Lan Xi thought Fu Hui made a good point.
He could completely monopolize the time Fu Hui was alive. Once Fu Hui died, Lan Xi could return to Hell without really losing anything. There were so many demons in Hell with no ambition at all anyway. He was already working very hard.
After Fu Hui died, he could even take all of Fu Hui’s jewelry back to Hell.
Could Fu Hui spend money to buy him an atomic bomb?
He liked those.
None of this was a big problem.
Lan Xi successfully convinced himself.
He sat on the sofa, opened his eyes, and caught Cheng Yiran constantly sneaking glances at him.
Lan Xi had followed Fu Hui back to the Fu family’s city residence because meals were more convenient here. But ever since they came back, Cheng Yiran had been secretly staring at Lan Xi all the time.
“What?” Lan Xi shot him a sidelong look from an extremely lazy sprawl.
Cheng Yiran was dying of curiosity. He could not resist edging closer to Lan Xi and asking, “Um… do succubi only have tails?”
Lan Xi ignored him.
Cheng Yiran kept going on his own. “Do you have horns? What about wings?”
Lan Xi brushed him off with a single word. “Yes.”
Cheng Yiran’s breathing deepened and he became nervous. “C-can I see?”
Lan Xi said, “No.”
Cheng Yiran was tormented by curiosity.
He racked his brains and tried to tempt Lan Xi. “Sister-in-law, I know this place with really amazing food…”
Halfway through, he met Lan Xi’s contemptuous gaze.
Lan Xi gave a dry laugh. “Do I look that easy to coax?”
Cheng Yiran froze slightly. That… depended… sometimes Lan Xi really was quite difficult to coax.
Lan Xi rolled his eyes. “What could I possibly want to eat that I can’t get? Fu Hui will give me anything.”
Ever since agreeing to get married, Lan Xi felt that even if he stepped on Fu Hui’s head on the way out the door, it would probably be fine.
Cheng Yiran: “…”
Right. That was true.
What could Lan Xi possibly want that he did not have?
His brother was already on the front line of coaxing Lan Xi. To Fu Hui, it was all effortless. Where would Cheng Yiran ever get a chance to show off?
But Cheng Yiran still refused to give up.
That was a succubus!
When he was little, he had only ever seen them in comic books.
Cheng Yiran asked quietly, “Why can’t I see?”
Whatever the problem was, he would solve it.
Lan Xi said, “Your brother won’t let me.”
Cheng Yiran: “…” That problem could not be solved.
But very soon, Cheng Yiran thought of another move. It was his first time trying something like this, so he was not very practiced and stumbled over the words. “Y-you listen to my brother this much now?”
Lan Xi: “…”
He stared at Cheng Yiran. “That doesn’t mean I’d listen to you.”
Cheng Yiran choked and had nothing left to say.
Fu Hui had prepared for this in advance.
Before leaving Qingshi Hotel, he had repeatedly warned Lan Xi, “Don’t reveal your demonic traits in front of other people.”
Lan Xi immediately asked, “Why?”
“They aren’t angels, just ordinary humans. They’ve never seen a demon before, and their ability to accept something like that is extremely poor. If they discover that such a terrifying creature really exists in this world, their first reaction will be to do everything they can to destroy it. You’ve seen their nuclear weapons, Lan Xi. Don’t put yourself in danger.”
Lan Xi looked disdainful. “Their tolerance is that bad? Fine.”
He liked being described as a “terrifying creature.”
Lan Xi spread his hands. “Not everyone can be like you and handle things so well. I get it.”
Fu Hui’s eyes flickered at that.
That was a very nice thing to hear. Fu Hui liked it too.
And that was why Cheng Yiran had been rejected so thoroughly today.
Otherwise, with Lan Xi’s love of showing off, he would have wanted to display his amazing wings and horns to the entire world.
If it frightened everyone half to death, even better.
Cheng Yiran obediently went back to writing his thesis for a while. Before long, he could not resist asking again, “Do succubi have to… uh, feed by absorbing a person’s essence or something?”
Lan Xi frowned unhappily. “Who said that?”
