Qing Qui Council Meeting

The day has finally come for Feng Jiu to meet with her elders at Qing Qui. She hardly slept the night before thinking about it. She was nervous and Dong Hua reassured her that he will there for her. Feng Jiu has the habit of knotting her hands into her robes when she gets nervous. Dong Hua knew that she always has shown this behavior when she feels uncomfortable.

"Jiu'er, please calm yourself you are ruining your dress."

"I'm sorry Dong Hua, I should not be doing this, but I can't help it."

Dong Hua kissed her forehead and pulsed some of his magic into her mind to calm her down. She immediately let her hands loose and looked at him smiling. "And you call me mischievous"

Dong Hua whispered to her ear "You and I are indeed naughty, my wife". His breath aroused her senses. She gave him a small whine. He held her chin and gave her a sweet smile. "Everything will be fine. Are you ready my mischievous little fox?"

"I'm ready."

Dong Hua used his aura to travel to Qing Qui. They arrived at the palace and Migu who was at the entrance welcomed them. "Your highness, they are all waiting for you at the meeting room. Migu greets Dong Hua Dijun." Dong Hua simply nodded to Migu as his response.

"Right this way", Feng Jui grabbed Dong Hua's arm. When they entered the meeting room, everyone was surprised that the Queen walked in with Dong Hua Dijun. Bai Yi's face immediately changed. All the Bai Clan and the elders were sitting down at the great meeting table. Zhe Yan was also present.

There was only one seat empty at the top of the table, the queens. She looked at Dijun and he nodded her to go and take her seat. Bai Zhi offered his seat to Dong Hua. "Dijun, please have a seat." Migu hurriedly brought another seat for Bai Zhi to seat next to Dijun.

Bai Zhi broke the silence in the room. "We were not expecting to have an honorable guest to our meeting today. We apologize for our lack of respect towards his Lordship." Everyone at the table got up and greeted Dijun and sat down and remain in silence.

Feng Jiu long sighed and began addressing her elders. "Greetings to you all. The reason I convene this meeting today is to clarify the misunderstandings that were brought up to the table the last time we met. As a primordial member of this council, I seriously intervened to clear the reputation of our Lordship Dong Hua Dijun whose name was brought up in our last meeting. I am a stray forward individual who does not tolerate being manipulated by others regarding ranks, relations, or status. To put those rumors to rest in the minds of you today, I have decided to invite our Lordship to our meeting to elucidate where my loyalty stands as Qing Qui monarch knowing that our kingdom has the backrest of the Nine Heavens and our allegiance is strong. Ever since I sworn to represent our realm, my whole purpose has been to bring peace and prosperity to Qing Qui. In conjunction with our esteem citizens, we have worked hard to obtain some of the goals that originally were proposed to you by yours truly which gained your respectable support. I carefully engrained myself to follow the standards and protocols established by our ancestors. Regrettably, my position of sovereignty was confronted based on false rumors as my repute was put at stake. Bringing dishonor not only to my person but our esteemed and honorable guest's character was also questioned. It is so easy to bend our loyalty when questionable information is presumably presented without been verified first. We let our minds do the talking without having factorable evidence. Since I was exposed to such humiliation in front of you for the comments that arose in our last meeting, and that still continue in the minds of those who are present here, I decided firstly to summon all of you to let you know that I do not hold any grudge against nobody here. You have been pillars in the development of our society for a long time. I cannot despise your effort for the foundation of our beloved Qing Qui. Secondly, since I was not respected as your leader, I will address you this time as a woman and not as your queen. My message is clear: I am the one who decides for my life. You are responsible for assisting and guiding me during my reign. But as an individual it is I, Bai Feng Jiu who decides what my future will be and who will I marry. Therefore, today I let all of you know that I already have chosen a husband. Consequently, there is no need to continue searching for a suitor. As a married woman I will present you with the evidence of the validity of my matrimony to you all. Regrettably because of this situation I only chose few witnesses who can attest of the intimate ceremony that took place recently."

Bai Yi furiously got up from his seat and slammed the table. "May I know who is your husband and why you waited until now to show yourself and share this with us?"

"I am" Dong Hua casually answered.

Everyone present gasped at the answer given. With enraged eyes Bai Yi only chose to look at the face of his now son in law.

"Her highness Bai Feng Jiu is now my Dihou. She is my legitimate wife; since our marriage has been registered in the Nine Heavens court already. I'm terribly disappointed that her own family and her subjects berated her character and integrity. When she was younger and was under my tutelage at Tai Chen Palace, I never imposed my authority over her. I sent her away back to you to protect her reputation. There were some misinterpretations between us that were cleared up recently in private. I personally don't pay attention to rumors about me since I know how feeble people can be. But I seriously take in consideration her reputation as I regrettably witnessed the humiliation that she faced by you Bai Yi. Fortunately, her highness was able to regain back her honor by her own entails. However, her status now will guarantee her protection, stability, and solidity with all realms. Nobody will dare to harm her. I provide you with a copy of our marriage registration Bai Zhi, here."

