Lin Yansheng and Qin Shun registered their marriage on the third day after same sex marriage was legalized.
Originally, Qin Shun had wanted to go on the very first day. He had even planned out the driving route in advance and thought through how they would queue.
But Lin Yansheng hesitated. “Something this unbelievable… it’s the first time in the world. There will definitely be countless reporters swarming in. I don’t want to be interviewed and I don’t want to be photographed either.”
Qin Shun grew anxious. “Uncle, you can’t go back on your word.”
“Let’s wait a week before going,” Lin Yansheng said. “By then, the number of people just there to watch the spectacle should decrease.”
Qin Shun simply could not wait.
Every day he asked and then asked again. He kept asking until the third day, when Lin Yansheng finally gave in. “Then we’ll go tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Qin Shun glanced at his watch. “Today. If we leave now, we’ll make it in time.” As he spoke, he took out a stack of forms, all already filled in. Lin Yansheng only needed to sign his name.
“This is too rushed. It feels like a scam. I haven’t even checked whether today is an auspicious day.”
“How is this rushed? You’re calling me a scammer? Who is scamming whom?” Qin Shun shot back.
“Three days ago, you told me we’d go in a week but you hadn’t even made up your mind, right? I’ve checked the auspicious dates, today is perfect. You promised to marry me five months ago. I’ve already been patient enough, waiting half a year and before that, more than ten years…”
“Today is the day?” Lin Yansheng felt a tingling at his scalp. “Alright, alright, stop digging up old accounts.”
The moment they got out of the car, they held hands.
Everything went so smoothly it felt like a dream.
Organizing the wedding, however, became another challenge.
Chinese style or Western style? Which relatives and friends should be invited? People would be flying in from all corners of the world, each person’s accommodation and meals would have to be arranged properly. In the end, it was impossible to avoid the conventions.
Qin Shun had been eager to register the marriage.
But when it came to the wedding, he slowed down, insisting it should be prepared with care and attention.
On Qin Shun’s side, the guest list was decided quickly. In a few swift strokes, he wrote it out. Over the years, his friends had long known about his relationship with a man, his passionate, all consuming love. One after another, they called to congratulate him on finally achieving his wish, promising they would attend on time.
Lin Yansheng, however, found it difficult to decide. Deep down, he still felt it was not something to be proud of, too shocking, too unconventional.
In the end, it was Qin Shun who reminded him. “Uncle, if you’re going to invite people, then do it openly and confidently. Everything is already settled. Our marriage is legal. I’ll handle the security strictly, no photos will be leaked to the media.”
“Then…” Lin Yansheng asked, “Can I invite Luo Yaoshan as well? After all, he once showed me kindness…”
Qin Shun’s brow twitched slightly.
He said, “Fine. I’ll write the invitation myself. I’m not afraid of him.”
Liang Zhijie met Qin Shun at the airport.
They embraced.
Liang Zhijie deliberately slapped Qin Shun’s shoulder hard, laughing loudly. “You always manage to do something shocking. Very fashionable. When I told people you were having a man to man wedding, their jaws dropped. I originally thought you’d just keep living with your uncle like that, illegally cohabiting for life, unable to marry. Who would have thought you’d be the first among us to be trapped inside the walls of marriage?”
Then he asked, “Am I the first to arrive? I’m planning to have some fun for a few days first.” He seemed quite pleased with his own idleness.
Qin Shun rolled his eyes at him. “You’re the second.”
“The first? Who?” Liang Zhijie was startled.
“You don’t know him,” Qin Shun replied.
It was Luo Yaoshan.
He thought.
The day before the wedding, Qin Shun went to inspect the arrangements. Liang Zhijie volunteered to help. When he saw Luo Yaoshan, he was astonished. “You even know Boss Luo? Why haven’t I heard about this?”
Qin Shun replied calmly, “It’s not that I know him. He’s a guest from my uncle’s side.”
“You’re still calling him ‘uncle’?”
“Why do you care what I like to call him?”
“Your uncle looks quiet and gentle on the surface. Could it be he’s actually involved in that world?”
“He’s just my uncle’s old classmate!”
“It doesn’t look that simple. Dressed so flamboyantly, like he’s here to steal the spotlight.”
Qin Shun did not hold back. “At his age, still strutting around like a peacock, utterly improper! But it doesn’t matter. I’m younger and more handsome than him.”
Liang Zhijie studied him carefully.
Qin Shun was at the prime of his life as a man. The traces of youth had completely faded yet he had not become overripe. The composure and ease of someone accustomed to a position of power had settled into him in just the right measure. It was no wonder that so many young ladies still could not forget him.
When people heard that Qin Shun was getting married, they were shocked. They had always felt he was so outstanding he hardly seemed real, how could someone like him not be in a relationship? The tabloids had once written about his supposed homosexual tendencies and it turned out to be true.
