threesentenceficathon

From:

…uh, the bath is mostly implied. And of course my first fill of 3SF is definitely not 3SF. Also, this might be fuzzy on canon-compliance because I can’t remember if we actually saw Xue Tang and Bao Qin get officially married in the drama after Cui Xi left or not but anyway.

~*~

“You don’t have to do this,” Cui Xi said as she ran the comb through Bao Qin’s wet hair. “If I, as his official wife, could leave, then so could you.”

Bao Qin leaned back against the edge of the tub and let the morning sun shining through the window warm her cheeks. She wished she could stay here with Cui Xi like this, forever. But it was not to be. Today, she was to become Ren Xue Tang’s official wife.

Ten years ago, she would have wept in happiness at this day, and laugh at Cui Xi’s regrets.

Today, she could not weep. Nor laugh.

Sometimes, she hated it, this ever practical nature of hers. It had forbidden her from taking her own life all those years in prison. It had carried her through the humiliating years in the flower house. It allowed her to swallow her pride and follow Xue Tang into bitter conflict with Cui Xi, until they, both exhausted, realised there was little to truly love in the man that they ostensibly shared, beyond the fantasies of girlhood.

Now, it was that very practicality that was telling Bao Qin she needed to marry Xue Tang, officially and once and for all. Not for herself now. Now, she was marrying Ren Xue Tang, for herself and Cui Xi. Because no matter how capable Cui Xi was, whatever praises they might have gained from the Empress Dowager, this world was still full of injustice, cruelty and caprice for women who wished to make something of herself, not satisfied with four suffocating worlds around her.

Cui Xi was capable, but she still needed the support of the Ren name. Bao Qin did not have so much faith in Xue Tang to fully trust that his current support of his former wife would continue unconditionally. Xue Tang needed a constant reminder of what he owed Shen Cui Xi.

So now, Bao Qin turned and took Cui Xi’s hand in hers, lifting it to her lips for a kiss. “We need him, still,” she said determinedly. “I will be able to help you more as his wife. But it will not change things between us. I promise.”

“Can you?” Cui Xi asked. As ever, she looked calm. Only Bao Qin would be able to see the storm of fear and uncertainty behind her eyes. Only Bao Qin heard the question Cui Xi could not ask.

Can you protect your heart?

Bao Qin supposed she couldn’t entirely blame Cui Xi for fearing. After all, Bao Qin had been in love with Xue Tang once. But that was before she saw through all the faithless charms that her lovestruck maiden eyes never saw, and what her desperate bruised flower desperate for escape from the brothel willfully overlooked.

“I can,” Bao Qin said without hesitation. “I see him now. As I see you. And I know who I want. And he is the means for me to preserve and protect who I want.”

And that person is you.