“That’s how they draw it in comics…”
Lan Xi said, “I eat meat.” His gaze slowly traveled around Cheng Yiran as he lightly licked the corner of his lips. “I eat human flesh too. Roasted, boiled, either is fine.”
Cheng Yiran’s face went white with fright. Trembling, he asked, “Th-then why… in that diary, why did you want to sleep with so many people?”
Even though his brother had stopped every single one of them.
Looking at it that way, his brother really was incredible.
Lan Xi scoffed. “I thought this was Heaven. I was preparing to conquer Heaven. Who knew…”
He looked Cheng Yiran up and down. “None of you have wings.”
Under that gaze, Cheng Yiran lowered his head and somehow developed a sense that he had committed a terrible crime.
Lan Xi rubbed his fingertips.
Still, intercourse with humans was not entirely without benefit for a succubus. It could increase a demon’s power.
That was exactly why, in Hell, other proper demons actually looked down on the methods succubi used. Sure, those other demons slept around too. But they were proud of it. They slept around purely for the sake of sleeping around, unlike succubi, who were so utilitarian and supposedly could not stand on their own.
Having spent so long near the bottom and being looked down on, Lan Xi had also refused for a very long time to use such methods. He had thought he needed to earn respect through his own hard work.
Now that he had slept with Fu Hui, he felt shortcuts were not necessarily a bad thing.
If he had slept with other demons before coming here, what would Fu Hui have done?
The thought suddenly popped into his head.
Would Fu Hui have died of anger?
The more Lan Xi thought about it, the more he amused himself.
Then he heard a bodyguard call, “Sir.”
Fu Hui strode through the door.
“Lan Xi, are you free?”
Lan Xi asked, “For what?”
What they were going to do determined whether he was free.
“To choose rings.”
Lan Xi looked confused. “Didn’t you already give me one?”
Fu Hui came over and sat down, naturally handing him a cup of milk tea he had brought back from outside. Secretary Lin had said Lan Xi loved this kind when he was in Hai City.
Fu Hui said, “That one was for the proposal. You use different rings for the engagement and for the wedding.”
Lan Xi happily grabbed his shoulder. “Oh!”
There were so many rules here.
He loved it!
Fu Hui inserted the straw for him. Lan Xi casually took two slurps. “Let’s go, let’s go.”
The two of them left together.
On the way, Song Qingming called and asked, “The Fu family… hasn’t caused any trouble, right?”
Fu Hui said, “Nothing yet.”
Song Qingming let out a breath of relief. “Mm. If you need any help preparing the wedding, tell us.”
“Lan Xi said there were many things he liked in the jewelry catalog he looked at last time.”
“I’ll have the new-season catalogs from several other brands sent over too.”
The Song family might not be as powerful as the Fu family now, but they were still extremely wealthy. After hanging up, Song Qingming began thinking about choosing several sets of wedding gifts for Lan Xi from those catalogs.
Lan Xi watched Fu Hui end the call. “Did you buy a new phone?”
Fu Hui’s eyelid twitched.
Lan Xi did not know that people like them generally kept several phones, each for handling different kinds of business.
Truly important calls would never have gone to the phone Lan Xi had.
Fu Hui was currently very worried that this little ancestor would get upset about something and immediately refuse to marry him.
Lan Xi curled his lip and threw a black object at Fu Hui, making up nonsense. “I found it. Here.”
Fu Hui caught it.
It was exactly the phone Cheng Yiran had brought to Lan Xi.
Lan Xi complained, “Your phone isn’t interesting at all.”
Especially after so many people learned that Fu Hui’s phone was with him. Plenty of people did not dare call Fu Hui, but they were perfectly willing to bother Lan Xi.
They were not angels.
And every one of them had the nerve to think they could come see him!
Lan Xi could not be bothered seeing them.
To be fair, those people were partly to blame for being so indirect. If they had just said from the start that they were coming to give Lan Xi jewelry, restaurants, hotels, chefs, and so on, Lan Xi would have agreed immediately.
Amused, Fu Hui took the phone. “What would make it interesting?”
