Gege, Will You Be My Bride?

one

🌼

Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

His entire life had been full of ups and downs. Admittedly, the ups were way less frequent than the downs.

He had seen days which were too terrible to recount and had somehow mustered enough courage to survive each predicament that the universe decided to throw towards him.

He had gone from being crazy rich to being pathetically broke. He had even gone from being the darling of the heavens to the laughing stock of his entire family. 

Xie Lian was not the one to dwell on matters that had already transpired. His life was decent enough now. He believed that these experiences had helped him build a skin so thick that it was impossible for anything to fluster him.

But as they say, even the strongest of men have their limits. It seemed that cross dressing as a bride was Xie Lian's.

"Qingxuan, are you sure that this is a good idea?" Xie Lian asked again, shifting uncomfortably in his heavy bridal red robes.

"You are overthinking it, you look gorgeous!!" Shi Qingxuan reassured him as she touched up the last of his make up. "Besides, you'll be doing me— your best friend— a huge favour!"

Xie Lian sighed in defeat and looked back at his reflection. He knew as a matter of fact that he had always been good looking, if not absolutely beautiful. Even now he had to grudgingly admit that he did indeed look quite good in this bridal attire.

The tight and form fitting red robes had to be altered to fit around his broad and well toned shoulders, which further emphasized how tiny his waist was in comparison. His long hair had been pulled up in a sophisticated bun, a few stands were strategically let loose which framed his small face. Thankfully, his makeup was minimal, almost close to none. "We want your face be androgynous, but more on the masculine side." Shi Qingxuan had told him beforehand.

To be frank, Xie Lian still didn't quite understand what Shi Qingxuan was trying to achieve by doing all of this. Back when she first had requested his assistance, he still vividly remembered how excited his best friend had been.

"Xie Lian! Xie Lian are you listening?! I said that I will be going on a date with He Xuan this afternoon!" Her pale porcelain skin flushed bright red from pure joy.

Xie Lian smiled at the sight, but he couldn't help but feel worried. He knew how enamored his bestfriend was with He Xuan. She genuinely liked him.

Xie Lian had seen the man in question only once, that too from afar. His super sharp instincts told him that there was something wrong with this seemingly quiet and introverted person, but he couldn't identify what. Without any proof to back his concerns up, he simply waved it off as paranoia. He was quite overprotective of Shi Qingxuan after all.

Even setting his gut feeling aside, Xie Lian had observed that He Xuan did not treat her very well.  He was not bad to her either, instead he was completely indifferent. Xie Lian couldn't help but worry that Shi Qingxuan's feelings would not be reciprocated.

"Ah, didn't you say that the two of you were just going to meet up to discuss about your group project?" Xie Lian asked, subtly trying to disillusion his bestfriend. "So is it really a date?"

"Yeah that is true, but I worked so hard to make sure that I would end up teamed up with him," she paused and her full lips turned upwards into a smug smile. "Now that I have secured some quality time with him, he will definitely end up falling for me!"

Xie Lian's smile was more genuine this time. He could not help but envy and admire her confidence.

"I am sure your plan will be successful, Qingxuan! But how do I help? Didn't you say earlier that you needed my cooperation?"