Chapter 3

                                    

                                          

"Have you shown your new appearance to our kids yet?", Xie Lian couldn't help but ask rather excitedly. He could just imagine how cool E'ming would find the new horns on his papa's head, Xie Lian thought and giggled at the starry eyed expression he imagined on his son's face. 
"Of course not, gege. I don't want to scare them to death", Hua Cheng replied, looking put out. 
Hearing this, Xie Lian sighed, and patted his husband's chest. 
"San Lang...", he sighed again. "I do not allow secrets like that within our own family", Xie Lian said sternly. "If you're worried about scaring them, then show them your new features one at a time, until they're used to how you look now. It's not even all that scary. I'm sure E'ming especially would love your horns."
"If gege insists. But there is one thing I need to do before I can focus on desensitising our kids to having a demonic father", Hua Cheng replied, his demeanour suddenly very serious.
"And what's that?", Xie Lian asked, feeling a bit unsettled by the tone. 
"Have you noticed anything strange going on in the Banyue palace before you left?", Hua Cheng asked, instead of answering Xie Lian's question first. Which was a bit frustrating. 
"Well... everyone was worried when neither you nor your entourage returned after several weeks from when we received your letter. There have been quite a few search parties that went out to look for you but all of them were unsuccessful, obviously. After that, the court started throwing the idea around to have someone replace you; not like Mei NianQing did, but just appointing a new king, basically. I didn't stick around long enough to find out who they decided on but it sounded like they decided that one of the court members would step up. Most of the rumours I heard said that either Ling Wen or He Xuan were the most likely ones to be considered."
Hearing this, Hua Cheng's expression changed to an incredibly unpleasant smirk. Which was understandable, Xie Lian figured. 
"Well, too bad I'm still alive", Hua Cheng said, before his eyes focus on Xie Lian again.
"Gege, I have a plan. But I would like you to meet the couple that took care of Ruoye and E'ming first. 
"Of course!", Xie Lian agreed readily. After all, he also wanted to thank them for taking their children in. 
After climbing out of Hua Cheng's embrace and off his lap, Xie Lian watched curiously as Hua Cheng went over to a wall and touched it for a few long moments with a concentrated look on his face. 
Xie Lian didn't know what his mate was doing there, but he was sure his San Lang would explain himself soon enough. Thus, he simply waited until he was done. And sure enough, when Hua Cheng was done with whatever he'd been doing, he turned around and came back to Xie Lian.
"I just needed to make sure nobody can hear what will be happening in this room from now on. Just in case."
Xie Lian guessed that Hua Cheng was referring to the guards outside the door, which he still had several questions about, but he knew that right now wasn't the time for that, so he simply nodded. Then, Hua Cheng explained to him that he was about to open a portal, how it would look, and what it did. However, before he did so, he changed his appearance back to how he used to look before this whole mess had started. Which didn't surprise Xie Lian in the least. 
Despite the thorough warning, Xie Lian still felt a little startled when that black mass suddenly appeared before them. He also couldn't help but worry when Hua Cheng went and stuck his head through that same black mass. Every instinct told him to grab his husband and pull him out of it, no matter how much he tried to tell himself that Hua Cheng knew exactly what he was doing.