Page 72 of He Is My Bride

From this day on, Li Ying, Hanjun thought, I will do everything to make you as happy as you can be.

Having answered the bridesmaid’s question, Hanjun entered and waited in the hall for Anne to fetch his bride.

“It’s time: your groom is here.” Anne beamed at Li Ying from the bedroom door. “Are you okay?”

Li Ying looked up, his heart jumping out of his chest, even if he knew exactly what to expect. All the anxiety and fear were now giving way to hopeful expectation, and his belly tingled and turned in excitement, sending butterflies all over his body.

“I’m ready. Take me…” Li Ying’s mouth spread into a smile, “yo my groom!”

Li Ying jumped up from the bed and rushed to Anne, who took his hand and led him to the hall. Li Ying saw Hanjun, and Hanjun saw him.

Finally they were without fear.

It’s going to be alright. They both thought, and now they could believe it, because they were ready to do whatever it takes.

Neither knew what to say, but Anne helped them get moving:

“Shall we, then? Let’s get to the car. ”

They were helped into a black limousine, and Anne took care of Li Ying’s trail and veil, holding them up outside and smoothing them down once they were in the car.

“Wow!” exclaimed Yiyi, who was very handsome in a black suit. “Big Sister Li is so beautiful!”

“Thank you, A-Yi!”

Li Ying wished A-Yu could have been a groomsman as well, but Hanjun had been right when he said that being a Wang, A-Yu wouldn’t have been allowed by his family to take up the role.

He, and the rest of the Wangs, would be at the wedding inevitably.

They would have over two hundred guests though, so Li Ying was hopeful he would manage to avoid them—except for A-Yu—for the evening.

Li Ying wouldn’t know half of the people attending, but he knew that among them were chief editors of major daily and business newspapers in Shanghai, members of the board, and other important figures from the company, and of course the cream of the crop of Shanghai.

All who surely still remembered Li Ying’s latest scandal from the New Year’s party.

Whatever came after the cake and the first dance, Li Ying would be happy to miss it and just go straight to the wedding night, skipping all the socializing with those people. Could Huang Xiang really be the only person among them whom he could relate to?

I should try and make more friends, I guess. This will be my life from here on, and it’ll be lonely otherwise.

“Are you nervous, Li Ying?” Hanrong asked.

Li Ying smiled at him, nodding. “Yes, though I trust everything will go well. I just worry about Hanjun!” Li Ying stroked Hanjun’s arm. “You two must take good care of my husband, I fear he might faint!”

Hanrong and Yiyi laughed, and Hanjun smiled. He was happy to see Li Ying in good spirits—he had worried since their talk yesterday that Li Ying might still change his mind .

They arrived at the hotel, and as soon as they exited the limo, the official wedding photographer was there, with the paparazzi being kept well away by the security.

Li Ying didn’t stop to pose but knew it would be at their discretion which photos would be kept and published, so he didn’t worry about the flashing and clicking going off.

He and Hanjun proceeded to one of the hotel’s suites, where Wu Yiheng and Grandmother Linming were staying, for the tea ceremony. They sat there ready and waiting when Hanrong had given them a heads-up.

The wedding tea set that Li Ying had bought before had been brought into the hospitality suite’s kitchen.

“Hello, Uncle Yiheng, Grandmother Linming!” Li Ying and Hanjun greeted them and bowed from the waist.

“What a beautiful bride! The dress is very stylish, even if it’s not so traditional. What do you think, Yiheng?” Grandmother Linming looked at her son.

Wu Yiheng eyed Li Ying up and down.

Li Ying smiled at him through the veil, and he thought there was an odd look in the old Wu’s eyes. Wu Yiheng hesitated before saying:

“Mm. Beautiful.”

Li Ying blushed and looked down. Was the old geezer… moved?

Anne had joined them, and after giving her greetings to the groom’s family, she went to the kitchen to help prepare the tea, putting the kettle on.

Hanjun sat down to talk with his uncle and grandmother while Li Ying joined his bridesmaid. Into the teacups were put dates and lotus seeds, the latter of which symbolized the wish for many children.

“Let’s put a few more, I want the message to be clear,” Li Ying whispered and put in more seeds.

“Li Ying, the cup is almost half full of seeds.”

“Yep.” Li Ying tossed a handful of lotus seeds into his mouth too, before he began preparing the tea leaves—oolong and orange blossom .

“So, Hanjun,” Grandmother Linming said while they waited, “are you nervous? You Wus are so good at hiding it, I cannot tell.”

Hanjun shook his head. “No, grandmother, I know everything will go well. I am… happy.”

Grandmother Linming smiled, then looked at her son. Wu Yiheng was looking at his hands, having crossed them in his lap and fiddling with his thumbs.