Let Lan Xi fully display his intelligence, match wits with people, and uncover Fu Hui’s affair… never mind. Fu Hui was not allowed to have an affair.
Lan Xi turned his face away. “Everything’s boring.”
Fu Hui smiled and took his hand.
He put the phone back into Lan Xi’s palm. “It has other uses.”
Lan Xi looked puzzled.
Fu Hui said, “The numbers stored in there are very useful if you ever need to make a call. So keep it for now.”
Lan Xi held it awkwardly. Fu Hui was so accommodating that it almost felt as though something exciting was missing.
Fortunately, the succubus soon had no attention left to spare for that thought.
Fu Hui took him around to different jewelry brands. Lan Xi loved the glittering interiors of the stores.
This made him far happier than having people bring things to him at home.
Afterward, the capital happened to hold a three-day jewelry exhibition.
Fu Hui took Lan Xi there to play every day.
Once they had chosen the rings and accessories, the two of them went to select their wedding clothes.
Lan Xi pointed around and complained, “Humans make getting married so troublesome.”
Fu Hui had always wanted to know what Hell looked like, what kind of place Lan Xi used to live in, but he was afraid of bringing up memories that would make Lan Xi sad.
In the end, Cheng Yiran had recklessly asked first.
So Fu Hui stopped holding himself back too. He leaned close to Lan Xi’s ear and asked softly, “What is marriage like for demons?”
Lan Xi shook his head. “There’s nothing. Two demons mate, have children, and live together. That’s basically marriage. If one wants to leave, they leave.”
Fu Hui: “…”
That was far too primitive.
It inevitably made him a little worried.
And a little grateful too… thank goodness their world had invented marriage.
“Fu Hui, I want to wear this one.” Lan Xi suddenly pointed.
Fu Hui came back to himself and looked over. It was a heavily embellished wedding gown covered in pearls and small diamonds.
The staff member was extremely professional. Hearing Lan Xi say that, her expression did not change at all. She smiled and asked, “Shall I take it down for you to try on?”
Fu Hui said, “No.”
“Why not?” Lan Xi looked at him. “Don’t you like me in dresses?”
Fu Hui said, “…That’s just a private bit of fun between you and me.” The neckline of this gown was cut very low. And if a man wore women’s clothing at an occasion like this, it would easily make the guests form certain unnecessary assumptions.
For example, they might assume Lan Xi had relied on that to climb his way into Fu Hui’s favor.
Naturally, those people would then look down on Lan Xi.
Lan Xi did not understand how ugly humans could be.
He insisted, “I want this one.”
“No.”
Lan Xi raised his eyebrows and dug up old grievances. “You like dresses. You don’t like men. You like women…”
Fu Hui calmly insisted, “I don’t like men, and I don’t like women. I only like Lan Xi.”
Lan Xi turned his head away. “There are lots of people called Lan Xi.”
Fu Hui leaned close to his ear. “Only the demon called ‘Lan Xi’ standing in front of me.”
Without waiting for Lan Xi’s reaction, he immediately added quickly, “We can sew all those pearls and diamonds onto a men’s formal suit.”
Lan Xi eased up. “Fine… but it won’t have a skirt this big…” There was room to sew on so many, many pearls and diamonds.
That was easy enough.
Fu Hui said, “We’ll buy it and take it home… You can wear it only for me.”
Lan Xi looked at him suspiciously. “And you still say you don’t like…”
Fu Hui covered his mouth in exasperation.
Satisfying him was wrong, and not satisfying him was wrong too.
“What will it take for you to believe that I don’t like women?”
Lan Xi looked innocent. “How would I know?”
His only responsibility was to keep questioning Fu Hui.
Fu Hui suddenly had a very bad premonition. Lan Xi might bring this up countless times in the future.
And if Fu Hui showed that it hurt him, Lan Xi would probably become even happier to turn it into his ultimate weapon.
Fu Hui immediately realized he absolutely could not react too strongly to it.
He clamped an arm firmly around Lan Xi’s waist and carried him out. “All right. We’re going home.”