Bai Zhi saw the official marriage document and asked "What other evidence can you provide us?"

"The evidence that our marriage was consummated. Mother if you please." Feng Jiu replied.

"Here is the evidence of my daughter's honor." Feng Jiu's mother brought up the stained purple sheets from their first wedding night. She stretched the sheet over the table for everyone to see.

Everyone was shocked. "My daughter chastity was intact when she married his Lordship Dong Hua Dijun. Not only he respected her when she was younger but also adhered to our ancient customs."

"Who witnessed the ceremony?" Bai Zhi asked

"I did", her mother answered. Bai Yi stared at his wife in disbelief.

"As well as I". Zhe Yan stood up from his chair. Everyone looked at his direction. "As to why they decided to wait to reveal their marriage I can also attest to this. Our queen's fox heat cycle coincided with her wedding night. His Lordship asked for my counsel to handle the situation properly since he didn't possess the knowledge on the procedures to follow or the amount of time, she needed to be isolated from everyone for her own protection." Zhe Yan concluded.

"One other element that needs to be presented as evidence is the fact that the imprinting between mates occurred during our honeymoon." Feng Jiu added.

"You imprinted on him?" Bai Yi incredulously asked.

"Yes she did, and she marked me. And I imprinted on her as well." Dong Hua interjected.

"Mother and grandmother can bear witness of this if you allow it." Feng Jiu replied to Bai Yi.

The Fox empress and her mother took Feng Jiu to a nearby room for a private inspection. Minutes later they returned, and the Fox empress amazingly stated: "She carries the Shaoyan Regal Seal!"

Everyone loudly gasped. Bai Yi's face fell in dismay. Bai Zhi eyes grew wider looking at a calm Dong Hua seating next to him.

"Xiao Jiu do you know what this means? Even if you want to divorce him in the future you can't. You are his forever!!!" Bai Yi said pleading at her.

"I can assure you all that our bond is true and strong, and our marriage was a love match, it was not imposed forcefully. I chose him as my mating pair long time ago. We just decided to finally live our love for each other and face any obstacles together." Feng Jiu said. She was getting emotional and Dong Hua sensed it. He came next to Feng Jiu and embraced her in front of everyone. Feng Jiu was reeling her emotions. Dong Hua was calming her down. The elders were surprised at their display of public affection. Another rare scene that Dong Hua gifted them.

"Does this mean that His Lordship will be ruling with her?" Bai Zhi asked Dong Hua.

"Bai Zhi my intentions towards her highness are pure. I do not wish to overrule her authority as Qing Qiu's Queen even though she is my Dihou. I'm not interested in positions or control over your sovereignty. I can assist her with anything she needs when she asks me to. She is fully capable of exerting her authority on both realms. She already proven that.

"Does anyone in the Nine Heavens knows about your marriage at this point?" Bai Zhi asked.

"We decided to come to you first before we authorize the official decree." Feng Jiu said.

"Very well then let us do the proclamation in Qing Qui first before is done anywhere else." Bai Zhi said.

"All right Bai Zhi." Dijun agreed. He was getting rattled with all of their questioning.

"One more thing Dijun. Please allow us to plan the wedding ceremony here."" Bai Zhi added.

"There is no need for a wedding ceremony grandfather. I do not want one." Feng Jiu frowned her brows and pouted to her grandfather.

"Xiao Jiu please reconsider. It is tradition!" Fox empress pleaded Feng Jiu.

"Jiu'er please my love, don't deny this to your family." Dong Hua sweetly said to Feng Jiu.

"But we are already married Dong Hua. That is enough for me."

"We won't force you to have a ceremony if you don't want it" her grandfather interjected.

"At least a banquet then." Her grandmother was not giving up.

"Intimate banquet with family only grandmother, that is my condition." Feng Jiu firmly responded.

"All right my precious, let it be done as you wish. Come here and give us a hug. My little munchkin is a now a Dihou." Her grandmother was happy.

The environment relaxed a bit, as everyone formally greeted the married royal couple. Bai Yi had to come to realization that his daughter is now happily married to the man who she loves. His discontent was apparent, but he decided to try to make amends with his now son-in-law. "Dijun, please take care of our precious Xiao Jiu. She is Qing Qui's future."

"I promise you Bai Yi that I will do anything and everything in my power to make her happy. After all she waited for me all these years and showed me that fate can be rewritten." Dong Hua reassured Bai Yi while looking at his wife.

Zhe Yan was seriously eyeing Bai Yi, he simply nodded at his gesture to make peace with Dong Hua. Bai Zhen was next to him evaluating the aftermath of the meeting. "Until when you will hold a grudge against my brother?" Bai Zhen secretly asked him.

"Bai Zhen there are many things that I tolerate, but hypocrisy is not one of them." Zhe Yan said and left the meeting room angered.

Dong Hua saw that his brother left in a sour mood. He wanted to talk to him but decided to stay a while to give Feng Jiu time to spend with her family before they go back to Tai Chen Palace.