48 A Moment of Truth

Qin Fuhua shook his head with a serious expression on his face. He placed both of his arms over the table, wrapping his hands as he leaned forward.

"This is the only way if you want me to help you."

Was this man serious? Why would it be her out of all of the beautiful women that probably had crossed his path? Suyin had to think through this deeply, sighing.

Qin Fuhua observed her behavior, shaking his head. His eyebrows furrowed like the usual grumpy person he was. He was most likely offended that Suyin felt that way.

"If you want to get to the Long territory and back here, we would like to fake a marriage." Qin Fuhua clarified. He looked even grumpier than ever but didn't make a single sound. He simply closed his eyes, waiting for her reply.

"Oh! Well... o-of course it would be." Suyin chuckled. Suyin thought that he was going to marry her on a serious note. "If we were to get married going through the forest...."

"There is another way in and out of the Long territory that connects here." Qin Fuhua pointed to the north of the area, "Along the way, there is a checkpoint of the Long territory that allows merchants to go in and out. If we were to fake our marriage and ride the red carriage from my home here to visit your family that lives in the Long territory, they would have no choice but to allow it, since the Kingdom from both sides has not said anything about this...yet."

Suyin acknowledged his idea. If this really worked out, then she could easily go in and out of there quickly. The lips of Suyin's curved into a smile, nodding her head as she held out the cup of tea in the air for him as an approval. "Deal!"

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Upon Suyin's approval of the wedding, Weizhe and Zhaoyun had to prepare for the wedding for the next day. A red carriage, a set of wedding clothes for Qin Fuhua, some of his trusted soldiers turned into civilians dressed up in red to walk around them as a celebration, people who played music in celebration. Weizhe had suggested utilizing a vacant home that no one uses as a "home base" for their marriage that wasn't too far from the other checkpoint. It was a large cement bridge that was one way in and out, so they had to make sure that everything was real.

It was early in the morning, about 5'o clock am, where the sun continued to sleep as the rooster cried out in the sky.

"Why marry me?" Suyin suddenly asked him, playing with the rims of the teacup with her index finger. Why was he helping her? It wasn't like she had anything valuable to her enough for him to take notice and help her.

Qin Fuhua looked at the mirror to see Suyin playing with the teacup. Her voice quivered as if she felt like she didn't deserve his help. He knew she meant to ask why he was helping her, but because of the maidens who helped him dress up, she didn't want to ruin the mood.

*"The plum tree does not grow on its own without help." Qin Fuhua truthfully said, reassuring her with the unconfidence she had in herself. It was true that his initial plan in the beginning when he first met her was to help cure the Princess. Time passed on and with her along the journey, he immediately trusted her enough to save him from Jiaoshu and she retrieved the key at Liaoping. Her capabilities had surprised him each time and made her interesting than anyone he had ever met in his life.

*(He meant, "Because you were always there to help me").

With Qin Fuhua's assurance, Suyin bitterly smiled to herself, looking down at the teacup now. Maybe because people were there, that was the reason why he said that to her. But, those words made her a bit happy, even if it was fake. He was always there for her and she was glad at least he took notice of her.

After grooming up Qin Fuhua, he left outside to let Suyin get ready to wear her wedding clothes. The two old ladies began to comb Suyin's hair, lecturing her how messy her hair was, scrubbing off the dirt off of her skin. Beautiful dark red dye made out of flowers was used as the base of lipstick, eyeliner, and eyebrow makeup that was made out of inkstone that was grounded into powder shape with water added onto the mix. A small, beautiful porcelain pot with a small bag used as the blush was used to apply on Suyin's face. The maidens chuckled at Suyin because of how much she changed with the luxurious clothes and makeup on.

They went on talking about how handsome Qin Fuhua was and how lucky Suyin was to marry such a handsome and noble scholar. Suyin could only chuckle deep down, knowing how he was in reality. After two hours, Suyin had finally finished. Her legs were about to give up on her because she sat down for so long and then stood up for another hour just to put on all of the clothes. A veil covered over her, but curious Suyin walked up to the mirror to see herself.

"Wha..." It was all she could say to herself. The beautiful bright red dress with its fancy gold jewelry decorated around the dress. Her veil was covered in gold and red. Suyin felt like a Princess in another world with this outfit on, she could barely recognize herself with the makeup on! She lit a smile on her face, knowing that although this was a fake marriage, she should make the most out of it in this little "play" that Qin Fuhua and Suyin did to help save her dear friend.

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Suyin descended down the stairs, slowly with her veil on as both of her hands were in front of her. She carefully walked each step down with the beautiful red dress, only to nearly trip at the last few steps. Suyin felt like she had fallen, but felt a pair of hands hold her up. She couldn't see who it was because the veil blocked her view, but she knew that Qin Fuhua's long fingertips wrapped around her shoulders, helping her up.

Suyin could only laugh as an excuse, "I'm sorry." She quickly said. She was not used to any long dresses like this at least. The bottom of the dress was a bit longer than usual and it was mainly Weizhe and Zhaoyun's fault for picking out the wedding clothes they had thought would fit her perfectly. All Suyin could hear was Qin Fuhua's voice, but she didn't know that when she got out of the room and descended the stairs, Qin Fuhua's eyes were glued onto Suyin until he caught her.

