned, "No fooling around, understand? Especially don't wake up midway and come cause trouble at court."
Little Phoenix covered his head with his little wings, kicked his little claws a few times, indicating he understood. "Chirp chirp chirp chirp, I'm very well-behaved."
Only then did Xingyi rub his temples and go out. But as soon as he stepped outside, he saw an immortal attendant waiting there with a solemn expression, as if he had important matters to report.
Xingyi looked past the immortal attendant and saw Qisha's figure in deep blue robes standing under the corridor, hands clasped behind his back, waiting.
The immortal attendant said, "Emperor, Star Lord Qisha is looking for you. He says he has urgent matters to report."
