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The hundreds of flowers in Xiao Lanhua's greenhouse were all beautiful, all special, all lovely as they reached up to the light that suffused her home. And, oh, how some of them yearned, whether it was for the sight of their goddess's playful smile or for some bigger life after they cultivated into a new form.
None of that was very useful to Jieli, of course. And, anyway, all that beautiful yearning gets annoying to be around after a while.
"Jieli, I need to find the Wandering Heart Flower!" Xiao Lanhua whined.
"How did you misplace it?" Jieli asked. "Aren't they all rooted down?"
"Not always. Some of them can pull themselves out of the soil and go for a walk. I did, once."
"That's different. You're the goddess of Xishan."
Xiao Lanhua came around a corner, peering at all her little plants with an expression of concern. "Hmm, but I really did live in one of these little pots."
Behind their backs Wandering Heart jumped from pot to pot, trying to search for that nameless something it was looking for. Not in this patch of soil, or behind this verdant leaf, or under this luminous petal. Everything was just not quite right.
Nurtured by Xiao Lanhua's brightness and warmth, it had grown larger than most flowers in the greenhouse, but not so large that it couldn't turn on its side and hide behind a pillar or tree. And it ached and yearned, and knew that whatever it was yearning for, it wouldn't find it here.
After all, Xiao Lanhua yearned, but she didn't wander, and even as she waited for her lover to come back into this world she knew she had others around her to fill the other parts of her heart.
"I don't know where it could be hiding. I've looked everywhere," Xiao Lanhua said.
"He'll come back," Jieli said, and they both knew she wasn't talking about the flower.
Xiao Lanhua bumped a shoulder against Jieli's and smiled, secretly please. "Jieli, you're so good to me."
Jieli made an expression of feigned disgust. "Who's good to you? Not me."
Xiao Lanhua laughed. "Come on, let's sit and have tea. Maybe it will appear when we're not looking."
Jieli scoffed, an exaggerated performance, and followed her in towards the tea set. They talked of things of no consequence.
Xiao Lanhua had longings, but none that Wandering Heart could feed off. Wandering Heart didn't think the other one was particularly longing for anything, either, but it shrunk itself down and sneaked into her bag of shiny things, so it could find a way into the outside world.
Where it found itself was in yet another fine place, absorbing the aroma of yet more tea.
Jieli could tell Danyin was pretending not to feel awkward, but the awkwardness was still obvious. Jieli was definitely feeling awkward. She sat in front of the fanciest tea sets she had ever seen, across from the sister she met well into adulthood, and tried to think of a single thing to say.
No matter how many times they met, they seemed to have almost nothing in common. Not even food tastes were shared, raised as they were on completely different culinary experiences. Nonetheless...
"The tea is nice," Jieli said, an offering. And it was an offering; she was open to them growing to understand each other, in a way she would have never learned to be before Xiao Lanhua came into her life.
Danyin had carried her across a field to save her life, even when they barely knew each other. It was a relationship worth keeping.
Wandering Heart took notice of the noise, and started to crawl out of Jieli's bag and across the floor beside them. It had to be quiet so they wouldn't notice it reaching across the floor. There was nothing interesting to grab on to, no fun trinkets.
A noise came from the doorway. Panicked, Wandering Heart rolled itself back in the bag.
"Am I too early?" Shangque asked. "Sorry, I'm too early."
"Not at all," Danyin said, looking between Jieli and Shangque, a smirk forming on her face.
Was this new person longing for anything? Wandering Heart couldn't sense any such thing.
Shangque was nervous in front of Danyin's scrutiny, but content at Jieli's side. Dreams and things he was waiting for, but he had put down obvious roots. There was nothing in him to feed off.
Jieli moved the bag Wandering Heart was sheltering in to make room for him to sit, then paused and looked back at it.
"Hmm, I think there's something wrong with this bag."
"What's wrong with it?" Shangque asked, eyes wide.