"It's fine." The two words Qin Fuhua said was quick yet soft enough for her to barely hear. Suyin was sure glad she had the veil to cover her face because she was starting to get embarrassed for nearly eating the ground.

Qin Fuhua stared at her (although he could only see the veil) as Weizhe and Zhaoyun cleared their throat. "We are ready for departure! Please bow to each other!" Zhaoyun stated, standing next to Weizhe. The two were at least happy that Qin Fuhua couldn't take his eyes off of Suyin, bumping each other with their elbows as they squealed deep down inside.

Suyin and Qin Fuhua bowed to each other, carefully as she hit Qin Fuhua in the head with her head. "A-Ah! I'm sorry again! I can't see." Suyin apologized immediately, rubbing her hands against each other because she could imagine his grumpy face again.

"It's fine." He softly responded.

"oohh hooo." Weizhe modestly noted, colliding his elbow with Zhaoyun again. The two were practically teasing Qin Fuhua because they had never witnessed him so gentle and like this before, so it was a fun scene for the two to watch.

Suddenly, Qin Fuhua shot his eyes to the two-- a death glare that was a warning as the two stood up straight again. Both of their eyes were wide, trying to suppress the laughter of this scene. "Let's depart to the bride's home." Weizhe then declared. The two quickly got out of the house to get on their horses before Qin Fuhua could get to them.

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Along the ride to the checkpoint, it wasn't that far from the house that they stayed in. With Suyin in the carriage and Qin Fuhua sitting in the front of the horse guiding the way to her home, their first mission was to pass the checkpoint. As the soldiers were checking some merchants in front of them, they noticed the carriage. The soldiers were dressed differently than the ones in the Qin territory. They had pointed helmet hats and wore brown-colored armor instead of gold for the Qin territory. Instead of spears as their choice, they held swords.

"Halt. Why are you here for?" The soldier stopped Qin Fuhua, who stopped immediately. With the softest voice that Suyin could hear from outside, he smiled at the soldiers.

"Brothers, I am getting married to my beautiful wife. She lives in the village not too far from here and I wish to cross to do the ceremony." Qin Fuhua said. The guards looked at each other, suspicious of Qin Fuhua while they moved to try to look in the carriage.

"Are you sure you are carrying a bride in there or you are smuggling something illegal?" the soldiers quickly questioned Qin Fuhua. Before he could answer, Suyin moved the cloth covering the entrance to the carriage, peeking out.

"Sweetheart. Is there something a matter?" She quickly responded. Qin Fuhua turned around to Suyin and smirked. "My mother is sickly so we must hurry." Her voice shaking, trying to make herself a fragile woman. The soldiers lowered their guards, turning away from them.

"Hurry and let them go!" the guard commanded. Everyone entered through the entrance to enter into the Long territory. There was a rest stop nearby where everyone rested because they were all tired from walking. Although their initial "home" wasn't too far, it was still a good far distance. Suyin had sat in the carriage, still wearing her veil before Qin Fuhua came in, scaring her. This time though, he pulled the veil off of her which surprised her even more.

Her eyes widened at how close Qin Fuhua was (because he took off the veil) as her face began warming up. "W-What are you doing?" She asked, covering her chest as she backed up. Qin Fuhua hushed her because of her rash actions.

"Where do you live and where does your friend live?" He asked. Suyin lowered her chest, looking at him. She had no choice but to tell him the truth since there was no point in hiding it.

Upon revealing her face, Qin Fuhua was taken aback at how beautiful she had looked with the whole outfit on. It wasn't just the makeup but it was like she came out of a painting into real life right then and there. He never took a glance away from Suyin, sitting across from her now.

"Um..." She paused for a second, "she's the Princess in the Palace of Long."

Impressed, Qin Fuhua didn't say much. It made sense why she had worn such luxury clothes when he first met her. "The Princess, eh? That's who you want to save?"

Suyin gazed straight into his eyes, "I just need to warn her, that's all I want."

"How about your parents then? Should we arrive there?--"

"No" Suyin stopped him in the middle of his sentence. With a bitter smile on her face, she shook her head. "I.." Her tone lowered, her eyes looking down in the ground now. "I'm a disgrace to them... I ran away from a marriage I didn't want and..." Why was she telling him all of this? Maybe because she didn't want to see them again or he had just asked, but her feelings poured out with the thought of her parents, "I'm just a puppet living with them."

Qin Fuhua didn't mean to touch that topic, but he had insisted that she probably had missed them. Although he didn't know how to cheer her up, he lifted his hand to her head, patting her.

"My parents never loved me either. Living in the Palace although I'm the Crown Prince," he laughed as if it was something ridiculous to him, "It scares me." And that was the last thing Qin Fuhua said before he left the carriage. That was the first time that Suyin had seen the vulnerable side of Qin Fuhua. He was always so vicious, grumpy, and upright about his image, but with what he had said felt like the two bonded in a way that she would have never thought. His last words before he left, Suyin could feel his voice shaking while her heart slowly torn apart. But why did she feel this way?