Even though everyone was worried, nothing happened in the two weeks leading up to the wedding. Jin Ling stayed in the guesthouse he had chosen, continuing to keep an eye on the street in the hope of seeing Jinde. Unfortunately for him, after the scare he had received, Jinde stayed in the courtyard most of the time, sometimes even sleeping on the ground of the pond, and only returning to the room when Leng Jin Yu urged him to. Thus, they had somehow reached a stalemate that neither side really knew about.

Xiang Yu could have helped to find out but after screwing up once and with Jinde and Leng Jin Yu telling him that Jin Ling was important to Jinde, he didn’t dare to act rashly. What if he did something wrong again, after all? So in the end, he simply didn’t get involved at all and just waited like everyone else while watching the shell in the courtyard in a daze.

In this fashion, the wedding date that Qiu Ling and Jing Yi had set finally arrived. They hadn’t made it into a big thing so not too many people were aware. In fact, other than Jinde and Leng Jin Yu, as well as Bai Mu and Nie Huang, only Qiu Ling’s advisers were informed.

Well, naturally, that group also included Xiao Dong and his family as Yi Zan’s relatives and with him being a friend of Jing Yi’s. In fact, he had gotten a rather important role: Since Qiu Ling was also worried about Jin Ling trying something against Jing Yi, they were spending their days inside now. Usually, that wasn’t a problem but they still needed the red robes they had ordered by the seamstress in the capital. So, in the end, with Qiu Ling not wanting to take a risk but the robes being important, Xiao Dong was sent as a messenger.

He walked past the guesthouse that Jin Ling was in and, for a moment, with his golden hair shimmering in the sun, Jin Ling actually thought his wish had finally been fulfilled. He jumped to his feet and wanted to rush out but then, he took a closer look and realized that he had been mistaken.

He fell back down onto the chair with a deep sigh, quietly cursing the dragon race for having other people with Jinde’s beautiful hair color. This really wasn’t making it any easier to find him. Now, he had gotten his hopes up for nothing.

He pursed his lips, folded his arms on the windowsill, and rested his chin on top. Ah, if only Jinde could appear already. He really … really didn’t want to wait any longer.

Meanwhile, Xiao Dong managed to find the store of the seamstress, collected the set of robes, and carefully held the box with two hands. These were the wedding robes of his king and Jing Yi. Even though it wasn’t the big wedding with the Son of Heaven, this was still incredibly important. Nothing may happen to them.

He carefully walked down the street one step at a time, vigilantly looking at everyone who came toward him to ensure they wouldn’t rush past him and cause him to drop the box. Maybe it was this vigilance that finally alerted him to the fact that somebody was staring at him.

He blinked his eyes and then looked up, seeing a face in the window of one of the guesthouses that he still remembered vividly. He stopped dead in his tracks, staring up there with doubt.

Jin Ling realized that he had been discovered and hurriedly dropped to the floor, afraid to give himself away. His plan of staying here and waiting for Jinde was almost perfect but, yes, it relied on not being discovered by anyone who knew him. And just now, he had seen that golden-haired dragon’s face.

He cursed silently, remembering the time they had met in the Yun Zou Sect. Back then, he had teased him because he faintly reminded him of Jinde with that hair and he would have done anything to feel just a little closer. Who could have known that years later, this would turn out to be him picking up a stone only to drop it on his own feet?

Xiao Dong continued to stare but then realized that the person wouldn’t appear again. He was sure that he hadn’t misremembered though. He hesitated for only a moment, then hugged the box tightly, and rushed back to the palace as fast as he could. Delivering the robes was one thing but telling his king about the demon king being in the city was far more important.

Qiu Ling was currently in his room, taking the time to brush Jing Yi’s hair and style it. He would have loved to wait with this until Jing Yi was wearing that red wedding robe but since they needed to wait for it to arrive, he also didn’t want to waste that time.

Jing Yi watched in the mirror as Qiu Ling’s hands worked their way around his hair quite familiarly. He didn’t even seem to need to think about what he was doing. “Have you done this before?”

Qiu Ling’s hands slowed down for a moment before he added the finishing touches to Jing Yi’s hairstyle. “You also know I’ve always paid a lot of attention to my looks.” And yes, he had done Jing He’s hair a few times in the past but that wasn’t something he should say on their wedding day. It would just ruin the mood. “Anyway, what do you think? I’ve never done this style before but I think it suits you very well.”

Jing Yi turned his head from side to side and then nodded. “I like it.”

“Great. Then … do you want to do my hair as well or should I do that?”

Jing Yi turned around and looked at Qiu Ling. It probably would have been interesting to do but then, he didn’t think h could do it. “If you were alright with a simple hairstyle, I could probably manage?”

“Well, just combing it is also alright.” Qiu Ling pulled him up and then sat down in his stead, simply closing his eyes, fully intent on enjoying the opportunity.

Unfortunately, just when Jing Yi picked up the brush, there was a knock on the door and somehow, it sounded very urgent.

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