"This bag is too heavy. I don't like it," Jieli said, holding it up to lamp light. "Maybe I should sell it."
"Give it to me," Danyin said.
Jieli shrugged her shoulders and handed it over. Things were still awkward when they weren't talking about relationships, but it was a start.
The Wandering Heart flower readjusted itself in Danyin's pile of books, trying to listen in on their conversation discreetly without being crushed. To it Danyin was interesting, but her tall friend even more so; his heart ached and yearned and wandered all over the place, unable to settle. Wandering Heart sensed this yearning and responded to it, feeding on it. One of its leaves grew longer. Soon it would be too big to hide among the books, no matter what it tried.
"There's so much to learn," Danyin said. Endless army rules and regulations, before she could even get near qualifying for the God of War position.
"You'll get through it, and in less time than I did. I think, if you want to learn, it's enough to want it. That will carry you through. I never did want it."
They sat on the balcony, looking out upon the mortal world.
"What are you thinking?" Danyin asked. It was hard to read the wistful look on Changheng's face, when he so often looked wistful.
"I often wonder if this is what my mother got to see after she fled."
"Do you think of looking for her?" Danyin asked.
Changheng paused, enjoying the view of the crowd of people passing below. Those in richer fabrics, and those in patched, care-worn fabrics; those who rushed and those who meandered; those who looked forward, who looked around, and looked up.
"I think of it," he said. "But there's no trace to follow, and I don't remember what she looked like. I don't know if she still lives. For thousands of years, she's been a symbol to me. It would be strange to meet her now."
"It was strange to meet a sister I didn't know I had, but I think it's going well. It might be good if you meet her."
"I don't want to be disappointed hoping for something I might never get." He thought of Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang, brilliant and beautiful in his memories, and tried not to be embarrassed by his yearning heart. "And anyway, we have fine wine. There's no reason to be sad today."
He topped up his drink and hers, and they toasted to their bond of brotherhood, and drank well into the night.
Hours later Danyin stood.
"Time to go back to my responsibilities," she said, looking through her pouch full of daily necessities. She rumbled through it, trying to find what she was looking for, not entirely sure she was sober enough to remember what it was. One by one she removed things from the pouch: a pile of spirit stones, big enough to get her in or out of a dozen situations; a fine hair comb; a scroll she was studying.
And finally, a plant, leaves flopping over the edges of the pouch. She blinked at it as she pulled it out and lifted it up toward the light.
"I didn't put this there. How was this with my things and not what I need?"
"Ah," he said, looking at the plant, its leaves unfurling as it unfolded from its position in the pouch. "It belongs to Xiao Lanhua. I've seen it in Arbiter Hall before."
"How did it get in my belongings? I haven't been anywhere near there," Danyin said.
"Perhaps it was looking for a way home and hitched a ride." He picked it up and turned it over in his hands, as gently as he could. Its roots were intact, still dusted with soil. Though a leaf or two seemed a little wilted, it was otherwise undamaged. He could return it without worry it would die on the way. What a strange thing to have come into their possession, so far from where it should grow. "I will take it to her myself."
"Are you sure?" Danyin asked. "After everything that happened, you shouldn't want to see her again."
He forced the sides of his mouth up just enough to hint at a smile. It shouldn't be so awkward after all this time. And anyway, he's lived through worse.
"I will be fine. Thank you for your concern." And at the reminder that he had a friend so honestly concerned with his welfare, the smile become more real.
Arbiter Hall was not like he remembered, and yet exactly like he remembered. Quiet, with only his footfalls as music. Surely it hadn't changed at all in the years since he walked up this path. And yet the entire world had changed, and walking up this path felt strange and lonely, his heart seized with trepidation and he wasn't entirely sure why.
"Is this your feeling?" Changheng asked the flower in his hands, settled as it was into an unadorned clay pot. "Or only mine?"
He knocked to announce himself. Cleared his throat.
"I come bearing a gift for the goddess of Xishan."
