v7c2: Foxy Foundations

“And thank you all for coming!” Gou Ren shouted at the next load of people in the cart. The people cheered and waved him goodbye, Spooks pitching in to help cart them all away. Chun Ke and Bei Be were already out delivering their own loads of people.

“Safe travels!” Xianghua said from beside him. Her smile was absolutely fake.

“We’ll catch you around!” Yun Ren called.

Biyu just waved.

Eventually, even the most determined partygoers had enough and were starting to leave. He waved at them until they passed around the bend, and then dropped his arm. Yun Ren let out a sigh, and Biyu slumped onto him.

“Good! They’re finally gone!” Xianghua said, her mask dropping completely. Her normally bombastic voice was void of emotion. “I enjoyed them for a brief time, but that was entirely too long! Jin and Meiling’s hospitality is too much!”

Gou Ren couldn’t help but laugh at Xianghua’s… his wife’s bluntness. She had even walked up to a couple of the determined drunkards and just told them to leave.

Everybody from Hong Yaowu and Verdant Hill were back home. The tribe had left with the foxes, and they were camped out just slightly north of Hong Yaowu. There were still a few guests… but the vast bulk of them were back where they belonged, and not dragging them into another round of well -wishers. It had been fun for the first two days, but by the eighth Gou Ren had wanted to just throw most people out.

“Man, that was one hell of a party, eh?” Yun Ren mused, while Biyu just gave up and buried her face in his neck and started to doze. Yun Ren’s sword, Summer’s Sky, rattled with amusement at his hip. “Good to have Uncle Nezan here, at least for a little.”

The fox had wished them well, but he and Shenhe had only stayed for two days before having to depart back to their sect. Yushang, Shao Heng, and Han had also left earlier in the day, and Gou was sad to see the trio go. They were a regular riot.

“It was insane, you mean,” Gou Ren said with a sigh, leaning back against one of the fence posts.

An eight day party? For him and his brother’s wedding? With hundreds of people who had showed up to pay their respects?

That certainly hadn’t been something Gou Ren had been expecting. He was just… Gou Ren. Yun Ren was just Yun Ren. They were a pair of hunters from a tiny village!

“Hmph! If there were less people we could have celebrated for another week!” Xianghua leaned back into him, and he caught her. “More immediate family is better… and perhaps Master Gen! His skill is legendary!”

Master Gen of Crystal Hill was actually still here, along with his smaller retinue of monkeys. They had converted one of the underground storage areas into a kind of concert hall and had played music, deep pounding drum beats that reverberated in one’s bones.

Then Jin and Biyu did something and the glowstone had started flickering and dancing and pulsing in time to the music, and Miantiao had a glittery glass ball hung from the ceiling that reflected that light everywhere. It had been utterly overwhelming, and yet the disorientation almost made it more fun.

Master Gen and Jin going absolutely crazy on a drum and a pipa respectively had been the highlight of the night. Though Gou Ren had no idea why Master Gen was required to wear Biyu’s crystal lenses and a chain of all things as a necklace. Jin had just said it was proper attire.

But that was just one of a hundred little moments. There had been quieter, more profound things as well; like the first morning waking up beside Xianghua as husband and wife, Jin’s montage of recorded images, his mother and father hugging him so hard it almost hurt, their eyes so full of pride.

And most of all, on the fourth day, it finally hit him that this all was real. He was a married man.

In some ways, it didn’t really change anything. He and Xianghua had already been living together and doing things married couples did—but in other ways… there was some strange shift, some contentment that he and Xianghua had made that oath to each other.

Gou Ren of Hong Yaowu had gone and married the most amazing woman… who also happened to be a princess. Or, queen, really, of her own sect.

Come to think of it, all of them had married up. Meimei had got with Jin, Gou Ren had married a Sect Master, his older brother had also married a princess, this one of the crystal carvers.

His world; no, his and his brother’s world had become truly vast.

They walked back home in comfortable silence, finally able to relax and just… unwind. The couches, at least, were clean. Pi Pa was absolutely the best.

He looked to Yun Ren, his elder brother’s own expression contemplative. Yun Ren noticed his gaze.

“To the first day of the rest of our lives,” Yun Ren said.

Gou Ren wondered what the future would bring….

Though Biyu made a good point soon after.

“Where are we going to put all the gifts?” she asked, looking around Gou Ren’s home. There had been a lot of stuff, for both couples. Furs and gems from the north from their grandfather and cousins. Medicines, tools, and everything needed for married life from Hong Yaowu. Booze and exotic things from the Howling Fang Mountains. Crystals, picks, and jewelry from Crystal Hill. Even things from the Misty Lake, courtesy of Elder Bingwen.

All of them considered this predicament.

“We’ll figure it out tomorrow,” Yun Ren declared. “I just want to sleep for the rest of today.”

That was a good plan… but there was one problem.

“Didn’t you promise Miss Nezuhua to help her prepare for her meeting with the Lord Magistrate?” Gou asked his brother.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author’s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Yun Ren froze. Then he leapt up from the couch and dashed out the door.

===============================

Su Nezuhua, current leader of the fox tribes, took a deep breath in and then out while trying to look composed. She was seated in a well-appointed waiting room, as immaculately dressed as she could be. Normally, this silk garment would hang around her shoulders and entice with a wonderful view of a deep valley, but today it was tied tightly and conservatively.

The Young Master had said that she didn’t need to be so nervous for this, but it was hard when this was about the future of their people.

Life had changed considerably for Su Nezuhua, current leader of the fox tribes, since the Young Master had arrived back with Honoured Uncle.

Less than a year ago, they were the uneasy tenants of the Mountain Ascending Daoist Sect. They were enemies to the Shrouded Mountain Sect, and so somewhat tolerated their existence… but nobody was under any illusion that they were truly trusted. The tales of the villainous foxes resounded across the province. They paid their tribute to the sect and kept their heads down, making themselves as inoffensive as possible, so the blade that hung loosely over their heads never descended.