#guzi

"they don't need to be married, the red string of fate is enough—" stfu hear me out, here's a bigger picture

It's not even an headcanon. It is a historical disaster that he three realms are forced to witness, repeatedly

Because after the first marriage, everything is peaceful for about a hundred years and then one day Hua Cheng js goes quiet. Which is already a bad sign for the record.

He's staring at Xie Lian again. Not the normal "devoted ghost king staring at his god" way. The scheming way and Xie Lian knows that look.

"San Lang… what are you planning?"

Hua Cheng smiles. "Gege."

"Yes?"

"Let's get married again."

And that is the moment the entire Three Realms should start preparing for impact.

First of all, Ghost City loses its mind. (Sorry I'm super hyper fixated on ghost city)

The second Hua Cheng announces it, the entire city treats it like the apocalypse mixed with a national holiday. Lanterns everywhere, Gambler's Den running betting pools on what the wedding theme will be this century. Ghosts fighting over who gets invited.

Someone absolutely starts bragging about "I attended the Ghost King’s 7th wedding" to the one's who didn't get to attend it. The bridesmaids don't change (Mu Qing and Feng Xin obviously) but the planners do, every century and the chaos remains the same.

And the ghosts are feral about it.

"THIS ONE HAS TO BE BIGGER THAN THE LAST."

"THE LAST ONE HAD FIREWORKS."

"THEN THIS ONE NEEDS MORE FIREWORKS."

Meanwhile Hua Cheng is just calmly planning the most extravagant event in existence because apparently marrying his husband repeatedly is a hobby now.

Then the invitations reach Heaven. The best part, Which is when the real chaos begins. Because the heavenly officials have now lived through this multiple times. The moment the invitation scroll appears, the entire heavenly court goes silent.

Someone reads it. "…Ghost King Hua Cheng requests the presence of the Heavenly Court at his—"

"…ninth wedding ceremony with His Highness Xie Lian."

And half the court collapses.

Mu Qing immediately pinches the bridge of his nose, "You've got to be kidding me."

Feng Xin is already pacing, "They aree already married."

"Yes," Mu Qing says flatly. "Apparently not enough."

Pei Ming, on the other hand, thinks this is the greatest entertainment the heavens have ever received. "Another one? Excellent." He shows up to every single wedding like its a luxury social event. My man absolutely treats HuaLian'sweddings like VIP parties.

Xie Lian, meanwhile, is trying very gently to reason with his husband.

"San Lang… this is the tenth time."

"Yes."

"We're already married."

"Yes."

"Do we really need another ceremony?"

“Yes. And?"

"isn't it a little.... Unnecessary..?"

when you're a ghost king who waited 800 years for the love of your life, what's a little wedding every century?

So Hua Cheng looks at him like Xie Lian just asked the most ridiculous question in existence.

"How could marrying gege ever be unnecessary" Argument over.

And then the ceremony itself is always completely different because Hua Cheng keeps up with mortal trends like it's a competitive sport.

The funniest part is that Hua Cheng absolutely treats each one like it's the first. New robes. New rings. New venue. New decorations. Entirely different wedding aesthetic. Because immortality means trends change. And hua Cheng is not about to let his gege have an outdated wedding.

One century it's a traditional grand Xianle style ceremony with red silk banners everywhere.

The next century itçs some ridiculously modern wedding aesthetic because Hua Cheng heard mortals were doing something called 'minimalist elegance' and now Ghost City is covered in white flowers and soft lantern lighting.

Another century he discovers destination weddings.

So now the entire wedding is happening on some remote mountain peak at sunset while heavenly officials are quietly wondering why they were invited to something that looks like a luxury mortal photoshoot.

Meanwhile the side characters are losing their sanity.

Feng Xin is standing there in ceremonial robes looking like he'd rather fight another war. "WHY ARE WE HERE AGAIN."

Mu Qing is muttering: "This is the twelfth time."

"You counted?"

"Of course I counted."

Pei Ming is drinking wine and watching everything unfold like it’s his favorite drama series. "You have to admire the dedication."

And then there's Qi Rong. (Please no wedding is complete without him) Who absolutely crashes every single wedding just to cause problems.

He shows up screaming from somewhere: "YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED AGAIN?!

"WHAT KIND OF SICK CULT IS THIS?"

He gets kicked out, every time. Sometimes by Hua Cheng, sometimes by the ghosts. Sometimes by Guzi dragging him away like a tired parent.

And somewhere in the background is Black Water..He did not ask to be invited. He does not want to be here. But somehow he ends up attending anyway because Hua Cheng invited him once centuries ago and now it's apparently tradition. He's just sitting there eating quietly while chaos unfolds.

So by the time a few centuries pass, the heavens have completely given up pretending this is normal.

At first they attend politely. By the fourth or fifth wedding everyone is just tired. Imagine a heavenly announcement going out like:

"Ghost King Hua Cheng has requested temporary clearance for—'

And someone interrupts.

"Another wedding?"

"…Yes."

Meanwhile the Ghost City residents are sobbing with joy every time the vows happen. Because they:ve all heard the story. They know Hua Cheng waited 800 years, they know what this means. So every time Hua Cheng looks at Xie Lian during the ceremony, like he still can’t believe this is real, The entire city loses it.

And Xie Lian eventually just accepts this fate. Because every century Hua Cheng will stand there, holding his hand like it’s the most precious thing in existence, and say the vows again, like it's still the first time.

And honestly? If someone waited eight hundred years for you, then decided eternity wasn:t enough, so they keep marrying you again every hundred years just to celebrate the fact that you're still there

Maybe that's not ridiculous at all. Immortality is long so might aswell keep marrying your husband

And what if they had children in all those years so now imagine this: A baby version of hualian attending their parents wedding. Qi rong out there commenting on how the parents are show off or how he could've planned a better wedding and guzi holding onto baby hualian in her arms and judging her father silently.

Guzi

Finally finished a birthday present for myself 😭

I found it funny that Maslenitsa and Lunar New Year fell on that day, so I thought: why not combine everything at once 🌚