It took a while for her to arrive at the door. Her eyes were wide, as he held up the plant for her view. He hadn't been ready after all. But it was too late to back out, with the pot plant held in his hands, waiting for her to take possession.
"Changheng," she said, her voice as musical and magical as ever. "Ah, did you find it? The Wandering Heart! How did you know I was looking for it?"
"I found it climbing out of a pile of Danyin's books. I remembered once seeing it in your garden."
She was slow to walk toward him, but her expression softened.
"Thank you for bringing it back to me."
She stopped, two steps away from him. He couldn't bring himself to bridge the gap, either. They might have stood there, two awkward steps apart forever, if not for the next arrival coming up the path behind him with heavy steps.
Changheng half turned, and then froze, eyes wide, as Dongfang Qingcang himself, live and in the flesh, strolled toward them. Eyes heavy lidded, half his mouth curving into a smirk – he was exactly how Changheng remembered him.
"You're back!" Xiao Lanhua shouted, voice filled with glee.
Surely he could not have just returned to life like this. Surely he must have been there for some time without Changheng knowing.
Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang reunited in an explosion of colour and exuberant joy, she leaping into his arms. He laughed and swung her around. Changheng stood there holding a wilting plant.
Everyone had been waiting so long for Dongfang Qingcang's return. Changheng blinked to clear his vision and make sure he was seeing something real. He was still there in Changheng's view, twirling Xiao Lanhua around as she laughed in his arms.
There were on the path in his way. Changheng would have to wait until they left before he could go. And he would have to go. There was no way to be here with them so happy together without feeling a fool for thinking he could visit a world he no longer belonged to. He looked down at the plant and its sprawling leaves and reminded himself how to keep himself as quiet and still as he used to be, in the hopes they would ignore that he was still there, until he could make a quiet escape.
But Dongfang Qingcang's voice shaped itself around Changheng's name, dashing his hope.
Changheng looked up, refusing to let his feelings show on his face, and greeted Dongfang Qingcang in return.
It had been so long since he last saw him in the flesh. It felt like time froze as they looked at each other.
"You look stupid holding that plant," Dongfang Qingcang said.
Changheng was suddenly more annoyed than he had been in hundreds of years. Death and rebirth had not changed this infuriating immature quality Dongfang Qingcang had. Changheng was worried to realise he had missed this feeling.
"Welcome back," Changheng said.
Dongfang Qingcang grinned. Changheng could feel himself starting to grin in return. It was involuntary, the sides of his mouth lifting up so high he could even feel it in his cheeks.
"Come inside!" Xiao Lanhua said. "Come inside and have tea."
Inside was light and airy, golden light dancing all over the furniture. Changheng sat where he was directed to sit and watched as Xiao Lanhua rushed about, finding cups. It occurred to him that Dongfang Qingcang must be very familiar with this place and where everything was meant to go, in a way he never had a chance to be. In his time before his mortal tribulation, he had carefully held himself back, afraid to be open about his feelings for fear it would get her executed; during his mortal tribulation he'd been more busy letting his drunk face get familiar with Dongfang Qingcang's knee.
Still, he loved her. He loved her sweetness and silly laugh and the brightness of her spirit. He even loved the stabbing he felt in his chest as he watched her and Dongfang Qingcang together, though it brought him shame to acknowledge it.
So he had tea with them, marvelling at the two of them together, at Dongfang Qingcang finally back in the world and Xiao Lanhua's smile so bright with long-awaited happiness it was almost too much to look at, and he laughed a little at their jokes, in spite of himself.
And when the sky began to darken he made his excuses and let them be alone together.
Only after he was far away did he realise he still had the plant. How it was still in his possession, he did not know. Surely he had put it down on the floor when he drank tea. And yet he arrived in Lucheng, surprised to realise it was in his hands.
He put it in a corner, wary of its intentions.
All night long it caught his attention, as he ate and tidied and readied for the bed. And each time he looked over to where he put it on a table far in the corner it was still and unmoving, not showing any sign of what it wanted. But he was no expert in plants, or what damage they could do. He would have to take it back.
