To be hst, this grandpa was far inferior to his calligrapher grandpa. Calling him "grandpa" made him extremely uncomfortable.
But here, filial piety was paramount. If he didn't even keep up appearances, it could become a stain on his exam path.
"It really is Huaiqian." Hearing Xu Huaiqian's voice, Grandpa Xu instantly looked tearful with age. "We're in the same village; why hasn't Huaiqian come home to see us?"
"I have no home." Xu Huaiqian replied, his mind calmly thinking.
Today was his and A-Jiu's wedding banquet. Given A-Jiu's personality, he wouldn't have invited Grandpa Xu to cause trouble. That meant this grandpa had sneaked in while A-Jiu and the others were busy.
"How could you have no home?" Grandpa Xu played the emotional card. "Wherever Grandpa is, isn't that home?"
"Then why didn't Grandpa stop Aunt and Big Cousin when they used me to pay off the debt to Chen Liejiu?" Unsure of Grandpa Xu's purpose, Xu Huaiqian could only wait for an opportunity.
"That was your aunt's private decision. Your grandmother and I didn't know at all. Huaiqian, if you want to come back, you can anytime." Grandpa Xu said painfully before Xu Huaiqian.
"Really?" Xu Huaiqian's eyes lit up. " Perfect! I never wanted to marry into Chen Liejiu's family. Can Grandpa take me home now?"
"—Huh?" Grandpa Xu was shocked by this move.
"Grandpa, I'm a man! I also passed the exams. I still want to normally marry a wife and have children," Xu Huaiqian's expression was even more pained than his. "My classmates at the academy all look down on me for being a live-in husband. But Uncle's family wouldn't take me in, and Chen Liejiu tore down my house. I had no choice. Now that Grandpa says I can come home anytime, that's really great."
Xu Huaiqian's expression instantly became excited. He grasped Grandpa Xu's aged hands: "Let's go, Grandpa, take me away quickly! Otherwise, Chen Liejiu will soon force me out to bow at the ceremony. With so many people here today, if I bow with him and get married, I'll never shake off the identity of a live-in husband in this lifetime. Grandpa, let's hurry!"
Xu Huaiqian acted extremely excited, giving Grandpa Xu no time to react, pulling him to open the door and escape.
Grandpa Xu was starting to react: Did Xu Huaiqian not want to marry in? He wanted to come home?
That wouldn't do!
With their old arms and legs, how could he and his wife afford to support a sickly person like Xu Huaiqian? Moreover, if they took Xu Huaiqian back and Chen Liejiu found him missing, wouldn't he just tear down the Xu family house?
"Huaiqian, calm down!" Seeing Xu Huaiqian about to open the door, Grandpa Xu reacted extremely quickly to block it.
Xu Huaiqian looked at him blankly: "What's wrong, Grandpa?"
"Grandpa... I'm afraid I can't take you home." Grandpa Xu looked at Xu Huaiqian with a difficult expression. "With your health... the family can't afford..."
Xu Huaiqian stared at him with wide, despairing eyes. Miserably, he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, covered his mouth, and coughed violently twice. After coughing up blood streaks onto the handkerchief, he asked Grandpa Xu,, blood at the corner of his mouth, face pale: "...Then what did Grandpa come to find me for?"
Seeing Xu Huaiqian cough blood for the first time, Grandpa Xu's heart tightened. Was this consumption tuberculosis? His old bs couldn't handle that.
"I just came to ask if you have any other ways to make my," Grandpa Xu stayed far from Xu Huaiqian, afraid his saliva might fly over. "...The family has no means left; we're so poor. Your uncle and aunt are emaciated beyond recognition. Your grandmother is also unwell... Huaiqian, rather than helping that bully Chen Liejiu, why not help the family?"
"Okay," Xu Huaiqian agreed immediately. "I'll write down the methods for making charcoal and hatching chicks for Grandpa right now."
"No, no, not those two. Are there any others?" Grandpa Xu was scared of Chen Liejiu, who tore down houses without hesitation. They had no roots in Xinghua Village. If they suddenly had these methods, who knew how Chen Liejiu would come to make trouble?
Xu Huaiqian shook his frail body, coughed miserably a few more times, and shook his head: "... No, there aren't any more."
"How can there be n left?" Grandpa Xu didn't believe it. "Huaiqian, you've studied, you're so smart, you must know, right?"
"—Cough, cough, cough, cough," Xu Huaiqian coughed hard, appearing extremely weak. "Really, there are n left, Grandpa. I went blind studying for the Xiucai exam. The doctor said I might have consumption and can't read anymore..."
As he spoke, he went completely limp and leaned towards Grandpa Xu: "...Grandpa, take me home, take me home. I miss home so much."
"Huaiqian, you rest well. Today is your wedding banquet; nothing can go wrong. Grandpa... Grandpa shouldn't have disturbed you." Grandpa Xu was terrified. He tossed out a sentence, opened the door, and slipped away.
He didn't want to come seeking a method only to end up catching consumption instead.
"—Cough, cough, cough, cough." Once Grandpa Xu left, Xu Huaiqian coughed twice, his eyes regaining their clarity, showing no trace of his previous sickly weakness. He wiped the blood from his lips with a handkerchief and then threw it into the brazier, burning it to ashes.
He hadn't wanted to see blood on his wedding day. The Xu family was too insatiably greedy.
If this Grandpa Xu had truly been willing to take him away,... for the sake of any remaining familial bond with the original host, pointing them to a way out wouldn't have been impossible.