Lan Xi struggled. “I haven’t looked enough.”
Fu Hui said, “It’s late. Another day.”
Fu Hui still ordered the wedding gown for him.
At worst, Lan Xi could keep it as a collectible and play with it.
Next came choosing the wedding date, the venue, custom decorations, wedding favors, and so on…
It was all extremely tedious.
At first, Lan Xi was enthusiastic because everything felt new. Very soon, he stopped wanting to do any of it.
Fortunately, Aunt Zhou Lin took over at that point.
While helping them sort out the process, she asked nervously, “The Fu family really won’t object?”
Fu Hui’s mother had already been considered quite rebellious back then.
Now Fu Hui was suddenly going to marry a man with no warning. The Fu family might start wondering whether the Song family’s ancestral graves had been buried wrong and everyone had been possessed one after another.
If the Fu family’s status did not make dabbling in superstition so inappropriate, Zhou Lin thought they might already have invited a Taoist exorcist over.
Fu Hui said, “Don’t worry.”
Still, they really could not leave the Fu family hanging forever.
Fu Hui glanced at his schedule. “I’ll take Lan Xi back to see them tomorrow.”
Zhou Lin relaxed. “Mm-hm. You always know what you’re doing anyway.”
She pointed to the design in front of her. “What about this one?”
Fu Hui looked it over but was not especially satisfied.
The wedding planner at the side watched Fu Hui frown and could not help marveling inwardly. This was her first time seeing a big shot personally worry this much about his own wedding.
Wasn’t it usually the “young wife” who rushed around enthusiastically making plans, terrified that the lofty branch she had climbed onto might fly away?
Here, everything was reversed.
The “young wife” had washed his hands of the whole thing and ran whenever anyone brought it up.
“Keep looking.” Fu Hui pushed the booklet aside. Every bit of his time had to be squeezed out, and now he needed to handle work again.
After that, he still had to go coax Lan Xi.
If Lan Xi went a single day without being coaxed, he would feel neglected and immediately want to go outside and enjoy other people’s attention.
“Mm, this is important. There’s no rush. We can take our time.” Zhou Lin stood as she spoke.
She was actually quite happy inside.
Because of Fu Hui’s marriage, the Song family had grown much closer to him.
＊
After thinking things through, Lan Xi’s appetite returned to normal.
He got up early, ate through two rounds of breakfast until he was completely full, and only then went to see Fu Hui.
Fu Hui had worked very late the night before and was still asleep.
Lan Xi crawled back onto the bed, grabbed Fu Hui’s face, and studied it carefully. The bruises had not completely faded yet.
The very next second, Fu Hui woke from all the manhandling.
He opened his eyes and found Lan Xi frowning at him.
“What is it?” Fu Hui instinctively wrapped an arm around his waist and asked in a hoarse voice.
Lan Xi said, “I shouldn’t have thrown things at your face.”
Was the demon actually feeling sorry for someone now?
Lan Xi added, “Good thing I didn’t knock your face crooked. You wouldn’t look good anymore.”
Fu Hui: “…”
Was he supposed to be grateful that at least he had been born with a handsome face?
Fu Hui caught his fingers and slowly opened them one by one, rubbing and playing with them with great intimacy. “Thank you for showing mercy.”
Judging from how hard Lan Xi used to kick him, he really had held back when throwing those cups.
Lan Xi raised an eyebrow and jumped off him.
Only then did Fu Hui slowly sit up.
Right. There was one more thing he should be grateful for.
When he was a teenager, he had loved wearing a cold expression.
After reaching adulthood, he decided that was too childish. Adults were supposed to hide their emotions. There was no need to constantly show displeasure on their faces, so he had grown used to presenting a mild expression instead. Lan Xi seemed to like seeing him smile.
Otherwise, he would probably get cursed out just like Wen Yue, with Lan Xi complaining that his gloomy face was annoying.
“Lan Xi, come back to the Fu family home with me today.” Fu Hui got out of bed.
Lan Xi asked, “Why?”
He stared at Fu Hui’s legs.