Resigned to having to make the trip back, he lay in bed all night planning, unable to sleep.
He got stared at on the outskirts of Cangyan Sea, the people wary about fairies still. The staring lessened as he got closer to the palace. It would have been quicker to go directly, but he took the long way, the scenic route through the forest, past each and every one of the guards.
Only when he reached the edges of the building was he stopped, this time by the black dragon himself who informed him that Dongfang Qingcang was reuniting with his brother at that moment and Changheng would have to wait.
"You must be happy to have him back," Changheng said.
The sun was setting in brilliant golds and reds, painting Shangque's smile in a warm glow.
When he did finally guide Changheng through to where Dongfang Qingcang was attending to matters, the day was darker, almost greying into night. There was a great beauty to the carvings and pillars of the building, that Changheng had not paid attention to before when he came to save Dongfang Qingcang from his dream.
Dongfang Qingcang looked up from his reading, hair unbound. In the loving warmth of candlelight, he looked louche and disreputable, even though he was ruler of all he surveyed. Changheng swallowed empty air and tried not to react.
"I'm here to return a plant to Xiao Lanhua," Changheng said, lifting it up for inspection.
The leaves were even bigger and more vibrantly green now, and the plant was growing tall. No more did it resemble that tiny thing he first found clinging to his sleeve.
"Another one?" Dongfang Qingcang said. "You don't need to make an excuse by stealing her plants."
"No, it's the same plant."
"The same plant?" Xiao Lanhua asked, appearing from behind an ornate room divider, her face bright and sweet, her clothing in the rich and beautiful styles of the Moon Tribe. "I thought you left that in the Arbiter Hall."
"I also thought I left that in the Arbiter Hall," Changheng said. "And yet I found it again when I reached Lucheng."
Xiao Lanhua came over, hands lifting the leaves to look over the plant, face creased in concern. "Wandering Heart, why do you keep wandering in this direction? Don't you know where you belong?"
"How did it get so big?" Dongfang Qingcang asked.
Xiao Lanhua looked up, eyebrows raised. Changheng, no longer accustomed to the full force of her regard, stepped back.
"I wasn't trying to nurture it, but it wouldn't have been right to deprive it of water and light and let it starve. Even if it is a pest, it's still a living being. And it's yours. I wouldn't mistreat anything that belonged to you."
Both Dongfang Qingcang and Xiao Lanhua turned their attention from the plant to stare at him. He stood his ground, refusing to be embarrassed.
Xiao Lanhua nodded. "Maybe Jieli can help me find out what's happening with this plant."
"I'll get Shangque to help," Dongfang Qingcang said.
Once both men had been ushered out of the room, Xiao Lanhua picked up the plant and rushed to where she last knew Jieli to be.
Jieli raised an eyebrow when Xiao Lanhua showed up, holding a plant up by her head, but she rolled her eyes and went with her to the replica of the Arbiter Hall that still existed in a wing of the palace, just as Xiao Lanhua knew she would.
"Jieli, what are we going to do?" Xiao Lanhua asked, rushing into her other greenhouse as the lights came up on that world. "This plant keeps attaching itself to Changheng and making him come back."
"Are you stupid? He keeps coming back with the plant for an excuse to see you. He's still in love with you."
"That can't be it. It's been so long."
"Aren't you still in love with the Moon Supreme after all this time? What difference does time make?"
Of course, Xiao Lanhua couldn't refute that. Dejected, she looked at the floor, which the Wandering Heart flower was now long enough to brush with the tips of its leaves, even as she held it aloft.
"But he came here this time to Dongfang Qingcang and not to me."
"Because he knew you would be here with him, of course. Silly, how can you not know that?"
"Maybe."
Xiao Lanhua placed the plant in a warm corner, sternly informing it that it wasn't to move out of her sight like that again and worry everyone.
