Will you marry me?
The words were spoken with such earnestness and tenderness—he always spoke gently, of course, but somehow, this time, Baili Xiaosheng felt his words carried an especially soft warmth, gentle enough to nearly melt her completely.
It felt like… drifting off to sleep inside a cloud of cotton candy.
She looked into his eyes, so soft and warm, like a pool of still, warm water. The longer she looked, the deeper she sank into that warmth, wave after wave washing over her… she was going to drown in it!
She felt as if she might faint!
How could someone as fierce and formidable as Baili Xiaosheng suddenly become so hopeless, undone in an instant like this?
Guxi, too, was puzzled. What was wrong with this girl? He’d expected a much bigger reaction—he’d half-expected her to tackle him straight to the ground!
“Not going to marry me?” Guxi asked, smiling.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Baili Xiaosheng lunged at him—just as he’d predicted, with enough force to knock him flat onto the ground, clinging to him tightly, rubbing against him. “You wouldn’t dare not marry me!”
“Wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare!” Guxi laughed loudly, his hearty laughter filling the entire back courtyard.
Baili Xiaosheng, perched over him, finally lifted her head to look at him. “Wouldn’t dare???”
Ahem. A moment ago it had all been so sweet, so dreamlike—did this woman really have to be this rough, this violent about it?
He’d only been teasing her!
“I’m serious,” Guxi said again, looking straight into her starlit eyes, in earnest.
“I’m serious too,” Baili Xiaosheng shot back immediately.
“I really am serious. I really do want to marry you,” Guxi said once more.
“I never doubted you,” Baili Xiaosheng answered again.
“Seriously!” Guxi emphasized again. And again, without thinking, Baili Xiaosheng blurted out, “I know!”
“So you’re saying yes?” That was really what he wanted to ask.
Only then did Baili Xiaosheng pause slightly, realizing this had turned into something that genuinely required a serious answer. She had to face the question head-on—yes or no.
The words “I agree” weren’t hard to say—so why, the moment she tried to speak them, did they suddenly feel so heavy, so weighty? No—more precisely, why did they suddenly feel so embarrassing?
“Hm?” Guxi suppressed a laugh inwardly. Serves you right for not taking me seriously earlier.
“I… ahem… I…” Baili Xiaosheng stammered, trying at the same time to climb off him.
But just then, Guxi’s large hand suddenly cupped the back of her head and pulled her down, hard.
“Ah—!”
Baili Xiaosheng cried out in surprise, and in the next instant, her lips were claimed entirely.
After five years together, this man was, in truth, quite the gentleman—aside from involuntarily kissing her now and then, he rarely did anything improper. Sometimes, stargazing together late at night, chatting idly, she’d fall asleep in his arms without meaning to, only to wake the next morning back in her own room—he had never once stayed the night.
Rather than call it pure gentlemanly restraint, it was better understood as his true way of cherishing and respecting her.
Lips and tongues entwined, lingering and full of longing—this was the only time one could ever glimpse the soft, delicate side of this otherwise fierce woman.
Unfortunately, in moments like this, Guxi turned rather domineering himself, always pulling her completely into his arms, as if he wished he could crush her whole and fold her into himself—so no one ever got to see Baili Xiaosheng’s face in these moments.
The air grew thick with unspoken longing, so much so that even the poison insects passing by seemed to blush with embarrassment…
A long, long while later, once both of them had spent every last bit of strength, once a certain someone’s self-control had nearly reached its breaking point, they finally sat up, thoroughly disheveled.
Baili Xiaosheng glanced at Guxi, then down at herself, covered head to toe in dirt, and threw an indignant punch at him, only to have her hand caught immediately by his.
“Still not going to answer?” Guxi asked.
“When did I ever say no!” Baili Xiaosheng said, flustered, as if she really had been refusing him all along.
“Then let’s hear you say yes,” Guxi said with a smile.
“You—!” Baili Xiaosheng, embarrassed, flustered, and irritated all at once, glared at him wide-eyed, yet somehow still couldn’t get the words out no matter how hard she tried.
Guxi feigned nervousness. “You… don’t tell me… girl, even if you say no, you still owe me a reason.”
Thoroughly exasperated, Baili Xiaosheng threw another punch, landing squarely on his chest with a loud thump.
“Playing dumb, huh? Keep it up!” She suddenly realized this man was just like every other man in the world—wicked, through and through.
Guxi laughed heartily, his chest genuinely aching from the blow, yet perfectly happy to be hit—only she was allowed to hit him like that.
“So, are you saying yes or not?” he asked again.
Baili Xiaosheng was nearly in tears by now. “I’m not talking to you anymore!”
“Answer me first, then you can ignore me all you like,” Guxi pressed on, refusing to let it go. Silly girl, was answering one simple question really so hard? Was saying the word “yes” really that difficult?
But to his surprise, Baili Xiaosheng suddenly said, “This isn’t how you propose. Get down on your knees.”
At that, Guxi looked at her and, unexpectedly, fell silent. The playful, teasing look on his face faded away, and a quiet stillness settled over him.
Baili Xiaosheng, without quite meaning to, grew quiet as well, and found herself genuinely nervous.
“All right.”
He said it softly, and then, truly, dropped to one knee. “Baili Xiaosheng. Marry me. Will you? I’ve waited five years for this day.”
He was so earnest, so sincere, that Baili Xiaosheng found she couldn’t smile even if she wanted to—instead, she wanted to cry.
Watching his quiet, solemn expression, for the first time she felt a pang of tenderness toward him, a sudden desire to know more about the boy he had once been, to understand his past.
For the first time… she wanted to cherish him, to treasure him.
She should have felt happy—why, instead, did her heart ache with tenderness? Had she simply grown up? Or had she finally, truly, fallen in love?
To love someone, after all, was, most simply, to cherish them.
She nodded fiercely. “I agree! I want to be your wife!”
At that, Guxi smiled—a gentle smile spreading across his lips, catching the sunlight, so, so beautiful.
The days that followed grew busy indeed.
Guxi personally took charge of arranging the wedding chamber, the ceremony, and the banquet, while Baili Xiaosheng handled the guest list.
Baili Xiaosheng was thrilled beyond words—at last, she had the chance to invite Aunt Qing and the others, to bring everyone together for a reunion. After all these years, everyone had been so caught up in their own affairs that they’d hardly had the chance to see each other, and she had no idea how old little Princess Yaotiao had grown by now.
But what excited Baili Xiaosheng most of all was that she finally had a perfectly legitimate, unquestionable reason to invite her master!
All these years, not just her, but even Aunt Qing and Lady Jinjiao had searched high and low for their master, but that impossible man hadn’t sent word even once!
They were all thoroughly convinced that the wretched man was deliberately hiding himself away, refusing to show his face.
But now, surely, things would be different—if her master didn’t show up for his own disciple’s wedding, it would be an outrage against heaven and earth itself!
Thinking it over seriously, Baili Xiaosheng was fully convinced her master would come. This was a major event, after all—the single biggest event of her life—and knowing her master’s nature, he would absolutely show up.
Master, oh Master, soon enough I’ll finally get to see you again. My Guxi is sure to win your approval. The thought alone filled Baili Xiaosheng’s heart with joy, and in one sitting she wrote out a whole stack of invitations. After a moment’s hesitation, she decided to invite Meng Duo’er and Situ Jing’er as well.