Everyone chimed in, one after another.
“Quite bold.”
“What will he do when he’s old?”
“Both his parents are gone. He’s made his own living for years, he doesn’t need to worry about anyone else.”
“What kind of person is that man?”
“How many years has it been since he stopped coming out to socialize? Were they already together back then?”
“I… I think I’ve seen him before but at the time I thought he was just an employee from his company. Fair skinned, wearing glasses, not very tall, not particularly heavy. I didn’t pay much attention.”
“Ah, I seem to have met him once as well. I heard him call him ‘uncle.’”
“How confusing…”
Of course, Liang Zhijie did not mention Qin Shun’s past.
He kept his gaze lowered, his thoughts concealed.
In any case, most of these people would not be invited.
Qin Shun, however, took the initiative to address Luo Yaoshan. “Boss Luo, I hear your business has been flourishing lately and your love life is going well too. The invitation I sent allows you to bring a companion, why didn’t you bring one?”
“Heh,” Luo Yaoshan let out a cold laugh. “You really haven’t changed. Still like a fighting cock.”
From a distance, Lin Yansheng noticed the two of them talking and hurried over. “Catching up on old times?”
He reached out and took Qin Shun’s hand. “The florist is looking for you.”
The tense, bristling aura around Qin Shun instantly settled, as if smoothed down.
Lin Yansheng then turned his head and smiled at Luo Yaoshan. “Thank you, Boss Luo, for honoring us with your presence at our wedding.”
“You invited me, of course I had to come,” he replied politely. “I still remember that you promised to write my biography. A great writer should keep his word.”
Lin Yansheng recalled it. “Alright.”
As Lin Yansheng led Qin Shun a little farther away, they bickered quietly. Of course, for people in love, even their arguments sounded like playful teasing.
It was obvious, Lin Yansheng radiated happiness from the tips of his hair.
It was not only the wedding. Good things came in pairs.
Some time ago, Lin Yansheng’s writing had also won a literary award. How could that not count as a joy?
“As long as you feel happy, that’s enough.”
He murmured his blessing, softly, almost absent mindedly.
Both Lin Yansheng and Qin Shun were believers.
In the past, doctrine had opposed same sex love. Now, it had moved with the times.
The one officiating their wedding was a very young priest, barely in his early twenties. With blond hair and blue eyes, dressed in his clerical robes, he stood there as though radiating a sacred light, bright and almost luminous.
“Dearly beloved, today, before God and in the presence of all gathered here, we come together to join Mr. Lin Yansheng and Mr. Qin Shun in holy matrimony.”
“Mr. Qin Shun, do you take Mr. Lin Yansheng as your lawful husband, to live together in the sanctity of marriage? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor him and protect him, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others and to be faithful to him until the end of your life?”
“I do,” Qin Shun answered without hesitation, almost impatiently.
The question was then asked again.
Lin Yansheng replied as well, “I do.”
The rings were presented.
“This ring is a symbol of love and commitment. It has no beginning and no end. Please place the rings on each other’s fingers and repeat after me, With this ring, I wed you.”
Everything proceeded smoothly.
The small bands of metal slid onto the ring fingers of their left hands.
Hand in hand, they gazed at each other.
The priest continued:
“By the authority vested in me by the law and by God, I now pronounce you legally married!”
“You may now kiss each other.”
It was their first time doing so in front of so many people.
Qin Shun leaned down, while Lin Yansheng tilted his head slightly upward, turning just a little, their lips meeting softly, gently.
He had once felt that Qin Shun’s love for him was like a sudden meteor, crashing down with overwhelming force, burning fiercely, leaving no room for refusal, as though it would shatter everything into dust and ruin, filling him with fear and unease.
Yet it turned out that even a blazing, raging star would one day come to rest. It would fall to the ground, content at last and become an ordinary, steady stone.
But what could possibly be wrong with that?
[Wedding · End]
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[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 1 · UncleChapter 2 · Ran AwayChapter 3 · TimidChapter 4 · DeceasedChapter 5 · Grow upChapter 6 · CharmChapter 7 · EndureChapter 8 · Biological FatherChapter 9 · ContestChapter 10 · MisunderstoodChapter 11 · BreakChapter 12 · ReunionChapter 13 · MeetChapter 14 · To clearChapter 15 · InstructionsChapter 16 · RegretChapter 17 · SecretChapter 18 · Subtle SophistryChapter 19 · GuestChapter 20 · KissingChapter 21 · Extra 1Chapter 22 · Extra 2Chapter 23 · Extra 3Chapter 24 · Extra 4Chapter 25 · Extra 5Chapter 26 · Extra 6Chapter 27 · Extra 7Chapter 28 · Extra 8