But it didn't take long for her to get distracted talking to Jieli, and as she did she turned her back, and Wandering Heart took its opportunity, using its long branching limbs to crawl out of the room behind them.
After safely delivering the plant to Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang's safekeeping where it belonged, Changheng left, arms lighter but heart heavier.
He packed up what remained of his belongings in the inn in Lucheng and left the mortal world. He could visit Haishi for some time, and see the place Ronghao had spent so long controlling; he could visit Siming again, bearing a bottle of wine for her and her loved one as she asked; he could even visit Shuyuntian, as long as he stayed far enough away from his brother.
And yet he found himself in sun soaked Xishan, wandering the green grassy fields and admiring the ruins he had never truly let himself notice before.
And when he sat in a quiet field, the world alive around him with the warmth of growth, he looked through what he carried and realised, somehow, the Wandering Heart plant had attached itself to him again.
He would once again attempt to deliver it back to Xiao Lanhua. But first, he was going to sigh deeply, and flop on his back on the field, and look up at the sky, and take a rest.
Changheng arrived at his palace, plant in hand.
"Again?" Dongfang Qingcang asked, eyebrows raised.
Changheng closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, and opened them again, expression deeply unimpressed. "Again."
"I believe you this time," Dongfang Qingcang said.
"You should have believed me last time," Changheng said.
"Maybe you're cursed," Dongfang Qingcang said.
"The plant is cursed, not me."
He looked at Changheng's intense but weary gaze, at the plant held securely in his arms, and began to form a plan. He would need Xiao Lanhua to help develop the plan, because things never worked out when he made plans all on his own. After all, this involved feelings.
But as a first step he said, "Come have a drink with me."
Because it was clear that Changheng needed to get rip-roaring drunk.
Changheng was elegant and reserved as he drank wine, which was frustrating. As Xiao Run he'd been sloppy and embarrassing, over effusive about their friendship and red in the face as he rubbed it against Dongfang Qingcang's knee. It had been almost cute, almost charming, even as Dongfang Qingcang had hated the way it wormed under his defences. In contrast, Changheng now drinking wine politely with perfectly upright posture felt cold.
"Is this how you drank with Ronghao?" Dongfang Qingcang asked, trying to provoke.
Changheng shot him a sideways look. "You're not Ronghao. Why would I drink with you like I drank with him?"
"Drink with me like you're drinking with me. And drink a lot. You need to be too drunk to fight when I say what I'm going to say."
Changheng gave him a side-eye. "Don't be ridiculous. I honed my skills for centuries. I'm never too drunk to fight."
Dongfang Qingcang snorted, then breathed in deeply to prepare himself what he had to say. "I think we can solve the plant problem if I kiss you. I just have to ask Xiao Lanhua first."
Changheng swallowed what he was drinking in a rush, then reached for the jug, and finished it off in one go.
"It's the Wandering Heart plant that got attached to you," Dongfang Qingcang said, "because your wandering heart keeps wanting to wander back here. We just need to all kiss and get it out of our systems."
"Why would you think I wanted to kiss you?"
"You can't tell me you've never wanted to."
Dongfang Qingcang knew how he looked, and how people looked at him. And, sure, a lot of the time Changheng looked at him with aggravation. But sometimes... like right now, when Changheng's cheeks were flushed and his eyes were tracking down, lips parted...
Changheng grabbed for another jug of wine.
Dongfang Qingcang was definitely thinking about it, as he watched Changheng put the jug to his lips.
Wandering Heart trailed its vines closer to them, intrigued.
Xiao Lanhua looked alarmed at first, but once Dongfang Qingcang explained his logic, she nodded and told him it made sense.
"It's a curse," she said, "on him and the plant. If he can resolve his feelings they can both move on."
"Right," Dongfang Qingcang said, feeling slightly deranged.
A look at Changheng standing in the corner, eyebrows raising higher and higher, revealed that he felt the same.
The plant was in another corner, long green tendrils creeping closer to them with every heartbeat.
"Come here," Dongfang Qingcang said.
