Page 69 of He Is My Bride

“Li Ying… Why? Why the secrecy? Don’t you—What are we to you?”

Li Ying sobbed. “I-I’m sorry, Amy, promise me you won’t tell anyone, I don’t want to lose him! We’ve had to do so much just to be together, but I can’t keep this a secret from you!”

Amy hugged him again, rocking him softly as he cried.

“You can tell me,” Amy said, “I won’t ever tell, I promise.”

“It’s Wu Hanjun,” Li Ying whispered. “And his family, well, they are very wealthy, like actually wealthy. And very traditional. Hanjun couldn’t marry a man, so we decided I would live with him as a woman.”

Amy let that sink in. She held Li Ying’s shoulders and pulled back to look him in the eyes.

“A-Ying, do you truly love him so much?”

“Yes! Yes, I love him! And he loves me.”

Amy nodded. “Then I hope you succeed. But Li Ying, are you sure you want to live like that, keeping who you really are as a secret? Keeping what your and Wu Hanjun’s love is about, your story, as a secret?”

“I don’t care…” Li Ying wished it were entirely true.

“Alright. I shall pray for your happiness.” Amy smiled and brushed a strand of hair from Li Ying’s face. “Does Anne know? ”

Li Ying nodded. “She made this all possible. She will come to the wedding, she’s my bridesmaid.”

“Could I come? I would love to come…”

Li Ying smiled sorrowfully and took Amy’s hand into his. “The Wus can’t know who the Qians are. I have kept you all a secret, so that the families won’t ever come into contact. You understand why: we can’t risk them figuring out that I’m actually a man.”

Amy looked so sad and disappointed, but she understood. She nodded:

“Okay. …Do you have a dress?”

“Yes! It’s almost complete, and it’s flying to Shanghai with me next month. I’ll show you!”

Li Ying showed Amy a picture of a qipao-style wedding dress in red silk brocade, with subtle golden phoenix motifs.

The back was open, and the snug hem had an above-the-knee slit for ease of movement, and the hem flared out to form a medium-length trail, also bearing a delicate sheer chiffon and lace layer.

In the pictures there were still some pins on it, as the fit was yet to be finalized.

“It’s gorgeous!” Amy sighed dreamily.

“The final fitting is next week. Do you wanna join me and Anne? So you could see me in it?”

“Yes! Oh, my brother is going to be such a beautiful bride! Who knew you would get married before your big sister!”

Amy hugged Li Ying again, and he felt another stone roll off his heart.

There was a knock on the door.

“Li Ying?” Qian Hong. “When you’re ready, I could drive you home?”

“Thanks, uncle, I’ll be right there!”

Li Ying had Uncle Qian drive him to the university dormitory, which Li Ying had claimed to be his address for the past year and a half. He would get to his actual place by subway from here .

“Li Ying,” Qian Hong spoke softly. He was slowing down as he pulled into the dormitory parking lot. “Do you have someone in Shanghai?”

Li Ying looked at his foster father, confused. Uncle Qian was worried whether he had any support network?

“I have some friends. And Hanjun. I’ll be fine.”

“No, I meant—Unless you and Wu Hanjun are, hmm…” Qian Hong wasn’t sure how he should address the question. He stopped the car in the guest parking spot. “Are you dating someone in Shanghai?”

Now Li Ying got what Uncle Qian was after. And he had asked whether he and Wu Hanjun were…

“…No! No, nothing like that!”

Qian Hong looked at him, concerned. “You can tell me, Li Ying, it’s okay, no matter if it’s a man or a woman.”

Li Ying flared completely red in the face. Was he so obviously gay? I shouldn’t have gotten a manicure yesterday!

He didn’t know how he should have this conversation with his parental figure.

“There’s no one! And I like girls!” The latter wasn’t a lie he would have even needed to tell, he had just blurted it out in panic.

“Alright. Just know that you can talk to me. I haven’t said anything insensitive that would make you not trust me, I hope?”

Li Ying stared at his lap, shaking his head vigorously. “No, uncle, you have always been… the best.” I don’t wanna cry again, I’m all cried out for today, thank you very much! Li Ying was choking up. “You’re the best!” He turned to hug Uncle Qian.

The man returned the hug and patted his back—such a dad move.

Li Ying realized what Qian Hong had said, and he didn’t want to waste this kindness:

“…I like men.”

“...Okay. It’s okay. ”

I’m so lucky.

Li Ying hadn’t thought his foster father would be so readily accepting. Not that Li Ying thought he would be outright homophobic or anything, Qian Hong was a very good-natured man, having fostered his ex’s son and everything, but Li Ying had thought…

I don’t know what I thought he would say.

“As long as you’re happy.”

“I think I will be.”

That answer told Qian Hong a lot: Li Ying must have had someone in Shanghai, someone he couldn’t tell them about.

Could it really be him? Qian Hong had a hard time believing it, but his wife was perceptive, and now he too had a feeling.

“Is it Wu Hanjun?”

Qian Hong felt Li Ying freeze in his arms.

Li Ying pulled out of the hug, laughing nervously:

“No! No, Hanjun is… a friend.” Li Ying didn’t know whether his act was believable at all. He sounded fake even in his own ears. “Thank you, Uncle. For everything. I should go now.”

“...Alright. Good night.”

“Good night!” Li Ying left the car and started walking slowly towards the dormitory building, waiting for Uncle Qian to be out of sight before heading to the subway station.

—

“What is this about Li Ying moving to Shanghai?” Mrs. Qian asked her husband first thing when he came back.

She had been in the bedroom, changing into her sleepwear, when Qian Hong had come in. Amy had told her mother about Li Ying’s plans after Li Ying had gone.

“Why am I not told anything in this house? As if I wasn’t sitting at the same table with the rest of you just now!”

“I’m sorry for us having excluded you, Jenn. ”

“Did you think I would try to stop him? Why would I? Let him go, see how easy it is to immigrate. I bet he’ll be back at our door by next year.”

“Perhaps, but he should be able to try his wings.”

“Why is he really going? To be Wu Hanjun’s boy toy?”

“Li Ying said he has nobody and that Wu Hanjun is just a friend. I asked.”

Qian Hong would not tell his wife that he was, in fact, quite sure his foster son was dating the Wu heir, or at least had his eye on him. He knew she would have nothing nice to say about it.