“Is your wife expecting yet?” Wu Yiheng asked.

“We are… trying.” Hanjun’s cheeks took on the slightest hint of red. And it wasn’t a lie, really.

“Mm, good.” Wu Yiheng nodded.

Li Ying came from the kitchen with the tea tray.

D on’t you fucking drop it, don’t you fucking dare… Li Ying swore in his mind, it helped him focus. It would obviously be bad luck if the teaware broke during the ceremony, but he made it to the sitting room with everything intact.

He handed the tray to Anne while he and Hanjun kneeled on the pillows set before the family elders, and once he had taken his place, Anne handed the tray back for him so that he could set it on the floor between them. He then poured the tea, after which Hanjun served his grandmother first:

“Grandmother, please drink the tea.” He offered the cup with both hands.

Grandmother Linming accepted the tea, giving a traditional blessing as she did: “May there be a hundred years of harmony.” She lifted the cup to drink. “Oh my,” she chuckled, “that is an abundance of lotus seeds!”

Li Ying smiled at her.

While Grandmother Linming drank, Hanjun served his uncle.

“Uncle, please drink the tea.” Thank you, Uncle Yiheng. And sorry, Hanjun thought as his uncle accepted the cup from him, giving a blessing as well:

“Hundred years of harmony. ”

Now it was Li Ying’s turn to offer the tea, first to Grandmother Linming, then to Wu Yiheng, bidding them respectfully to drink.

“May you be blessed with a child soon,” wished Grandmother Linming, and Wu Yiheng did the same.

“I would give Auntie and Uncle as many grandchildren and great nephews as there are lotus seeds in these two cups combined,” Li Ying said, and found it hilarious how Wu Yiheng almost sputtered into his tea, hard as it was to drink in the first place with so many damn seeds in it.

“Let’s not exaggerate,” Wu Yiheng said.

Li Ying grinned, noticing how Wu Yiheng was blushing the same way as Hanjun did. If Li Ying loved something, it was teasing Wus.

“I don’t exaggerate, Uncle Yiheng; I will soon fill your lap with laughing, bouncing babies, and they will look just like little Hanjun!”

Li Ying bit his lip to not laugh out loud while Wu Yiheng kept blushing, frowning deeply as he drank his tea, and the many lotus seeds tickled his mustache.

“Li Ying.” Hanjun scolded gently, and when Li Ying looked, his husband was also blushing down to his neck. Li Ying brought his hand under the veil to cup against his mouth, but failed to suppress his giggle.

“Li Ying, please behave,” Wu Yiheng said sternly.

Li Ying coughed softly. “Sorry, Uncle.”

Anne was fighting the urge to violently facepalm as she stood there waiting. Had Li Ying been like this all this time? No wonder Wu Yiheng had taken his sweet time to give them his blessing, she thought.

When the tea ceremony had concluded, Wu Yiheng and Grandmother Linming having given them a red envelope containing a gift sum of money, Anne led Li Ying away to do final preparations for the actual wedding ceremony. Hanrong and Yiyi left with Hanjun.

Li Ying received his wedding bouquet of roses and orchids with eucalyptus boughs for some green. Li Ying was getting nervous again, but he had decided he would not panic. He set his mind to it, trying to think practically to keep his emotions at bay:

It’s not about you, it’s about the show, so perform your parts and it’ll be over faster than you think.

Okay, it was about him, at least a little.

Li Ying wanted it to be about him, even if he knew nobody out there really knew him.

Except Hanjun, Anne, and maybe, even if they didn’t know he was actually a man: Wu Yiheng, Wu Hanrong, Grandmother Linming, as well as A-Yi and A-Yu.

They had all gotten to know who Li Ying was, his personality, which he had never faked.

He would focus on his and Hanjun’s happiness from here on, on connecting with these members of the family, even if there would always be something about Li Ying they wouldn’t know.

“Li Ying?” Huang Xiang popped into the waiting room.

He was adequately flashy as the emcee, having donned a black sequin jacket, bright pink shirt, a bowtie, and fake glasses with large and thick tortoise-shell frames in his usual style. Gaudy? Yes, but he was part of the entertainment today and had understood the assignment perfectly.

“ Darling, you look stunning!” Li Ying went over and hugged Huang Xiang, who returned the hug.

“ Chérie, how are you doing? Nervous?”

Since Li Ying had asked him to be the emcee for her wedding and they had spent more time together, Huang Xiang had relaxed and dared to be more himself.

Li Ying was pretty sure Huang Xiang was fabulously gay himself, and he hoped they could have an open conversation about that someday.

Li Ying hadn’t thought he might himself playing someone’s straight best friend, but he would do so happily for Huang Xiang.