For a moment he wasn't sure Changheng would. He stood there, suspended in this madness alone. But a heartbeat later Changheng stood even straighter and marched close like he was marching to his death.
"You're too tall," Dongfang Qingcang said.
He had never had to reach up to kiss anyone before. Changheng made it easier by leaning in, eyelids getting heavy as he moved closer.
Dongfang Qingcang put a hand on Changheng's shoulder to steady himself and pressed their lips together. His skin was soft, his manners refined, like a gentle wind rushing over a field; but Dongfang Qingcang had to pull him closer, mess him up a little, really get him to react. He pulled Changheng closer with a fist tangled in his clothes, messing up those fine layers. Changheng counterattacked with a hand on his waist and opened his mouth.
That was better, not refined or reserved at all.
When they pulled away from each other, Xiao Lanhua was staring at them, eyes wide.
"Your turn," Dongfang Qingcang said, voice rough.
Changheng leaned down and Xiao Lanhua stood up on her tiptoes and, still, they approached each other with trepidation, the kiss as gentle as a spring breeze.
Was he jealous watching them? Hard to tell with the distraction of Changheng's hand still on his waist.
When they moved apart, Dongfang Qingcang took charge again, saying, "I have to kiss you again, just to make sure it works."
When they were done kissing, the plant had retreated further into the corner and tucked all its trailing branches into the pot like it was embarrassed.
"I think that worked," Dongfang Qingcang said, surprised at himself.
Changheng abruptly stood up. "I should go."
Dongfang Qingcang looked at Xiao Lanhua, panicked. Her eyes widened as she looked between him and Changheng.
"You don't have to go yet," Dongfang Qingcang said.
"No, I must," Changheng said, already striding out the door.
Dongfang Qingcang walked after him, trying various arguments and unable to succeed, unsure why he was trying and why Changheng wouldn't just give in. It was obvious that he needed to be there with both of them!
Dongfang Qingcang stopped, struck as heavily at the realisation as if he were struck by lightning. He looked at his own hands, realising he'd been blind to something he wanted all this time. He could only hope the other two wanted it, too.
Changheng used this moment of hesitation to escape.
In some places she was one name, in some another. In the bedroom she was Xiao Lanhua, lone woman trying to understand her feelings. In much of the world she was Xiyun, goddess of the Xilan tribe, meant to feel love for everyone and everything in existence.
Only now did she, as Xiao Lanhua, realise that meant she had room enough in her heart for not just Dongfang Qingcang but Changheng, too. She chose only one before, but she wouldn't have to choose in the future. And her beloved Moon Supreme, goofy and ridiculous and overdramatic, loved the serious and upright Changheng, too, even (or especially) when he was being equally ridiculous.
Dongfang Qingcang ran back to their room in the palace, hopeful look on his face. She could tell what he had to say. She knew she was going to say yes.
Days later, Changheng couldn't stop thinking about it. Awkward, given that he was trying to relax with Danyin in a market in Haishi City. He kept trailing off sentences, distracted by the memory of Xiao Lanhua's lips as soft as a petal and Dongfang Qingcang's lips, surprisingly sweet like everything else about him.
"What's wrong with you?" Danyin asked.
Changheng flushed, unable to answer as long as they moved through the crowd.
It was only when she pulled him into an alcove, far from the rush of people, that he was able to say, "Dongfang Qingcang kissed me." He put his hand to his mouth and remembered it all over again. "And Xiao Lanhua, too."
Danyin blinked. "Why would they do that?"
"It was the only way to end a curse."
"Did it work?"
"I'm no longer being stalked by the Wandering Heart plant. The curse is ended."
But it felt like his torment had only begun. He clutched at his chest, trying to stop that feeling from spreading pain all over his body. For so many years he tried to accept that his feelings for Xiao Lanhua were like trying to grasp the moon reflected in water. To realise now he felt the same way for Dongfang Qingcang was embarrassing.