Fu Hui’s muscles tensed under that gaze. He said quietly, “They’re my relatives. I should bring you to meet them eventually.”
Lan Xi said, “You humans are so troublesome.”
Fu Hui asked, “What do you think of Song Qingming and Zhou Lin?”
Lan Xi thought about it. “I like the jeweled crown Aunt gave me.”
Zhou Lin had told him to call her Aunt, so he did.
“Do you think she’s troublesome?”
“…No.”
“Mm. We’re just going to meet a few people who’ll give you things in the future too. That’s the point.”
Lan Xi nodded. “Oh!”
Fu Hui thought of something else. “Lan Xi, do you like crowns?”
Lan Xi thought that was an incredibly stupid question. Who wouldn’t?
After Fu Hui washed up and went downstairs, Lan Xi accompanied him through a third round of breakfast.
Now that Fu Hui knew Lan Xi was a demon, he finally stopped strictly controlling how much Lan Xi ate. Still, he had people carefully record how often Lan Xi ate and how he reacted after every meal so they could determine where the limit of his appetite actually was.
After breakfast, Fu Hui changed Lan Xi’s clothes and prepared to leave.
“I’ve looked at a lot of plans for the wedding decorations. None of them are very interesting,” Fu Hui said.
Lan Xi climbed into the car, uninterested. “Whatever you want.”
“Would you rather decorate it like Heaven or Hell?” Fu Hui suddenly asked.
Lan Xi’s eyes widened. “You can do that?”
“Of course.”
Fu Hui considered his words before continuing. “What about Hell? We can put in a throne, and you can sit on it.”
Lan Xi was tempted.
His eyelashes fluttered. He blinked his big eyes and looked at Fu Hui with exaggerated “affection.” “Then can you dress up as an angel?”
Fu Hui: “…”
Sure enough, he still could not forget his angels.
Fu Hui said, “Fine.”
Lan Xi was delighted. He threw himself forward, wrapped his arms around Fu Hui’s neck, and kissed him twice with loud smacks. “Fu Hui, I really like you!”
He would wear the crown Zhou Lin had given him.
And then he would be king here!
Fu Hui’s heart instantly melted into a puddle.
He suddenly tightened his arms around Lan Xi, turned his head, and kissed the demon hard. He drove straight in, invading again and again before finally letting Lan Xi go.
Both of them felt great.
And just like that, they happily set off toward the Fu family’s main residence.
The Fu family’s main estate was halfway up a mountain.
Surrounded by four cars, the black bulletproof sedan quietly made its way up the mountain road.
Lan Xi lowered the window and breathed in the mountain air.
Fu Hui turned his head and stared at Lan Xi’s excessively exquisite profile, momentarily lost in thought. What was he supposed to do? He was already reluctant to die.
Even though death was still very far away.
But the moment he imagined Lan Xi eventually returning to Hell and inevitably coming into contact with the seraphs he had always longed for, Fu Hui did not want to die.
“Protect Sir!” a bodyguard suddenly shouted, his voice changing pitch.
Fu Hui lifted his eyes toward the rearview mirror. From beginning to end, less than three seconds passed, leaving them no time to react.
A violent impact slammed into them.
For an instant, it felt as though all their internal organs shifted out of place.
The vehicle had an extremely high level of protection… but they were halfway up a mountain.
The entire car was knocked off the cliff.
Fu Hui had time for only one instinctive reaction. He bent over and pulled Lan Xi tightly into his arms.
Then something occurred to him.
He pressed close to Lan Xi’s ear and said fiercely, “Lan Xi, protect yourself. Don’t let anyone see your wings.”
Do not let anyone discover that he was a demon.
The human world had far too many ugly methods at its disposal.
Lan Xi’s pupils widened.
The wings that had just pushed out were slammed back in, then quickly spread again, extending through the window that had not yet closed as he tried to lift the entire car into the air.
But there was far too little room to move.
Before his wings could scrape against the mountainside and vegetation, Fu Hui forcibly pressed them back down.
The man’s broad palm was warm.
Lan Xi touched blood.