Wolf King and his Fox Consort [BL]

They spent the next few days in preparation for the twins' one month celebration. The event was meant to celebrate Chu Yun coming out of his bed-rest as well, but enough people had seen him out and about the palace that the cat was truly and well out of the bag.

Invites had already been sent to his parents in Xin weeks ago, and they arrived in Xin on the day before the anniversary. From the brief conversation Chu Yun had with them, they couldn't wait to leave. Both found everything in Zui too cold and sombre for their tastes.

Lieba Chun too was itching to go back to the grasslands. "I never expected to stay so long here," he told Chu Yun over a cup of tea in one of the inner courtyards. "And while our stay has been agreeable I have affairs to handle at home. Summer will soon be over, and we'll be moving camps. I need to be there for that."

And Chu Hean with him.

He felt a pang in his chest at the thought of his brother being so far away from him. Not that Xin and Zui weren't far apart, but with the new roads Xiao Zai was planning on building, and trade agreements they were hoping to broker with his uncle, travel would become less taxing.

Not only were the Xiongnu territories very vast and very distant, but they were also a nomadic people. It would be hard to exchange correspondence as it was. Let alone schedule a visit.

Lieba Chun must have seen some of the anxiety in his face, because he smiled kindly and said, "You are of course welcome to visit any time."

Chu Yun raised his glass to him. "We'll have to see about finding time for it."

He and Xiao Zai would have their hands full for months to come. Not only with the twins, but with the reforms they were planning, and that Xiao Zai would announce in front of the whole court after the one month ceremony -- along with the revelation that neither of the twins was an alpha.

It was best to put a definite end to all the speculation.

"I've talked with Chu Hean, he wants to spend some time with us, see how he takes to our way of living before the wedding. At least a year."

Chu Yun raised his eyebrows, casting a pensive look at Lieba Chun over the rim of his cup. "What if he finds that raising cattle and horses doesn't agree with him?"

"Then he is welcome to leave. I'm taking him as my betrothed, not my prisoner."

Chu Yun had known what manner of man Lieba Chun was for some time, but it still put his mind at ease, to see him so committed to his brother's well-being. He knew he had much to thank him for the relationship he and Chu Hean managed to salvage from the wreck of their old bond.

"You'll have a chance to meet our parents," Chu Yun said, smirking at him. "And ask for their blessing instead of using me as a proxy."

Lieba Chun nodded, very proper as he held his cup. "I'll be very courteous, but his Royal Highness should know that if they disagree I intend to steal his brother in the middle of the night."

"I'm sure my brother would enjoy that." In fact, as soon as he said it, Chu Yun had the grim realisation that Chu Hean would probably prefer it.

---

They had furnished a few of the less used rooms in the royal quarters and one of the inner courtyards for the twins' one month celebration.

There was food and drink from the palace distributed through the streets of Haolin, as well as hired performers to liven up the atmosphere, but it wasn't a huge celebration, and other than going up to a few temples to pray Xiao Zai and Chu Yun wouldn't be making a big spectacle of it.

Xiao Zai was about to announce a series of reforms, and demand contention of the current ministers and the cadres that would be replacing the vacancies -- and a good leader led by example.

Neither he nor Chu Yun had taste for extravagance, and both welcomed the chance to have an intimate ceremony in the presence of friends and family.

Chu Yun was glad to see Tan Ruo and Min Sezhui in animated talk with each other. He felt as if he hadn't seen either for months.

Before he could reach them, he was intercepted by his mother.

"My son, you've lost weight," she said, touching his inner elbow with a pained expression.

Chu Yun smiled ruefully down at her, noticing that her smooth face had become lined since he had last seen her. "I'd say I lost two babies worth of weight."

He hoped to make her smile with his joke, but she sighed dramatically and brought her handkerchief to her face. "Oh, that must have been dreadful for you." Her eyes widened and she lowered her voice, asking him in a frightened murmur, "did they cut you?"

Chu Yun nodded. "It was the only way."

His mother shook with an imaginary shiver. "What an uncivilised procedure."

Considering the alternatives Chu Yun found it exceedingly civilised.

He looked around hoping to find his father and change the subject from his mother's fretting, but he was locked in a serious conversation with Lieba Chun. Best to let that run its course.
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Thankfully for him, just at that moment, Xiao Zai approached him carrying a baby in each arm. He passed the little girl over to Chu Yun, while smiling at his mother. "I thought perhaps mother-in-law would like to meet them."

Soulbond or not, Xiao Zai always had the uncanny ability of reading Chu Yun's thoughts. He spared him a relieved smile while his mother cooed at the babies.

"What are their names?" she asked, eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

Chu Yun smiled to himself, they hadn't told anyone else but had been using the names in private for the last few days. Trying them on for size.

Showing just how skilled at diplomacy he had become in short few months, Xiao Zai held over their son to Madam Jing and said, "Mother-in-law can be the first to hear them. The little girl is called Xiao Yin and the little boy is called Xiao Fei. Yin as in silver and Fei as in flying."