But feelings could not be thought away with logic, no matter how he tried.
"Jieli," Danyin called, as low and soft as her voice would go, and it was at that point that Changheng looked up and realised Jieli was crossing the road to meet with them.
Jieli had seen him as Xiao Run in the mortal world; she had to know how big and embarrassing Changheng's feelings really were underneath it at all. Changheng wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"Why did you call me?" Jieli asked.
"Dongfang Qingcang kissed Changheng," Danyin whispered. It felt like a very loud whisper.
Jieli blinked up at Changheng. "The Moon Supreme kissed you? Why would the Moon Supreme kiss you?"
"And Xiao Lanhua, too," Danyin said.
"It was to end a curse," Changheng explained.
"And they just kicked him out after to wander around like this," Danyin said.
"No, I chose to leave. Dongfang Qingcang wanted me to stay."
From the way Danyin and Jieli were suddenly staring at him, Changheng for the first time really understood them as sisters, and not just as people that happened to be connected in both halves of his life.
Danyin grabbed his shoulders to push him out of the alcove. "You have to go back."
Jieli grabbed his elbow to drag him in the same direction. "You definitely have to go back."
So he followed their advice and went. What else could he do?
"You came back," Dongfang Qingcang said.
"I came back," Changheng said.
"Of course he did," Xiao Lanhua said, voice as bright and cheery as a summer's day. "Changheng knows what's good for him."
"I'm not sure this is good for me."
"But do you want it?" Xiao Lanhua asked.
Changheng lowered his eyes and looked away. He clenched a fist, then forcefully unfurled it, finger by finger. It was almost painful to watch. "What I want doesn't matter."
"Why can't it matter?" Dongfang Qingcang burst out. "If we want you and you want us, there shouldn't be anything stopping us."
"You're the leader of the Moon Tribe and she's a goddess. I could never fit into this!" Changheng yelled.
"Why can't you?" Dongfang Qingcang yelled back. "I'll make people accept you."
"There's no precedent for this among the immortals!" Changheng said.
"So what if there's no precedent? That just means we get to set the standard," Xiao Lanhua said, and nodded, face terribly sincere.
"Aren't you technically still married to Xiao Lanhua? That last wedding didn't end in death or divorce, unless I missed a lot more than I thought in the last 500 years. That means you already belong to us," Dongfang Qingcang said.
"What if I'm not done roaming around the three realms, finding who I am?" Changheng asked.
"Then we'll give you a home you can come back to, whenever you want to stop roaming," Xiao Lanhua said.
They nearly had him, Dongfang Qingcang could tell.
Still, Changheng put up one last objection, face pleading. "What if I don't believe you really want me?"
Dongfang Qingcang grinned, heart relieved. "Then I'll kiss you again to prove it."
In the corner, with a flash of light, Wandering Heart achieved human form. What an embarrassing moment for that to happen. All three of the lovers stared at it as it stood in the corner, still a little green around the ears, and rubbed at its neck. "Sorry about that," it said. "Not the best timing. I think I'm going to go find my own place in the world, and you should all enjoy each other."
It walked out, reddening in the cheeks more with every moment, causing panic among the servants as it made its way through the halls.
Only when it was far enough away to move beyond their view or hearing did the three left in the room finally embrace.
Wandering Heart ran through the palace doors and out into the wide world.
"I didn't see that coming," Jieli said, arms crossed.
"I'm still not sure it's a good idea," Danyin said.
"Well, if it's what my lord wants, and Xiao Lanhua, too, then it can't be a bad idea," Shangque said. "And he's not a bad man – he helped us more than once and he seems honest and kind. I can't see any reason to worry."
"I'm more shocked by the strange man running down the street," Jieli said, gesturing at where Wandering Heart could be seen in the distance.
"That looks like a flower spirit I need to help find Shuyuntian," Danyin said.
"Take care," Jieli said, as they waved her on her way.
And then she and Shangque went home to their home, where everything was warm and comfortable and pleasantly curse free.