But they clearly despised this body. They only approached for gain, wanting to bite off a piece of meat from him.
They hadn't thought about him at all. In that case, he would help the entire Xinghua Village become prosperous without including them, leaving them to live in daily regret and agony.
A wicked idea popped into Xu Huaiqian's head, but then he remembered it was his wedding day. He shouldn't dwell on these unhappy matters.
He still had to beautifully be his little husband.
He cleaned the blood from his lips and went to the bronze mirror in the room, using a bit of rouge to cover the paleness on his face.
Wang Wanwan had bought this for him during the prefectural exams. She was going to give it to him after the exam, but unfortunately, he came out blind, rendering these things useless.
Later, when his eyes recovered and he was getting married, Wang Wanwan brought these things to him again. Now they came in handy.
Looking at his reflection— red lips, white teeth, face like jade—Xu Huaiqian was satisfied. This was more like the little husband of the Lie family!
Chen Liejiu was too busy today, his attention entirely on the guests, completely unaware that some from the Xu family had sneaked into their room.
If he had seen, he would have had the Xu family tied up immediately! Ruining his good day!
Regardless, time finally arrived for the dusk ceremony. No wild geese could be found this season, so Chen Liejiu had some catch a cage of magpies.
At the auspicious hour, he led the red-veiled Xu Huaiqian out of the room. Countless magpies circled overhead among the red strings hung around the Chen house, turning the already 90% festive courtyard into a perfect ten.
Under the sky full of sunset clouds, amidst the courtyard filled with red and joy, he bowed to heaven and earth with Xu Huaiqian on his birthday, binding them together for all eternity.
Gongs and drums clamored, the house was full of guests.
Chen Liejiu, beaming with joy, went from table to table toasting with guests, making Meng Fangxun and the others their eyelids twitch. Drinking like this, would their wedding chamber activities still happen tonight?
Of course they would!
The more Chen Liejiu drank, the clearer his head became; the more he drank, the brighter the man's line between his brows glowed. No knew his heat flush was coming.
Enduring his scalding hot body, he drank cup after cup at each table, then steadily stepped into his bridal chamber.
Inside, Xu Huaiqian truly sat like a bride, veiled, sitting properly upright, waiting for Chen Liejiu to lift the veil.
Chen Liejiu's lips curled, unable to hide his joy as he reached back and locked the door.
"—Oh!!!"
The crowd outside who wanted to follow and see the "bride" hooted with laughter.
Chen Liejiu ignored them, floated unsteadily to Xu Huaiqian and lifted the red veil in motion.
A face exquisitely carved met his eyes.
He hadn't been drunk, but he instantly was.
He didn't even know how he started kissing Xu Huaiqian's lips and taking off clothes.
"Wait, we haven't drunk the wedding wine yet." Xu Huaiqian's eyes were heating up from the kisses but didn't forget to remind him.
Chen Liejiu hooked the wedding wine by the bed, poured both cups into his own mouth, then kissed Xu Huaiqian again, passing the wine from his lips to him.
Xu Huaiqian hadn't drunk alcohol since arriving in this world. Suddenly fed wine like this by Chen Liejiu, it was choking and spicy. He coughed a small cough in his throat, lifting his eyelids to look at Chen Liejiu: "So impatient?"
"I can't wait anymore!" Chen Liejiu had endured the heat flush all day. It was triggered when kissing Xu Huaiqian in the room earlier, coming in wave after wave. If not for his good endurance, he would have come back to strip Xu Huaiqian earlier.
"Let me help you." Without him saying, Xu Huaiqian had already noticed the underclothes under his bright red wedding robes were completely soaked through. His hand wrapped around his waist and helped remove the cumbersome layers.
Fair skin seemed dipped in dye, stained thoroughly red, burning hot to the touch. His usually bold and bright face showed a rare hint of shyness.
Xu Huaiqian was so captivated by his beauty he couldn't look away.
This was the first time he saw his husband's complete appearance—indescribably beautiful.
"Do you know how?" Chen Liejiu gripped his collar, sliding down, lifting the hem of his clothes without removing them, asking with implied meaning: "Do you need me to teach you?"
Ordinary girls and men had erotic manuals for instruction when marrying. His little husband was marrying in; he hadn't prepared anything for him. Did he know how?
Chen Liejiu remembered last time, just licking his fingers made him extremely shy. Probably matters of the bed were also pure as a blank sheet.
"No need." Xu Huaiqian was both embarrassed and annoyed. What misconception had he given his husband to make him think he knew nothing?
Men were born knowing this, right?
And he wasn't a blank sheet! When reading BL novels in modern times, he specifically picked s with explicit scenes—he could accept any kind, okay?
He just hated that he didn't have a healthy body. Otherwise, he would definitely make his husband experience the taste of not leaving the bed for three days and three nights, just like novel protagonists.
Seeing Xu Huaiqian's serious, slightly angry little expression, Chen Liejiu knew he had extreme self-esteem. He smiled and said nothing more, letting him do as he wished.
If he couldn't manage, Chen Liejiu taking over was the same.
They say life has four joys: rain after a long drought, meeting an old friend in a distant land, the wedding chamber night, and passing the imperial exam.
The moment he touched Chen Liejiu, Xu Huaiqian felt he had almost experienced all four joys today.
No moment in the past or future could compare to his current excitement, thrill, and exhilaration.
Even though the excitement made a metallic taste rise in his throat, he swallowed it down.
Sickness, weakness, stamina—nothing could stop his determination to possess his husband at this moment.